2-Absalom
3-Whitethrone
4-Westcrown
5-Zirnakaynin
6-Mechitar
7-Greengold
8-Alkenstar
9-Quantium
10-Nisroch
11-Tamran
12-Starfall
13-Sothis
14-Sedeq
15-Daggermark
16-Caliphas
Alkenstar, a city on the cutting edge of technology, yet smack dab in the middle of a magickal war of massive proportions.
You find yourselves in a tavern, known as the Iron Flask. It makes great use of the various steam tech from around the city as its a very popular stop for both adventurers and the upper middle class alike. It can thus afford things like running water, heated showers, and even an early form of air conditioning in the main hall.
The blue-skinned woman lets her hood down, confident that the pair of punching daggers hanging in sheaths from her belt will deter unwanted attention. She turns to her mute companion.
"Hopefully that damn Cyphermage, Tammerhawk, won't be able to find us here. Seems like every hideout we find, he somehow tracks us to with his magic. Oooh, there's a spot at the bar. C'mon!"
Syntriani elbows a space large enough for herself and Whisk, then looks around to see what everybody is drinking.
A man with copper hair and brilliant red hair would fidget at his table in one corner of the bar. From his clothing it was apparent that he was use to warmer temperatures and that the cool air within the establishment was having an ill effect on him.
Urah preferred the scorching heat of the desert and he was unsure why his grandfather would send him out to experience such a cold world. What could he hope to learn from a city so full of twisted metal and the people that worked it? The entire city seemed to be a testament of how far this civilization had come from the natural ways.
A rather flashy dressed nagaji bursts into the tavern, "Barkeep! The Great Sanobi wants a... Oh Whiskey! Where have you been?" The "great" Sanobi calls out she enters, suddenly veering straight for Wisk upon seeing him.
"I was wondering what happened to the silent Whiskey. You just up and disappeared on me. And who is your lady-friend?" Sanobi hugs Whiskey (or tries to, depending on whether Whiskey lets her).
Syntriani looks almost hurt for a moment. "I thought that was my nickname for you. Though, in hindsight, I suppose it is an obvious one," she says quietly to her companion.
Turning to the newcomer, she says, a bit louder, "Name's Syntriani. And what do people call 'The Great Sanobi' if they're in a hurry?" she adds with a wink.
"Why isn't it obvious? Sanobi is the Wondrous, the Illustrious, the One and Only, Sanobi of Highever!" Little sparkly lights explode like fireworks (without the popping sounds) with ever greater enthusiasm with each title.
"Thanks for finding my Whiskey. I was looking all over him."
"YOUR Whiskey?" the blue-haired woman says, raising her eyebrows, and unconsciously setting a possessive hand on the mute man's shoulder. "Shouldn't that be his decision?"
Figaro. the silver-skinned white hair young man, was of slender yet powerful build. A Chain and two spiked weights serve almost as a belt along with a heavy blade sheathed upon his back. Following Syntriani's lead, he let down his hood, absorbing the scene of this vibrant tavern. The noise alone excited him much like a child in a candy store, though only a quint smile graced his lips; He did not want to cause any trouble after the Undine and Sylph JUST evaded unnecessary attention.
This however was not meant to be.
Within seemingly minutes he was recognized by one of his favorite acquaintances, Sanobi, her personality as intoxicating as the alcohol his nickname seemed to stem; Not to mention his favorite drink! Figaro hugged the larger Nagaji woman and spun her around much like a Disney-princess with his non-proportional strength.
He placed her back to the ground and looked to them both placing his hands out and waving weakly as if to try and diffuse the situation. *Let-us-all-get-along* He signed as he pulled out his personal stock of whiskey almost as if to make a truce. He gave a sickeningly sweet and innocent smile to both of them. There was enough Whiskey for everyone, they were his precious friends.
"Of course, sweetie," the Undine says in response. "I take it she's just like that, then?"
Turning back to the Nagaji, "I'm sorry if I misjudged your meaning. You just seem to come on pretty strong."
Seeing Whiskey's namesake stash, "Oh, honey, save the good stuff for when we really need it. I'm sure we can get something good enough here. We ARE in a tavern." She then turns back to the bar to order drinks for herself, her old friend, and his old friend. "What are we having, folks?"
Figaro quirked his brow, ignorantly blissful of what Syntriani meant by.. 'that'. He placed his the stash away, almost saddened to see it go for the moment but brightens up at the the fact some of the danger was gone.
Taking out his chalkboard, he thinks upon his choices at the moment . Crossing his arms and overly stating his actions to fully convey the motion of thought. He decides to pick out a piece of chalk with a pinkish hue and begines to right 'I want something new, something vibrant and tasty as-' erasing it to create room again '-Miss Syntriani's name flows and as grand as Miss Sanobi's personailty' nodding at the scrawl as though proud of his choice. Grinning at the both of them and doing a cheerful but silent chuckle... it a mixture of clear amusement, though somewhat sad.
Outside the tavern a dog is heard barking.
Shhhh, Spot your gonna ruin everything, nobody is supposed to know we are commin. a small female voice can be heard.
There is the sound of a slight wimper followed by another bark.
shhhhh
then suddenly the door of the tavern bursts open and standing there with her hammer in one hand shield in the other all decked out in her new Armor with gold colored studs, red cloak billows in the wind. an impressive stance but for the fact that the girl is only 3 feet tall.
she calls out announcing her presence
Figaro is alarmed and in surprise tosses board and chalk into the air. They soon come crashing down upon his head and the 5'11 man crumbles to the ground clutching the area. He rolls around in clear pain at the mistake meekly trying to hide his embarrassment.
The voice however, through all the pain, was familiar.
From the same table as the copper-haired man, a tall dark-skinned elf in a dark blue cloak stands up out of the shadows and shouts "Good grief, first it's women fighting over drinks and now people shouting about hammers, I thought this was a respectable inn." Then, squinting through the smoke, he tempers, "Oh, Poppy is that you? Come, come sit over here." He then sits down and states to his companion, "Urah are you still cold? We really should get you some warmer outfits..."
"CALLISTRIA'S WHIPS! You are the CUTEST thing I have ever seen!!!"
Syntriani totally misses Wisk's fumbling and rushes over to the newcomer.
"And you have a dog, too? Is he as tiny as you? I wanna see!"
As one commotion after another seemed to take hold of the bar's attention, Urah would forget how the cool air made his skin ache and his muscles stiffen. He recognized the bunch that had coalesced at the bar and was not surprised by their actions in the slightest.
However, before he could speak up in disdain of their actions, his attention was quickly drawn to the sound of crashing doors. While, he had orginally chosen his current seating arrangement to give him full view of the room, he now found that the increasing number of patrons was now hindering his ability to see whomever, or whatever, now stood in the doorway.
Fortunately, his friend seemed to have a better vantage point and called out to the tiny eccentric druid before voicing his distress of Urah's stubborn demeanor.
"I am fine Qui. The forges and billows make most of the city barable, but for some reason this bar seems to prefer things on the colder side. They've even employed some kind of abomination of metal and sorcery to make it so!" Urah would say with disdain.
"Whiskey has an admirer." Sanobi teased Wisk as the undine lady retrieved drinks.
Sanobi catches the chalk and chalkboard with magic and floats them back in front of Wisk, so he can grab them, while looking at Poppy,
"Poppy and puppy! What are you doing here?" Then Sanobi looks over at the drow that called out to Poppy at the same time, then at the undine lady, (what was that name again?) as she greeted Poppy as well.
"Well Whiskey, I sense the hands of fate in this. So many friends meeting "randomly" in a tavern. Something is about to happen."
Poppy looks up at teh Undine (well, Poppy looks up at everyone) Pointing her hammer, "Whomper", up at the Undine You touch the hair, I'll make you Lame for a month. she says staring at her.
After a few seconds of a stare down Poppy cracks a smile. [b[just kidding, but seriously, don't touch the hair.[/b]
She shoulders her hammer and heads on over to the table of familiar faces. sliding over a chair and climbs on up. but she still needs to stand on the chair to see everyone.
Meanwhile at the door sits a huge oversized Masiff looking in with sad puppy eyes. waiting for permission to enter and watching Poppy.
Poppy orders an Ale specifying not to put it into one of those little sippy-mugs, she want the same size as everyone else
From his vantage point, with his back to the bar, Qiu does not notice the group by the bar and the one person there he would recognize is being silent.[oo](oddly :P)[/ooc]
He instead digs around in his pack and pulls out a blanket and a book and hands both of them to Urah.
"There is no sorcery in this place, I am practically useless here. Why did we come here again? Never mind, here maybe this will help keep you warm, and I recently read about a chemical item called a heatstone you might want to buy a few of.
After hearing the undine's cry of "cuteness" comments, "I hope Poppy doesn't hurt that lady too much, I still remember how long it took my foot to heal after I rubbed her head once. Oh, here she is."
"So, still making Spot wait outside?" he comments when she gets close enough.
Urah would nod his head in thanks to the drow while taking the offered items. Qiu knew that the ifrit was hesitant to shows signs of gratitude to most and that even the slightest gesture was meant with sincerity.
Placing the book upon the table, Urah would take a moment to wrap himself in the blanket before once more picking it up to glance through it's pages.
"As I said, it is by far colder in here than it is outside. I will never understand why they would want it so cold in here."
"I wouldn't dream of it, my dear! I like you. You're fun! Poppy, is it?" Syntriani asks, overhearing people addressing the gnome.
Then she spots the dog, and races outside to fawn over him for a few minutes.
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Spot loves the attention giving Syntriani lots of really, reallly wet kisses. it is great that he has someone that doesn't fall over when he jump up on them to say hello.
"You, big fella, are lucky I'm used to being soaked." 8^)
Sanobi drags Wisk over to the table, "Poppy! It is so unexpected to see you here. This is Whiskey, well that is what I call him anyway. I didn't expect to see him here either, so fate probably brought us all here for a reason but I haven't figured it out yet. I don't know the other girl yet, so I'll let her introduce herself when she's done having fun with puppy. I am of course the Great and Wondrous Sanobi. So who are your other friends?" Sanobi spoke quickly and exuberantly as usual, draping a quick arm over Wisk as she introduces him.
Qiu leisurely takes a sip from his mug of ale before turning to face the pair. When his eyes land on the Sylph they widen and he spews his ale all over the table, before stammering, " Figaro Wisk, is that you? What are you doing here? Where did you go? You know you made a lot of people worried when you disappeared, some of us could have sworn you had been killed or died." The last few words come out in a rush as the dark elf quickly stands up and gives the slight man a big hug.
Realizing he just sprayed her with ale and spit, Qiu turns to Sanobi. "I am sorry about that, but I haven't seen Figaro here for almost ten, twenty years now. I am Qiu Loutsa, it's a pleasure to meet such a well known person as you Mrs. Sanobi." he states before giving her a low bow. "Here, let me see if I can find something to clean that up with."
When Qui looks to Sanobi he notices that she is quite dry.
"Whiskey has been known to vanish from time to time. As for your impromptu spilling of ale, I have plenty of experience dodging all kinds of crazy drow sneak attacks. I pretty much expect them." Sanobi says with a smile.
in response to Qiu regarding leaving Spot outside. You don't bring your horses in here, why should I bring Spot in here.
looking to find a server I need a steak, rare, and a turkey leg if ya got any left.
Once the food arrives Poppy yells over to "Syntax" as she playes with Spot. hey, Syntax, I got Spot's dinner, ya wanna feed him?
Spot looks in Poppy's direction, ears perked up, understanding the key words, "Spot" and "Dinner"
"Syntax" backs away from the now-alert mastiff.
"Thanks, but I'm afraid he might take my hand with it," she says.
Turning to the bar, she says, "So, sweethe..." and cuts off as she notices Wisk isn't there. A quick glance around the room... ...finds him at table with a number of other odd looking people. She heads that way, lightly leaning on his shoulders when she arrives.
"There you are, sweetie. Everybody alright over here?" she asks, noticing a recent spill and the clean-up work.
"I'm Syntriani. I've met 'The Great and Humble Sanobi'," she adds with a grin, "and Poppy there. How 'bout the rest of you?"
At the mention of "drow" Qiu looks puzzled. "I keep hearing that word, what does it mean. At first I thought it meant 'foreigner,' but, unless you have as bad a view of foreigners as that, I don't think it does."
And as a quip back at Poppy, he explains, "Because Spot is better trained, better behaved, smaller and more lovable than nine-tenths of horses, and how could one say no to a face like that?"
"Everything is all right, thanks. I'm Qiu Loutsa, just a humble magician from Goka." he responds when Syntriani expresses her concern and with a glance and then a gesture he adds, "Oh, and my shivering friend over here is Urah, he doesn't handle the cold well."
"Hiya, hot stuff," she says to Urah, then does a double-take. "Wait, are you fire-descended? I'm water myself, and Whiskey here is air-based. Wow, what are the odds? Anybody here earth-descended?"
Poppy answers as she is feeding Spot.
I pound bad guys into the ground, does that count?
At first, Urah seemed rather intent on ignoring the newcomers to the table, but as they continued to talk, spew, and even yell around him, it became clear that he was going to have difficulty trying to read the book Qiu had recently lent him.
While softly closing the book, he would turn his fiery gaze upon each of the newcomers one by one.
He would offer a gretting to Poppy in Druidic, "I am pleased to see that the earth has not reclaimed you." As he speaks, he will offer a small smile.
He would only glance briefly at Sanobi, before turning his attention to the man she had dragged with him. "Your friend'b words seem to hold some truth to them. Fate seems to have brought us together this night."
Finally, he would turn his attention to the Undine who seemed rather interested in his heritage. Without speaking a word, he would raise his pointer finger in a motion that might suggest he was telling her to give him a moment, before a flickering flame blossomed atop it. It was no larger than that of a flame that might feed upon a candle, but none the less, it was clear to see.
Poppy simply makes that face of "yeah, I don't have a clue what you just said, but your smiling and not trying to eat me, so I guess your friendly"
A smirk would come to Urah's lips as he notices the look. No longer worried about the book, he would bring his hands around the flame he had produced moments ago and use it as an extra source of warmth.
"Hon, that's impressive, but not what I meant," Syntriani says to Poppy with a lopsided grin.
"Still, three elemental-kin, and did I overhear that a lot of you know each other, and Whiskey? Somebody said something about fate? I'm starting to wonder."
Uninvited but unconcerned about it, she pulls up a chair and joins the table.
When Urah lights up, Qiu quickly vrabs for the book and puts it away. "I know you don't mean to burn these but you are not setting another book on fire 'accidentally', he explains before turning to the rest of the group and asking, "So what brings you here?"
As Qiu retrieves his book from the table, a mischevious smile would run across Urah's lips. Urah had learned that books were a useful source of knowledge, but he still found them to be an abomination against nature. Thusly, they had a knack for catching aflame when left unattended and within the ifrit's reach for too long.
"Well, Whiskey and I are kind-of on the run. We, um, got on the bad side of a Cyphermage, and this seemed like a good place to hide out until he forgets about us. Y'know, magic-dead and all. How 'bout you folks?"
"Urah here wanted to see the Spellscar Desert, but otherwise we have no plans. Wait isn't this the first place he would look if he couldn't find you?"
"If he could be bothered to get his lazy backside out of his house and actually LOOK with his own two eyes, rather than relying on magic to do his work for him, then yeah. But he seems to be just using his spells to locate us, then sending conjured monsters at us."
As the motley crew of adventurers continue to talk and get acquainted an imposing couple walks through the doors.
The man is tall, with pale skin and long black hair pulled into a ponytail. His icy blue eyes scan the room, settle briefly on the group of elemental kin, then rest on the bar.
His female companion is quite possibly the most beautiful woman any of you have ever seen, with lush purple-ish black hair and smoldering silver eyes. Her black and red gown clearly belongs in the highest courts of the land, though she doesn't seem to mind being in this rowdy establishment.
Sanobi listens to the chatter, for the moment not participating, deep in thought perhaps? She does watch the newcomers as they come in though. Then she orders a wine from the bar, paying upfront with a reasonable tip.
Figaro is overwhelmed by the amount of attention being drawn towards him. Nodding and giving smiles to all his close friends and acquaintances. He wasn't sure how to make them all proud of him. Qiu he had not seen in so long, ever excitable. Sanobi her boastrous self, Poppy with the complex she held dear. Syntriani was he current companion and she was always somewhat protective of him, truth be told, most of his allies were. Something about him made people want to protect him it seemed.
He let the group get somewhat used to each other, while he paid attention to all the scenery, his interest piqued by the astounding beauty and her blue eyed companion. They seemed to have an air of adventurers. Otherwise the confidence would be misplaced.
While engaged in the chatter, Qiu notices two of the group are silent and decides to involve them some.
"So, Great Sanobi, have you done any great and heroic deeds lately? Surely someone as well known as you must have a tale or two or maybe you're headed some place interesting?"
With a glance Qiu notices and ... ... stands up abruptly and shouts, " You? What are you doing here?
Sanobi sips her wine and is about to reply when Qiu notices the newcomers, so she sips more wine and waits for the response from the new couple, new companions, or the first wrinkle in the plan fate is throwing at them?
At Qiu's sudden movement and words, Syntriani is also on her feet in a moment, hands on her daggers, ready for danger.
"What's the matter?" she asks quietly.
The pale skinned man turns his icy gaze to Qui, who is suddenly regretful of speaking out. Those eyes seem to burn right through any defenses he may have and gaze deep into his soul. "You mean, aside from this being my tavern, Drow?" He adds an interesting emphasis on the racial word. Its clear from the way he says that he respects Dark Elves in general, but perhaps not Qiu.
Figaro stands up and walks over to the man taking his board that Sanobi had saved waving his hands in a disarming manner. He looks him up and down and noticeably blushes, standing not much shorter than the man. He begins to write upon the board. " I am sorry if he seemed rude. He is a friend Mr. Bar owner - " Frantically erasing as he seems nervous " - simply curious, I think. Please don't be upset. Also your companion is beautiful- " keeping a smile as he works the board, " -You are quite Lucky. " He breathes out once done an nods.