Farrel- Vengeance in the Mushrooms Woods

For in-universe game play. Journey through both familiar and foreign settings, explore lost ruins and forgotten cities, and try to bring light to the darkness of the world... or, you know, blow stuff up. Either way.
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Graybeard
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Re: Farrel- Vengeance in the Mushrooms Woods

Post by Graybeard »

Fumiko just gasped. "But who ... but how ... but who ..." And then: "This isn't Tsuirakushiti," she said, setting a new record for stating the obvious.
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Alberich
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Re: Farrel- Vengeance in the Mushrooms Woods

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Statements of the obvious never set Udo aback. Of course, what seemed "obvious" to him sometimes seemed "exaggerated," "unreal," or "delusional" to people around him, but no matter! This Vision of Loveliness didn't know where she was and had a right to know. Udo struggled to his feet with the aid of his staff, tore away his wet cloth mask, and answered her. (Okay, on the way up he did get a glimpse of those whoah! yeah!!s but at least he was looking her in the face by the time he was standing.)

"Why, that's true!" he said. "You're in the midst of a..." maze of twisty passages, all alike "...dense, dank, dark forest, in the middle of the night, and you're also in the midst of a grand Adventure!" To a puzzled look, he responded: "A thieving wizard with a taste for forbidden magicks has stolen a family sword from this bold weaponsmith here" -- he gestured to Jade -- "and we're helping her recover her own. He just tried to slay us with a platoon of undead minions, but as you can see, we have triumphed!" He gestured expansively.

(The eight skeletons might better have been counted as a "squad" but Udo's imagination was already getting to work.)

In response to a puzzled pause, he remembered his manners, and offered introductions all around. Jade he still introduced as "Jasmine, master weaponsmith and adventurer!" Khoo as a "wizard, thaumobaric demolitions expert, and adventurer!" Anna-Lisa Po as a "pyromancer supreme, and adventurer!"--he'd remembered her fireballs from before and quite missed her queasy response to the actual violence around her. And he himself, with a bow, was "Udo Fujomori -- battlemage, champion of kobolds, and adventurer!" Beaming with frankness, enthusiasm, and just a touch of the Holy Fool, he invited the newcomer to make herself known to them.

Udo wasn't fazed in the slightest by this girl's mildly kitschy dress style...as a lifelong consumer of the finest illustrated thaumo-fiction, it was natural for him to think of women on adventures as wearing whatever the artists might imagine to enhance their inked assets and boost sales to boyish readers. She was way within standards.
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Graybeard
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Re: Farrel- Vengeance in the Mushrooms Woods

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One of the good things about Udo's "performance," from Khoo's point of view, was that it gave him time to cast a Hygiene spell to remove what Anna-Lisa had covered him in. To be sure, he didn't really blame her. The first time he'd seen massive bloodshed (sapshed? it looked enough like blood and gore under the circumstances), his innards had had a similar reaction, and he'd only choked it back by force of will -- well, that and a couple of years' experience at the Artifex Sashimi Palace, where some of the dishes could be a little ... unnerving to those who prepared them. Either way, by the time he finished, he was ready to take a look around him and try to understand what had just happened.

Anna-Lisa's reaction was ... different. She had enough upper-class proclivities from her Mesuinu Enterprises internship (despite roots as humble as Khoo's) to be mortified by her own behavior, and had put on the closest thing to a cloak of dignity (metaphorical, not literal; one could never be sure with Anna-Lisa) that could be managed in a place like this. Those considerations also caused her to recoil from this plebeian (the polite word) creature that had somehow materialized from her Pocket Dimension. And there was also the point, far more important than any class differences, that said plebeian creature, being rather attractive if ridiculously tawdry, might be construed as, well, competition. She draped herself around Khoo like a heavy coat and not-too-subtly started moving him away from Fumiko. "Floozy!" she hissed under her breath, just loud enough for Khoo to hear.

Khoo winced. "Anna-Lisa, she's not a floozy and she needs help," he said softly. Well, she probably wasn't a floozy, and he had no interest in pursuing the subject further.

"Then let Udo help her," Anna-Lisa said sotto voce, a note of fierceness creeping into her voice that gave Khoo chills, and definitely not of the romantic sort.

None of this, fortunately, was overheard by Fumiko. She'd been looking around the setting with panic in her eyes that was little ameliorated by Udo's "comforting" words -- little, but enough for her to act on. She threw herself into his arms and assumed a posture amusingly mirroring Anna-Lisa's, although for entirely different reasons. "I -- I don't want an adventure!" she sobbed into Udo's admittedly broad, masculine shoulder. "I'm lost, and I'm scared, and I want to go HOOOMMME..."

[OOC: Jack, does Jade speak Tsuirakuan? All of this exchange would have been in that language. I don't think translation effects would have been turned on, since all three of the regular Tsuirakuan adventurers here are fluent enough in Veracian, which we know is spoken in Farrel. Up to you how much of this she'd understand. Have some fun with it, one way or the other!]
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Re: Farrel- Vengeance in the Mushrooms Woods

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"I -- I don't want an adventure!" she sobbed into Udo's admittedly broad, masculine shoulder. "I'm lost, and I'm scared, and I want to go HOOOMMME..."

Udo was quite in his element. Things like this happened to him every day! Or at least they should.

He held her gently and stroked a comforting hand down her back. "Sure you do!" he said, "And I can't say I blame you. It's easy to see...life gets a little boring back home, no romance, no excitement, so you stow away in a pyromancer's Pocket Dimension looking for some! Very brave of you, really. Boy, that thing must hold a lot of air..."--he stole a glance over at Anna-Lisa, and saw that sly dog Khoo taking advantage of the distraction to get in some mid-adventure snogging--"but she's full of surprises. Mostly big ones that go 'boom!'"

Udo was suffering from a "big surprise" himself, and if this young lady needed too much soothing, it might go "boom." But if sacrifices had to be made, then sacrifices had to be made.

"But for sure you've come to the right place, and you've got the right companions for it. Khoo's a Vanquisher of the Ralkin, and so am I! I've seen him face down a legion of wizards and mercenaries with a laugh in his throat and a mighty blast of wind! And Jasmine, there, is mistress of every weapon known to man. And we'd all rather be devoured by carnivorous mushrooms than see any harm come to you." He held her shoulders and made his face more serious, while he tried to beam high-watt encouragement straight from his violet eyes through her brown ones. "Sometimes the only way out of danger is through it, and this is one of those times! We'll see you safe through."

And if the enemy didn't remember Rule 193, maybe he was in for a surprise himself...

Now Udo would have been quite happy to comfort this young lady for as long as it took, but he suspected his employer was itching to get a move on. If the rest of his exploits were going to have a witness, and a fair damozel at that, that was perfectly fine by him. His staff needed some dead vines cut off and there were spare weapons lying around--he was planning to take the hammer or the gysarme, probably the latter.

(The thought of just leaving the woods and taking her back to Ester never entered his mind. That would carry risks of its own, anyway, and far less heroically dramatic ones than continuing the adventure. And given her choice of souvenirs, it was to be hoped that Fumiko would see the need for a load of compromisin' on the way to her horizon, and not make too much fuss.)
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Jack Rothwell
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Re: Farrel- Vengeance in the Mushrooms Woods

Post by Jack Rothwell »

OOC I think jade would probably speak Tsuirakuan given how well travelled she is. It'll simplify things anyhow. /OOC

Jade had sympathetic looks for the other women present: Anna-Lisa's regurgitation and the newcomers obvious distress tugged on the blacksmith's heartstrings despite her usual stoic demeanor.

"Don't be embarrassed." She said to Khoo's girlfriend. "It happened to me the first time I was in a real fight too. You did great."

To the sudden arrival: "There, there. I'm sure one of these gentlemen can give you an escort to town to get your bearings. We're a day or so from Port Lorrel, there's a warp gate there."

Jade emptied the spent casings from her revolver and reloaded meaningfully.

"Well, adventurers, I've got a theiving bastard to track down. Anyone going to help a girl out?"
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Re: Farrel- Vengeance in the Mushrooms Woods

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"There, there. I'm sure one of these gentlemen can give you an escort to town to get your bearings. We're a day or so from Port Lorrel, there's a warp gate there."

"We all will!" said Udo, breezily volunteering Khoo and Anna-Lisa to face death with him for the stranger's sake. After all, they had bold, heroic hearts like his own, and what else would heroes do? Either he or Khoo should make the lady safe once they reached Port Lorrel--they'd done a great service for the Eisenfaust, not so long ago--but given the Falkenrohr's desire to keep people out of these woods, and the proven dangers in the woods themselves, they'd be better off all together anyway.

Besides, "Jasmine" hadn't actually paid him yet, and was unlikely to do so before he helped her get her sword back.

"Well, adventurers, I've got a theiving bastard to track down. Anyone going to help a girl out?"

There was only one answer for that. Udo gave a small military bow and a sharp "Hai!" It required him to let go of the girl, more's the pity, but Heroes' Rewards came after adventures, after all. With a few strokes of his boot knife he cut away what was left of the now-dead black-flowered vine that had suppressed his staff. Seizing up the antique axe he saluted his companions with it. That left a hammer and saber on the ground for anyone who wanted them as well as the halberd they'd taken. Udo asked Anna-Lisa if she had more of the cloth masks that'd kept them safe from soporific spores.

[OOC: Gray, while you were away I assumed she'd made a supply, based on Khoo's research and possibly Jade's warnings, as a way of moving things along. Her attitude towards sharing one with Fumiko is in your hands.]
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Re: Farrel- Vengeance in the Mushrooms Woods

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Say what you will about Anna-Lisa, but one thing about her: she didn't nurse a grudge for very long. (In fact, she didn't hold any thought in her mind for very long, unless there was some external stimulus to do so; for example, Khoo.) As soon as she saw that Fumiko was attracted(!!) to Udo, her hostility to the young woman vanished like dew before the sun. She tentatively hefted the saber, which she found heavier than was completely comfortable. However, she was a bit stronger than she looked.

However, she was still as clumsy as ever, and Khoo's eyes got wide seeing this; the Sea God alone knew what kind of havoc she could wreak trying to swing that thing. "Uh, sweetheart --" damn, I used that word again -- "maybe there's a better choice for you here." Like, say, "none of the above." "If you can concentrate on spell-casting when we meet the bad guy, while the rest of us --"

She had that half-crazed, half-excited glow in her eyes again. "Oooh! That gives me an idea. If I take this thing and do some micro-thaumatic manipulation with it, I bet I can --"

Khoo had no idea what "micro-thaumatic manipulation" was, and he didn't want to ask, so he kissed her again to try to get her mind onto something else, carefully dodging the saber blade as he did it.

[OOC: So on toward (but preferably not yet "to") the next encounter? Khoo would probably stick with the halberd, and Fumiko can't do much except tremble in terror at the moment, unless someone wants her to do something else -- remember, she's an NPC. As for the cloths, pick whatever answer you think will be the most fun. However, remember a basic rule of Anna-Lisa's personality: if one is good, and two are better, then 162,337 would be awesome.)
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Re: Farrel- Vengeance in the Mushrooms Woods

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In the dim magelight, Jade in her dog mask with the others in their cloth masks looked something like a werewolf leading a team of surgeons, but with larger blades as if to cut a gallstone from a giant. Udo naturally guided Fumiko to a protected position in the middle of the group. Onward to adventure!

As they proceeded, they would feel oldness in the air, quite apart from the age of the trees. Crystal ball signals, even from the latest Homeland Security models, were growing less and less reliable and soon would not be available at all. (Their other weapons and magicks would continue to work just fine.) And there would be that vaguely familiar scent Jade had detected last time--familiar to her but not the Tsuirakuans. Something about this part of the woods appealed to the past, and that would become truer as they got nearer their destination.

There were no cut trails but the undergrowth was "friendlier" in the direction the mage had taken, as if it wanted them to follow the right track but not too quickly. This effect was far too subtle for someone like Udo to notice, regardless of whether anyone else did.

* * *

Meantime, far ahead and quite out of sight, their strange opponent was hasting back to his sturdily built lair--a blocky stone building made long ago, where his secrets were safe from all but the initiated. For him the way was always clear. The Trial of Persistence had been passed. The Trial of Puissance must be made ready.

[OOC: Anyone who wants to add encounters or events between here and there should feel free. Figure it's a couple hours' walking, so that it won't be anywhere near daylight when they do arrive.]
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Re: Farrel- Vengeance in the Mushrooms Woods

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[OOC: This flashback brought to you by someone just back, and recovering nicely, from gastrointestinal surgery. The story you are about to read is not true, fortunately, nor have names been changed to protect the innocent ...]

By now Khoo was well on his guard as the group advanced, and when he smelled the thing Jade had noticed, he frowned and wrinkled up his nose. "Hmmm. That smells disturbingly familiar. I --"

And Anna-Lisa, taking the conversational bit in her teeth, was off. "Ooooh! I remember it! That was in the air when we had our first kiss! Don't you remember, in Professor Mutto's class?" She sighed deeply and theatrically.

Khoo groaned. "Anna-Lisa, that wasn't a kiss, that was artificial respiration."

-*-*-

It was a term or two after their first "meeting." Mutto was giving a lecture class on the history of thaumatic neurostimulation, and Khoo's advisor had wanted him to audit the thing. As for Anna-Lisa's reasons for taking the class, who could know? Maybe she thought the TA who was arranging the demonstrations to go with the lectures was cute.

He may have been cute, but competent he was not. The lecture that day was about early attempts to cure hyperflatulence (a problem back then with the restricted diet possible on the sky city; advances in thaumatic food preparation had been made in the intervening years, of course) by magical stimulus of the intestines. Even before what happened, Khoo had thought that a demonstration to go with the lecture was certainly going to be in deplorable taste, if not downright dangerous.

The demonstration surpassed his expectations on both counts. Needless to say, there were no human volunteers for it, so the TA -- Khoo had mercifully forgotten his name -- found a dog, an ancient bulldog with a facial expression matching Mutto's own and a digestive system that had probably had too many beers poured into it by Sashi Mu undergraduates, probably including Anna-Lisa. That apparently wasn't enough to produce the outgassing desired for the demonstration, so the TA had apparently concocted a weird mash of meat and beans that he fed to the hapless beast before class. Even that might have been survivable without incident ... but the TA had also chosen to bestow the beans in that diet with some magical "enhancements."

What followed had at least three proximate causes. First and most important, the TA was an idiot. Second, a dog's digestive system differs from a human's just enough that certain things are not metabolized quite the same way as in ours. Third, while a human of even the slightest degree of politeness would know that there are times when you just have to "hold it," that concept is quite alien to a dog.

Mutto was just preparing to cast a finely honed spell to stimulate the dog's inferior mesenteric plexus, which she claimed would dispel what was building in the tissues served by that particular bundle of nerves, when the poor beast could "hold it" no longer. The ensuing blast did unspeakable things to the dog, which was bad enough, but even worse, it filled the air with a stench that caused Khoo, who'd been sitting in the back of the lecture hall, to retch then and to shudder now as he remembered it ... and that was someone sitting in the back. Anna-Lisa, of course, had been sitting in the front, as she would, and she caught the full brunt of it, as did three or four other undergraduates. They quickly succumbed to anoxia and passed out, leaving the mortified Khoo and others smart enough to be out of blast range to bring them around.

-*-*-

Back in the present, Anna-Lisa sighed again. "Ah, but the feel of your lips on mine when I came to ... it was so romantic."

What was there to say to that? Khoo decided to remain silent until the group got to wherever it was going.
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Re: Farrel- Vengeance in the Mushrooms Woods

Post by Jack Rothwell »

Jade, for her part, had foregone the rusted weapons and opted to stick with her knife and gun. She led the way through the undergrowth with ears and eyes open for trouble and humming the 'old peculiar' song under her breath.
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