Forums » Fantasy Roleplay » Summer Soiree: The King's Solstice Party

“I appreciate a strong fabric”, said the rhinoman to the tailor. His eyes turned from the dark haired woman to browse over the bits of cloth she had on display. “Tell you what, yeah?” A smirk twisted over Mokk’s narrow lower jaw. “These crocodiles have harassed my clan and I since I was a youth. Suppose we start capturing these stinkers and making outfits outta them.”

“My people eat no meat”, he said as he turned to look back out of the tent. “But the hunter can still become the hunted.” The crocodiles Mokk spoke of had a uniquely striped hide. This incorporated dark blue black pigment as well as several white pebbles between back scales.

Not too far away was Arundriel and his set of tents. He rushed to the side of the woman who fell. “Oh dear”, that was a tremendous breeze”, the high elf said while helping to lift Ayah. When he saw her clothing had ripped, he said “I’ll fix your new clothing up right away. There will be no charge to you.”

The elf figured it was the least he could do. He also hoped it would establish beneficial ties to him and the company which were more important than one sale.

Back in Pluvio’s tent, King Haar saw the response to what the two gnomes saw Pluvio do and for what reason. It showed the extent of magic on hand to he King, enough to bend the weather to the ruler’s whims.

“It’s good to be the King”, said Haar as he stepped out of the tent.

The high elf stood tall as he listened to the captain’s story. She was about two inches taller than him. There was a look of surprise washing over Bel-Urvon’s face when she made it clear how rare female soldiers were in her army. “That sounds like quite the dangerous mission, indeed”, he said while thinking of the assignment that left her with scars.

“That’s the thing with Luvaria’s mixed army of conscript service.” He turned to look out across the scene of the festival. In the distance, people danced on the wooden stage around a pole covered in fresh foliage and flowers. “The dwarven women were some of the first to integrate. Then the elven women entered service. Soon after, it all came down to merit. If one can pass physical examinations and testing, they can serve in the King’s Army. Now the Army of Luvaria is quite a diverse organization.”

Bel-Urvon and Lady Gwen were not from the local unit of conscripts. They were a part of a Noble Order always ready to represent the interests of the King even if deployed far away.

“ thank you for helping. You sure I don’t owe you anything?” The fae seemed to be in a dark mood for somebody messing with the weather without care. Ayah got up slow and once she was up she summoned her staff to her. She looked at the elf. “um That was not natural wind. Do you know what caused it?” She asked.

"I'm sure in time if more female elves took up the interest, they would consult the Queen and most likely be allowed to join. So far it seems I'm the only one who is interested. Well. There is my cousin, Cristiel Snowwalker, who can and does fight. However. She's not in the military. But her brother, my older cousin, Nethraunien Snowwalker, wanted his sister to be better prepared in case. Which is how I learned to fight before joining the military."

Falathiel had taken note of the strong wind that had blown by, reaching to snag hold of a stall wall near by to keep herself from falling.

"What on Earth was that?"

Arudriel couldn’t help but grin for a moment after Ayah asked him what the cause was. He thought of how foreign such a change could be to somebody here for the first time. Locals had grown to almost expect such interruptions.

“I would guess that the King felt.... Humid”, the high elf said while walking alongside Ayah. “King Haar commands a weather-mage to break the humidity every time it gets too warm. Arc lighting rips across what appears to be the dome of the sky every time he does”, said the elf. “Dreadfully frightful if you ask me.”

“And no, I cannot charge you. Not after sudden surprise damaged your wardrobe. You are a guest to Luvaria.”

Bel-Urvon nodded as he thought of the history she shared. He couldn’t help but wonder what such a heavily elven culture looked like, from the architecture to the infrastructure. It would likely be very different than such a mixed place like Luvaria.

He rocked slightly in the gust before digging his boots firmly into the ground. The flaps of material hanging from his belt lifted and flowed hard to the side, tossing the emblem on the King’s Army to flap in the wind.

“Ah, ‘tis the doing of a local weatherworker, Captain. This one always seems to lose control of the wind every time he builds lightning.”

Ayah was surprised. “Thank you your most kind. In my land we use weather crystal instead of changing the weather. Weather can affect magic and really affect the fae if use to much. So unless for spiritual reasons or other reasons we don’t mess with the weather. It can ruin the balance of nature. That why we use weather crystals.” She held up a crystal on her neck. “ there 4 color and different shades. Each color represents a season and each shade represents the kind of weather. We use weather mages to make these crystals. We choose the shad we want for that season and put our and it makes us feel that curtain weather no matter the real weather.”

"I see...I was not aware of such a power of a mage. I will do well to keep that in mind, for future reference. While this might be my first experience with such magic, I doubt it will be my last."

Falathiel would muse. She hoped her friend Bowen was doing alright in the dwarven tent with that wind going on.

All work and no play made a certain dwarven Paladin a very dull girl, and as a devotee of a love goddess it was kind of in Amethyst’s job description to not become a surly workaholic.

“Hello there lads and lasses!” Greeted the cheerful lass, her mop of pink hair in open display as she had opted to approach the festivities in a simple uniform rather than decked out in armor as was her usual.

Jip watched with interest and wonder as Pluvio cast his weather spell. "How did ya do..." he started to asked, but those thoughts were stolen away by the King. More specifically, the multiple red colored gems. He nudged Taluna and jerked his head toward the rubies with a conspiratorial grin.

"I think we were done, Mr. King... uh... sir... sire... your majesty," the gnome answered, jumping down off the chair and approaching the King.

At the very least, this seemed a good excuse to slip out without paying.

Or, best case scenario, see if any of those rubies might "accidentally" shake loose.

“Huh? Oh! Yep!” Taluna was pulled out of her rage by Jip’s nudging and she giggled mischievously as she followed him.

She would leave the actual snatching of the gems up to him though, seeing that he was probably the better rogue out of the two of them.

She already does melee combat AND magic, if she added pick pocketing to all that she’d be ridiculously overpowered!

He labradorite stone slab continued to glow alongside the dark elf taskmage. A sheen of light sweat coated his bald forehead and skull. Pluvio’s expression appeared completely exhausted. He slunk back against his chair, whispering the arcane chant repeatedly.

He started to answer when the gnome asked how he was able to do this. But the King began to leave soon afterwards. Pluvio gave a curt head nod to the Royal as he departed. The drow had forecast that these gnomes weren’t going to pay. The King paid many of the merchants in advance for a percentage of wares. This meant cash paid was more like a tip, as many things had already been paid for. Everybody was entitled to their free share of steak and beer in the dwarf tent, for example. This came from King Haar’s Court paying the dwarves in advance for their services.

“Yes, yes. Leave me to recover”, the drow murmured between chants. “Safe travels to you all.”

It was a way for the Kingdom to thank its people and allies. With his guests gone, Pluvio felt it would be a good time to rest up. Interacting with a strong entity like a local weather system was an overwhelmingly draining process. Pluvio whispered the closing verse to his ties with the system.

Things began to return to a calm within the mind of the weathermage. He threw an arm over his eyes while twisting around on a cot set up for the event. He needed to recharge to get back to his prior state.

“There are many new surprises in store as well“, Bel-Urvon said as she mentioned expecting the need to get used to magic. “Expect the unexpected. That’s for sure.” Bel-Urvon continued to scan events happening around him. He had momentarily lost sight of the King as he had moved into a group of tents.

Even the large steaks the dwarves were cooking may have been a surprise for Falathiel, especially given the three-horned beast from which they came.

The high elf knight noticed the arrival of a lady dwarf. Bel-Urvon bowed his head to the dwarf before saying, “Welcome, welcome. I hope your travels were fair.”

“Looking for anything in particular?” He turned to Falathiel after he spoke to gauge her reaction to the dwarf.

Falathiel would look back to Bel-Urvon as he spoke, she'd been looking around again to take in the surrounding more.

"There wasn't really anything in particular I was looking for. I was just looking around in general. I don't really attend these types of things, and my Queen decided that I should go forth and see this festive for once rather than remain at the castle. Apparently her second son, Isuel, had a hand in it as well. He's a sneaky, crafty Prince he is. But I know they are looking after my best interest, since I don't do a lot outside of my duty."

Amethyst’s hazel eyes widened as Bel greeted her, a grin on her face when she saw the holy symbols on the elf’s clothes. What a coincidence that the first person to greet her in the festival would be another Paladin!

“Ah! A fellow divine warrior! Thank you for the warm welcome.” She grinned before shrugging her broad shoulders at the question of her travels. “Oh, as fair as they can be, I suppose. The goddess has blessed me with an untroubled journey thus far.”

She looked around and noticed the big tent being manned almost entirely by dwarves! “Oh! What’s going on over there?” She wondered out loud moving towards it to be in the company of her kin.

"What fun is that?" Jip mused to Pluvio's wishes of safe travels. But he didn't stick around to hear the answer, slipping out after the king, hopefully with Taluna not far behind.

He couldn't very well just snatch the crown and run... could he? Haar was much, much taller, so unless Jip was willing to climb up the king (not an idea he was ready to completely rule out), he'd have to wait until King Haar sat down or removed his crown.

For now, he just kept the king in his sight. "Did the dark elf fellow say which direction we had to go for the kobolds and the treasure?" he'd gotten a bit distracted by the whole lightning thing and then spotting the red stones that Pluvio claimed they needed.

“Hmm.” Taluna was indeed following along with her fellow gnome and she tapped her chin thoughtfully trying to recall the events within the seer’s tent. Honestly, as soon as kobolds had been mentioned she kind of had gotten completely distracted, perhaps more so than Jip.

“Let’s see, he said something about rocks, and fake diplomacy, a.k.a. bluffing, and cupcakes... oh no wait, that was me thinking about cupcakes, hmmm.”

She snapped her fingers. “Ah! He said something about a big cave. Are there any caves around here, Jip? You’re the ranger.”

King Haar was no fool. There could only be one reason such grizzled looking gnomes would be so excited to see him. They were clearly in the midst of one scheme or another. Haar wasn’t worried. Besides, maybe he had them all wrong.

“I must simply inform you both that my pets are nearby. Now, do not startle them when they arrive.” King Haar’s brow lowered behind a coy smile while he looked from gnome to gnome.

The King tilted his head back and barked a caw-like call three times. “Tremendous animals”, Haar told the gnomes and anyone else within earshot. Some might even wonder if the King was delirious at the moment.

Rin rose from the table and was en route for a refill when he noticed a new dwarf approaching. “Step right up, fair lass”, said the hill dwarf as the paladin approached. “Pull up fer your share a Kegsasunder’s Own original ale.”

“Freshly grilled beast steak, as well”, shouted one of the dwarven cooks from behind a massive grill. Large portions of meat filled massive pans over grills.

“I don’ supposed you’re a musician at all, are ye?” Rin seemed to be wishing when he added, “could right use some proper dwarven music, oh aye.” Bowing slightly he adds, “I hope ye travels faired ye well. Long trip, I take it.”

Rin figured the dwarven paladin must have looked like a potential singer.

"Hail brother!" Amethyst greeted Rin cheerfully, her eyes widening as she nearly salivated at all the meat and ale available. Paladin that she may be, Amethyst was still a dwarf, and she had a voracious appetite!

"Oooh! Don't mind if I do! Thank you!" She approached the tent and looked around. Quite a few dwarves here, and yet she couldn't help but notice that they were all male. Amethyst was such a lonely lass sometimes..

"Hm?" Her attention was pulled back to Rin when he asked if she was a musician. "As a follower of the goddess of love, I have sought to learn as much as I can about musical arts, for there is much beauty in them." She declared, and after a pause, she added. "Sadly, I've not been very good at learning an instrument- but I can sing!" Well, no one said she was a very good Paladin. Amethyst tries, but outside of her healing spells she mostly relies on her axe like a good proper dwarf.

"Aye, the journey has been long but I am quite used to it. Such is the nature of the adventuring profession."