"Someone call for some ale?" Eagle smiles as she offers Alina and Thim tankards. "Sorry about earlier, I was rather rude not to introduce myself, My name is Eagle Eye. Enjoying the Festival?"
Thim looks up at the exotic stranger. Thankfully a man with feathers is not so unusual after selling scrolls to a naga. With just a brief pause for reflection, he plants his feet and introduces himself. "Thank you sir. Uncle never approved of spirits, but my travels have shown me that he was wrong in yet one more of his opinions."
He accepts the gifted mug with a short bow. "Now that I have allowed myself the pleasure, I find the festival quite entertaining. It is quite the collection of interesting parties for such a small town."
Thim turns to the other newcomer. "Well met Varius. Those who would call me friend, also call me Thim." he indicates his tiny companion, "and this is Moninga."
Eagle smiles nodding to the young man. "I would agree. This is my first time visiting this particular gathering. Though from what I have seen of it thus far, there is quite the jovial nature." He smiles nodding to Thim and then noticing his small companion. "Are you from the city, or are you new in town as well?"
Eagle smiles and looks down at the lizard, attempting to get a sense of it, and introduce himself.
Thim turns to the feathered man. The ale seems to be loosening his reflexive formality. "I am new to the town, and before that new to this land, and before THAT new to this continent." He laughs. "I am from the jungles of the Expanse, and yourself?"
Moninga looks up at Eagle Eye. He is by nature friendly, and the Aasimar gets the distinct impression that he would be even friendlier if food was involved. The dinosaur turns its head in inquiry and brightly colored frills twitch and flap in anticipation.
"Well greetings Thim, and you too Moninga." Varius looks down at the lizard thing. "If you don't mind me asking what kind of animal is your friend here?" He watches as Eagle begins talking to it.
Alina allowed Thim's peering and slight change in demeanor to go without remark. She couldn't be sure what he saw that upset him but something told her it had little to do with her question. "Oh. Well I'm sorry to hear that. Have you been to Cheliax? Perhaps there you can find more answers to your ancestry. Presuming you want answers." She responded to his pronounced ignorance.
"Me I'm here to...
She paused as a feathered man approached with three ales and hands them to her and Thim. For a moment she only looked at the man in confusion before realizing where she'd seen him before. "Oh, you... you were watching the archery contest right? No apologies are necessary Sir. I wasn't at my best then either. Please call me Alina and this is Thim."
Coolly she looked at Varius as he too joined them. "You seem harmless enough for the moment."
"Thim and I were just discussing his long journey here to find his destiny. It seems he's traveled from the Expanse and through Kaer Maga just to make his way here in search of... I'm sorry I don't think I caught exactly what it is you're searching for?"
Eagle smiles, reaching in his pocket and grabbing a small amount of salted venison as he makes soft hissing sounds, offering the morsel to the lizard and reaching to gently rub its head.
He smiles to Alina nodding. "This festival seems to have brought many." He turns his gaze back to Thim. "Destiny is a powerful thing. What is it to seek?"
To Varius, Thim quickly warms to a topic he has obvious great fondness for. "I do not believe that this tongue has a word for Moninga, but in the Expanse his kind is called nippa. He is the smallest of the great lizards of the jungle, I think you say dinosaur?"
"As for what I seek," Thim's voice gains a touch of steal. "I seek the path of my father. I seek my birthright as his son, and that is found somewhere here. And no one will keep me from it." Again, that anger seems to flash, and for a brief instant V'Thamuus seems less youthful. But as before his smile returns quickly and the boy is back. "But for now I am interested in what my father detailed in his notes, more information on the old Thassalonians."
Eagle nods to the young man. "The past can be a powerful motivator. What do you know of your father?"
Xamarath lets out a belly laugh in appreciation of Zoli's performance, her borrowing of his own trick finding much approval from the Thayvian. "It pleases me to see my own habits find welcome reception so soon. Indeed, well done!"
At her followup question, Xamaroth nods emphatically several times. "Upon Abeir-Toril, especially Faerun, Planetouched can be found in as great a variety and at least as great a frequency as those upon this world." Stopping for a brief second, Xamaroth hmmms and haws before resuming pace with the others on their circuit around the Cathedral Square. "There are differences of course; sometimes subtle, whilst other times disparate. Those touched by forces belonging to the Outer Planes are not uncommon. We even have halflings, whose similarities and cultural dispositions are nearly identical. Perhaps of particular noteworthiness to your question: there came a time—before my time, thankfully, though not far off—when the Gods themselves were cast down and made mortal. They walked the Realms much like any other man or woman, striving to regain their divinity as one would assume. One in particular, after receiving a prophesy of his own destruction, began siring progeny across the world with all manner of creature and beast. He was known then as Bhaal, the Lord of Murder. His death came, just as foretold, staining permanently black the river where he was felled. In his wake, however, the infamous Bhaalspawn arose in droves, each vying for control of their father's dark essence; although, some resisted and fought against the corruption of the very seed that formed them."
Xamarath, becoming painfully aware that he is rambling, ahems quietly before shifting the subject down another avenue. "I am told that this world too once bore the weight of Gods among Mortals. I found tales of Aroden fascinating, although I am greatly vexed at how such a Power might so suddenly vanish without explanation and amidst such calamities. I think I should very much like to see The Eye of Abendego some day. The Worldwound... not so much."
Eugeni appears to be mostly unsure what Xamarath is talking about, but he sucks up the information like a dry sponge. His eyes are wide with all the new ideas presented to him today. So I'm the descendent of an angel? Why doesn't anyone want to meet Mr. Rumblepants? Bhaalspawn sound totally horrible...I hope they don't come to Sandpoint like Xamarath did.
As the crew starts to turn into a bolstrous group once more, Lars perks up at the situation. Alina had returned, and seemed to be in higher spirits. Everyone had finally converged just outside of the new cathedral and were officially starting to gain a few smiles on their faces which pleased Lars greatly.
The Festival had finally began to be just as fun as he hoped. Out of habit, he removed one of his axes from his side and began to twirl it by it's circular beard.
"What we do now?" he asked the group as his body nervously bounced with excitement. As he asked the question, his eye caught the glimmer of a vendor selling jewelry. Without a moments notice, he was already viewing the wares and waving the group over. "Baubles!"
Thim watched Moninga let himself be bribed by the feathered man, and smiled unworried. Moninga's instincts for people were often better than his own. "Little. The reason I am here is to try and find out more."
He moves with the other strangers into a large open square with a fine - new - stone building that dwarfed the other structures in town. This must be the new cathedral everyone has been talking about. vendors lined the edges and the space was filled with new strangers. One, near a jewelry cart, finally seemed more familiar. A tall slender and we'll-built man was giggling over the merchandise. Unlike any others he had met so far in this land, he was wearing a totem mask. The style was different than in the Expanse, and even there the custom wasn't common. But even considering, it was nice to see a touch of familiar culture in a barbaric land so far from home. The mask was white and essentially featureless, as expected for one almost as young as himself, admitting that the wearer was waiting for his life to define itself. Thim moved up to introduce himself.
"Well met sir. The wares here are fine, but this piece especially is worth the price." Thim picks out what he feels is a particularly good selection.
"Try this, I don't think you'll be disappointed. I am V'Thamuus Diwanimi, new to this place." Thim crosses his hand behind his back and gives a slight bow. "Please to accept my compliments on the mask. I hope you find your path soon. Though I do not choose your display, I feel much the same way."
Lars turns on a heel as the new, strange man approaches him. He doesn't speak until after he picks up the trinket, however, and follows swiftly with "Hello! I am Lars. Some call "Watcher." he states simply in broken common. His accent is strangely goblinoid and the common is very obviously forced.
Watching the piece get picked up, he knew not how much it was worth, but he certainly agreed with the statement when he looked at the rest of the wares...
"Is worth lots, certain..." he says before tilting his head over and thumbing the piece around personally. When Thamuus speaks of his mask, however, he tilts his head once more in confusion, but states what he's already stated plenty of times, followed with an inquiry. "I leave after Festival. Adventure. Friends... Trinkets~"
His inquiry comes in his favored tongue, however, in hopes the man knows the language.
The masked man - Watcher - reacted oddly to Thim's greeting, but that was not surprising. The mask is often supposed to be a barrier to others. Some wearers become unpracticed when they do decide to interact.
"Yes, adventure," or destiny "friends," V'Thamuus looks back at Moninga and the feathered man then back at 'Lars' "and trinkets." He shakes the bits of jewelry wound in braids in his hair. "Me too."
At the string of garbled word the masked man finishes with, Thim can only shrug.
Varius joins them at the jewelry stand. He eyes the wares and of those the others pick up. Might be worth making a mental note of those. They could provide me some quick coin in the future. "Lars here just asked if you can speak goblin, but from your confused look I guess you can't." Varius picks up a piece of jewelry. "I never been a fan of wearing jewelery. To me it just marks you as someone that is worth robbing to thieves."
Thim turns and the edges of his mouth turn up in . . . less a smile and more an acknowledgement of the statement. "True, but it is also an opportunity for thieves to make a good decision and move to less dangerous prey."
V'Thamuus speaks a few words words of power under his breath. Two pinpoints of distortion begin to form in front of him. The promise of eldritch power begins to leak into this world. Just before the potential becomes reality, he waves a hand and the points wink out.
In all of his time defending the Scrapyard there was only ever a single goblin that did anything remotely like what so many people here had done. It had used fire, however, but it seemed as if so many others that he had been meeting were capable of these wondrous acts.
Carefully touching the points were the motes had arrived, Lars is completely baffled. "What is?" he says, trying to feel any trace of what it was that had just appeared.
He speaks in goblin once more, obviously speaking directly to Varius.
Varius doesn't change his expression as Thim does his little trick. "That is also true, but be careful not to underestimate thieves." Varius' usually happy demeanor is replaced briefly with sadness as he thinks about his adoptive father. "They took something from me that i can never get back." Varius then shakes off the sad memory and once again gains his friendly demeanor back.
He then turns to Lars.
Alina watched the boys pick over the jewelry with a bemused look as they compare the values of various pieces and wonders. Lars and Thim seem adept at finding the most expensive items but seem to pay little concern over how the same item looks on them. How two men could be so good at finding quality amongst junk and yet have no sense of how to properly display the same item was... amusing.
Her bemusement waivers, however, when Thim suddenly pulled upon the weave and began to cast. So he is a caster. From the way he spoke with his oversized lizard, she'd suspected as much. "It's magic, Lars. Much like you've been practicing to skillfully wield those axes, Thim here has been studying how to manipulate the arcane to his will. It's a skill some learn and others are born with to varying degrees."
Lars stood about as Alina spoke of magic being like his axes. It was certainly interesting, but a few of her words held no meaning to him. "What is Arcane? Could I Learn?" he said, making gestures of explosions as he asked. "Goblins use tricks once. Dead, but did. Burned a week. Not nice..." he said, rubbing one of his arms.
Looking to Varius again, he spoke his natural tongue once more.
As he speaks, he gestures, unsheathing his axes and thrusting them forward again before pulling them closer to him, remember that Alina apparently disliked them.
Eagle smiles as he watches them talk, eyes perking up when he sees Thim display his magical talents. Hmm..., I wonder how he formed a bond with such a fierce creature. His magic certainly seems much different than that of the forest.
"Plenty of different skills and capabilities among festival goers. You say that his magic is arcane? How did you come across your scaled friend? Your magics are not of the forest, at least that I can tell."
Eagle smiles watching the others, becoming slightly wary as Lars starts thrusting his axes about.
As Lars begins thrusting his axes he glances at Alina. "I did not tell him to do this." Then as he motions to Lars to put his arms down.
Once Lars seems settled he speaks again.
He then turns to the rest. "He doesn't mean any harm."
Still spinning his axes rather wonderfully, Lars listens to Varius attentively, enjoying his old habits. "What is Nervous?" he asks simply as he keeps spinning the weapons about rather carefully.
It was something he did on his downtime, this odd dance. It was as though he'd done it with hoola hoops, but instead, used axes as he carefully moved and span them about contorting his chest.
Varius watches Lars performance as he thinks of a way to explain nervous.
Smirking Alina nodded at Lars' story of burning goblins and then quickly shrank back as he again displayed his weapons. He was far too quick and comfortable displaying them in her mind. Simple and ignorant he may be, but that only meant he was less predictable.
Watching him spin the axes with a cautious eye and a spell upon her lips, she tried to answer his question. "Arcane is another word for a specific kind of magical energy." She says simply. The poor man obviously had never had any formal education and was not ready for more advanced explanations. "Arcane magic is difficult to learn and a mistake can lead to bad things. Like your goblin who burned a week. Other kinds of magic, like divine, are given to people by the gods to those they favor. It is usually less prone to mistakes because of the god's intervention, but it too can be quite... interesting."
Eagle Eye then spoke and asked a much more interesting question. "He is interesting." She said indicating the dinosaur. [b]"I don't think I've ever seen anything like him. In fact I'd thought such lizards were extinct.
Ravboom, having been grumbling under his breath for some time, finally throws an empty mug at Lars and screams at him in Goblin. "СПРЕТЕ РЕШЕНИЯ С фалшиви таласъм таласъма (ДУХА) РАЗГОВОРИ! ТЪП таласъм се долива фалшиви ДУМИ И ГИ Goblin(! Е обида РЕАЛНО Goblin(! ТВЪРДЕ МНОГО думата! НЕОБХОДИМО САМО С тъп таласъм ИСКА ДА БЪДЕ КАТО ГОЛЯМ тъп народни! НЕ СЕ надяваме СЕ КАТО Goblin(!"
Thim watched the conversation wind around him. Some he understood, some between Lars and Varius he did not. Though at one point after waving his hands through the space where his missiles began to appear, Lars began to demonstrate his own skills with an axe. His display was almost dance - another similarity to the totem mask wearers of his homeland, though the display seemed to provoke an oddly heightened reaction among the crew.
I knew this land was a touch backward, but have the natives lost so much since old Thassalonia that they even fail to recognize magic. The thought renders V'Thamuus temporarily speechless. Fortunately the conversation turned back to one of his favorites and he began to respond with a smile.
"Oh no, not extinct. That is a common myth north of the Inner Sea. The great beasts are not common in the Expance, but the further you journey into the jungles the more you will see. As for how we became friends, the little ones are a common sight around my Uncle's post. They seem to be in constant battle with the apes and monkeys nearby. False men as they are sometimes called." He grimices as he speaks the word monkey. It is obvious Thim is not a fan. "The nippa control the ground and rivers and the monkeys rule the canopy. Uncle's clients often wagered which would come on top as the fought for food and territory. Well, one day soon after I found my father's book. I came on a nest of nippa eggs being smashed by one the false men. It was the first time I cast outside my back room in secret, and I drove the beast away with some minor ice magics. One egg was intact, but damaged. I took it home, kept it safe, and when it hatched I had my new friend. Moninga and I have been together ever since. Because I cared for him from hatching, we have a special connection which I have since strengthened based on some of my father's notes. In fact, fact I have taught him a little magic of his own."
"Moninga! Be sad!"
Moninga looks up from his snack and hangs his head in mock despair. Then, his skin slowly fades from its natural green red and orange to a pale blue.
"Moninga! Get angry!"
The lizard jumps up, bars his teeth with a hiss and spreads his frills. His color deeps quickly to a deep red.
"Moninga! Keep away!"
Moninga's color returns to normal but the bit of venison in his claws rises into the air just out of reach and he jumps and scampers after it.
Those who can sense such things see that the magic fueling the tricks comes solely from the dinosaur. Thim just looks on and smiles.
"Great gods! A goblin!" V'Thamuus throws himself in front of Alina. "Get back!" he begins to chant and his hands begin to move in quick precise patterns.
Juggling rather peacefully and kind of losing himself in the act, Lars loses his balance entirely as he gets knocked in the head with a somewhat empty mug. Falling to the ground, he curses. "Besh!" a strange, goblin curse word. Definitely not the only one he knew, but oh well...
On the ground, he feels around on the ground for his axes, finding only one. The other had managed to fly rather far away and apparently became stuck in a local vendor's wooden table, much to his dismay. It'd actually flown by the crowd of colorful people that he'd come to enjoy the company of, and may or may not have gotten dangerously close to Alina as left his hands.
Grabbing the axe that hadn't went flying, he turned over, hearing the chatter of an all too familiar creature. Looking through the mask as he stood up, he came to see a small tank of a goblin mouthing off about his personal beliefs...
A goblin.
Standing up rather quick, Lars slouched over quite a bit, dancing the axe back and forth between his hands, a tactic that proved effective against the more focused variants of goblin.
With the chitter chatter, and an on-guard stance that circles the little creature that's obviously bothered, he makes sure it means no harm before attacking. It's the most well-armored goblin he's ever seen. As he does this, he walks back, picking up his previous axe from the vendor.
"Goblin! Take care!" he says, shooing off the vendor who's table had so recently been axed.
He spouts off again in the high-pitched scratchy language as he careful steps closer towards the creature with his axes slowly swaying back and forth in his hands, primed to attack.
"Li no yog tias tsis yog hom lus ntawm goblin kuv kawm. Tsis muaj leej twg koj paub! Ravboom, koj lub suab zoo li ib tug txim Ustalavan los yog ib yam dab tsi los yog Irriseni!" Eugeni shouts back at Ravboom and Lars. "Tsis muaj leej twg xav kom tau raws li Mr Rumblepants!"
Feeling a little drunk from the skin of wheat beer he's been drinking, which is now nearly empty, Eugeni gets a wicked idea. "I can do magic too. Look," he says to Lars, Alina, Eagle Eye, Xamarath and Thim. He looks around for some unsuspecting individual and then holds his hands up in front of him, palms parallel to each other, horizontal to the ground. He says, "Vερό," and whips his hands outward with a rapid gesture. An eighth-inch thick sheet of water the size of a large blanket appears in the air fifteen feet over a nearby vendor's head. Eugeni chuckles as gravity takes hold and creates an impromptu rain shower over the man. He quickly turns away, trying to stifle his laughter and pretending like nothing happened.
As axes and mugs flew the spell that had rested upon her lips quickly spread before her and engulfed the feral men. Gently waiving her arms and ignoring the splash of water over her shoulder, Alina spoke to the men before her. "This is a festival men not a place for violence. Now please stop fighting and put your weapons away. Any more of this and you will make me very angry."
Seeing the commotion and not wanting to take part of a fight Varius steps in. First he approaches Thim and Alina. "No need for any magic Thim. The goblin's friendly... He glances at Ravboom. "well for a goblin at least." Then he goes to Lars.
He motions around at the others and the villagers.Then Eugeni speaks and proceeds to cause more trouble. gods it's getting out of hand pretty fast.
Ravboom shakes his fist at the caster. "You be breaking rules! City say no hostile magic! Guards put you in jail, stupid." The goblin ignores the caster, and responds to Lars and Eugeni in common. "Both speak Hobgoblin, not goblin! Stupid Hobby's ashamed of speak goblin, when meet other races. They make up bunch words, throw out most of words for fire, then teach other races and tell them that goblin. They no speak goblin, goblin speak goblin. No need 10 words for 'soft', no need polite fill in place talkey talk words. Is insult hear someone speak in goblin and be polite. Is speaking hobgoblin. Never here self respecting goblin speak polite in goblin." He sticks his tongue out at Lars and makes a raspberry. "Me gonna be polite, me speak in stupid human tongue. Sound like licker of soles."
Smiling broadly, the Thayvian follows Eugeni's lead with surprising alacrity. Making use of the same cantrip that he and Zoli used to enhance their own tales, Xamarath ducks behind a pile of crates and barrels to work his magic.
As the vendor stands flabbergasted at the drenching he has been subjected to, a voice eerily similar to Ravboom's calls out above the goblin's head, ""
As the situation gained a bit more clarity and Lars had realized that this goblin could very well be a rare, very rare, friendly sort, he lowered his axes and looked toward Alina. His eyes narrowed and the distance between he and her seemed to grow distant, much like the last time he'd upset her, he believed. With this knowledge, he took both axes and clapped his face between the thin sides of them, snapping him out of it.
Shaking his head in the confusion, he stood tall for a moment, hearing the woman out. To the majority of them, he spoke aloud.
He then hears the goblin out, learning what he can.
Ravboom looks over his head. "Who say that?" He demands, then blinks and looks back down at the masked guy.
"Ravboom no be swamp gobby. Ravboom be monster hunter. Ravboom not be born here. Ravboom born very far from here. Ravboom sensei have go home, Ravboom see boat off. Not know what 'junkyard' is."
Eugeni seems a little shocked when he notices weapons drawn. "Yeah! Woah...Ravboom's right. Everyone needs to chill out. If you guys don't put away your weapons I'll have to go call Sheriff Hemlock."
Ravboom hops up, sticking his tongue out at the assembled. "Ravboom see guards coming, people casting magic illegally! Ravboom no be arrested! Ravboom no casty cast person. Have fun in jail!" He calls out to the caster's below, and then takes off at a run, bouncing from wagon top to wagon top, making a quick exit from the town square by using the wagon tops for a highway. A quick leap from the last one to a roof top of a tavern and the goblin is gone.
As he leaves, 4 or 5 town guards enter the area, looking for hostile casters.
Seeing that Ravboom is right Varius decides its best to leave also. He quietly slips into the shadows and disappears into the background heading out of sight.
"Uh oh," Eugeni mutters. "Bye Ravboom, nice meeting you?" he says to the empty spot where the goblin was a moment prior. As the guards come up he holds out his hands where they can see them. "Happy Swallow Tail festival sirs. Nothing to see here, just a little misunderstanding, everyone's okay."
V'Thamuus pauses his casting as Varius shouts out.
He notices this goblin is better equipped than any he has seen before and remembers the lessons that Kaer Maga forced him to learn. The northern barbarians associate with anyone. He allows the magic to stabilize in his mind again saving it for a genuine danger later. Seconds later another beast, obviously drunk, conjures water over an innocent nearby. A disembodied voice arises from the air over the goblin's head. Chaos was ruling the festival.
Suddenly, words of power surrounded his senses calling them to ignore all but the woman he had tried to protect moments before.
She has his attention, but his actions are not constrained as she intended. V'Thamuus turns to face the witch, all geniality missing from his face. His face twists up in rage. Moninga parallels his attitude, hissing in genuine anger.
"You tried to control me."
Thim turns and walks away without a word, looking forward, ironically, to the stability of Kaer Maga.
Alina watched as Ravboom and Varius vanished into the crowds as the guard arrived and shook her head. Quick to violence and quick to flee.
Surprisingly the guard's arrival isn't Alina's biggest problem. The young half-Chel wizard and his overgrown lizard had taken exception to the way she'd tried to calm the situation. His simple accusation came filled with rage and for a moment Alina feared she'd stepped into something more than she could control.
Fortunately Thim had more control of himself than she thought and instead of blasting her with his magic missled, he walked away. Letting out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding, Alina leaned against a small cart and collected herself. "Jobo, if this is the life of an adventurer, we're going to need some help."
Lars stood, curious. Far too curious, honestly. Everyone was suddenly finding their way out of the present situation after so much fun had happened. Looking to the swamp wizard, he shrugged, and began to spin his axe. "So many colorful people..." he said with a sigh. The goblin had fled rather quickly, unsurprisingly. Varius had disappeared in a puff of smoke. All of his new friends were leaving, and it was somewhat frustrating as well as saddening.
With a glance he cast at Alina, he shook his head. "Must go keep eye on goblin, no? Threw a mug. Painful. Might do again. My job.." Letting the axe spin around his wrist as the other sat down on his hip, he grinned beneath his mask. "Friends..." he said.
Turning, he waved with his left hand as he walked past the church. He spoke in goblin one last time before disappearing around the corner.
And with that, spinning his axe as he past by random civilians, he tilted his head back and forth as he walked down the road, tossing a final hand up in goodbye. "Good meeting!" See soon!"