Forums » Fantasy Roleplay » Libelle, The Rural Paradise

(Been hoping for Neff to post, but no luck. Oh well.)


What a big mess he was in. Big, big mess. That corpse, or better, what remained of that corpse seemed to have some kind of attractive power. Now it was a... what was that again? Looked like the dragon from before. No matter. The man took off his hat, wiped the cold sweat off his forehead, and sighed.

"I have an announcement to make. To all of you." He motioned for Choshi to come closer. "I am not a rich man... but keep quiet about what happened here, and I will pay you for your troubles. And if you won't do it for money, do it at least out of pity. Now, please go. And miss Brooks? Please find who did this... I, as the Mayor of this town, shall give him the burial he deserves."

And with a nervous grin, he turned his back to them all, after telling Starwhim to help Miss Brooks find Skulker. He then left, probably searching for a shovel or something.

(Try private messaging her, she's been in and out on another game she and I are playing.)

Arlo snorted and his septum ring wiggled. He wasn't one for gossip.. Well. Okay, he was ALL for gossip. But he had no one to gossip with now that the elf had gone off with the lizard lady. He crossed his arms in protest and looked around him. This new lady was interesting. He turned to her and touched her flaming hair.

"Pretty."

Choshi eyed the Mayor as he walked off. She didn't care too much about the situation but obliged to his offering of money to keep quiet. She even considered making a fuss about the dead body but quickly decided it wasn't worth the effort. The mayor had already wandered off and she was now, once again, on her own. Or so she thought. So preoccupied by the horrendous oder, Choshi hadn't even realized the Arlo kid from before standing right next to her...that is, until he started playing with her hair.

Twitching an ear in irritation, Choshi spun around to see who had invaded her personal space.
"Ugh...you again?!" Swiveling her ears backwards, she leaned back on her tail to look him in the eye. Thanks to her new form she was now forced to look up when talking to others instead of them looking up at her. Not used to this, she let her brows drop and her mouth screwed up into a scowl. This new point of view was rather awkward for her and to make matters worse, it put her in perfect "Petting" range for the Hellspawn.

Sam gladly let Starwhim lead her while they talked, anxious to put some distance between herself and the grisly scene. She's an adventurer, after all, not a forensic scientist - she likely wouldn't have noticed that the insects on his corpse were all wrong for this time of year, leading her to conduct some crazy experiment with a pig and blowing the whole case wide open in a matter of hours, no matter how long she searched.

"Starwhim, right? Sam. So, I'll need to talk to this family, his friends, and especially his enemies. I also need access to his former residence, he might have had information or some valuable possession someone didn't want him to have. And if you know off the top of your head anyone who might have benefited from his death, of course I'd be interested in that as well. I wonder if it's possible this was the doing of some kind of animal, or something else. If demons and dragons can walk around in the open, what kind of things might there be in hiding?"

Sam was talking to herself as much as to her new companion. Dammit, she's an adventurer, Jim, not a detective. Of course, even a murder can be tackled as weird puzzle shit - the puzzle is usually just made of people as opposed to logic.

Sam's dialogue/monlogue trailed off as it occurred to her that having a sidekick (as she already thought of Starwhim - at least her ego is healthy?) made her even more like Elric, and reflected on how awesome this was. Fully awesome, she finally concluded. Fully. Awesome. She then decided that Starwhim must be a super-badass to have a name so similar to Moonglum, and immediately proceeded to the logical conclusion - a daydream about the amazing adventures they would have together. These depended heavily on Star's amazing skills with a flail and longbow (two weapons Sam never had much luck with) and the combined power of the duo's impeccable fashion sense.

(Important note: Sam is to Elric as Ryan North and Dr McNinja are to Batman. This is significant character development here, people, I hope you're taking notes)

Outwardly, she slowly came to a halt while picturing some ridiculous adventure featuring the two of them (and Mort!), her eyes apparently focused on something just above, behind, and to the left of Starwhim's head.

An excellent beginning for the greatest adventuring duo of all time.

The elf listened to Sam. Perhaps he thought he was his duty, perhaps he really cared. Or perhaps he was just being polite. Pick whatever option makes you feel better with yourself. He then answered her question.

"All kinds of things. I have a list of races that live here in Libelle at home, I... oh, forget it, you're not even listening. Anyway, I'm supposed to take you to Skulker. He's this guy who practically lives in the tavern, he was pretty close to the victim. Well, he was close to everyone who'd pay him a drink." And without even noticing it, now it was the elf who was rambling, more to himself than to the adventurer. "Mr. Fynn didn't tell me what we should ask him, but I suppose he'll give us a list of the victim's friends and family. I like lists. I have a bunch of lists at home." He would have more to say, but he tripped on a small rock and almost fell flat on his face. Turning around, he saw Samantha wasn't really following him anymore, or even walking, for that matter. Starwhim ran over to her, and... well, he just stood there, waving at her and honestly hoping she would snap out of it. Whatever it was. "Heh! Ho! Wakey wakey, Miss!"

What kind of devilry was that? Oh, he knew it! Some evil incantation! Perhaps a slap would save her.

<Woops, thought Starwhim was a chick. Well, that just brings him that much closer to a true Moonglum analogue I suppose.>

Sam snapped back to reality with Starwhim's help. "...And that's why you can't trust minotaurs. Huh? Oh sorry about that. So, what are our leads here? We need to talk to people who were close to the victim. Preferably someone who frequents the tavern so they'll be easier to get information from. Know anyone like that?" She clearly hadn't heard a word of anything Starwhim had been saying.

<EDIT: Agreed, I went ahead with mine since it was essentially content-free. I'll wait another round before continuing.>

<Givin' Choshi and Arlo time to play, by the way. >

The elf's palm met his forehead as he growled in a manifestation of repressed annoyance. "Just... come on."

Remember the tavern? The one where he had tried to drag Arlo - and failed terribly. Luckily Sam was less... excitable. Well, the tavern was big, and full of people. That, together with the lack of books around, made the wimpy elf quite uncomfortable. But he had a mission, and knew exactly where to find Skulker.

No, he had never met Skulker. He knew he was a goblin. Remember the list? It was no joke. Yeah, goblin. Sadly, there was an entire table of goblins at a corner. "One of them, don't know which." A pause. "You go first. We're looking for Skulker."

It took Arlo a moment to realize he and the dragon had been left alone. The hell spawn frowned and stomped his hoof. "Why does everyone keep leaving me behind?!" He had forgotten about the dragon's hair and instead grabbed her elbow to lead her. "Come on, we'll follow these two." He hoisted Choshi along with him as he made a line for Starwhim. "It's okay, he and I are friends. He'll be happy to see me."

"I think your definition of "happy" is different than everyone else's." The irritated dragon answered with a snort. The thought of pulling free and stomping away in a fit of rage passed through her mind several times, all while the hell spawn was dragging her along. Choshi had been so caught up in thought of how she could physically injure this child that she hadn't realized how far he had actually dragged her.

It wasn't until the two had reached the outside of the Tavern that Choshi finally decided it time to yank her arm free and give the Arlo kid the meanest glare she could muter. He didn't seem to phased by it, probably the lack of brain cells she thought. Or maybe it was this new form of hers...it wasn't very threatening after all. Especially to a hell spawn who was probably used to seeing all sorts of terrifying things that he considers them to be normal. Whatever the case, Choshi finally quit her mean-face game and get some answers.

"Ok, listen kid. Who is this "Star wim" person...and why did you drag me with you to this ... tavern...!?" Crossing her arms, she glared up at Arlo; the freckles on her face practically ready to jump out and attack him themselves.

"Starwhim is the elf who is uhm... The Mayor's underling? I don't know how to term it, really. But don't worry about that. The important thing is that we're involved. AS in, they can't just leave us somewhere and go about their business. We saw the body and the Mayor Guy is going to pay us or something to be quiet. SO, we have to keep up with events."

He was excitedly speaking to her and suddenly composed himself. His little goat tail wiggled with his contained joy to be included and he drew himself up proudly. "And that, my dear... Uhm, What was your name?" He didn't wait for her to respond. "Doesn't matter----That, is why we are at this tavern."

And with that he opened the door and looked about for Starwhim.

Sam hesitated. Her dealings with goblins in the past had been a bit less than amicable. What if they... knew her?

Finally she shook her head. She was an unknowable distance from her home, they might not even be the same species as the creatures she was familiar with. Still, better safe than stabbed in the back by half a dozen daggers. She was pretty sure that's how the proverb went.

She strode up to their table, making a conscious effort not to try to show off or conceal the weapon sheathed at her hip, and to make sure her posture was confident but not threatening. She also checked for probable exits in the event he tried to bolt. Not because she thought he was a suspect, just an adventuring habit.

"Oi. I'm looking for Skulker. Are any of you he?" She had placed her left foot slightly behind herself and turned out, with slightly more of her weight on it than on her lead foot. Her right shoulder was turned slightly towards the group. Bracing herself for an attack, without looking obviously tense - or that was the idea, at any rate. Hands on her hips, for easy access to her satchel on the right and sheath on her left.

<One: you wouldn't believe how busy I've been. Two: This is post number 1000 in the Fantasy RP forums.>

Silence. Lots of tiny, beady eyes turned to Samantha. "Who wants to know?", a shrieky voice asked. Some commotion around the table as the goblins reached for the hilts of their weapons. Strangely, no one in the tavern except them seemed to care too much... well, except them and Starwhim, who tried to leave discretely. He bumped into something. He looked up, sighed, and looking very resigned, returned to the adventurer's side.

When the shortest of the goblins (which was saying something) saw the hellspawn, he spoke again. "Seriously. Who wants to know?"

Arloi gave the elf a giant, white-fanged smile when he backed into him. He was glad to see he had found his friend even if his most well-intentioned smile caused most people to cringe before their death... He was a demon, afterall. When the goblins addressed the Adventurer again, he paced up behind her and peered over her shoulder to see what was going on. This was all very interesting and he was involved, you know.

"Can I be asking?" He whispered to Samantha.

Choshi rolled her eyes in her usual irritated fashion and leaned against the bar table, eyes fixed on Samantha, Arlo and the table of goblins. This whole ordeal was getting worse than she intended, or rather, hand't planned. It seemed as if she had, somehow, been dragged into the whole thing by accident. This ALWAYS happened to her and she dug her dragon toes into the wooden floor beneath her, leaving scratches in the floor boards.

"This is such bull!" she snorted as she pushed herself off the bar table and spun around to make her way to the door. In her haste to get out, she managed to bump into one of the other tables the goblins were occupying, causing them to surrender their intense game of cards to the air around them. A chorus of snarls and growls emitted from the group, gnarly hands traveling to the weapons at their sides and beady eyes transfixed in the game wrecker.

Swiveling an ear toward the growing volume of snarly protest, Choshi turned her head to the table and the group of goblins a disgusted look as if to say they wrecked HER game. "What are YOU looking at?!"

If there was any time to forget her size and appearance, this was it. In a ruckus of upturned chairs, unsheathed weapons and curses, the goblins set their sights on the snotty dragon before them.

(MISSED ME MUCH? )

From a corner of the tavern, Al-raii the honorary elf watched what was going on. She had been just happily wasting her time watching people be themselves, and paying special attention to the goblins. She wasn't a fan of goblins, but she had been there for an hour at least, enjoying the occasional quarrel between them.

Of course, when she saw Arlo come in, she knew it was the perfect time to turn around and pretend to observe the wall instead.

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Sam turned slightly by reflex toward the sudden commotion caused by Choshi's shenanigans, before stopping and mentally cursing at herself. It was too late. Skulker took advantage of the opportunity created by her diversion. He leaped out of his chair and used the momentum to flip over the table at the same time, then bolted for a door in the back of the tavern.

The other goblins that had been seated there now moved to block Sam's path. As they closed on her, she suddenly shouted, "Hey, you guys wanna see a magic trick?!" The goblins stopped creeping and looked at each other, then back at Sam. In that moment, she had raised her left hand in a fist, and now she opened it. A bright flash of light exploded forth, blinding her adversaries. The goblins staggered about, swinging their weapons ineffectively, and Sam was already through the door Skulker had taken. It opened in to a kitchen, where Sam was greeted by the thunk, thwng-ng-ng-ng-ng of a knife burying its blade several inches deep in to the door frame immediately next to her head, then vibrating for several seconds. She just caught sight of Skulker sneering at her before he turned and ran out the kitchen's back door in to an alley.
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((Only works in extremely close proximity, so anyone else would not experience any significant effects. Even someone looking straight at her hand would just have an after-image on their retinas, like glancing at the sun for an instant. May cause migraines. Pregnant and nursing women should not look at Erasmus' Razzle Dazzle. Ask your doctor if Erasmus' Razzle Dazzle is right for you.))

((This was originally planned to be about eight times longer, but that would've taken way to long to write and edit. Still having the chase, but this way I'm not hogging the plot or holding up the thread.))

((ALSO: First to say welcome back to SS! How's it taste, chumps??))

Arlo was displeased that Sam blatantly ignored his request to get in on the fun. Frowning he looked around the room and watched the exchange between Choshi and the other goblins. That was mildly amusing until Sam yelled about a magic trick; his head snapped to her. Her trick wasn't all that new to him; his best friend's girlfriend could do that for fun without... Whatever that thing was called. But the chase? The chase was going to be fun!

He was right behind the lizard woman and gladly volunteered to push around her and follow Skulker as he disappeared through the kitchen door.