I am quite capable of making it a very pleseant idea to surrender to me, while our dear Dominique probably racked up a fearsome reputation.
I also have questions as to how these "adventurer ratings" work, who can issue them, how does one become able to issue them and how visible they are. Can they be accessed to tabulate the number and ranks of other adventurers in an area? If yes, do we want our information in that, or would we rather keep some capabilities in reserve?
He stands and pulls a black cloth from his bag, with a flourish he appears to be a ninja with black dragon wings. With confidence he offers, "I present my adventurer for the Dwarven nation, Dark Dragon. They don't know me but of this persona."
He relays the information he knows on the subject, "The Adventurer ratings are based off of kingdoms. Most of them are similar. Thus they are issued by the present kingdoms. Sure some organizations such as guilds have formed to hold adventurers, but a vast majority of the adventurers are solo playing or just playing with their team."
"My point is that respawn points probably don't exist. If we find ourselves in the graveyard, we probably aren't getting our bodies back. So we should try and be friendly, especially while we figure out where the power centers are. But picking sides when we don't know more is dangerous in ways the game never was. Quests that are neutral and make friends are good for now. Picking sides before we know more is a bad idea." Kazko says.
He congratulates his friend, "Well said my friend, those are some excellent points. We will have to look into resurrection magic but from what I have seen there are no respawn points. They have histories of valiant heroes returning from the dead or appearing when needed but no historical records of how."
"That is true. Those Poor Grand victory guys might be having nightmares if just Dominique alone is tearing them apart. What happened when the rest of them shows up?" Ginza deadpans.
"And. I am my own respawn point though it's not an instant thing and has a cooldown I believe." he adds on as an afterthought.
He pulls the cowl off of his head and the rest of his disguise dissappears. Then he stows it. He nods to what Kazko and Ginza have said, then offers, "Shall we then head to the dwarven kingdom?"
The half-fiend monk eagerly claps his hands together. "Yes! To The Dwarven Kingdom!!"
"Familiarizing ourselves with the Dwarves seems wise. Are we to go as ourselves, or should we establish other personnas as Dominique has done?
"When it comes to respawn points and the like, it brings up an interesting truth. We are not limited by our earthly bodies here. I wear a talisman that allows me to go without food or sleep, but that shouldn't have any affect on our controlling minds. I have not slept more than a few hours a day since arriving, and I would wager Ginza has not slept an instant. If we were still logged in, and it was just some error that kept us trapped here, our real brains would still need rest. I've used nutrient packs occasionally when we were setting up for long raids, but it has been weeks. Unless some authority found us and moved us, neural-rig ans all to some life support unit, we should all have starved to death by now."
"Whatever has happened doesn't make much sense, but it seems we must be in the game for real. Either an accident occurred, from which medical authorities have not been able to log us out; I've gone psychotic, and you are all just a delusion; the system created copies of our minds and imported them into the game and we only think we're ourselves, or our minds have actually been separated from our bodies, and we really are here, ghosts in the machine, while our bodies lie mindless or dead."
"I think the first is unlikely. We are all in different places, all over the world. Chances are at least one of us would have been missed and died by now, and even medical care would still not explain our lack of need for sleep. If it is psychosis, none of this matters, as none of it is real. If it is either of the last two, what we are here is what we really are, and there is no outside world anymore, though in the last case it might be possible to find a way back, so long as our bodies survive. Regardless, surviving here seems to be the paramount consideration. If we are really here, we live by the rules of this place. Therefore, if there are respawn points, we may be able to respawn. If resurection is possible here, then we should be resurectable. In those cases, we are digital beings now, though seemingly self-aware programs. I suppose we should treat this as though it were the real world, and consider all consequences of our actu9ns accordingly."
Probably true, I regard psychosis as unlikely. Insertion preventing ejection is in my view the most likely, following by becoming strictly digital existences. Ekaterina adds.
"I have to choose that we'll in the game itself. I have routine checks in my real life and should I missed them, my staff would come checking on me." Ginza laughs.
"It is true I haven't slept a wink. My 'rest' consists of me preparing ingredients or cooking up something."
"As for heading over to the Dwarven Kingdom, I think we should establish ourselves as a strong presence as support to Dominique."
In all seriousness he offers, "I was never this charismatic though I still hold my mind. I wonder what will happen to Ginza and the rest of us should our personality be compromised by our character. I doubt any of our guild would even think of treason as ourselves or our characters. So we should be unified either way. But from what I have felt and encountered, this is a brand new world for us to explore. If any other the other options were true like Ekaterina said, at least one of us would be dead."
He characteristically reply's, "I think it would be apt to adopt personas but that is each of your choices. I have a few more disguises that are magical adaptations of alter self. What else do we need to discuss? Our new guests correct anything else? So it looks like we will all be meeting the dwarven kings tomorrow, be prepared to leave in the morning. Shall we vote on it?"
"I am concerned about our new guests. They seem like large loose ends that needs to be corrected."
He asks intrigued by the concern, "Please explain how they are loose ends? What have they done?"
"That's just it. They have done nothing but they all seem to have one thing in common." he pauses to let that sink in.
"They all have being largely imprisoned or abandoned under some form of seal and all of them bear a great power. And I don't think anyone knows when or who has done that."
Some Misogynist entity? 2 out of 2 are fairly attractive females.
Domayoku lets out a small chuckle at Kazko's remark.
He sighs that this is going nowhere fast, he seems a bit inspired and asks, "So who is heading up on the research and history of our two guests? Should I pry into one of their good graces?"
The group continues the discussion deep into the night. Then it seems that the group will be venturing to the dwarven kingdom tomorrow morning.
As dawn approaches what do you do to prepare yourself?
He wakes up early and exercises, his weight is nothing compared to his strength. He is likely reading a book waiting for the others to congregate in the meeting hall.
He then hands his Handy Haversack to Amadea with a wink he says, "We are in your capable care." Then he opens up the portable hole and goes in to sit in the back. He had cleared out the treasure from the hole and now it had four comfy lounge chairs to sit upon. Plenty of room for 8 medium creatures within the portable hole. His book in one hand and an everburning torch in the other until he sits down then he lets it rest in the chair with him.
Ginza once again makes sure that the kitchen is able to run smoothly enough by itself as he recombines with his subsidiaries.
When Dawn comes, he meets with the others and joins Dominique in the portable hole.
Once inside, he opts to take up a free corner and promptly just lies down straight like a proper skeleton on the ground. A heavily armored one though.
Those who want to quickly travel drop off their portable bags of holding to Amadea and then enter the portable hole. She closes it and teleports to the North East. She opens it up again to talk with Dominique about where to teleport next. Once he takes in the area he suggests North another 10 miles. When she opens the portable hole again, Dominique heads out and points to the dwarven outpost. A modest building stands on the top of a hill and flanked by sheer walls of stone. Sturdy and functional, not very flashy.
With that he tells the group, "We should head in on foot or by wing so that they can see us approach. Unless you want to teleport further into the underground complex of their capital? Though there is no telling where we might turn up, so this is likely the best route. Come along its time to show off your talent!" He is wearing his disguise, thus looking like a ninja in black and his wings are blackened as well. The wings descend and look like a long flowing cape. "I will go relay that my great guild is soon to arrive. I won't be long." With that he unflurls his wings and speeds down to the outpost. He covers the three miles in under a minute and quickly slips into the outpost.
Another 5 minutes pass and then he is flying back to the group.
The trip is but moments as Ginza barely reviews a common recipe in their world, ice cream, but is treated as a rare recipe in this one when he's told they've reached.
"Didn't take too long to get here." he remarks as he climbs out of the bag resuming the form of his elven knight. Keeping the helm closed though, he nods to Dominique as he flies off to announce their arrival.
Seeing him return after a matter of minutes, he waits to see if there's anyone else looking to ask any questions.
Domayoku joins the others in the well-furnished portable hole. Smiling, the half-fiend comments, "Almost better than Business-Class."
"Didn't take too long to get here." he remarks as he climbs out of the bag resuming the form of his elven knight. Keeping the helm closed though, he nods to Dominique as he flies off to announce their arrival.
"Looking good, Ginza", Domayoku compliments. "Hat of Disguise?"
That reminds me, I used to have a bunch of bags of holdings with whatever the ion stone for not needing to breathe was inside of them.
It was a hallowed ritual in the Succubus training module to bluff a Paladin into getting voluntarily bagged, bonus points if you could also convince him to strip naked.
Ekaterina smiles as she enters.
Domayoku joins the others in the well-furnished portable hole. Smiling, the half-fiend comments, "Almost better than Business-Class."
"Didn't take too long to get here." he remarks as he climbs out of the bag resuming the form of his elven knight. Keeping the helm closed though, he nods to Dominique as he flies off to announce their arrival."Looking good, Ginza", Domayoku compliments. "Hat of Disguise?"
The Skeleton knight smiles.
"No. It's an artifact from when this was a game. It's a helm yet able to do more then disguise. It's the Helm of Soren. One of the unique Quest rewards."
He flies up to the group and lands. Then he states, "They are ready to receive us. Just an outpost, no royalty yet." With that said he begins walking answering any questions the group has.
"There will be guards, soldiers, and commoners. Apparently this is the vanguard to the army, which has already set out for Lilyville and the surrounding areas." He offers setting expectations.
Frugal living then? Eh I can manage:) She says with a smile.
Domayoku puts forth a friendly demeanor, eager to meet actual dwarves for the first time.
The group walks up to the outpost and the front doors are wide open. There are four guards milling around, two at attention the other two looking for you. These two guards walk up to your group and welcomes you to the outpost, "Greetings Götterdämmerung, we welcome you to our outpost. Would you like to speak with the captain of the army that is stationed here or would you like an escort deeper into our nation?"
Ginza shrugs having no opinion for or against the dwarves.
He lets the others do the talking unless he finds something else interesting.
Greetings, I am Ekaterina, specialist for public relations, violent hag removal and cultural exchanges. She gives a stunning smile to the guards.
An interview with your Captain would be most useful, unless your military regulations forbid you from speaking directly to auxillaries, I would wish to talk to you as well while you lead us there. Direct frontline troops often know thing which, due to fog of war, communication delays or general friction, are not known by their superiors.
If I may ask, when was the last time you received deliveries of anemnities? What is your favorite spoil of war obtained so far? What was your coolest victory? Have you been harried by diseases? If yes, how did you overcome them?
She gives them ample of time to talk about their exploits, delivering encouraging nods, "Oh really?s" and "thats pretty impressive, must have been quite a sight" at appropriate moments.
Getting people to brag is always the most effective way of military information gathering, and it is risk free She thinks to herself.
"If I may ask, when was the last time you received deliveries of anemnities? What is your favorite spoil of war obtained so far? What was your coolest victory? Have you been harried by diseases? If yes, how did you overcome them?
She gives them ample of time to talk about their exploits, delivering encouraging nods, "Oh really?s" and "thats pretty impressive, must have been quite a sight" at appropriate moments.
Getting people to brag is always the most effective way of military information gathering, and it is risk free She thinks to herself.
The two dwarves seem at ease and friendly towards your group after Ekaterina takes the lead. The lead dwarf states, "Amenities.... hmmm... there is plenty of trade that has come from the capital and other kingdoms. Though we typically get a wagon once a month laden with essentials. We are just the captain of the guard and my lieutenant. We are not apart of the army, at least directly, we are more of a militia that could be mustered if the army needs support. No major diseases are upon our fair outpost, there are a few with measles and leprosy but those were confirmed and confined to their residence. One of our duties is to make sure they have plenty of food and water."
After the first initial outpost building you can see the dwarves have left many of the walls rough. They have mined out many of their buildings straight from the mountain. The path is a wonder, flat and set with flat stones. They must have dug out much of the path to make is so smooth.
After a few minutes the leader points to a large archway. Torches light the front of this building that is built into the stone of the mountain. Though no light source is within the building. The captain of the guards offers, "This is as far as we can go. When you are done speaking with the Captain of the Army, Ulfgar Proud Beard, I will be waiting here for you. Dark Dragon it is always good to see you!"
The Dark Dragon nods its head to the captain of the guard and takes point quickly entering the building and leading the group through a well crafted hallway and eventually to a hall. On the way there were many off shoot tunnels and the sounds of moving figures in armor.
Entering the hall you see that there is a blazing fire in the middle of the room and at the far end of this Eating Hall. Long stone tables with many stone chairs beside them. Many of the seats remain empty. Most of the dwarves look up at your presence. A burly and armored dwarf with a golden beard in many braids walks forward with his dwarven warhammer in hand and his heavy metal shield with a troll's face upon it. "Its just Dark Dragon... settle! Who do you bring with you Dark Dragon?"
He flaps his wings and quickly closes the distance with the armored dwarf. Cordially he bows to the dwarf and states, "Ulfgar it is good to see you again. These are my guild mates. It is time for them to meet my friends."
Ulfgar nods approvingly, and states, "Good! Now I am sure your group has questions, come sit with me at my table and we shall discuss it over dwarven ale and snacks."
Ginza simply nods where appropriate and joins the rest.
"Wonderful!" Domayoku claps. "I've heard great things about dwarven cuisine!" The half-fiend sits down with the other at the communal tables.
A veritable feast is slowly brought out, with barrels of dwarven ale tapped and flowing metal mugs and tankards are passed around.
Ekaterina is incredibly charming, does some culturally appropriate belching of considerable loudness in apprecciating of the ale and soaks up all possible knowledge of current military operations, the conduct of the war, observed conduct of the war up like a vortex.
Do you have facilities to hold captive grand victory personell securely? Keeping mages locked up is occassionally complicated. Also, since we are mercenaries, exactly how do you envision salvage and ransom rights to be working?
Domayoku feasts on dwarven mushrooms and ale. "By The Gods!! This is delicious!!"
The dwarves near Domayoku encourage him to eat more. They are merry with his demeanor and words.
The first thing that is easily picked up on is that they are actually the rear guard, not the vanguard. The dwarves are well organized though it sounds like this is one of the smallest regiments, to Ulfgar's dismay. He regaled the group of the fight with orcs that decimated his ranks a year ago.
Ulfgar nods saying, "Aye, we have several jail houses. The ones in the bigger cities have better capabilities and were retrofitted for the new prisoners. Some of the ransoms have been paid. Salvage, meaning the loot from your enemies is yours to keep. Any prisoners are to be brought back humanely, any ransoms paid for, a fourth of the ransom goes to the capturer."
With his ninja disguise and the persona of Dark Dragon. He stands near the shadows of the room abstaining from food and drink.
Ekaterina gives him a sanitized, somewhat account of her recent hag shooting spree.
So, the stupid effing hag was clearly getting away, and then I put all my time partying with Urist the famous Dwarf adventurer to use and insulted her so hard the hag came running right back into my field of fire.
She pauses
We rescued a whole bunch of kids, who were probably about to be turned into pastries, and likely fed to their own families who didnt know what was going on. Her demonic features become a fair bit more pronoucned, her fingernails extending into claws and her eyes turning red for a second.
She takes a deep breath and her shape becomes friendly and normal again.
Ginza on his part partakes of the food and drinks. Giving his own views on them and guessing their ingredients.
In addition he shares his knowledge on more potent brews as well as some meant for medicinal consumption.
He picks up the information gathered from Ekaterina's skillful prodding and asks one of his own.
"Is there ever a time where you needed to rescue your own troops from the enemy?"
Ulfgar clarifies, "You are speaking of Grand Victory, my regiment has not seen any action against them. Being the rear guard and making sure enemies don't slip into our tunnels has been our primary duties. We support the guards until we are given new orders."
The dwarves are captivated by Lady Ekaterina's recount of the events with the hag cheering at the taunt and ode to dwarves. Some of the dwarves are a bit startled by her slight transformation but quickly settle.
As the day continues to turn, the feast peters out and Ulgar would tell of stories of old and enjoying tales that you tell.
Kazko doesn't see anything strange. Dwarves acting like dwarves.
He approaches and salutes to Ulfgar, "Thank you for your generous time. We should be going."