Rent and Repair

Log Info

• Title: Rent and Repair
• Emitter: Cryosanthia
• Characters: Cryosanthia, Merek, Nels, Dorne, Braelnoir, Seldan
• Place: A07: Fernwood Pub
• Time: Tuesday, March 24, 2020, 5:18 PM
• Summary: Cryosanthia is repairing her armour in the Fernwood, when various folk come in. Kol Demontyr's attack the day before is discussed. The palescale sith-makar is as unhappy with her performance as she is her armour. Nels, Brelnoir and Dorne listen as she and Merek detail the events. Some strategizing is had, as well as follow up discussions regarding transformation, Kaelyn and Nels return to being a male goblin. Seldan arrives as the group is discussing a wish-list of minor useful items Merek could possibly fabricate.

-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-<* A07: Fernwood Pub *>--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-

The common room of the Fernwood Pub dominates the inn, spacious and airy because of the high, vaulted ceiling. Ornately carved beams of dark, polished wood form a lattice overhead, supporting the arched roof two storeys above the floor. To the right of the double-door entry is a spiral staircase, winding upwards to a balcony that rings and overlooks the main area. Large windows at this level grant an excellent view of the river to the west and colorful market stalls to the north and east. An air of coziness is salvaged by keeping the pub dimly lit; parchment-shrouded mana lanterns hang at intervals from the base of the balcony, nestled amongst lush, magically propagated ivy and ferns that grow over this false demi-ceiling and the struts that support it.

The bar is sleek and simple, comprised of meticulously polished black lacquer. Tables are set under the darker niches formed by the balcony floor as well as on the balcony itself. A few are deliberately sized to accommodate halflings and gnomes, but the majority are meant for human-sized individuals. A large common table is on the main floor, set before a semi-circular stage situated against the western wall. Beside it, with pipes mounted upon the wall and running up past the balcony and almost to the ceiling, is a refurbished pipe organ made to look like the one lost when the Fernwood was destroyed during the Merkabah Siege.

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-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-  Appearing, in Order  =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Cryosanthia  6'7"     245 Lb     Sith-Makar        Female    A dashingly tall, lithe white lizardgirl with tattoos.
Merek        5'10"    215 Lb     Human             Male      A black-haired, dusky male with golden eyes.
Nels         3'7"     42 Lb      Goblin            Male      Tall, for a goblin, and athletic. Close-cut black hair.
Dorne        5'10"    210 Lb     Human             Male      Powered blue tabard and white pants.
Braelnoir    5'11"    246 Lb     Silvery Chimera   Female    A silver deer-lion chimera wielding a scythe and a feral grin.
Seldan       5'11"    187 Lb     Human             Male      Red-blonde Eldanar man wearing Eluna's colors and symbol.
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It's a deceptively quiet afternoon in the Fernwood Pub. Outside, it's cloudy and there are no shadows, a condition that at least one in the Fernwood is happy about. Patrons are at tables and food is being served. At most of them.

A white-scaled sith-makar has her leather armour spread out on one of them, and several strips of white leather to go with it. She's got a long needle, some leather punches, and is working at repairing several rents. Wicked claws ripped right through it.

Merek was in the pub, having been there for folk from the fight before, his dark attire on while he wears a bard's hat, cleaned up. He pulls his scarf to him while he looks at the jerky which he has with him, then he takes a bite of that. He then peeks to Cryosanthia's work, and nods. "Doing alright today?" he asks.

Nels enters the Fernwood, at his proper height finally, which means he's kind of easy to miss, at three and a half feet tall. Among goblins, he's a bit tall, though he's the size of a human child. Unlike the children, though, he comes into the pub unaccompanied and looks around for a place to sit down.

Dorne 's smiles is not seen at all. Something jon his mind. He quietly enters the pub, taking it all in.

Merek waves mechanicaly at the newcomers, "Greetings, fellow sentient beings."

"This one is fine, Merek." Cryosanthia says quietly, working a hole into the patch. She looks over her shoulder when she hears the door bang. She calls a greeting, and while cheerful, it's a little hollow. "Hello, welcome to the Fernwood Pub. Please seat yourself, one of the servers will be along soon. I'm off today."

Something catches her eye, she peers, "Nels? Is that you? Are you cured?"

Dorne simply and quietly finds a table and a seat.

Nels scuttles over to Cryo's table, calling out a cheerful, "Yup. I don't know that you've seen me as a goblin, have you?" he wonders, climbing up in a chair. "You're kinda new in town, I think? I've got an apartment in goblintown now and everything's mostly back to normal." He yawns widely. "Mostly. I'm still exhausted from it all, I guess it'll take a while to catch that up."

Merek leans in to Cryosanthia, and while he thinks, he speaks something pretty profound. "You know, people are... A curious thing, no matter what, they keep fighting, they make laughter from it all. Even when they can be so... Well, you know." He nods a bit knowingly. He tips his hat to Nels, "Good to see you back to normal." He then offers a light pat to the sith's shoulder, "It'll be alright. We'll win!"

Merek, clearly PRETENDING to be human.

"Yes, don't you remember? We went for the fingerbones of St. Ardtan, and demon monks attacked us. They killed your dog. I thought it was a nice dog." Cryosanthia answers Nels as he joins her table.

She flinches a little when Merek pats her shoulder, her head turns with a wary glance. "Yes... This one will let you know when the humour is dug out of yesterday. I'm glad it all went well and we kept fighting."

The sith stabs the needle through and begins stitching the patch onto her armour.

Dorne seems actually lost in thought kinda just staring at the darkwood of table he sat at.

The half-sil server of the Fernwood appears out of nowhere in front of Dorne. Not an actual apparation, she did walk over from somewhere, but she was very sneaky about it. She leans over the table and cheerily derails Dorne's train of thought, "Hi! Would you like something?"

The door opens again, allowing a silver figure dusted and caked in various forms of grim associated with 'friendly' combat or heavy training in the current clime to enter. Despite the dirt couture and weather, the chimera seems in decent cheer, granting a blanket, "Heyo!" to the common room as a whole as she heavily clops her way toward the bar.

Nels smiles to Merek. "Thanks! It's good to be back," he agrees. He ohs to Cryosanthia, and says, "That seems like so long ago. A lot has certainly happened since then." He shrugs about it being a nice dog. "He was, though I hadn't had him that long. I'm an airship guy, I just had him for getting around. Turns out it's not hugely necessary. I got a new one anyhow, it's convenient, and I had the tack already." He hrms at her reply to Merek, and asks, "A different mission? Went hard?"

"The fact everyone survived and he didn't kidnap people this time is a success, that went a lot better than most every other meeting with him," Merek mentions, nodding a bit. He does give the sith space while he looks to the work, and takes a little nibble of jerky. He does notice Brae, then speaks to the woman, "Hey! Kol's back in the city." He then looks to Nels, "Kol," that probably explains a lot these days, while he looks to Cryosanthia to see the way she will reply. "I know you need space, I also know you need to think about it, but... Really, you did well, everyone did well, you're all safe, that's what matters."

Dorne warm eyes glance up and his friendly demeanor ruturn, "Hello, yes would you bring me some basic lemon tea please." He soft voice is intense and yet friendly. His Staff leans on the table. He glances around casually and then to the doorway nearest the street.

"Okay! You got it!" The half-sil fingerpoints at Dorne, then bounces her way over to the bar to pick up the tea. She's back a few minutes later, and eyeing the staff. She glances over her shoulder at the white sith-makar and asks loudly, "Are you a WIZARD like Merek? That's so neat!"

Cryo's head jerks around at her fellow server's words, she looks at her, at Dorne's table, nods and goes back to her sewing. "It does seem a long time ago Nels. What Merek says is true, the vampire Kol Demontyr re-appeared. It was not a mission, I was reading in the park, and we were attacked by him and a flock, a squad... this one does not know what a bunch of demons or shadows is termed. A night? A lot of them, one for each of us."

She shrugs, continuing her sewing, making a bead along the edge of the leather patch, glancing at Braelnoir as well, "We survived. Merek, Durrankar and this woman I don't recognize carried it, the rest of us were attempting to escape."

Nels grumbles at the mention of Kol, and he complains, "They need to drag Sandy out to kill him. She eats vampires for lunch, I heard. Anyhow, nothing regular folks can do about it, so I don't worry about that. Nothing I can do will help, so why worry?" He nods about what Cryo says. "Good thing they were there, then. I heard last time he carried off some wizard. I can't imagine that going well."

Canting her head at the returns she gets, Brae nods, "Great, when we killin'm?" She carries over toward the sith while the other server is busy with the older fellow, a man who warrants a quick appraisal, but she looks back to Nels, "How's it feel havin' yer face back, squirt?" she quips. The condition of Cryo's armor brings her up short, and she examines the damage with a new focus, "This's from last night...?"

GAME: Merek rolls perform/oratory: (14)+8: 22

Merek looks then to Cryosanthia, and announces to people, "What do you mean? She distracted Kol, from his plans, she was the way we won, she was great," he says of the sith, while he nods to Brae a bit, "We'll kill him when we have the forces for it. This time he managed to flee," he adds. He doesn't mention the main part of that, even he has his limits for self-interest. He is lifting up Cryo's story. "The others weren't all fleeing necessarily, they had to fight the shadow demon army, each fight personal to the ones fighting."

The man in the Tabard with the staff seems sort of distracted , He looks toward Merek trying to follow what is happen. His face locks serious at the words shadow demon.

Cryosanthia nods to Braelnoir, lifting her armour to show the chimera the long rents in it. "Like it wasn't even there."

She inhales, then exhales a whole breath and looks at Nels, nodding. "He did. This time he might have taken me, if Merek hadn't intervened. The wizard he took last time, is known to him. Kol, seems to value relationships, in a twisted way. He called all of us 'friends', seemed to recognize Azog and some of the others. When I teased him about his Winter Queen, it got his attention. Ah! There's the nugget of humour, my failed spell was more effective than my blade."

Cryo returns to stitching the patch on, "I suppose we'll have another chance the next time he appears. Sunlight and Protection from Evil would be useful to have on hand."

Nels gives Braelnoir a thumbs-up for his condition. "It's a relief, let me tell you. I dunno how you tall people do it. I felt like I was on stilts the whole time. Any luck for you? I guess the fish couldn't help you?" He hrms to Merek, but nods. "Yeah, when we can get the /really/ heavy hitters together." Catching Dorne's interest in the story, he summarizes, "There's some vampire lord guy terrorizing the city intermittently. They managed to chase him off this time, though, before he could do too much harm. Heard it was mostly property damage." He hrms as Cryo explains what happened, and he nods slowly. "Gah, I'm glad I wasn't there. I'd have been pretty useless. I guess I ought to get my thunderbelcher magicked. But that's so expensive."

Dorne he looks away because he is not a rude person. His brow lifts at the talk of 'protection from evil'. When the summary comes he smiles faintly. Attempting not be overly noesy. Maybe he was aware of the vampire before this moment, maybe not.

Braelnoir reaches out for Cryo's shoulder, quickly giving the sith a lookover for lingering injury, and, "Glad ya made it back, luv...." she says tenderly, then looks to Merek. A reluctant nod, then, "Think we'd better put th'boots to the big guns, then." Nels' response brings her back to regarding him and shrugs, "Try hooves some time." The second part, though, makes her shake her head, "I'm too far gone."

The silvery chimera looks a little different today, with added spiny fins at the base of her tail, along her calves, and kinda translucent webbing between her fingers and the halves of her hooves.

Merek looks between the people, and nods a bit, "Nice, I am going to find alcohol," he says, smiling. Then he motions to the waitress, ordering a vodka!

Cryo closes her eyes when Braelnoir touches her shoulders. She's calm in a survivor's way, and her physical injuries seem to have been tended. Sewing up her armour is likely helping in some fashion too. She finishes the long blink and nods once, "I'm fine, don't worry."

"Next time, we should be smarter. The shadow demons hurt, but Azog was the greatest threat, Kol turned him against us, could easily turn anyone except perhaps Merek. Protection against that, is necessary, weapons that can hurt him, necessary. Even talking? I don't know. The Crimson Pen has written some scandalous things about him and Mikilos, one wonders if waving some of their red-sheets at him would attract his attention, it seems like it might. He has a flair about him."

Cryo gets a good look at Braelnoir's hands, "This is a new change? For the Plane of Water? Did eating a strange fish cause this, is that what Nels means?"

Nels gives Braelnoir a sympathetic sigh, and says, "I wish I knew some way to help you. I must've just gotten a tiny fraction of the curse rather than the big zing." As far as putting the boots to the big guns, he shivers. "Not me. They'll turn me into worse than a human if I badger them. They can do it in their own time, and I'll keep my head down." He hrms as Cryosanthia mentions the Crimson Pen, but can only shrug helplessly. "I wish there was something I -could- do."

"Azog's not a fight I have illusions about." Which isn't to say she wouldn't face him, she just has a good idea how it would go in a straight on engagement. She gives Merek a quick look at that then, shakes her head, "Mebber th'powers that be should put a worthwhile price on Kol's ass." Cryo's shoulder gets a squeeze, then, "Nelly an' I went out t'Merkabah. Found a good reason th'whole fuckin' city should've been wiped out've existence long before it was. But, there's also these little fish that... nibble on magic. A little contact here'n there, not s'bad, but... anyway, I was in the water too long slowin' up an undead with some old code. I started shiftin' again before I got outta the water. Doesn't look like a particularly bad change." There's a but that gets trimmed.

"Ah, I made potions for water traveling," Merek mentions, nodding a bit to the people, while he smiles to Cryosanthia, "You'll probably like it, since you like the water." He then nods a bit to Brae, looking perplexed by the talk of the mind while he yawns.

Cryosanthia smiles, with a little effort, taking Braelnoir's hand and carefully examining the webbing between the fingers. "It seems very delicate, it does not interfere? You are resolute to take these changes so well. It would greatly undo my world. What did you find in Merkabah?"

The sith lets go of the chimera's hand and looks at Nels, "The Arvec Nar broke free of their Vampire lords, do they have secrets not widely shared about combatting them? I've not been able to ... socialize much with Arvecs, my humour seems to miss them. Any advice you might find could help."

She returns to stitching the patches on. It's turning into a crude but effective repair, although it looks terrible. "Swimming is nice."

Nels agrees about Azog, though he says, "Pretty much in a close-in fight, I'm not your best goblin." He nods about the fish, though, and he nods to Braelnoir about not being a /bad/ change. Certainly not compared to what'd already changed, but he won't say that. He knows the pain of the curse, he won't rub it in. "I hope Kaelyn shows back up, she seemed close to some kind of solution, before. You don't think this Kol fellow got her, do you?" he asks worriedly. To Cryosanthia, he replies, "I'm from Clank, not Blar, I don't much know about vampires, myself, or what the Arvek might know. You could ask Stirling, he's about the smartest Arvek I know. He's given me a lot of good technical advice."

Brae's hand is as plaint as a limb should be as she allows Cryo to give it her lookover, "I wouldn't be able to hold a buncha throwin' knives the same way, but... yeah, fer the most part I ain't noticed any really trouble." Ahem, "I ain't taken'm swimmin' yet, either, though." The next part gets a shrug, "Still talk, still fight, still get dressed on m'own." Merek's note about the potions gets a, "How long d'they last?" Though the musing about Kaelyn brings her mood down, "She's still eatin', apparantly, even so s'not a scenario I even wanna joke about." Back to her scale sister, she wonders, "You any good with heavier armor, luv?"

Merek nods a bit while he thinks about it, "A few hours," he says, with a nod to Brae, and looking then to Cryosanthia, "You are doing well, you'll like the potions," he adds, smiling, and nodding then to Nels. nice!

"This one is heavy armour, have you not felt my scales?" Cryo grins at Braelnoir, showing all her teeth. She dips her nose and shakes her head, "The jape aside, no, it is too much for me, I can't move, I can't twist, all my tricks are prevented and my weapon loses its liveliness. I know I need more protection, but I am at my limits."

She nods at Nels, "Kaelyn remains in her room, eating. I don't know Stirling, but have heard of him, I'll seek him out."

"Yes, the armour is nearly back to itself. This one is jealous now, of Caim, and his button broach. Seldan has one as well I think."

Nels nods to Brae about her difficulties, and nods about not joking about Kaelyn; he seems glad she's okay, breathing a sigh of relief. "She must be working hard on a solution, then, if she's been closeted that long. She'll probably pop out with it any day." He peers at Merek and his potions, "Water Breathing, then? Or Water Walking," he wonders. He hrms at Cryo, and wonders, "Maybe I should get heavier armor? I'd look pretty hardcore in a suit of plate armor, do you think?"

"It's an investment, luv." Brae replies first to Nels, "While it's made t'maintain flexibility an' support it's weight better'n chainmail an' the like, it does weight ya down and ya really gotta spend a lotta time in it to really compensate for it." Cryo has her attention then, looking a little crestfallen for a moment, then "I suppose yer right." She turns her attention back to her hand, "Anyway, we found- shit!" The Chimera straightens a bit and shivers a bit, "I's wearin' the ring when... 'oly shit, I ate t'fuckin' ring when I's with the fishes!"

"For being in the water," Merek mentions, with a nod to Nels, then he looks to Brae as well as to Cryosanthia, "I have one for each of you," he adds.

"Your ring is back in you somewhere?" Cryo's eyes widen, she carefully looks over what she can see of Braelnoir, "That has got to be the strangest thing. Hopefully, it will come back out sometime? Did it turn into something, like a horn? The way your scythe was your ... tail?"

The silvery chimera has a lot of her attention now. Still, Cryo does her best to answer Nels and sounds enthusiastic when she does, "I think you'd look lovely with Plate Armour, and perhaps it could be made to balance your thunderbelcher, so you could use a larger one? I think there are options, though as we have said, there are trade-offs and it is expensive and needs maintenance."

"I'm trying to think of a list of inexpensive useful things, to ask you for Merek." Cryo adds, replying to the comment about the potions. "I've not tried water walking, that sounds like it could be fun too."

Nels nods about an investment. "That's a fact, it'd cost a mint. But I've been making good money on guild missions lately, so I'm thinking maybe it's time." He huhs to Braenoir, "You ate a ring? Are you okay? D'you need to barf it back up? I can run down to the Ox for you and get something...." He says hesitantly to Merek, "I don't need a potion to be in water. I have a bath every month without one." He nods to Cryo, "Yeah, with extra shoulder armor for bracing and like that..."

Braelnoir blinks, "What? No, not that kinda ate!" she assures Nels, "The transformation... it musta absorbed my ring. Surprised it didn't take my armor, too, but..." she shrugs, "Maybe that's where the little... fin things come from?" Cryo and Nels get a look, "There's.... a story about the ring, but mebbe not one fer th'pub mid afternoon, yeah?"

Merek looks then to Brae, while he blinks a bit in thought, "I'd like to know it sometime," he muses, then he nods to Cryosanthia, "I can make you water walk potions, anything. Ioun torches, maybe a few magical nice tokens that grow trees." A smile. A nod to Nels, "Ya!"

Cryo holds up her hand. She is not wearing her gloves at the moment, but she still has on the gold ring she's been wearing for a while now. Her hand transforms into her giant set of claws. She turns it this way and that, examining it, the ring seems to have vanished, "I don't know where mine goes when my hands change, I can still feel it working though, the shielding. You should save the ring story for later perhaps, if it doesn't suit the time."

Her hand returns to normal, and the ring is there again. She nods to Merek, "Yes, and some butterflies. You have in mind what I have in mind Nels, I hope you manage to find a good designer for armour like that. I try to swim at least once a week. Once a month would not cut it."

Nels looks even more confused about what happened to the ring. "Absorbed? Ack, I'm glad I got the weak version of that curse. Course I don't -have- any rings. But now with the gold, maybe ..." As to the story, he says, "Well, it's getting a bit later, but whenever you want to tell it, I'll listen." Merek gets a puzzled look, and says, "Baths aren't that special." He peers at Cryo's ring, puzzled, but then at swimming once a week, he cringes. "That's way too much bathing. I'd get all moldy." More moldy, anyhow. He -is- a goblin.

Braelnoir shrugs, "One day, just us mebbe." she says quietly, then sighs, "Not a lotta this whole change things makes sense, anyway." She looks to Nels, then, "What made ya decide t'use Elly's fish, finally?"

Merek looks between the three, and nods while he thinks about it, "I will do what I can," he says. Then he's leaning back to listen.

The white-scale sith smiles at the chimera, hearing the story later will be fine. It seems there's something to it, so she doesn't press. Instead she finds her leather gauntlets and the gloves inside them, and puts one on. Making a few gestures, the glove glows, and then she makes a spraying motion. A couple dozen paper butterflies fan away from her and fly across the Fernwood, dropping onto tables and people and catching on things. "I think there's a magic bobble that does that, but with sharp butterflies or beetles, that actually do damage, and a sticky nail, and an Ioun Torch might be nice to have for my friends that need it, and such. Oh, and a Handy Haversack to keep it all in."

Nels explains to Braelnoir, "Well, they were the same fish as what we'd found in the cavern, it looked like. But there was no one trying to kill us, plus I had my spare clothes and stuff in my camp, so I could change into them. I didn't want to take a chance on the fish when we were out there with machines trying to kill us. That's just too much going on. But back at camp, when I saw them, I figured I ought to take a chance." He peers at Cryosanthia's display, and says, "That sounds pretty cool, yeah." He could use ... well, some of that, himself. A wishlist, then...

"I need me one o'those. An' one of those gobber army knives. Somehow they cram a goddamn boat into the damn thing!" Brae remarks, "An' a grappling hook, an a shitload of other stuff, too." She looks to Merek, vaguely concerned, and wonders, "You a'ight, luv?" Nel's explanation brings her mind back his way and she nods with a thoughtful smile, "Well, I'm glad that idea panned out, anyway. But, yeah..." no more dodging, "We found somethin' old merc stories talked about called a Corpse Wagon. an airship that.... reanimates the dead, at least, the word was it's the dead, bolts'm into ungodly heavy armor, sticks a cable in'm that makes them heal up in seconds and... enslaves them, still aware to fightin' for it. Then we found out... some'a the slaves we took down were alive. Another team that snuck in after we bugged out the first time. Somehow... the ship is sendin' out maps t'lure folk in fer crew."

"I was just thinking, about things," Merek says, with a nod, while he crosses his arms a bit in thought, bard's hat shifting in front of his face. Then he nods while he looks to people. "I don't know. I think I had an idea. We might be able to win against Kol if I can do it."

It's at this moment that Seldan walks through the door to the Fernwood, closing the door quietly behind him, and strides over to the bar, with a smile for those that he knows. He does not not necessarily seem inclined to interrupt conversations.

"Right. Yes. This one remembers now. You told me when I was distracted. The library." Cryosanthia touches her head, shaking it a little. She blinks, feeling a tremble, she squeezes the chimera's hand comfortingly. "It is printing maps? That seems... very odd. The same map as mine? A goblin gave that to me."

Cryo looks over at Merek, "Did you find out any more, with the other books? Or, ah, yes, if you have an idea for that too."

She snorts, chuckling to herself, "This one might wish for a Merek barometer, so I might track your attentions. I am convinced half the time you are looking into another plane. Today, Merek observes the Abyss!"

"My apologies, it is an unfair jest, we were talking about Kol. Yet, the thought occurred."

Nels nods about the gobber army knives. "They're super useful," he agrees. He nods about being glad the idea panned out. "I was worried, but I had to take a chance, right?" He shivers and nods about the airship. "That and those little things that grabbed onto your neck, those were -awful-!" He nods about the maps, "That must've been how my group got the map. We were lucky to meet up with the others. Alone, we'd have been dead."

Braelnoir nods, "This Merkabah shit's even worse than ya'd imagine." she blinks at the squeeze, then smiles faintly, a little grateful, and nods before continuing, "The damned tech is't least half alive, I'd swear it!" The Chimera looks toward Seldan and bows her head, "Been a while, luv." she observes, then looks to Nels, "So'd we... an' that'd only be the start of it."

Merek nods a bit to Cryosanthia, "I will work on that idea, I might... Need a few things, we'll see. And I don't know, I think I am actually looking to the starfield," he admits as well.

"I'll add a goblin army knife to my wish-list. A nice white one. Things that grabbed your neck?" Cryo's pupils widen a little, "I have too much neck for that! I have no doubt Merkabah hides terrible things, from what I've seen, and what you've described. A starfield, that sounds lovely Merek."

She keeps sewing up her armour, "Tell me about the stars while I work."