Southern Continent: Picking Up The Pieces

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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Jack Rothwell
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Re: Southern Continent: Picking Up The Pieces

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Once they were clear of the entrance and the fleeing/infighting chittoricks Tamina stopped with a grateful sigh. She doled out hugs to the entrance party and knelt beside Rip to help with the injured T'ska.

"Thank you." She said. "I don't know if we would've had a chance without you and your friend."

"Of course!" Bashiir declared. "Mighty ghob would've beaten big bug queen all by hisself!"

"Yeah, yeah, you were very brave." Alleece said, although the sarcasm in her voice was minimal. The fact was the short humanoid had shown some serious guts in that deep dark nightmare they'd managed to escape from.

The two mages in the group managed to fix up the worst of the damage to their bashed up kinsman. The kobold wiped a sheen of sweat off her forehead with a tired noise and gave a smile to the group.

"We should probably stop off at the ghob's settlement before we go back to Urannia. They'll want to know what happened here."

"Tell tales of brave ghob!"

"Yeah. And I don't know about you guys, but I could use a drink."

Unbeknownst to the victors a pair of feline eyes had been watching them with great interest from deep within the treeline. With a rustle of leaves, they disappeared into the dark.
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Graybeard
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Re: Southern Continent: Picking Up The Pieces

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[OOC: You have more of an idea where we go from here than I do. Accordingly, this is mainly just sending it back over the net, but here's Thurston to help you get to your goal:]

Rip didn't hear the banter between kobolds and Ghob, as he was sound asleep, having keeled over right in the middle of a Heal spell on the injured kobold. He'd done more intense spellcasting, at a higher level, in the past couple of hours than he'd done for a long time, and he needed to rest up. Most mages had mastered the art of the "power nap" to do that; he was no exception. He'd be out for maybe an hour.

This annoyed Thurston somewhat. He needed a light for his cigar, since after all, he had neither the spellcraft to set it alight nor a hand to strike a match with. After listening to Rip snore for a minute or two, he shrugged his shoulders in a curiously human-like way, dropping the cigar in the process.

"RAWWK. I give up," he said to no one in particular. "Gonna do a little sightseeing -- no, scratch that, call it 'reconnaissance.'" He took flight, spiraling up above the clearing at the cave entrance, before Shorty could point out to him that he could have lit the cigar. Of course, Shorty didn't like the smell of the thing any more than most sentient beings would, so he was content to start packing up for the trip back to the Ghob cavern.
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Jack Rothwell
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Re: Southern Continent: Picking Up The Pieces

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The trip back to the Ghob's village (for want of a better word) was largely uneventful, although the party noticed that as the noisy self-destruction of the Chittorick nest fell behind them the noise of the local wildlife had returned at a greater volume. It was as if the animals knew that the biggest threat to their welfare had been eradicated and were trying to make up for it with caws and chirps as a substitute for cheers. Tamina smiled despite herself. Alleece clapped her friend on the shoulder, mirroring her expression.

"Tribute free for a year!" She declared. "All thanks to the efforts of our brave elder!"

"Elder Tammy!" T'ska and Riiki echoed.

"Pssh, not sure I like the title." She said ruefully. "Makes me sound like I'm 30 or something."

"Kobolds only live til about 40." Oolan suppplied, having taken the opportunity to attach herself to their human companions. "We...umm... do a lot of living in that time though. Always thought it was weird how long other species seem to live." She gave Shorty another shy smile in a long series of shy smiles. "How long do humans live again? Like 60 or something?"

OOC Just some filler dialogue to pass the time. I wonder if Shorty will ever pick up on Oolan's flirting? :) /OOC
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Graybeard
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Re: Southern Continent: Picking Up The Pieces

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[OOC: Yeah, I treat Shorty as large and good-natured, but not the brightest running light on the airship. He also is honestly perplexed what to make of kobolds.]

While the humans and kobolds were bantering, Thurston had been exploring, and now he came winging back to the group while a red-faced Shorty searched for an answer. "BRAWK. Looks like the Ghob have a welcoming party on hand."

Rip raised an eyebrow at this. "How would they know what happened out there?"

[OOC: I don't know what you had in mind for the feline eyes, but here's something to play off of. I'm still zonked from surgery, so not at my most ambitious.]
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Re: Southern Continent: Picking Up The Pieces

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"Not sure." Tamina said. "Maybe they had a few scouts keeping an eye on our trail?"

"There's seeing eye crystals on the southern continent." Alleece suggested. "It's possible the Ghob's mages might have one."

Bashiir broke ahead of the party with a triumphant 'wukikkikiki!' and a declaration that the mighty matriarch had been slain. To the rest of the party's surprise he actually gave credit to them (all while taking the lion's share of the credit of course). Chief Bosmer came waddling out of the cave, beaming in happiness at the news as the tribe hoisted their returning hero onto their shoulders and began parading him around.

"Thank you." He greeted them over the cacophony. "The Nallaki tribe have proven themselves to be friends of the Ghob this day. Have a sit down. Have something to eat. You look done in."

"Sounds great." Tamina sighed. "Can't stay long though. Braccus is expecting us back."

"That cabra tal can wait a while." Alleece interjected. "We just risked being sheared in half by a monster the size of a building. I'd say a hot meal and a drink are in order. Several hot meals in Shorty's case."

OOC Just a short one to let you know I'm active again. And hammering a proverbial spike in the ice wall of the story we're climbing. I'll add some more when I can. The feline eyes will be revealed at a later date. Thanks for all your support Grey :)/OOC
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Re: Southern Continent: Picking Up The Pieces

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[OOC: All RIIIIGHT! Incidentally, as an ex-climber (of no great skill or achievements), I love the metaphor. Just a short one to volley it back to you, with an opportunity to see whether the Ghob can serve up anything ... interesting ... to Thurston:]

Shorty blushed bright red at Alleece's words, and for some time, his speech consisted solely of "er ... um ...well ..." or words to that effect.

Rip decided he'd better explain. "Uh, Shorty really doesn't eat much. Not much at all, in fact. It would be better to offer the extra meals to the chief, with our gratitude for the hospitality. Maybe save one for Thurston; he had a lot to do with our success, and he's a bigger eater than Shorty is." He had an ulterior motive for that last part, which Thurston promptly negated.

"RAWK," the parrot interjected. "What I'd like most isn't extra food ..." (Rip facepalmed, being pretty sure what was coming) "... but if you got a couple of cigars, that'd be great."

[OOC: So what kind of smokeable stuff would the Ghob have? Up to you ...]
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Re: Southern Continent: Picking Up The Pieces

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Bosmer nodded. "Smoke we've got. Although it's a damn pain keeping the materials dry in the jungle." He barked something in the Ghob tongue to a tribesman who disappeared into the recesses of the main cave. Tamina took the opportunity to fish for information.

"Have you had much contact with the Uran tribe since they settled here? I remember you said they wouldn't trade but not much else."

The Chief bristled, but it was obvious Tamina wasn't the object of his annoyance.

"They sent some Killikah over here when they first arrived." He muttered. "They told us in no uncertain terms which territories were theirs and what would happen if we tried encroaching on them. Mostly they just left us alone, but there has been a few lean seasons thanks to that tyrant of a leader and his ever growing tribe."

The mage nodded, making a mental note and adding it to the list of people who weren't fans of Braccus Uran. A moment later the tribesman returned holding a wooden tray with a small pile of leaf wrapped cigars upon it. The kobolds eyes picked out the brown shredded tobacco within... and the small flower buds it was mixed with.

"Very fragrant! Fine smoke!" The tribesman supplied in broken common tongue. "Make the bird fly extra high!"
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Re: Southern Continent: Picking Up The Pieces

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None of Rip, Shorty or Thurston had enough familiarity with ... exotic jungle flora to notice the buds in the cigars. Thurston, however, knew an opportunity when he saw one. Before Rip could stop him, he squawked, "RAWWK! Thanks!" and dove for the tray, scooping a cigar up in his beak as he passed.

Normally, this wouldn't have led to any immediate effects; he didn't have any way of lighting the thing, after all, and Rip or Shorty would have intervened if he'd asked one of them for a light. This wasn't a normal setting, though. The Ghob had to get their light, what little of it they wanted and needed, from somewhere, and so the cave had torches on its walls. Ignoring Rip's "Hey! wait!", he made a beeline for the torch nearest the entrance, and in what was really a rather nice bit of precision flying, managed to hover near it long enough to set the stogie alight...

[OOC: And back over to you while Thurston inhales, and everyone else begins to smell what he's inhaling.]
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Jack Rothwell
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Re: Southern Continent: Picking Up The Pieces

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Tamina had begun to doze a little in response to her recent physical and magical exertions. Her head was slumped against Alleece, who didn't seem to mind, before the cloud being exhaled by the parrot hit her nostrils and snapped her wide awake. She groggily turned to Rip with a smile that was mostly amusement with a trace of concern.

"Erm, those are buds from the wagakki flower." She supplied, watching the parrot puffing furiously away. "Usually they make people feel very happy. Colours get very bright. Sometimes smokers can get... umm... manic."

"Like that time you tried it and got it into your head that we Nalliki tribe could conquer the supposed elementals in the far south jungle?"

"That was one time Alleece! Don't know what effect that could have on the parrot-gah but you should keep an eye on him."

"He'll be fine I'm sure."

"Hold still. I'm going back to sleep."
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Re: Southern Continent: Picking Up The Pieces

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Rip and Shorty seemed unaffected by the foul vapors included in the cloud Thurston was emitting, other than a shared sense that it smelled even worse than the usual cigar. Thurston himself, however ...

In normal times, Thurston was a very normal-looking parrot, green all over except beak and feet. This was no longer a normal time. After he'd had a puff or two, he underwent a most remarkable transformation, so that his plumage reflected all the colors of the rainbow, plus some that no self-respecting rainbow would ever be caught dead wearing. [OOC: Something like this.] This transformation was accomplished without affecting his normal familiarish personality.

"RAAWWK. Whatcha lookin' at?" he managed to squawk around the cigar.

[OOC: If you have more stuff here, by all means do it; I'm good to move on whenever.]
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