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It only takes them a few seconds to disappear down the slope of the boarding ramp, during which time you watch agape.
Finally you turn to look at the purse on the table, and realize it isn't yours. Heart sinking, you reach out and take it, and discover it has three coppers inside, just enough to make it clink when it hit the table.
Looking back up, you see the pair running off the root of the pier and into the city... You could give chase, but you realize, you have probably lost them.
Brick looks back toward Ruuz, a vacant look in his eyes.
"She seemed like a nice lady," he says after a few minutes.
Noticing the altercation nearby with the changeling, the woman and her father, Valessa stifles a smirk.
She puts her notebook back in her pack, and settles back against the rail, nursing her drinks and looking around with renewed interest. Ah well, money troubles aside, might as well enjoy herself. This is a party after all.
Maybe she should just get drunk, if her remaining funds would allow it ... a few more blissful hours of not deciding anything.
"She seemed like a nice lady," he says after a few minutes.
"Yes splendid" his voice dripping with venom as he watches the "family" disappear into the crowd on the dock. Well at least they didn't get away with a fortune by any means but it looks like I will need to sell some scrolls for my next meal and start dodging the innkeeper for a while. Ruuz grabs the purse and puts it in his pocket as he contemplates his new situation. Well I might as well not let this ruin my night. "Well that my friend was quite a good con. You seem to be learning a lot about life since you stopped walking here." Ruuz told the warforged. "Now that we are free from distractions and I have no more money for ale to cloud my mind let start with your name, what do people call you?"
"She seemed like a nice lady," he says after a few minutes."Yes splendid" his voice dripping with venom as he watches the "family" disappear into the crowd on the dock. Well at least they didn't get away with a fortune by any means but it looks like I will need to sell some scrolls for my next meal and start dodging the innkeeper for a while. Ruuz grabs the purse and puts it in his pocket as he contemplates his new situation. Well I might as well not let this ruin my night. "Well that my friend was quite a good con. You seem to be learning a lot about life since you stopped walking here." Ruuz told the warforged. "Now that we are free from distractions and I have no more money for ale to cloud my mind let start with your name, what do people call you?"
My creator called me 'Brick,' and sometimes 'You Useless Piece Of Junk.'
My creator called me 'Brick,' and sometimes 'You Useless Piece Of Junk.'
"Haha, Well I will stick with Brick right now, maybe if we meet again off this boat we will see how useful you are I reserve the right to change my mind. Well now what do you plan to do now that you are at the 'best tavern in Xendrik'?"
Maybe she should just get drunk, if her remaining funds would allow it ... a few more blissful hours of not deciding anything.
While you were watching the spectical on the far side of the ship, you missed the approach of a man to your table, he gets your attention by loudly placing a bottle on your table then sits down.
Giving him a quick, if startled glance, you realize he is incredibly non-descript. Plain face, plain features...
"Good evening, madam," His language has a slight Karrnathi accent, "My name is, well no, you may call me Ein. I work for the proprietor of this fine establishment, and my primary responsibility is for the talent."
"It is not often that we have women dining alone, especially not beautiful women, and I thought I might enquire whether or not you were looking for employment?"
He then tilts his head slightly to the side, and simply waits for your response.
Beren turns from the rail relieved of his findings. He had been feeling anxious the whole voyage to Stormreach, concerned about following the right clues that took his quarry to Xen'drik and this port city. Now with that question answered, his current surroundings were shed in a new light. Feeling concerned for the waitresses' predicament he waits for the next waitress to pass then whispers, "Are you and the other waitresses in need of rescueing?"
Witnessing the backside slap, Raustikin stands up. Once he sees that Heavenly is able to take care of herself, he sits back down, embarrassed that he drew any attention to himself. He continues to watch the man conspicuously, even after a strange warforged walks up to the man and strikes up a rather eccentric conversation.
It took a while for her to get over to Raustikin's table, but when she does she simply looks down at you for a moment, then sets down an unordered drink then walks away without charging you.
When she is gone, you lift the drink, and written on the napkin beneath it is 'Thank you'.
It took a while for her to get over to Raustikin's table, but when she does she simply looks down at you for a moment, then sets down an unordered drink then walks away without charging you.
When she is gone, you lift the drink, and written on the napkin beneath it is 'Thank you'.
Raustikin reacts noticeably, sitting up, turning his gaze to Heavenly, eyes wide. He almost shifts from the excitement, but holds back. His heart continues to beat and he breaths rapidly. Without realizing, he's making claw marks into the table.
"Are you and the other waitresses in need of rescueing?"
She looks at you for a moment, almost like you were growing another head out of your cheek, before she leans in very close to you...
"Oh yes, we are so mistreated..." As she speaks she gathers up a length of her silk binding, and shows you the loop...
"...it is so hard, imprisoned here, all day, all night..." with a flick of her wrist she flips the loop up and over your head...
"...with you idiot men!" As she finishes, she leans back throws her weight againt the silk, which tightens instantly, in seconds the edges of your vision start to gray...
Then the collar and the waitress are gone, leaving you gasping for breath.
Beren sucks in air again & again until his vision clears. Looking up in astonishment at what just happend he searches for the crazed woman. She blended too quickly and easily into the throng of revelers. He could spot a rabbit in a thicket of bushes from a hundred yards, but here he was out of his element.
Shaking off his humility, thinking 'I will never understand cityfolk' decides to find Valessa, his rock in the marsh. He takes the steps down to the main deck and back to their table. He sees her there talking to a man. A feeling he has never felt before rises in his face, chest, & gut, and although he has never met this man he automatically does not like him.
Out of courtesy not to interrupt her conversation he stops ten feet away and waves with a forced smile until she notices and hopefully envites him over.
"Haha, Well I will stick with Brick right now, maybe if we meet again off this boat we will see how useful you are I reserve the right to change my mind. Well now what do you plan to do now that you are at the 'best tavern in Xendrik'?"
"I don't know. Do you?"
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Raustikin reacts noticeably, sitting up, turning his gaze to Heavenly, eyes wide. He almost shifts from the excitement, but holds back. His heart continues to beat and he breaths rapidly. Without realizing, he's making claw marks into the table.
At some point, you do notice you are still holding the drink you lifted off the napkin, and gingerly sipping youo discover ambrosia. You aren't sure what the drink is, but it is far outside your normal price range.
"I don't know. Do you?"
As Ruuz is thinking about what to tell Brick he see a shifter talking to a serving girl on the upper deck. Ruuz raises any eyebrow as she starts to choke him, I wonder what he said, looks like I got lucky with just a warning for my forward advances. Ruuz looks back to Brick with a smile "No I don't know what you should do, do you have any skills or abilities?"
She blended too quickly and easily into the throng of revelers.
"It is not often that we have women dining alone, especially not beautiful women, and I thought I might enquire whether or not you were looking for employment?"
He then tilts his head slightly to the side, and simply waits for your response.
Valessa turns and gives the man a withering look. “No,” she says forcefully. “I am most certainly not looking for employment.” (ignoring the yawning emptiness of her purse.) “What is wrong with this town? You think that any pretty girl not in the company of a man must be a whore or a doxie, or somehow in need of protection, or needs to be paid for, or kept? Hmmm?” She puts her drink down and advances a step. “Well tell your boss, no, I don’t need a job, I don’t need ‘help’.”
“Besides,” she adds, noticing that Beren has returned and is standing, smiling, nearby, “I’m not dining alone, I’m here with a friend.” She nods towards the shifter, and shifts her head, beckoning him over. “Just a friend,” she adds, raising a warning eyebrow to Ein.
Beren, barely avoiding jumping to Valessa's side anticipating her invitation, struts over. His smile focuses on Valessa. Then when he is at her side, turns to the man. His smile fades into a scowl, and in a bestial growl steered by his steel gaze, says, "I don't believe I have had the pleasure of meeting you" He extends his clawed, hairy hand, his eyes vigilant, never blinking. "My name is Beren."
At some point, you do notice you are still holding the drink you lifted off the napkin, and gingerly sipping youo discover ambrosia. You aren't sure what the drink is, but it is far outside your normal price range.
Settling down some, Raustikin sips the libation slowly, taking in the beauty of the moment, hoping it lasts. The drink is not only divine, but its meaning more intoxicating than the liquor. He tries to watch Heavenly secretly, but his bluff is to no avail. She knows he is watching as her muscles stretch and contract beneath her skin when she moves from table to table.
I must get a quill and ink, he says to himself, and begins to looks about, his head swirling with lights, sweaty creatures, drinks, the ocean, and Heavenly.
Valessa turns her head slightly towards Beren and gives a quick wink. By now she considers the man a friend, and is not adverse to accepting a little bit of help – or at least backup – in this situation. Besides, on the off chance that things should turn nasty, she could really use the backup – she still wasn’t much good in a fight, despite her training.
“Welcome back Beren,” she says, somewhat sardonically. “Ein here was just offering me a job – one that patently does not interest me. I’m an explorer and a scholar, not a man’s plaything. I think he was about to be on his way.” She turns back and smiles humourlessly at Ein.
A small part of her thinks that perhaps she shouldn’t so bluntly be cutting off any potential avenues of contacts – or employment – given her current situation. After all, who knows who this man’s boss is? But she was really quite offended by the supposition.
After a few moments of staring down the man, his voice becomes less growly, "Well Ein, It has been a pleasure." Then he turns to Valessa. His voice softens immediatley. "Do you hear that?" he says with a toothly grin. His head tilts to one side, and his ear rises. "The minotaur is playing How wonderful the Golden Wyverns of Breland." An almost marching tune, patrons (probably mostly Brelish and the insanely drunk) around the minotaur are tapping their mugs on their tables in rhythm. "This is one of my favorite songs. Would you like to go request a tune? Maybe even a dance?" Beren smiles at his perceived cleverness to get Valessa away from her acoster.
The smirk falls from Valessa’s face at the mention of dancing. And it had been going so well! “You what?” she blurts, rather inarticulately. “Dance? Er, Beren, I don’t really dance…” Not without being much drunker than this, anyway, she thought. “I’ve got all my stuff,” she gestures to her pack, and bow, getting a rather absurd picture of her and Beren dancing around a big pile of their combined gear, “and besides…” her voice trails off, but she flicks her eyes in the direction of Ein, trying to indicate in the gesture – I don’t want this guy to see me dancing!
Actually, she could dance a little, without too much embarrassment, if the music stayed slow and she concentrated on her steps. But she would rather not share with Beren her secret love of Andurian folk songs right at this juncture. And with the fast paced music that the beast-man was currently playing … well, she was a lithe and well formed young woman, but she had a tendency to swing and shake perhaps a little too much when trying to keep up with such tunes.
Which tended to attract attention.
Attention she really didn’t want right now.
"I don't know. Do you?"As Ruuz is thinking about what to tell Brick he see a shifter talking to a serving girl on the upper deck. Ruuz raises any eyebrow as she starts to choke him, I wonder what he said, looks like I got lucky with just a warning for my forward advances. Ruuz looks back to Brick with a smile "No I don't know what you should do, do you have any skills or abilities?"
"Well, I can remember things and carry heavy things."
The warforged pauses for a moment, thinking.
"And sometimes, when I get damaged, it goes away, and I can make things glow in the dark."
Brick pauses again, as if remembering something from a dream.
"What's a Daelkyr? I heard the word once from my creator, and I don't know what it means. Is it bad?"
Beren's smile vanishes immediately. His head feels blank, totally unprepared for the reaction. His face a fit of confusion. He tried to help the waitress, he got choked. Now, he tries to help Valessa, and she gets really upset at him. He finally comprehends that he will never comprehend women. He is much better at killing. Then he realizes how ironic it is that even his quarry turns out to be a female.
He gives a sad, helpless sigh. His mouth turns into a half-smile, and he just shakes his head, his hands out to his sides in helplessness. He looks up-his eyes big, his cheeks sunken, and says in a throaty almost pathetic voice, "I'm sorry, I was just trying to help." racked with confusion he turns to walk away.
Determined now to really start drinking, then to kill orcs. ALL OF THEM!
Flashing Ein a venomous look – now look what you made me do! – Valessa turns to grab Beren’s arm. “Wait, Beren. Er … you’re not going to guilt me into dancing with you that easily you know chum,” she says weakly, trying to make a joke of it. Her voice softens. “Look,” she says. “I know you were trying to help. And you were – helping I mean. But I really don’t dance so well. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be so blunt – but you know me, right?” She looks back at the dance floor. “Um … let me buy you another drink,” she says, with a sinking feeling as she recalls the state of her purse. “Is that that waitress I spoke to before, over by the tall warforged and the changeling?”
Looking back and forth between the two of you, expressionless, Ein stands up and drops a coin on the table.
"I am sorry mam'"
With no other explanantion, he walks away.
Staring in shock at the shining coin resting on the table, Valessa was momentarily torn. Damn, they were paying platinum?! Maybe she should go after him instead … but no, she’d be damned to Xoriat before she let herself be tied up and treated like meat for money. And besides, Beren was her only friend here, and curse her secretly good nature, she couldn’t abandon him.
She was pragmatic enough to pocket the coin though.
Feeling the hand on his shoulder, Beren turns back around to look at Valessa. "Just buy your friend," nodding his head forward in the direction of Ein, "another drink." He turns to leave, stops, turns his head again, his eyes turn to stone, looking straight ahead, not directly at her, he coldly says, "I lived with humans my whole life, so I know that when you see me, you only see a shifter. On the ship we were friends, but this city changes people." He turns and swiftly walks away.
Weaving through the tables with no destination in mind, he looks up and views a solitary shifter sipping a house concoction. Oberving closer, he notices the shifter unintentionally clawing the table. Beren follows his gave to an attractive, vibrant waitress and realizes how much he could relate.
He walks up to the lone shifter, offers a nod of the head, and says, "Greetings, my name is Beren. Do you mind if I join you?"
“Wait, what? That’s not –” begins Valessa, but it’s too late, Beren has already walked away. Yes, he was a shifter – so what? She was a human, the guy over there was a changeling, the musician was a minotaur. So what? It wasn’t like he was a woman trying to make her way in – oh …. Something began to occur to the explorer, but rather than finish the thought, and feel guilty, she chose anger instead.
“Ugh. Frag him then. This is what happens, I open up to someone and I get hurt. And I passed up on some good money to spare his feelings too!” In her worked up state, Valessa was of course ignoring the fact that she hadn’t wanted to earn that money. She stormed back to the table. Here she was, in Xen’drik for the Hosts’ sake, and rather than feeling like an adventurer or an explorer, she felt like a damn extra in a performance of Middle Menthis Finishing School.
“I need a drink,” she muttered. “Waitress!”
He walks up to the lone shifter, offers a nod of the head, and says, "Greetings, my name is Beren. Do you mind if I join you?"
As if a beast suddenly appeared out of the jungle, Raustikin is shocked out of his trance-like state by something talking to him. Jerking his head, he looks up and sees a dark skinned man - judging by his roughness probably a shifter, and with the red tint in his skin probably from Droaam. Gathering his thoughts, Raustikin realizes the man has asked an unlikely question, to join Raustikin at his table. Momentarily left off guard Raustikin asks, "Do you have a quill and ink?" As soon as he blurts this out, he realizes his faux pas. He then weakly tries to indicate with a nod of the head that the man may sit.
"What's a Daelkyr? I heard the word once from my creator, and I don't know what it means. Is it bad?"
Ruuz looks up sharply "What exactly did your creator say about the Daelkyr?" Is this warforged linked to some mad cult centered around Xoriat Ruuz wonders. He sits up in his chair more interested in where this conversation was going. "The Daelkyr are the evil rulers of Xoriat the plane of madness and they invaded Khorvaire a long time ago and I think are the reason the goblin empire fell. I am no expert but I do now that yes they are bad, really bad."
"What's a Daelkyr? I heard the word once from my creator, and I don't know what it means. Is it bad?"Ruuz looks up sharply "What exactly did your creator say about the Daelkyr?" Is this warforged linked to some mad cult centered around Xoriat Ruuz wonders. He sits up in his chair more interested in where this conversation was going. "The Daelkyr are the evil rulers of Xoriat the plane of madness and they invaded Khorvaire a long time ago and I think are the reason the goblin empire fell. I am no expert but I do now that yes they are bad, really bad."
"Oh... My creator once told me that he needed to go speak with the Daelkyr, and then he was gone for a month. Then he came back and told me to leave..."
Brick appears confused.
"If the Daelkyr are bad, why was my creator talking to them? Was he bad, too?"
"If the Daelkyr are bad, why was my creator talking to them? Was he bad, too?"
"Well most people that interact with Daelkyr are not good but there could be all sorts of explanations I guess. There are some cults I am sure that are fixated on Xoriat and the Daelkyr." tells Brick as he runs his hand through his hair trying to remember anything about those cults.
"Do you have a quill and ink?"
Initially raising an eyebrow at the response, 'what does this city make everyone crazy', he thinks to himself. Then just blaming it on the swirly drink in the shifter's hand, hopefully at least, Beren accepts the invitation and slides out a chair and has a seat with a gracious nod. He pulls out a silver piece and sets it on the table. Now thinking that quantity is more important than quality, he tries to get the attention of a waitress.
Noticing his new companion's distraction, he asks, "So, I guess you have a hard time understanding women also?"
"Yes missus?"
Valessa blinks in surprise at the new waitress, her earlier half-formed suspicions having been driven completely out of her head in the past few minutes.
“Ah, sorry, I didn’t mean to shout,” she says, looking the woman in the eye and smiling weakly. “I really need a drink … maybe two … maybe three. Something with some kick, please.”
She pulls out her last gold coin and hands it to the waitress. “Whatever this will buy my three of. I won’t need ‘em all at once, but keep ‘em coming.” She lowers her voice, speaking now more to herself. “I guess I’m going to have to enjoy this party after all, even if it kills me.”
Noticing his new companion's distraction, he asks, "So, I guess you have a hard time understanding women also?"
Raustikin replies, "I haven't had much talk with women." For some reason, he feels able to open up to this fellow shifter. Perhaps its the drinks or the strangeness of the night.
However, Raustikin immediately grabs the napkin, hiding its contents and slowly moving it into the folds of his robe behind his armor.
He looks at Beren and says, "Sorry, I'm Raustikin."
"Well met. Thank you for having me." Beren notices a single silver braid in his otherwise braided reddish hair and believes that it has some religious significance. He can't quite place it at the moment but ponders it during the encounter. "So, Raustikin", Beren inquires, "Tell me, how long have you been in Stormreach? Do you visit this establishment often?" While waiting for his soft-spoken shifter-kin to answer, he peers around looking for a waitress.
While looking for a waitress, Beren also tries to steal a glance toward the area he last saw Valessa. He can't stop wondering how she is doing, and if she is still with the other man. He hopes to not catch her eye, and he really does not understand why he his so interested in where she is. He just can't help it, can't stop thinking about her. "I really need a drink. What are you having?" he asks his shifter friend.
Beren notices a single silver braid in his otherwise braided reddish hair and believes that it has some religious significance. He can't quite place it at the moment but ponders it during the encounter.
"So, Raustikin", Beren inquires, "Tell me, how long have you been in Stormreach? Do you visit this establishment often?"
"I've been here six moons. I started coming here many days ago, not sure how many." Ruastikin's answers are short, although Beren doesn't sense any curtness, just a man of few words.
"I really need a drink. What are you having?" he asks his shifter friend.
"I do not know. That woman over there gave it to me." He motions to a lovely waitress. He holds on to the drink like its a precious treasure. "She's nice." He quickly changes the conversation. "Where are you from? Why are you here?"
"Huh well I can't remember what that cult is, maybe we can find some one more versed in the occult and religion and see if they know." Ruuz leans back again and drinks the last of his ale. "Oh well we can find out more about that later I guess. Any other strange secrets in your short life I should know about?" Ruuz asks.
As Brick thinks about it Ruuz scans the deck and notices two shifters talking, one of them he remembers didn't seem to like the attention he was giving the waitress. The other seems to have recovered from his air deprivation and is trying really hard not to keep glancing at the women he arrived with. The women is sitting alone in the corner is trying really hard to drink herself into oblivion it looks like. 'Ha it seem we have a young lovers spat' Ruuz thinks to himself.
"Huh well I can't remember what that cult is, maybe we can find some one more versed in the occult and religion and see if they know." Ruuz leans back again and drinks the last of his ale. "Oh well we can find out more about that later I guess. Any other strange secrets in your short life I should know about?" Ruuz asks.
"No," replies the warforged after a long pause. "But, I would like to know what everyone is drinking. And, why everyone acts different afterward."