Trog's Tavern: Roman Numerals Are Dumb

[Keeper]

Verity gives Henry a strained smile, "Oh, could you? That'd be very helpful."

Henry nods, remembering she's not from around here and digs his phone out from his pocket. An Intersection ambulance should be around after a few minutes to pick Verity up.

"I'd need to ensure a lot of the floors are sturdy enough, too. Mostly I roost in attics and such, which are already quite cramped. Not always designed for many people to stay in, either, which seems a bit pointless to me, really. Why build such a space if nobody's going to use it?" Which is why Jack doesn't feel too bad about her trespassing, squatting and general homelessness.

"Well, yeah. I generally don't fit in attics. But that's fine. Like I said, my place is big enough for guests. You can stop by some time. I have warm sheets." Though she's not sure if Jack would actually want those if she likes roosting in attics.

[Reinholdt]

[Sacrilege]

Ah-hah! Soteira has given her position away. This makes it easier for Rein to swap to her side of the table and reach out to hug her anyways. "Well I can right now, so here." A much needed hug. She doesn't have to hug him back or anything, it's all for her.

[Earl of Purple]

Warm sheets are a thing Jack would appreciate! She mostly uses the word 'roost' because she's not aware of a better, less avian term, though strictly speaking true roosting is only a last resort. She does prefer beds. "I'll keep that in mind, if ever I go up there."

[Gold]

Both the armored man and Hoshiki stare into the distance for a moment.

Hoshiki finds himself thinking of pagoda reflected on the water of a lake, with a range of mountains visible in the horizon. He thinks of boats on the river, and along the coast of the ocean, and of the narrow alleyways through old town. He remembers stealing bread and sometimes lemons from the marketplace when he was kid. He remembers great walls separating the worlds of nobles and commoners like him, and he recalls stepping through crimson gates into that another world, to begin his path as a warrior. A thousand men in black and white, carrying swords, spears and other weapons, flash in his mind, his brothers in arms once, but their faces have long since faded from memory or blurred together. A thousand battles, against men and monsters both.

The armored man recalls snowfall. He remembers building snowmen with his dad once, when he was just four years old. He recalls getting on the saddle of his bike, hitting the road, leaving his childhood home behind. He recalls a life of cheap booze and strong women, or maybe it was the other way around, all culminating in a pointless fight over the wrong thing. He sees himself in a hospital, standing next to his own dying body, with a black figure whispering into his ears how he will surely go to Hell for the life he lead. He sees the snow again, piling on crashed cars, on mangled bodies crushed between twisted steel. He sees burning buildings, children lost in the woods, wives beaten to death by their husbands, husband who shot themselves.

"... it was different", Hoshiki says.

"... it was different", the armored man says.

"Less angels."

"Less Christmas elves, or whatever they're supposed to be."

"I doubt either of us would recognize it if we got back. It was always changing."

"Oh, indeed. It has changed, while we've been gone."

Hoshiki raises an eyebrow. "And how do you know?"

The armored man shrugs. "Someone came looking for me. Got a word from them."

Gaul nods and blinks, and says "It wasn't bad news, I hope?"

[Hraithre]

The armored man shakes his head. "No. It was great news. There are no more evil spirits."

Hoshiki stares at him. "Come again?"

"There are no more evil spirits", the man repeats, "they get to every person as they die, now. I can't say we were the last, but..."

Hoshiki shakes his head in disbelief. "But how?"

The man laughs, in that cold, joyless manner. "How's not as important as why."

Hoshiki slams his hands on the table and leans forward. "Why, then?"

Painstakingly, the armored man leans on the table for support and forces himself upright. "Oh, because of you. Why else?"

[Keeper]

Warm sheets are a thing Jack would appreciate! She mostly uses the word 'roost' because she's not aware of a better, less avian term, though strictly speaking true roosting is only a last resort. She does prefer beds. "I'll keep that in mind, if ever I go up there."

"Here, I can at least give you the address." Mina writes it down on a napkin with a pen she pulls from inside her jacket.
"Come whenever you feel like. Though try to warn me beforehand if you're not in trouble."
She seems like the type who could get into trouble and need to crash somewhere on short notice.

[Morty]

Olvisin steps into Trog's, with a confident swagger that seems to compensate for her naturally short statue. She looks around for Jedrick, curious how the gnome is settling into the Nexus. Besides, it's refreshing to talk to someone who is around her size but isn't another goblin.

[ForTheGnomes]

Olvisin steps into Trog's, with a confident swagger that seems to compensate for her naturally short statue. She looks around for Jedrick, curious how the gnome is settling into the Nexus. Besides, it's refreshing to talk to someone who is around her size but isn't another goblin.

Jerick is nowhere to be found in the main area of the tavern. Suddenly, a loud fizz and bang shakes the tavern slightly. A smell of smoke emanates though the ceiling from where the bang seemed to come from. Strangely, though, no fire alarm goes off despite the tavern being very up to code with the standard safety and security precautions. Based on what Olvisin knows of Jerick as of now, this might be a sign of where he is.

[Earl of Purple]

"Thanks! I'll keep it in mind, if I go that way. And sure, I'll see what I can do. No promises, though, even if I'm not in trouble. I have a mobile, but I'm not great at using it and sometimes forget to check the battery." So she's never got a good idea of how much charge it's got left or know how quickly it uses power.

[Morty]

Jerick is nowhere to be found in the main area of the tavern. Suddenly, a loud fizz and bang shakes the tavern slightly. A smell of smoke emanates though the ceiling from where the bang seemed to come from. Strangely, though, no fire alarm goes off despite the tavern being very up to code with the standard safety and security precautions. Based on what Olvisin knows of Jerick as of now, this might be a sign of where he is.

From what Olvisin has seen of Jerick, it does seem like a good indicator of where to find him. She heads upstairs, follows the smell of smoke and knocks on the door that it comes from.

[ForTheGnomes]

From what Olvisin has seen of Jerick, it does seem like a good indicator of where to find him. She heads upstairs, follows the smell of smoke and knocks on the door that it comes from.

As the door opens, smoke billows out, eventually dissipating. In the open doorway, hand still on the knob, Jerick stood. His face was heavily darkened with what looked like some kind of ash and his hair was seared with bits of it still smoking. Behind him, a roaring fire was burning on his worktable. "Oh, hello Olvisin. Nice to see you. You need something?"

[Morty]

Olvisin is quite familiar with the look on Jerick. She's had to face an experiment gone wrong once or twice in her time. Even if her field is different.

"Hi Jerick. I came by here and wanted to see how you're settling in. The Nexus can be overwhelming to a new person. And us small folk should stick together."

[ForTheGnomes]

Olvisin is quite familiar with the look on Jerick. She's had to face an experiment gone wrong once or twice in her time. Even if her field is different.

"Hi Jerick. I came by here and wanted to see how you're settling in. The Nexus can be overwhelming to a new person. And us small folk should stick together."

Jerick turned and walked toward the fire as if everything was under control, gesturing Olvisin to come in. "I guess that's true, but I don't really find the Nexus to be all that overwhelming. Maybe it's just because of the fact that I tend to take things in rather than doing everything at once. I learned that lesson a long time ago." While he said this, Jerick sat down in the chair at the worktable and started feeding the fire, testing it and seeing what would happen. After about 2 minutes of throwing wood, charcoal, chemicals, and other flammable stuff into the fire, it turned a shade of bright green with the center being completely black. Jerick grinned as he looked into the new fire.

[Morty]

"I just don't let anything slow me down. Besides, I had the advantage of coming here on purpose and along with many other goblins, including three of my siblings," Olvisin says as she steps into the room. "So what are you working on?"

[ForTheGnomes]

"I just don't let anything slow me down. Besides, I had the advantage of coming here on purpose and along with many other goblins, including three of my siblings," Olvisin says as she steps into the room. "So what are you working on?"

"Well, I was trying to figure out how electricity and wiring works." Jerick points at an open book just beside the fire, somehow not even being scorched. Page after page of text and scribbles stood on the pages, the ink not being dulled by the heat. "But now, I think I've found a new fire. I just need to run some tests..."

[Morty]

"Electricity and wiring? I know a thing or two about those. My brothers know more, though." Olvisin's cat-like eyes peer at the fire. "What do you mean by a new fire, though?"

[ForTheGnomes]

"Electricity and wiring? I know a thing or two about those. My brothers know more, though." Olvisin's cat-like eyes peer at the fire. "What do you mean by a new fire, though?"

"Well, it's new because it is different to normal fires. This doesn't seem to produce any smoke, the center of the flame is pitch black, and it seems to be much hotter than normal fire." Jerick tosses a normal piece of paper into the fire. Rather than charring and shriveling into ash, the paper simply disintegrates and turns to ash instantaneously. Jerick seems to be very happy about this outcome. "There are so many possibilities for this. Not just the fire, but the catalyst that made it."

[Morty]

"So how did you manage it? Was it the old reliable 'throw stuff into a fire to see what happens' method?" Olvisin sounds like someone well familiar with it.

[ForTheGnomes]

"So how did you manage it? Was it the old reliable 'throw stuff into a fire to see what happens' method?" Olvisin sounds like someone well familiar with it.

"That's it. Whenever a fire happens, I throw whatever I have at hand that I don't already know the effects of. In this case, I threw in a bunch of stuff from that little expedition of ours. 'Course I failed to find a way back home, but I did find quite a selection of herbs, minerals, and chemicals on the way back. The thing that caused the change in the fire was this." Jerick held up a handful of leaves. They were inky black, sappy, and wrinkly. The veins of the leaf were filled with something that was glowing green, perhaps the source of the sappiness. "I throw it into the fire and it turns into this."

[Morty]

Olvisin peers closely at the leaves, her ears flicking up and down.

"That's a venerable method of inquiry, for sure. Plants aren't exactly my specialty, but I'm pretty sure most of them don't glow."

[ForTheGnomes]

Olvisin peers closely at the leaves, her ears flicking up and down.

"That's a venerable method of inquiry, for sure. Plants aren't exactly my specialty, but I'm pretty sure most of them don't glow."

"Well, I'm not much of an herbatologist either, but I do know how to find the effects of many different substances. For example, did you know that pine tree sap can be used to make a very potent, and bitter, healing salve? My main method for finding that kind of stuff out is to just combine different materials in as many different combinations as possible using as many different methods as possible." As he spoke, Jerick wrote down exactly what had happened with it and the effects of it before smothering it. When Jerick lifted the apparently flame-retardant cloth off of the fire, it was still going strong. Jerick wrote down this observation as well. He took a metal flask off his belt and poured some water onto it. The fire died instantly. Jerick wrote this observation down as well. After extinguishing the fire, Jerick rummaged around the room, pulling out random herbs, minerals, other substances, and even already finished potions. He also pulled down a wide variety of mechanisms and contraptions, apparently designed to automatically brew potions. He placed everything on the worktable, ready for use.

[Morty]

"Well, I'm not too clear on what a pine tree is, so... that's a no." Olvisin gives a brief, toothy grin. "That's the right approach, though. I came here as a mercenary because folks back home seem to have forgotten it. Wrapped technology up in rules, tradition, proper procedure... bah. All so a young and ambitious engineer can't upstage them, at the end of the day."

[ForTheGnomes]

"Well, I'm not too clear on what a pine tree is, so... that's a no." Olvisin gives a brief, toothy grin. "That's the right approach, though. I came here as a mercenary because folks back home seem to have forgotten it. Wrapped technology up in rules, tradition, proper procedure... bah. All so a young and ambitious engineer can't upstage them, at the end of the day."

"Exactly! Now, wanna help find out what these leaves can do?" Jerick pressed a button on the underside of the worktable and the front of it shot out, making a much bigger surface to work on. He spread out all of the boxes and equipment across the table, making a kind of organized chaos on the table.

[Morty]

"Thought you'd never ask." Olvisin flexes her cybernetic arms and sits down. "What other methods do we have? Boiling them?"

[ForTheGnomes]

"Thought you'd never ask." Olvisin flexes her cybernetic arms and sits down. "What other methods do we have? Boiling them?"

Jerick grins like an insane scientist that's about to blow something up. Then again, to untrained eyes, or overtrained eyes, that is exactly what Jerick is. "Well, I have few methods of finding every characteristic of any given unknown thing. First there's the simple methods of crushing them and powdering them with a mortar and pestle, then there's boiling them and mashing them together. I also diffuse them into their basic components using this diffuser," Jerick points at a machine that looks like a rudimentary centrifuge. Jerick goes on for a while, stating at least 15 more methods he uses for different things, including changing them into different states of matter to exposing them to different kinds of radiation, mundane and magical.

[Morty]

"Diffusing them sounds like a good start." Olvisin pokes the diffuser with a metallic finger. "See what they're made of before blending them together."

[Zefir]

And there a new person enters the tavern. The man stops a few steps in the tavern befor he takes a look around.
He himself looks rather mundane. It is impossible to tell his race but from his heigth he could be a human or elf. The brown cap he wears is drawn over his head so it s hard to make out any features. With small steps he starts moving again looking for somewhere to take a seat. He avoids the bar as he doesn t seem to seek a spotlight.

[Thursday Violist]

And there a new person enters the tavern. The man stops a few steps in the tavern befor he takes a look around.
He himself looks rather mundane. It is impossible to tell his race but from his heigth he could be a human or elf. The brown cap he wears is drawn over his head so it s hard to make out any features. With small steps he starts moving again looking for somewhere to take a seat. He avoids the bar as he doesn t seem to seek a spotlight.

A half-succubus woman was hanging out in the tavern (sitting with some NPCs who were playing a card game and was losing pretty badly against them) when she notices some guy sit alone. Very obscured. Basically hard to tell anything about him!
She's got blonde hair in a fancy updo, a vibrant violet dress that shows her shoulders, and long fingerless gloves. Tail sticking out, showing she's not even trying to be in disguise. She's very much the complete opposite of this mystery guy.

That piques her interest.

Some guy who clearly is trying to not stand out and gives off this massive aura of mystery? It feels like a challenge placed right in front of her: she really really wants to get to know him now.

She bows out of the card game (she was going to lose anyway) and moves over to him. "Hey," she says. Without really asking, she leans on a nearby chair to get closer to him. "It's nice and warm in here, you can take off a few layers," she says as her first attempt to get the man to reveal himself.

[Zefir]

The man looks up and part of his face can be seen. He appears to be humanlike as his face has skin like a human elf or other simular race. He is clean shaved but he doesn't lift his head enougth to look her in the eyes. For some strange reason the edges of his face remain dark like it's still in a shadow or alike. Obviously not normal, but not magical either if she is able to tell the difference.

"I'm fine how it is right now." the young male voice says. "Also it seems that your missing layers compensate those I have to many. That way things are even." The man says shoifting in his seat and looking around a bit.
"Or do you own this place? If so you must be Trog? But I doubt the picture on the sign outside is you in a young age?"

[Thursday Violist]

The woman laughs.
"That was pretty clever," she says. "Not only are you mysterious, but you're also funny. Got the 'tall, dark' part of 'tall dark and handsome' down already, too." Just needs to reveal his face to see if he's the ideal romance novel character.

...
The more this guy talks, the more she desperately wants to see his face to see if he actually is as handsome as she's imagining.

She turns her head to show the profile of her face. "Sadly, I"m not Trog, nor do I own this place. But you have to admit, I look like him, right?"
No, she does not look like Trog.
Like, at all.

But, she's really happy. It's been a long time since she's just been able to joke around with someone like this. Even if this doesn't go anywhere, she'd be satisfied.

The half-succubus woman pulls out the chair at an angle to face the mysterious man better, then sits. Then crosses her legs. "So, important question: when you first meet someone, are you the type of guy who's more likely to kiss them on the cheek or on the hand?" she asks.