Bloodsong's Oasis - Jazz Club and Speakeasy

Locales found within the main city centers; primarily Inside, Riverside, and Skyside.
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Re: Bloodsong's Oasis - Jazz Club and Speakeasy

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That's exactly what someone who wants to find out occult secrets would say.
"Mercenary. Been doing it for years. That and engineering. But people don't call me for that either. No actual verifiable credentials." he shrugs. It's important enough that he understands the hangup.

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Re: Bloodsong's Oasis - Jazz Club and Speakeasy

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A frown crosses Askeladd's face.

"That sounds unfortunate. The crafts should be respected. I know they were where I come from. I'm a storyteller, myself. Both seeking and telling stories. Especially those that would otherwise be forgotten."
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Re: Bloodsong's Oasis - Jazz Club and Speakeasy

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”Oh, they’re respected. Enough that they don’t usually let someone whose education was ‘I read a lot of books’ handle their bridges. But it’s fine. Once people see that I can make magicky things they’ll come around.”
It seems he’s the type who is very good at wrecking things but not the type to enjoy doing it forever.
”Stories are nice. A very respectable vocation. If you tell your stories somewhere I’d be there.”
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Re: Bloodsong's Oasis - Jazz Club and Speakeasy

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"I may tell a story here today, if the proprietors and the guests are willing." Askeladd inclines his head towards the rest of the bar. "A mercenary has to have some stories of his own, though. If you're interested in telling one."
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Re: Bloodsong's Oasis - Jazz Club and Speakeasy

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Krayger grins, looking down at Askeladd, "Well, I hadn't asked you for one as I figure you get that all the time, but here you are asking one of me instead!" he laughs.
"Many of my stories are relatively straightforward. Like the one where I went through an abandoned town full of zombies. Ultimately I never found what had created them, but I did find a colony of little people in an ice box that I left alone for their own safety. And everything in the town fit anyone who picked it up. Which is why despite being full of humans I found this." Krayger reaches into his bag and pulls out a brimmed hat with holes for his horns, slapping it onto his head with perhaps unrealistic ease.
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Re: Bloodsong's Oasis - Jazz Club and Speakeasy

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"How can I tell stories if I don't seek them out first?" Askeladd asks. "I've met more than one storyteller whose craft suffered because they neglected to listen. What you say, however... in my experience, a plague of undead can stem from a remarkable variety of causes. And the town seems strange besides. Like a sorcerer's abandoned experiment."
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Re: Bloodsong's Oasis - Jazz Club and Speakeasy

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"Oh yes. The other time I fought zombies was the work of an amateur necromancer. I can't quite remember- ah! Yes, he tried to kill me, so I gave him to the local spirits whose land and sea his magic had been twisting. I don't think it was pleasant, but there was no other authority in that place." he nods. He almost certainly killed that man, but he doesn't feel terribly bad about it.
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Re: Bloodsong's Oasis - Jazz Club and Speakeasy

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"Harsh, but possibly necessary. And he reaped what he had sown." Askeladd nods. "A villain being handed off to those he had abused... it occurs often enough in stories too. People like such justice being meted out. I have also met necromancers who were responsible and even noble, but such amateurs bring their reputation down."
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Re: Bloodsong's Oasis - Jazz Club and Speakeasy

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"I don't really know if it was the right thing, but I don't think it was wrong." Krayger shrugs.
"I can't do any judgement on necromancers, of course. My mentor and I have enough experience with bone-based magic that we get construed a lot. It's a good thing he's not here to hear me admit it."
Felix does not like getting confused for a necromancer.
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Re: Bloodsong's Oasis - Jazz Club and Speakeasy

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"I have done my share of traveling and I've seen living dead in many shapes." Askeladd takes another sip of his drink. "And as you gave me a story, it is only fitting to respond in kind. I have encountered the Touman people who worship their ancestors and speak with their ghosts. I spoke to a demigod necromancer named Smiling Rat, who holds court of frostbitten zombies that bar the way of a hungry empire. And heard frightful whispers of The Lover Clad in the Raiment of Tears, a ghost-queen of incomparable beauty."
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Re: Bloodsong's Oasis - Jazz Club and Speakeasy

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Krayger sighs wistfully.
”Descriptive names can be fun. Even if sometimes you go to meet someone you’ve heard great things of named Bull of Great Horns only to find they don’t have horns at all, let alone being a bull.”
He shakes his head.
”Ah, but spirits I am less familiar with. I have experienced more of the hungering fodder kind of undead. Or fey sort of spirits.”
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Re: Bloodsong's Oasis - Jazz Club and Speakeasy

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"The land I come from is rife with spirits. Gods, elementals, ghosts, demons... stranger things. But the ones I encountered in Carnelian were ghosts, specifically." Askeladd's voice takes on a cadence of a storyteller. "The Touman people were nomads before the city. And they brought their ancestral worship with them. Their priests perform elaborate rites to contact their ancestors' ghosts. Not all can afford such rites, of course. And the gods the Carnelianers used to worship weren't pleased by being displaced by ghosts."
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Re: Bloodsong's Oasis - Jazz Club and Speakeasy

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"Our shaman spoke to the dead sometimes. But he also called us dolts and chased folks around with a stick for interrupting his business. So it sounds like their priests were a bit more formal than he was." Krayger adds with a small chuckle.
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Re: Bloodsong's Oasis - Jazz Club and Speakeasy

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"I should note that these priests did not possess any supernatural powers or skills, Askeladd points out. "Very few mortals in my homeworld do... and those that do are often hardly mortal anymore. It is simply knowledge of proper rites and lavish sacrifices. Other cultures put similar amounts of effort into making sure their dead don't come back as ghosts."
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Re: Bloodsong's Oasis - Jazz Club and Speakeasy

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"It's funny...I don't even really know if my shaman had any real powers. It's rites, really. And faith. That's what a lot of it is. I know my home did definitely have mages, but they weren't all over the place like here." Krayger admits.
"It seems like it was a much bigger deal where you're from."
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Re: Bloodsong's Oasis - Jazz Club and Speakeasy

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"True magical power is outside the reach of most humans, yes," Askeladd confirms. "Most shamans, priests, wise-folk and occultists rely on knowledge of the world's secrets and hidden mechanisms. Or simply rapport with gods and spirits. Being born with or receiving supernatural might sets one apart. I was... surprised to see it used casually when I first came here."
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Re: Bloodsong's Oasis - Jazz Club and Speakeasy

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"Yes, I did have to get used to the idea of the great and mysterious mages that I once barely escaped from being made livestock just from errant magical traps they laid....are kind of just regular people who set up shops in normal businesses."
And now he carries a wand with him on a regular basis. Life is funny like that.
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Re: Bloodsong's Oasis - Jazz Club and Speakeasy

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"And yet here you are now, being one of them. Or on your way there, at least," Askeladd points out. "You said you're sworn to secrecy regarding your master, but can you share what you've learned so far?"
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Re: Bloodsong's Oasis - Jazz Club and Speakeasy

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"I have learned how to enchant things. Bones, most of all. Though they must always be taken ethically. My master raises animals himself. Kind of important to not be mistaken for a grave-robbing necromancer." He waves a hand.
"I can make charms, wards, little golems. Useful little things. Though I'm not sure if they'd be useful to you."
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Re: Bloodsong's Oasis - Jazz Club and Speakeasy

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"And why would that be? Do they only obey their creator?" Askeladd asks. "Or at least require a certain kind of knowledge?"
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Re: Bloodsong's Oasis - Jazz Club and Speakeasy

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"Oh, no. They only require knowledge of their command phrase, usually. But I don't know, you seem like the type who travels around a lot and knows how to take care of himself. Not much need for a little brass fellow that stirs cauldrons for you or a ward of defense.
Though I did figure out a ward against mosquitoes..."

No one likes getting bit by mosquitoes.
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Re: Bloodsong's Oasis - Jazz Club and Speakeasy

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"It's true. I do possess some knowledge. Enough to keep me safe during my travels." Not that he'll readily reveal his full capabilities. "I am intrigued by a ward against mosquitoes, however. They are persistent creatures."
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Re: Bloodsong's Oasis - Jazz Club and Speakeasy

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"Oh, my master has something he puts on the animals' collars to keep ticks and fleas off of them. But really it works on just about any normal mortal insect."
Krayger turns, a little embarrassed, and points to a charm tied to his tail. There is a rune there engraved on a small piece of bone.
"I...admit I had trouble deciding where to put it. Has to be against my coat."
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Re: Bloodsong's Oasis - Jazz Club and Speakeasy

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Askeladd's brows quirk up a little bit. Of course, he's familiar with adjusting garments and accessories to animal-like forms. But it's not something he'll share just yet. Then again...

"As fine a place to put it as any. Where I come from, there are a fair few people with tails, horns and similar. So I'm not unfamiliar with using them this way."
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Re: Bloodsong's Oasis - Jazz Club and Speakeasy

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"What's that look? I know it's not the peak of fashion but..." he shrugs. "I suppose the far more usual thing would have been a pendant. If I were to make something for someone like you I likely would do that or a bracelet. I admit there wasn't any particular reason I chose this. I suppose it's out of the way.
Do you have any friends with folks with proper horns? It sounds like your home doesn't have people like me."

Krayger has been known to enjoy nice sets of horns.
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Re: Bloodsong's Oasis - Jazz Club and Speakeasy

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"It does and it doesn't." Askeladd leans against the bartop. "They exist but they're not... a separate species. They are humans, their bodies changed by some power or another. I've encountered moose-folk and bear-folk in my day. So no horns... but some antlers." He's responsible for some of the moose-folk, but that can be revealed later.
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Re: Bloodsong's Oasis - Jazz Club and Speakeasy

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”Well, antlers are nice too. Though I wouldn’t want to shed my horns every year.”
Antlers sound like a lot of work. Even if you don’t actually do anything you still have to shed and grow them.
”I don’t think I’ve met any bear folk. Our humans aren’t usually other things. Unless some mage is particularly obnoxious.” As he mentioned in one of his earlier anecdotes.
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Re: Bloodsong's Oasis - Jazz Club and Speakeasy

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"There are many origins for the beastfolk I've met. Sorcery, the Lunar Exalted, fair folk, gods and spirits." That he's a Lunar himself is unspoken for now. "Once it happens, their families often spread and stick around for a while. Many people don't make a big deal out of it, but others do. Those that would call themselves more 'civilized'. You know how that goes."
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Re: Bloodsong's Oasis - Jazz Club and Speakeasy

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"I don't actually know what that second one is." Krayger admits. "Glad I can say I ain't the product of some fey nonsense. Ran into plenty of it, but ain't how my people came to be at least."
Though he gives a snort of derision at Askeladd's last statement. "Yes, I know how that goes. Kept me out of a steady job for quite a few years, it did."
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Re: Bloodsong's Oasis - Jazz Club and Speakeasy

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Some time after his initial encounter with Krayger, Askeladd arrives at Bloodsong's again. He does want to see Krayger again... he enjoyed talking to him. Krayger has a certain air of wit and practicality around him. Something many people around Askeladd lack, given his tendency to get involved with other divinities, monsters and the like.
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