"Well your leg kind of ends here. I think we're well and truly into buttock territory by the time we get to the top of that scar. What do you think Riese, buttock territory?"
"Gratitude and piles of gold? Count me in. We'll set out tomorrow morning."
Altai leans back, scratching his blue beard. "Blademaster Hex has a good point; gold is in and of itself worthless. It is the objects we can exchange for gold that hold any value. Speaking of valuables and exchange, is there a place here that offers good tattoo-work?"
Hex grins a little...he's covered in tat's.
"Mama Toussante do inks." He flexes his arms; he even has his armpits inked he's so covered in Olman tats.
"She trade for gold."
"What is the story for that pyramid, Mista Sencho? Who built it? Anyone got any ideas here before we go up and get all messylike. Oso's little mama wouldn't want me to be stupid, would she?"
"Tattoos sound good. Anyone buying or selling round here?"
Sencho answers...."I really don't know much; looks Olman to me."
"forgive your servant, Honorable Lord Sencho. Sirs, the pyramid is not Olman. Older.
Xixwui....we call them beetle-people. Unknown what Xixwui called themselves. You can tell by the bricks. Xixwui."
He points to the stairway...
"Snakes up the sides of the stairwell.... called Kukulcan.....Quetzalcoatl...to Olman, anyway. To Xixwui? Don't know."
Elgan raises an appreciative eyebrow at the size of Gittik's,... scar.
But his interest truly perks when the tattooed swordsman mentions Queztalcoatl on the pyramid.
"Interestin' Chere'. Dey's gen'relly considered myths by mah people. But ah've heard tales frum a couple whut swore deys actually seen wun. I'm intersest'd. Long as weze gittin' paid anyhow,..." He adds with a nod at Reise.
A peglegged gnome shows you the way there... it's a shack down one row of docks; there's three guys in there getting drunk, getting their mermaids and anchors inked up on them.
An elderly grey pelted hadozee waves you in; "so you wanto get tattoo? Me the best! How much gold you got."
Monkey humanoid with big gold hooped earrings and a ruby tooth incisor.
Altai Iscarni(Male Human Wizard 14 (Conjuration school))
"You Toussante? Hex Chun Chan recommended you to me."
Altai draws up an intricate summoning circle on a piece of parchment. "On my chest. And I've got plenty of gold, so don't worry about that."
You see another guy over there; getting tatted up. He's lieing on his back and a guy is whacking a pin with a flat piece of wood over and over and over and over...his teeth are clenched, his face flushed red; he's trembling somewhat.
Altai Iscarni(Male Human Wizard 14 (Conjuration school))
"Sounds good to me. So, I dabble in wizardry. I deal with creatures from other worlds and realities, and I'd like a tattoo that illustrates that. Furthermore, I'd like it to be crisp enough that I could possibly enchant it later and use it as a eldritch focus - thus the runes I drew up. D'you think that would be possible?"
I have no idea how magical tattoos would work - it is (for now) just a thought.
And, yeah, old-school tattoos hurt. I have a few myself, but I'm soo glad the tattoo guys did them with machines.
"I not dem sure what you mean about the magic, but I like to have white sword pointing up on the front of my chest. One that points to my god. You can make that? I am priest of Kelanen so if you have others that look good then say."
"Hey you can make magical tattoos? how about my holy symbol< I could use a spare on my body. Never lose that unless I be skinned and dead."
---
later on through gritted teeth, "hurts some, I just wanna say that Sencho ain't playing us right. If we go into that pyramid and save the day, he could kick our tired bodies into the sea if we haven't rested and such before we come out. He looks like he wants to be the boss."
"Guess not; you not do the recitations."
She looks at you;
"Baron Houses; they's Kelanen, sorta.....off a bit. They play The Code Duello. One guy gets a note, with another guy's name on it. Then goes and finds him and duels him. It's sacred to them. Duelling. Say it makes Kelanen smile on them."
"I thin they play here, they started the game in the Sea Barons. They play where they play. Anywhere. I thin they crazy."
Altai Iscarni(Male Human Wizard 14 (Conjuration school))
dungeonmaster heathy wrote:
"I kin draw annythin you want me draw. Sho me the runes."
She looks them over....cackles..
I was thinking a standard magic circle drawn in metallic ink, plus a number of runes and glyphs asociated with summoning and controlling. Just to be inclusive, he'll include relevant phrases in Draconic, Celestial, Abyssal and the four elemental languages. It'll probably end up being a fairly involved and intricate (not to mention painful) piece of work, so once Altai's sketched it out, he gets himself a bottle of rotgut to soothe the pain. He'll share with the other victims as needed.
I don't know what kinda dog that gray(ish) one is; my neighbor has one. He seems somewhat dangerous and it growls at me, but I can't bring myself to fear it...
Altai Iscarni(Male Human Wizard 14 (Conjuration school))
The shaggy beast is an Australian shepherd. They are fun, smart, high-energy dogs - unless your neighbour is a complete jackass who raised his dog to be nasty, it probably just wants to herd you somewhere. Some of them can get a little nippy when "encouraging" you to get in line, but they are usually great dogs.
I like Norse mythology - I've got Jormundgandir and Nidhogg on my arms, and the Fenris Wolf on my back. Next locations (once I get the money) are probably my legs, but I have no idea what to put there.
I've got some stretch marks, but they aren't very cool.
Altai Iscarni(Male Human Wizard 14 (Conjuration school))
Does anyone have anything else we need to do before we set off for the pyramid in the morning? Perhaps Pip could do a little Gather Info and pick up some rumours? Perhaps we ought to stock up on undead-killing magics and trap-defeating gear?
to avoid months of roleplaying a barter system;...anything you can afford you can find by hook or by crook...
Re: gather info, again, for me to elaborate it a little better....some dumb pirate went up the stairs to the top of the temple with a lady of the night....their beheaded bodies were found rolled down the stairs back to the base. No evidence of the whereabouts of their heads thus far has been established, and nobody else apparently claims that they went back up there.
Lotsa talk about "Olman Hoodoo going on up there" and "those places are usually filled with a room full of gold 10 feet high.....guarded by the ghosts of 99 Olman priests..."
One guy says there's ghost lights up there every evening.
One guy said he saw a beautiful Olman woman walking around the docks; she was asking him if he knew where her son got off to. Then he heard something behind him crash. He turned around, turned back to her and she was gone like she never existed.