Topic: The Mana-Verse

[Phi]

"Wow, Head Alchemist? I'm glad the Professor is part of something he enjoys doing here!" Pema smiled.

[Blue Valkyrie]

The party retire to the inn for the evening, after cleaning up and resting they are all permitted a few hours of rest in their new rooms-the inn "The Spoony Bard" is rather spacious, now free wander they quickly discover Haven Rock is not some haphazardly constructed community of refuges but rather a carefully planned and built city benefiting from the experience of many cultures. The Inn is well furnished and trade has clearly permitted the people of haven a rather impressive level of wealth and security for a city barely twenty years old.

The owner of the inn, an old Orc named Grak claimed to have been an adventurer himself in his younger days and explained that since the empire of the east began to expand into the northern lands many people were forced to flee their homelands in order to remain free-haven rock is literally made up of all races, but it's the efforts of the overland dwarven population, the elves and the goblins who managed to build their sturdy city, protect it with powerful magics and even help bring trade and commerce with their neighbors. Grak promises that at the moment the empire seems to have no desire to risk conflict with haven rock and such the group should be quite safe.


Aya later in the evening summons the party downstairs to meet, wishing to discuss their mission in greater detail.

[Blue Valkyrie]

The party soon found themselves sitting at a long table in the tavern on the ground floor of the spoony bard, Aya cleared her throat to get their attention-well except Pema who was in the middle of murdering a three course meal; while those sitting to her left and right tried in vain to avoid the flying crumbs of food cast aside the in the horrific massacre.

"I've been thinking about our quest, when we found the earth shard it was basically by luck we stumbled onto it right? Finding the last five I figured we will need a more reliable method of tracking them-my ability to sense the shards only goes so far-a basic direction and nothing more. So I've been pondering on a better way to go about all this-and I think I have a decent idea-we found the earth shard deep below the earth in that temple, so what if all the shards have rested in areas that best represent their element? We know three fell in the Haven Rock area-so all we need to do is figure out if anyone has seen any "shooting stars" lately and pin point that to areas that match the remaining elements!" Aya grinned again looking rather pleased with herself.

((while the party is discussing their options that might be a good time to introduce new characters?))

[Sakura Leic]

"I don't know, that's kind of a strech for the Earth Shard since it was on a snowy mountain right?  Not to mention the fact anything speeding that fast would theoretically smash through a few floors anyway, especially with how old the place was."  Sakura questions in a skeptical tone.

"Maybe but you have to keep in mind that most of us don't know what the world was like 1,000 years ago, that place might not have been always blistering cold." Calien replied.  "For all we know the place could have been a very fertile land before climate change hit it hard within the course of centuries  if that shed we found was anything to go by."

"I guess that's a good point."  Sakura shrugged. "Either way asking the towns people about shooting stars sounds as good a plan as any than relying on a magic metal detector alone.  Having a idea of which direction to go would make finding the shards faster and easier."

[Blue Valkyrie]

"This area is rather expansive too-hmm, we should find a map of the area then compare it with the city guard's records; it might help us narrow down any possible landing sites."

[Phi]

(Blue, you wrote "Penma" )

[Fxeni]

"I'll have a chat with the head guard later, he's bound to know where we could rustle up some maps," Fxeni chimed in as crumbs from Pema's eating flew past his face.

[Suppercut ♡]

After a very long amount of walking, Caetlynn stumbled upon The Spoony Bard in a less than favorable mood. She was attracted to the general area after witnessing an odd magical lightshow somewhere in the area akin to a star falling. Figuring she would need a place to crash temporarily, and hoping the establishment could potentially house an encounter with a new ragtag group of adventurer escorts, she strode through the door.

As she walked in, she caught the eye of a lot of patrons -- some ogling, and some wondering what exactly brought a young girl in such an... interesting outfit to The Spoony Bard. Some lowered murmurs mixed into the usual merriment as Caetlynn passively attracted attention.

Collecting herself, she sauntered over to the bar where Grak, the owner, was, and proceeded to fish around for her money. The various charms clinked together as they hung from her Chaos Band, a mysterious armband that practically had an aura of its own separate from Caetlynn's. As if nothing was unnatural about the situation, she calmly asked the orc with a hint of exhaustion in her voice, "Hey, are you the owner? Is there a room open?"

((The idea is that she was left for dead by the last group she was in due to an unsettling reveal; whether or not the reveal was her real gender is up to the coin flip when we check, haha.))

[Blue Valkyrie]

(Blue, you wrote "Penma" )

((Hush you I was tired at the time.  ))


Grak looked over his shoulder at the young girl "Just had a group of adventurers fly into town *Grak motions to the party* but aye lass I have a few rooms open, 50 gill per night and that includes a breakfast and dinner; that a fair deal to you?" Grak turns toward Caetlynn.

[Suppercut ♡]

"Fly in, you say..." Caetlynn casually fished around the bag she kept concealed in an unknown area, pulling out 50 gil and sliding it on the bartop towards the orc. She eyed over the party Grak had motioned to, sizing them up.

Naturally, Pema caught her eye first. The appeal of an adorable little-sister character in the party practically drew Caetlynn in herself, and she cracked a bright smile. Overall the group seemed rather appealing to her. Picking her bag back up and concealing it again, again with nobody witnessing where it went, she casually moved closer to the table.

"Hey there! You seem like you're from pretty far from here. Are you guys travelers?" Caetlynn started, hoping that pretending like she didn't know they were adventurers would get them to talk about their quest.


((Also, the spell system is nearly complete, I just need to copy over the 50+ spells from the notepad I had into the format the program reads them in... It actually features a cool little tagging system thingy, where I can have certain elements of spells be random as well. For example, Summon Sword's effect text says to summon [Sword], which triggers the program to search for a random Sword and insert it there, resulting in one spell potentially summoning anything from a long sword to a claymore to a buster sword or even faux versions of legendary blades.))

[Amatiramisu]

A few seats down from the bartender, a single sharp eye caught a glance of a somewhat appealing glitter of money changing hands. She counted it. Fifty gil. Chump change. She was planning on stopping for a drink and heading back on the road, but the prospect of travelers certainly sweetened the deal. Easy pickings. They'd be on the road for hours before they realized they were missing a bit of money. Certainly not enough to break the bank, but enough that they'd miss it and the perpetrator's purse will be that much heavier.

That was usually the plan, anyway.

"Oy! Barkeep! More ale!" She called in a husky voice. Maybe not tonight. She was already tipsy, and she couldn't afford any errors. At the best she'd run off with less than she'd intended and a wasted effort. At worst she'd wake up in a prison cell and one more hold she could never return to. She slammed her mug on the hard wood. "Get movin', lardass! It's colder 'n 'yer wife's arse in 'ere!"

She eyed the group. The ruckus was intended to gauge their level of attention. If she went unnoticed at this point, there was hardly any risk if she happened to walk by with a few hundred gil more.

[Blue Valkyrie]

Grak glanced at the drunk patron with a raised eyebrow-he didn't look overly convinced at her display but poured her another ale regardless. As Aya glanced at the ruckus then at Caetlynn "Yeah-something like that, we've been traveling around for a little bit now." Aya smiled politely-Caetlynn noticed Aya had wings-something most human like races did not, she couldn't recognize Aya's race.

((Sakura, Phi you two too busy to post right now? We're waiting on you both and anyone else still involved ))

[Phi]

Pema glanced up at the newcomer. "Oh, are yoush a travahler, ash well? Ish vewy nice to meet yoush!"

Salem watched helplessly as she cleared off her servings with a righteous fury. Her mouth was full of bread, as if her expanded cheeks weren't evidence enough. "I think Pema here is storing food for the winter..." He said curtly.

[Fxeni]

Fxeni kept the woman at the bar who seemed to be drunk in his peripheral vision; he figured she could be trouble in this state.

"Haha, as she usually is," Fxeni said with a chuckle to Salem's comment, then looked at Caetlynn. "How do you do, Miss...?"

[Suppercut ♡]

"Ah, Caetlynn," she nodded to the man inquiring her name. "I'm a traveler, too. I'm kinda in the need of a group of ragtag adventurers to help me find someone I'm looking for. He's a magician..." Caetlynn measured her hand about six feet from the ground and stated, "about yae tall, though about this tall with his hat on," she moved her hand about a foot and a half up, standing on her tippytoes at this point. She exhaled from exerting her hand in her measurements as she came back down to continue in the party's direction, "Kind of an odd person. Smells like daisies. You've probably never seen him, but I have a couple leads at least." She brought her arm up to attempt to stuff a tuft of hair that escaped her long braided ponytail back into its place, drawing attention to her Band of Chaos.

[Sakura Leic]

"Why do you need to find this man?" Calien asked curiosly.

"Honestly I think the better question is why does he smell like daisies of all things." Sakura asked with a raised eyebrow.

[Suppercut ♡]

"Eheh...It's a long story, really," Caetlynn said tiredly, and added, "The most important part is that I need him to get this cursed thing off of me." She shook her right wrist angrily, the charms attached to the Band of Chaos jingling around but the trinket itself not moving at all, almost as if it were affixed to her skin. "It's a sort of magic trinket that still confuses me to this day. It wields the potential of one of the greatest sorcerers in the universe, but every time I use it, it's always a completely different spell. I still don't think I've managed to go through all of them, and I've only gotten the same spell a few times in the past year or so I've been using it. It does almost any kind of offensive or defensive magic, from fireballs to thunderstorms. It's even summoned a really powerful sword at one point. I think they called it a 'maw-za-moony' or something. Disappeared after an hour, though."

[Fxeni]

"Can't say I've heard of him, sad to say. Interesting trinket though..." Fxeni said as he leaned closer to examine the band on her arm. He thinks he senses a slight flicker of mana flow through it for a moment, but he figures that he just imagined it. "Most interesting indeed..."

[Sakura Leic]

"Why is it always the bracelets that do the weird things?" Sakura said as she stared at the bracelet with scrutiny.

"Cursed equipment huh?" Calien shook his head "I had heard that only a powerful practioner of the Holy Arts can remove something like that, and I unfortunately am not near that level to do so."

"Yeah daddy can't even use Curaja, even too many Curagas tires him out way too quickly for him." Sakura sighed.

"Indeed, this land's magic is very difficult for me to grasp unfortunately." Calien sighed.

(For the record Borock-bot probably could remove cursed equipment, but I doubt he could remove something as powerful as the Band of Chaos.)

[Amatiramisu]

A smile briefly crept across the woman's face. She chugged her drink and stood up. One of them, she noticed, was suspicious. No big deal. She'd be able to handle this if anything went wrong. She crept towards the group.

"The most important part is that I need him to get this cursed thing off of me."

Something jingled. It looked to be some kind of jewelry? She leaned back along the bar and watched for a moment. Suddenly the prospect of money was slightly less important than a good show.
...
Yeah, she was definitely drunk.

They were talking about magic. Mages. She never really cared for the art. Too unpredictable. Even still, curiosity took over.

"Oi. 'Scuse me. Overheard 'ya guys. Wha's that about that bracelet now?" Her speech was definitely a bit slurred. Maybe a good thing that she had the sense to reconsider stealing from them. "Mind'f I took a look?"

[Fxeni]

Fxeni eyed the drunk woman cautiously. Something definitely seemed off about her.

"You don't quite seem like the... Holy Arts type. You have more knowledge on jewelry, I'd presume?" he inquired, leaning back in his seat with mug in hand. He was perhaps a bit more straightforward than usual due to the drink in his hand, although he still had his wits about him.

[Suppercut ♡]

"Oh dear... have I encountered a female bard?" Caetlynn quipped, raising her eyebrow at the smashed patron in interest.

(For the record Borock-bot probably could remove cursed equipment, but I doubt he could remove something as powerful as the Band of Chaos.)

(Yeah, I'm going off of the idea that only the crafter can remove it, and that he gave it to her for a very specific purpose.)

[Sakura Leic]

"Doesn't look like any bard I've ever seen." Calien muttered.

[Amatiramisu]

The woman merely furrowed her brow and shrugged. "Jus' curious. 'Ya said that thing's stuck on 'ya, right?"

[Suppercut ♡]

"Well, yes. Cursed, to be exact." Caetlynn replied, wrapping her hand around the trinket and trying to move it in vain. "Magically, it's practically affixed to my skin. Thank god it doesn't cut off circulation or anything. It's also rather resistant to damage, to the point where I could probably support my body weight with the chains these charms are on."