A Heavy Burden (Inactive)

Game Master Scott Williams 16

Borden drinks.

Noting no one joined him in his quiet toast, Deivon takes a small sip and sits back down, looking as Ysmerelda. "A simple toast for a man of such character." He sighs, as thoughts of his faith, and by extension his mission, come forth.

Kye quickly ate his meal and listened to the stories of Professor Lorrimor from those all around him. It suddenly occurred to him that being this close to the Shudderwood, he may be able to find news of his father and perhaps even see him. It had been so long, and this is where it all began all those years ago, Lorrimor and my father traipsing through the Shudderwood together. Life was so different then.

Allowing those memories to fade back into his mind, he girded himself and entertained the first thought of remounting the earth since he'd come through the door several minutes ago. For Lorrimor he mumbled to himself as he stood and turned to face the small crowd.

Good patrons, and fellow travelers! My good friends, as it seems, and fine looking women... and men... fine, stout looking bunch... Gather your wits you idiot! Yes... if I may, it seems we are all here for the same purpose, as demonstrated several times this fine evening, but I would be remiss if I didn't offer my own thanks to a man who was as much like family to me as any, and to do so in a way befitting the scholar he was. He reached into a pocket of his robe and retrieved a small book raising it high in the air. To Lorrimor, who once told me that "True greatness can never be achieved without the cultivation of knowledge." It would seem that he lent his hand to more than one plow here and spread his seed far and wide throughout Ustalav... of course, not exactly his seed... oh dear, I mean... his love! He spread love... to everyone, well not love exactly. This is... rather embarrassing. He paused briefly in an attempt to regain his composure, looked at the floor, and took a deep breath. I dare say there is not one here who isn't so much the better for having been known by him... for having known him. To Lorrimor. He had hoped to make eye contact with several of the less intoxicated in the crowd, but know couldn't bring himself to find the gaze of anything but the reflection of the confused barkeeper in the window. He turned slowly back to the bar. I may never speak again. If I may, good sir, please convey my great satisfaction to the lovely lady who prepared my meal. Might you have a bed remaining?

Borden drinks.

I think he may have a problem. ;)

It seems many people will come to attend funeral. If i will be able to blend in it will help investigation
- My drink have arrived! - he spun on his chair - Since dwarf did not ordered anything i would like some stew

Borden drinks.

Well, now Narah had a bad conscience. It wasn't quite clear what he had been really asking earlier, but she couldn't let a faithful down like this. And the mammalian creature who wasn't at some level faithful to Calistria - the goddess of the beast inside as Narah saw it - had yet to be born. Desire for a mate, desire for revenge, desire to get your way, no matter what. The faith to her wasn't always pretty, but it was deeply honest in all its lies.

She reached her hand out for his shoulder, without actually touching it. "About the question you earlier stated without asking it: My counsel is always free. Is it a woman you're thinking about? Is it an unfulfilled desire that drives you? If you like we could sit a bit apart from the others and talk; and if there is someone waiting for you I'll make sure she'll like what I have to tell you. If there is something you long for I might be able to help you understand and find it... I won't be holding things you tell me in private against you, even things that may regard myself." Her look was warm and while she kept his eyes fixed she bowed her head slightly. "This is an invitation, it's not a threat. If you want communication, that's what you get."*

---
* The Cardigans, Communication

Hotrek chuckles as he sees the crowd simply growing by the minute. He brandishes the quill in his hand like a weapon.
"I would like to write down how each of us met the good Professor and commit these notes to posterity. All of us have come from all over the lands for this wonderful man. Let us celebrate the man, his life and most of all for bringing us all together. Let us not mourn his passing for he likely would have asked 'Why' and then most likely succeed in explaining his answers what ever he may find to support him."

Having said that, he climbs down from the chair that he used to elevate his height (to no avail actually). Preparing fresh parchment, he waits.

Daniel tries a piece of the honeyed bread.
After one bite, he semi chokes on it, wanting to say something while swallowing.
*cough...pardon..*
Bartender, you said the bread was good, but that would be an understatement.
I've been away from golarion for several years and had no quality food.
Please tell the miss it tastes great."

Borden hasn't a problem- he drinks, he gets drunk, he falls down - no problem. I want to get into a fist fight as well but its not good to punch out potential party members

Btw Sirsi, you're not getting into trouble yet are you? :)

Why not - told some drop dead gorgeous hottie earlier but sure, will tell it again..., the scruffy half drunk man proclaims.

He does his best to make it an epic tale - the tale of a Pathfinder Aspirant, who liked to drink, and fight and wench... Who happened to fail one, maybe two... well maybe a few exams, and landed a job as a bodyguard for Lorrimor who was departing Absolom at the time. The tale goes on to where Borden decided to accompany the Professor back to Ustalav, with the Professor, teaching the young bravo history and unintententionally helping him take the fledgling skills picked up with the Pathfinders and parley that into a career as a tomb robber.

Borden wraps up his story with a 'funny anecdote' of a drinking spree that he and the professor had, that ends ... And that's when we bought the horse a prostitute.

perform (oratory) 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (16) + 7 = 23

Evidently a steady stream of booze and not trying so hard to get laid (as he was before) allows him to relax into his normal natural rhythm as a story teller.

She listened attentively smiled every now and then and raised an eyebrow here and there. But it seemed like she wasn't primarily paying attention to his words. Narah actually counted how often he'd look into her eyes, how often he looked deeper down her body and how often he looked to someone else. Most often he looked into his tankard though...

Every now and then she would try him, make a slight gesture with her hand or shift in her chair to see how he reacted to this and that stimulus, may it be a motion of her throat, the tension in her thighs or her lips opening and closing again, to estimate what he was truly after.

She went over the horse remark with a raised eyerbow and returned: "You have a remarkable way with words, but I still hope you didn't tell the 'gorgeous hottie' the story in the same way you just told me. Did you let her know how gorgeous she is? And what is it that makes her so gorgeous; not what you told her, but the truth..."

When Hotrek climbed up the chair, she raised her hand though, curious what he had to say.

Errr ... nope - on both scores. Gotta have an air o' mystery yer see. Anyways sorta didn't seem appropriate at the time to get into her specifics but she's floatin' around ere someplace so I'll get around to it fer sure.

"Air of mystery... yes." She couldn't help but had to look at the tankard. "Well, if you like to hire me, I'll gladly be at your service. Not for something extensive, but I can help you out; and I am good at giving delight at even the short sparks of passion... for that you won't have to spend gold, silver will do. Just give me a sign should you decide so. And...", she smirked, "I would be careful to which Calistrian you repeat that horse story - unless you don't have a problem with wasps."

With a last smile she leaned back and directed her attention to Hotrek.

Well - they both seemed happy, an' thats all that counts I 'spose.

He stops and thinks for a moment. Never had a Callistrian Courtesan offer to 'ride the Vanguard'* fer me before - thanks fer that... but naw, man's gotta do what a man's gotta do, an' who knows maybe I'll take you up on the gold side of the arrangement if'n things don't work out - Only live once... without High Priests that is.

* Golarian equivalent of 'Wing Man'.

The gorgeous hottie in question is giving Borden a fiery death stare from across the room, having been abandoned by him to go talk the seemingly endless amounts of beautiful women enter the bar.

To go prance off somewhere else and bark up another tree is one thing, I understand that, but not even a proper goodbye? Nope! One minute we were having a fine conversation, and BAM he goes off to talk to another one, ignoring me ever since!

She seems to be angry, but holding it in, but her mental defenses may not hold out for long judging by the amount of glasses in front of her.

Sorry, I meant to jump back in, but it has been a busy couple days and any way I thought of to post to climb my way into the fray seemed ill constructed and awkward. But now I have an opening! You still want that fight? She'll give it to you. Fair warning though, hell hath no fury like a fire sorceress scorned.

Sure! Blame it all on the man :D Its always their fault! All men are bastards!

If we are both selected then this could be a fun dynamic where we never seem to connect emotionally at the right time, well, emotionally for you. Borden doesn't really have many of those, as they are things that women have. Real Men just get happy, angry, sad, horny and hungry - they don't have 'emotions'

On fighting with you? Men don't fight girls... just not done. Anyone raising a hand to woman in Bordens presence better be prepared to look for their teeth in the near future. Borden will punch on with any man here though. I suspect, thanks to his toughness and his Imp. unarmed strike he's one of the better brawlers in the room

Fair warning though, hell hath no fury like a fire sorceress scorned.

Daniel would like to differ....having been there already :)

Daniel is lost in thought a bit, not the firm drinker like some of the others, he takes another walk.
Accidentally he bumps into the chair of another redhead, hair kind of like his own, except for the bit of blonde in.
Should this have caused her drink to spill, Daniel would offer to get her something new.

"Pardon miss, i was lost in thought for a moment."

At Borden's words, Hotrek's quill flys across his parchment as he fills up the note book he has with yet another entry. His fingers aches abit at the intensity of his writing but he's sure that he manages to get it all down.

His very words imparting such emotion that Hotrek dispairs of capturing the exact feeling in his writings and puts it there as a side note.

-Annals of Borden and his horse, Penned by Hotrek-

Looking up as he takes another draw of the sweet cool water, he asks.
"Anyone else care to share their story?"

-Annals of Borden and his horse, Penned by Hotrek-

LOL

Melchior gulps his drink vigorously, peering at writing dwarf with his left eye And that one have a lot of information, it seems
- Heey, you writing a book about professor? Not much i can tell about him, except that he does not like to be robbed and stabbed by hobgoblins, but who does? On the other hand i would like to read about his life, now that its untimely ended. If that's not a problem, of course - he strolls to the table people gathered around.

Seeing that the Orc seeming wants to remain to himself, Bran suddenly erupts from his seat. Who wants to have an arm wrestling contest!?! Bran scans the tavern eagerly for someone to accept his challenge.

Intimidate: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (19) + 6 = 25 (if it matters)

I'm afraid this book I'm writing is incomplete as yet." Hotrek looks up at his questioner. At this point Hotrek can easily be seen to be shorter than most of his kin.

"Perhaps, you'd like to share a story of yourself and the professor? It'll help make this little book more complete so that as many as possible friends of the professor can read about the man who for some fell into their lives." Hotrek asks.

Time for a break anyhow. Sandalero puts down his instrument and walks over to Hotrek. Sitting down next to the scribe, Sandalero quietly tells his story, adding a few more details of the short time that he and the Professor spent together after escaping the ghouls.

So, yeah. I never really knew the man much. I guess I can see that to him, I was the kid that saved his life. But to me he'll always be the guy who got my father horribly killed.

After a moment, Sandalero quickly gets up from his seat, grabs a new drink from the bartender, and retreats outside into the night air.

Holy crap! He's a scary one and look at the bloody size of him!, Borden frets but he's never one to back down from a fight.

I'll be havin' ya! Let me do a shot first!

Borden goes back to the bar for some dutch courage and to calm himself before the contest giving himself time to recover from being shaken.

Okay! I'm ere big'un an' I'm not afraid of ya - cheat an' I'll break yer nose!

He plonks his arm loudly on the table and flexes a time or two. Its clear he's arm wrestled before.

How do you want to play this? Straight strength rolls? Margin of error and the first to 5 or 10 overall points wins? Leads to a more 'back and forth' sort of thing. CMB vs CMD and the first to get to 3 total or some variant therein?

You just cant ask for an arm wrestling match and not hang around to see if there are any comers :)

Delighted at Borden accepting the challenge, Bran greets him with a hearty laugh. EXCELLENT! I'm glad you accepted the challenge Borden. You will be squaring off against this fine gentleman. Bran gestures toward the Orc sitting quietly by himself.

Borden may or may not have seen the Orc features on his attempt to pull his hood close, also not sure if he recognized the Orc accent. Borden has been okie-doked. LOL

Good luck sir!

Sorry, my responses may not be immediate, I'm at work right now :)

Was taking the piss :)

Nah - I want you mate. I want a meal, not a snack!, Borden says earnestly.

If the half orc player posts then I can be persuaded but he hasn't posted - can't arm wrestle a guy who doesn't post, besides, lets have a bit of fun you and I. I am ok to give everyone a 'spot light moment' even if it means I "lose" and your spotlight is your 'Giant-ness' (which is cool as balls - never thought about how it could be done but the rules as written can support it, so I may steal the idea for another game)

Time for a break anyhow. Sandalero puts down his instrument and walks over to Hotrek. Sitting down next to the scribe, Sandalero quietly tells his story, adding a few more details of the short time that he and the Professor spent together after escaping the ghouls.

So, yeah. I never really knew the man much. I guess I can see that to him, I was the kid that saved his life. But to me he'll always be the guy who got my father horribly killed.

After a moment, Sandalero quickly gets up from his seat, grabs a new drink from the bartender, and retreats outside into the night air.

Hotrek pauses a moment as he digilently scribes all that this bard has to say.

-Sandalero, Song of Saving and Loss, as penned by Hotrek-

Doesn't bother me a bit if I lost. We'll give the other guy a chance to respond first.

No one has lost yet - we haven't even started! But ok, lets give him a chance - back in 6 hrs or so

The gorgeous hottie in question is giving Borden a fiery death stare from across the room, having been abandoned by him to go talk the seemingly endless amounts of beautiful women enter the bar.

To go prance off somewhere else and bark up another tree is one thing, I understand that, but not even a proper goodbye? Nope! One minute we were having a fine conversation, and BAM he goes off to talk to another one, ignoring me ever since!

She seems to be angry, but holding it in, but her mental defenses may not hold out for long judging by the amount of glasses in front of her.

Narah followed the challange between the boys, but had a hard time faking interest. She looked across the public room until saw a fierce young woman, hardly more than a girl, staring with some attitude at Borden. By Calistria, that girl has some spirit!

Narah's snarl came back and she walked over to her, putting some exaggerated emphasize into her steps that she would never use to actually seduce a man.

"Hello, young woman." Narah said in an actually friendly tone - no reason to start out all too aggressively. "Were you affiliated with Professor Lorrimor, too? His assistant maybe, to make his lectures more interesting for his students?"

"How about a little game... I'll be the lucky charm of the big guy with the tribal hair cut. You think you can keep up with a blessing of Calistria?"

She hoped she didn't push it too far, but a little challenge should spice everything up a little. Unfortunately it would be difficult to cheat - there were too many people who would notice if she would cast a spell.

Narah couldn't help it, but her eyes glanced briefly to Morthos as she wondered what he'd think about this. Hopefully the little lass hadn't seen this...

Who is the big guy in green? I'm assuming it's Bran.

Yeah, who or do I need to go get some green clothing on? Anyways, thats not a real contest. 'Hi - we're both drop dead beautiful, first one to screw that guy in a room of half drunk men wins'. If it was a guy saying that? Thats a contest but guys in a bar? They rarely turn down casual sex from beautiful girls unless they are afraid of getting mugged or waking in a bathtub of ice. Except possibly paladins - but those guys are weird :D

Shush sees the two meat-heads comparing arm sizes. He saunters over with a smirk.

Wait a minute- Bran, didn't you challenge Borden? Why is the poor dwarf all of a sudden the one to be wrastling?

- There is not much to tell, really. I was just walking down the road and saw carriage attacked by hobgoblins. As true gorumite i used my outstanding strategic thinking - elf pointed at his head - and charged the bastards while they were distracted. Then i hit him like that, and other guy tried to stab me but i dodged, just like that - Melchior started flailing his arms around imitating some sloppy combat scene, almost knocking over some mugs and ended up toppling one of the chairs - Good thing Gorum gave me power to heal wounds or you would have to attend this ceremony few years earlier

just a heads up keep it civil in here kids, some of you are dancing a little too close to the edge. I am posting from my phone but I am watching.

If you mean me - Seraphine and I talked about this in the recruitment chat.

Hey watch it!

She seems angry as she cleans up the mess with a wave of her hand, but she calms down after she figures out it was an accident.

It's...alright. But only as long as I get that drink. She flashes a winning smile at him.

To Narah,

Yeah, I knew him, but not for very long. But what exactly are you implying there, making his lectures more interesting?

For a moment Narah looked a bit disappointed. It had been such a good plan. Make a big fuzz over the contest, display her confidence in Bran's victory, but secretly ask him to loose the fight for a favour from her. If he did she would have left in medium scale scene setting the fierce red head and Borden up with each other...

Plan B? Difficult. Better surrender...
"I was implying... To be perfectly honest I was trying to tease you into the contest. I noticed the spirit with which you looked at Borden... but I couldn't care less about the boys and their fights. Please accept my honest apology."

She looks over the amount of bottles lined up on her table. "Mind if I join you for a bit? I always like to get to know the competition especially if she commands over magic." She smiles friendly and wished she could make her dress instantly opaque with some kind of magic. She froze for a moment and continued hastily: "Erm... I consider all women who are as amazingly beautiful and fierce as you are competition..."

She seemed ready to blow up at Narah at the insinuation, but the apology and the compliment calms her down.

I guess you can join me. The name's Sera.

Huuummm Perhaps you would like to teach me Sylvan one day? I am a fast leaner and a, very good friend to have.. hehe

she remarks playfully to glade.

Right Val?

The raven responds
Usually.

And you swear it laughs.

Your Raven can talk, amazing. And yes I'd be glad to teach you someday. Curios, what does make you interested in Sylvan? Glade smiles and is very impressed with everything.

"Thank you, I am Narah." She extends a hand to Seraphine and sits down afterwards. "Would you care to play a little game, anyway. An answer for an answer... like truth or dare just without dare." She gives the sorceress a slight challenging grin and examines her for a moment as she makes herself comfortable. "What do you think about Calistria's faith and her prostitutes, like myself?"

Well it's boooring without the dare! Hmmm...I never really though about it. Honestly I don't know much about Calistra or her followers. So no opinion. Hmmm...now what should I ask you...I know! Why Calistra? Out of all the gods to align yourself with, why her?

Morthos sits down next to Sera and Narah. "Well you know how to work a room dear lady." He says to Narah. "As for why, Sera was it? Isn't it obvious? It's all for the fun."

also lol at the paladins are weird remark.

Narah smiles and loosens eye contact for a moment, seemingly lost in memories. "That's... not that simply. I originally come from a temple in Katapesh and am one of her courtesans in the third generation of a female line. Of course I don't know who my father and grandfather were... but... it is not that simple.

It just is what I truly am - and I am like the wind. Maybe I'll settle, some day, be a wife and a mother. But then I'll be able to show my husband what heaven truly means."

She thinks about her next question for a moment, wondering whether she should continue her current angle or try something else. "We can do dare if you like... but, please, not something entirely humiliating. Who was your last lover?"

I didn't see that Morthos had said something in the mean time.
Narah's cheeks grow pink as she notices Morthos behind her. "That... was not meant for your ears, good paladin of the crusade."

Shush sees the two meat-heads comparing arm sizes. He saunters over with a smirk.

Wait a minute- Bran, didn't you challenge Borden? Why is the poor dwarf all of a sudden the one to be wrastling?

Bran actually "pulled the chair" on Borden and announced that the challenge issued was actually for someone to arm wrestle the quiet Orc that just came in, not Hotrek the Dwarf. See the wording, he asked if anyone wanted to arm wrestle, but he didn't ask if anyone wanted to arm wrestle him. Bran and Borden are going back and forth in what I believe is nothing more than a drunken, friendly manner.

hmhm, Indeed it can. I have a yearning for learning, as it were. Or, as my mentor use to put it. I hate being in a situation where I cannot understand what is being sad, or do not understand what is going on you see. Sylvan is just yet another step on that path to understanding languages. I was told I have a talent for them.

Just to make sure everyone knows, you cannot see her face clearly, the veil she wears is rather thick, but it covers any markings on her. It also causes her eyes to appear green, purely fluff ofc, so I hope the GM won't mind.

Daniel returns with Seraphine's drink.
"Here you are miss.", he notices the two others now sitting with the redhead.
"Ladies.....", nodding politely.
"Mind if i sit down, or is the conversation ladies-talk?"