Fire Emblem Tropera

Kiri looked up at the two merchants then down at the velvet bag. Wordlessly she picked it up off the table and opened it slightly to confirm the contents. She honestly wanted to stop Astra considering she didn't want to be there anymore than necessary, but she figured the boy's curiosity wouldn't hurt him too much.

edited 14th Sep '17 5:20:23 AM by Azure

After the time spent in town, Damien is now listening to the others chatting with the merchants. He’s even humming an ode to one of his ancestors and enjoying a fine cup of mead. Good ol’ Robert Mask Robinson. If only he was still around. He’ll teach those damn Vissan a thing or two about honor and chivalry.

edited 14th Sep '17 3:54:18 PM by josh6243

Vera let out a pleased sigh as she sat down at the table in the tavern, her hands and feet feeling wonderfully refreshed. "Ahh, nothing quite like the pleasures of civilization after all that time spent on the road," she said to Kiri, Malia, and the others who had opted to find a a manicurist and pedicurist. "And in a foul pirate ship, as well."

"So there I was," Gramps said from the bar as he drank his tankard of mead. "I hadn't had a sip of wine in months, perhaps even years. When what did I see but the largest bear any man may have the misfortune of seeing... and the beehive he was trying to knock out of a tree." He slammed his hand on the bar.

"But that bear was in for a lesson! There is no force on this Earth more powerful than a man on a quest for alcohol except maybe a daughter who won't stop punching me so what did I do, but I took my staff in hand and attacked the beast. We wrestled for hours - days even.. But I gave as good as I got. He may have bit my shoulder - a scar I still have to this day - but I bit him right back and twice as hard! When he finally died of starvation, I tanned his hide into a bag and used it to ferment the honey from the hive."

He took a large gulp of his other mead tankard. "The mead I made from it was the finest I had ever had the luxury of tasting."

Inside the bag, Kiri found a small, jagged piece of what looked like coal.

____________

Malia raised an eyebrow at Gramps. "That... doesn't sound very hygienic."

Kiri pulls it out and turns it over a few times, trying to confirm if its actually what they were promised.

"If I may?" Ailes said, plucking the fragment from the bag without waiting for Kiri's answer. Holding it aloft like a fabrigee egg, he began to channel magic. Previously-invisible runes began to glow a dull orange, like the last pulsing beats of life within a piece of campfire charcoal as the spymaster's magic caressed its surface.

"There is no doubt. This is what we came for."

"Your room and board are already paid for for the night," Levis said.

"And you'll find a porter waiting with a package for you in the morning," Leva added.

"We wish you luck in your future endeavors," they said together, their timing put slightly off by Leva's tipsiness, and then departed.

Damien continues his mead binge as Gramps and Vera arrive in the tavern while the others investigate a dull gem within the bag given as payment for their deeds. It seems it was an important artifact judging the way it briefly glows.

Vera took the time to note the group's hygiene for some reason. Hopefully, Damien is included among the group even though he's a newcomer in a sea of veterans.

And then Gramps rambles on and on about fighting a bear and skinning him before using the skin to ferment the honey he found from a nearby hive. Damien briefly stares at his partially full mug and turns pale. For the time being, Damien would be reminded of the time Gramps created mead any time he thinks about mead.

“That, uh, was a real good tale,” comments Damien to Gramps. “Do you have any more like that?”

Kiri watched Ailes do his thing, "I suppose that's good enough. I'm going to bed, we should move on as soon as possible."

Michel had initially come along with Gramps and the others to the tavern, but after having a pint or three, he had drifted away form the group and was now playing a game of poker. Although he was losing badly, it was quite likely Michel was too drunk to notice, or care. And he was having fun, at least. At least, until he realized that all of his money had disappeared.

Well, Astra hadn't really been expecting an answer to their question anyway. At least their payment seemed genuine... though paying in counterfeits would likely irreparably damage a merchant's reputation, which would thus make it taboo in Murgavio. "Well... we have... what you came for... so... to Sowtland?"

Their attention was briefly diverted to Gramps' story as he finally came to its end; they had been tuning the old human's voice out with remarkable success until he punched the table. "Honestly... why do people... embellish their stories?" they muttered skeptically, not believing for a second that the bear would have continued fighting until it starved, especially when it had plainly not been making any progress... if the bear had existed at all; they wouldn't put it past Gramps to make such a story up to impress people, from what Grendan had told them.

The rest of the evening and night passed as uneventfully (or not) as the company members liked, and come the morning as they rolled, staggered, or sprung out of bed and gathered in the tavern's common room, they found Malia already busily cataloguing an array of weapons that she had carefully arranged over several tables.

"Good morning!" she chirped, sparing a glance up from her ledger. "Great news! We've got plenty of steel weapons and adept tomes now, and even some more specialized equipment!" Lowering her voice with a conspiratorial grin, she gestured to a sealed crate on the floor at the end of the tables. "And a dozen bottles of the good wine!"

"How fortuitous that you can all stumble into battle properly hazed now," Ailes said crankily. "However, as much as I would rather never to return to such company again, I suggest we return to the... privateer's... ship soon. Every minute we waste here is a moment that Vissan draws closer to total victory."

Vera looked at the box curiously, wondering just what sort of vintage the quartermaster considered "good".

Damien is busy sketching something on a piece of parchment while listening to Malia deliver the good news. They've got some new weapons, tomes, some specialized equipment, and a dozen bottles of wine! Hopefully, that will be enough to take on those accursed Vissan.

“Nice! What kind of equipment do you have in mind for us,” asks Damien in a curious manner. Surely, they have something for him.

edited 16th Sep '17 9:24:35 PM by josh6243

Zeera briefly looked over at whatever the new guy was drawing before shifting her attention back to Malia's announcement. It was strange that this guy was asking about specialized equipment even though they literally just found them while on the island. What was he doing out there anyway? Plus, it's not like many weapons or spell books were made for specific people, except as gifts. A lot of books read somewhat similarly to each other, so it wasn't that hard to figure out how to use a new one even in the heat of battle. Weapons probably were similar, though she never really needed to use them.

The wine didn't really have that much bearing on her. Zeera didn't really like to drink that much.

Still, they had to get a move on. It was nice not to have to sleep in the ship for a bit, but she still didn't like the city all that much. That incident with those council people still left a bad taste in her mouth.

Zeera eyed the others, waiting to see when people were ready.

"I am sure whatever they have here is a good vintage for humans. One day I will have to treat you all to my personal favorite from back home. We call it Gaia's Blood and its made from berries that grow only on the Isle of Draco, aged for at least a century, and said to be naturally infused with energies of the land. Very few of your kind have had a taste." Kiri stated proudly, obviously loving any chance to brag about her home.

While listening to Kiri brag about her kind of alcohol, Damien continues sketching and simply nods to her. It seems he's sketching the tavern as seen from his perspective, complete with tavern goers. Despite the skewed perspective and the obvious proportion issues here and there, he has an eye for detail. Not too bad for a novice. He doesn't mind the stare in his direction as he's too busy sketching to notice.

"After last night, I'm not sure I want to touch alcohol ever again." Michel grumbled. "Money gone, I managed to lose a few arrows after i tried to use them as darts... And of course, a nasty hangover." The youth sighed and tried to blow some hair out of his eye, instead managing to send a jolt of pain through his head with the motion. "I appreciate the new equipment though, Malia. Thank you."

"Perhaps one day we'll visit your homeland. Then I will gladly drink the of wine of your dragon fruit," Vera said to Kiri as she kept inspecting the box.

Vera opened the crate to find bottles with labels wreathed in gold filigree naming dates ranging from three to ten years old. In fact, now that she looked at them, she remembered seeing this label once before, on a bottle that had been given to her parents as a gift from a close family friend when she was a child.

"Well, we've got some new specialty weapons for fighting mounted enemies, and some heavier weapons," Malia said, still not quite sure what to make of the newcomer. He seemed to have attached himself to the company, but had anyone actually inducted him? Was there anyone to induct him? A fresh pang of loss ran through the quartermaster's heart. Tigra would have known what to do here.

She shook her head to clear it as Michel's grumblings reached her. "Should I start holding onto your money for you and giving the bartenders a limit on your tabs, Michel?" she gently chided.

"Here, let me see if I can help with that," Astra offered, approaching Michel with their staff at the ready. "I haven't tried using magic to help with hangovers, but it might work. Just... promise you won't use it as an excuse to get that drunk again, okay?"

Sophia chimed in when Astra spoke up. "Err, My Master always told me not to use magic to cure hangovers, says its fixing a symptom and letting the disease linger." She said giving a particularly nasty look towards Michel.

Astra frowned back at Sophia, asking, "Do you really expect that to help? I think that if the first hangover doesn't stop someone from overindulging, then leaving the second one probably won't either." They turned back to Michel, adding, "Unless this is your first hangover, I don't see any reason to pay attention to her."

"Just drink some water, wuss." Eridan grumbled, not even bothering to look at Michel as he sat down with a cup of coffee. If nothing else, Eridan certainly did not seem to be a morning person. He reached over to grab the ledger from Malia and gave it a cursory inspection, eyes resting on the new Sombra tome. "Well, at least we have some new tomes in."

"Allow me to see that for a moment." Silva reached out her hand to Eridan, asking for the ledger. Eridan merely shot her an annoyed glare before holding up the ledger and returning his attention to the coffee. Silva looked through the company inventory before her eyes fell on one specific weapon on the list.

"In any case, I must suggest we move along." Silva said as she handed the ledger back to the quartermaster. "Our time is not unlimited, and you can engage in your..." Her eyes wandered to Michel's unsightly appearance, then to the crate on the floor. "...leisurely activities on the ship."

"Even if he doesn't learn anything you shouldn't let your magic be abused like that. But if you're going to be contrary then I have better things to do." Sophia said as she walked off with a huff.

Michel chuckled good-naturedly at Malia's little jab. "I don't think we need to go quite that far. Though if I manage to forget this and drink myself into a stupor once again, that may be a good idea." He had been about to thank Astra for the help when cut in with her (significantly worse, in Michel's view) opinion. While she and Astra were arguing, Eridan interjected his own advice, curt though it was. Michel raised his eyebrows at the mage. "Well, someone's grumpy this morning. More - ow - than usual. And besides, I tried that. No help." He had tried to smirk at Eridan, but the motion had just sent another pang through his head. Sophia's dramatic exit from the room brought Michel's attention to Astra. "Anywho, drama notwithstanding, rest assured that I will definitely not get myself drunk again. Probably."