The man who ordered drinks for Mr. Go steps off his stool, and as he does so a veil of mist peels off his form. When it clears, a small gnome in heavy armor is standing where the human man in chain was a moment ago.
"The name is Zakain Zontanmandos! Adventurer and Paladin of Shelyn! At your service!"
The gnome says, flourishing a bow.
"I am glad to see that you are level headed folks, I can't say I enjoy senseless violence, but you healed any damage you did. And I'm sure this lot learned a valuable lesson. Huzzah!"
Vera winks to Mr. Touch, and then bows to Kyle and Zakain.
"It's nice to meet you both."
Walking over to the table the group was at, she lays out the map and invites Kyle, Mr. Touch, Percival and Zakain over to the table.
Turning back to the beaten adventurers, she seems to realize the man who Mr. Go attacked again had once again fallen unconscious. She brings her hands together and two more waves of energy sheer off her lithe frame.
"Now clear out of here, as far as I'm concerned you're more bandits than adventurers. Go up to your rooms and sleep off your bruises. I expect better manners out of you come the morning."
Mr. Touch fans himself as if a blushing maiden while Mr Go is busy Tossing one of the brews over his body. He starts hovering over and drinking the second beer.
Mr. Touch waves to the men as they go to lick their wounds. " Maybe we zee each other again on better terms, no? " moving to see the map laid before him.
" So, So! Mistrezz Vera, What do we have here.. I am not.. how you say, good with maps. And Zakain Zontanmandoz! What a vibrant name! Your parentz must have been quite creative!! " he opens his hand wide as if expecting a grand explanation.
"The Zontanmandos line are a colorful sort it's true, as colorful as all of Shelyn's feathers I'd say! But those are stories for another time. Let us look over this map, on that we agree! Hah hah!"
"Oh yeah...Actually I'm not so great with them myself...Anyone else can read this thing accurately?" she asks to the room at large.
Vera pulls out her wand again as she waits and toys with it against her leg.
The bartender slides Cindra over a shot of Absinthe.
Seeing no one else come forward the bartender shrugs and heads over to table.
He looks over the map for a second, before he begins to point everything out.
"Okay, so, this here is Zelkor's Ferry. Full of adventurers who picks fights in taverns, nasty business there."
Continuing on, he points to the north and west of Zelkor's Ferry.
"Okay, so here is the Forest of Hope. Full of bandits, dangerous animals and feyfolk. Nasty business there."
"Also there is supposed to be some profane temple of some dead god or some such, supposedly leads to Rappan Athuk. Nasty business there."
Continuing on he points south of Zelkor's Ferry, "That there is the coast line. They say you can get into Rappan Athuk there through a cave. But the place is crawling with bandits and pirates and sea monsters. Nasty business there."
Moving along, "East of Zelkor's Ferry a few miles is an old shack, inside there is the Mouth of Doom, it's like a sub-section of Rappan Athuk. Nasty business there."
Moving even further east, "Then about a day past the Mouth of Doom, is the Graveyard above Rappan Athuk. That's where you die, and I stop making money off of you. Especially nasty business there."
Finished, he heads back to the bar.
Mr. Touch listens to the man and a little spark seems to go off in his head. The man spoke of these places like.. well he's been there or had done this many times. Maybe he knew more.
" You there, You there. Barkeep, I could not help but notice you seem, nuhh familiar with theze landz. Tell me, if you were us where would you go? " He gives a bright smile and a flourish of his arms, clearly excited and animated.
"Home." he responds flatly.
Mr. Touch's face falls flat as he realizes the way in which he said it was.. easily deflected. He thinks.. HARD before another idea pops up. " Ahhh, I zee I zee. Well then, how about thiz? What do you know.. specifically about these places? Clearly you are knowledgeable and tough to know so much. Maybe you've been there? SO! If you you were us and you had no other choice to go home and only these places... Where would you suggest we go. You have seen our capability what little there iz, yes? "
The bartender shrugs, "More people tend to come back from the Forest of Hope, or the Mouth of Doom once or twice; before I never see them again."
Mr. Touch nods graciously, " And do you know.. what dangers are present there? "
The bartender shrugs.
At this point, the woman was drifting into sleep against the wall. The earlier commotion serving more as entertainment than cause for alarm. She finally loses patience with things and approached the barkeep. When she speaks, it is softly, slightly muffled by the mask she wore over her face.
She extends her hand to the man, a gold piece in her hand. "Room, for me alone. Quiet with a lock." Her vowels seemed to struggle with delivery, sounding as if she'd had something in her mouth as she spoke. She drops another gold coin on her hand for presentation. "Wake me early. Before sunrise."
The bartender grunts in affirmation and hands Nevaeh a key.
The names Percival, Percival Worthum.
"A pleasure." says Vera extending her hand to Percival.
Kyle walks over towards the table, drinks the last of ale that the dead men were drinking and then heads towards the rooms. As he continues walking he stops for a moment, turning his head towards the redhead.
"Don't worry, you're a part of this too."
Nevaeh thanks the bartender, her eyes on the key in her hand. She then makes her way to the appropriate room. Ignoring any attempts at social interaction until she reaches the door, entering the room and locking it behind her. She sets her spear on the edge of the bed, her pack against it on the floor and begins to doff her armor.
Kyle walked into his room. Taking off the back pack by the side of his bed and sword leaning against it. He sits upon the bed and with his dagger, etches a dash along his arm, marking another kill. He then lies down and sleeps in his armor ans shield.
Vera peers over the map again, "We should all be getting off to bed soon too I think. Let's see if we can't plan a course of action first however."
"According to our generous barkeep, our best bet is either the forest or the Mouth of Doom. Does anyone here have an opinion?"
"I admit to being slightly biased towards the forest in the hopes of finding that profane temple."
"How about the rest of you?"
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"Like any good Zontandmandos, I'll go where ever there is adventure to be found! Hah hah!"
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Once other people start funneling out Mr. Touch simply shrugs, " I say we do zee forest then. More room to breath, no? As for bed, Yes, we will need sleep... or not maybe? Tell me Mistrezz Vera is YOUR room equally as large? Perhaps you require company? "
Vera smiles at Mr. Touch, "It would be wrong of me to be upset at you Mr. Touch as clearly you are from a distant land. But, from where I hail a lady does not share her room quite so easily."
"I will take your words for what I assume is meant to be a compliment as opposed to an insult. So to that, I say thank Mr. Touch for the kind offer, but for now I must decline."
Addressing the rest of the group, "It seems we've reached a majority here, so let us retire. In the morning we shall make for the forest."
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Mr. Touch gives a very disarmed wave of his hands and great bow. " No, no! I would never insult such a beautiful woman with zee insult. It was zee fact we plan on sharing a room or two that I might make it.. less burdensome for the rest, no? I accept your decline with the greatest of smiles! We shall hopefully talk more in zee morning, yes? "
Mr Touch rising and looking to Mr. Go who currently could not stand on.. ANY combination of legs well. " If you excuse me, I must make sure Mr. Go makes it to a room at ALL! Seriously Mr. Go, you are most terrible. "
" Shlitter..Shlitter.. *wobble* ... Clack.. "
" Mr. GO! That's is prejudice and she already said no. "
Percival extends his hand to shake Vera's. Vera notices however, that Percival's hand is very clammy; slimy even.
Percival then looks to the barkeep.
I'll take another whiskey and it seems that Kyle guy bought me a room already.
Percival spreads 10 gold pieces on the counter.
In case I don't come back from that forest, If I do... then this should cover my tab for a little while.
He then looks to the remaining group.
I will see you tomorrow then...
Percival then downs the whiskey and heads upstairs.
Vera smiles as she shakes Percival's hand and bows her head to him, and doesn't pull out her wand to clean her hand until after he is out of sight.
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Mr. Touch picks up Mr. Go and takes his friend to the room to rest, he waves to Vera and tips his head to Kyle. It would be a well to do sleep, and he could die tomorrow but that is the point of adventure, no?
Cindra waits for the others to head to their rooms wanting to confirm something with the bartender, The lost army of Tsar is still in the Forest of Hope, somewhere... Or so I heard... Which is probably why they never came back the second time .", finishing her drink she left a few silver as a tip before retiring to her room, locking the door and placing he bag at the foot of her bed and spear against the door. nodding off shortly after with only disgust for the ignorance displayed earlier on her mind.
"Maybe, but it's been a hundred years since they were last seen. Maybe some elves or dwarves survived. But not most."
Morning soon comes to Zelkor's Ferry and though light shines across the land, the permanent clouds leave the lands cast in gray.
A gathering has begun outside as the ruffians from the night prior make it known boisterously that they are making off for Rappan Athuk.
In the courtyard, Vera has set herself up against the town's well and is looking over the map once more as she waits for others of the group to come down to join her.
To Vera's surprise, Percival had already been their waiting. He did not seem eager to go, but he was there none the less. His original nervous attitude had found him again.
Um... H-hello Vera...
Vera starts as she was caught absent-mindedly toying with her wand once more.
She turns to Percival and smiles, "Oh, an early bird as well I see? I was hoping to catch the sunrise, but I suppose this" she indicates to the skies "is really what I should have expected."
"I've been looking over this map here for a short while and I think I'm finally familiar with it."
"Only I can't decide where we should go into the Forest of Hope, especially if I want to find that temple. Care to have a look?" she says, handing to him the roll of parchment.
He takes the map nervously.
Uhh... Y-yes it appears that if we take the simplistic r-route we will probably end up like the others. T-the easy way isn't always the r-right way in my experience.
He hands the map back, now noticeably covered in a slimy residue where his fingers have touched.
"That's a rather profound point you make there Percival, there might be quite a lot of truth too it as well. We'll keep that in mind." she says, rolling up the parchment, taking great care to avoid where Percival touched.
Mr. Touch arrives with a much more... stable Mr. Go, the scorpion having and odd sway here and there. He waves to his two compatriots as they approach. " Ahhhh, yes yes! This fine morning brought by zee Old Stag! Where we shall venture into his grasp and possibly die.. or not. How are you my friends?! Where iz Zakain and the rest? I suppose as long as Mistrezz Vera iz here my sunshine has come this morning at least. "
Kyle walks out of his room and downstairs. With a crack of his neck and a yawn he says,"Mornin' , do we have time for some breakfast?". He did not seem nervous one bit, perhaps it was ignorance of the dangers that lie ahead. Or perhaps he had a plan. Either way not a single care was shown on his face.
Nevaeh, having been woken before sunrise stood off to the side as Vera and the others arrived. Her hood was down, though her mask remained. She seems hesitant to join the others in greeting.
Looking around Vera says to Mr. Touch, why don't you go check on Zakain?
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Not a moment later however, the well behind her begins to turn. Some thirty seconds later it reaches the top to reveal Zakain sitting in the Wells bucket.
"Hah hah! All these warnings never to go down the well, but I Zakain have bested it at last! It was a dark and dank place, cramped too, it's warning was well deserved indeed. Huzzah!"
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"... Zakain I don't believe this was the well they spoke of."
"Did you spend all night down there? Please, go relieve yourself and then we can talk you must be in pain."
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"Not to worry Vera my girl, I relieved myself in the well." Seeing the look of horror upon Vera's face he adds, "Not to worry! Shelyn in her glory saw fig to bless my urine to be as the finest of wines."
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To which Vera nods for a moment before asking, "... Zakain, how did you know your urine tastes like wine?"
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Zakain eyes bulge for a moment before he says, "So the Forest of Hope, eh? I can't wait to get started, it's sure to be an adventure. Hah Hah!"
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Oh... um Zakain... you may have felt rain earlier... well... you see... it wasn't...
"I did wonder why it was raining wine."
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Vera gags soundlessly, "If anyone has need of water, just be sure to let me know and I will be more than happy to create some for you."
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"I could use some water."
" It iz not needed Mr. Go has sobered up, yes? So we venture now, Mizz Moonzeer is here too! She graces me with her ever watching presence! I feel luckier already, no? Hrmm Yes, To the forest... Mr. Go can go forward he is good at spotting things.."
Mr Touch getures to the scorpion.. who has been quite quiet as of late. Slower than normal. " Click.. "
" Snap.... Chit- "
Mr Go advances gingerly to whatever is deemed as 'the front' for him.