snowglobe.....heh heh...
Elgan shrugs, and selects a bottle at random. He causes a tiny seed, buried in the cork, to sprout. And when it's large enough, deftly pulls out the cork with his living corkscrew.
The druid takes a speculative sip, then a swig big enough to make Stig almost respect the little druid. He wanders over to Altai and the otter.
Stig doesn’t notice – he’s three bottles in already.
Beldan (after taking several moments and a few swigs of fine wine to decipher Elgan’s words) shrugs. “You better ask it,” he says out of the otter’s hearing. “I don’t think it likes me much ... see if it knows if the dragon keeps any treasure elsewhere too.”
Stig doesn’t notice – he’s three bottles in already.Elgan shrugs, and selects a bottle at random. He causes a tiny seed, buried in the cork, to sprout. And when it's large enough, deftly pulls out the cork with his living corkscrew.
The druid takes a speculative sip, then a swig big enough to make Stig almost respect the little druid. He wanders over to Altai and the otter.
lightweight
snowglobe.....heh heh...
Elgan waves at the otter.
"'Scuze meh Fren'! But we'z wun'drin', Wuz yew allus a Otter, 'Er did deh dragon use a whammy on yeh? No offense ment, ah t'ink dat otters iz wun uv deh bestest critters in deh worl'. But we'z lookin' fer sumwun, and wundered if'n you wuz him? 'er if'n yeh maght know whar deh dragon keeps pris'ners?"
The otter appears; "yeah? What do you want?"
"What's your name, bub? And how old are you? Or, rather, what's the first thing you can remember?"
snowglobe.....heh heh...
Elgan waves at the otter.
"'Scuze meh Fren'! But we'z wun'drin', Wuz yew allus a Otter, 'Er did deh dragon use a whammy on yeh? No offense ment, ah t'ink dat otters iz wun uv deh bestest critters in deh worl'. But we'z lookin' fer sumwun, and wundered if'n you wuz him? 'er if'n yeh maght know whar deh dragon keeps pris'ners?"
"I'm an otter, every now and again.
Naah; the dragon embarassed me at a party once......but I got him back.The dragon doesn't keep prisoners anywhere."
"What's your name, bub? And how old are you? Or, rather, what's the first thing you can remember?"
The otter appears; "yeah? What do you want?"
"Aaaah. Brash one, aren't you?
I'm Loki.I quit counting age before your world was created."
Pip starts at the otter's claim
"Loki? The trickster Jotun? I had heard tales that you were bound by your own son's guts to a rock."
He strums Lucille
"Light art thou, Loki,
But longer thou mayst not
In freedom flourish thy tail;
On the rocks the gods bind thee
With bowels torn
Forth from thy frost-cold son."
"uuuh,....Yeah,...."
Well, it ain't necessarily so
Well, it ain't necessarily so
Dey tells all you chillun
De debble's a villun,
But it ain't necessarily so !
The Otter starts singing Sportin' Life's bit from Porgy and Bess...
heh heh heh heh heh heh heh.......
Robin Williams as Loki....
Oh, duuh....
never gave out exp.
Didn't kill Svipdag, but you did turn him into a turtle.
13,000 exp each.
heh heh
Huzzah!
"uuuh,....Yeah,...."
Well, it ain't necessarily so
Well, it ain't necessarily so
Dey tells all you chillun
De debble's a villun,
But it ain't necessarily so !The Otter starts singing Sportin' Life's bit from Porgy and Bess...
Pip watches the singing otter in amusement, idly accompanying his song with Lucille.
"Soooooo ...uh.. Loki, what brings you out here?"
Performance(strings): :
Perception:
Sense Motive:
He stops singing;
"It's a long story, but......sometimes, I have regrets. And sometimes,.......I'm a sucker for a pretty face...."
Re: sense motive,.....
he's up to something. It is his very nature to be up to something by default.
In fact, though, you can't tell just what. It's hard to read otter body language. Plus the fact that Loki is always and eternally up to something whether he actually knows it or not.
He is, in essence, the concept of "up to something" personified.
He stops singing;
"It's a long story, but......sometimes, I have regrets. And sometimes,.......I'm a sucker for a pretty face...."
Pip nods
"I'm a sucker for a pretty face as well, though I haven't had time to chat many up since I started this journey. So what regret brings you here? Dustup with the dragon?"
Pip casts an eye towards the cloud of valkyries
"Or did you besmirtch the virtue of one of those shield maidens?"
"Oh, no;.........Wotanics don't work that way. You're thinking of some chaster religion perhaps.
I just go where the action is really."
Pip frowns at the reply Loki gives him
"so I guess there is more action to come? I had kind of hoped the action was kind of over for now"
"Well,....as far as you guys are concerned the action's over,.....I'm not gonna......like......dispel the beast's magic or anything."
HUZZAH!
Beldan looks between Pip and the otter, bewildered. Ok ... so the otter had a name – Loki, sounded kinda familiar, but Beldan couldn’t quite place it – and seemed to be someone important. He shakes his head and wanders back upstairs, looking up at the big breasted warrior women riding through the sky. Something didn’t feel right about this whole thing. Well, Hnoss’s dad for starters ... where was he?
The rogue sighs and goes over to look at the magnificent rapier again. Being a cautious fellow he investigates for any traps or anything around about before picking it up.
“Hey Altai, is this magical?”
no traps about the rapier.
Altai says "It's.....artifact-level. The most powerful thing I've ever seen."
It's a +4 rapier.....for now.
“Cool ...” Beldan shows off with a bit of mock fencing.
"Nice moves there,......" says Loki sarcastically.
“Thanks,” says Beldan. “Nice tail.”
Beldan can feel the blade actually cutting the air it's so sharp.
There's a ripping sound like fabric.
"Whoa."
He puts the sword into its scabbard. Carefully.
Then, "So ... what now? I guess we should look around the island, see if Hnoss's father is stashed around here somewhere? If we can't find him ... I guess we should ask that big witch if she knows anything."
Loki just laughs;
"If you need me for anything, I'll be catchin some clams....."
heh heh...where you searching?
It's about a mile in diameter; pine trees;....
Bring at least one or two of the others with me and start doing a methodical look around I suppose.
Hnoss comes;
"I'm.....I'm sorry I brought you on this fool's errand.
I guess my father wasn't here afterall....Loki probably just told me he was here in order to taunt me.
I hate Loki."
Look around for a half hour; don't find anything interesting, beyond giant bones......gleaned of their weaponry by the fishwife perhaps, and dragon bones, gleaned of their meat by ravens.
“Man ... that sucks for you,” says Beldan. “I’m sorry Hnoss. That Loki guy is a bit of an ass, isn’t he?”
"He's......nothing but trouble, I suppose. I guess I shouldn't have trusted him, but.....I just wanted to find my father. I've never even seen him, well....that I can remember.
Such is fate,....."
“Yeah, me either ... with my dad I mean.” Beldan looks reflective for a moment. “Of course, my dad was a no good con artist who knocked up my mother then left town never to return, so I’d probably as soon give him a good kicking if I ever did run into him ...”
"Oh, that's.....horrible. My father, he was a wanderer. He felt more at home in the woods really. He wasn't happy in Valhal. It made him uncomfortable. All the folk and their games. And games within games."
Beldan shrugs. “Oh well. I turned out pretty good anyway.”
She rests her hand on Beldan's shoulder.
It's.......uncomfortable, like fire and electricity, or something in between. Hot or cold;.....it's too much.
"Yeah.....I guess so," she says.
Pip listens to the back and forth. He hears Hnoss talk about her father, and a sneaking suspicion begins to dawn. He hurries after the two, talking to them in hushed tones
"Um, I just had an awful thought. Hnoss, has this dragon been around for a long time? I mean, Loki is a master at changing shapes and he said your dad was here? Maybe, Svipdag isn't a normal dragon? Did Loki hide your dad as a dragon?"
".....I......I don't know;....." is all she says.
"I......doubt HE would have done that. If he did,....the wrath of Valhall would have fallen on his head....."