Goblin Squad Member
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Kaðlin's hand drops to a dagger as she feels something brush against her leg, but looking down, she sees the cat. The hand at the dagger falls away and down to the cat's level. Kaðlin proffers it before the creature to allow it to sniff her.
"Well good-day to you, Kis-Kis, she says softly. Blushing lightly in spite of herself, Kaðlin tries to pet the cat. "What does the harbinger of love want with me this day?" she asks with a twinkle in her eyes and a wry grin.
The cat narrows it's gaze for a moment, regarding your reaction. It sniffs at your extended hand, then headbutts your palm, allowing your hand to trail along its arching back.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Paladins are usually hunting me as well... That is when they know who I am and what I do. Free, well I mean free from the control of a wizard. Your kind are usually brought to this plane by wizards. So yes, I am curious why you are here.
((OOC: If you have any means of detecting a spell/spell-like ability being cast, you would sense it being done. If you have some means of telling what spell it was, he just used "detect good".))
An expression of satisfaction comes over the quasit's face. "Okay...so yer not squeaky clean. I guess I'll trust ya." He hops down to the floor a foot or two away. "Easier to show you than rehash the whole story," he says, extending a claw.
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Goblin Squad Member
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((OOC: The original Xeen that I will more then likely base this character off of was a Fighter/Mage/Thief. 2nd edition, so probably can detect spells at the right xp level))
Nice, I will be prepared for an attack depending on what he has planned to do. If he plans to show me how he was created as a familiar... I wont allow that. (Im assuming your going with his kind being created as a familiar with the wizards soul/blood.)
"I do mean, why are you here in this room. I would assume you were summoned to this plain by a wizard, but it does make me curious why you are stuck here if you are freed from the wizards control."
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Goblin Squad Member
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Telepathy sounds like fun
It takes hold of your finger and you're no longer seeing with your eyes. The room shifts and you're seeing from the quasit's point of view, but not now - days ago - late at night and sitting atop a prone, elderly man.
From it's ear, you hear a sound...thump...thump...a longer pause...thump again.
You think the quasit's thoughts.
I straddle the old geezer like we're mismatched lovers and smash my conical ear against his dying chest. I can't stop my grin from curling into an evil smile as the next thump comes more slowly than the last. I'm so excited I bounce in place, riding the shallow rise and fall of my master's stomach like a fatigued little pony that I'm trying hard to break.
"C'mon, baby..." I hiss, balling my claw into a shaking fist, then flinging my fingers wide like I'm rolling dice. "Daddy needs a new pair of shoes!."
A final, rattling breath issues from my master's dead lips.
"JACKPOT!"
I scuttle along his cooling corpse, snatch up fistfuls of white beard from either cheek and shake his lolling head back and forth. "Thirty three years, you old goat! Thirty three years of do this and do that and fetch a couple of them things and blah blah blah." I give his paling cheek a good swift slap. "Well yer dead!" I climb up onto his forehead with my foot placed firmly over his ugly mug and cross my arms like a conquering hero. "And buddy...yer comin' with me."
I can hardly wait to see his soul reduced to a puffy, squirming larva. I'd be tempted to squeeze the puss right out of him, but dead larvae don't buy you nothing on the Abyssal market, and I've been planning this shopping spree for too long to have it go bust now.
I quiet myself down, focus on sniffing out his departing spirit, and get ready for the ride.
"And get ready for the ride..."
I sniff again. I snort the air until I can smell sausage and cabbage cooking in the kitchen below, but no soul. Nothing. Zero. Zippy Skippy.
"Whaaa...?"
I listen to his chest, check his pulse, poke him with my nails until I'm making holes in his flesh. He's a dead fish.
"Spells..." I cast detect magic, but he had left nearly everything of value back at the tower. Then I see it - a hit from my detection - a glowing pinkie ring that I've never seen before. I snatch up his hand and eyeball it like it's asking for my first born. My talon runs along the runes as I read them. "His name...the symbol for soul...the symbol for...for trapping?!? Are you kiddin' me?"
I hold up the hand in front of his dead face. "When did you get you this, you rat bastard!"
Events from yesterday race through my head. "Oooh...you sent me out for candy. 'A dying man's last wish' you said." I beat my fists against my addled brains. "You moron! You're out gettin' candy, all giddy that you're almost free, while he's getting bedside deliveries." Plots roll off of plots. "But when...when did you have time to get this made. When was I not around to see this comin'?" I drum on my skull some more when the answer occurs to me. "The blackmail case. All those letters. All that money sent off to keep her quiet. All a cover for this!"
I pace back and forth on his chest as I stew over what to do next. I could try returning to the Abyss, but I know well enough what happens to quasits with nothing to trade. I pause and shrug at a passing thought. "I could stay here...torment helpless people...maybe find some goblins to dominate." After a moment of desperate rationalization, I return to reality. "Who am I kiddin'?" My gaze falls back on the cause of my predicament. I rip the ring from his pudgy pinkie, thread one his gold wrist chains through the hole and sling it around my neck, then polymorph into a bat and beat it out the window.
There can't be too many people in this town able to make something like this, and whoever it is, if they know what's good for 'em, they're gonna crack this thing open and I'm gonna get what's comin' to me.
The scene blurs then solidifies. The quasit flaps back to his footboard perch. "That was four days ago. I've been all through this tragedy of a town and nothin'." The slumping of his tiny green shoulders is exagerated by his drooping bat wings. "Been hidin' out in this joint, hopin' maybe someone who knew somethin' might have come back to check on him, but yer the first person I've seen since they hauled him outta here."
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Goblin Squad Member
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"That's the kicker...I can see now that the whole thing was a cover to actually set this up," he says, flicking a talon against the ring. "He knew I'd have him when his heart finally gave out, so he had to get this made without me knowin' about it. The blackmail scheme was just to keep me from gettin' curious about the large chunks of change being doled out. As for the letters," he shrugs, "different courier every time. Likely just a line of schmoes willin' ta ride that far for a few coins."
He picks at his teeth with a pinkie claw and flicks something across the room. It's gray and wet and sticks to the wall. "Where's his soul? That's easy." He jingles the gold chain about his his necks, causing the ring to dance at the end. "But it ain't like crackin' open an egg. These things gotta be done right. I can't afford ta lose what's inside."
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Goblin Squad Member
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"What the hell was that? His brain?" LOL
"What is your name and what was his name?" I can just call him little demon dude lol.
"That is what I meant by you may have the clues, do you know who was trying to blackmail him? That person may not have the answers but heh, it wouldnt hurt to ask."
"As for the rest, you may be able to find someone who knows the magic to create and destroy that ring. It will take time and money, you help me and I will help you. We can start by looking into your former masters old haunts if he has any... For instance what kind of wizard was he?"
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Goblin Squad Member
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"Brains?" He frowns at you. "What am I, a zombie?" He wipes his claws on the quilt. When you ask about names, his eyebrow arches high upon his forehead, as if you'd just asked an exorbitant price for something he wanted to buy. "We demons are a tad touchy about names, pal. They're not somethin' we toss around like you people." After a moment, he shrugs. "You can call me Mez. It's short for somethin', but I ain't sayin' what."
He flap down and lands on the edge of the bed by the time your next question hits.
"Yer still on the blackmail thing? You don't follow too well, do ya? He made up the blackmail story. He was usin' it as an excuse to pay off whoever made this," he flicks the ring again - this time with more disgust, "without me knowin' what he was up to."
Waiting for the last string of questions, he picks something else from his teeth, prepares to flick it at the same wall, then looks at you, reconsiders, and wipes it on the quilt then covers it over with a fold in the spread and pats it like a hidden treasure. "Might even be someone downstairs who could help, but you can bet yer butt they ain't gonna help me lookin' like this. I been stuck up here for days waitin' for the management to rent out this room so's I can maybe make a deal with the new lodger." He leans forward like a miniature gargoyle. "Now...if you were willin' ta help me look for such knowledgeable parties downstairs, you'd be earnin' my gratitude." His lips curl up into an unwholesome smile. "Besides, I think we'd have a better chance of findin' some quick answers down there..." he cocks his head downstairs, "then lookin' for month old clues back home. What ya say? Feelin' charitable? I can find ways ta make it worth yer while..."
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Goblin Squad Member
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"Oh yeah, we can take this downstairs, but first I need to take a bath... What have you got that is worth his soul?" Xeen heads over to get the bath ready while still talking to Mez. "And yes I am still on the blackmail thing... I want to know who made that ring and you are the only one who may have an answer. I could steal the recipe from the creator and you can do whatever with him since he caused you all this mess."
Xeen puts on his Malthus cloths and heads down stairs (after listening to a bit more from Mez)
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Goblin Squad Member
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"What have I got..." He mockingly pats at pockets he doesn't actually have while you clean up. "Seriously...information. I'm sure there's somethin' you always wanted ta know. We quasits have some pretty useful 'insights' you might say."
He waits while you change, then asks, "You seem ta be a bit on the magical side yerself...care if I tag along as a familiar? I can do wolf or bat." Taps his chin in thought, then mumbles to himself, "That damned cat is probably still down there. Better do bat."
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Goblin Squad Member
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Harad bows his head to each as they accept his offer. When all are finished he places his left hand in front of his chest, fingers straight up, palm facing his right, "May Irori give us focus, may Sarenrae light our path."
"My thanks to you all; I believe that this is the right thing to do." Reaching once again into his pack he withdraws a rolled parchment. Spreading it on the table using mugs to weigh each corner reveals a map of the area south of here.
Pointing to the map he says, "Here is where I found the ruins." "It is just north of a ruined village on the banks of the West Sellen River called Scrawny Crossing. I did not enter that place as the people of Lamberth say it is haunted. A ferry used to operate from there, but it was abandoned several years ago in a heavy rainstorm and has not been reoccupied. The village and the place I found the statuette are on the northwest edge of the Juviler Hills which form the northern boundary of Lamberth. I did not incounter any Black Knight patrols this far from the capital, Maashinelle."
Harad looks at Brax, "From what I can tell, the Black Knights are some offshoot of the Andoren Eagle Knights, but one most changed. They patrol with shadow mastiffs and yeth hounds. The villagers I met spoke with pride of the Black Knight's victory over the Razmiri army that was about to invade Lamberth over 30 years ago, but I sensed that pride was a safe way to hide fear. They told me that the leader of the Black Knights and now there ruler, Kamdyn Arnefax, and his lieutenants rode nightmares in the attack. Sometimes, they say, lone nightmare riders can be see during the new moon."
"I know not what preparations you need to make, but unless some of you need more time I suggest that we meet back here at dawn to begin our way south. I intend to stay the night here as it may be an even longer time before I can enjoy such comfort."
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Goblin Squad Member
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"May Irori give us focus, may Sarenrae light our path."
"..may Desna save our butts and may Calistria hear my prayer if not"
Her eyes widen as Harad unrolls the map. "What.. how did you get a map like that? And when? Though I suppose that doesn't matter so much unless there are borders drawn."
She snaps herself out of it and goes into business mode:
"But hang on a moment, mister guided-by-candlelights. Interesting doesn't mean I will do this just out of the goodness of my heart. There's bound to be considerable time spent, not to mention the danger. I'd have to invest in certain equipment as well, new clothes, a fast horse, a few trinkets, something for the dogs - and whatever you may suspect, I am the kind of girl that always settle my bills before risking my life on some crazy adventure.
This is obviously your job, so what's in it for m... us?"
"You are quite interesting, but you are still a stranger with none of my friends to vouch for you. I'm sure you see my point, no?"
Her smile shifts back to flirtacious innocence again.
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Goblin Squad Member
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"Alright bat Mez, lets head down stairs and see what we can find."
Mez hops into the air. There's a temporary blurring of his outline, a darkening of his overall hue, and a large bat lands on your shoulder. Again in contact with you, you hear in your head, "Hopefully it includes food. I've been eatin' nothin' but mice for days. You got some money, right?"
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Goblin Squad Member
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"Unfortunately I have guard duty and need to stay here," Kaðlin says in a disgruntled tone. "I wish you luck and many strong enemies." Picking up her mug, she wanders toward the bar and orders a fresh mead. Lem nods in her direction as he sets down the glass he'd been wiping with his grimy apron.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Harad Navar looks around the table and says "I know that some of you have other obligations, so we will start out tomorrow morning with who ever wishes to go. I bid you a good night."
He rises with his pack, goes to over to Ara and arranges for a room for the night. With one last look around at those who still remain, he moves to the stairs and goes to his room.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Xeen hears Bat-Mez sniff the air next to his ear. Telepathically, he says, "Howz 'bout the guy with the glowin' tatoos?" Xeen receives a telepathic flash of the tavern from Bat-Mez's perspective, focused on Cyneric. "He smells like all kinds of magic."
He could be a good target.
Xeen heads over and sits next to Cyneric.
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Goblin Squad Member
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He sat and listened to the conversation and thought about leaving for their adventure, but he didn't move to follow, instead he simply looked at the box in his hand and knew he had more important matters to attend to. He had rested enough, and he didn't exactly want to stay and chat with the rest of the patrons and so without a word, he left the establishment to tend to other more pressing matters.
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Goblin Squad Member
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What the - Mel thought as he watched the blue tattooed man walk out the front door. Leaping off Xeen's shoulder, he flapped frantically after the only potential lead he'd had in days.
Not so fast Pal!
A delivery man caught a face full of quasit-bat, dead center, before Mel managed to dislodge himself from the screaming man's hood and continue after Cyneric.
A man walks in wearing well worn but well maintained plate armor. The armour is simple and serviceable with none of the showy adornments so beloved of the noble classes, no spikes or bas relief emblems to catch a blade, simply concave surfaces designed to deflect.
He walks up to the bar with a confident stride his eyes scanning left and right as he does so searching for trouble. Throwing a small handful of coins on the bar he mutters "mead if you please". He then turns to face the bar leaning easily back against it as he reaches down and checks the plain handled sword is loose in its scabbard
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Goblin Squad Member
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Sitting on his stump, Jorm settles back against the stone wall, folding his arms comfortably across his barrel chest. His dark, tiny eyes, shadowed by their heavy brow, slowly inspect the newcomer leaning against the bar. He rubs his broad nose and sniffs, as if scenting the fellow, then nods at him in welcome.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Into the bar walks a most peculiar fellow; pale skin and a long mop of black hair with a rather dazzlingly colorful outfit; he must either be an entertainer or else colorblind. The man's cheery dress, however, does not match his attitude. His white face makeup is streaked and it looks like he was crying; for now, his face is merely downcast and forlorn. He slumps against the bar, scarcely looking to his sides as he orders a strong drink.
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Goblin Squad Member
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*cue the intermission music*
*sound of someone tapping on a microphone*
Is this thing on? Testing. Ah, okay then.
*sound of throat being cleared*
Hobs here! We bring you this brief interruption of our regularly scheduled role-play to invite new posters to join in. Bring what you think your main might be and test him/her...it...out to see how they feel. Not sure what your main character will be like yet? How about your destiny's twin, an alt, an extra, a random passerby, or as we call them in the business *prepares his best Harad Navar radio voice*...a "walk through". With 8 months (we hope) until EE, let's stretch our role-play legs a bit, enjoy our fellow PFO community role-play talent (I know it's out there...avari3, I'm looking at you), and find something creative to do between Andius/Bluddwolf posts. Better yet, I know they're both capable writers. Come on, you two, hop in and have some fun, though be nice...the bouncer looks pretty big.
We now return you to your previously scheduled program.
*sounds of movie soundtrack music getting back up to speed*
*sounds of Hobs humming along to the music, slightly off-key*
Steelwing removes his helm and gauntlets setting them carefully on the bar as he scans the bar assessing each of the clientele in turn. As a barmaid approaches him he returns the nod from the fellow leaning against the wall.
Turning to the barmaid he exchanges brief words with her ordering a platter of bread, meat, and cheese. He then makes a request for her to place his buckler behind the bar. He nods approval to her as she places the polished steel buckler facing him on the shelf behind the counter. He flips her a small silver coin in recompense.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Jordon receives his small glass of absinthe and takes a gulp. He reels from it; apparently he's not one who's used to strong drinks. However, he recovers after a few moments and continues to sip on it more cautiously. A dozen minutes later Jordon is in a peacefully buzzed state of mind with his second glass in hand; he says to the barkeep with a soft and sad voice, "Hey, you think I could play some music, for old times sake?" as he motions to an accordion on his back. It's a little bit of an odd request, given that this is Jordon's first time at the Talking Head.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Just as Jordon says "music", an over sized Gnome's head pops from outside, into the nearest window frame. His hair and beard are a Kraken ink indigo. It shimmers like the reflection of the crescent moon on the ocean at certain angles and in a certain light. With an ogre's mirth and a jagged grin, he croons, "Did someone say music?". His voice is a carnaval wrapped in feyish despair.
His head pops back out of sight and then he slinks slowly out of the fire side shadow, head first, Varisian fiddle in hand. A simple enough trick to figure if you were trained in that sort of thing, but quite unnerving if you weren't.
Around his neck he bears a bladed scarf, embroidered with a circle of six veils.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Jordon turns to the one who addressed him, looking the gnome up and down. With his hand on either side of his face, Jordon says, "Oh, look at you! You remind me of... of a friend I once had." He once more looks quite glum. Jordon swipes his arm underneath his pointy nose, sniffing quite loudly, then says to the gnome in a friendly voice "Are you ready to rock?" as he swings his accordion around and readies it for a song. Apparently Jordan isn't going to wait for the barkeep's consent, now that he has a buddy to play with.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Jordon ponders the gnome's question for just a moment, then puts his hands in place. He begins to play a traditional Varisian tune, starting with a flourish and really getting into it after a few seconds. The worry and sadness written on Jordon's face before slowly melt and are replaced with concentration and a quiet confidence. He comes out of his reverie in a few moments and motions with his eyebrows toward the gnome, inviting him to join in on his fiddle as Jordan takes up a simple background cadence on the accordion.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Jordon ponders the gnome's question for just a moment, then puts his hands in place. He begins to play a traditional Varisian tune, starting with a flourish and really getting into it after a few seconds. The worry and sadness written on Jordon's face before slowly melt and are replaced with concentration and a quiet confidence. He comes out of his reverie in a few moments and motions with his eyebrows toward the gnome, inviting him to join in on his fiddle as Jordan takes up a simple background cadence on the accordion.
The Gnome is momentarily transfixed by the call of many homes ago. When his color regains, he answers with a furious barrage in Q Major (it's a magical note, silly). A devil's tune, it sounds something like this. The barmaid shakes her voluptuous bottom, the sotted patron sleeping at the far table taps his foot and small shadows leap from the corners to dance in pairs.
A simple enough ruse to discern if you knew where to look, but most discomforting to the virtuous and chaste.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Jordan, picking up his pace to match the gnome's furious tune, hammers out on the buttons on either end of the accordion and sweeps it in and out in a furious billowing motion. He keeps pace, backing up the gnome's crazy melody with a steady and bouncing harmony which is complementary instead of stealing the spotlight. A smile even shows on his face as he pounds out his accordion tune.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Jordan, picking up his pace to match the gnome's furious tune, hammers out on the buttons on either end of the accordion and sweeps it in and out in a furious billowing motion. He keeps pace, backing up the gnome's crazy melody with a steady and bouncing harmony which is complementary instead of stealing the spotlight. A smile even shows on his face as he pounds out his accordion tune.
Foxglove sadly misses all of this, being out on an adventure with Harad and Alk. Shame, she would have been dancing on the bar.