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 Posted: Thu May 17, 2007 6:53 pm
Harmony noticed Elohman looking out the door and then walking away as she loaded the last instrument into the cart. He seemed rather tired out, which she couldn't help but laugh at. Stretching and straightening up, her breath came out even and normal - you could barely tell that she'd just moved so many instruments. Thanking the carpenter, she took the end of the cart and walked up to Elohman.
She felt a little bad for using him the way she had and for being so suspicious - he had not only helped her when the cart had broken, but in moving the instruments as well, a task he was obviously not suited for. Looking at the sky, she realized it was already to late to go to her parents' home and that she would probably have to stay at an inn, as well has find dinner. Turning to Elohman, she said "Thank you so much for your help - how about I treat you to a nice dinner? Do you know a good place around here?"
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Posted: Tue May 22, 2007 5:52 pm
One of the others who was seated at the table struck up a conversation with a new guest, apparently an acolyte. Yuki remained quiet and waited patiently for the meal to be served. Not long after the conversation at the other end of the table had begun, a woman came in holding a big stew pot. She doled out massive serving in everyones deep-dish plates. Yuki's eyes darted around the room as she finished serving all, she and her husband being seated as well. Cutsomarily, it was proper to wait for either the hosts to eat first or for them to allow you to eat first. Some had already dug in, eating loudly and obnoxiously. Grabbing a piece of bread near him, he left it so about 1/3 of it was soaking in the steaming-hot liquid of the fragrant and hearty stew before him.
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Posted: Tue May 22, 2007 8:19 pm
Dorian gave her a bemused expression of thought and appeared to weigh options, his hands even coming out as if holding invisible items that changed weights frequently.
"Well...The Droselle family inn has good atmosphere and decent food, but the Bronze Griffin is far more interesting in the area of entertainment, though its food isn't the best. On the other hand, The Winking Lass has the best roast I have had yet in this city, but its rather expensive for a fool such as I...Hmmm,"
Dorian seemed in utter disarray in the prospect of choosing, stamping his feet in frusteration.
"My usual haunt is the Dancing fool...I get the best tips there...and thats all I can remember. I apologize but one with such little mind strength as I cannot be expected to make a good decision. Do you have anywhere you would like to visit Lady Merchant?"
Dorian gave a hopeful smile, his curly hair bouncing up and down like some playful puppy as he hopped from one foot to the next in anticipation of her answer.
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Posted: Tue May 22, 2007 8:25 pm
Dagon pushed his plate away slowly, having nothing more to consume there was no point in it obstructing the table space in front of him. He looked over to the Acolyte and sighed...questions questions questions...this had better end in a job...
"I go where there are rumors of business," he said gruffly, "I heard there might be work in this city and so I left the wilds to drag myself here. If I don't find work in at least a week I think I'll hire myself out as a guard to the next caravan leaving town." He sighed again, placing one elbow on the table and his chin on the fist of the elbow on teh table in a posture of thought. "If there isn't a reason to swing my blade...I'll go to where there is one."
This statement was followed by a long silence, punctuated only by the sound of other guests eating around both of them. Finally, Dagon cleared his throat and without turning to address Dream directly, asked to seemingly no one,
"And what is your purpose here healer?"
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Posted: Wed May 23, 2007 11:35 am
Dream smiled. He decided it wouldn't hurt to tell him, as there wasn't really anything to tell. "I'm actually not headed anywhere, I'm just going to move and go forward until I either discover my destiny somewhere, or am forced to go to a specific place." He also discovered that he was right in assuiming that Dagon was a warrior. He had respect for swordsmen, because he liked swordplay just as much as a lot of merceneries, only he would never use it to kill.
"I'm also looking for some kind of mission as well, some way I can earn a few zeny. Probably going to help out a medical center or something if I need to."
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Posted: Wed May 23, 2007 5:20 pm
Dagon grunted and nodded...One of those 'star-gazers' then. Dagon had seen them before...not altogehter sane...but not completely business minded either. Always looking for some 'greater purpose', those kinds of people were a blessing. Mostly, they never charged for healing...which made them more useful then those clerics who assumed just because your innards were on the wrong side of your skin...they could 'inflate' the prices based on neccesity. Dagon knew basic business logistics...Supply and demand was not an alien concept to him...but there was something of a difference with charging a little extra for flour if the known world suddenly went on a baking frenzy...and charging extra for healing just because someone was dying. More then a few acolytes had only a few moments to enjoy their wealth before the warrior they overcharged and healed decided that the acolyte's existance was no longer needed in this world.
Dagon could deal with a star struck healer...as long as he wasn'ta religous fanatic...those people seemed to get kicked in the face far more then they converted anyway.
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Posted: Thu May 24, 2007 1:51 pm
He shrugged. "Well, that's pretty much my story. Besides the fact that I'm probably the only athiest acolyte in the entire city." He looked at him. "What about you? You have anything interesting to tell?"
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Posted: Fri May 25, 2007 4:21 pm
"Oh, she merely requested that I help you, ma'am." Unsure of whether or not the woman truly meant what she said regarding her ability to carry the monstrous pot, she nevertheless merely smiled as she saw the older woman regard the small bottles, sniffing them as her mother once did to paprika. She had always fumed and ranted when they didn't smell 'just right', just like this woman seemed to be doing. With Mrs Droselle wrinkling her nose at each and every small vial and slipping them into her apron, Alisia resisted the urge to laugh; she automatically assumed that this little stash of spices wasn't going to be seen again, and new batches of fresh spices would take their place in the morning.
Fresh cinnamon, thyme, paprika, or even parsley did smell ever so heavenly, especially when compared to their aged counterparts.
All coherent thoughts immediately came to a standstill as the normally unassuming Mrs. Droselle carried the humongous pot as if it weighed no more than a quill, causing the archer to squeal in shock and rush to the table as she was ordered. It truly wasn't in her place to argue with a woman so strong; one who obviously had no need of her aid might have considered such advances offensive if she continued. That, and she really didn't want to be in the way if anything fell out of that pot.
"O-Oh! Yes, ma'am." As the violet-haired girl streaked into the dining room, sidling down one of the seats near the end of the table, she quickly said her thanks as she let the heavenly smell wash over her again. The fact that she had been in the kitchen not two minutes prior didn't make the smell any less scrumptious, and her stomach growled louder than a leopard. She was almost afraid others would hear, what with the cacophony beneath her clothing.
The archer was rather shocked when Mr. Droselle walked in, and resisted the urge to gawk openly. He had an older man sort of charm, with knowledge that he was older than she not dampening the awe that accompanied his toned physique and kind face. His smile was encouraging, and his hair a delicate shade of sandy blond.
All thought on him stopped just as suddenly as her previous thoughts when the piles of stew were finally served. It looked as delicious as it smelled, and the looks passed between husband and wife went completely unnoticed as the archer dug in, completely famished and ready to taste the ambrosia that awaited her taste buds.
----
Eileen stumbled her way through the darkening streets, cursing with every poor cat she happened to step on and every piece of cobblestone that happened to catch her dragging feet. She knew she shouldn't have relied on another tourist to find her way around this town, and knew even better that she should have arrived sooner if she was to make heads and tails of anything in this town.
Every building in the blasted town looked the same at night- what was once a blue roof versus a black roof were now a pair of completely identical black roofs under the influence of the incoming night's veil. Even so, she knew that an inn couldn't be too hard to find; after all, all travelers went there to rest, right? There were bound to be others around there that could help her find a place to spend the night.
Shifting her large spear, she carefully made her way through town, cursing at last when she ran into a large sack before one of the buildings in town. She'd seen the sack once before, and had felt it more than once- only, last time, it wasn't a klutz attack, but a resting spot. Seeing it now as an antagonist, however, she resisted the urge to poke at the goods, looking away for a moment. Then, glaring back at Talaris's sack (almost as if she expected it to apologize for tripping her), she looked just beside it... and into the inn.
It figured that the only place she had been before would be just beside where she wanted to go.
Walking gingerly inside, she looked up for a moment, with joy filling her eyes as she looked at a very familiar person sitting at the dining room table.
"Alisia! Yo, 'sup sis?"
"Mrrmg, grrphm! Airwrmmph!" Was all the girl could manage from her point of view, finishing her mouthful of stew as she looked from Mrs. Droselle to her sister again; whether she could stay or not was not her affair, but it certainly would be nice.
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Posted: Sat May 26, 2007 8:00 pm
((Self-necroposting? Lolz))
Realizing that he had said nothing in a great while, Talaris took his meal in a continued silence as he ate. He guessed that the others would not much care if he had spoken or not. His grumbly voice was grating at best, even when he tried his hardest to speak softly.
Despite the rather large beard the merchant sported, none of his stew fell into the mass of black facial hair as it might with other, less refined people. Talaris laughed inwardly at that. He considered shaving for a half a moment, then forgot about it. I'll have to braid it at least. That ought to look interesting.
Finishing off his food quickly, Talaris set his silverware down beside him.
"Alisia, Dagon. I apologize for my...lack of conversation, as it were. I am glad you both approve of my earlier proposition and wish to carry it out soon. I have a feeling, however, that we'll have other things to deal with beforehand." He absently stroked his beard. "...Oh my. that must have sounded like paranoia. Sorry, I get like this sometimes. After those thieves ran off with half my merchandise I have to expect the worst." The giant man stood, moving to exit the Inn.
"Excuse me, but I'm taking my cart outside for an hour or so. Personal business, let's leave it at that."
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Posted: Sun May 27, 2007 12:38 am
Thunk!
The sound of a log hitting the bottom of the fireplace woke Iria abruptly. Her head quickly rose up from the book, and looked around to see what made the noise, still half-asleep. She stretched, yawning a little, and glanced over at the window. It was still somewhat early in the night, and Iria had already fallen asleep. She lightly slapped herself on her cheek, but flinched at her powerful strike.
"Oww..."
Iria threw the book aside and went outside to the barn once more. She carefully opened the door, trying not to make any noise. She crouched down next to a family of tiny lunatics, curled up into a ball. She stared at them with loving eyes, but not touching them in fear of waking them. She thought through what she would do tomorrow at Prontera, now sitting against the wall, and hoped that she might be able to pick up some spellbooks with her left over money.
Iria sighed, and turned her gaze towards the half opened barn door when something caught her glimpse. A dark shadow was moving fast out of the barn. Squinting, Iria got up, brushing the hay out of her clothes, and slowly followed it. Closer to the door, she realized it was a baby savage babe that was born only few weeks ago. She stalked it faster, determined to catch it and return it back into it's rightful home, when she accidentally tripped over an object. She hit the ground with a loud thud, scaring the savage bade off. Cursing, she quickly picked herself up and rushed outside, hoping that the fence would stop it, but because of it's small size, it slipped right under the fences.
"Gaahh!! Damn it!! Babe! Stop!! It's ok!! I'm not gonna hurt you!!"
Although it was still a baby, it's small size and the lack of light was making hard for Iria to track it down. Iria could still make out the small creature running down the road, but when it made it's way towards Prontera, Iria cursed and sped up.
Damn it!! Chasing a baby pig in enormous city... What a way to prove my skills...
"Baabe!!!"
Iria yelled desperately, hoping that it would miraculously stop the pig, but she knew it wouln't work, though she would've like to hope. Chasing down a pig was not what Iria had in mind for night time relaxation.
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Posted: Sun May 27, 2007 2:05 pm
Kel considered her options.
She could wander the streets, looking for some simple work, like pickpocketing. She didn't consider herself above such petty thievery, though some did. If whoever it was wasn't sharp or wise enough to keep a close eye on their wallets, it was a good lesson for them. She could go out beyond the city gates to gather some simple ingredients. She could always use more of the kind of common thing one could find along the roads. She could go to a pub and get some food and drink, too, though she wasn't really all that hungry.
There were endless options, but she decided to wander a bit more. It was effortless to weave among the shadows, and kind of fun, too. Besides, some opportunity might come up. She passed many noisy houses full of eating people, including one inn that sounded especially full - she knew it to be the Droselle family inn. She'd never been there, but she knew it had a good reputation amongst the middle class. She slipped past the door without even looking in.
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Posted: Sun May 27, 2007 5:07 pm
“So, Avelaine, how was St. Capitolina’s?” began Mrs. Droselle, in between sips of stew, as she fumbled around inconspicuously in her apron pockets with her free hand, looking for something in particular. To another person, she might look as if she was just a little bit finicky, but to her, it was of grave importance.
Avelaine looked up from happily and loudly slurping her bowl of stew. “It was the same as always, nothing special, except that I’m finally done with Battle Acolyte training,” she said, in between large bites of bread. She knew how to set a table like a perfect wife, but when it came to actually eating dinner, she was no quaint and dainty little princess.
“That’s nice to hear, I never liked those priests anyway, I thought they were too. . . oh what’s the word . . . ‘faithful’, let’s put it.” declared Mrs. Droselle, as her hand stopped fumbling around in her pocket and stealthily pulled out what she was looking for. She saw a few more guests enter the Inn from where she was sitting, and she motioned for them to join them for dinner. “Come in, come in, my dears! There’s plenty of room at the table, and help yourself to some stew and bread. And if anyone wants second helpings, they are certainly most welcome to.”
Mr. Droselle laughed and toasted to good life around the table. He had some interesting conversation with some guests, but the matter seemed unclear to him. He was a firm believer in “Deus Ex Machina” (Machinations of the Gods or The Gods’ Will/Doings), however, and he believed that there was no such thing as coincidence, only Fate. In the back of his mind, he decided not to use his regular arrows instead. But his foot moved slowly to just below where the bow was secretly hidden.
Claire felt it too, as she had learned and developed a sense of intuition much akin to her adoptive parents’. Her hand unconsciously moved her sword to a position where she could pull it out easier, while silently sipping her soup with closed, meditative eyes. She had scanned the table guests earlier and found really no one to talk to, even the newly-entered guests did not stray her from her silent, almost automatic, eating habits.
In the middle of conversation, Mr. Droselle shot a look to his wife that, even though her eyes were closed, he was sure she saw him. From the corner of his lips, he said: “You better not destroy the table, honey; this one took me 2 months to finish.”
“I know, I know,” replied Mrs. Droselle, still with her eyes closed, “It’s just going to be a little demonstration.” And with that, time seemed to slow down to a screeching halt, the same way it does when one is in the face of mortal peril. Avelaine could feel it, and she unceremoniously reached for her mace while in the middle of the last big chunk of her bread, which she stuffed into her mouth in the last split second, so that she looked like a half-puffed blowfish.
The creature was on the roof, right above the dinner table. It signaled to the rest of its mates to jump in immediately after the initial drop. Their instructions were clear: to attempt an abduction of two members of the Warriors of Valhalla, the legendary guild that conquered both Thanatos’ Tower and Lighthalzen Laboratory.
Mrs. Droselle stood up hastily from her chair, pushing it back against the wall. Her hand flew up, clutching what seemed to be a thin, glittering fabric. As her palm slammed the table, the fabric seemed to stretch over and coat it completely. Her voice was clear as she yelled out: “Full Chemical Protection!”
Her other hand, which reached into a pocket during her skill, had reached for a bottle of red-orange liquid with a small flame emblem on it. But it was all barely a blur when she subsequently threw it at an empty spot in the middle of the table. The moment the bottle was uncorked, a small burst of flame shot out from the opening; it exploded into a huge pillar of fire that didn’t really burn anything else.
The ceiling broke down, a gaping hole straight through the roof, and the creature that had jumped through it unknowingly landed right in the middle of the pillar of chemical fire that Mrs. Droselle had ignited. It let out an ear-piercing howl that signaled the end of its life as it was chemically burned to death.
Mr. Droselle pushed himself back, bracing himself against the wall, but not before kicking the table from underneath, causing a compartment to open up and his bow to fall down. Scooping it up with his foot, he pulled the string as if an arrow was there, but there was none. As another creature dropped from the ceiling, the only thing he said was: “Phantasmic Arrow!” and let go of the string. The creature looked at him and roared, it looked down to find that it had a big, gaping hole in its torso. It degenerated into nothingness with another yell.
Claire did the same as her mother, her chair was pushed backwards and her sword unsheathed quickly to meet another creature that broke down onto the table. Her sword was swung diagonally, so that it would be hit with both the sharp end, and a broad side, flinging it towards the window. The creature shot straight through the glass, but disappeared before it even hit the ground.
Avelaine was still chewing her food when her mace swung upwards from the floor. The creature that just dropped down was unmercifully sent back from where it came from by Avelaine’s mace. Avelaine swallowed her food after saying goodbye to her victim, which decomposed into nothingness in the cold night breeze.
More creatures started popping in. Mrs. Droselle had already taken out several bottles from her pockets, some of them green, some of them orange, but there was one bottle in the middle of each two fingers. Mr. Droselle had already freed the arrows from their hidden compartment. The entire family stood ready to fight, no matter how many more came.
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Posted: Sun May 27, 2007 8:10 pm
Iria was getting endlessly frustrated with this pointless chase down the main road of Prontera.
"Get back here or I'll make a barbeque out of you!!"
Iria raised her hand, ready to cast fireball, when she heard howling noises from a nearby building. The babe also stopped upon hearing the noise, and ran right back towards Iria, jumping into her arms. She sighed, patting it's trembling body, and directed her gaze towards the noise.
Iria walked further down the road, driven by curiosity, looking around to see what made the noise. Not finding anything, Iria stopped for a moment, trying to see if she would hear another one. Not hearing anything, Iria sighed and turned around, when another howl caught her ear. She didn't lose the noise this time, and quickened her steps, arriving in front of the Droselle Inn. She couldn't help but gasp when she saw countless numbers of black shadows on the top of the inn.
Iria ran closer to the roof where it was little brighter, but she couldn't make out what they really were. Biting her lips and pride as creature breeder, though she was only an apprentice, Iria rushed inside, trying to see what those creatures were and what they were doing above the inn.
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Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 7:29 am
((I'm confused - is your character's real name Shiv or Daigon?))
Harmony considered the options set before her. She was pretty sure the Droselle Inn was where they had been before, so it must be pretty close. Also, it was an inn, and considering that she now had to find a place to stay, that seemed the ideal place to go.
She smiled back at Elohman. "The Droselle Family Inn sounds like a friendly place to me - why don't we head there?"
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Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 3:29 pm
Kel froze. She had just passed the doorway of the inn, and since she wasn't quite sure what she had heard, she stopped and listened. It was silent for a moment, and then she heard a resounding crash. It sounded like the roof had caved in. Chaos was erupting inside. A window broke around the corner as if something had been flung through it. She waited.
Then she heard another noise. A kind of scrabbling noise, and it was coming down from the roof, toward her. She crouched, and suddenly there appeared her dagger in her hand. She was still, hiding in the shadows of the eaves, when the creatures began pouring from above.
She watched them for a moment. They seemed intent on getting inside the inn, and she didn't stop them. No sense in putting herself in harm's way. If she stood still, they might not see her as a threat.
But then one of them spotted her, and signaled two of its mates. Her naked blade apparently was a threat. She gripped the handle tighter, but made no move as the creatures scrambled towards her, growling.
As soon as they were within striking distance, her arm whipped out. A scream filled her ears, but she was already turning to the next threat, swinging the blade back in a reverse arc. The first one was still screaming when the second creature joined in. Both wounds frothed; her blades were never truly naked.
The third creature paused, looking at its writhing mates, and then looked back up at her as they disintegrated. It snarled.
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