Tales of Faerun

[josh900]

The three hours of travel were absolute hell for Azuris, still reeling from his sickness and unable to remain in the saddle without the swaying affecting him, he opted to walk the rest of the way some time in, rejecting anyone's offer to stay behind with him.

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Reaching the inn, Leif slid off of Zaph's side and quickly undid the fastenings of his saddle, the second the last belt was undone the Griffon took off running down the road and pushed off into the sky and quickly flew away from view. Spending so much time locked in the ship's hull had made the young Griffon rather testy as the journey to the inn had proven what with his near constant squabbling.

He made it inside just in time to hear the young waitress ask if they were carnival performers or something of the sort.

"Right, cause the armor and weapons make us all look like circus clowns." He said with a laugh as he took a seat.

 

"Some of us certainly like to act like ones." Lucas said under his breath as he took a seat as well.

[FreemasonGamer]

Once the party had reached the inn, Rameses hopped down off of Jarl's saddle, firmly holding the white-furred camel's reins to prevent the beast from lashing out at Vee, the secondary passenger who Jarl was neither thankful nor even tolerating of. It wasn't as if the petite gnome was any sort of burden to the camel, but simply having an unfamiliar figure placed upon his backside was enough of a discomforting annoyance for Jarl to occasionally toss a foreboding leer at the gnomish individual. Leading Jarl alongside the others' steeds into the cramped stables, Rameses shook his head quietly before designating his camel mount to his own secluded stall, assisting Vee down, and removing Jarl's saddle and equipment. Afterward, the camel seemed a bit more relaxed; in all honesty, Rameses understood and didn't blame his steed's unease and frankly irritable behavior after their recent experiences at sea.

 

"No worries, Jarl. There's nothing more to concern yourself with, so try to relax and rest a bit." The genasi said comfortingly his steed as he gently patted the camel's neck, and the beast grunted and groaned briefly before settling into his stable stall.

 

With his mount taken care of, Rameses followed his companions inside. In spite of his hopes, the genasi was the slightest bit disappointed at the humble quality and quantity of food and drink served in The Silver Hart. Nevertheless, he readily consumed his meal that consisted of a loaf of grainy bread and a wedge of dull-tasting cheese; to Rameses, even the Hart's down-to-earth menu was better than the dry, tasteless travel rations that maintained the bulk of his diet whilst following the roads from the west. While he ate, the genasi also absentmindedly disregarded the conversation that had started about their group being a carnival or something of that ilk. Washing down his last bite of early-dinner with his mug of watery ale, Rameses's runic szuldar smoldered contently as he smiled happily, reclining in his chair comfortably.

 

Especially considering how the day had begun, Rameses felt fortunate to be sitting in a relatively comfortable, peaceful inn occupied by his fellow associates. It wasn't until his gaze glanced over to Hazel did Rameses recall his earlier daring act of flirtation—if it could have been called such a thing—and the offering of drinks he had proposed to the dryad. So, the genasi took a moment to quickly regather his courage and rose to his feet; once he had ordered and received a fresh pint of ale from the bar maid, Rameses wandered over to Hazel and offered the pint to her with a warm smile, his szuldar markings energized with a slight nervousness.

 

"I recall promising you a drink whenever we reached someplace that had any, my lady?" Rameses said to Hazel with a hint of charm in his voice, though he hoped to not be too straightforward or abrupt.

[AurianaValoria1]

Upon seeing Zaph fly away with such enthusiasm, Argyros nodded to himself and turned to the others, "I think our young Griffon friend has a good idea. I will be spending some time in the skies, for now. T'will be a welcome change from the belly of a ship, that is for certain." With that, the dragon in elf form began walking in the direction of the treeline and soon disappeared.

 

Inside, Abby and Zorica were both disappointed with the fare the tavern had to provide, but said nothing. It was obviously all the establishment could afford, and so they kept their silence on the matter, instead looking to the positive and remaining grateful that their bellies would be full that night - even if they would be full of less-than-spectacular food. Rhaine, meanwhile, found a certain charm in the place and the scantiness of the meals. It was humbling, to an extent. They had gone from a place where they were treated with spectacular luxuries, and now they found themselves on the opposite end of the spectrum. The Doomguide resolved to give a bit more coin than the food and rent were worth, so as to provide the proprietors a bit more with which to pay for repairs and maintenance of the establishment.

 

The barkeep remarked to the young thri-kreen - after, of course, staring unblinking at the creature for an uncomfortably long while - that he indeed had a few eggs on hand, but just a few. Disappearing in the kitchens for a while, he finally emerged with two eggs in his palm, "Will this be enough for you...?" It was obvious from the barkeep's mannerisms that he was unsure of whether or not to count We'tak as an actual customer or something of a threat. Conall noticed this and eased up to the bar beside the thri-kreen, "Not to worry, goodsir. He is a friend."

 

======================================

Shadovar Citadel

 

Quarylene was thirsting for action as well as blood. Though many discussions had taken place on how her shadowy - as-of-yet unnamed - hostess wished to proceed with things, a true decision on such matters had yet to be made. It seemed the dark-clad woman was content to take her time with whatever she had planned, and this slowness grated on the drow vampiress's patience, making the citadel that she now called her dwelling more and more like a prison. One thing was certain - the hostess was spending a lot of time with Valthanarax's remaining phylacteries, and Quarylene sensed that this fact had something to do with the dark woman's sluggish progress.

 

At last, however, the woman approached her once more as the drow sat in her chambers, writing out notes with elegant penmanship in a leather-bound journal. At first, Quarylene did not look up to acknowledge her hostess, but when the woman did not speak, the drow felt the necessity to lift her head to look upon her with blank eyes.

 

Immediately, Quarylene was taken by surprise, but the drow was schooled in controlling her expression, and so this surprise was not evident on her face. Instead, for the first time, she looked upon her hostess's full countenance with an appraising gaze, white brow raised. The woman's features did not at all suit her status as an ancient vampire. Her face was rounded, her nose small and slightly turned up, her full red lips almost in a naturally sweet smile. Her black brows were high and thin, her straight, raven black hair cut in a bob that curled under her jawline. Her skin was porcelain white and perfect, and her large, almond-shaped eyes were solid black, a nebula of purple and violet hues where her irises would have been. This appearance, together with her petite stature, made her seem simultaneously unearthly and non-threatening.

 

After a few moments, the vampire smiled, and her perfect white teeth glittered in the magical light of the room, "I think it is time you learned my name, Quarylene. I am called Nyx."

[josh900]

As the group settled down to eat, Leif made his way over to where Rhaine was seated and sat down opposite to her. "I believe I owe you an apology. When we first met Iiiii doubted that you were who you said you were, and weeell.... The incident a few hours ago proved me wrong." He admitted with a laugh. "So, next nice town we pass through, I'll offer to take you out to dinner, a nice place of course, nothing cheap, and I'll spend the majority of the evening making a complete moron of myself by complimenting you and dealing out revoltingly horrible one liners. Sound like a plan?" He asked with a smile.

Though he had been with the group for a short amount of time, he had grown to like it's leader's drive and honesty, the fact that she didn't take her authority being questioned lightly was also strangely appealing to him.

Edited August 19, 2015 by josh900

[Deleted6317247User]

Nawen was relieved once they've reached the inn. While her friends dismounted and went inside, the drow stayed behind and glanced at the direction from which they came from. She was not expecting to see Shalena, not after her outburst, no, she was searching the horizon for something else. For a couple of minutes she stared into the distance intently before dismounting Kiira and heading into the inn after her friends.

Edited August 19, 2015 by Guest

[AurianaValoria1]

Rhaine stared flatly at Leif with her emerald gaze, her mouth set in a thin line. She was not sure whether the brash half-elf was so bold because of stupidity, an overly-inflated ego, a misguided sense of what was appropriate, or all of the above. Raising one eyebrow and propping her elbows on the table, her fingertips touching, she replied shortly, "No. While your apology is appreciated, your offer is not. I would prefer you spend your coin on something other than a waste of both our time." The hair stood up on the back of her neck as his demeanor seemed so familiar to her. Nevertheless, she shrugged it off, pushing her empty plates to the side for the barmaid to retrieve and rummaging through her pack for her map.

[josh900]

Leif let out an almost relieved laugh. "Well good to see you're not one of those types, the kind that need constant praise and all that. But seriously, dinner one night, orr whatever situation that gives us the chance to share war stories and compare battle scars, it's not every day you find out you're traveling with a living legend after all." He said earnestly.

 

Hearing Leif's far too familiar manner and the sheer arrogance of him asking Rhaine out on what sounded far too much like a date, Lucas couldn't stand to be in the same room as him anymore, and rather abruptly stood up and left the inn.

 

Unphased by it, Leif continued. "And please don't get me wrong here, I'm not asking you out on any sort of romantic venture or anything, mainly just wanting to pick your brain about the group, get to know what everyone's done, get myself caught up to speed on this party's adventures, that's all." He explained, he still knew next to nothing about who he was traveling under, and truly wished to fix that problem, knowing what she and the party stood for would make things much easier on him to fit in and perhaps even make revealing his identity a possibility.

[AurianaValoria1]

As Leif spoke, Rhaine recalled that he and Abby had joined up with them in hopes of solving some sort of memory problem that was plaguing the half-dragon halfling, and though the Doomguide had given him a short summary of their mission when they first met (and, as he had just admitted, he had thought her a fraud), they had not discussed the subject since. That he wanted to know more at this point seemed rather strange, since he had expressed little interest before now.

 

Sighing, Rhaine removed her map from her pack and laid it beside her gauntlets on the table, finally replying, "I would hesitate to call myself a 'living legend'. If I didn't know better, I would think you were trying desperately to flatter me." She gave him a pointed look, "Why is it that now you've made up your mind to believe me, you want to know so much more about me...when before today you were so willing to deny the truth of my words?"

 

Meanwhile, Zorica finished her scant meal and headed outside to properly stable Araha. While she was at it, the half-drow took the liberty of dealing with Gaius and Kaliste as well, stabling them in the barn with the other mounts. As she worked, the paladin noticed that The Silver Hart's barn had a spacious loft, even if there was a sizable hole in the ceiling...

Edited August 20, 2015 by AurianaValoria1

[GrueMaster]

We'tak was worried that he said something wrong, seeing the softskin owner stare at him for a long time, then chirped happily as the softskin came out with two eggs. *CHEE!* "Thank you!" He chirped out again, before taking the eggs and feeding them to Pekwe. "Here you go! Two eggs, as I promised." The snake looked at him with a tense glance at first, pretending to be haughty, then relaxed and accepted the eggs happily, as if saying 'Well, I suppose I should thank you, so... thank you...'

 

Now with Pekwe fed (and her cheeky wrath abated for the time being), Takwe asked for some food for himself, then began chatting away with Conall to pass the time. "Conall, I noticed the amulet you wear about your neck..." he started tentatively. "It is like my own medallion from Mother Moon... does Mother Moon bless you, too? Is that why you can change into an animal like the druidss of my people?"

 

He paused when some food was set down in front of him, antennae drooping in disappointment at the not-so-impressive stew, being used to the food on the "bot." Oh, well, it's food, so thank the spirits for that. As the young thri-kreen began to eat, he became distracted by what seemed to be mating pheromones from nearby...

 

*Tck'tck!* he chattered with annoyance as he looked around and finally identifying the source as Leif. "Why does Leif smell like he's in mating season..." We'tak murmured quietly next to Conall, before going back to his food and looking back at Conall, curious about the shifting softskin...

Edited August 20, 2015 by GrueMaster

[FreemasonGamer]

After a quick round of leisurely small talk came and went following his offer to the dryad, Rameses swiftly departed from Hazel's table to mingle among his other fellow adventurers, the aforementioned mug of ale still in his hands. To the genasi's slightest disappointment, she had kindly refused his offer of weak ale with an apologetic smile. Instead, Hazel expressed her hope that they could share finer drinks over a more noteworthy meal in the near future, and Rameses understood her logic. In all honesty, a watered down brew with dry bread and waxy cheese wasn't the most favorable of circumstances in which the two might have shared a few drinks anyway. Regardless, Rameses shrugged off his thoughts and contently drank from the mug as he maneuvered amongst the tables of The Silver Hart, occasionally sharing a sentiment or two whenever he passed by an interesting conversation.

 

Unlike the past several weeks spent at sea, Rameses seemed notably more confident and surefooted in his movements, mannerisms, and overall demeanor; after all, how could he have sustained his usual free-spirited, almost sanguine nature when seasickness ravaged his mind and body while he was confined to the Sea Compass? Not to mention, Rameses was elated in a certain fashion after he had overcome his phobic wariness of the ocean and even survived an attack by one of its deadliest monsters that had threatened to end their voyage a few mere miles away from shore. Combined with the delight of having secure, motionless earth beneath his feet once more, that accomplishment gave Rameses more than enough reason to be happy and grateful to a meaningful extent.

 

Out of the corner of his eye, the genasi smirked at Leif's bold disposition as the half-elf conversed with the Doomguide at her table, but the genasi's amusement was replaced with slight confusion when Lucas abruptly took his leave from the inn for reasons unknown. Before he considered following the young man outside to inquire what had bothered him so, Rameses overheard a much more promising conversation igniting at the bar. So, he curiously made his way over and sat down on a bar stool adjacent to the equally curious We'tak, who chattered at Conall with a barrage of questions.

 

"Mother Moon? I've heard of Selûne, goddess of the night sky and the stars. Perhaps that is whom you speak of?" The genasi asked curiously to the mantis-like child, taking a final drink of ale before handing off the emptied mug to the bar maid as she passed by; two mugs of watery brew was enough for one night, the genasi reckoned.

 

Following We'tak's hushed mentioning of Leif's 'mating' smell, Rameses's szuldar runes crackled with fiery energy as he chuckled quietly, "Because people don't have a strict season for such attempts at courting, no matter how futile they might be."

Edited August 20, 2015 by FreemasonGamer