Legends of Lachrymonde

It is a warm sunny day, the weather is nice and the sound of water can be heard all around you. All in all it was the perfect day to set out on a journey.

For most of you this may be your first day in the city of Athalenes, for those people it was probably an impressive sight. All around you tower buildings of white stone, clad with red roofs and streets of water. The sound of chatter from the people on the streets just slightly drowned out by the roar of falls. Even with the current and danger these pose small merchant craft navigate the waterways seemingly oblivious, although probably more tempted by the allure of the days profits. Either way though, this was not the reason you were here.

All of you have been summoned here, to meet your fellow teammates, and form a plan for an expedition. It did not mater what goals brought you here, whether you genuinely believed the eternal winter was a threat, or if you were just in it for the coin. Right now you were supposed to meet up at a local building and plan. While the most obvious choice for a meetup would have been your employers halls, in this case it was instead something more informal, an entire local tavern had been rented out for you "The Twin Falls". Perhaps your employers thought that a few drinks before the trip would do you good, or they just wanted you to have a good meal before you began, either way the note was clear.

Paloma flew up to the tavern, gently landing on the roof. She jumped down off it as a cat before resuming her natural form as she entered the bar. She looked for the bartender, tucking away her ivory wings to form hands. Right now she needed to talk and act if this winter was to be averted.

With a low whine the robot sitting at the table in the middle of the room waved at the newcomer. His body was all flat faces and angles, aggressively segmented by its armor plates. Four eye cameras gazed out at her set in a flat faceplate, unexpressive. Two brands graced his face: one was smooth and seamlessly integrated into his paint, the logo for Krius Technologies. Under it there was a less-perfect but till professional-looking image of the Athalenes Artifact Restoration Company. He was strapped with gear, bags and holsters hanging off his enormous body.

"Hello." The robot said after a moment. "I am the Krius Technologies Valiant Model 33. I am commonly called Valiant. Are you here about the investigation into Lachrymonde's climate? I am the representative of the Athalenes Artifact Restoration Company and a major figure in the same investigation. If you are not involved I would ask you to leave, but if not please do take a seat and tell me about yourself."

Ipa Kita made his way through the city, quietly looking over his notes and curtly apologizing whenever he bumped into someone.

I'd always heard that the cities were crowded, but I never imagined this...

The southeastern man could feel an air of excitement in the daily life in the city of Athalenes, built with grand structures and filled with good things. Certainly, he could feel the presence of his gods in this place.

It's certainly a bit warmer than I expected, He thought about the general atmosphere. Heading this far up north, Kita thought it would've been much colder, especially with the chill threatening his gods' domain. But with Lachrymonde being something of a tropical world, he found it a pleasant surprise that warmth still remained at the center of civilization.

So, the Twin Falls...where is that? Kita's focus was half in the map he was staring into, trying to discern where the expedition party was supposed to meet.

Aboard The Atlas:

The young man stood close to the gunwale, looking out at the easternmost part of the market street. With all its colors, fragrances and people, the market was a captivating sight, but the man didn’t seem to notice. It was apparent that he wasn’t really there, that he, for the moment, was lost in his own mind.

Returning to the real world, the man, whose name was Marco, turned around with a sweeping movement and began to walk across the deck. He went down the stairs into a dimly lit, narrow corridor and entered the map room. Behind a large pile of boxes, a small rumble could be heard, followed by the sound of paper falling to the floor.

“I gave them thirty days leave.” Said Marco, “Everyone but the Mate.”

“I noticed.” Muttered the person behind the boxes, clearly overstrained.

“Isn’t it time?” Marco asked. A letter came flying towards Marco who catched it in midair.

A man who clearly was Marco’s twin brother emerged from behind the boxes and stared in disbelief. “You ask that now? Time was ages ago. I’m going to be late.”

The twin brother, Balthazar, picked up a backpack from one of the corners and walked briskly up the stairs.

edited 27th Mar '16 4:08:38 AM by IsaacTheRed

Marcus Highwind stood on the prow of the military vessel as it closed in on the city of Athalenes, being sure to stand out of the way of the sailors so as not to hinder their progress. A rucksack leaned against his leg, a dragon-styled helmet tied to it by a short cord.

I haven't been here since leave a couple of years ago. He thought to himself, quietly reminiscing. Wish that I had come back under less dire circumstances.

The soldier hefted his pack as the ship pulled up to the dock and was secured, making his way off and onto the dock quickly, using his spear as a staff as he walked.

No point in me wasting my time getting lost. Marcus spotted some people further up the doc who looked like they might know a thing or two about the city. He approached and called out:

"Pardon me, would any of you happen to know the way to 'The Twin Falls' tavern here in the city?"

Aboard The Atlas:

A voice got Balthazar's attention. It belonged to a soldier who had just arrived on a military vessel. "Pardon me, would any of you happen to know the way to 'The Twin Falls' tavern here in the city?"

"Could you wait just a minute?" Balthazar shouted as he turned back and ran down the stairs. He had left the invitation letter in the map room.

“Mind if I take the letter back, Marco?” he asked while quickly snatching it up from the floor and storming up the stairs.

The Docks:

Balthazar looked at the letter. It was addressed to Marco but it was Balthazar who would have to attend the meeting. Marco simply wasn’t going to leave his ship. He opened the letter and read the directions for the third time that day.

“Yes! I’ve got a map here. Seems to be at the other end of the market street.” said Balthazar running off towards the market.

The Market Street:

The market street was ridiculously crowded, especially with people and creatures Balthazar never had seen before. Where he was from magicians were rare, but in Athalenes they were everywhere.

Regularly repeating sentences like “Excuse me.”, “I’m sorry.” and “Could you please let me through?” Balthazar made his way through the market and when he arrived at its western end he could finally see The Twin Falls.

Without realizing it was unnecessary, Balthazar waved his invitation letter as he entered the bar.

edited 27th Mar '16 12:10:50 PM by IsaacTheRed

The Twin Falls

Once Caroline laid an eye on the place, she had recognise it from the time she went with her mom and the Noise Storm crew to celebrate for yet another successful raid on a trade ship. That was also Caroline's first time with alcohol, she was 15 at the time. She ordered a drink called Densugerkuk just so she could look all badass and tough for drinking a really tough, bitter beer as her first drink. She ended up simply sitting at the table barely able to take a sip per minute complaining under her breath about how spicy and bitter it is on her tongue while the rest got drunk and wreck the place up. The sight of seeing her own mother picking fights with her own crewmates with a beer bottle and doing noogie on Caroline's head, all while laughing like an absolute maniac was actually rather heartwarming in Caroline's eyes, it was such a far cry to a cold, calculative side of her mother.

If Caroline Smalls were to be honest with herself, it would be that she was actually rather scared about this meeting; this is her first time doing battles without a boat, without her mother, with people other than the crooks from the slums. She recalled those times because she has been wondering about how her mom gains the respect of the crew and the only thing she observed was to be tough and rowdy with your mates. She let out a big breath, stepped into the bar and shouted, complete with her pointing at nowhere in particular, "Nyaannn~"

That was supposed to be her pirate yell. She does not falter in her image she has made herself and continued on with her introduction "Greeting, I, the Owlet of the Sea, greets you, and I'll be the captain of the crew."

She then emphasised her point by creating two fireballs in each of her hands.

"Who's ready to kick a neverending winter's ass?"

The Twin Falls

For someone like Sollian, meeting in a pub was preferable to a big formal hall or even just on the streets. A pub meant two things, food and booze. Alright, three things if you add... Four. Four things. Food, booze, a usually friendly atmosphere and a crowd to escape through if things go south. Even on top of all those four things, there was also the fact that in her line of work most of her employers liked to settle things in pubs as well so she was pretty familiar with how it went in a place like this. Now all that remained would be to figure out who she was working with amongst the patrons and who the lucky client would be...

And it seemed at least one person has made their presence and intent known, probably a little drunk considering the rather weak feline warcry they put out beforehand. Sollian shrugged to herself and gulped down the last of her admittedly tiny glass of heavily distilled liquor before slithering over to the drunken captain.

"I was noth aware seasons, parthicularly clearly supernathural ones had asses, but if they do then we will thoroughly kick them!"

The Twin Falls

Slamming the door to The Twin Falls open violently, Victor Gallen quietly waved to those he presumed would be his new coworkers on the coming voyage. From what he could tell, they looked like a diverse bunch, which no doubt could lead to all sorts of interesting new fighting styles to watch, as well as new alcoholic beverages to sample and recipes to learn.

But for now, Victor was of the opinion that he should be celebrating his newfound employment, and with that thought in his mind, Vic slumped down at the bar and tried to flag down the bartender.

After waiting for roughly fifteen seconds, Victor slurred "Wait, nah, 've got this one" before sliding over the bar and falling facefirst onto the floor. Quickly kipping up and brushing himself off, Vic began mixing himself a drink that was primarily comprised of the strongest alcohols behind the bar into the largest stein available. Once he was done, Vic called out "Anyone else feelin' thirsty?"

Athalenes was certainly a sight. Massive towers sculpted as though marble, the streets waterways. He took the sidewalk, however - he did weigh quite a bit, and many of the smaller boats would not be able to take him on without gaining the ability to emulate a stone. Of course, this was primarly because of what he wore - a suit of heavy power armor. There was little powered assist, just enough to shrug off the heavy weight of his suit and then some so he could wield the weapon on his back effectively.

It was the sort of thing that compensated for certain inadequacies - a massive, magitech warhammer. His old warhammer had always been effective, but against some enemies it lacked the punch he sorely needed. There were at least three times he could count where he had very nearly been killed because the enemy he was planning to eliminate with a single blow had survived; after the first he had decided that it was untenable, but he simply lacked the necessary funds to acquire the weapon he needed.

Only the head laid on his back, however; upside-down with a slot for the handle, currently at his side. Despite his stature he sieved through the crowds, though he traded speed to do so; Cataphract was not too concerned with getting there quickly. He knew where he was headed, and he knew how to get there; it was merely a matter of time, and he felt that despite possessing the capability to, that using his weight to shove his way through the crowd was impolite, to say the least. People seemed to give him a berth anyways, though; so it was of little note.

After a few minutes where he very nearly became one with the city - his focus on the atmosphere around him, the loud murmur of all of the people around him, the quiet rippling of the wet streets, the sound of wind whipping around Athalenes's impressive buildings - he finally came upon his location; the Twin Falls tavern. He entered, his armor clinking on the floor, as he noted two people close to the door - a Projikt woman, and a human pirate. One seemed drunker than the other. Inside the bar were several other individuals, but his focus was not on them.

"This is where the expedition is gathering, correct?" he asked, out of the blue (or maybe not so much, if you heard him coming).

edited 27th Mar '16 4:12:11 PM by SpartyMcFly

The Twin Falls

Morgana sat in the bar, drinking her favorite cocktail – a glass of blood with a pinch of vodka mixed in. The combination of that sweet red elixir and strong liquor provided her with a delight that she never grew tired of. She took a moment to look around at her surroundings and see who else had gathered her. There was a snake woman, a pirate, a man who appeared to be a knight, another man who had clearly gotten an early start on his drinking, and some strange mechanical being she had never seen before. It seemed there was a rather unique group of individuals assembled here. Of course she was no different – she was tall, deathly pale, had black hetero-chromatic eyes and, of course, was drinking blood.

“Hehe, I like your enthusiasm.”

She grinned, her fangs now prominently displayed.

“And yes, you're in the right place.”

A young kitsune with a giant wrench on her back was perched on a building, shielding her eyes with her hand as she looked around, tail twitching back and forth as she looked out over the town for her destination. If I remember correctly, Lilly said she'd meet me there later on, so I guess I just to wait there. This is so exciting, going outside of the tribe and exploring the world. She let out a small squeeing sound of excitement as she continued thinking about the coming adventure, but then shook her head rapidly to bring her back to the situation at hand. Guess I should find this place. Twin Peaks was it?

She hopped down from the building and landed gracefully on the ground, lifting her goggles up from her eyes and resting them on the top of her head, just below her tall ears, then walked towards what she figured was the bar.

The Twin Falls

Well, that smartass answer from a snake lady caught Owlet offguard, though it's less from how little respect she has shown towards the daughter of a dangerous pirate and more of the fact that she would not think that she would get an answer like that, leaving her in a rather uncomfortable position. Now that she think about it, though, she's not even sure how to transition off such an intro.

"Erm...wrong!" regardless, Caroline pushed on and try to play off that heckle. "We're not gonna kick it! We're gonna fuck it so hard that its anus will bleed-"

She was soon interrupted when a drunken dude stumbled into the bar and dropped face-first onto the floor beside her, followed by a much more menacing dude in armor wielding a huge warhammer coming through. Caroline was about to answer him herself when the lady in the corner answered for her. While showing off her fanged teeth. "Vampire?" Caroline questioned in her head, for she thought that those people were merely of sailor's tales, almost as believable as that one story from a crewmate that he got his dick sucked by a succubus mermaid and then promptly crush his balls.

"So anyways, my friend," Caroline shouted out, deciding to ignore that teeth flash for now and get down to business, as emphasized by her placing her foot on one of the empty stool near her. "So, since we're all going to work together on a dangerous mission, perhaps an icebreaker would be appropriate right now, ay? What would thy be callsign and abilities?"

Lyn'Rae En'Daetak was, as one might put it, completely and utterly out of her element. She hadn't ever seen a city as big as Athalenes before, and to anyone paying attention, it showed. Spending more time gawking at the skyscrapers present than would be reasonable, the Technomancer slowly made her way to her destination; a tavern that her new employers identified as "The Twin Falls". She was not having an easy time of it. The provided map of the city (courtesy of customs) was not as easy to read as she wished, and while she felt like she had to be getting closer, she simply had no way to tell where exactly she was already.

A few questions, re-directions, and helpful Athelenians later, she found herself standing in front of the tavern, a bit tired out but rather relieved that she had finally found her destination. She entered the tavern and sat herself down at the bar, ordered a Tere's End, a rather strong brew known for its odd spiciness, listened to the conversation in the air, and quietly regarded the incredibly pale woman sitting next to her.

The Twin Falls:

Balthazar sat alone at a table as far away as he could from the others. What he saw made him feel sick. Since he had made his discrete and thankfully unnoticed entrance, a few more people had entered. A man who looked like a drunkard had fallen to the floor face first but he seemed to be friendly enough. The person who made him feel sick was a young woman who behaved in a manner he could only describe as bafflingly unpleasant.

The beer was surprisingly tasty, considering its price, so he emptied his stein, decided he wouldn’t run away and whispered “I doubt my brother would take kindly to what you said about being captain, so for the sake of any gods you might worship, calm down.”

As he began walking towards the bar he was relieved that the persons sitting there seemingly were a bit more sensible, though one of them was drinking something that looked suspiciously blood-like.

The Twin Falls

Well now, Caroline thought when the army boy spoken up, someone challenging her credentials in the sea and the field?

"What the devil did you just say about me, you little runt?" Caroline said as she goes up to him, setting her dominance over him by standing tall, stomach in, chest out. Well, as much chest as she can puff out with her flat chest. Frankly, Caroline was more excited than offended. "I'll have you know that I'm the daughter of the Owl, captain of the Noise Storm, ever heard of them? I've been involved in numerous secret raids on various trade ships and I have over..."

She paused her banter for a bit to turn around to recall how much property value she has taken, subconsciously counting them with her own fingers even though she's damn sure that it's over 10. After a bit, she gave up, turned back to the army boy and continued "Well, I've got so much money that I need 3 hands to count them...Say, I haven't gotten your name yet, and I'm not sure that you've heard my introduction a while ago. I am the Owlet and you are...?"

Valiant's head twisted this way and that as yet more patrons entered the bar. Just the latest in his ongoing confusion about this new world. The young girl with all the baubles could clearly take care of herself, and his instinctual drive to be kind and caring towards her had to be manually suppressed. He was too slow to react as the drunk man approached the bar and got himself a drink, and Valiant just felt intense, rending guilt as he did it himself. He latched onto the one thing he was absolutely good at: resolving violent humanoids.

Valiant lurched up, towards the corner of the room, and loomed over Caroline and Balthazar. He took a seat at the table, which just meant that now he was at eye level with Caroline. He angled his head so that his geometric face would get a camera on both of them, and finally spoke. "I would recommend a do-over for the both of you. My name is Valiant. I am particularly skilled at identifying aggression in people, and I have determined that this conversation is laden with veiled threats and plays for supremacy. This argument will not come to blows, but only because I will break or confiscate any and all apparatuses that would enable doing so. Do not think that I mean that either one of those actions is exclusive to your equipment, or to your bodies."

As soon as he said so, Valiant recognized the hypocrisy of threatening people out of threats, but as always played it cool. Not like he had a choice about it. He felt confident he could play it off if necessary, but he'd still just put himself in a bad spot.

Outside the Twin Falls

A small gondola leisurely floated along one of Athalenes' waterways, On it was a woman who looked much too large to be riding such a thing. At the helm was a gondolier who looked extremely nervous but was nonetheless doing his job as best he could.

The woman's glove-clad hand was dipped into the water, and from it faintly glowing ripples could be seen emanating. She was stabilizing the ship with her magic.

Ruka looked around lazily at her surroundings, then noticed that they had just about arrived. Without warning, she stood up and leaped off the boat, taking a step on the surface of the water before bounding again and reaching the shore. She turned back towards the gondolier, put her hands together in front of her, and bowed.

"A thousand blessings, brother." she said, before turning around and entering the tavern.

The gondolier quickly moved his boat away as quickly as he could in case she came back and threatened to capsize the boat once again.

The Twin Falls

Ruka quickly ducked under the door frame so as to avoid hitting her head. The movement was so fluid that it implied she had to do this sort of thing all the time.

She made her way to the bar, and took a seat. It was an awkward fit, but manageable. She took one look at the 'bartender', then gave the drinks behind him a cursory glance.

"I'll just have whatever your daily drink special is, brother. I've got the coin to pay for it." she said dismissively, before turning around and looking at everyone else in the bar.

Quite the sorry lot, but there were a few that caught her eye. Namely the tiny one. She broke out into a smile reflexively at the sight.

Cataphract looked over towards the bar when somebody answered his question - a human woman. No, he corrected, not human. Tall. Pale. Drinking blood. Wearing mostly black clothes. A vampire - though if she was here he assumed that she had no interest in sucking them all dry. Vampires, people tended to forget, were humanoid like everyone else - they just had a rather peculiar method of obtaining sustenance.

He made his way over to the vampire, his armor clanking against the floor as he turned to regard the brewing confrontation between what appeared to be a robot, the pirate from earlier, and who appeared to be a career soldier. He made sure to keep an ear open to try and help the robot in assisting the defusion of tensions, though given how the pirate reacted to someone questioning her authority, a threat of violence might merely exacerbate the situation. As such, he did not answer the pirate yet; he'd answer when she was more friendly, and less likely to crack skulls, or cause them to be cracked.

"Thank you," he stated to Morgana, before turning to keep his eye on the approaching interpersonal storm. More people were starting to enter the bar; this expedition would indeed be well-staffed.

The Twin Falls

Drinking deeply from his stein, Vic held up a finger to Ruka as he began chugging down his cocktail (though to call it a cocktail is stretching a bit). Slamming the (now empty) massive mug down with great force, Victor stumbled over to the orc woman grinning madly. Nodding in response to Ruka as he took a moment to try and figure out what the daily special was and how much it would cost, Vic quickly remembered that he wasn't actually the bartender here.

Lazily pointing at Ruka, Vic slurred "Tell you what, 'm gonna just make you somethin' that someone'f your... constitushun c'n handle an' enjoy. Hope that's okay"

And without another word, the drunken bartender quickly stumbled back to the bar and began mixing up a drink primarily made up of gin, absinthe, vodka and a small layer of rum on top before pouring himself two small shots of rum. Downing the first shot, Victor quickly dropped Ruka's drink in front of her, before snapping his fingers above the glass, igniting the top layer of rum.

Beaming, Vic said "I call this'n the 'Dragon's Breath', or the 'Phoenix Dance'. One'f the two. Either way, enjoy"

Snapping his fingers again over his second shot of rum to ignite it again, Victor quickly drank it down before extinguishing any flames that might have broken out on his face.

Athalenes Streets -> The Twin Falls

Having spent a year in the city Art was almost at the point where he could navigate the walkways while blindfolded. Which is what he was doing now, cloth obscuring his sight as he wiped the remnants of blood from his face. A last-minute patient, and on such an important day too!

Still, he couldn't have very well declined the poor man's request for help. For a moment he felt hesitation- could he really leave on such a grand journey when there were still people in the city who suffered?- but he shook the thought away. This is what he was destined to do. And right now, he was late for it.

Finally he reached the tavern, and he pushed the door open with a little more force than he'd intended. He had no sweat glands, and his armour didn't become dishevelled easily, so the only indication that he'd ran all the way there was his laboured breathing. Leaning against the doorframe, he took a moment to catch his breath and observe the people he'd be working with for the foreseeable future.

Quite a few of them towered over him- to be expected, since Art was embarrassingly small for his age, but it struck fear in him nevertheless. And then he was hit with awe, too, upon sighting the Projikt woman in the crowd. His kind were taught to revere any race that also bore reptilian traits- the village elders theorised that the Nagaji were created to serve full-blooded reptiles, and so that worship was a holdover from those ancient times.

In any case, the mixture of emotions caused him to bow his head and stutter over his words. "Hel- uhm, g-greetings..."

The Twin Falls:

Balthazar was relieved at the sight of the Robot and the Power Armour. They both had a sense of calm to them that made him cool down a notch.

“Thanks, Robot. What’s your name? I’m Balthazar Darzi, Brother of the Captain of the Merchant Vessel Atlas, Marco Darzi. He couldn’t come himself so I’m here in his place.” He said, as he turned around to face the Owlet.

Balthazar realized that the whole Owlet situation would be defused only if he admitted defeat, which he promptly began to do.

“By the way Owlet… Even though I look like a soldier, I’m not a fighter and I recognize that you would easily beat me.” With those words of confession Balthazar tried to calm the situation down while moving his hand forward to shake hands with the pirate.

Behind the Owlet a new guest with a reptilian-like appearance had arrived. He looked like he needed some cheering up so Balthazar dug up his best mood and shouted “Greetings! Welcome! The beer is really good!”

edited 28th Mar '16 11:07:46 AM by IsaacTheRed

Lyn reactively shyed away from the drunken ass mixing drinks. The pirate and robot seemed to have some sort of issue, and this fool here was going to burn everything down if he wasn't careful enough. Were these really the others approached to undertake this expedition?

"Sens'ers'ta" she swore under her breath as she lifted her drink to her lips. Any way things went, at least boring wouldn't be one of them...

The Twin Falls

"Phoenix Dance, huh? Or Dragon Breath? That's certainly the name for a daily special." Ruka replied, taking the flaming drink into one of her hands. With the other, she thrust her hands into the flames, then pulled it back out straight up. The flame actually followed the arc of her motion, spiralling up to form the image of a phoenix ascending into the heavens.

She snapped her fingers and the Phoenix exploded into a harmless shower of pyrotechnics.

"I like the sound of Phoenix Dance more." she said at last, fanning away any remaining flames and taking a sip.

Sweet Ninurta this liquid burned. She didn't cough, though she wanted to. Instead she quickly downed half the mug and set the rest of it down on the table.

"But it taste's like it's got some Dragon in it. Brother, I'll tell you what: the name needs work, but the drink itself is fantastic."

"And speaking of dragons... there's some scales now." Ruka murmured, before taking another sip. She hadn't decided to notice Sollian until now that the second reptilian had decided to make his appearance.