Forums » Fantasy Roleplay » A Complicated Gathering (Closed)

Warily, Bella sniffed the proffered piece, checking for any hidden hot sauce, and then deciding it was clean, happily scarfed it down. She pranced around Arnes, tail wagging, excited by the treat.

Nathan grinned and shook his head at Bella's antics. "She'll be your friend for life, now. And Digsby is a nice place; they've got several taverns and a couple of inns to stay in. They're affordable too, unlike the big cities."

He noted that Arnes didn't mention where he was coming from or where he was going, but Nathan let it slide. The man probably had his reasons and Nathan would rather not pry. "Are you looking for something in particular? Or do you just enjoy traveling?" For that matter, they weren't all that far from Digsby; as soon as they topped the ridge, they would see it below them.

Arnes looked over Nathan, and noticed that the man was just as tall as him, maybe even a bit taller. He shook his head as he walked along behind him.

"I'm always moving around a lot, usually because someone is trying to kill me or I've run out of money again. I, uh, don't really have a place to call 'home' anymore, but that's a very long story. When we get to the city, perhaps I can tell you over a very, very weak drink. I can't handle strong liquor, you see."

Actually, it would be more accurate to say that Arnes couldn't handle most liquor. His race had no equivalent of a liver to process alcohol, so anything but the most watered-down drinks would make him dead drunk, and there was a fair amount of emphasis on "dead". Still, he had slowly learned to build up a tolerance to liquor, and he could have probably handled a sip of normal beer or ale.

It was probably good that TMIG didn't look at Arien while he waxed eloquent about the fact he didn't even know who he was looking for. Arien's face was the dry look of "you have got to be kidding me."

"So let me get this straight. You want me to find your, ah, friend--for lack of a better word--whom you can't describe for me, sometime in the next few days. Can you give me a hint? Something? Anything? Is he or she from the same place you're from?" At least if they were looking for a foreigner, that might speed things up. Or not. Sometimes it was hard to tell who was from around here, though if this "friend" also wore a suit of armor, that would make things easier. He snorted at the idea.

"Please tell me your friend looks like you."

The Man in Gold replaced the parchment in his belt; the human wouldn't know what to do with it anyway. He then shrugged, although in his armor it was more of a movement of his hands than his shoulders, and grunted. He never promised that things would be easy, just that the human would be well compensated for his services.

"Whatever this Other is, I would imagine that we would benefit from checking the buildings around here. Since I teleported in at that store, that would lead me to believe that the Other may be less of a person and more of an object. Do you know who owns that store? Do you think they would provide a serious threat to you if I began looking under their floorboards? Not that it matters much, I can deal with them easily enough. But I'm thirsty, and the other players will be long delayed, so let's go to a tavern. Somewhere that waters down the drinks, preferably."

He wasn't that thirsty, but the human seemed to like going to taverns; there really was a lot of time before the others would catch on to his location, so he could afford the luxury of going off and getting some drinks to placate his guide.

Nathan smiled a bit at the mention of not being able to hold his alcohol. "At least you know your limits," he said. "But taverns also sell non-alcoholic drinks, and the food is good."

They crested the ridge soon enough; it was actually pleasant being able to travel with someone who could keep up with his long legs, as well as not have to keep looking down to make eye-contact.

"Digsby's just a bit farther." They could see the beginning of the small town, it's gates a few hundred yards away. "I can show you to a nice inn, if you're interested. It's reasonably priced and staffed with good people."

Arnes adjusted his travel robe, the sunlight catching the white brocade and making it even brighter-looking than normal, as he eyed the town from the ridge. His peculiar eyes, though, would have been a mystery to Nathan; they were glowing red, and lacked any sort of features. It would have been impossible to tell where he was looking, but he was facing the town and stroking his goatee.

"Strange, this place seems familiar before. Not this town, mind you, but this setting; the position of the trees, the layout of the land, it all seems as though I've been here before, a long time ago."

There was a term for that, made up by humans he believed, but it evaded him at the moment. No matter, though; it would just be good to have something to eat, and maybe something to drink as well. He nodded to Nathan, his signal to go down to the town, and was more than ready for a seat and a meal.

Arien just stared at TMIG. "You really aren't from around here, are you. Of course the shopkeeper wouldn't take kindly to you rummaging around in his floor boards! That's akin to uprooting someone's house just because you think there's gold under it."

"Also, if we must go to a tavern, I'd recommend any except for the one just two blocks that way. The owner of that particular tavern is, uh, best not to be trifled with." Of course he wasn't going to point out that he'd been the one to make the tavern owner throw him out. It all depended anyway on how you looked at the incident.

His question about the shopkeeper had been sort of rhetorical, partly out of humor and partly to judge the human's reaction. It seemed like he did have inhibitions, particularly when it came to break the law. Pity for him, then. Still, the man seemed to know his way around taverns, and that's where the Man in Gold wanted to be right now. He prodded the man in the side with his finger, the gauntlet probably making the poke hurt a little worse than normally, but he hadn't done it hard enough to break the skin.

"Lead the way, human. I don't much care which one we go to, just as long as it's near that shop. They'd better have weak drinks, though. I loathe strong alcohol."

It wasn't just that he loathed strong liquor, it was that he couldn't handle it. The Man in Gold came from a race without the organs to process strong, or even average strength, alcohol. However, after so many years and so many drinks, his body had learned to tolerate the same strength of drinks that humans usually had in taverns. Still, he preferred his to be a little watered down; getting drunk wasn't a good thing, because then he started talking about the past.

It was certainly hard to miss red eyes. Much more so when the red didn't seem to have any direction they were looking, yet Nathan didn't comment. He wasn't sure how to comment without getting into trouble; and so as he normally did, he decided not to comment at all.

"You've been here before?" Nathan inquired, leading the way into the town. "Or somewhere similar, perhaps? I'd ask if you remembered any particular landmark, but there's really not a whole lot in Digsby. Maybe the old column that still stands; it's at least a hundred years old. Maybe older."

Arnes was in no hurry, really. He was safe and, based on what Nathan had said about the town, would be able to stay for a while if he so chose.

"Perhaps we could see the column later. For now, I just want something to eat and drink. Will your...pet," he didn't like saying "wolf", "be alright in town? Back on Mirth..."

A slip of the tongue, but one that would have happened sooner or later. Not that it much mattered, though; everyone on Mirth was dead. Long dead, in fact, and the buildings were crumbling stone shells, overgrown to the point of being unrecognizable.

"Back on Mirth, dogs were usually left outside of taverns, to avoid patrons riling them and getting into fights."

He yelped at the poke, though not because it hurt so much as that it had also threatened to break one of the vials of Tabasco sauce he carried with him at all times.

"Easy man," Arien said, rubbing his side. "If it's a drink you want, this way then." He led the way towards one of the few taverns he hadn't been expelled from yet. "Just, uh, don't order the chicken if you can help it."

Just before they entered, however, Arien raised an eyebrow. "Do you not like getting drunk? Or what?"

He turned to the human, wondering if the question was meant in seriousness or not. The man seemed like the sort who wouldn't mind getting drunk, so maybe he had been hoping for a drinking contest or something. In any case, the Man in Gold pushed past him and entered the bar.

"Can't," he grunted, "no liver. Strong liquor goes straight to my head. Now, are you going to explain why the chicken is not good to order?"

He realized that if he was going to eat and drink, he would have to remove his helmet, not a concept that he relished, especially with a human that he didn't even know. Not that knowing the human would have made much of a difference, but at least he would have something to call him besides "human".

Nathan caught the hesitancy in Arnes' voice. Obviously whatever had happened on Mirth wasn't something Arnes wanted to delve too deeply into.

"Bella will be fine. I take her everywhere with me and we've yet to get thrown out. Besides," he added wryly, "when your dog can paralyze a drunken man in an alcohol induced rage, it neutralizes most threats." He whistled sharply and Bella returned from her romping in the grasses.

Seeing the gates, Bella sighed and pinned her ears back unhappily. "She's a pup still, but she's fairly well trained," Nathan added when they entered the town. Bella, for her part, stuck to Nathan's leg like glue.

Arnes looked around the town, and was impressed. For what seemed like a secluded little village, it was quaint and well-appointed, if a little quiet. There had certainly been worse places in his life, in any case, and it was nice to be somewhere the locals didn't mind his height or his skin tone. As they passed shops and inns, Arnes wondered what he would do for work; not that he had to worry about that right now, but he didn't have a limitless supply of gold.

"Which tavern are we going to? I'm in the mood for chicken right now; the last place I was in was located in considered chicken to be an unholy meat, so a good plate of roasted chicken has been on my mind for some time."

In fact, it wasn't really the last place that he had been in that had disallowed chicken, but the place before that; however, he wasn't about to say that he had barely escaped with his life from the last place, otherwise Nathan might wonder what sort of a wizard he was.

Arien regarded TMIG for a long moment. "So you get drunk after one drink?" He grinned, obviously finding that hilarious. "Oh man, you'd be hilarious at parties."

At the chicken comment he rolled his eyes. "Well, I just mean they prepare it....differently. You can still get it and it tastes good, but it's maybe not what you'd think of as chicken." At least he didn't--not when it came with gizzards and liver and heart along with the meat. But, maybe he could have fun with this.

He entered the tavern ahead of TMIG and started to head for the bar before realizing that TMIG probably wasn't going to drink. "Uh, you want a table instead?" Arien asked, looking around to find two four-seater tables available. The booths and two-seaters were already taken, although the bar had a few empty stools around it.

He shrugged again, in his usual manner, and stood next to a table, putting his hand on the seat and testing its strength. When it seemed like it would hold him, he gingerly lowered himself into it and the seat held. He then waited for Arien to do the same, expecting the human to sit by him.

"Who do I talk to about the chicken, or a drink for that matter? I assume this place must have servers of some kind?"

He really wasn't comfortable with the idea of taking his helmet off in public, especially in a place he'd never been before, but he might do so if he was enticed by the meal. He could do with a bite to eat, although the necessity of the drink was questionable, and he could always just get rid of the human later. However, there were a lot of other people in the tavern, and the Man in Gold was a hard figure to miss in a crowd even without his helmet. He might need to think this decision over for a moment.

"Chicken? Well, there is one place, maybe two that serve it." Nathan grinned in spite of himself. "What do you mean they thought it was unholy?"

He led the way to tavern just a little out of the way, not noticing Bella's sudden lift of nose into the air, or the way her ears pricked up eagerly. She wagged her tail and sniffed the air again, obviously catching wind of something appealing or familiar.

She turned back to look at the humans and then whined. It was short and quiet, but a whine all the same as she took a few steps towards the tavern.

Arnes laughed and rubbed the back of his head, mussing up his long black hair in the process.

"Well, I guess the locals just had their own cultural problems with chicken. The thing is, though, they would eat turkey just the same! However, I wasn't really around long enough," the truth, as it were, since he had left that place rather quickly as well, "to try any of their recipes."

He approached the door of the tavern and was all smiles; today was turning out to be rather pleasant, now that he wasn't in danger of being mauled by wolves and was going to get himself something to eat and drink. Still, there was something lurking at the back of his mind that gave him pause; this place did look awfully familiar, he just couldn't figure out why.

Arien looked around and caught a server's eye. In a moment the woman was at their table.

"What can I do for you, sirs?" the server inquired.

Arien grinned, and looked at TMIG. "He'll take the chicken and I'll have the stew. Um, as for drinks...an ale for me." He looked at TMIG. "What do you want, water?"

He drew back his cloak for a moment and pulled out a vial of red sauce, which he placed on the table. He tapped his fingers impatiently.

He looked at the server and waved off the suggestion of water; he spoke to her through his helmet in a low grumble, taking no notice of what she wore or how she looked. Humans didn't hold any attraction for him.

"Whiskey, whatever you have on hand. Water it down first. What's on the chicken, specifically?"

He didn't particularly care what was on the chicken, specifically, but he might learn why the human disliked the dish so much. In any case, he was just glad to have found a seat that held him and a tavern that, hopefully, served the drinks he liked. All in all, it wasn't a terrible day. If he could figure out what this Other fellow was up to, then he would consider today to be a success. Calling it a good day would be stretching it, though.