|
|
Post by Silvia Raizer on Jun 27, 2020 11:51:24 GMT
Nikos looked outside as though he had just noticed the noise. “Oh,” he said, then chuckled. “You get used to it here. If m’lady wishes to know about Valgard, well,” he took a long drink, “you can climb the stairs going up the wall and have a looksie. You warriors from Bastion have the Mist monsters, we have our own form of...wildlife issues.” "Oh really? I'm eager to learn more about it. A good bard possesses a lively sense of curiosity and mine is especially lively today. Do you have any tips before I go to investigate?" |
|
|
|
Post by Justine-Juliette de Vair on Jun 27, 2020 12:50:50 GMT
“My apologies, the way you...Nevermind.” Justine shook her head, determined not to let herself be flustered. She thought for a moment. “Here and there. My partner and I go where we are needed. A long time ago, when I was very young, I lived in the capitol. Have you always lived in Bastion?” "I've been in Bastion some years now, but not always. The woods before that, in happier times. Not that I dislike the city but, well...that was before I lost someone." A finger tapped nervously against her glass. "But that's plenty about me. You and your partner - what kind of work are you in? Other than barroom flirtation." Justine has the feeling that when Ceutinde the Vision said the woods, she did not mean the Same kind of wilderness existence eked out by two escapees from the asylum. Still, she grinned as she took another sip from the glass. It really was good wine, wasn’t it? “We do odd jobs, mostly. Go where the wind takes us and all that. Spend a week in a town here and there. It’s the traveling life for me!” She didn’t mention all the things the pair of them were haunted by, nor the surety she felt that one day they would not run quick enough. |
|
|
|
Post by Dr. Archimedes Steller on Jun 27, 2020 13:03:52 GMT
"I don't know about that. Sounds like a lot of work. Life needs to be more simple." He waves his hand all around to encompass the area. "Simple is best, as my Da' always said. Though I think I got one of those letters too." He grumbles as he digs into his pocket searching, "Something about a grand adventure or some such. Do you remember K'rull?" K'rull chatters and shakes his head in response. "Could it be that we are bound for the same destination?" He said excitedly. " "What is this? Some kind of cross over work of fictional literature?! Were I a firm believer in Astrology, I would actually think that the stars were telling us something!" "This calls for some celebration! A Steller and a Nookington, together on the road once again!" Archie took a seat close to Tehol... Invasively close. Boundaries did not appear to be one of his areas of study. "This time with extra fur in our company. Isn't it, you little cutie yordlelus?!? "Come now, bartender! Some of your finest beer for this lad and his... Strangely alcoholic pet." He waved at his newly made friend at the counter. "Some hot water and milk for me!" |
|
|
|
Post by The Forgotten God on Jun 27, 2020 14:40:39 GMT
Nikos looked outside as though he had just noticed the noise. “Oh,” he said, then chuckled. “You get used to it here. If m’lady wishes to know about Valgard, well,” he took a long drink, “you can climb the stairs going up the wall and have a looksie. You warriors from Bastion have the Mist monsters, we have our own form of...wildlife issues.” "Oh really? I'm eager to learn more about it. A good bard possesses a lively sense of curiosity and mine is especially lively today. Do you have any tips before I go to investigate?" Nikos seemed amused at her enthusiasm. “Don’t pet the local wildlife,” he responded with a laugh. “Oh, and you may want to buy a wide brimmed hat. The southern sea’s monsoons can kick up rain here in an instant and they soak you to the bone.” |
|
|
|
Post by Silvia Raizer on Jun 27, 2020 14:50:23 GMT
Nikos seemed amused at her enthusiasm. “Don’t pet the local wildlife,” he responded with a laugh. “Oh, and you may want to buy a wide brimmed hat. The southern sea’s monsoons can kick up rain here in an instant and they soak you to the bone.” "Of course. I would like to visit the local shops anyway, so buying a hat is certainly not going to be a problem. Nor am I likely to put my precious fingers anywhere near a wild beast's mouth." She downed her drink. "I shall go and have a look at those walls and then I shall return." She headed up the stairs, eager to find out about the curious rumbling noise. |
|
|
|
Post by The Forgotten God on Jun 27, 2020 15:57:50 GMT
There are only forty or so stairs up the city wall and she scampers up in less than a minute. The granite is five meters thick and is black and white flecked with quartz and more providing a sheen in the bright daylight. Two soldiers watch her climb up and offer a cursory nod as they chew some sort of seeds as a snack and spit the shells over onto the other side.
The next sight is what gives her a moment’s pause. A half mile away or so she sees a massive creature shambling through the low trees and muddy land, a six legged stone monstrosity with two long forelimbs and four shorter legs as it ponderously shoves aside all in its path, blackish water filling up in its wake. She had heard that strange creatures from the Ancient times before the Mists had come lingered in some lonely corners of the world but something about the automaton with its soulless obsidian eyes and stone carapace gave her the chills. Whoever had enchanted such a beast to move was far beyond any sorcerer who lived today, she could comfortably feel assured of that.
As she watched a soldier offered her a peanut. “First time seeing the Guardian, eh?” He asked, a piece of the salted nut coming out the corner of his lip as he drawled.
|
|
|
|
Post by Silvia Raizer on Jun 27, 2020 16:04:37 GMT
Silva gazed in horror at the monster. She had never even dreamed that such a thing existed. It would make a fine addition to one of her songs, no doubt about that, but it was the strangest thing she had ever beheld and perhaps the most frightening as well.
"The...Guardian? Why does it have such a name?" She asked.
|
|
|
|
Post by Damien Chevalier on Jun 27, 2020 16:15:41 GMT
As though by magic the dice reveal a five and a two, seven being the perfect first roll. “Gods dammit!” Roger cursed. “Eh well, my lucks coming back to me,” he said, reassuring himself. “I heard you once stole a man’s pantaloons while he was wearin'em. That a fact?” He asked. Damien nodded, "Yes... it is true, and that is not even the most bizarre thing that happened to me on that job. I was in the tower of an alchemist. He had taken a sun drop and compressed it into a gem. It was stunning. Looking down into it made me feel warm and cozy like a pleasant summers day. I slipped the gem into my pouch, but I had the bad luck of the Alchemist returning home at that exact moment." He chuckled at his own bad luck, "I blended into the shadows, but the Alchemist instantly noted that the gem was gone. Hard to miss a gem that shines like the sun above. The alchemist activated two golems, Thunder and Lightning he called them. I knew they would tear apart the room until the found me, and we were 69 stories up. So I could not scale down before being spotted." Damien looked around miming the panic he had during that heist. "Then I spotted it. The alchemist had jarred some of the North Wind. I knew what had to be done. I grabbed the jar, slipped through the room to the window." Damien looked over his shoulders, "I stopped just long enough to say, 'You have been a gracious host, let us do this again sometime.'" The King of thieves left the story just long enough to say to the other two men, "You should always remember that manners matter." Then he instantly shifted back into the story, "As I leapt from the window I pulled out the pantaloons and held them above me. Then I took the jar and released the wind. The North Wind filled the Pantaloons and slowed my fall down all those floors. I hit the ground as gently as a cat and slipped into the jungle like just another shadow. I never saw the Alchemist again, but I did see those golems again, but that is another story." He shrugged as if it was really no big deal. |
|
|
|
Post by The Forgotten God on Jun 27, 2020 16:17:32 GMT
The soldier spat out another peanut shell. “Few months back the Death Knight launched a real offensive. Not like skirmishing mind you, really tried to wipe us out. His armies reached the walls and right as we get ready for a fracas the Lady cast a spell or some such and these four things came outta the ground. Needless to say those black eyes even scared the dead and what didn’t run got smooshed like a grape for wine.” The apparently mindless golem continued its lonely patrol as they spoke, and now Silvia could see another much farther away, this one with two long front limbs and two short rear ones, walking like a gorilla. “The Lady said they were the Guardians of Valgard back in the Magus Wars. Our city was even named after their creator apparently.” He shrugged. “But that’s just what she says. I think she just stumbled on’em and read a book or something silly like that.”
|
|
|
|
Post by Silvia Raizer on Jun 27, 2020 16:22:41 GMT
"They do say that truth is stranger than fiction," Silvia quipped. "But I understand now, thank you. I was worried that thing was a monster come to attack us." She lounged on the wall for a moment as she watched the golem.
"Perhaps you might tell me about the Death Knight. He must be fearsome indeed if four such creatures are required to defend the city against him."
|
|
|
|
Post by Tehol Nookington on Jun 27, 2020 16:23:06 GMT
Tehol grins at the prospect of a free round of drinks for him and K'rull, and proceeds to put his arm around the old geezer in a show of friendship, also hitting the man with a wave of stench befitting the lowest rotting corpse in a dungeon littered with bodies. "To company and adventures."
|
|
|
|
Post by The Forgotten God on Jun 27, 2020 16:24:56 GMT
Roger arched an eyebrow as the gentleman thief told his story. “God damn,” he mumbled as Damien finished. “So you still being chased by two golems bent on revenge?” He asked. Timm stared at the table and the dice wordlessly. A woman approached the table and took a seat.
“May I play, gentlemen?” She asked. Her coin purse was almost distractingly full of silver.
|
|
|
|
Post by The Forgotten God on Jun 27, 2020 16:31:29 GMT
"They do say that truth is stranger than fiction," Silvia quipped. "But I understand now, thank you. I was worried that thing was a monster come to attack us." She lounged on the wall for a moment as she watched the golem. "Perhaps you might tell me about the Death Knight. He must be fearsome indeed if four such creatures are required to defend the city against him." The second soldier laughed as the first grinned at the curious lady. “Fearsome indeed, I’d guess. Truth be told if it weren’t for those endless armies of the dead I wouldn’t believe in him. He ain’t been seen since I was a lad. There’s a dozen stories about what happened but I don’t think I believe any of’em.” He crunched another peanut then continued. “What I can tell you is to never be outside the city gates past evenfall. Something out there knows if you’re about the Morass and it swoops in,” he made a diving motion with his hand, “and you ain’t ever seen again, ‘specially the pretty maids like yerself.” |
|
|
|
Post by Silvia Raizer on Jun 27, 2020 16:39:56 GMT
She laughed and batted her eyelashes at him.
"Oh, I have no desire to encounter Guardians or minions of the Death Knight. Or any other monsters, for that matter. I am but a bard. We like our monsters best when they appear in songs and stories. But I am sure there are plenty of visitors who are not as willing as I to heed such warnings?"
|
|
|
|
Post by The Forgotten God on Jun 27, 2020 16:43:59 GMT
The guard took an involuntary gulp as she flirted. “You’re a real bard eh? Like, you sing and stuff? If you want inspiration for monsters Valgard has plenty I think. But yea, every now and again someone ignores our warnings and tries to go see the horrors for themselves. Like I said, we usually end up smashing their heads in when their corpses come back to eat us.”
|
|
