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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Jack Rothwell
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Re: Farrel- Vengeance in the Mushrooms Woods

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Seriously?" Jade replied, her demeanor warming considerably. "I don't suppose you're familiar with flora? Fungus? Specifically the poisonous mushrooms in the local woods? It'd make my job a hell of a lot easier if I knew what caused their effects. If I brought you a sample could you look them over? I'd pay for your trouble."
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Graybeard
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Re: Farrel- Vengeance in the Mushrooms Woods

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[OOC: I liked the way you worked Kitaura in there. Note that he's unavailable for this thread, as I've set him a few roles to play in my Sister Rose fanfic (new installment of that up yesterday, btw), which is occurring at about the same time as this is. However, he's still out there for background material. So enter Anna-Lisa, doing what Anna-Lisa does best...]

"I don't suppose you're familiar with flora? Fungus?"

Khoo wasn't sure whether to breathe a sigh of relief that his honest answer to this would be "no," or to feel a mild disappointment at the decreasing likelihood that this odd woman had anything to do with Masaki's orders, and therefore, that she might help him wrap his mission up and get back to a normal life. (Not that life with Anna-Lisa was ever going to be "normal" in the usual senses of the word.) "Well, I'm sorry," he interrupted. "Most of my chemistry experience is thaumatic, I --"

Just then, the door to the smithy burst open, as though impelled by a whirlwind, which really wasn't a bad metaphor for who was passing through it, come to think of it.

"Lover!" Anna-Lisa erupted; the shout would have blown the door open even if she hadn't managed it physically (or magically). "I've been looking all over for you! I --" She roared through the door and toward Khoo, as quickly as if she'd been studying time magic with the Ensigerum. And then she paused to digest what she'd heard Jade say, which was to say, just those first eight words. But the pause didn't last long.

"Oooooo! Flora Funagiri! Sweetheart, you remember her, from that thaumatobaric explosives talk she gave, with that amazing demo? That was so much fun! And we had our first date right after that class ... Ohhhhh ..." The grin on her face at this memory was positively orgasmic, as Khoo had learned to recognize in the last few weeks; in fact, he wasn't sure but what maybe she'd ... No. I can't think about that. However, he did remember both the class and the following "date," which wasn't so much a romantic evening out as huddling at a coffee shop across the road from the lab building, as the emergency responders converged on the seminar site to assess the damage and shoo the students away.

"Uh, Anna-Lisa, I'm -- not sure that's what -- Jade, is it? -- was talking about," he tried. "It sounds like she's looking for --"

But Anna-Lisa had the bit in her teeth, and as Khoo knew all too well by now, that meant there was no turning back. "I'll never forget that day!" she exclaimed. "Just as a thank-you for that memory, we are at your service." She made a grandiloquent flourish in Jade's direction that finished with an all-consuming embrace of her boyfriend, who was reconciled by now to being, well, consumed.
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Alberich
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Re: Farrel- Vengeance in the Mushrooms Woods

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An adventurer's life had its high excitements and its low points. Udo's recent adventure in Port Lorrel, and his role in helping Khoo destroy the altar of the Ralkin had been one of the high excitements. Right now was one of the low points. He and Angrist had lost their "prisoner escort" job due to the prisoner's escape. (Which, though he did not know it, had been facilitated.) The prisoner had been returned to the Falkenrohr, but they didn't believe in "second chances."

And now the damn Laughing Troll didn't even want a dishwasher!

He was thinking of trying the Flatiron, but that felt wrong. The Flatiron was the "headquarters" of the Falkenrohr chief, Tom Odd, and he didn't want the local "authorities" considering he was without funds and without visible means of support. That could lead to bad places. And while he had tested his hunting prowess against the garlop on the Southern Continent, he didn't think it wise to try living off the land until they reached another town. No way was he going to pawn his staff, his only weapon but for a boot knife--the cutthroats around here would buy it for a song and sell it for an encore.

Weapons...perhaps he should seek his end in his beginning? Perhaps he might become a highwayman again? Right here on the roads by Ester, where it had all begun?

No, that felt wrong. It was wrong. And besides, his first time out, he'd met the unstoppable sniper Jamie...and he remembered the last time he'd seen her, in the north, before he took part in the battle against the Outlaw Clan Gyermanov. They'd been inspired by some kind of horrible necromancer, who'd died in an instant from one of Jamie's bullets....and there were an awful lot of rifles in this country right now, some in the hands of these "patrols." Udo could imagine himself dying in glorious combat or on a grand adventure--he had come close to doing so several times already--but just being picked off at a distance, like that other wizard...

...wait a minute. Adventure...wizard...hadn't he just rescued a young lady, this "Jasmine," and even gotten a free drink out of it...and hadn't she said she was on a revenge quest against this "vine wizard" who'd left her and his former prisoner tied up on a trellis? Where there were wizards and quests, there might very well be loot!

Of course he couldn't discuss the quest in public--as he'd noted and warned her, the locals seemed keen to keep visitors out of the Mushroom Woods--but if he could find where she'd gone, maybe he could ask her discreetly and maybe she could use the help. Maybe? But of course. The situation called for heroism, and heroism was his stock in trade! He began to make inquiries about where she'd been seen.

[OOC: According to your wishes he can pop up in the workshop where Jamie, Khoo, and Anna-Lisa are, or Elke can find him first.]
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Re: Farrel- Vengeance in the Mushrooms Woods

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Jade's eyebrows raised in surprise at the enthusiastic entrance by the young man's girlfriend, immediately bringing back memories of her own still attending to business in Rinkaiel.

"Erm, flora and fungi." She said. Wondering if the new arrival was listening.

"I assume this is the lovely lady in question? " Crosby interjected, a wide smile of amusement on his broad face."Your man was just here for a commission my dear. Is there anything I can do for you?"

OOC Sorry for the slow posting guys. I've been doing this on my phone and busy as hell for the last week. Great to see you back Al! /OOC
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Re: Farrel- Vengeance in the Mushrooms Woods

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"Your man was just here for a commission my dear. Is there anything I can do for you?"

Khoo was, in fact, listening to Jade, and was just about to confirm that yes, they were willing to go into the Mushroom Woods with her. However, what Anna-Lisa said next got his full attention again.

"Ooooo! Yes! Handcuffs! In my boyfriend's size!"

Khoo gulped and his blood ran cold. His ... experiences so far had suggested that Anna-Lisa's tastes in lovemaking could best be described as "everything." However, his own were pretty conventional, and they did not extend to BDSM. I'd better nip this in the bud. "Er ... honey..." did I really say that?... "I don't really think that would be a good idea under the circumstances. I don''t --"

Anna-Lisa cut him off, as usual. "Oh, don't worry, they're not for you, silly! They're just props, like the dwarven food processor, you remember that, don't you?" (As if Khoo could ever forget.) "I've had the most amazing idea for how we could help your friend Jayne here..."

She turned to Jade for that last part, full of obvious enthusiasm (that was pretty much redundant with Anna-Lisa) for helping, never mind the mangling of her name. And then she turned back to Khoo, the expression on her face equal parts perky, excited, and ... well, "lustful" only got part way there, but it would have to do. "Of course," she purred, "when we're done with this adventure, they won't be wasted."

Khoo whimpered and tried, unsuccessfully, to hide behind the forge.

[OOC: Big long Elke thing coming, but it's largely backstory (which will be spoilered if you don't want to read it) and is taking quite a while to write. For the moment, she's still on her way to Ester.]
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Re: Farrel- Vengeance in the Mushrooms Woods

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Jade thanked the cute couple for their offer of help. The blacksmith actually found the way Anna-Lisa was carrying on quite adorable.

"I'm planning on heading in after sunset if that doesn't inconvenience any... plans you might have." She added, as Flint gestured to a selection of cuffs to pique the young woman's interest. "I should warn you though, that travelling to the woods isn't exactly what the local 'law enforcement'-" The venom in her voice was barely concealed. "-is keen on. It might be on the dangerous side. Maybe less if- Flint?"

"Yes Jade? "

"Grabby thing?"

"Oh right, sorry." The older blacksmith went to a shelf.
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Re: Farrel- Vengeance in the Mushrooms Woods

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It had taken a few inquiries, but Udo at last got a lead on which way "Jasmine" had been seen going. After a few fruitless knocks on the doors of people who "didn't want none" he saw, heard, and smelled the smithy--and remembered the young lady's plan to visit Ester's local blacksmith before embarking on her quest for vengeance. He took a moment to freshen up with a basic hygiene spell (even Baka Ryu Basic, far downscale from Sashi Mu and similar academies, taught that one), then made his way there.

Sure enough, there she was, and hard at work on something. And there was his recent comrade-at-arms, Khoo Tan-Lian, and that amazing babe of his. (As Khoo had thought during their previous encounter on a rocky beach near Port Lorrel, it would take industrial-strength rose-colored glasses to see her that way. But Udo was fully equipped in that department.) And from the look of things, Khoo had held on to her, no doubt by following Udo's own most excellent romantic advice.

Udo's troubles were all forgotten or reinterpreted as non-troubles, and a broad smile split his broad face. "Well met!" he said. Jasmine still looked friendly enough [OOC: I hope...], so he used the Approach Direct. "It seems I've been freed from that prisoner I had," he said, "and that leaves me free to seek Adventure! And I thought maybe you could use a hand on one. Like if you know of any. And oh," he added, "these countrymen of mine, they've been tested in the fire themselves, especially this guy" -- he clapped a hand on Khoo's shoulder -- "and they love brave deeds and danger themselves!"
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Re: Farrel- Vengeance in the Mushrooms Woods

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Khoo's initial reaction to Udo's clap on the shoulder was astonishment that the man had somehow managed to insinuate himself, or at least his hand, between Khoo and Anna-Lisa. Next was a twinge of annoyance, followed by a mental do I know this guy? After a moment, he decided he did, although he still wasn't sure why. Something in one of those adventures to the south, probably; all of that seemed like a lifetime ago, even though it had really only been a few weeks. Did Anna-Lisa have time-dilation properties? He wondered sometimes; certainly trying to get away from her also could feel like it was taking a lifetime.

Anna-Lisa, for her part, was getting increasingly excited, for reasons that would probably have terrified Khoo if he'd noticed. "Ooooo! Another adventure! And a night-time one at that!" she enthused. "Let me go get my things." Without waiting for a reply from Khoo, she was off.

Khoo turned to look at the apparition that had gripped his shoulder, still not sure who he was. "Do I know you?"

[OOC: Mainly this is just volleying it back to you guys. When Anna-Lisa reappears, however, there'll be a little more entertainment.]
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Alberich
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Re: Farrel- Vengeance in the Mushrooms Woods

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"Do you know your brother-in-arms, Udo Fujomori?" cried Udo. "Of course you do! The Southern Continent! The firebug monster! Rescuing the kobold village!--with that great bomb of yours, too! Tearing up the Ralkin demonstration with those winds of yours--them and their magic ray guns, feh!--Blowing up the Ralkin altar!--that's some thaumo-baric history, right there, and I was keeping the monsters off you while you did it! You remember all that...!"

Udo felt a surge of resentment...back where he came from, if you forgot something like that, you owed the other guy a lot of free booze! What was this? Oh...

"You must be distracted, right? Thinking about your sexy babe and 'night adventures' and stuff, right?" He dug in a fist into Khoo's arm in a friendly way. "She's got your blood flowing out of your brain, eh?" He clapped him on the back. "Better get it back in order...adventures first, hero's rewards after!"

Udo wasn't a vulnerable man, as a rule--at least, not away from one of his weak spots, such as kobolds--but he was pretty close to having his feelings hurt.

Jade had seen at least one of these events from a different perspective; whether she showed a sign of it was a separate question.
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Re: Farrel- Vengeance in the Mushrooms Woods

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[OOC: Lengthy spoiler embedded here, as the first of several things aimed at bringing closure to the original BBEG (Sister Rose-centered) complex of threads. It's included using the "spoiler" feature, so anyone who doesn't want to deal with all that stuff doesn't have to. So to move Elke a step closer to the merry crew while doing that:]

Ordinarily, an unaccompanied woman traveling the rural roads outside Lorrel would be taking some significant risks. However, Elke was no ordinary unaccompanied woman. For one thing, she was quite obviously armed, and her demeanor left no doubt that it wasn't just for show. For another, she sat astride a horse that also looked like it meant business. For another, she wore a shawl (one she rarely wore) that marked her, to any members of the (ahem) "guilds" of the countryside, as someone important in the Eisenfaust -- and that was an outfit that no sane mercenary in southwestern Farrel wanted to get on the wrong side of.

She was accordingly unapproached as she made her way toward Ester, and that left her time for thinking ... more time, in some regards, than she wished she had.

An airship droned through the sky high above her, on the route from Lorrel to Rinkaiel. It was too high to be the local, which might have made a stop in Ester, although she probably wouldn't have used if it did. Most likely it was the commercial express, but it might also have been a military job; it was too far off to be sure. She couldn't shake the suspicion, though, that there might be something out of the ordinary about it ... just like there had been on that one in the Far North.

The memory came rushing back unbidden.
Spoiler: show
She hadn't noticed anything remarkable about the airship at the time, at least not at first, other than the oddity of seeing it at all.

She and her husband were still well off shore, making for the out-of-the-way, little known -- and highly secure -- anchorage a good fifty miles away, from which they would proceed overland to the Redoubt. They were unusually close to land; unusually for this boat, anyway, which would normally have stayed well out in deep water for as long as possible before making a dash for a moorage. This time, they couldn't quite see land from the deck, but if Keyes had been along (for this mission, of course, he'd been left behind) and gone up to the crow's nest, he'd have seen the shore without trouble.

Mr. Stagpoole didn't like that state of affairs, not at all. However, their last conversation with the scary man had made it very clear that the ship ahead of them, the one carrying the reluctant (indeed, downright kidnapped) candidate for Wizard of the West, had the right of way, was to get there first, and was not, under any conditions, to be approached before the whole Convergence Committee assembled. The simple act of snagging Kurou in the first place had exposed Mr. Stagpoole more than anyone had wanted, hence the decision to send Kurou ahead separately rather than on the Stagpooles' own vessel. That part, at least, Elke didn't mind; Kurou was scary. John had taken it as a personal affront at first, but even he had come around to being relieved by the time they were half way across the North Farrel Sea. Besides, now they got to be alone for a while, which had its own ... attractions.

At first those attractions were lost on her husband, never the most patient of men. "That damn garbage scow is taking forever," John grumped. "Wish they'd get on with it. I feel exposed out here. I --"

Elke interrupted. "Speaking of exposed," she teased, "since we're here, why not make the best of it?" She was already pulling her top over her head, "exposing" first a belly that wasn't yet showing a baby bump, and then, some other things. "Well?" Mr. Stagpoole didn't have to be asked twice. There was, Elke thought, a certain delicious naughtiness to making love topside, on the deck, that made the travel delay almost worth while. She suspected that John thought so too ... although she'd never know for sure.

It was in the sweaty, cooling aftermath that she first saw the airship, coming up from the south. It was a mild surprise; they weren't exactly on any of the main commerce routes (that, after all, was the point), and there shouldn't have been any commercial traffic here. Its speed as it reached where she judged the shore to be, however, made it clear that this wasn't any standard commercial ship. Well, maybe it was one of the other Convergence people, using a specialized vessel to get closer to the Redoubt before the final trek on foot; she knew that the man in one of the other guilds, whose name she never could remember, had some kind of connection to the airship business. She said as much to her husband.

What came back was a suspicious growl. "Elke, you know what he told us. We're never supposed to use mechanized travel to get close to the Redoubt. Never. That's a good way to get killed."

"Well, if it's not one of ours," she persisted, "then whose is it?"

"I don't know," Mr. Stagpoole growled again, "but I am damn well going to find out." Still stark naked, he went back to the bridge to look for a spotting scope, which however he was unable to find. Elke would wonder for the rest of her life whether things would have turned out differently if that scope had been at hand, but it just wasn't. "Should we call them?" she asked as he emerged, to get yet another growl. "You know it's silent running until we're on dry land. I think we'd better try to knock it down. Gimme a minute."

She knew that this ship had some defensive systems, going all the way back to when it had almost been sunk while carrying a pair of, believe it or not, trolls. Its defenses then had been inadequate; Mr. Stagpoole had upgraded them since. But it was the damnedest thing ... no sooner had he gone back into the bridge than Elke could see that the marauding airship had started climbing. Fast. It was out of range by now.

"I don't like this," she muttered as John emerged from the bridge. "I think we should call them and -- oh." The look on her husband's face froze that thought mid-sentence. As she thought about it, he had to be right. At least three Convergence people had died because they'd ignored commands from the scary man ... and she knew the crystal ball could be turned into a lethal bomb, at least one of the dead men had been killed that way. She subsided and got dressed, watching this enigmatic airship all the way ...

And then she saw the thing that Sister Rose and the others felt.

She might or might not have seen the dot dropping away from the airship that was the escape glider, but there was no doubt that what remained was accelerating toward the mountains, far more quickly than any airship should accelerate. On and on it roared; she was too far away to hear its engines, so the roaring must have been in her head, but it was there, and it was getting louder. She sat in mute silence as what was now merely a speck disappeared beyond the mountains to the north ...

And then came the light brighter than a thousand suns.
She shook her head, trying to dislodge the memory, as the edge of Ester came into sight.
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