Tales of Faerun

[AurianaValoria1]

Rhaine, Conall, and Maydiira managed to find a table in the farthest corner of the tavern...in the shadows under the stairs. It was just as well for Maydiira; she'd get less attention that way. The drow was caught between not wanting to be ashamed of her heritage and yet being forced to hide it for the safety of her comrades. It was frustrating, to say the least. She had wanted things to change, especially with her renewed life, but it was more difficult than she had anticipated. If she were more selfish, it would be easier, perhaps...

 

Conall glanced over towards where some of the others had gone and noticed that one of the barmaids was conversing with their new friend Kaji and the fire elemental who accompanied him. Sighing, he inclined his head in their direction, "Well, who thought that would work out well?"

 

Rhaine sighed, "I can't say as I blame the staff. They've every right to be concerned. I know I would be. Should the elemental lose but the slightest bit of control, the whole place will be in flames."

[josh900]

Overhearing Rameses talk of his home town, Lucas seemed to perk up. "Myratma? Well that practically makes us neighbors then!" He said excitedly. "My family's from Darromar, I had a cousin that would ferry people up and down the river Ith between our cities."

 

As Lucas spoke of his home, Leif watched on with an odd and exaggerated expression, something between being both shocked and uncomfortable, and he quickly jumped at the chance to excuse himself from immediate area when he spotted Sin unable to retrieve any coins from her coin purse. He made his way up to stand beside her before he spoke. "If you don't have the coin to pay for anything, I'll pick up the bill for you." He offered her. "Saving Drow damsels in distress is something of a habit of mine." He said in a joking manner.

[GrueMaster]

"Oh...right..." We'tak murmured thoughtfully at the mention of shedding. His birth had been an unusual one, and so he had completely forgotten that he would have to molt at some point or another. I am going to need to find a safe place to do so, then. He tilted his head at Eirene with concern when she revealed she was cursed. "Dark Softskin Female has been cursed? How did that happen? Did Mighty Sun curse you for some cruel reason or to test you?"

 

The thri-kreen began looking at her more closely; he couldn't see any signs of it, but that didn't mean anything. "Are you sure you do not want to tell our clutch, Eirene. I am sure they would not hurt you in any way." He could tell this was something that bothered her, though, so he added: "But, as you wish, I will not ssay anything..." Thinking of ways to help her, he began babbling in his usual manner. "Have you tried praying to Mother Moon? I know She is a merciful spirit, and would happily help you. She has certainly blessed me and my father, and Conall as well!"

 

 

Kaji nodded his head in agreement with Rameses. "I promise we will not trouble you. I mean, look!" He pointed at Hi-chan, who sat perfectly still at the table. "Hi-chan hasn't even singed the furniture!" Upon further inspection, there was surprisingly no burn marks, not even along the path the fire elemental had made to the table.

 

Seeing this, despite being hesitant, the barmaid relented. "Okay.. just, please don't cause any trouble. Now, you wanted some soup and rice, right? I'll be back with your food." Kaji blew a sigh of thankful relief before turning to his friend. "Thank you very much, Ramesesama! I thought we'd be thrown out for su-" *THWOK!*

 

"WHAT IN THE HELLS WAS THAT!?" The wu jen cursed loudly as a thrown tankard struck the back of his head. The sound of booming laughter rung out from a nearby table, and Kaji turned with a murderous glare at the perpetrators, who were pointing fingers at him in ridicule, shouting various remarks...

 

"HAHA! Did you see that?" "Headshot!" "Look at that freak!" "That thing shouldn't even be here!"

 

The fire mage rose up from his seat angrily, ready to lash out at the drunkards. "You guys looking for a fight!? I'll give you one, right here and now! Hi-chan, let me at 'em!" His familiar gotten up as well, although she was more concerned holding her belligerent master back than the insults of the other patrons. "Kaji-kun! You just promised not to cause trouble! Master!"

 

Her words were starting to get into his thick skull when one of the drunks flung the watered-down ale in his mug upon the fire elemental. "Master!" She cried, as her body sputtered and flickered from the sudden dowsing. "Hi-chan!" Kaji knelt down and shielded her. He turned towards the table of drunks who just assaulted his childhood friend. "Ramesesama..." He growled as he stood up, hands beginning to glow hot. "I know I promised not to be a bother... but those pigs hurt Hi-chan, and I intend to return the favor..."

[FreemasonGamer]

"No, I did not receive my curse from the gods, although their cruel humor might have influenced it..." The Mulhorandi replied quietly to her thri-kreen companion, nodding frequently as she listened to his chatter and contemplated his suggestions. As frightened as she was by the prospect of sharing her secrets with the others of their group, Eirene did not willingly submit to ignorance by not considering the course of action. If she enlightened the likes of Conall or even the Doomguide, Rhaine, of her afflictions, the young ranger might be able to find a more viable coping mechanism for the curse she carried with the help of their collective wisdom. Also, the alternative of praying to the goddess We'tak referred to as 'Mother Moon,' tempted a long-suppressed part of the Mulhorandi's psyche that longed for the security she once gratefully derived from resting her faith in the divines.

 

"As a matter of fact, We'tak... I may actually-" She began to mention with a degree of uplifting hopefulness riding her tone until the distinct sound of a tankard deflecting off Kaji's skull interrupted her, drawing he lady's attention away from the conversation at hand and towards the table occupied by her fiery companions. What Eirene witnessed soon spurred a gasp from her lungs, and her left hand quickly rushed to cover her mouth in shock as she watched the tensions skyrocket between the wu jen and his assailants.

 

Similarly to the ranger, Rameses did not anticipate such acts of hostility until Kaji's head was already soaked with grog and Hi-chan's primal form wavered and hissed worryingly after being drenched. "Nine Hells..." Escaped the bewildered curse from his lips.

 

The fire genasi froze momentarily, wide-eyed at the unexpected turn of events until his heartbeat sprung into a galloping pace as if to make up for the seconds lost to his own dumbfounded hesitation, and the fighter's runic szuldar suddenly erupted with violent, hateful energy of unprecedented intensity. To say that Rameses was riled by the aggression would have been an understatement as he surged from his seat, shoving his chair backward before it hit a close-by wall with an audible thud.

 

Rameses didn't even spare a concerned glance to Kaji or Hi-chan as he swiftly crossed the width of the Cheerful Sage, his flame-etched skin blazing with sinister and malicious intent as he sought out his friends' aggressors like a bloodhound. If there was one thing in all of Faerûn that the fire genasi did not tolerate under any circumstance was unprovoked and unreasonable disrespect towards planetouched individuals such as himself. He had dealt with such patronizing aggravations his entire life, and witnessing such injustice prey upon Kaji and Hi-chan struck a very old and very sensitive nerve within him.

 

In mere moments, Rameses spotted his nearest adversary, who turned in his seat to face the advancing genasi. He appeared to be a young patron of admirable class from the looks of his attire and that of his fellows, but the sneering contempt in the man's eyes fueled the glowing red glare in Rameses's. This man muttered quickly muttered in an amused tone to his companions, "Looks like we hurt this fireskin's feelings, boys." Standing up alongside his companions to meet the approaching fire genasi, he crossed his arms fearlessly and remarked smugly, "I could have sworn I overheard you bunch promising you wouldn't cause trouble, Red Eyes."

 

"That was before you made me a liar." The fire genasi growled seethingly, directing his forward movement into a violent upper-cut aimed at the underside of the aggressor's chin without uttering another word.

 

The blow struck its target with brutal precision, and the tavern patron reeled away and fell backward onto his friends' table. Mercilessly, Rameses descended upon him as he reared his right fist back for a second throw, grabbing his opponent's shirt with his left hand to hold him in place. However, the other four aggressors of the table who had bellowed with cruel amusement at Kaji and Hi-chan were quick to rush to their companion's aid, two of which quickly pulling Rameses off his victim. As suddenly as the fire genasi had instigated the brawl, he was tossed to the tavern's floor after receiving two brutal punches to his leftmost ribs and gut.

 

Terrified by the abrupt violence, Eirene dove into the chaos alongside a few brave others in a desperate effort to stop the fight before it got out of hand, a point of no return they were rapidly approaching. "Rameses! We'tak, help me!" She cried out as she reached for one of the men wailing into the sorely outnumbered fire genasi, but a stern elbow crashed into the Mulhorandi's nose and sent her stumbling backward with red soon spilling from her sniffer like the waters of the River Rauthenflow.

 

The Nine Hells seemed desperate to wreak havoc upon the Cheerful Sage that evening.

Edited February 29, 2016 by FreemasonGamer

[AurianaValoria1]

As the fight broke out in the tavern, Rhaine was thankful for a shadowy corner seat; the Doomguide leaned back in her chair with wine glass in hand, observing the brawl but determined to stay out of it. Next to her, Maydiira sipped her own wine and remarked, "So...things seem to have gotten significantly more...lively...since I was last in your company."

 

"That's one way to put it," Rhaine replied flatly.

 

Conall took a deep swig of his freshly-brought ale and sighed, "Anyone want to take bets?"

 

"Pass," Rhaine and May answered simultaneously.

[GrueMaster]

Kaji was surprised to see Rameses throw such a vicious uppercut first; it was usually the wu jen who'd jump wholeheartedly into a fight first. Watching his friend take a severe beating and ganged up upon, though, spurred him into action as well. "Get off of him! BONZAI!!" He bellowed, tackling into the group and bringing two of the drunkards down with him as he threw elbows and punches wildly. He even managed to knock out the man Rameses had first decked.

 

"Aaaaaiiiii!" One of the aggressive fellows screamed when he tried to grab the chaotically-thrashing fireskin, hands blistered badly. "What the hells are you!" he shrieked, before being silenced by a left hook to the face from Kaji that left a smoldering imprint of a fist. "What, you didn't think you could simply grab a 'fireskin' and not get burned, did you?" The fire mage smirked, shortly before a meaty ham of a hand from another opponent crashed into his nose, sending him sprawling across Rameses.

 

"Owwww!" Kaji mumbled as he held his nose, rising quickly and uppercutting another drunk. He laughed in victory as his foe tumbled away. However, the staggered individual happened to tumble into another group of patrons. A couple of men from that group, already upset at the unwanted distraction, threw all patience out the window and entered into the fight, thoroughly beating the transgressor of their relaxation. Several other individuals, whether drunk or eager to settle scores, began to follow suit, and soon the entire bar erupted into a free-for-all brawl.

 

We'tak watched in horror as the fight broke out between his clutchmates and some disrespectful softskins. He started to follow after Eirene, only to start shrieking terribly when she was struck and sent flying, blood clearly running from her face. "Wretched softkins!" He screeched, before pouncing on the male who hurt her. Unfortunately, his opponent of choice was considerably stronger than he was, and the thri-kreen soon found himself being tossed like a chatkcha and pinned to the floor by the stupid softskin.

 

*Nrak'tck!* He cursed as the man unleashed his assault, his chitin barely protecting him. "Stupid bug.. this'll teach you to- OH, GODS! SNAKE!" The softskin screamed and flailed away as Pekwe lashed out in defense of her master. Why are they always so set against me? The perturbed look she gave We'tak seemed to convey. "I don't know... maybe they dislike your lovely color?" He chittered, before he had to start fleeing when a chair was swung his way. Are softskins always like this?

 

The wu jen lent a hand and pulled Rameses up quickly. "Well, Ramesesama," he laughed. "You really know how to bring out the fire within, don't ya?" He ducked under a wild haymaker and countered with a nasty strike to the groin, sending the offender rolling into the fetal position all red in the face. "Hey, whoever gets the most knockouts gets to eat dinner, on the loser's tab?" Kaji grinned wildly, before charging towards one of the remaining men who had insulted them.

 

 

Meanwhile, a lone fire elemental, evading the thrown objects and tussling bodies, darted quietly towards the prone Eirene and began dragging her away from the fight to safety. "Kaji-kun..." She looked at the fighting pair of fiery humanoids. "I think yours is as bad as mine, Eirene-san..."

[Lisnpuppy]

Sin looked over at Leif, who was smiling at her. Somewhat confused and caught trying to decide if he was being helpful or perchance wished to make fun of a mighty Drow planning to scrub pots due to having nothing in her coin purse other than a piece of dried..something that may or may not have once passed for food. Sin was very used to her and her family having to do everything on their own...because they were Drow and not-Drow.

 

Today however, Sin's red hair and the large crowd allowed her some blending in. The fast-flowing ale and their flaming friends kept the attention off her for which Sin was grateful. Still, she wasn't used to anyone offering to help her except her Carnie friends and that was a long-trusted relationship made with others oft as abuse as the Surface Drow.

 

As she opened her mouth to speak to Leif, she reached out her hand and did something she almost never did with others not of her family or of her kind. She reached out slowly as if to command his attention...and touched Leif lightly on the wrist. A single, delicate fingertip...the lightest touch like that of a butterfly. Sin looked down, her eyes widened somewhat as she seemed surprised to find her finger touching him, just so..

 

Suddenly, Sin's hand was forgotten as all hell broke loose in the Cheerful Sage.

 

Sin put her hand down and lost no time grabbing food off tables where patrons were running for the door thinking flames would soon engulf the Tavern any moment. The majority of others who, food forgotten, were placing bets on which of the fire folk would win, who would have their pants scorched through, who was wearing what color unmentionables and if there would be enough pails at the fireman troth to save the place.

 

"Lolth's Unshaven Legs! Don't just stand there, Leif! Help me grab some of this. They've forgotten it and will just knock it over soon enough anyway!" Sin would have said more but she was busy shoving a chicken leg in her mouth.

[FreemasonGamer]

Kicking, stomping, punching, bashing. It all registered as one uproar of painful collisions after Rameses was hurled to the floor by the associates of the man he had assaulted. It was almost like drowning, how he struggled to escape the wrath of his opponents, and his heart pounded loudly in his ears as his body twisted in pain. Thankfully, the genasi's salvation had arrived when his companions dove into the fray with Kaji leading the charge, anticipating the mayhem. With what was mostly the fire mage's aid, Rameses escaped the beating as quickly as he had fallen prey to it.

 

Staggering to his feet with the wu jen's assistance, Rameses heaved a heavy breath as adrenaline surged through him, marginally dulling the pain of his brief beating. "Who am I to refrain when others do not?" He grunted humorously to Kaji once they stood back to back, surrounded by the chaos of the tavern brawl. "I hope you have the means to pay for my victory." Rameses also taunted with a maniacal grin.

 

The bruised fire genasi then refocused on the tumultuous fighting that ravaged the Sage. Most of the group he targeted before were already subdued, and there was a plentiful assortment of others to pick a fight with. After a brief moment of observation, Rameses chose a man hurling a chair at a familiar thri-kreen scrambling for cover. A scowl adorned the fire genasi's features as he jumped over patrons and overturned furniture, soon colliding with We'tak's assailant in a tackle.

 

His physique mirrored Rameses's aside from being a bit more burly, but that did not dissuade the genasi from plowing him to the ground. Sadly, Rameses did not have this upper hand for long when his pinned opponent grabbed a bottle and shattered it against hiss head, effectively disorienting him in a shower of glittering shards. The tavern spun wildly around Rameses as the man tossed him away and proceeded to punch him in the mouth while he was dazed. Fortunately, the genasi had enough sense left in him to avoid the incoming blow, and he rose to his feet again before advancing upon his enemy with reckless abandon.

 

Despite his distorted vision, Rameses managed to send a right hook crashing into the man's nose with a satisfying crunch. Bellowing, the adversary then punched wildly at Rameses's abdomen, connecting painfully until the fire genasi retaliated with two swift uppercuts. Those agile strikes sent the brute stumbling back while he loosely brought his fists up to defend himself from another blow. Maintaining the offensive, Rameses outmaneuvered his defense with a few serpentine lunges at his ribcage and stomach. Luckily, the defender fared badly against the battering flurry before finally succumbing to a sinister knee to the crotch, collapsing at Rameses's feet.

 

As he stood victoriously, Rameses felt lightheaded while blood flowed from his broken nose, busted lip, and the cuts inflicted from the shattered bottle. In spite of his wounds, however, the fire genasi felt what he thought was the spirit of Tempus compelling him to continue the brawl. Thus, he tried to refresh himself with a drink taken from a nearby table—he quickly spat it out when it tasted only of his own blood—before grabbing a chair and tossing it in the direction of the nearest person, shouting ferally in preparation for his next fight.

 

Meanwhile, Eirene was distraught by a painful burden far worse than her bloodied nose as Hi-chan was in the process of dragging her to safety. Something dark and frightening was disturbed in the Mulhorandi's spirit, and it growled with what she recognized as some sort of hunger. It was a terrifying precursor to something she did not want to happen in the middle of a crowded tavern fight, of all places.

 

How could I have been so careless, she thought worriedly as she drew shallow, rapid breaths. "Mhm..." She winced simply in response to the fire elemental, struggling to conceal her tone betraying the fear that knotted her stomach.

Edited March 2, 2016 by FreemasonGamer

[josh900]

Before Leif was able to respond to Sin, the familiar sounds of a barfight erupted around him, With a low sigh he set about to find the owner of the inn, he needed to make what would no doubt be a costly investment to ensure they could stay after the chaos subsided.

 

While Lucas certainly wasn't about to join in the fighting, he felt it was still his duty to lend his companions aid, and so from a distance he began to cast spells of healing and those that would strengthen and protect his companions from harm.

 

Azuris meanwhile took careful hold of his cup and moved into a far corner, away from the pointless fighting.

[Lisnpuppy]

Sin having, every pocket, bag, pouch, belt loop, hand, sock, boot and now mouth, somehow involved with pilfering as much food as she could from the uncaring patrons of the Cheerful Sage she was past being helpful to anyone at the moment. However, when further hands did not meet her words with the lightening of tables of foodstuff she turned to see Leif walking away toward the other side of the Sage's now rather ruckus main room.

 

Chewing thoughtfully and a bit more sorrowfully on the chicken leg (which Sin admitted was rather more than tasty and much better than the whatever that had found its was into her coin purse) she watched all her new companions. They all were working together. No, they were not all back-to-back in some circle-of-friendship fighting off all comers. They were all working in tandem. Obviously this was not the first time the group had been in such a kerfuffle as this. She watches as they looked across the room at times, checking one another here or there. A flash of steel here, a angry word there...she felt healing magic and something else...something not as nice.

 

Shaking her head she dropped down on the bench in front of her. Leaning over for some ale and what was about to be a squashed apple brown-betty (saved just in time), Sin narrowly avoided a halfling that went sliding down the row of tables and into a comatose lump in the floor. Wiping greasy fingers on the front of her pants, the Drow wondered what she was thinking trying to fit in with this long-together expert group. She didn't have any special skills, no determinable magic, no great fighting talents, she was young, untried and well, nothing to speak of at all.

 

 

Shaking her head slowly, Sin didn't think she could have done anything more stupid. She decided she would go find Dimitri, borrow a few coins as payment to the group and thank them...in writing...(she didn't wish to face them, she had some pride after all) for helping her get here as they didn't have to do so. The young Drow stood, ripped the shirt off the knocked-out halfling to use as a carry-all and wrapped her food quickly. Sin hoped to reach one of the Inn's many doors or windows without further incident.