Bona-Fide Mastah
Markonville Adventurer's Guild
Maria takes the listing down from the board. "Okay then, simply sign here...and here."
The tapping of a staff heralds the return of Reynial from the kitchen. "Rejoice, mortal! For I have returned!"
"Oh, Reynie, perfect timing."
Despite his sputtering at the nickname, Maria manages to relay the situation to her little brother.
Reyn taps his chin thoughtfully. "I see..very well then."
He turns to the oni woman. "I suppose I shall grant you the honor of my aid, mortal! My flames will surely turn the tide."
Mariayn gives the oni a look that says, 'yes, he is always like this.'
THE SLORG!
Markonville, the Adventurers' Guild
The oni woman stared at Reynial and blinked once, then laughed. "I don't recall asking for your help, but if you're willing to come along for an equal cut just like the rest of us, then I don't think they'll mind" the oni woman said as she signed her name. 'Trikiz Paquet' is what she put down; the first name was much like oni Ashlander names, but the last name wasn't at all. Rather, it was like an Aldanian human last name.
Either she was completely fibbing her name, or there was something more than what was apparent on the surface going on. Perhaps she was only half-oni? Half-oni are very rare in the world. This is not due to any biological difficulty; oni are perfectly capable of having offspring with other races in the physical sense. It's extremely rare though because of how the oni look down upon other races, and aren't generally liked by other races either. Any oni who would bear offspring with someone of another race would certainly be exiled from the Ashlands, along with their children, and wouldn't find much welcome in other kingdoms either.
You are reading this.
Bona-Fide Mastah
Markonville Adventurer's Guild
Reyn taps his chin. "Hrmph...your terms are...acceptable. Our contract is sealed then...Reynial the Rising Flame shall be at your service."
Mariayn tilts her head as she reads the name. The guild had worked with outcast Oni before, so this is not a real surprise to her. (I see...)
She looks at Reynial as he makes to leave. (Maybe...hehe-!)
Then she realizes. "Ah-! Reynie, you need to sign too, you know!"
A beat passes.
"Oh...right." Reyn coughs, then turns back to pick up the quill his sister offers him.
"Your full name, this time? I'm not correcting it again."
Reynial gulps audibly, eyes darting back and forth. "F...Fine..." It seems that his little act crumbles to pieces before his sister. Even so, he signs, "Reynial Cil Fortensia."
In the meantime, Yarris followed Willowbark back to his shop and kept his thoughts about Arkas to himself.
THE SLORG!
Markonville, the Adventurers' Guild
"'The Rising Flame'? That's an interesting title. Did you come up with it yourself?" Trikiz asked, not looking at Reynial's signature. "Oh, and we better get going to the dungeon entrance; my party's probably already waiting" she added, and moved to head out the door.
She nearly ran into a slightly short human man as he entered the same door. The man was the local royal courier; he worked for the lord who owned the land, rather than the high royalty of Aldan, but he still carried himself with an air of dignity and authority. He was relatively well known around the town, in that everyone who stayed in the town for some time would probably know how to recognize his formal uniform, even if they didn't know much about him personally, since he didn't mingle with people much.
The courier was a little taken aback at nearly being run into, and quickly took a step aside to give Trikiz room; though he also deliberately cleared his throat in a manner that showed disapproval.
"Oh, uh, sorry" Trikiz muttered in a slightly awkward tone, then went out the door. The courier watched her leave with a judgemental stare.
You are reading this.
For the Horde!
Berryleaf thought for a moment, smiling at the mention of pressure-activated trigger stones.
"Well, I can fly," Berryleaf said simply, lifting off with a bit of a hop and hovering in midair in front of the tavernkeep. "So I should be able to fly above the ground and scout for the others without falling in danger of the pressure stones," she explained.
She thought for a moment when Sarah asked if she could cure poison.
"It depends on the poison. I can cure minor natural poisons, though I've always relied on my father's antidotes for more serious ailments. I'll pick up a couple of them before I head to the dungeon," she explained.
Willowbark led Yarris over to his potion shop, pulling a small and rustic-looking key from somewhere in his beard and putting it in the lock that he put on the door.
Entering the shop, he gestured for Yarris to follow, before moving behind the counter and flipping through an old worn tome.
"Let's see... necromancy, necromancy... what do I have to cure curses of necromancy..." he muttered under his breath, adjusting his glasses as his old eyes squinted at the scribbles on the pages.
I can still hail the Horde even though the company has shamed us. Strength and Honor even if Blizzard has neither.
THE SLORG!
Markonville, the Charging Bear inn
"Well then, that should serve you well" Sarah agreed with a nod about the flight, but then thought about something. After a brief silence, she added in a joking tone, "though there won't be any hay carts to land in down there."
"Now, if you can cure minor natural poisons, then that's good. That is mostly what's down there" Sarah mentioned, flipping through the second book. Once upon a time I wanted to see if I could make them all have much more potent venoms. Thank goodness I never figured it out. "There's only two things I can think of that have stronger poisons you may not be able to heal..." she continued, and stopped on a page to show to Berryleaf.
There was an illustration of a few hornet-like bugs; while still quite large for bugs at roughly the size of a lemon, they were relatively small compared to other bugs on the floor. In the illustration there was a bright blue one and a bright yellow one, while the notes alongside indicated that they also came in shades of bright purple, orange, and other vivid colors, though not green. "Poison ringback hornets; along with the sting hurting a lot, it can completely paralyze even a full grown orc for as long as an hour. It wears off with side effects that are quite painful but ultimately non fatal on its own, however being unable to move at the mercy of the other creatures in the floor is a death sentence" Sarah explained.
Then she flipped through to another page, where there was an illustration of two nearly identical looking plants with multi-color flowers side by side. Berryleaf would probably recognize one from working with her father. "Then there's a nasty trick the Demon Queen left on that floor. I'm guessing you already know this one: The rare sunrise flower; 'the lifegiver'. Nectar collected from it is a potent healing agent on its own, and can be refined into even better potions" Sarah started, tapping on the flower illustrated on the left. "But this is an equally rare imitator plant; the nectar from it is so poisonous it will kill anyone in less than a minute if not treated. The Demon Queen left both on that second floor, to try and trick those looking for healing on the floor into using the latter. You can tell them apart by the shape of their leaves underneath the flower" she concluded, motioning to the right hand illustration.
"Both those hornets and those plants are rare on the floor though" Sarah added as an afterthought.
You are reading this.
Bona-Fide Mastah
Markonville Adventurer's Guild
Reynial barely acknowledges the rude courier. Not aloud anyway. Another human asshole...tch.
It's then he answers the question, "This title of mine? T'was not by my mind but by that of Master Arkevin that bestowed this moniker upon me. I wear it with pride." He says as he steps outside.
Mariayn meanwhile greets the courier as usual.
THE SLORG!
Markonville, leaving the adventurers' guild
"Master Arkevin? Who's that?" Trikiz asked simply as they walked out.
Markonville, back in the adventurers' guild
The courier watched the two leave until the door was shut, then readjusted his uniform and moved to the counter to address Mariayn. "Excuse me miss. Lord Emilien Humbert Ledford would like to make a formal request of the guild" the courier said, reaching into his coat to grab some official looking scrolls. It was far from the first time Lord Ledford, the lord who owned the land the town resided upon, had made requests from the guild. He would send for quests to be added to their board usually at least once a month. The downside was, being a noble, he had an expectation of being taken seriously and promptly; the upside was, being a noble, he paid really well.
However, he usually sent one of his personal guardsmen with firsthand details of what was needed for the quest, not his courier; so this was probably different. "As you may have heard already, the lord has commissioned for an open play to be held in the town square upon the festival of the Demon Queen's defeat" the courier started, placing down and unrolling one of the scrolls to show a fancy poster for the play. "As the guild is frequented by travelers from out of town, the lord wishes to place one of these posters here outside your front door, and another inside upon your questing board" he explained.
You are reading this.
Bona-Fide Mastah
Markonville
Reynial raises an eyebrow, "You know not of Arkevin the Ancient? The Sage who has seen no less than 200 years of knowledge?"
He slaps his palm to his chest. "He who would go so far as to share his secrets with history's finest magic casters?!"
Markonville Adventurers' Guild
Hearing this, Mariayn bows slightly, "Ah, but of course! I saw those advertisements around town recently myself. If Lord Ledford wishes it, I can certainly fine a spot to display them."
THE SLORG!
Markonville streets
"Oh... Well, I know it may be hard to believe, but I can barely cast any magic. So, I don't keep up much with famous spell casters" Trikiz admitted, idly kicking a loose stone down the road as she walked. "So... How far down have you actually gone?" the oni woman then asked.
Markonville, the Adventurers' Guild
"Very good, miss" the courier said in an amicable tone, placing his other scrolls down on the counter. "Additionally, if the guild or anyone in it would like to assist with or personally contribute towards the play or the night market festival afterward, they are welcome to come to Lord Ledford's estate and visit with his organizers" the man stated, readjusting his uniform again.
Lord Ledford, mostly for publicity purposes, had a manor built in Markonville relatively hastily while the town was first being founded, and moved his personal estate there. Mainly he just wanted to be able to claim that he lived atop the Demon Queen's lair. It was actually at the top of one of the two hills the entrance laid in the nook of. (The other hilltop had a special watchtower, which was mainly there to watch the Ashlands border to the North.)
Edited by FirockFinion on Jul 23rd 2020 at 1:19:01 PM
You are reading this.
“Ewww…did he just take that key from his-?” Yarris shuddered under his breath as he saw Willowbark pull out the key to his shop from his beard. He did think about commenting on this further but decided to forget it ever happened. “No come on Yarris, your better than this.” He added shaking off this little thought. Yarris then followed Willowbark towards the counter he where the latter started looking through his tome.
“Are ya certain that you can find something for me? Because let me tell ya, I’ve been like this for quite a while now.” Yarris then said to Willowbark clarifying if he could help the veteran adventurer out with his troubles.
Edited by TheStarscream759 on Jul 23rd 2020 at 6:04:44 PM
Bona-Fide Mastah
Markonville
Reyn falters slightly. "O-Oh...I.." ahem, "I see."
He clears his throat. "With the Lair's ever-changing nature, I've not gone further than a part of the way into the 2nd floor...primarily to hunt for specialty items to sell at the guild."
Markonville Adventurers' Guild.
Mariayn nods her head once, "I shall keep that in mind. You have my thanks, good courier~."
Hopefully, the "good lord" can keep his eyes from wandering this time.
Markonville Adventurer's Guild
It had been a scant week since Haze began setting up shop in the town of adventurers, so far it had only really consisted of spending most of his savings on finding a (hopefully) good location, bringing his initial stock of gear to sell, and dealing with the various bureaucracies, fees and paperwork requisite to make sure everything was kosher.
Now the blue scaled young man walked barefoot down the street carrying a stack of fliers in his arms, eyes glancing about taking in the atmosphere he was still adjusting to while looking for more places that seemed likely to draw in adventurers on his way to one of his first stops of the day, the Adventurer's Guild.
Haze pushed the door of the building open and offered a tentative "Hello?" before pausing as he noticed the uniformed official in front of the desk "Ah, you're already busy, excuse me"
THE SLORG!
Markonville streets
Trikiz stared at Reynial, blinking once. "... Oh. Well that's, good for you" Trikiz muttered, clearly a bit disappointed, and returned her attention to the cobbles of the street.
Markonville, the Adventurers' Guild
"Alright, then I bid you good day" the courier said, bowing his head a brief moment, then turning to look as the new arrival suddenly walked in. The courier narrowed his eyes with some suspicion as he first regarded Haze, clearly noting the scale-covered hand and feet. After a few moments though, especially seeing the tail and lack of horns, the courier's gaze eased. Somewhat.
"Our business was just finished, and I must be off for other errands" the courier noted, while once again readjusting his uniform in some habitual movement, then moving to go past Haze to the door.
You are reading this.
Bona-Fide Mastah
Markonville Streets
Reyn fiddles with the brim of his hat and bites the tip of his thumbnail, turning his gaze down to the street. Well excuse me for not being super experienced-
He shakes the thought from his head, No, just...stay reasonable...at least you're getting something from this.
He continues to walk in silence.
Markonville Adventurers' Guild
Mariayn waves as the courier leaves. Well, that happened...oh well, nobody's perfect.
She gathers the posters to put up later, then turns her attention to the new arrival.
"Oh! Well, you're a new face. Welcome to the Guild, how can I help you?" she asks, tilting her head to the side, flashing her brightest smile.
For the Horde!
Berryleaf furrowed her brow, listening as Sarah explained the creatures that lived in the wild areas of the dungeon.
"I think I've seen that flower, yes. They're rare even in Linatharan. If I could get seeds from the lifegiver plant, maybe my father could cultivate them in his shop," she said.
Willowbark ignored Yarris' protests and continued to leaf through his book. He stopped flipping through when he got to a certain page, his finger running down the lines of the page as he read it to himself quietly, adjusting his glasses.
"I'll see what I can do," Willowbark stated. "There might be something here that can purify necromantic curses. A-ha," he said. "It seems I have one bottle of dispel elixir left. Would you like to try it? It's 180 gold for a bottle."
Edited by AllHailThrall on Jul 26th 2020 at 9:14:21 AM
I can still hail the Horde even though the company has shamed us. Strength and Honor even if Blizzard has neither.
Markonville Adventurer's Guild
Seems like someone's grumpy...
Haze nods in acknowledgement and steps aside to let the courier through the door, he smiles slightly in response to the elf's refreshing welcome. "Yeah, I moved in just recently" The Cloudscale clears his throat, attempting to put on a more professional face as he approaches the counter and pulls one of the fliers out of his stack to hold out for Mariayn to see "I was hoping you'd have someplace this could go up so the adventurers would see it?"
The flier bears an identical mark to the sign over his shop - a slit eye looking through a magnifying glass, and in large print reads:
Edited by BlitzTrain on Jul 26th 2020 at 4:17:30 AM
THE SLORG!
Markonville, the Charging Bear inn
"That would be quite the feat; I hear the plant rarely seeds, and is notoriously difficult to move from where it's planted without harming it" Sarah said in a sort of optimistic tone. Hence why it was a rare plant, despite its incredible usefulness. "Still, with the benefit that could provide to everyone, by all means, perhaps you should try" she commented with a smile.
Then Sarah had to think for a moment, and was abruptly taken aback with what she herself had just said. Did I just encourage someone to go into the lair? "Uh, but only if you can stay completely safe while doing so, of course. I don't think that accomplishment would be worth risking your life" Sarah added, holding up her hands in a motion of caution. "Plus, who knows how the creatures on the floor might react" she muttered, glancing back down at the notebook. The flower is quite important to the giant insects down there from what I remember. Is that still the case now? Surely nearly all the insects I put down there are dead now, and the ones there currently are their descendants. Furthermore, how would I explain this information without risking revelation that I know more than I should?
Edited by FirockFinion on Jul 26th 2020 at 6:37:41 AM
You are reading this.
Bona-Fide Mastah
Markonville Adventurers' Guild
"Hmmmm, I see, I see..." Maria nods, tapping her chin, "You deal in magic items? Hehe~! My little brother would have a field day with you."
She snaps her fingers, "A-hah! I think there's some advertising space over the bar! I can put it there after closing!"
THE SLORG!
Markonville, the lair entrance
After a continued stretch of walking in awkward silence, Trikiz looked up and pointed ahead at the familiar stone wall that blocked off the entrance of the lair. "Ah, here we are!" Trikiz said, and hurried ahead to the gate. Two guardsmen of Lord Ledford's estate stood watch at the gate, keeping their attention more towards the actual entrance of the lair than the outside. "Excuse me, two coming in please" the oni woman requested.
One of the guardsmen glanced over his shoulder at Trikiz, then simply pushed one half of the iron gate open with one arm; it wasn't even locked. There was pretty much always at least two guardsmen there, but their job was just to do two things: Make sure nobody walked into the lair accidentally without knowing what it was, and be ready in case something dangerous decided to come out of the dungeon. Given that the latter had happened only a handful of times since Markonville had been settled, and was usually something as simple as a giant rat, plus it wasn't uncommon for there to be wannabe adventurers waiting around the entrance eager for a fight anyway, it was usually a pretty boring assignment. Adventurers had gotten into fights with each other over various disputes at the entrance more times than monsters had come out.
That said, there was one significant event there involving something coming out of the dungeon. About a year and a half ago, an unlucky group of adventurers had to flee out of the dungeon after reaching the third floor, and a large water elemental had chased them all the way to the entrance. Thankfully, no one died, but in the ensuing chaos, nine people were injured, including all four of the adventurers in that party, three who were part of another party waiting at the entrance, and both the gate guards who were on duty at the time. One adventurer had evidently ended up ingesting part of the water elemental during the fighting, and suffered from stomach cramps for a whole month.
Fun little history lesson aside, the guardsman who opened the gate watched Trikiz walk in, then looked at Reyn. The man's expression was hard to read through his helmet, but it seemed probably a bit judgemental.
Other adventurers were gathered around in the clearing, and Trikiz quickly moved over to two of them. "Dhremir, Ailuin, there you are" Trikiz called, walking to the two adventurers that had encountered a certain faerie outside the inn just a while ago. "I got a quest from the guild, and someone to come with us; he'll just be taking an equal fourth of the cut" the oni woman explained, motioning to Reyn.
"Fifth, actually" Dhremir muttered with a bit of a grunt, his arms folded.
"We also found someone to come with us, a healer in fact. Hopefully she'll be here soon" Ailuin the elf explained. Ailuin then looked at Reyn and leaned in to say a bit quieter, "don't mind Dhremir, he's just..." The elf glanced over at the stone entryway of the lair, where the dwarf was currently glaring. Other adventurers were also casting looks of various expressions that way, as two oni warriors were just finishing their own preparations before walking down the steps.
"A couple of pure-blood oni going in there; it's suspicious I say. They could have a very nefarious goal" Dhremir noted with displeasure.
"Well what about Trikiz then?" Ailuin pointed out.
"She's only half blood, and wasn't raised in the Ashlands; she doesn't count" Dhremir retorted a bit dismissively, turning to face the elf and oni woman. "Besides, she's too young to have been any part of the Demon Queen's schemes; but those two? They could be far older than the Queen for all we know" the dwarf continued.
You are reading this.
For the Horde!
Berryleaf nodded.
"All the more reason for me to do it," she said. "And yeah, I'll be super careful. Now I need to hurry and get to the lair. Those guys must be wondering where I am! Thanks for the help!" she exclaimed, turning around and breaking out into a run towards the door, lifting off into flight once she cleared the building.
Looking down over the streets as she flew low over the town, she noticed the distinctive wall and landed, moving over towards the gates.
"Sorry I'm late!" she said. "I had to get some more information. Wow, there are a lot of people here..." She looked around at the gathered group. "Oh man, it's about to happen. Dorian's gonna be so proud of me..." she muttered under her breath. Clearing her throat, she looked back up at her group and noticed her own companions.
"I don't think we've introduced. My name's Berryleaf," she greeted, curtseying gently.
I can still hail the Horde even though the company has shamed us. Strength and Honor even if Blizzard has neither.
This was it, the moment of truth, the one chance to turn back into a human. But wait, this seemed easy a feat, too easy at that. Yarris had been a skeleton like he said for quite some time and it seemed too convenient that the one shop that he had visited until today in a new location that he had never been to before, had the answer. Yarris looked at the elixir that Willowbark was offering for a couple of minutes as he thought this through. On one hand, it could bring him back to normal, on the other hand, it could either make him worse than he already was. But at the same, Yarris didn’t want the latter to be the case but again there had to be a catch somewhere, he didn’t know what it was but he was certain there was a catch to whatever he was about to do.
Finally Yarris made his decision: “Alright Willowbark, I’ll take the elixir. But I have no idea what’s gonna happen next so I’m gonna be prepared for anythin’ here.” And with that, he placed some coins on the counter and then held out his hands to take the elixir.
Markonville Adventurer's Guild
"Sounds good to me" Haze had been hoping for his flier to be seen from the quest board at most, so the idea of putting it right at the bar earned a small smile from the man. "So you have a little brother? Is he interested in buying or selling?"
Markonville, Charging Bear inn
"How they got down there is a question that possibly only the Demon Queen herself could answer. Though I can certainly tell you why they're down there" Sarah said, walking into the kitchen and placing the basket down, then walking over to where there was a shelf high on the wall with some books on it. "The same reason as nearly all of it: To make that gods-accursed place all the more dangerous to go through" she elaborated, while grabbing two of the books.
I got a crop of them as a gift from one of the other oni clans. Back at the height of my power when I seemed unstoppable, nearly all of them wanted me to think of them as friends and allies, so they sent me quite a few exotic gifts. How the other clan got them in the first place, I have no idea.
"Now, I already know that the party you're going with want to go to the second floor" Sarah started, placing the two notebooks on the counter. They were part of a collection she'd started working on not long after arriving in Markonville five years ago; each book was for a different floor of the lair, and filled with information on what lay in them. Basically it was just taking the information she'd learned and overheard and putting it down in writing and illustrations; and certainly not known from any other kind of source, no...
"Since they've already been through it, you probably won't have to worry about the first much, but what you should know is that the biggest danger there is traps. Certain stones in the floor will actually be pressure sensitive, and trigger the traps when stepped on. The trigger stones are all marked, though the marks are subtle" Sarah explained, opening the first book and showing Berryleaf illustrations of the various marked stones; one had a small triangle notched into a corner, one just looked cracked but the crack was always at a certain angle, and so on. "Most often they'll be in the middle of open doorways and hallways, but they can be found at random in the middle of open rooms as well. Other than that, just look out for the giant rats and such" the innkeeper went on, then pushed that book aside and opened the second book, the one for the second floor.
"The second floor gets a lot more dangerous. Lots of plants, mainly carnivorous or poisonous or both, and giant insects that are also usually poisonous. There aren't any more triggered stone traps, but that's just because it's so much more dangerous down there it doesn't need them. I know your kind usually don't like open flames, but keeping some lit torches handy and some fire spells helps a lot there" Sarah continued, showing notes and illustrations of what to find in the second floor. "Now, the most important question though that they should've asked about your healing is," the innkeeper mentioned, referring to the now absent elf and dwarf, "can you cure poison with it?"
You are reading this.