
Maddock d'Tharask |

After hearing that their quarry had finally been cornered and held, Maddock took a moment to give his head a firm shake. He hadn't been able to catch a moment to gather his wits since waking up in this strange place. Where exactly were they? He briefly looked up at the sky, attempting to count suns, moons, hells - anything that could provide a clue.
Pointing to the sign that says minimum of two drinks, I tell Kegi, "I'm broke. I'll stay outside. I need the fresh air anyway." But I keep close to the window so I can see what is happening inside.
"Suit yerself, Rags. This Shrub needs watering." he growled, and entered the building, heading to the bar where the dandy was being held. He took a moment to pick up one of the proffered drinks that the barkeep had poured, and made a sour face while pushing it as far away from himself as possible. "How much for a jug of yer finest?" he asked, flashing a toothy grin that could make children cry.

Akallabeth |

The Barkeep looks offended as he sits down the 10 mugs of beer.
"That is my finest!"
'Why did I KNOW he was gonna say that?!?' I asked myself, taking a large swig of his 'finest' and managing to hold it down.
Noticing that some of the others were keeping their eyes on the rest of the room, i concentrated on the barkeep. My smile was only slightly dimmed by the slight effort it took not to make a face at the taste the beer.
"Well goodsir, we have met the rules of your establishment. While we are enjoying our drinks, may we now also companionably discuss possible business interests?" I took another swig of the beer. Not as large as the first, and was pleasantly surprised at how much less watered down it tasted this time.
'Probably because I just killed all my taste buds,...' I mused silently.
"What are you asking for the,... privilege, of some private discussion time with our mutual 'friend'? Is my companion correct, has he run up a tab? If so that would explain his recent bad choices that got him in this mess to begin with." I smiled, and took one more cautious sip. Not bad.
'I may just survive this after all.' I considered. But decided that ale was not my favorite beverage. Anymore.
"Or,..." I tapped my chin thoughtfully, "It is possible that YOU may possess the information we seek. If so, we could just reach an agreement between ourselves, and you can keep Mr. Dandy here and do whatever you like with him." I decided against another drink, for now. And settled for smiling as I awaited his response.

Logos |
The Barkeeps thick arms and broken knuckles attest to both a lack of bouncers, and the lack of brains of anyone who tangles with him.
The Dandy appears the be allyless in this room
The Barkeep speaks up "100 lead peices for the dandy, and more if you want me to say anything other than here's your drink!"

Logos |
the barkeep laughs a rude laugh at you all like he found a bunch of suckas
kinda like a machine gun hught hught hught hught but fast
" any fool knows that gold is barely worth carrying here, its heavy and two bendy to do anything with, Lead makes fine waterworks and goblets and such, good jewlery , its heavy than gold if you needs heavy and is important to smithing and such."
Looking perplexed at his positivity verbose expounding, he dumbly returns to the matter at hand " Lead or no deal, and I dun think by the looks of you,"Snearing at the paperbag princess with the truncheon, and those who don't even have the coin for a drink, "That yous can take me in a fight"

Lucienne |

Lucienne looks at all her companions and shrugs. "Curse our lack of foresight to neglect lead pieces in our gear.
She is trying to get her head into the bizarre logic here. It's not a dream, but the rules seem vaguely dream-like. "Maybe he can take us in a fair fight," she mutters softly, "but he's unarmored. Perhaps he's ... I hesitate to even suggest it ... ticklish."

Akallabeth |

Akallabeth raises an eyebrow at Lucienne's suggestion.
"Ticklish?! Maybe. But I'll admit I'm not keen to test that theory!" He whispered back.
"Something about this place has been bothering me since we,... 'arrived'." He tells Kegi and Luc. "I can't quite place my finger on it,..." He strokes his goatee as he concentrates, a habit that the others have noticed he does when he is thinking.
"It's like looking at a displacer beast! You KNOW what your seeing is off to the side of what your trying to hit, but you can't help but swing at it anyway! Everything is off to the side here, Lead is worth more than Gold, the Cats spit you out instead, of, eating,...? Is that it?!?" He asks, turning back to Luc & Kegi, "Is everything, Backwards here?"
His eyes seem to light from inside as inspiration strikes. "That's it! it's not 'off to the side', it's backwards! It's like looking in a mirror! I wonder if the rule of 'backwards' applies to everything here,..." He muses. "If so, then your right Luc. The way to beat the barkeep at his challenge wouldn't be with brute strength."

Lucienne |

"So, are you volunteering to tickle him then?"
Lucienne grins and replies arily, "I was thinking of someone with more skill in hand-to-hand, ah, combat, who was learned in the ways of a body's more, um, delicate, er, soft, um, vulnerable spots."
Lucienne looks at Aerianna, then at Kegi, then back. "I'll help."

Akallabeth |

See my Edit in last post of discussion thread,...
I looked again at the muscles of the big, beefy barkeep. Swallowed. And gave him my award winning smile. "You are quite correct goodsir," I agreed amiably, "I certainly don't think I could take you in a fair fight. And, to be honest, we've done quite a lot of fighting lately. I would love to find a more,... amicable, solution."
I glanced at Luc and the others, then turned back to the barkeep. "Exactly HOW much lead do you require for the Dandy, or to ask you for the information we seek? We will find a way to procure it." An inspiration struck me,...
"Perhaps," I mused, "In lieu of paying you in lead, there is a service we could perform for you? A problem you have that we could solve for you? Something that you need done that would be worth answering a few questions for us?"
I kept a tight lid on the fire inside. This was not a good time for it to flare up. I hadn't realized until that moment how used I had gotten to blasting everything first, then asking questions.
'Let's try it this way first,' I told myself, ' We can always blast later if this doesn't pan out!'
OR, Aerianna and I could post at the same time! LOL!

Logos |
The Barkeep smirks at your thinly veiled discussion.
Then scratching his big chin, and dragging the dandy with his beefy arm he says.
"You may be onto something, the magic item inspector has a tendency of lightening my patrons of coin, go and bother him and bring back the tariffs or some magic items, if you do that I will gladly give you the dandy, maybe even give you free drinks for a week or two."
He makes what you think must be his cunning face, lips pursed and one eyebrow raised.

Akallabeth |

I nodded, saluted the barkeep with my mug, and took one last swig. I tried not to dwell on the fact it was starting to taste,... well maybe not GOOD, but decent.
"Very well then. I bid you good day sirra, we shall return anon."
I turned to the others. "After you ladies, gentlemen?" I indicated the door. My head was still hurting trying to get around the whole 'backward' thing, and I desperately felt the need for clean, fresh air and calm conversation.
Once outside, I took slow, deep breaths, and actually felt a little better. "Is it just me?" I asked the others, "Or have I learned about/traveled to, more different dimensions and planes in the past week than I ever read about in my entire life!"
"WHEN we get back, I am gonna bury that 'nemesis' SO FAR under that seal the he is gonna have to look DOWN to see UP!" I exclaimed to the others, making clutching motions with my hands.
"So?" I asked, much more calmly now that I had vented, "Shall we see a man about a 'magic item tax'??"

Lucienne |

"So?" I asked, much more calmly now that I had vented, "Shall we see a man about a 'magic item tax'??"
Lucienne shakes her head. "I vote 'no.' He's done us nothing wrong, as far as we know, he's doing his lawful job, and frankly, I don't think that attacking him will get us any closer to getting home.
"I wouldn't mind asking him for directions, though."

Akallabeth |

I nod at Luc's words.
"Very well, lets go and ask him then. The worst he can do is say 'no',... like everyone else in this blasted place,..."
"Lucienne, with your skills, is there anyway that we can tell WHERE we are? I just had this,... nightmare. What if we were only subdued by 'Shadowwise', and we are currently under some some sort of mental illusion? The way that everything seems to be backwards, it's like a freaking nightmare! And we know how good he is with manipulation and,..."
I took another long breath. "All I'm asking is, do we possess the ability to determine WHERE we are on our own? I would LUV to be able to figure out at least THAT much without help from the locals if possible. Whatever we do, If it turns out that we really ARE in another dimension, great. Anywhere you can get INTO you can get OUT of!"
I took another long breath as I re clamped the lid on my inner fire.
It wasn't easy. "Let's go find this guy. maybe HE'LL tell us something! Or maybe we'll get lucky, and the 'tax collectors' are villains here, and the Highwaymen are the good guys! Either way, I'm gonna wanna fry something real soon!" I muttered just loud enough for the others to hear.

Lucienne |

Lucienne looks carefully at Akallabeth. "We're all going to make it out of here, darkling. We're going to do it together. And when we do, we're going to find the man who sent us here, and ... register our complaints ... and then do something fun. and low-stress. Perhaps involving daelkyr or savage were-dragons."
"I can't tell much about where we are. I know we're not in a dream, per se, but ..."
Knowledge (the planes) roll, spending an action point: 1d20 + 1d6 + 10 = 28 tells Lucienne what?

Akallabeth |

I muttered "I was afraid of that." Just loud enough to be understood, then slowly rotated my neck until it popped. I sighed. Having released what little tension I could, I turned to the others with my (hopefully) usual roguish grin,...
"Well, shall we go and see this man then? If there's ONE thing I DO know it's that politicians love to talk! Even if they only tell you what they think you want to hear! Maybe this 'Magic Tax man' will at least give us something worthwhile to go off of?"
I look around the street, "Now, which way to City Hall or the Inn do you suppose,... ?"

Logos |
The Inn's front recieving room is large but shoddily made, and tarred timber can be seem hanging out from behind shoddily made bookshelfs holding what looks like shoddily made books.
A fat man in a stretched and stained tunic and hoze lay slumpt into a shoddily stuffed and made armchair that seems to be the only furnishing here besides from the front desk. No one else is present, althought a bell is clearly visable.
A coin purse can be seen ,loosely tied to the fat man's sash.

Akallabeth |

I put a hand on Lucienne's shoulder, gently.
I looked around, still saw no one. I whispered to Luc,
"I consider myself an honest man, but I have to admit I'm tempted. No conflict, no confrontation. Just pay up, get our info, and go. No physical harm done to anyone, everyone goes on their way,..."
I slowly removed my hand from her shoulder. "Maybe I've just got 'backwards' on the brain. I never would have considered this before,..." I said, barely loud enough for her to hear me.

Lucienne |

"I consider myself an honest man, but I have to admit I'm tempted. No conflict, no confrontation. Just pay up, get our info, and go. No physical harm done to anyone, everyone goes on their way,..."
Lucienne whispers back to Akallabeth, Listen Check DC 10 for anyone else to hear:
"All we are certain about here is ourselves. Let the world around us tumble into madness, let chaos sweep us deep within its wake; we can remain a bulwarks 'gainst the tempest, our souls stand strong, if strength we choose to make."
Lucienne hands the bell to Akallabeth. "The choice is yours."
She bows in silent greeting to Romulus, and puts a finger to her lips, looking first at Romulus and then at the "sleeping" man.

Akallabeth |

Akallabeth looks at Lucienne after she whispers in his ear, Then at the bell she handed him.
"You seem so sure, so confident." He whispers, gazing at his own warped reflection in the bell.
He continues, almost too softly to hear,...
(DC 10 to hear,...)
"Sometimes it's just so hard to keep the fire,... I just don't want to hurt anyone else,... who doesn't deserve it."
His handsome features harden, and he looks up. He halfheartedly smirks at Romulus, and says in a normal volume, "Sorry Rom, I didn't hear you come in."
And he rings the bell,...

Logos |
with a jump and a snort the sleeping man awakes, his dirty face looking at you with yellowed eyes.
snorting and huffing he gets out of the chair as a dark haired and lanky youth comes to the desk, and says with a surprisingly charming smile, "what can i do fer you"
the dirty magic items inspector says to the boy, "just a moment" and a second later turns his considerable girth to the newcomers. "Ahh new comers so good of you to come to me," producing a neat but heavily creased and oily paper, he hands it to you guys "I'm the magic item inspector, you have to declare all the magic items with you, for tarrifing. Failure to do so will result in fines, and possibly, "The fat man continues ominously "Jail...."
The Paper is a curiously witten in high archaic common note that denotes the bearer as the official magic item inspector of castle stratos and that anyone who doesn't cooperate to the full extent will be subject to fines, harrassment, and general mizery to the fullest extent possible.
The note itself has a blocky script and an air of age to it.

Kegi |

I push the paper back at the Magic Item Inspector with disdain. More fat bellied big-mouthed bureaucrats. Bah. Get this eyesore outta my face and get outta here.
"We be havin' no need o' that on account o' our bein' visitors to yer realm. Now just be directin' us out o' this 'ere Castle and we be on our way - peaceful like."
If he doesn't like that, I put my hand on my sword and say, "Ain't magic, but it'll slice ye right up jus' th' same."

Lucienne |

Lucienne uses Kegi's opening to the party's advantage. She'll be "good cop" to the shifter's "bad cop".
"Indeed, we've only interrupted your work because we have come lost. Good gentlemen, we ask your favor. If you could provide us directions out of the Castle, or, if that is beyond your knowledge, then mayhap to the Lord of this Realm; then we would be on our way, leaving you to your work."
If anybody wants to throw an Intimidate or Diplomacy "aid another" action here, that'd be swell. Then Lucienne's Diplomacy is +8, and I'll spend another Action Point on that.

Akallabeth |

Akallabeth isn't sure, but he doesn't think that Kegi is the bluffing type. It appears that he has put his momentary indecisiveness behind him, and quickly picks up on Lucienne's intent. Slipping into his 'snake oil salesman' grin as easily as Kegi shifts, He moves to stand next to Lucienne, and try to help her 'good cop' pitch.
"May I?" Akallabeth says, intercepting the paper as Kegi shoves it back towards the fat man. He scans it quickly. Noting it's age, he reads it to see if there is any dates or anything that would give an indication of it's intended length of authority, or expiration date.
"Indeed sir, we are actually unwilling , visitors, to the castle, and merely wish to be on our way. If you could help us in that regard, we would be most grateful."
Akallabeth Bluff/Aid Another roll (1d20=14+11=25)
Unless it should be Diplomacy, the result would then be 14+5=19

Logos |
The Piggy man starts to make a sound, until kegi puts a hand on his sword, and mentions it slicing abilities. Making a sound not unlike a snort, the piggy man backs off and says " Yes the exit its over on the other side, and the king he's up above as you should already know i imagine, was that the chef, well lovely meeting you but i really must be going."
The Flushed Fat Man is making for the back exit.
Kegi notices the youth edging away from the turmoil
Logos

Lucienne |

The Piggy man starts to make a sound, until kegi puts a hand on his sword, and mentions it slicing abilities. Making a sound not unlike a snort, the piggy man backs off and says " Yes the exit its over on the other side, and the king he's up above as you should already know i imagine, was that the chef, well lovely meeting you but i really must be going."
The king is up above? As in, back with Ronald and Pundit Bob?

Lucienne |

"Hmmmm,... I guess we're going to go visit the knights after all."
What was that Ronald said,... something about a shrubbery?"
Lucienne replies, "Yes. We'll need to make sure we have shrubberies to see the knights."
"But, I don't think we have to see them. They gave us a choice of knights or knaves, and we chose knaves.
"My question now is: do we want out, that way, or do we want to see the king of this place and petition for hlp against the Hollow Man, up there?"