The Diamond City is a buzz as the celebration draws near. For whatever reason you find yourself in the city the day before the festivities begin. Off in one district of the city you manage to find a reasonable tavern and sit yourself down for a drink.
Feel free to RP in here and get to know one another...
Cassius smiles very politely at the tavern wench, doing the closed-mouth smile that he does in order to hide his rather impressive dentalware. People don't generally like to see half-orc teeth.
"Hello, dear, could I trouble you for a spot of hot tea? Perhaps some ginger root?"
The blank look the young woman gives him causes the tall half-orc to sigh. "No?"
"We're a tavern, not a tea-house."
"Mmm. Of course. In that case, do you have any elven wine?"
"Elven...? We... might," the girl says skeptically. Cassius sighs a second time.
"House wine, then?"
The girl says she'll see what she can find, and heads off. The scholar privately wagers to himself he'll be lucky if he gets watered-down vinegar. It's hard being a man of taste.
Pushing his spectacles up his nose, Cassius digs a few scrolls out of his pack and resumes reading about the applications of magical energy upon the cycles of the seasons and the mating habits of the common beetle...
Rodger finds himself in front of the tavern, uncertain of whether or not he should go in. It's been so long since I have been to a tavern, so long that I have almost forgotten the taste of ale. Last time I was here, my squad and I had celebrated a major victory, we had stolen plans for an uprising in the capitol. Oh, how bittersweet that victory was. If only we knew what it had cost us. At any rate, I am sure to find some information here, so might as well give it a try.
Clenching his fist, Rodger walks into the tavern and up to the bar. He waves his hand at the ever-busy bartender, hoping to catch his attention. "Bartender, hey! One ale please, thanks."While he waits for his ale, he inspects the people of this *fine* establishment. Many of them are here for the festivities, though what exactly is going on, Robert hasn't the slightest clue, nor does he care, really. Hopefully they drink their fair share of ale so their tounges get a bit looser. This might be easier than I thought after all... Now who-
"That will be two coppers, thank'ee." The bartender states behind you.
"Ah yes, here you are."
Taking his ale, Rodger walks into an empty booth in the back corner of the room where he can see everything, and sets his ale on the table and pulls out his pipe. He stuffs it and lights it, a small smirk arising on his face as he inhales. "Ahhhh... Might as well relax for a while. This should be interesting."
As jack enters the tavern he can feel the stares of others as he approaches the bar. He expects stares like these a lot. He’s a gunslinger and most people haven’t seen a gun before, so some curious stares are common.
”I’d like an ale if you don't mind.” Jack flashes a smile as he starts rolling a coin through his hand. The woman behind the bar returns the smile. “Sure thing sugar.” she begins preparing the drink. ”Here ya go, enjoy ya drink. “ With a nod of his head ”Will do, and thank you very much madam." he places his coin on the table as he find an empty seat and begins working on his gun.
Cassius glances up from his scroll at noticing others entering. He offers a courteous smile and dip of his head to each of them.
The earthy scent of the one chap's tobacco fills the air. Cassius pushes his glasses up his nose and half-smiles. Reminds him of his father's study. Ah, youth and the halcyon days of yore...
The other young chap pulls out a device that makes the half-orc arch his brows. He watches intently for a few minutes.
"Excuse me. I do beg your pardon. Is that some manner of flute?"
Natalie walks into the tavern, raccoon on her shoulder.
This city is so big Ricky, I don't know where to start. I might as well get a drink while I'm here.
Goes to bar and orders some wine.
Mutters to herself There sure are some interesting people here.
Jack looks at the bespectacled half-orc. he starts laughing. "No my orcish friend, this is not a flute and would be extremely dangerous to treat it as so." He holds up the gun to the Half-orc the allow him a better look. "This is a gun. It's my weapon of choice and was made by me. The names Jack and I'm what you would call a gunslinger." Jack offers his hand.
Gregory followed the bustle of people moving into, out of, and through the tavern. His eyes scanned for anything out of the ordinary, be it people actions or their apparent moods. A man like him needed to know when trouble was around the corner. Still, after several days in the city, he had yet to run into anyone who wanted to start trouble, so maybe this place was different. Ofcourse he still got plenty of odd looks, but it sure beat pitchforks and beatings any day of the week.
"You can actually tell theres a festival drawing in crowds from all over the place, just look at all these characters in here." he thought to himself, eyes moving from one person of interest to the next. He took another swig from his flask, twisting his shrivelled arm in an attempt to remove the dull constant ache. But as usual there was only one thing that could dull the pain. He patted the pocket of his heavy leather coat, reassuring himself that it was still there. "Only when absolutely necessary." he reminded himself, returning his hand to its resting spot on the table.
Then suddenly one of the strangers piqued his interest. A man who seemed mostly rather ordinary had just passed him, an acrid smell on his clothes and a curious device at his hip. Despite every instinct, Gregory could not help but approach.
Slinking towards the mans table in his usual cowed dog fashion, Gregory none the less managed to straighten himself up and put a bit of authority into his voice. "Sulphur, Charcoal, Potassium nitrate? That IS what I am smelling is it not? Are you per chance a fellow chemist? Its been so long since I've met one to have an academic talk with. And what is this contraption then? he blabbered, crowding the fellow with his attention.
At the Half-orcs question, he couldnt help but produce a half laugh. "A flute? Unlikely, unless ofcourse its intended as an assassination device. Its full of exploding powder!"
Then the man identified himself as "Jack", offering the Orc his hand in greeting. Still eager, Gregory grabbed the hand and shook it. "Pleased to meet you Mr. Jack. I-Im Gregory, Gregory Paltaris." Realizing what he had done, he quickly get go of the hand, backing up a few steps. "Oh, pardon me..." he looked from the Half-orc to Jack, their odd looks making him feel uncomfortable. He quickly continued to speak. "...So, ehm, weapon of choice you say? How would that be? You only seem to posses one. What do you do once it has exploded?"
Rodger hears the question that the half-orc asked, and focuses in on that conversation, as he too noticed the curious piece of metal that the half-elf pulled out.
Good guess, but no, not a flute. I have seen something like that before, in my military days. But no, it couldn't be. We had only one of them which was stolen from a rival kingdom... We couldn't figure out how to replicate it however. I remember it was devastating though, a single blast and it could pierce straight through an armored calvaryman.
Rodger sees a woman sitting alone at a table with her pet raccoon. Ah, a fellow nature lover. I always wanted a pet of my own, might be a good way to start a conversation.
Standing up, Rodger tries to compose himself as gentlemanly as possible, . Pulling down his clothes and tucking in his shirt, Rodger approaches the lady from her front, trying to meet her gaze to avoid startling her. They never said that I was the most attractive of lads. Just play it casual, Rodge, and maybe you can get some information out of this.
Clearly out of his comfort zone, Rodger stands before the Raccoon-lady and asks, perhaps too firmly,
"Where did you get your raccoon?"
As usual I've attracted some attention. Jack glances at the woman who just arrived. It's a shame it's not the female variety.
"As i told this man, this is a gun. As far conversations go, I'm afraid in the field of chemistry my knowledge is limited to that of black powder." Jack takes a drink of his ale.
Gregory looked deeply saddened to hear that Jack was no chemist, hanging his head and shoulders. Then without being offered, he took a seat, scooting uncomfortably close to Jack, a puzzled look on his face. "A "Gun"?" he asked, seeming to almost taste the word. "Well that doesn't help much now does it? What is a "Gun" then? How does it work?"
Not waiting for an answer to his first question, he quickly reached inside the folds of his jacket. "Black powder you say. I call it Exploding powder myself. But maybe they aren't completely alike?" as he talked, he pulled out a small metal sphere, a thick strand of what looked like rope protruding from its top. With a laboured grunt, he pulled the rope from its socket, upturned the sphere and poured a grainy black powder onto the table. "Black powder, heh. Named for how it looks, not what it does. Come to think of it, that is probably a good idea. Talk of explosions usually don't go over too well with the uninitiated now does it?"
He looked at Jack expectantly. "Well go on...I've showed you mine, now you show me yours."
Here it is, the Diamond city. Can't wait to celebrate. He then walks into the bar with all the other party memebers. Everyone sees Rakdon Tripus. He is wearing Leather armor, the color is brown, with common clothes on. You can clearly see that he carries a composite longbow.
He looks over at the gunslinger, and sees his gun.
"Holy crap, these things are rare, I remember seeing one of these things a long time ago, used in a guerilla warfare against orcs, and only one person knew how to use this thing. However, I do know how to repair them, even though I've never used them, my magic can do this in 6 seconds. These things are powerful, and should be treated respectfully, and should be repaired immediately upon breaking, or don't use it until it can be fixed. Anyway, the name is Rakdon Tripus, and I know how dangerous black powder is, and I know to keep my fire spells away from it. I'm am a Magus. And Orcs raided my city. I had problems with other races as well, but I'm determined to destroy all evil. Anyway, my magic can instantly repair any weapon, not just guns, so if anyone needs this, call my name and I'm also honored to fight. As far as the Guerilla group, they were corrupt, so I left them."
Jack pulls out his powder horn and pours a small amount in his hand. "This is the powder I use and it does appear similar to yours. I also call it gunpowder but that tends to leave more questions."
Jack is taken by surprise as the Elvin man approaches and begins sprouting off sentence after sentence. Wow this man doesn't hold anything back does he. "Hello the names Jack nice to meet you. I don't believe in that all those words you name was mentioned."
Gregory picked up a pinch of powder from both piles, smelling one, then the other. He then let it pour from his fingers studying each trail of powder as if the way it fell would reveal any differences. "Simply marvellous isn't it? The ratios aren't the same, but the ingredients are. What kind of yield do you get with your mixture? How much smoke? How much flame and force?"
All throughout the questions, his eyes never left the powder piles, as he continued to examine their differences. Before long he pulled out a small box containing various vials and apparatus and began applying some of it, studying the reactions and doodling in a small messy notebook, filled to bursting with loose notes and scribbles.
I didn't really acquire him, he kinda just found me. He's, my, um, familiar, I guess if you know that term. He helps me with my magic.
Smiles at him and offers her hand.
I'm Natalie by the way. From your stride and your equipment you look like a guard or a mercenary. Did you serve in an army?
Stops talking for a second and listens to the Raccoon as it appears to be whispering something to her.
You're right, please tell me if I'm asking to many questions. Wine always did make me chatty.
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So, Jack, out of thousands of people I've known, I've only seen one other person use a gun. The gunslinger I meet a long time ago says he estimates 1 in 1500 humanoids actually own a gun. And he was good with a gun in fact this one Orc thought he was indestructible with his plate-mail on. But he pulled out his gun, shot right through the armor and came within inches of the heart, he was lucky enough to survive that shot, but not for long as I finished him with magic missile. But he also carried a crossbow and a longsword with him considering how expensive ammo and guns are, even if you are making them. Is it true, are guns and ammo expensive to buy/make? And how good are you with a gun?
Looks over at the Jack's table
It sure is crowded over there. Is that some kind of wand they're playing with?
"Well not only am I lucky enough to own one I can make them myself. and yes not only does it take a lot of money to make them they do tend to cost a lot to use but when compared to how much damage they can do its a fair trade off. Making your own ammo also helps reduce the cost. and as for if im good with it." Jack spins the gun in his hand and catches it as he aims at an empty space. "I'm not called a gunslinger for nothing."
A very young, bright eyed man walks delicately into the room, eyes wide, taking in everything... he looks one way, then the other...seeing a pretty woman, his gaze lingers, and an impish grin crosses his face...then he blushes and looks away...
Slowly, he makes his way to the bar...and stops to take it all in.
What's best?
Hi there, um, the wine's okay I guess.
Hi!
I'll have some...wine...
Is something entertaining sir?
Entertaining?
The young man's brows furrow for a moment...
Yes! Life! Isn't it...marvellous?
Laughs
I guess it is. My name's Natalie by the way.
The young man leans in close, to whisper...
I've never been in such a big city before! It's...incredible!
...then he wrinkles his nose for a moment...
...but kinda stinky.
Oh...Natalie... I'm Kiernan.
He extends a rather delicate hand...
Shakes hand
This is my first visit to a city this big as well. The crowds are so big.
"This is a gun. It's my weapon of choice and was made by me.
Heres the video if you havnt seen it!
"Hmmm...?" Gregory said without looking up, too consumed by what he was doing. After several moments it seemed like no answer was forthcoming, before he blinked a few times with realization and looked up. "...Oh, ehm, Gregory, Gregory Paltaris. I am an alchemist, certified, diploma and everything." He looked rather proud at the mention of it. "I make the very elements bend to my will!" he said with bravado, striking a pose in his chair and clutching at the air with one upheld hand. Then he gave the excitable Magus a nod, before dived back into his work.
"Now, was it one pinch or two...?" he muttered, moments later sputtering and coughing as a low bang and pillar of smoke issued from the confines of his little lab. "Ach, ONE pinch, definitely ONE pinch!" he managed to say before turning away from the others and retching.
Kiernan's hand lingers a bit long as he seems to just enjoy the simple touch...then suddenly...
Oh...that wine!
Though he spins gracefully, it's also comical the way he puts so much vigor into the motion.
Jack goes to take another sip but realizes hes empty. "If you'd excuse me for a bit I'd like to get a refill." Jack holsters his gun leaving the other three men behind as he approaches the bar. standing next to the woman and new guy who just came in.
"Can I get another ale please? Jack makes a coin appear from his and sets it down. Jack smiles as he takes a look at the two next to him. "Good evening. Hows the day been treating you two so far?"
Yes! So MANY people!
He brings the glass to his lips...breathes deeply...sips...runs the tip of his tongue over his lips...his eyes narrow for a moment... then he turns the glass up, and drinks half of it.
...mmmmmmmm...
It's been enjoyable so far sir.
Stares at holstered gun
I'm pretty new to magic but that's a funny design for a wand.
Turning to face the gentleman with the strange devices, Kiernan graces him with a grin...Marvellous!
He looks his 'new acquaintance' up and down...
And you?
As consumed by his work as Gregory was, the instant Jack left his table, he looked up with a start. Quickly packing his things messily back into their box, he scrambled to his feet to get to the bar next to Jack. "By the way, might I ask what you are in town for? I should like a little more time to study this marvellous contraption and the powder you use...if its not too much trouble. I don't have any plans or work presently, so ill just be following you around."
As the woman inquired about Jacks gun, Gregory leaned on the bar to look past Jack at her. "Its not a wand, its a "Gun"...obviously..." he said, muttering the last as he realized the hypocrisy of it.
A "gun"?
Jacks smile grew wider. he expected comments like this but they always amused him."I can assure you that what your staring at is no wand. It is called a gun, a pistol in fact, one i made myself." jack holds up the gun allowing them to get a better look. "Don't feel embarrassed though not many people are familiar with guns, and it being mistaken for a wand is common. though it was once thought to be a flute."
"It's my weapon of choice which is why I'm know as a gunslinger." he spins the gun as holsters it. "The names Jack its a pleasure to meet you both."
Kiernan marvels at the strange device.
What...does it DO?