RPGWW

by **Jak Snide** » Sun Dec 16, 2007 3:00 pm

Zant stowed the payment carefully and gave the man a considerate nod, his attitude towards him improved. At least the explosions weren't deliberate.

"My thanks. If I might pry, though, what is the nature of this curse? It seems quite peculiar."

by **Idran1701** » Sun Dec 16, 2007 3:07 pm

Zant

Packing the sack in his pack, Zant notices a fine covering of almost invisible red dust left on his hand from the cloth, clinging to his skin tenaciously. The gritty feeling can't help but distract him a bit as the merchant speaks up, waving off Zant's concerns.

"Nothing you need to worry about. A regional curse, affecting only a small region of my homel...my home world. No danger to you or anyone of these realms beyond the slight inconvenience I might cause without this amulet," he says with a slight, forced chuckle, trailing off quickly. "Though speaking of detonations, while you're here, might I interest you in a bit of smokepowder?"

by **Jak Snide** » Sun Dec 16, 2007 3:12 pm

Against my better judgement...

"What is this smokepowder?"

by **Idran1701** » Sun Dec 16, 2007 3:27 pm

Zant

"Ah, the first question I get from most folks in the outer realms. Smokepowder, my friend, is a wondrous invention, collecting the power normally held only by mages in an easily-portable form."

Stepping under the banner, he leads Zant to an open crate, containing a number of small spheres of metal, a small bit of string leading out of each. The merchant picks one up, and Zant can hear the sound of sand shifting around in the container - assumedly the aforementioned smokepowder. He brandishes a tindertwig in his other hand, and steps back from the crate; with a grin to Zant, continuing his spiel.

"You see, my friend, all you need to do is light the fuse," he says, flicking the twig against a nearby block and holding the flame to the string as it begins to spark and hiss, slowly burning away, "count to three, and throw!"

With that, he tosses the ball off about 50 feet from the area, covering his ears and indicating to Zant to do the same. This is soon shown to be a good idea, as a sudden bang echoes over the land louder than a sack of thunderstones, a ball of flame erupting up from where the sphere landed at least 10 feet across. Even with the protection, Zant's ears are still ringing a bit; still grinning, the merchant drops his hands, and the volume of his voice suggests so are his. "Well?! Only 125 gold per sphere, you won't find a better price than that in any of these realms!"

by **Jak Snide** » Sun Dec 16, 2007 3:32 pm

Istishia preserve me!

"I...think I'll pass." he replied, trying to be as diplomatic as possible. "The payment received will be split six ways with my fellows, which doesn't leave much room for spending on exotic devices."

He fell silent for a moment, still trying to deal with the horror of this "smokepowder."

"In fact, I think I best make my return. Istishia watch and preserve you, my friend."

And guide you to a less....insane walk of life.

by **Idran1701** » Sun Dec 16, 2007 3:44 pm

Zant

Well shaken up by the insane merchant and his ridiculous wares, Zant returns to the city, pressing his way along the road that only now does he spy is paved with gorgeous tiles of gold and purple, in an elaborate design from the entrance gate as far ahead as he can see, and along all branches. Being that close to utter madness apparently lends a greater appreciation of true beauty to a person.

Pushing his way slowly through the crowd, he reaches the restaurant once more, the contents of the waiting room having hardly changed in the five or ten minutes of his absence. If he does desire to give in to temptation here, it would appear he'd have quite the wait ahead of him, at least 45 minutes he'd guess...plus he doesn't seem to exactly measure up to the dress code, by the look of the other patrons. But perhaps it's worth the wait and hassle?

by **Jak Snide** » Sun Dec 16, 2007 3:47 pm

Zant wasn't stopping, as tempting as the food was. He felt cut off out here, alone in a strange place, with even his deity seeming distant to him. He made his way back towards the portal back to the Staircase, trying to still the waters of his mind and preparing to explain his intrusions to anyone who confronted him.

by **Idran1701** » Sun Dec 16, 2007 3:53 pm

Zant

Surprisingly, none stop him as he heads back to the cloak room, though he certainly gets a few looks; mostly disapproving of his choice of attire more than wondering about his strange coat requirements, though, by all appearances. Passing through the rooms and sweeping aside the cloaks hanging in back, he pushes the door open, stepping through the doorway once more and letting it fall closed behind him. Once over the threshold, he feels the presence of Istishia once more upon his mind, helping to soothe his thoughts. And after a short, 15 minute walk, he once more steps foot on the landing of the Planewalker's Guild, far distant from explosions and crazed merchants.

Though that dust still refuses to remove itself from Zant's hand.

As for apportioning out the 900 gold, we'll take that as a given for the party members, you can just skip over it with a line or two of description or some such, Jak. And your choice what to do about the red steel amulet.

Though the entire original party of six does notice after closer inspection that even the platinum bars are almost infused with a slight red tint running throughout the metal; the same substance as the dust clinging to the sack and Zant's hand, anyone that cared to check could ascertain quickly enough.

by **Jak Snide** » Sun Dec 16, 2007 4:05 pm

Zant's first order of business was returning to his tent to give his hands a good, thorough wash, praying for his own water and using a bowl as a basin. He was pleased to find the red dust had washed off. Mostly. Being dirty was still somewhat foreign to him and he didn't particularly relish the concept of something that takes multiple washes to shift.

Next he went about sharing out the received payment, making sure that his hands and forearms were wrapped in cloth first to avoid a second application of the infernal red dust. He didn't manage to find Shawn immediately, telling himself that she could wait a short while before receiving her payment. As for the amulet...

As much as he wanted to be rid of the thing he knew that simply tossing it aside would be foolish. It might be worth something to someone and, more importantly, he may need to know more about the infernal red dust one of these days. So it was swathed in cloth and stowed away, forgotten for the immediate future.

And with all that taken care of, the weary priest went to find himself something to eat. Unfortunately for him this turned out to be more complicated than grabbing a bowl and being served, the chefs having gone off duty for now. So he set about preparing his own food, finding some fish he could prepare and a few slices of that peculiar "bread" that seemed so abundant. Apparently it went with everything, and he was keen to try this particular combination. Once his cooking was done (a touch on the frozen side, but then exposing his meal to fire for an extended period of time couldn't possibly be good) he went to find himself a seat.

Is that Shawn over there?

by **Justice Augustus** » Sun Dec 16, 2007 8:19 pm

At this point Lux also finds himself entering the kitchen area, and seeing Zant heading towards the tables follows him over, sharing his small discovery with anyone who cares to listen.

"So, my dewey companion, what news do you bring?"

by **Shinigori V2** » Sun Dec 16, 2007 10:19 pm

"No, no, it's okay. I don't mind you being around."

...Well, it wasn't a complete lie.

by **Spleen** » Sun Dec 16, 2007 11:09 pm

"We youths can use the voice of experience. Are all of you planar travelers, too?" Of note would be the fact that Theller speaks plain Common without using the slang of the planes. New at this, perhaps?

by **Idran1701** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 12:07 am

Guild Kitchen

"Well, all right, that's reassurance enough for me," she says, smiling to Shawn as she does. Glancing up, she notes the approach of Zant and Lux, giving them each a nod of greeting. "Oh, say, that reminds me, Shawn. You never did tell me what happened on the trip. Now might be as good a time as any; I'm sure if these young fellows here are new to the life, they might enjoy a good story of adventure, hmm?"

by **Seethe** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 2:31 am

Somewhere in the background, a young woman had entered the eating area of the Planewalkers' Guild. She looked a bit dirty, as though she had just come in from a long day out in the wilderness. That would in fact be the correct assumption, and the fact that she would head for the dining area before even cleaning the dust off herself might say something about her character.

As she passed through the area, she overheard someone mention the telling of adventure stories. Becoming immediately interested, she made her way over to where that was hopefully going to be happening. Of course, she started to feel a bit self-conscious as she drew near, feeling a bit shy about announcing herself to an already-formed group out of the blue. But then, as she understood, the Planewalkers' Guild had been formed for the sake of facilitating the sharing of such things as adventure stories.

"Excuse me," she said. "I hope it'd be alright if I bang around with you cutters. I haven't really managed to get very well-lanned yet, and I've had a bit of the yawn all day on top of that."

Despite the fact that she had just belted out a whole line of Cant as naturally as anyone could have done it, the sound of a rookie's nervousness still hung on her voice.

by **Jak Snide** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 6:10 am

Zant nodded as Lux delivered the results of his research, reevaluating his opinion of the Mercykillers slightly, before returning the nod to the now distracted woman who accompanied Shawn.

"Your share of a payment, for one." he said, handing over three of the platinum bars to the human. "Be mindful of the red dust that coats it. I've found it to be slightly more adhesive than I care for."

He paused, casting a glance over to Shawn and the crowd she'd attracted.

"It seems our wise and worldly mentor has found herself a bit of company. Shall we join her?"

by **Shinigori V2** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 7:01 am

"It was..pretty easy stuff. There were..Big, metal eating spiders, as big as I am. I killed three." She adds, somewhat proudly. "Other than that..Oh! We were at a bar before the mines, too. And there were a bunch of little, small guys."

by **Kai** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 8:09 am

Stories! Joss thought, absently waving to the nervous-looking young lady. He fully endorsed this idea that Florence had, even if she herself was still somewhat questionable because of her age. At least she was being nice and Shawn seemed to know her. But that was off-topic. The topic was exciting stories from Shawn, and Joss needed to be supportive. She didn't seem to be familiar with the notion of dramatic storytelling, but that's okay. Perhaps it was one of those skills which developed over time.

Maybe Joss could help. After all, she should really be proud of these kinds of things. So many girls just weren't interested in going out and doing stuff. A lot of them felt like combat was just for boys and that was sad. After all, lots of girls were plenty canny enough to handle it. He was glad that Shawn seemed to understand this.

"Three?" he echoed, obviously impressed. "Good deal. How'd you do it?"

by **Shinigori V2** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 8:14 am

"It's really not hard, if you get the jump on them. Did you know that without their front left leg, it's hard for them to balance right? If they try to bite you, they'll fall forward."

Again, not really true, but less disturbing than the real truth to the matter.

by **Kai** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 8:22 am

"Hm," Joss replied thoughtfully. "Interesting. I guess I'll have to remember that." He gave her a thumbs up, pleased with the response but not entirely satisfied with the story yet.

Perhaps if he gave her an opening she'd be willing to share something more detailed and interesting than the one tip. If it were Joss he'd be taking every chance to entertain the others and let them know just how different he was than all those boring adults who talked a lot about knowing how everything works and didn't ever give any indication they'd done anything but talk about how much they knew. So lame.

This Shawn was an odd one, but obviously sharp enough. Joss was curious what she was like in combat, if she was a conservative strategist type or if she liked to rush in like he did sometimes. There was also the question of just what exactly she did. Those spiders could have lost their legs thanks to weapons, spells, even just being torn off with someone's bare hands since though the latter seemed unlikely because of her size, it certainly couldn't be ruled out. One never knew.

"Good info. But is that how you got them all?"

by **Jak Snide** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 8:30 am

Zant headed over to join the group, presuming Lux would follows suit, and had a seat near Shawn and her crowd, giving the little girl a silent nod before he tucked into his under cooked sandwich.

by **Shinigori V2** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 8:34 am

"I..Managed to get drop on them by hiding in the dark, and jumping out with my sword. Got the first one, and the other two were surprised, I guess, because they didn't do much, either. After they were all..Disarmed, I just finished them off while they were off balance."

by **Idran1701** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 8:48 am

Guild Kitchen

Nodding and smiling to the new guest, Florence gestures her towards an empty seat. "I'm sure it's fine, there's still room here."

"And...I'm impressed, Shawn," she says, ruffling Shawn's hair almost reflexively. Sounding a bit more worried though, she continues, "Why were you alone, though? Where were the others? Nothing happened, did it?"

by **Shinigori V2** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 8:52 am

"It..Uh..Well...Uh.."

Shawn was..Well, at a loss.

by **Jak Snide** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 9:07 am

"She detached herself from the group to keep watch over where we had come from. Quite wisely, as it turned out, otherwise the rest of us would have been set upon from behind."

The blue skinned man smiled once again before taking another bite out of his meal.

by **Shinigori V2** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 9:16 am

"Y..Yeah, that was it!" Shawn said, fumbling with her knife..And nearly cutting herself in the process.

by **Kai** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 9:17 am

Joss grinned. That was what he'd wanted to hear. Taking care of her comrades, and in the course of watching their backs they'd been beset by giant spiders and she'd leapt on one with her sword drawn! Hacking off one leg, she threw the beast off balance and when it moved to attack it came crashing forward but she'd already moved on to the other two!

This woman clearly had no idea how competent Shawn was, and it was a damned shame. Why was she alone? Why wouldn't she be? She could handle herself just fine! At least her allies have the sense to be grateful, Joss noted when Zant joined the conversation. Man, if that Florence woman had seen her fight like that I bet she wouldn't be ruffling her hair like she was just some dumb kid.

"That's really awesome," Joss told Shawn. "Remind me to make sure I've got someone like you watching my back when I'm out on a mission."

by **Idran1701** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 9:28 am

Guild Kitchen

Looking with shock at the sudden slip of her hands, Florence reaches out, checking Shawn's palms. "Careful, Shawn. Are you all right? You almost sliced yourself again, that's twice just today. You look fine..."

Joss, Theller:

Spoiler:

Zant:

Spoiler:

by **Shinigori V2** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 9:30 am

"Y..Yeah, I'm..I'm fine." Shawn said. "I just had another attack. I'm fine, really. See?"

Shawn displayed her lack of wound.

by **Jak Snide** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 9:34 am

Another youngster? How bizarre. Not as bizarre this one, though. Best not to rock the boat, though.

"Speaking of her role in our planar jaunt, here is your part of the reward."

Shawn found that she was now the proud owner of three bars of platinum, though if she looked closely she'd notice they were speckled with red dust.

by **Kai** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 9:38 am

Joss tilted his head like a cat and watched Shawn. An attack? Maybe it was like what his dad got when he didn't drink. Got unsteady and kind of wacky. That had happened once and it was pretty bad. Still, she didn't seem like a drinker. Mostly it was adults that were dumb enough for that. Took a while for most kids to grow stupid enough.

Still, Florence looked really concerned. Joss wasn't sure about her. Yeah, she was nice but she was... well, mothering Shawn. Was Florence her mom, or just some Guildswoman who liked to take in strays? It wasn't behavior he understood terribly well. His stepmother hadn't acted like this, and he didn't know what his mom had been like; he was too young when she'd died.

It was either a sign that Florence was a good woman who wanted to look out for people she felt needed it (which didn't seem true unless these 'attacks' of Shawn's could get really bad), or it was a sign that Florence liked to stick her nose in other people's business (or it could be both).

It was certainly a puzzle, and one that Joss wasn't particularly well-suited to figuring out. Much better to just enjoy his meal. And it was good. He really had to help those people clean up; they'd done a damn good job cooking.

by **Spleen** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 11:10 am

Theller raised his eyebrows at the exchange of metal. "Where do I sign up for jobs that pay in platinum bars?" He whistled through his front teeth. "I've got this trick I can do with a crossbow that's pretty impressive, and another one I can do with a crossbow and a wand that I can't show you yet because wands are expensive."

by **Jak Snide** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 11:17 am

Ever smiling, Zant answered the man.

"Find a contract that sends you to a strange place with a hint of peril and you shall surely reap such a reward. A fine taking, considering none of us came to any harm."

by **Spleen** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 12:10 pm

"A contract..." Theller smiled sheepishly. "About that...what kind of person does someone talk to for one? I can't very well just go around asking people to send me to fetch them something on another plane or kill something gruesome. Get what I mean?"

by **Seethe** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 12:55 pm

"Ah... thanks," Rosalyn said as the woman had offered her the empty chair.

Sitting down, she listened to the younger girl's recounting of the adventure. Cutting off the spider's leg... that must have taken some courage. Rosalyn had to admire that.

When the man nearby asked about finding contracts, Rosalyn looked over in his direction.

"I've been wondering about that too," she said. "I'm pretty good with my bow too, and I've been wanting to get in on one of the big excursions."

by **Jak Snide** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 4:59 pm

"Well, this one was acquired from one of our fellows who had fallen ill and was unable to complete the task herself. Generally, however," he continued, gesturing off to his right, "we consult the postings on the board over in that direction."

by **Justice Augustus** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 7:30 pm

Lux starts tapping each bar of platinum with a bit of chalk, muttering numbers and something about impurities suggesting certain areas of origin. Snapping out of his concentrated focus, he looks up at the mentions of contracts. "Speaking of which, I feel that despite the substantial change in our roster, we seem to have developed quite the dynamic here, oh yes." Lux grins wickedly, showing so many teeth that one might think him part beast in nature. "Tell me, oh brave fellows, shall we do something to inspire the quills of poets?"

by **Kai** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 8:00 pm

"Question is," Joss mused aloud. "Whether heroes inspire the poets or the poets inspire us." Us. It should have been obvious that Joss considered himself among their number. Being a hero wasn't about age or ability. It was a quality in a man or woman's soul and Joss sensed that he had it. The possibility of songs and epic poetry in his name was not even slightly remote. Someday everyone here will be begged for stories about the time they travelled with Joss the Brave.

The Magnificent? The Fearsome? The Honorable and Valorous. Like brave only better. It was a good question to have settled, since it was the start and finishing point of any great hero's reputation.

"Could be both." He grinned. "But there's only one way to really settle the question."

Be the hero. Inspire the poets. It was pure science.

by **Jak Snide** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 8:56 pm

A change in our roster? Some of the others did say they had matters to attend to for a time.

"Recall how we were told of a Tower of Ice standing untouched in the Plane of Steam? Our friend expressed a good deal of interest in it and, I must admit, I am quite curious about it myself."

by **Shinigori V2** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 10:11 pm

Shawn made to put the bars in her pack, seemingly unphased by the reward she had been given. "Do we even know anything about this place? Remember what I said, if you don't know where you're going, it's a good way to get yourself killed."

by **Spleen** » Tue Dec 18, 2007 3:03 am

Theller shrugged. "People die on paths they know, too," he pointed out. "All the time. So really, a trip into the unknown just means novel ways to find yourself suddenly without a pulse, and of course I've always wanted to hear what words a poet would rhyme my name with. Count me in. If you'll have me, of course."

RPGWW

The Planewalkers' Journies

Who is online