The pale ghost gets a slight frown of sympathy from the gnome. "You should rest." she tells the ghost, in a tone one might hear for a softly stern grandmother. Looking up to the others, she asks "Does anyone know the proper rites to help her?"
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Nita cranes her neck up to see what the artist fellow is commenting on, but then nods "Not it is not". She does look over the whistle, briefly wondering if it is magical, but having no way to know she simply comments that it is interesting. "We have water." a simple statement when one of them discovers the pump and unsticks it. "Thus the quickest path to our deaths is alleviated." Walpdrop is much more overjoyed as he laps up the water produced by a test pump
Nita has never been prone to looting, and the shambles this place is in does nothing change that. She does keep a nearsighted eye out for details that might help.
"Out the back door?" she asks, noticing the extra entrance when she gets closer.
While the bleached gnome did not like surprises, she does LOVE nooks and crannies. Her pale eyes widen, and she almost smiled, before catching herself. "Interesting discovery" she says to the whispering one, following close.
Nita listened to each of the speakers, turning her ear to them as they spoke instead of her eyes. Those milky eyes did narrow and her pointed ear twitched as Aidonas spoke of knowing Bobbles. She didn't know. And not knowing always bothered her. When it was not knowing something about someone she held dear it bothered to the point of pain. But that is for another day. At the mention of exploring, Waldrop looked up at his mistress and low woofed a question. Nita rolled her eyes just a little but then nodded. The two then joined the artist and tiefling, ready to go.
Nita nods, looking off to the shadows, petting her dog. After moments of silence, she rises "Since they have left, should we look around? For the fleeting hope there is a way back to our world that doesn't involve waiting here for four days?" the small woman looks around at the collected peoples to see if they agree.
The gnome woman nods at the logic. "we just met" she decides to add some of her own "I was led to the meeting by a pathfinder and a shadow, I believed to be my former business partner. A shadow and now we are in the Shadow Plane." she does not know there is a connection, so she doesn't say so, but sharing information might lead to them living.
"four days" the gnome woman says flatly. Her eyes drift to her dog "good thing you came with me." there is a sigh after that. Looking up at her fellow residents "We will need food and water, if there is no other way out?" the last word is raised in question, in hopes others know more about alternate planes than she does.
Nita nods at this, accepting the logic with ease. She puts her glasses back on then decides to ask another question. "The owner of the establishment they captured?" she asks, her voice dipping slightly in sympathy, assuming they were friends. But the cold logic of her brain wonders about how much the new prisoner knows.
The half-blind gnome is breathing heavily. Her advanced age is not suited for running. Finding a pew and pulling her small body into it, with her dog nosing her to make sure she is okay, Nita pulls off her glasses to clean them. A milky eye finds where she thinks Janiven is and asks "Did you have any other plans other than get us together?" her tone is not accusatory, just curious.
Honestly, I like leaving the exact breed up to anyone's imagination, fill in your favorite big dog when you read. BUT he is big and fluffy enough to be perfect for a Newfoundland. I admit I had to look up the Mastiff and it is adorable.
Humbling bowing in a show of genuine appreciation, both Nita and John(me) wish to thank you for coming on board Ray. Dragoncat was wonderful and we will miss them, but I am really happy you have come to save our game. Waldorph will give a big WOOF as well and probably nearly knock you over.
Nita Cobbles and Waldorph: Good Evening Ray, nope, never discussed the shop. My creation of the shop was pure fluff, nothing mechanical to it at all. So it can used however the story needs it to. It is her home as well as shop, and can be shut down as a shop since she might become busy (I'd imagine her traffic is low anyway). And can be abandoned if she becomes Known by the bad powers that be. Bobbles, one of her passed friends and business partners was the pathfinder. Long ago. Nita contacted the pathfinders through correspondence (gathered from her friend's notes) for the need to make things better. She has not given the future much thought. Being a bleached gnome she is a little placid when it comes to the future. The Mirror is COOL! But I know nothing about it. Dragoncat had the shadows pool in it. Nita knows no reason why, or if she is right and the shadows truly are her friend somehow. So all in all, I'm not much help it seems :) Oh, theater of the mind is awesome so I have no worries about that. And anything and every little thing about the AP is alright by me. The story is a delightful pathway, always different no matter what happens.
I would happily continue playing, and look forward DM Ray's consideration as well.
Life does happen, sir. Thanks for getting the game together and it was worth trying since I did enjoy gaming with you all.
After that moment of thought, the gnome and her dog start moving. To anyone following, she says "Look out for the stone head of an angel representing Shelyn. Should be in the eaves of a two-story house along the canal." To anyone not following, she turns around looking at their blurry forms through squinted eyes "Come On" she says flatly. Then turns away and continues.
"I know where we are at." the gnome woman looks around with a deep frown. She thinks about where would be a good place to hide. Quickly.
Nita doesn't look washed out of color, since she is devoid of it on every occasion. She does look with interest around her, what she can see at least.
Nita's eyes might have been near useless at a distance, darkness did not bother them in the least. So she slipped her fingers into her puppy's scruff "my turn" she said low to let him know she'll lead for a little while. A very soft woof was his response.
Nita's eyes narrow behind her glasses. To a mapmaker, secret ways were both highly irritating and curiously enticing. Getting imprisoned by Armigers was not enticing though. So the gnome clicked at her pup, slipping her hand into his fur and let him lead her into the dark.
Nita remembers Bobbles getting one of those new-fangled 'firearms' and the eager tinkerer's utter lack of safety procedures. "It is not enjoyable" she says flatly as she retrieves a small metal shield from her hip, and fastens it on her wrist
The gnome sighs and slides off her chair, then says in a deadpan marketing tone "Nita Cobbles, owner and sole employee of Cobbles, Bobbles, and Bows, your source of all your cartography needs" then a small woof reminders her "And Waldorph, the business's security guard"
Nita listens almost distractedly. She had made up her mind at the memory of the childred... well no in truth at the moment she realized it was Bobble's shadow. So distracted she was, she almost missed the loud BANG until Waldroph tugs at her coat tails and whined. "Oh, what was that?"
Nita sips her tea and looks from speaker to speaker without comment. Her dog simply revels in the attention of others.
In the silence that follows the speech, Nita sighs "Kids." a simple word drawing attention "They used to play in the streets, even in front of the shop. One of my partners would give them leftover ribbons, and they would run about with the bright colors waving after them." "That was a long time ago." the older gnome pulls off her glasses to clean them.
Nita adjusts her glasses and peers at the quiet one, finally noticing the bag and coat. A messenger, she notes, correct her internal list of unknowns.
Nita nods in agreement with the quiet one, "Exactly what do you want 'us'?" her voice has a hint of doubt. So far she could see an actor, an artist, a mapmaker, and... whatever the other two were.
"Rebels?" Nita raised an eyebrow behind her glasses at the quiet girl, unconsciously mimicking the horned tiefling, "Oh. My." the older woman says without a hint of worry. She quirks her mouth a bit as she thinks, weighing, worrying, and then decides not all information is good to share with strangers, despite the current trend in the room, AND she does have a dog to look after. So no compasses will be placed on the table. "The hellknights are hunting 'malcontents' and here we are strangely collected in a tavern owned by two well-known ones." well that is something to share she decides, something anyone listening as they wander the streets might have heard. She sighs and sips some more.
"Shadows." the gnome sips her tea and then adds "And a compass" in answer for why she is here. Waldroph woofs out WALK!
Waldorph WOOFS a greeting in return. A deep low woof that ripples the very air, even though it is obviously a happy sound. To punctuate that obviousness, the big fluff ball bounds toward the seated gentleman like he was greeting a long-lost friend, instead of a man they met for less than ten minutes this very morning. Nita sighs at her guard dog's behavior. She takes a seat at the round table, and in her customer tone says "Greetings to you again, sir. Was the map to your liking?" even though she instead wants to snap, why did you disappear?
"They have a splendid tea." Nita says, not commenting on the motley part, since a bleached gnome and her dog will potentially always turn the norm into a motley. She sees a chair and moves toward it.
"I will buy everyone a drink, if we could please go to this 'quieter' room" the mildly crisp tone of the white-haired woman drew eyes down to her, though her remains on their host. It seems she is impatient to hear what Janiven wishes to say.
Nita finds her eyes faced with an exposed midriff since her face and the midriff in question are eye to belly button. She finds her practical thoughts of armor vulnerability over attractiveness threatening to escape her lips, but thankfully she is interrupted by the bearer of the midriff herself. As the offer to move to another room is made a steady sound of "Hmmm" comes out, which is agreement/questioning/suspicion all rolled up together, but the agreement part is the most important. Waldrop just pants happily.
As the massive tiefling approaches, Nita sees the sword and sun instead of a red pentagram. Not this Palaveen then. The whispering one with a... Nita adjusts her glasses and leans upward... bleeding mouth. "the spirits here must be atrocious" she says to her dog since she talks to him and him alone most days, only to notice his attention has moved from the artist to the tailed one who is standing. Obviously, the big pup assumes she is going to put him as well. The words though make sense, and with a sigh agrees "You are right, miss. Doom is best to be avoided, in most cases at least." Redrawing this place AGAIN aside, there are too many people not in their evening years. Grasping her dog's collar, she starts to pull him away from the odd group "We were looking for a customer. A man named Aidonis, if any of you are familiar??" she arched a white eyebrow over her milky eyes and looks to see if any of them know him.
About her dog, "Yes." a simple word with a light sigh, especially once the attention to her ham of a canine starts. "Hmmm" a sound in response to the city inspiring, which one can Almost be sure is agreement. Then a flat serious "Oh" at the definition of high stakes. Her milky eyes drift to the one that had whispered a helpful question of their own a moment ago, still in earshot, and her lips form a tight line. If she was going to say something, she stopped when a large tiefling scraped the doorframe with his horns. He is just inside her ability to see anything. "What does this 'canker' look like again?" Nita asks, knowing only a few details from gossiped rumors of people with too much time of their hands.
"Waldorph" the small woman says, her eyebrow arching as she considers the auburn pillar. "You are an artist, are you not?" her question gets put on the todo list as the whisper catches hers and the pillar's ear. Her mind instantly goes to the shadows, but a group named the bastard's are probably not related to them. Looking back from the whispering one to the other, she asks "High stakes?" she wasn't sure she should be listening to whatever the possible artist is suggesting. Nita's experience with the art community is they have a LOT of creativity with little common sense.
Nita sighed, low but long, as an auburn haired pillar appeared in front of her. Not a pillar, a person, which meant she didn't need to map it, but it was still in her way. Her guide should have lead her around the obstacle, but said guide LOVED obstacles like this, as his sudden 'PET ME' demeanor suggested. While her eyes were utter crap, her hearing was not, and her brain thought on the question, even though it didn't concern her. Brains were like that, never obeying, always wandering... sigh
"The Dottori's idling is ingrained in them as part of their training, unless it is a complain about animal defecation, which was always in the process of being cleaned despite their invention of codes and edicts." the voice brings the attention downward, behind the pillar, to a white haired nut skinned gnome with thick glasses on her pert nose and in well tailored well fitted dark grays and stark whites. And her large fluffy dog which is practically screaming HELLO I LOVE YOU PET ME PLEASE.
Nita had to admit, that while the restoration of this tavern had irritated her, just as almost all change in reality did, it did look nice. The music and chattering wash over her as the white haired gnome and her large dog enter. One face placid, the other open mouthed with a happy tongue out. As the latter nudges the former (a lovable nudge but still one that nearly knocks her over), she answers "Okay, yes we could get out more, but right now Map please, you oaf" an often used command, that meant lead me around the room. The Very nearsighted gnome could see some tables, with some people, but not the owner of the lute for example. So a methodical mapping was the first step of every new roomn/place/street/gully/bridge(etc) If unmolested in her endeavor, she will then find a table, not knowing exactly why Bobble's would send her here, and not keen on just asking after shadows and pathfinders just yet.
Nita nudges her dog along the path to the tavern. Even though her eyesight is getting worse every year, she can navigate by the cobblestones under her feet. Vizios, she remembers. She had tried to get ahead of redrawing the maps of the area when it was scheduled for demolition, only to have it revoked, and the place remodeled. She felt like grumbling even to this day, but didn't.
Nita looks from the shadow to her pup, finally letting the danger Waldy is trying to relay, and sighs. "Okay, I'll listen." she looks back at the shadow, her maybe former business partner and one of the best friends she has ever had. "But we will talk later, Bobble-Pin" she uses one of the many pet names the trio would create, while still holding a firm tone. Grasping Waldroph's collar "Off we go. Outside."
Nita's heart gives a thump louder than it has in years. She pats her pup's head and tells him to "stay" then moves in her slow measured way to the mirror. She holds the wayfinder to her side, blocking most of the light behind the fabric of her day coat. Slwoly she reaches out to the shadow, saying the name again "Kortukin, I'm here, how can I help."
Nita bites her lower lip, working it in thought before asking, the shadow of all things, "Kortukin... is that you?"
"It does not like light. See Waldorph, we have discovered something. Though, yes I agree, a shadow not liking light is not a relevation. But... why the mirror's glass? And Kortukin's..." a sliver of loss escapes from her bleaching. The gnome woman moves closer, despite her companion's fear, trying to look into the mirror, a tiny bit of hope in her normally calm heart.
Nita adjusts her glasses, and peers at the message. She gives a sound like a hurumph, which is mullified once she sees the gold... somewhat. "If he is one of Them, why did he leave?" she doesn't expect an answer, though she does get a small whine with his nose pointed back at the shadows. "Okay, let's go look." Nita doesn't know why she is whispering at all. Back in the back, she takes out the wayfinder, whispering the command word and a pure light shines out of it, which she points at the darkness to see how it responds.
"Now what is..." her voice trails off as her eyes travel over the taunt liquid-like shadow. Curiosity low in her voice, while worry tightened her grip on her pup's collar. Shadow dislikes light, she assumed so she reached for that trinket they sent to her. "Dingle berry drat" she cursed without heat when she realized it was under the counter. "Waldroph, come" she tries to pull him to where she left it.
Nita takes off her glasses and cleans them even though she knows the draining of color is nothing to do with them. Before Waldrop can get past her, she slides her hand through his fur into his collar "not without me" she says to his worried What? gaze. "Sir, I think Cobbles, Bobbles and Bows might be closing early, you can consider your purchase overnight and come again." Waldrop starts moving again, and Nita lets herself be pulled behind him. She does hope they make it to the counter, where her morning star is leaning behind.
Nita's cloudy blue eyes blink slowly, as her mind absorbs his words. "This one..." the mapmaker starts, the words lilting toward a question before she catches herself and finishes "... was completed yesterday. The Boiling Bob had a boiler go Pop. A surprising and irritating situation which shattered---" Waldroph's reaction distracts her, making her look behind her, adjusting her glasses trying to see into the blurry mess her vision becomes after thirty or so feet. "Do you feel a shift in the temperature?"
"That is correct. Nita hops off her tall stool. She finds that the taller folk like this gentleman preferred to not want to stoop too low to conduct business, hence the stool she sits on. But he asked about maps, which is not a simple question, so the small woman had to get down and move to a shelf lined with wooden frames, all settled in vertically "Area of question and level of detail?" she asked flatly, sparing a single glance at her dog, who beamed I LOVE HIM to his mistress, all from a simple scratch. After giving her pup a small frown of betrayal, she pulled a frame out, revealing a map stretched out on cork. A map of this block with each building painstakingly detailed down to tiny cobblestones. Sliding it back in, she slid out the next, showing the same area with outlines of buildings and lines for streets. Her gaze looking over the second was one of resigned irritation, knowing it is what most people wanted but 'Ugh Gag Rumble' her mind filled in various sounds that she did not vocalize, then she turned back to him and raised an eyebrow.
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