Hot to Shot

Log Info

• Title: Hot to Shot
• Emitter: Ashes
• Characters: Ashes, Gadget, Irshya
• Place: A11: Festival Grounds
• Time: Thursday, October 22, 2020, 3:29 PM
• Summary: Ashlee is taking a quick break between climbing on rooftops to practice with a light crossbow. A magical light crossbow, that sets things on fire, and might have been made by gnomes. It is beautiful, in dark tones, wood and metal. Gadget and Mr. Jinglewidget are watching from the bleachers, Irshya arrives and is drawn to the hobgoblin. It turns out, the crossbow is magical, and flaming! Ash keeps setting the straw target butte on fire. She is familiarizing herself with the weapon, as her training was for heavy crossbows. Loading it up, she encourages the gnome and the goblin to try. They do, effectively. Conversation covers various things, Gadget's difficulty adventuring, Ash's swamp trip, turkeys in Goblintown, and the reason she was banned from Ma Rosie's. Irshya keeps digging, until the Arvek admits she might have taken all her clothes off, on stage, in a dance, while drunk, because she was jealous of the beautiful goblin girls. Irshya has been losing teeth, a normal thing for her, but at a faster rate since she's been out of water. Finally, hungry, they leave for some food at The Tarrace.

-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--<* A11: Festival Grounds *>=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-

The sweeping Festival Grounds serve many purposes. For much of the year they serve as practice grounds for training knights, for the games of children who pick up ball, bat, and begin a game of stickball. During other times, they're filled with colored tents, with performers for some of Alexandria's many festivals.

Along one side are a set of permanent bleachers, and at either end an archway. Each archway is carved in the style of a grand entry and marked with images of of Daeus, with rearing horse and flying pennon. Here, the god stands depicted in his roles of defender and knight-warrior. Recently, the Lancers of Serriel have taken to practicing here, along the knights and warriors of other orders, and a small number of them take a select pride in the upkeep of the grounds, alongside the Daeusites, Navosians, Gileans, and other mixtures.

Littering the grounds are places for archery, target practice. Here too, scheduled a few times a month, is the space given for ridden sport, organized recently by the arvek nar. The reigning champion's name is displayed in an upright lance at the end of the field, a silent challenge for next month's contender.

-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-

It's a grey and miserable day. Nothing casts a shadow, the sky is completly overcast and brings a chill northwest wind. Perfect for a certain mourner of Vardama, who has ended up in the Festival grounds by the archery butts.

Ashes has a light crossbow!

She stands rigidly erect, holding it in an odd combination of familiarity and ignorance. Her clothes, worn, threadbare and faded are out of place compared with the more military uniforms and armour. Her bearing however, seems entirely suited, and she stares at the weapon and goes through all the motions of loading it, albeit very slowly.

Gadget and Mr. Jinglewidget sit in one of the sets of bleachers. Gadget is wrapped in a leather cloak, and Mr. Jinglewidget is in her lap, his little monkey head peeking out under her chin. She has a snacking meal on her knees, and every third bite or so she puts into the monkey's waiting mouth. She watches the archers do their thing, kind of wondering what's going on.

The archers seem to be practising, at least that's what Ashlee is doing. She's set herself apart from the other groups and is taking her time. She slips a bolt into the weapon, raises it, aims. It's a strange dichotomy, an elegant weapon held by a mouldering form. She presses the trigger. >thock<

Ashes has a _flaming_ light crossbow!

The bolt lights when it is fired. A red streak impacts the straw archery target, which catches fire. Perhaps she should have thought this through. She stares as the flames lick higher and higher.

Gadget shakes her head. "Guess we're Mending that a little later," she says. Mr. Jinglewidget nods from the comfort of inside the gnome's cloak.

At first the ashen Arvec crouches to put her crossbow down. Halfway there, an admonishment from her old drill seargent echoes in her head. 'Drop yer weapon an' yer dead. I'll kill yeh meself'. She looks around. He doesn't seem to be here. Still, best not to risk it. Instead she carries it at port-arms and walks up the burning butte. Hugging the crossbow and holding out a hand, she casts a cantrip and water splashes down. She repeats this a few times until the straw is soaked and smoking.

She turns, she marches back to her position. Reaching her spot she raises her hand at Gadget, waves once, then turns and slowly steps through the reload procedure again.

Gadget waves back, and a tiny monkey paw emerges from her cloak. Gadget stands, displacing the monkey into the chilly weather. He seems thoroughly displeased with this. Gadget walks to the Arvek and says, "Whatcha doin'?"

The small, blue figure in sea-green robes slowly shuffles along. She pauses for a time, eyeing those firing off arrows and bolts at their respective targets. The flaming target gets her attention, and the Gobbo begins a long, shuffling walk towards Ashes. She pauses, eyeing the Arvek and the Gnome curiously.

"Practising." Ash says, staring at Gadget. Mr. Jinglewidget gets a wave in the form of a raised hand before it returns to holding the crossbow. "I trained on a heavy crossbow. This is different. I don't have to step on it and it doesn't have a windlass."

She holds the weapon out for inspection. Exactly like a soldier holds a weapon out for inspection. The light crossbow seems more complex than it should be, and based on its previous shot, is also enchanted.

"It's a thing of beauty," <goblin-talk> Gadget says with a nod and a smile. She looks at the other who stares back at her. She then furrows her brow. A...blue gobber? Odd. She raises a clockwork arm with a cheerful smile on her face and says, "Hello, you!"

Irshya takes the opportunity to sniff at the crossbow when Ashes presents it Gadget, and she then licks at it lightly with a blue, forked tongue. "Irshya smells fire.", she says to Ashes, pulling her hood in closer. She looks to Gadget then. "Hello.", she says, somewhat shyly. "I did not expect you to speak Goblin." <goblin-talk>

"Thanks." Ash answers Gadget, then Irshya, "the bolts catch fire when it shoots." She cradles the weapon, it has a dark wood stock, silvery metal fittings, and a black bow. The front is a complicated grip, with carved finger grooves and metal shafts that are sunken. "A merchant gave it to me, for helping cure his wife."

Gadget shrugs with a slight grin. "I learned every maker-language I could find growing up. I wanted to be able to speak to artificers, no matter where they came from. Gnomes, Gobbers, Kobolds, Dwarves. I can talk shop with just about anyone." <goblin-talk> She looks up at Ash. "That was nice of him. It's very nice. I wish more people would give me things."

"Oh. It is good of you to help people. And nice that they rewarded you." The Gobbo sniffs curiously at the crossbow once more, and reaches up to gently touch a few places. 'It is a fine weapon.', Irshya says to Ashes, with a grin. She glances to Gadget then, and nods to her slowly. "Sadly, Irshya is simply a humble servant of Rada." She cants her head. "What sort of things are you looking to have?" <goblin-talk>

"We had to walk through a swamp, meet some witches. Walk through another swamp, give our boots to the Gnome in the Lake. Walk back through the swamp. Without boots. Meet the witches again, kill what bubbled out of their cauldron, and walk back to Alexandria. Through the swamp again. Still no boots. We had to carry his trade goods the whole time." Ash explains. It was an involved cure. Medicine usually isn't so fiesty. She holds the crossbow low for Irshya to examine it, and the gobbo's question is a good one. She nods, looking at Gadget.

Gadget shrugs at Irshya's comment. "Anything. Everything. I want to improve my Cloak of the Hedge Wizard to have all eight schools of magic. I want an amulet of natural armor. I want...I don't know. I've almost died a couple times in the last couple weeks. I'm still not armed, and I still really don't have a better way to avoid getting hit besides just...not going out and doing things, which feels very isolating." She stops as Mr. Jinglewidget edges under her arm (and cloak) to give her a big hug. She smiles down at him and strokes his head. "I won big while gambling, so I'm not homeless anymore, so at least that's something, but...I don't know. I want to push myself so the magic within me flows more freely. That's not really going to happen with me sitting on my bottom." <goblin-talk>

Irshya takes a longer look at the crossbow, which includes more sniffing, and an exploratory nip at one of the metal pieces. "Why did you have to remove your boots?", the Gobbo wonders, wrinkling her nose. "Swamp water not nice water. Icky mud too." She looks to Gadget and nods at length. "Well, as Irshya has learned, magic takes time. Certain items are a good means for quick power, but one's own magics will take longer." <goblin-talk>

"The gnome really wanted the boots. All our boots. He had a lake full of boots." The ashen Arvec explains. Fishing there was a treat, "And a water elemental. It nearly drowned Tenoc."

She looks at Gadget, nods once. "Adventuring isn't safe. A zombie punched me in the face a lot in Sevenport when we were hunting a Necromancer. Irshya saved me."

A pause, "I'm investigating a murder. There are researchers looking for magic shards. The researching and investigating seems safe, for now."

"Well, right now, I need just enough power quickly to keep me from getting my skull crushed again." Gadget says nothing else, but looks sour when Ashes talks at her like somehow she didn't know adventuring was dangerous, or that she could be taking multiple hits. She did /not/ explain that she was within an inch of her life both times with enemies ignoring actual threats and going to her, who was huddled in a corner, to one-punch her to the brink of oblivion like there was some cruel god in charge of the malevolence trying to make sure she didn't get left out of the misery. <goblin-talk>

The Goblin nods her head to Gadget, and grins toothily. "Irshya knows of rings that offer protection from harm. And there are potions that can mend wounds and stop bleeding. But that is the extent of her knowledge. Irshya uses Rada's blessings to help her. There are those one can buy magics from, though." The Gobbo's eyes narrow slightly. "Mithralla. Is wizard. Makes things, yes. Also. Hrm. Morgan? Is another wizard." <goblin-talk>

Irshya looks to Ashes. "Lake full of boots? How odd." Her cheeks flush a pale lavender when Ashes speaks of their shared adventure. "Irshya likes helping, and dislikes seeing people in pain."

"I think Baz still has leeches between his toes."

Ash fiddles with her light crossbow. There's a part near the front that flips out, a small handle that is similar to a foot stirrup. This engages a linkage mechanism, and allows a lever that made from two bars that run up the sides to the trigger to drop down. As it engages, a little runner pops up near the front with catches for the bow-wire. Pulling on the lever further so it touches the back stock moves the runner up to set the wire into the trigger mechanism. It also sets a safety to keep the crossbow cocked while she folds the lever back. The runner returns to its recessed position and flipping the front handle in disengages the safety. She holds a bolt, "Does someone want to try it?"

Ash looks between the two, "I stand at the back in the shadows. Usually nothing bothers me. Usually." <goblin-talk>

Gadget looks up at the crossbow. "I do," she says, "but isn't it too big for us, since you were using it?" <goblin-talk>

The Gobbo's eyes widen slightly, her expression wistful. "Irshya would like to. The Gnome lady can go first though." Irshya shuffles forward to lean slightly against Ashes. <goblin-talk>

That is something she hadn't considered. "It will still fire. You'll have a hard time holding it, aiming it. Might be easier if you're prone and its supported. I can get a sandbag." She looks around, there are a few about. She looks down as Irshya leans on her, then holds the crossbow out to Gadget, a bolt squeezed between her fingers, "When you're ready." <goblin-talk>

GAME: Gadget rolls Ranged: (16)+2: 18

Gadget moves to lay down and peers down the sight at the target. She pulls the trigger and the tunk sound is followed by a streak of orange flame as the bolt acts almost like a tracer round. It thunks into the target and re-ignites it. "Ha ha!" she says. "I hit it!" she continues, pointing. <goblin-talk>

Irshya hugs at Ashes' waist. "I trust you have fully recovered from that trip where we fought zombies and vampires, yes?", the Gobbo asks, peering up at Ashes. Her eyes track the flaming shot, and while Gadget celebrates, she approaches the Gnome. "My turn, my turn!" <goblin-talk>

Ash is also watching the shot. She nods, "Accurate." It's not very encouraging. She wasn't encouraged when she was in basic training. In her memory, everything she did promped a lot of corrective criticisms. Best not to share any. She nods, taking up the crossbow and putting it through the reload procedure. She's still slow, but is getting better at it. "I'm better now Irshya. Thanks to you. A long rest helped."

Weapon ready, she holds it out for the gobber. Oh! Of course. It sets things on fire. This would make it popular.

Meanwhile, the target burns and smokes. <goblin-talk>

GAME: Irshya rolls ranged-2: (11)+7+-2: 16

Gadget gets out of the way and lets Irshya have her turn. She looks at her own hands, then waves a hand over her clothes, eliminating the dust she'd picked up. "Once you put out the target again, I'll fix it up," she offers. "It'll be as good as new." <goblin-talk>

The Gobbo gasps, smiling toothily. "You speak Gobbo too?" She giggles and then eagerly accepts the weapon. Irshya doesn't bother to prop it up against the sandbag, she simply pulls it up to her shoulder, aims a moment and squeezes the trigger. It streaks across the range and thunks into the already smoking target. The Gobbo squeaks and hops from foot to foot slowly, turning around and offering the weapon to Ashes. "Again again!" <goblin-talk>

Ashlee takes the crossbow back. Her expression remains blank, but she is pleased. She recites, "Accurate," again. That's praise, sort of. It's the best praise she got.

"I do," she answers, working the reloading mechanism, then handing the crossbow back to Irshya. "I went to school."

She sets the bolt in place. "Fire when ready." <goblin-talk>

"I'm good," Gadget says, shaking her head no. "It's fun, but it's too big. I really want one of those my size, though. Like...that is possibly the most satisfying thing I've ever felt in my new hands." <goblin-talk>

GAME: Irshya rolls ranged-2: (12)+7+-2: 17

The Gobbo happily takes up the crossbow again, and turns once more to aim at the target. The bolt streaks across the range, and makes a satisfactory thunking sound once more. With three such bolts, the target now burns merrily. Cackling, Irshya reverently holds up the crossbow to Ashes. "Irshya thanks you!", she says cheerfully. <goblin-talk>

"Thanks." Ashlee takes back the light crossbow. She stares at the target, "I guess I should put it out."

She's marching for her first few steps towards it, before her gait breaks into her more casual wandering pace. Once she's up by the fire, she holds her hand over it and casts her cantrip until she's created enough water to put it out. She returns to her position.

"Do you want to shoot again?" She asks Gadget, then looking at Irshya says, "Is the Tarrace going well? I got banned from Ma Rosie's, so I'll be over more." <goblin-talk>

"Like I said, I'm good," Gadget says. She puts up both hands, palms out. "Don't shoot again yet," she says. "Let me fix it." She goes to the target and waves her hands, the whole thing drying. Then she speaks and gestures for a while, fixing the target little by little until it's whole. She then runs back to their side. "Okay, it's like new. Arrow and bolt holes are even gone. Didn't think about that." <goblin-talk>

Irshya hops from foot to foot. "Irshya would like to shoot it again!", she says excitedly, after watching at Ashes puts out the flames, and Gadget magics the target back to as good as new. She cants her head slightly. "How did you get banned for Ma Rosie's? Were you cheating at cards?", she wonders, her eyes narrowing suspiciously. "The Tarrace is doing well, as far as I can tell. And you are certainly welcome to visit any time!" <goblin-talk>

"Okay." Ash watches as Gadget repairs the archery target. A few other archers watch also. Almost setting fire to part of the field didn't go unnoticed. As things seem to be under control, the wandering eyes go back to their own activities.

"No... I was dancing." She doesn't seem to want to elaborate further. Instead, Ash loads the crossbow and hands it to Irshya as a fiery distraction. <goblin-talk>

The Gobbo peers at Ashes for a long moment. "Topless or naked? Irshya has heard that they sometimes get a little risque in there." She grins toothily and giggles. "Or was it more a drunken kind of dancing? Did you make a mess?" <goblin-talk>

"Yes." Ash answers, her words rushed. A hint of something breaking beneath the monotone. "Exhale as you squeeze the trigger. It doesn't recoil like a thunderbelcher. You shouldn't have a flinch reaction. There are sight lines on the barrel." <goblin-talk>

GAME: Irshya rolls ranged-4: (4)+7+-4: 7

Irshya's eyebrows rise up a moment, and her expression becomes confused. "Wait, which was it?" The bolt launches itself from the crossbow, while the Gobbo is looking to Ash for an explanation. It manages to hit a target, two lanes over. And it catches fire. "Oops.", she says, hurriedly shoving the crossbow into Ashes' hands. <goblin-talk>

Ash takes the crossbow, happy there's another topic. "Sorry!" She calls loudly to the other lane. "We should put that out."

Hugging her crossbow, she rushes over to do so, casting more water cantrips.

"Irshya can do it!", she calls out. As Ashes makes her way forward, there's a crackle of lightning. Followed by the thump of thunder. The wind picks up fiercely around the target, and then there's about ten seconds of absolute downpour. And then it all stops, leaving the target a complete, smoking mess. But the fire's out! <goblin-talk>

Ash halts, backing up so she's not caught up in the lightning. "Good job."

She returns to her spot, reloads her crossbow. She holds it out to Irshya. <goblin-talk>

"No no, it's your turn now.", the Gobbo says, her cheeks a pale lavender once more. "But was it naked dancing or drunken dancine?", she says softly, stepping closer and peering up at the taller woman. "Irshya guesses naked in some manner, else you would not change the subject so quickly."" <goblin-talk>

Ash raises the crossbow. She focus on the target, she tilts the crossbow so the range bands line up. The back and front sights are aligned. Exhale. Say, "Naked drunken dancing," squeeze the trigger.

>Thock< Glowing like a tracer, the flaming bolt sinks into the target. <goblin-talk>

GAME: Ashes rolls ranged: (17)+4: 21

Irshya giggles at what Ashes says, hiding her grin with a wee, blue hand. "Well, Irshya hope that in the Tarrace, you keep your naked dancing to the women's baths." She grins toothily then at Ashes. "Don't want the city guard to shut us down for public indecency." She eyes the target and claps her hands together. "Again again!" <goblin-talk>

"I don't plan on dancing again." Ash says, again. Staying silent and reloading. She coughs at the mention of the city guard. Raising the crossbow, she aims, fires again.

Another fiery bolt flies. <goblin-talk>

GAME: Ashes rolls ranged: (5)+4: 9

This one sinks into the ground in front of the target.

The Gobbo squeaks and runs out to the target, tugging the bolt from the ground, and then the one from the target itself. Water is applied to the target, and it is then fixed via the mending spell. She returns to Ashes, and offers up the two bolts to her. "Our loss, then.", she says somewhat ruefully. <goblin-talk>

Ash takes the bolts, nods, "Thanks." The skull markings on her face hide her expressions well, and other things, like if she's blushing. The insides of her ears, large goblinoid ears, have turned a warmer shade, suggesting maybe she is. "Have you heard or seen anything strange or interesting?" <goblin-talk>

"Uhm, well, I see a certain change in colour of skin on a certain blushing Arvek, but other than that, nothing interesting has happened of late.", Irshya says softly. "At least, nothing that I have seen happening to others. Irshya has lost a few more teeth lately. So I can expand the Order of the Tooth a bit more." She looks up to Ashes. "Are you asking about anything specific or just in general?" <goblin-talk>

The insides of Ash's ears get worse. She stares quietly, then asks, "Did you lose the teeth while asleep? I heard people are having them pulled out in Goblintown. I heard there were free turkeys last week, but you had to catch them. In general." <goblin-talk>

"No, they got loose enough for me to pull out. I have many in my mouth that wait their turn. As one falls out, another one rolls into place. They used to come out more frequently when I was living at sea." Irshya blinks a few times. "Free turkeys? Irshya is sad to have missed that. Are they good pets?" She grins then. "Was it fun? The dancing?" <goblin-talk>

"They were plucked, and headless, and gutted. They were for eating, not pets. I think one person was riding one." Ash explains. She missed whatever occurred, although something had exploded and a building collapsed. Her neighbours talked about it. All night. Unhappy that they had missed the giveaway, and a potential perpetual motion machine. Artifice gobbers are scary. "No... I was mad that Ma Rosie has such beautiful girls dancing. I've never seen a hob dancer there." <goblin-talk>

"Oh, are they good to eat? How... does one ride a headless turkey?" The Gobbo looks slightly confused for a moment. "You were mad... and so you got up on a table and started dancing naked?" Irshya snorts. "That'll teach Ma Rosie!" <goblin-talk>

"It landed on his head. It was a big turkey, so only his feet stuck out. He ran, it ran on drumsticks, then his head popped out. Some said from the turkey neck. Others said the other end of the turkey. His legs were inside, so the turkey was ran around somehow, and he was steering it. Somehow." Ash heard a lot about this event, from several sources. She keeps trying to distract Irshya with details. Getting back to her own story, she answers simply. "Yes. I showed her. Them." <goblin-talk>

Everything.

"It... landed on his head... and he..." Irshya's eyes go cross-eyed a moment and she gives her head a shake. "I think they may have been pulling your leg.", she says softly. Her cheeks go a light lavender once more. "You showed her? Them? Or you mean, there were was more than just Ma Rosie?" <goblin-talk>

"Maybe. I heard it from a bunch of people." Ash says. Perhaps it was a mass hallucination. "I was on the stage. The whole hall saw." <goblin-talk>

The Gobbo's expression grows thoughtful, and she shrugs after a little. "It still sounds farfetched to me. But I suppose stranger things have happened, yes?" Irshya moves forward to hug at Ashes' waist. "Irshya is sad to have missed that, then. I am sure your dancing was excellent, and that Ma Rosie was jealous, hence why you were banned." <goblin-talk>

The ashen Arvec is hugged. This is reassuring. She nods, breathing slowly. She rests a hand on Irshya's head. "She was loud. I have to eat someplace else now."

"Anyhow. That's why there aren't any turkeys for sale this week." <goblin-talk>

Irshya seems quite happy with the hand upon her head, grinning up at the Arvek. "Irshya does not even know what a turkey is, except that it must be eatable given the interest into getting a free one. And Irshya would be happy to serve Ashlee some dinner." <goblin-talk>

"It's like a chicken, but much bigger." Ash explains, rubbing her hand around, "Dinner would be nice. Do you want to go now? I think we've set the target on fire enough."

She looks over at Gadget, and Mr. Jinglewidget, "You've been back to the Tarrace since you got eyes?" <goblin-talk>

"Er, we could, yes, if that is your wont. Though I think we could hit the target a bunch more times." The Gobbo's stomach suddenly growls loudly, and she manages to look embarrassed. "Or maybe we could go now." <goblin-talk>

The ashen Arvec nods, both to the suggestion that they keep shooting, then to the gobbo's stomach growling. It is important to keep goblins fed, she recalls, they get a bit more explody when they're hungry. "The targets will be here later. Lets get some food now."

Her crossbow has a strap too, a nice one. She attaches it and slings it across her back. Waving an invite for Gadget, and Mr. Jinglewidget, she departs, still rubbing Irshya's head with a free hand. <goblin-talk>

The Gobbo is happy to lead the way, it seems, and she too, gestures for Gadget to follow.