Trog's Tavern: Roman Numerals Are Dumb

Herein lies the various threads in which our characters live out their lives
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Re: Trog's Tavern: Roman Numerals Are Dumb

Post by Hraithre »

"Hold on! I can get this one myse- ah, nevermind." The man is about to push the mushroom girl away, but her sudden pull does manage to yank the damaged gauntlet off his hand. Underneath, the man's forearm seems to be wrapped in bandages, but a closer look would prove it to be metal mesh of some kind. His hand, has seen better days. It's skeletally thin and the skin dark in a very unhealthy manner.

The battered gauntlet and pieces of the forearm guard are left dangling in the girl's hands.

The man shifts his weight and begins working on his other arm. "Okay, so that was fine, but next time, wait for me to say when to pull. I can take this other arm off on my own, but I'll need help with the helmet and torso."

He thinks, then shuffles around, turns his back on the girl and leans his head towards his chest. "See where the collar's torn off? I need you to slide your fingers under my helmet and then lift up as much as you can. I'll count to three. Savvy?"
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Re: Trog's Tavern: Roman Numerals Are Dumb

Post by Ironsmith »

Kyrie takes a few steps closer to the two, ready to intervene if this turned bad. So far, the armored man doesn't seem to be doing anything wrong, but a strangely-dressed man in a suit of armor singling out a naive-looking mushroom girl to help him disrobe seems...

...Screw it. He's intervening.

Without waiting for any further instruction, Kyrie seizes hold of the man's helmet from the top and pulls it up and off, in the practiced motion of someone who has had to deal with far too many squires underestimating their head size or the way ambient temperatures would affect their armor.
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Re: Trog's Tavern: Roman Numerals Are Dumb

Post by quillpleasant »

The mushroom girl peers closely at the man's rather unhealthy looking hand. There's definitely something off here, but human anatomy was never her strong suite. She'd hate to assume that someone was wounded due to her ignorance about how flesh worked.

She gingerly places the gauntlet on the oaken table nearby, holding it delicately as if the metal is contagious. She very much hopes its not contagious.

"Understood, noble knight. A chrysalis can be such a difficult thing to manage, but I'll help as best I can." She's ready to do her best to remove this unnatural accoutrements, when another knight intervenes and performs the deed himself. Her eyes flash in surprise.

"Oh do be careful! You may have wounded him!" Says the person who already yanked off a different piece of armor rather carelessly.
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Re: Trog's Tavern: Roman Numerals Are Dumb

Post by Thursday Violist »

Zefir wrote: Feb 26, 2023 9:54 pm "Shiny person?" the man says and looks up. He does sound rather confused. "What kind of profession is 'shiny'?"

But still he has to address the other part.
"That does sound like a plan, maybe I can help out in a hop or so, some background work were you don't get noticed but still get some copper. Maybe after that I can search for some more informations."
The half-succubus woman Mel shakes her head and laughs: "It's not really a profession. It's just that I don't know how else to describe her. She's shiny, and that's it." She shrugs her shoulders.

She nods. "Yup, marketplaces are great places to hear and learn things," she says. "Definitely do recommend. And even if you don't like it, you'll still get paid and so you'll have the means to find something else to do."
Rebonack wrote: Feb 28, 2023 4:06 pm "A bunch of extra arms would be really handy for an office job," Zee muses in the form of a one hundred percent intentional pun. "So you can hold a phone and papers and that orange cat that keeps sneaking into the office all at the same time."

Everyone knows about sneaking into office cats.

You let your guard down for one minute and BAM! The cat is laying on top of the copy machine and generating more copies of itself until the whole office is choked with orange cats. Happens all the time.

"Hmm... If you did medical things before I'm not sure how starty from scratch it would have to be. Lots of people are built pretty similarly! Except dwarves have two livers I think?"

Zee glances over at a nearby table of dwarves. One of them raises his mug to her in confirmation.

"Most of the hospitals have specialists who know how to work with particular types of people. That's on the job applications probably? What sorts of folks are you trained to treat eccetera. Also laylines are just like... people drawing lines between old Neolithic sites. You can ALWAYS draw a line between any two objects. That really isn't special. I guess some guy thought maybe they were old trade routes but his model ended up being wrong? Then a buncha folks mystified it because..."

Zee wrinkles her nose here, trying to figure out the 'because' part.

"People like mysteries, I guess? But once people starting dreaming a thing is real hard enough then the faeries get involved and it gets really confusing."

Darn fae, making the world too complicated.

Hmm...

But more important revelations happen!

"That DOES sound like a super villain origin story," Zee admits. "But it doesn't sound like you're doing anything very villainy. Unless it's REALLY nefarious office work that you're up to."
June, the snakey person, has never actually seen or heard of that particular kind of cat.

"Extra arms are pretty handy," she admits. However, "Doors with dampeners closing on your tail, or people too absorbed in typing out an email on their phone stepping on you isn't all that fun, though." Or drunken adventurers tripping over you, too.

More importantly, June shakes her head: "Not a doctor or medical specialist....it's more complicated than that. It's..." She pauses to think, then swallows. "A better metaphor would be a lamplighter who suddenly found out everyone started using electric lights to keep the monsters away."
That's...
an analogy, alright. Some kind of analogy.
Then she adds, even though it doesn't mean that much, "just working in a hospital, anyway, would require starting from scratch in the first place."

She lays her head down on her arms again. "At least a nefarious office job would be exciting. Nah, the most nefarious thing is office politics." Ended up driving June's office-trainer away from the workplace. She yawns. "Y'know. Sometimes, I feel like I'm a side-character in the B-plot in a C-list movie. There was that Thanksmas music virus but that got resolved by someone else, there were those Killdren kids but that ended as fast as it started. Found a secret room filled with expired magic items in my apartment! But that literally went nowhere. Sure I did get involved in some sort of underground civil war, but...literal background character while everything happens around me and I have no clue what's going on." She starts walking her fingers across the counter, having two hands meet each other. "Even this 'hey there's a half-dozen alternate-universe-i-guess copies of you walking around' whole deal feels like I've got the boring background end of the stick. One gets trapped back in time in some sort of tavern dungeon and then runs off like she's got somewhere to be? Cool! Another miraculously survives some kind of disaster explosion and then mysteriously vanishes into thin air? Definitely some A-plot kind of story. Another one apparently works at the Black Dragon's Den and moonlights at an organization renowned for heroics and research? Yeah, that's definitely main-character syndrome. But me? I work at a plain, boring office. Paperwork, phone calls, meetings, and e-mails."

June sighs, as if all happiness is escaping on that sigh.

Then! She sits up straight. She rolls her shoulders back! And shakes her head. She smiles. "Okay! Good. That's out of my system now. I dunno, taverns just give off the feeling that you're supposed to complain in them."
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Re: Trog's Tavern: Roman Numerals Are Dumb

Post by Hraithre »

Ironsmith wrote: Mar 01, 2023 9:30 pm Kyrie takes a few steps closer to the two, ready to intervene if this turned bad. So far, the armored man doesn't seem to be doing anything wrong, but a strangely-dressed man in a suit of armor singling out a naive-looking mushroom girl to help him disrobe seems...

...Screw it. He's intervening.

Without waiting for any further instruction, Kyrie seizes hold of the man's helmet from the top and pulls it up and off, in the practiced motion of someone who has had to deal with far too many squires underestimating their head size or the way ambient temperatures would affect their armor.
quillpleasant wrote: Mar 01, 2023 9:53 pm The mushroom girl peers closely at the man's rather unhealthy looking hand. There's definitely something off here, but human anatomy was never her strong suite. She'd hate to assume that someone was wounded due to her ignorance about how flesh worked.

She gingerly places the gauntlet on the oaken table nearby, holding it delicately as if the metal is contagious. She very much hopes its not contagious.

"Understood, noble knight. A chrysalis can be such a difficult thing to manage, but I'll help as best I can." She's ready to do her best to remove this unnatural accoutrements, when another knight intervenes and performs the deed himself. Her eyes flash in surprise.

"Oh do be careful! You may have wounded him!" Says the person who already yanked off a different piece of armor rather carelessly.
Kyrie, knowing more about armor, might notice where the problem is. The helmet has some fancy articulation, indicating it's designed to open up a bit so it's easier to take off. But it's been hit with enough force to bend the mechanism. Under normal circumstances, this would make one wonder whether the skull of the one wearing it is still in one piece.

As consequence, pulling the helmet off takes quite a bit more effort than expected. "Ack! Wait! On count of three... urgh..." The man stumbles forward and his polaxe clatters on the ground. His fingers frantically grib the jaw of his helmet and he yanks it forward as Kyrie pulls. There's a loud creak when the helmet finally comes off and one piece of it - perhaps a damaged spring - flies off to the corner. The rest of the helmet is left in Kyrie's hands.

The man leans his hands on his knees and breathes. His neck is still shielded by that odd metal bandaging. What an odd armor set, if even the cloth underneath is steel. Must not be very comfortable.

"Do you people have some kind of grudge against me?", the man grumbles. He is bald, his unhealthily dark skin wrapping tight around his skull. There are stains of what appear to be dried blood on him, but the wounds have already closed. He pushes himself up and turns to look at the mushroom girl and Kyrie. He seems slightly taken back by sight of the latter. His face, to be charitable, looks like it was smashed through a window and never healed right. He scars running from the corners of his mouth and up his cheeks that give the impression of a grimace even he tries to remain neutral. His black eyes are sunken deep into his skull and occasionally it might seem they glow red.

"For the love of God, please follow instructions! Next... the breastplate should come off on its own. Then the rest opens at the front and comes off the back. We clear?"
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Re: Trog's Tavern: Roman Numerals Are Dumb

Post by Ironsmith »

The man wouldn't be out of line if he thought Kyrie looked somewhat less-than-attractive, as well. The retired knight somewhat resembles a humanoid wolf, in one of the worst possible senses; his features bear some resemblance to what might happen if someone sculpted a statue, but decided after completing it that they really wanted it to be of a wolf rather than a war hero. More egregiously, he appears to be somewhat out of shape, with gangly arms and a pot belly, and dressed like he decided to come into the tavern immediately after mowing the front lawn; he wears knee-length khaki shorts and a simple white tee shirt, with a pair of tennis shoes crudely bound to his feet.

The wolf knight nods to himself and casually pulls off the chestplate and goes to work on the fasteners. If the man's ever been arrested before, he might be expecting to be shoved onto the bar and told he has a right to remain silent any moment now; Kyrie's handling of him seems to be bound up in the same general approach.
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Re: Trog's Tavern: Roman Numerals Are Dumb

Post by quillpleasant »

The mycoid looks from one knight to another, eyeing them with fascination. One metallic and emaciated, the other some strange hybrid of man and beast. But no matter; these must be average and normal specimens of humanity. It's not like she has much to go on.

As Kyrie sets to work on helping the man with his breastplate, she leans forward and stares, a somewhat unnerving gesture due to her complete lack of blinking. The armored man seems to be wounded, due to the red human juice that stains his clothes. Wounded, removing dead growths...aha, she understood!

"Forgive me, noble knight, I did not realize that you were dying. Are there any last rites that your bestial compatriot or I might give you, before you enter the decay?" Nailed it. She is being so helpful and culturally sensitive right now.
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Re: Trog's Tavern: Roman Numerals Are Dumb

Post by Hraithre »

Kyrie might notice some deep dents in the breast plate as he sets it aside, and some of the fasteners underneath are bent and broken in a way that makes opening them a bother. Whatever hit this man did so with tremendous force.

The man has been arrested a fair few times, so the similarity does not escape him. He opts to not complain more, though, since it's not like Kyrie could get the armor torso off in any gentler way.

The mushroom girl's words do keep him a pause. "... no need", he answers, "the tavernkeep already fixed me up. I'm good to go for another two weeks at least."

When the last fastener is finally torn open, the man manages to squirm his arms out and the heavy torso is left in Kyrie's hands. It somewhat resembes a brigandine, but the plates connect to each other rather than cloth or leather. It has a mechanical feel to it, almost like it was made to move on its own if powered right. How that would be achieved is not clear.

The man is left clad in his leg armor and the metal bandaging. He runs his thin fingers along the mesh, then shakes his head. "Does someone have a wirecutter?"
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Re: Trog's Tavern: Roman Numerals Are Dumb

Post by quillpleasant »

The mushroom girl is more confused than ever, but she's not willing to admit that. This must all be perfectly normal, and she would seem a fool if she asked too many questions. Mental note: when humans are close to death, they start shedding their excess layers.

At the man's request for a wirecutter, she shrugs. "I don't know what that is." Well, maybe one question would be acceptable. "Why are you like...this?" she asks, gesturing vaguely at the man's whole body. She glances at Kyrie, unsure if he shares her confusion or if all of this is completely normal here.
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Re: Trog's Tavern: Roman Numerals Are Dumb

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Normal? No, apparently not. Kyrie's expression is one of vague bemusement, as though he's wondering just how this man got beaten up this badly.

Unremarkable? Yes. The wolf-man, at the same time, seems to feel absolutely no compulsion to remark on the man's corpse-iness.

"Hold still." Kyrie commands, picking up a butter knife from a nearby table. "And tell me where to cut."
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Re: Trog's Tavern: Roman Numerals Are Dumb

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The man turns and stares at the mushroom girl. "Because the spirit world has a mean sense of humour. So..."

He doesn't manage to finish before Kyrie brings up the butter knife. He gives it a skeptical glance. "What? You plan to cut metal with that? That makes no - ah, no." He sits on the nearest table and spreads his arms. "On a second thought, let's see you do it. I wanna see how you plan to do it. Try right where you think my heart is. Should be enough space to get it between the layers and start unraveling it."
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Re: Trog's Tavern: Roman Numerals Are Dumb

Post by Ironsmith »

Kyrie raises an eyebrow at that. If this man really wanted to be stabbed directly in the heart, on the grounds that he doesn't expect the tiny knife to penetrate, Kyrie doesn't want to be responsible for any further injury.

So, before complying, Kyrie decides a safer demonstration is in order. "Yes, I intend to cut metal with this." He explains, lifting a fork from the table and holding the butter knife's edge against it. "And to borrow a truism; where there is a will..."

spinkt!

Kyrie flicks the knife through the fork, decapitating it in a single, swift stroke, blue sparks dancing off the blade as it passes through.

"...there is a way." Kyrie finishes. "Now, are you certain you want me to cut you in the way prescribed?"

If Sandels agrees, Kyrie will do as he is asked, no longer concerned about the man potentially being uninformed; there's no excuse for it now.
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Re: Trog's Tavern: Roman Numerals Are Dumb

Post by quillpleasant »

The mushroom girl nods at the armored man's words. The spirit world is something she is actually familiar with, and it's not surprising that his affliction is connected. Still, there's other things she's curious about, but she's willing to bite her tongue for now.

She watches with trepidation as Kyrie decapitates the fork. Clearly this man is not to be trifled with, although to be fair the same could be said of most people around here. Still, she's not eager to see this escalate into a makeshift surgery session.

Also, she's not sure what if anything she can do to help, so she settles for hovering anxiously nearby, brow furrowed.

"Be careful!" Very helpful. "And let me know if you need anything to dull the pain." That's a little more helpful, but she's not sure the armored man is even capable of feeling pain.
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Re: Trog's Tavern: Roman Numerals Are Dumb

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The man raises an eyebrow... well would raise an eyebrow if he still had one, at Kyrie splitting the fork. "Oh ho! Seems you have some skill!" He looks at him, then at the girl. "Worry not. It won't hurt me. He won't hurt me. Here.", he bends his right arm and presses his thumb against his chest. Kyrie might notice the mesh give away slightly. "Aim right about... here. Should have enough margin for error. I'm certain. Go ahead."

When Kyrie follows through, the knife splits some links of the mesh... but hits nothing.

Because there is nothing to be hit.

"Well, gotta say, that was easier than I thought it would be."

The man starts unwrapping his bindings. Slowly, it reveals a hole right where his heart should be, slightly larger than his palm, perfectly round. It doesn't look like it's of same origin as his other injuries. It doesn't really look like an injury at all. Somehow, his body perfectly keeps its shape around it, despite it visibly going all the way through. The inside edges are pitch-black. It's as if laws of nature can't make up their mind about whether it's there or not.
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Re: Trog's Tavern: Roman Numerals Are Dumb

Post by quillpleasant »

Human anatomy is still a mystery to the mushroom girl, but even she can tell that having a void in place of a heart is unusual. She's starting to doubt if this man is a human at all, and the word undead can't help but go through her head. Of course, she'd never just ask someone if they're undead or not, that would be horribly rude.

"Are you an undead?" she says, pointing at the man's dark heart. Well, if she's going to fly in the face of etiquette, she might as well double down. "What does it feel like, can I touch it?" She leans forward, lavender eyes glinting with curiosity.
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Re: Trog's Tavern: Roman Numerals Are Dumb

Post by Ironsmith »

bap!

Kyrie sighs wearily as he swats the mushroom-girl's hand in an attempt to drive her back. While he's as perturbed at the lack of heart as she is (albeit likely for different reasons), there is still a basic level of decorum to be shown here. Like respecting the concept of personal space and not shoving one's hands into another's bodily cavities without permission.

It's surprising how often the subject comes up around here.

"Whatever has happened to the gentleman's body is his business." Kyrie admonishes the mushroom girl. "But if you are going to request treatment more extensive than this, you really should go to a clinic. This is a tavern. People come here to drink."
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Re: Trog's Tavern: Roman Numerals Are Dumb

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The man shakes his head at Kyrie. "I already told you. The tavernkeep fixed me up. As good as any doctor could. A veritable angel, she is."

He lowers the unwrapped mesh down to the ground and sighs. His body, while maybe muscular once, seems like it's had every drop of fat and water squeezed out of it. "I've been dead. Now I'm alive. If that fits your idea of undead, so be it", he answers to the mushroom girl as he starts gathering the loose pieces of armor. "You want to know what it feels like? As said, the spirit world has a mean sense of humour. It takes metaphors and makes them literal. Lose heart, for whatever reason, and you will really lose it." He places all pieces he can inside the torso, puts the breast plate on top, and wraps them together with the mesh. Then he picks up his polaxe. Apparently, he has enough sense of decency to leave his leg armor in place.

"We're done here. Thank you for the help. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll have to go and find me some new clothes."
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Re: Trog's Tavern: Roman Numerals Are Dumb

Post by quillpleasant »

The mushroom girl has the decency to look suitably chastened by Kyrie's swat. Not knowing about humans isn't an excuse to give in to her thirst for knowledge at every opportunity.

The man's story gives her more pause. Emotions are not something she has a lot of experience in reading, being more used to a hivemind style of existence. But there's something terribly sad about losing heart, even if she lacks that particular organ herself.

As the man gets up to leave, she also jumps to her feet. "You can't leave yet, sir! You haven't even told me your name." A thought occurs to her, and keeping such things to herself is not her strong suit. "Do you need any help? In finding your heart again, that is." She's not sure what clothes are due to growing her own, so that particular goal escapes her.
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Re: Trog's Tavern: Roman Numerals Are Dumb

Post by Ironsmith »

"...Yeah. Yeah, she is." Kyrie agrees under his breath, managing a fond chuckle while both the mushroom girl and the heartless corpse are distracted.

"I must agree with our mutual acquaintence here." Kyrie continues. "If you have lost your heart, this may well be the place to find it again. Or at least, to get started on finding it. It's done wonders for me."

Not that working here solved all his problems, granted, but he'd probably be a faceless shade in the street about now if he hadn't come to Trog's.
Who're you? ...Don't matter.

Want some rye? Course ya do!

Here's to us!
Who's like us?
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And they're aaaaall dead.
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Re: Trog's Tavern: Roman Numerals Are Dumb

Post by Hraithre »

((Background music))

The mushroom girl's plea stops the man in his tracks. He stares at her, not believing what he just heard. "Hah..."

A dry chuckle escapes his throat, then turns into laughter. At some point, the laughter starts to sound more like crying, but there isn't enough water in his body to shed a single tear.

"Ahahahaha...! Ow. My sides. Shouldn't laugh, in a state like this." He has to lean on his weapon for support again and hugs his ribs with his free arm. Zee might've put the pieces where they belong - well, the pieces that are present - but the pain still lingers. He takes a moment to gather himself, then reaches and pokes the girl on the nose with a withered finger.

"You can't help me with that. But if you want to help me, help me haul this junk" , he gestures to his armor, "somewhere where it will keep for few days. I need to forge a weapon out of it later. If you want to call me something, call me Colonel Sandels. It's been good enough for everyone so far." He turns to look at Kyrie, giving the other knight much longer scrutiny. "You have an odd feel to you. You've been in a state similar to mine? Well...", his eyes linger above where Kyrie's heart ought to be, "it's nice if you worked it out without intervention by my lot. But I'm not going looking for my heart. I'm going looking for clothes first. A few spirits ready to be weaponized second. Maybe one with affinity to water, might as well try for two birds with one stone. And, if I still have the time... maybe a nice cold beer. So... yeah."
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Re: Trog's Tavern: Roman Numerals Are Dumb

Post by quillpleasant »

The mushroom girl narrows her eyes. She doesn't like when people don't take her seriously, in fact that's the reason she's here in the first place. It also hasn't escaped her attention that this whole interaction has been a bit one sided. Sandels has been less than forthcoming, and hasn't returned her curiosity in the slightest. Even so, she can't help but feel bad for him.

"I'll help carry your chrysalis, Colonel, but after that you're on your own."

She glances at Kyrie, gracing him with a rare smile.

"Also, thank you. You've been most helpful." It's clear that without the wolf knight's expertise, things would likely have been a lot more complicated.
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Re: Trog's Tavern: Roman Numerals Are Dumb

Post by Zefir »

Thursday Violist wrote: Mar 02, 2023 5:01 am The half-succubus woman Mel shakes her head and laughs: "It's not really a profession. It's just that I don't know how else to describe her. She's shiny, and that's it." She shrugs her shoulders.

She nods. "Yup, marketplaces are great places to hear and learn things," she says. "Definitely do recommend. And even if you don't like it, you'll still get paid and so you'll have the means to find something else to do."

The man doesn't really have anythign to add to her shiny friend. He just can't get what she is trying to ell him and it shoudl be obviouse he is confused.

"Well then, can you point me in the right direction? It's getting a bit to full for my taste." he says as he looks around aand notice the wolf, the mushroom and the plated man.
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Re: Trog's Tavern: Roman Numerals Are Dumb

Post by Hraithre »

Sandels nods to Kyrie, then leads the mushroom girl towards the door. The pile of armor weighs few dozen kilograms - he wouldn't be surprised if it weighed nearly as much as her. Hopefully she can at least drag it along the floor.

"Any thoughts on how far you'll help me carry it?", he asks, standing on the tavern's threshold, looking left and right. "Ah! There you are!"

He steps outside and walks to what looks like a great, armored warhorse. It has taken to grazing on whatever plantlife it can find sticking through the streets. "I'm rather surprised you didn't go with the cartoon man or the blockhead", he muses, tapping the horse's side. It gives a hollow metal sound.

He turns to the girl. "Let's hoist that crap on this guy, then you're free to go. If you want some favor in return, I can give you a ride somewhere. That's about all I can do for now."
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Re: Trog's Tavern: Roman Numerals Are Dumb

Post by quillpleasant »

The mushroom girl attempts to lift the armor, but settles for dragging it behind her. She's stronger than she looks, but metal is heavy.

"It's not like I have anything better to do. Menial labor seems like just the sort of thing that would disappoint my mother, so it seems like a good use of my time." Plus, she can't get tired. That makes hauling things around a lot easier.

She looks dubiously at the horse. It's clearly an animal, one with a freakishly long face and horribly narrow legs. Her eyes narrow in distrust.

"This beast is tame? I don't like the looks of it," she mutters. Now it's eating grass. What kind of a monster eats grass? She helps attach the armor to its saddle, remaining at arms length whenever possible.

Once that's done, the mycoid considers Sandel's proposition. "I don't have any destination in particular, but I suppose anywhere new would help me understand this place better. I'll accompany you on this...thing, and take my leave when I find somewhere interesting." That seems fair, right?
horses can attack and eat me
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Re: Trog's Tavern: Roman Numerals Are Dumb

Post by Hraithre »

Sandels helps the girl tie the armor to the saddle. Then, he hoists himself on the beast's back. The horse snorts and spreads stench of sulphur to the air around it. It tosses its head up, takes a few steps and the turns its flaming crimson eyes on the mycoid. For an animal, there suspicuously little of anything that could be called alive in it.

"Tame? No. It just knows better than to disobey me. Usually", Sandels answers, balancing his polaxe on his lap. He's fine with her not liking the horse. Eating grass is far from its most monstrous quality.

"Ah, so you're a new arrival", he continues when the mycoid reveals she has no specific destination in mind. "Should've guessed. This tavern tends to attract such people. Hmmm... hey." He taps the horses neck, again making a hollow metal sound. "You brought the big guy to me, didn't you?", he talks to the horse, "how about you show me where he came from, hmmm?"

The horse turns its head away from the girl and snorts. That's maybe a yes.

"Good!", Sandels says, patting the horse then turns to the girl and offers a hand to her. "You... know how to do this, right?"
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Re: Trog's Tavern: Roman Numerals Are Dumb

Post by quillpleasant »

Even a normal horse would make the mushroom girl leery, let alone a huge hellish one with fiery eyes. If it eats grass, it might eat fungi as well. Hopefully she won't have to find out.

"Usually? I love the confidence," she says, with just a tinge of sarcasm. At least Sandels seems to know what he's doing. She tentatively approaches the horse, reaching out to touch its flank as if it might explode at any moment.

"New, yes. This was the one place I found where I'm safe from pursuit, so I guess I'd better get used to...this kind of thing." She shakes her head at his question, forcing a confident smile. "No idea how to do this! Can't be that hard, right?" Wrong. She grips Sandel's hand and tries to clamber up onto the horse with a rather embarrassing lack of grace. Hopefully he's ready to stop her from falling flat on her face.
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Re: Trog's Tavern: Roman Numerals Are Dumb

Post by Thursday Violist »

Zefir wrote: Mar 06, 2023 1:15 am The man doesn't really have anythign to add to her shiny friend. He just can't get what she is trying to ell him and it shoudl be obviouse he is confused.

"Well then, can you point me in the right direction? It's getting a bit to full for my taste." he says as he looks around aand notice the wolf, the mushroom and the plated man.
She was just listing people she knew. Actually, Mel forgot where she was going with it, regarding the shiny person, too.

Mel nods.
"Yeah, of course," she says.
She stands, and goes over to the tavern's window. She glances out the window, and looks up and down the street. "Okay." She points to the right. "Just go that way three blocks, turn left. Then you're on the market street."
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Re: Trog's Tavern: Roman Numerals Are Dumb

Post by Hraithre »

The mycoid is lucky, the man has a very strong grip, even exhausted as he is. His thin hand wraps hard around the girl's and prevents her from falling to the ground, though it doesn't stop her from embarrassingly dangling and flailing in midair. He has to be careful to not be pulled off the saddle himself, but eventually manages to yank the girl up.

"Just... just hold tight to anything you can. We're going to go slowly. Slooooowly." He seems to be talking to the horse as much as to her. The beast tosses its head and snorts in apparent disapproval, but seemingly obeys, starting a walk to destinations unknown, eventually speeding up to light jog. Heavy metallic clops echo on the street as they leave thr tavern behind.
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Re: Trog's Tavern: Roman Numerals Are Dumb

Post by Rebonack »

June really needs to expand her mental catalogue of different types of Nexus cats.

There are, after all, so many different types!

Like sniper cats. And catgirls. And office copycats. And house-cats.

"Yeah I guess the giant tail CAN be a problem," Zee muses, considering the tail carefully. "I haven't every really had any experiences with giant snake tails before or multiple arms so I don't know if I'm really an expert on any of those things. Oh! Maybe you could tie a bunch of balloons to the back two thirds of your tail so it floats off the ground a bit? Then if it's at eye level then people won't trip over it!"

A beat.

Zee strokes her chin thoughtfully.

"But then they might run face first into it because they're looking at their phone."

Which could be a problem.

"See mostly when I'm ginormous I don't really even fit inside of buildings so tripping over me usually isn't a problem. There are OTHER problems but tripping isn't one of them. Hmm... Maybe putting visibility lights on your tail could help? Just anything that would make it easier to notice. Not sure what to do about doors that close on their own, though. Maybe just remember to butt your tail up against the door when you're going through it? Sorta like holding a door open with your foot. Except a tail. Since you haven't got any feet."

That seems like a pretty solid solution to this otherwise intractable problem.

"Well... I'm not sure what lamps have to do with- Oh, wait, okay no I think I get it. The stuff you did before really isn't the technology or technique that's used here? Is that what you mean?" Zee asks.

"Wow, office politics DO sound pretty nefarious."

Not the sort of thing you would want to mess with!

"But... DO you want to be a main character? Do you want to have crazy stuff happen to you aside from falling into a chemical vat and getting a snake tail and extra arms for some reason?" Zee asks. "I mean, it sounds like you're kind of disappointed that you aren't in the limelight but is that what you really want? Because if you DO want adventure I can probably help! I'm a bartender at a fantasy tavern, after all. I dispense quests all the time."
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Re: Trog's Tavern: Roman Numerals Are Dumb

Post by Thursday Violist »

That is quite a variety of cats. Apparently, Catside is a neat vacation spot, so if she did know more about all the cat varieties then maybe she could visit Catside.

Luckily, nearly the entire snake-body and snake-tail is wrapped around the barstool.

"Balloons sound like a really exciting and fun idea," June says, contemplating it, "but, sadly, office work doesn't pay enough to get that many balloons."
...
But it probably does pay enough to get a magic item that could do something similar.
June adds, contemplatively, "Maybe some magic thing that hacks all the nearby phones and tells them to pay attention to where they're walking would be much more effective."
More seriously, she says, "I mean, I'm still sort-of getting used to it. Don't really know all the best tips or tricks. So going through doors sort-of sideways and holding it open is probably a good idea, just something I've never thought of before." Seems pretty reasonable.

She puts an elbow on the bar counter, and leans against her hand. "OH! Since I'm here, I probably ought to order a drink, too, right? instead of just taking you away from all the other patrons. Llamanade, I guess."
To be honest, it's not really exactly the technology and techniques being used that's the problem. If it were just that...it would still require starting over. But...it's just everything is different. Even reasonable assumptions about how reality works is different, to the point where June can hardly look up what she doesn't know because it's hard to know what you don't know. But, rather than saying that, June just agrees and says, "Not exactly, but you're basically right."

Anyway, there's a lot to think about.
"Ignoring the fact that everybody already is their own main character," June prefaces, as she looks upwards to think of where she's going with this, "it's not that I want to be a main-main character or anything. It's just that coming to the Nexus wasn't really by choice. And whenever that sort of thing happens in stories, even when it wasn't by choice, it still happens for a reason, y'know? Before the Nexus, my life was really interesting and exciting, almost nonstop wild things happening. But now I'm surrounded by literal dragons and magic and space ships and psychic sewer bugs, and yet..."

June sighs.
And yet, there appears to be this massive alternate-universe conspiracy thing going on where all her alternate evil-twins or whatever are living exciting lives.
"Yeah, I just probably want to go on adventure.
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