I graduated three months ago! Didn't I tell you?
Heinrich sits and thinks for a second.
Well, I may have sent a note, did you get a note? Well it's hardly material to the point. The point is that Klaus heard a rumor about impending doom, which as you know is the worst kind of doom.
He points to the pigeon on his shoulder which coos in the affirmative. The pigeon has what looks suspiciously like stitching around its neck.
Since you pay more attention to non-alchemical matters I figured you might know what kind of doom it is and how we can respond.
Heinrich gets the gleam in his eye that means he has a good idea exactly how large the explosion might need to be to deal with the impending doom.
Clyde looks at the two loudly speaking men warily and turns to his companions. Those are two very weird people. If I didn't know better, I'd say we are going to get involved with them somehow. Might as well introduce ourselves.
Clyde ambles up to the table. Greetings fella,s would it be okay for my friends and myself to join you here? We're on a quest .
A quest! What kind of quest? Scientific? Magical? Romantic?
Ask you shall receive brother. Aroden works in mysterious ways.
Fritz offers his hand. I am Fritz Von Geiselschmidt and this is my brother Heinrich and his dear friend Klaus. I have just learned he is a recent graduate of the alchemical academy. I am a humble priest of Aroden. It would appear that Heinrich has heard of some doom approaching us all, but he didnt bother to get the details. So here we are. And you are?
Despite a nervous disposition he is shockingly charming.
Oh where are my manners please pull up a chair. He gestures to the table
No, no it was Klaus who heard about the doom and didn't get the details.
He shakes Clyde's hand, even though it wasn't offered.
Call me Pete, everyone does.
Heinrich. Sit down and let him talk. And my apologies Klaus, I didnt realize you got the hot tip. Heinrich what is Klaus having?
Seeds, he always eats seeds. Well sometimes small berries or bread crumbs but seeds are best.
Fritz waves the serving girl over and orders some stale bread, then he shoves the wine in Heinrichs hand. OK all taken care of. Now Shhhh. Go ahead friend. he says to Clyde
He takes out his notebook and pen to take notes
The waitress returns with Clyde's ale, Fritz's wine, and the requested food. Each plate has a large chunk of beef, a sizable piece of bread, and a heaping serving of what appears to be mashed potatoes.
"Been slow lately, though we did have a large group last night. Came in really late, bought out several rooms, and didn't even stay the rest of the night! They'd all cleared out by morning. Couldn't have gotten much more than four hours of sleep. Still, it was more than I make in a month, so strange behavior aside, it was worth it. You traveling to the Capital City?"
She smiles at the group, obviously both friendly, and bored.
"Most of our guests are just passing through; rare to get someone spending more than a single night here."
I wasn't planning on going to Capital City although that could be where the doom is. It is very important to observe doom in its natural habitat, scientifically speaking.
Clyde McClod, lumberjack. We are in fact traveling to the capitol sine some wizard tried burning down our beloved hometown and said he was going to the capitol do something nasty, what was it again? Clyde looks at Miles.
Miles sighs and shakes his head as Clyde tells the strangers what is going on. "Way to let the cat out of the bag" he sighs quietly. He then walks over to the table and puts on a big toothy smile with one big glint. "I'm Miles, Miles Robert Right. If it's doom your friend speaks of then he's right. The circus put on a show and skedaddled after threatening to rain fire down on the capital. We've got to get there first and warn the king. So, I guess we're on a mission go save the kingdom and I'm on a romantic quest. Always on a romantic quest." he finishes as he eyes the waitress.
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Well I did blurt it out there, but for some strange reason I know we share a bond with these people even though we just me seconds ago. We'll never gunna give them up, never gunna let them down, never gunna tell them a lie and hurt them.
Heinrich stops trying to distill his wine over a candle at the mention of a fire-raining circus folk.
Did you say a circus?! You see Fritz? I always told you that circuses were trouble - underneath that clown makeup lies the hearts of depraved madmen. Not to mention the rejection of my proposal for pyrotechnics - fire hazard they say. Well we'll show them. We'll show them all!
Heinrich laughs what he thinks is quietly to himself as everyone turns to stare at the maniacal laughter. Klaus pecks the side of Heinrich's head and he snaps out of it.
A pleasure to meet you Miles! We should talk, I'm developing just the thing for the romantic quest, a philter made of cinnabar and orpiment. Now, you may have heard some distressing things but I assure you hair loss can be perfectly temporary should you find a cleric in time.
Aroden. Sounds like they have planned their own pyrotechnics Heinrich. . He furiously scribbles for a bit.
I hope you do not think us too forward...but we would like to accompany you. Assist your quest. I am not much of a fighter but I am an accomplished healer, and am knowledgeable in the planes, history, religion and geography. I would also be happy to record a factual account of our journey.
What do you think Miles? Looks like we are gunna need all the help we can get.
Miles sighs and says "We, I guess it's okay. Everything except the factual account of our journey. Wouldn't want that getting in the way of any of my epic tellings or songs."
Well we did just start out, you can tell the next group we meet with an epic yarn.
Fritz scribbles more making a separate page of notes for each of the adventurers.
Heinrich smiles broadly - a little too broadly. It's actually kind of intimidating with the gleam in his eye and the lamplight reflecting from the goggles perched on top of his head.
Excellent! I can tell this will be the beginning of a grand experi-er, I mean adventure. Before we start out I don't suppose you all could tell me if you have a violent reaction to mercury?
Well, milk makes me gassy.
I have a philter for that!
Really? Well now is right neighborly of you. So, are you two ready to head out in the morning?
Where exactly are we going?
The capitol!
how do you expect to get to the king?
Um...Disguise ourselves as servants and slip him a letter?
Perhaps he'd like to see new advances in alchemical science! That mayor looked most impressed before his drapes caught on fire from my Self-Motivated Mobile Torch!
Perhaps the answer is here.. He takes out his book. The men in the stories became heroes, that gave them access to kings and lords. Perhaps we should just go stop them or make a name for ourselves by slowing them. Then we could earn the right to meet the kibg. Either way, we should probably get going. I can grab my gear on the way to the city gates.
[b]That sounds like a good idea Fritz. If we stop some bandits I'm sure that will get our foot in the door[/b
Gavin comes stumbling out of the inn's kitchen, hastily buttoning up his vest and tossing on his hat as he does. A half-drunk grin stretches across his face as he searches for his companions. When he spots the duo talking to the brothers Dimm, he speaks up. "Ye know, I leave ye lads fer but a moment, an' ye go blatherin' all o'er this lil town, tellin' these gents, who may very well be spies for that half-cocked circus maestro, about our comin's an' goin's. Now, how is that s'pposed to help us?"
He shoots an evil eye at the brothers, which is especially amusing given his clearly dissheveled state.
Aroden does not approve of spies of that sort. Especially ones that do evil.
He gestures to Heinrich, My brother is certainly not, what we would call, subtle enough to be a spie either.
He rises. In any event, they did "blab" as you say, and now we are involved. Shall we? He gestures to the door
Miles shakes his head and says "We have a letter from the sheriff that will hopefully get us in with the right people in the castle. We just need to beat the circius there. Let's get our rest and move on."
Clyde nods and gets himself a cot.
Hey! I could too be a spy! I have all sorts of neat tricks a spy could use, like my rope-throwing lantern or the smoke bomb that looks like a dinner roll! And of course there's this!
Here Heinrich flourishes a small green glass bottle.
With this I could do all sorts of things...
His eyes get a bit glassy again before he snaps out of it.
I'll show you, telling me I couldn't be a spy. But a spy might have to dye his hair. And I can't be an alchemist without white hair! OK, I won't be a spy.
He grumbles a bit as he goes up to get some sleep. In his sleep he speaks about alchemical formulae in Dwarven. He appears to be devising a way to dye rocks purple.
Fritz makes his way back to the temple of Iomadae, or Aroden as he insists and gathers his travel gear, then makes his way back to the inn. He moves into the room with Heinrich and says a few prayers over him then lays out his bed roll and sleeps by the door.
You awaken with the dawn, and the sound of the sleepy city coming to life after a long night's rest. The inn is bustling with life, and the smell of delicious food wafts into your room. You can hear the sound of people talking; the occasional laugh. It's quite clear this city has no idea the evil that was revealed in Dromston.
After a filling, warm, delicious breakfast, you all pack up and venture outside. The town is waking up, coming to life, and everything seems business as normal. The town gates have been thrown open wide, and several traveling merchants have already begun the trek to the next city.
Fritz walks with his backpack on using his quarter staff to assist his walk, his long sword is oddly strapped to his backpack, within reach but obviously not something Fritz uses often
As the party heads through the gates, Clyde starts up a jaunty tune to help people on the long journey..
One million tankards of beer on the wall, one million tankards of beer! Take one down, pass it around. 999,999 tankards of beer on the wall!
Ach, that is terrible! How could any songwriter be so illogical as to have one million tankards of beer? They'd spoil before you even got to the nine hundred ninety nine thousand, nine hundreth tankard! Does anyone have a drum or something to help us march in time?
Ok, how about a fife?
A few miles out of town, the group sees an old farmer struggling with an overturned wagon. He is trying to get his old mule to pull the wagon of the ditch it has fallen into. He doesn't seem to notice your arrival, nor that of the cracked wheel on the side facing the party. He's sweating, obviously already tired, and close to giving in to his exhaustion.
He also doesn't see the pair of armed orcs stealthily moving up to him in the wheat fields beside the road. But you do.
I say good sir - do you think you could use some help? I admit I'm not the strongest person but give me a lever large enough and I could move a cow.
Wait, that doesn't sound right.
Fritz raises his staff and shouts. By Aroden! Good men flee to us! Orcs are approaching! We shall smite them!
He points to the orcs and cats light on his Holy symbol in surpise
Miles looks around, "Orcs! What orcs?"
..Beer on the wall! Jetro jumps as Fritz points. Why those no good nasty orcs! let's get em!
His Keen eyes easily finding the Orcs, Gavin quietly draws his bow and begin to knock his Arrow when the bumbling cleric lights up his holy symbol and calls out his battle-cry. "Priests, stuff your piety. You ever heard of stealth?"
Of course I have. The library would define it as
noun
1.
secret, clandestine, or surreptitious procedure.
2.
a furtive departure or entrance.
He brandishes his holy symbol and staff, making no move to draw his longsword, Why do you ask?