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 Blood On The Scales (Steam Blood And Magic Part 2) OOC Thread Steam, Blood and Magic Blood and Empire An old flyer is tacked to the door. It has turned yellow but is still intact and proudly displaying tacky pictures of grinning Dwarves working at factory lines. "Geareg! The Great City Below! Bringing you the world of current events in politics, technology, entertainment and fine fashion! It's a proud day as Geareg is declared a hundred percent free from fallout after the Great War! And why not? Business is booming! Half the continent wears Dwarven Slacks! And say hello to the world's first Power and Electric Company! Light up the night, boys!" "The city's even in the celebrity business! Everybody knows that Justicar Ingrid Boswell is a proud Dwarven resident! Thanks for the save, Miss! With everybody chipping in the heart of the mountain hums with the blessings of Moradin and Kord!" "So watch out! Geareg is a City On The... Glow!" The last picture is a detailed sketch of the traditional Geareg skyline now lit by lines of electrical street lights. As distinguished servants to King Jorgen of Mandel you have been tasked to accompany him to the great capital city of the Dwarves for a diplomatic conference at the start of the new year. Geareg exists as two cities, the original Dwarf homeland known as The City Below and the new multicultural metropolis rapidly expanding on the surface, The City Above. Unfortunately three days ago a domestic terrorist blew up a good chunk of the train line that runs between the surface and the Underdark. You had no choice but to travel through the old tunnels on foot. You would spend two days in the darkness where any straying from the tunnels would put you in danger of attack by strange creatures, mysterious hazards left over from the war... and if the rumors are true, even a chance of being captured and enslaved by bands of Drow bandits! You've all heard the rumors, a few of you even saw the fights and know them to be true. Your King has forcefully thrust most of the monstrous tribes of the world together as a single country and begun rapidly modernizing. Several of you have not even met King Jorgen yet and this was supposed to be your first time but you received some new orders, to escort his personal advisers and some family that will be traveling with him. Strangely you were told Jorgen would not need an escort and would "depart by himself two hours later." To everyone but Nit this is highly peculiar. To the old magi this is a typical indulgence for the new King: the strongest man in the world has little use for guards. You're assured that he will unfailingly arrive shortly after you do at the Mandel Embassy.  December 10th Year 902 P.R.(Pelor's Rise) A pair of blue-scaled lizard-folk dash down empty city streets illuminated by freshly installed street posts burning with the technological magic of the electric torch, unfailing and long-lasting. One is a free and breezy gentleman lizard dressed for tropical climes, his only extras being a lute on his back, a pouch at his side and a line of rainbow colored feathers around his neck. He is following a breezy lady lizard in tropical dress who stays two strides ahead of him, the two laughing like children at play. They arrive before a pair of large double-doors framed with a gaudy red velvet and the girl excitedly rummages through a ring of keys before declaring "Ah-hah!" and unlocking the old theater. Your trusty scouts Suzu(F) and Jin(M) have a habit of being the first ahead and returning an hour later to tease you about some incredible sight or unseen danger that their expertise has surely kept you clear of. They're very competent if a bit immature, Suzu being a self-described "Sneak" and Jin being a talented bard who knows dozens of the best traveling songs. The two gape for a second at the sight of the abandoned theater seatings... when Suzu points out "Look what they left behind! Lucky!" Jin claps his hands together several times and beams as he skips over to a piano in the corner. "Just what we needed! I'll get those blokes happy and humming again!" Suzu sits on the top of the piano as Jin flexes his talons, cracks his neck and looks around for a music sheet... then shrugs and plays a classic. As you all make your way to Geareg and discover the true state of the Mandel "Embassy" you find it hard to care about anything but resting your aching feet. Jin's delightful music and clouds of freshly disturbed dust greet you as you come in. Introduce Yourselves! --- Players  Nit the Mage Kikai the Artificer Voos the Sorcerer Marie the Skald Ashar the Sword Mage Wendily the Rogue Regina the Warlock/Paladin
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Jan 10, 2015 22:52
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Nit "Buncha bloody nonsense, is what it is," Nit continues a conversation from outside as the group walks into the theater. "I read somewhere they tried nearly 2000 materials for that little wire they put inside the bulb before they found one that worked right. That's dwarfs being stubborn and nothing but, especially when you've got the formula for an Everburning Torch right there." Nit shrugs her messenger-style knapsack off her shoulder -- mages can afford to travel light -- and looks for a place to put it where it won't get too smudged with the pervasive layer of dust. She settles for waving her hand over a table in need of some polish, clearing the top in an instant. Her grouchiness from the long walk through the tunnels continues, "...this is the Embassy, then? A half-inch of dust in an old busted-up theater? The place looks like it could stand a week-long scrub-up, or failing that, a flamethrower." "We'll get started in, what, half an hour, you say? I'd imagine the King would want at least his own office or quarters clean, but I could stand a load off for a bit. And a cocktail." Nit slouches into a seat, adjusts her weight from side to side for a moment. "Bloody chairs are built for dwarves, though." With this statement and a gesture, she turns from an old blue-scaled lizardwoman in traveling clothes to a young blue-haired dwarf maid in a comfortably fluffy house-robe. She appraises her weight in the chair again and pronounces this shape better for the task. Rtwo fucked around with this message at 23:39 on Jan 10, 2015 |
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Jan 10, 2015 23:32
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 Kikai & TokegiKikai and the hulking machine she's riding atop, Tokejin, stride slowly into the hall. Kikai's face lights up, ears twitching, at the sound of music filling the air. "Wow, Jin never fails to impress, huh Tokegi?" The small mechanical rabbit bringing up her rear nods in agreement. Neither are particularly exhausted, thanks to their mechanical aid. "I agree. An extremely adept display, if I do say so myself. Though, I cannot say I am partial to the particular instrument-" "Whaaaaaaaaaaat???" Kikai nearly tumbles out of the top of Tokejin as she attempts to swat at Tokegi, whose long ears barely reach to halfway up the construct. "You don't like the piano!? Take it back, take it back, who gave you this taste!?" She quickly pulls herself back into her seat, folding her arms in a huff. "The... the piano is a wonderful instrument that only the most skilled bards can play to the fullest, you dumbo!" "Dumbo..?" Whispered Tokegi, bringing a paw to his mouth to reflect. Kikai grabs the controls roughly and decides to wander off to explore the rest of the hall. Tokegi scrambles to catch up, sword and shield clanking on his back.
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Jan 11, 2015 00:51
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Marie Though she has stayed in terribly good spirits for the entire trip, she looks positively wilted as she comes up to the embassy doors, with her skin a sickly shade of greenish-yellow and limp flowers hanging from the tangles in her hair. Still, she seems to perk up instantly when she realizes where she's arrived. "I know this place! Oh, it's been so long!" Marie seems comfortable enough carrying her load, standing in the doorway with a wistful look. "I do hope I can convince the King to keep the stage, this room has amazing acoustics. I played it in '96 - nicer then, of course! Could be nice again with a bit of elbow grease, though!" She gracefully dances down the aisle, stopping every now and again to run a hand across a dusty velvet chair or to sift through a pile of rubble or scribble down some notes in a little book in a hasty, unreadable scrawl. Once she reaches the bottom of the row, she has a seat on the edge of the stage and hums along to the song as she unbuckles the myriad of bags, packs, pouches, books and instrument cases from her luggage.
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Jan 11, 2015 01:37
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Ashar The very tall and lanky grey-skinned ogress shrugs at Nit as they walk in, holding up the other end of the conversation. "Science builds upon itself. Simple rod-wheels were used millenia ago to help build pyramids, and now wheels within wheels power trains. Taking the time to discover the right filament now means limitless further discoveries in the future." Her expression is, as always, completely blank, her voice muted and soft, and the long trip here has shown she'd be just as likely to pick the other view for the sake of argument. She swivels her head around, looking at the run-down theater, and sighs. "Unfortunately true. It's... surprising how little regard we're still given at this point." She crouches slightly, holding her hand above a patch of floor. There's a hum, and the dust and grit rises, wavering like silt in water, and then with a quiet, hissing whisper, it disappears, sucked into nothingness, leaving a few square feet of floor pristine and shining. She stands, walks deliberately over to a new patch of floor, crouches, and repeats.
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Jan 11, 2015 02:12
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Marie "Oh, come now, no need to be glum! The Dwarves love a good project, and it looks like they've given us one of their best!" She beams. The flowers have started to pick up a bit. "I think the best way to impress our hosts would be to make them regret giving away such a fine piece of property. As a matter of fact, that's how many Dwarves judge their daughter's husbands! Not that any of us are getting married, but I love trivia! And the culture here! Well, everywhere, really. But, oh, it's so exciting! The things we can do with this place! Just use your imaginations!"
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Jan 11, 2015 04:20
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Ashar Ashar pauses her cleaning. "I suspect an avant-garde production of The Twin Towns adapted for theater would be fairly cheap to produce, not requiring so much renovation or additional casting, and it could turn a fair profit over a run of a few weeks. Dwarven opera isn't terribly popular among foreigners, and the novel is circulating particularly well among expatriates. It could also get us labelled as foreign revolutionary agitators, however, which could help drive attendance among a certain part of dwarven society, but not really help our wider duties to Mandel." She sniffs. "Perhaps a bar? With musicians on the stage, see if you could tap your connections for that, and focus on sourcing foreign wines and liquors rather than competing directly with dwarven beerhalls. Clear the seats, rent out the space for events for those not interested in soliciting conventional dwarven organizers. Actually, most activities I can think of involve primarily appealing to foreigners. Though having the space functional as a bar and party hall would actually likely fit in with our broader diplomatic mission on a long-term basis."
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Jan 11, 2015 04:52
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Wendily "No! No no no no no no no non!" Bring me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, hunker down after a long journey to take some brief and much deserved relaxation, but do not under any circumstances begin the opening scene with an act of decimation! Wendily darted carefully around Ashar and past Marie as she began a long and increasingly rapid series of yelps that were about something or other that was upsetting her a great deal, finding very quickly that the arm-rests (stout and dwarven and well suited for dwarven stout as they were) made for an amenable roadway to someone trying to dash as quickly as possible from the theater's entrance to its stage. Taking the armrests four or six at a time, Wendily paused astride the front and second row to bend at the knees and hop daintily up onto the stage proper, slamming her hand down abrasively across the top of the piano just beside Suzu's hip. "What are you doing!?" she demanded an instant before she took the lizardgirl's forearm in the both of her own, splitting the difference between offering her a hand to help her hop off the top of the piano and simply yanking Suzu off of it herself. "The sound -- the instrument -- it needs -- if you block the vibrations of the strings -- you're going to -- it's all just going to sound so awful if you don't move your tail!" she insisted, puffing her cheeks out and rippling her abdomen in energetic irritation. "And you!" she added, jamming her foremost tarsus down on the bench beside Jin. "Put some gloves on before you scratch those keys! This is .. it's a priceless heirloom passed down through the generations and should be treated as such," she informed them after having decided that it must have been a priceless heirloom passed down through the generations. Because it seemed right. "What would the King say if you ruined his .." Wendily flicked her eyes back and forth between Suzu and Jin for a beat too long. "..... guitar." She had a fifty fifty chance of saving face, if she was right!
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Jan 11, 2015 05:02
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Voos With a triumphant roll of his shoulders and a puffing out of his chest, Voos strode into the embassy. "Ahh, civilization at last!" he proclaims. After all, they were technically on Mandel soil now, that was how these things worked, right? Obviously he was mistaken about a few things though as he looks around the slightly dilapidated interior of the theater-turned-embassy. He couldn't help but agree with Ashar's assessment as he shuffles his feet, kicking up a little bit of dust. "No regard! No esteem either!" he exclaims with a little flare of his nostrils. A thought then occurs to him, making the sorcerer settle back down. "Although if this is to be the Mandel embassy, they intend it to be wrought with our hands? Makes sense. Shall we commence burning it to the ground now, or do you think King Jorgen would enjoy a display of our pyrotechical prowess?" he says, his brash tone making it somewhat difficult to tell how serious he was. But it had been a long trip, and some rest would do his feet good. Rather than trying to bother with one of the chairs he walks towards the edge of the stage and hops up... sitting on the edge. Though he didn't openly acknowledge the playing of the piano, his foot sways slightly from side to side in keeping with the tempo.
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Jan 11, 2015 05:03
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Kikai & Tokegi Kikai clomps back over with the main group, with Tokegi scurrying up just behind. "Hey, hey, what the heck are you guys even yammering on about anymore!?" She says, leaning over the front of her steed to get closer to Ashar. "Let's talk some more about the glowy lights! Aren't they simply fascinating!? Oh, you know, when I was younger, I actually was trying some of my own experiments and-" "They failed miserably, Miss Kikai," interrupts Tokegi. "You managed to create a lamp that would last all of ten seconds before bursting into flames. While certainly impressive, I am certain that she was just about to-" "Brag about how I managed to create a non-magical light before ANY of those dumbo dwarves managed to!? Yeah, you're darn right I was!" "I just don't see how it counts, Miss Kikai. It was a failed experiment." "And I was only 12 when I did it! There's a bunch of old farts who kept themselves up for weeks just to get these things working!" Tokegi sighs deeply. "You should try to be at least a little more modest, Miss Kikai. You do not flatter yourself with these shenanigans." "I AM being modest!" She turns back to Ashar. "Now, I think I could make some improvements to some of the fixtures. Do you think they would let me? Oh, who am I kidding, I'll just go do it later! They won't miss one whole lamppost, right?" Tokegi shakes his head, shrugging as Kikai continues to rant, to nobody in particular anymore.
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Jan 11, 2015 05:10
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Regina An incredibly bored Regina follows the others to the embassy, slinging atop her shoulder a large and grime encrusted hammer. Whatever is the substance covering it and parts of her rusty yet light armor is unknown, probably an amalgam of everything that she has smashed into a pulp since leaving Mandel. "Gahahahaha! This Electricity... More like shmeletricity, you know! A blue dragon could do the same poo poo as them without all the bells and whistles... But I guess that could have its uses, like if you power a guitar with it. So we could have some good music instead of this tripe." She groans while making quickly adjusting her hammer, transforming it into an imaginary guitar. "It would be some high speed electric guitar, so it would be like 'Dan dan dan dan dan... Danananana dan dan dan!' Hell, make some lyrics about a Golem made of Iron or something. Like the Red Fang songs about killing stuff, except not using those lovely drums." Her expression then turns into a sneer as she leans on one of the walls, repeatedly lighting and putting out a small flame on her index finger. "Anyways, who are we killing in order to make the dwarves know we mean business? That's how diplomacy works, right?"
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Jan 11, 2015 05:42
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Ashar "Piano. Pianoforte, an elven advancement on the traditional dwarven harpsichord, named because of the advancement of variably striking hammers instead of constantly plucking picks, based on the force with which the keys are pressed, allowing both loud and soft notes, forte and piano." She continues cleaning. "We aren't killing anyone yet. We need to wait at least a day." She glances at Kikai. "That is fairly impressive. Science is a primarily group project. The collective nature of science, both in advancement and invention and in the ability to mass-produce technology is what distinguishes it so greatly from magic. Within a few years, electric lighting will be so cheap it'll be able to become ubiquitous, in a way that magical crafting with inherently rare components never could." zachol fucked around with this message at 05:55 on Jan 11, 2015 |
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Jan 11, 2015 05:47
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Kikai & Tokegi "It's rude to kill people you know. You should stop killing people that don't deserve it!" Kikai stomps her feet inside of the pilot's seat, inadvertently causing her construct to also stomp its feet. Tokejin kicks up a large radius of dust around itself. "Especially not any dwarves! They might be dumb but that doesn't mean you have to kill them!" "Miss Kikai, the Dwarven people are hardly-" "Shuush, Tokegi! They're big dumb jerks who don't know anything!!! J...Just don't tell any of them I said that!" Tokegi shrugs and sighs once more. Kikai, meanwhile, starts tapping her foot, and Tokejin's by proxy, to the music.
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Jan 11, 2015 05:56
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Regina "There are two things I do. Burn people and smash people. Why in the %$% I was brought here if I can't do either? Arrgh, I just wanted an excuse to know a new place, but this hole is too boring." Regina then smiles and looks at Ashar. "How about some practice, then? Would help with the boredom, and I'm starting to burn up... If I don't let it out I might turn this place into cinders, shahahaha!"
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Jan 11, 2015 08:40
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Ashar Ashar looks at Regina blankly, then lets her eyes drift across the inside of the theater. She's silent for a few moments, then grunts. "No matter what, we won't need all these seats, at least not the vast majority of them. Any recoverable material would be too small to be of any use, and only a few dozen would be needed to use as scattered bench seating in a public area. We'll have to spend a long while tearing them out manually. There's carpeting, but the floor under that is stone, which we'll probably need to resurface anyway on a long-term basis, because of all the rivets." Her eyes snap back to Regina, and one side of her mouth ticks up very slightly into a smile. Then, she reaches out, grabbing nothing from thin air, and draws it out into a long, black spike, like a section of the night sky torn out of place. Initiative 25.
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Jan 11, 2015 09:13
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Nit "When I said this place should be cleaned up with a flamethrower, I wasn't being entirely serious. Could we not burn down our own embassy a couple hours before the King arrives?"
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Jan 11, 2015 09:47
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Ashar "The seats are made of old, polished hardwood, difficult to light, and a fire wouldn't spread from them, and the carpeting is too far low and broken up by those seats, also difficult for a fire to spread. The walls would also have a hard time alighting, especially if the fight was restrained to the center area. The curtains..." Ashar falters, gaze drifting over to the stage and curtains. Her blade fades away, or perhaps the air fades back in. "The curtains could be a problem. Highly flammable, large, even stray embers could cause them to light, and they would rapidly spread to the walls and ceiling, burning long enough to firmly catch fire as well. Pity."
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Jan 11, 2015 12:42
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Marie Marie's wonderful attitude so far seems to have come to an abrupt end, and she lets out a sharp whistle with all the usual practiced skill of a bard, combined with the admittedly wonderful acoustics in the room to get everyone's attention. "This is exactly why King Jorgen sent me along on this expedition, and if I'd known you lot were as green as you were I would have lectured you before we got here." "This is not Mandel. We cannot just rebuild this place if we burn it down. You can't run around the streets having explosive fights, either. I love our home - I cherish the rich culture of violence that Mandel is built on, but there are very serious rules here and very serious consequences. Do you think His Mightiness would be delighted if he had to sit through days of bureaucratic quagmire when he arrived to get you out of prison?"
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Jan 11, 2015 17:53
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Nit: Nit remains in the form of a dwarf, but as Marie talks she cocks an eyebrow. By the time it's her turn to speak, the dwarf's skin is indeed a bright green. "That's not to say there won't be anything for the incinerator, I'm sure there's all sorts of junk stuffed into closets and corners that we'll need to get rid of. We'll just need a bit more control than flinging fireballs and explosives." "...For now." Nit looks up at the auditorium ceiling. "I wanted half an hour to relax, but the more I think about it the more I think that's time we don't have. I'm gonna go find the corner office and get started cleaning up in there." The feet that come off the back of the auditorium seat are dwarven, but the feet that touch the floor are lizard. Nit picks up her bag and umbrella-cane, then wanders back out into the lobby to find a staircase up to the main administrative office. Rtwo fucked around with this message at 18:08 on Jan 11, 2015 |
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Jan 11, 2015 18:05
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Ashar Ashar shrugs, gives Regina a resigned look, mouths 'later,' then leans down again and resumes her cleaning.
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Jan 11, 2015 18:32
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Regina "Now we talking!" Regina lets out a ferocious smile as her body starts to emit steam and sparkles start to fly around her. The others getting Asher to back away annoys her greatly though. "Bah! Don't we have the diplomatic immunity thing? I'm pretty sure we can burn down this piece of crap and the dwarves can't do jack against us for it. Hell, I'd like to see them try, hahaha!"
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Jan 11, 2015 18:46
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Ashar "Diplomatic immunity is a tool relying on established and reliable national relationships and mutual fear and respect. Mandel's position is still tenuous, relying on 'immunity' to deal with a massive incident would just as likely result in the king having to disavow us to save face. Sparring within this building could be acceptable if we could remove the curtains and the like to ensure a fire didn't start, and had perhaps a week to clean up, but at the moment... not so much." It's subtle, but she's grumbling.
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Jan 11, 2015 19:10
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Marie She nods to Ashar and smiles. "Well said. I wouldn't count on diplomatic immunity until we've convinced the Dwarves we're a legitimate empire. If you give them the reason to think you're savages, they'll treat you like it." Marie thinks about it for a moment. "Honestly, you could re-fit the seating... Yes, that's a great idea. I saw something like this in Burdoon... We could take out the middle rows of seating and dig an arena pit. And the stage, well, I can't think of a more fitting place for a King to address an Audience short of a throne room." Mirthless fucked around with this message at 19:31 on Jan 11, 2015 |
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Jan 11, 2015 19:25
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Ashar "I'm still attached to the idea of a bar and dance hall. Perhaps take out half of the seats randomly, resurface the stone, then there would be an intriguing effect with the slope to de-emphasize height differences among a mixed crowd. Hang a large cage from the rafters, use that for matches, serve foreign drinks, have occasional musical performances, and generally try to establish the site as a place for foreigners and open-minded dwarves to mingle even if they don't have business directly with the embassy. Boxes can used for private meetings, rearranging the seats in a semicircle facing themselves and the stage, allows meetings to take place leisurely while there's entertainment on the stage, or there could be baffling curtains for privacy." She grumbes, pausing and staring out over the theater. "I wish I had a better sense of dwarven construction standards and pricing. I'll have to speak with some contractors in the morning. See if we can't get the same ones who managed Draunt's embassy, they'll be used to building for taller folk and maintaining discretion. Hopefully get this done within a few weeks, hold an opening gala."
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Jan 11, 2015 19:54
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Kikai & Tokegi "Um, you know, I DID live in Gaerig most of my life, in case you forgot! I mean sure, I wasn't exactly a social butterfly, and I basically never talked to anybody but I know at least a LITTLE bit about the dwarves! If you contract up some dwarves, they'll definitely be able to get in done in no time. Now personally I think there should be a workshop included-" "And precisely what sense is there in adding a fully stocked workshop to an embassy, Miss Kikai?" "Well, it makes a lot more sense than adding a BAR!! Especially in a dwarven capitol! We could have it be a public space for people to work on their projects! I like to think I know the dwarves a little better than anybody here!" "Yet you are possibly one of the least diplomatic members of our little band... well, with the exception of our pyromaniac friend, I suspect." "Yeah, but she's cool. Even if she's crazy." Kikai turns to the stage, folding her arms. "I think Ashie is right, the ones who managed the Draunt embassy would be perfect for the job, but it's going to cost you a pretty penny. There's a price for discretion you know! And tallosity. Dwarves don't like to build things tall, even when you pay them."
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Jan 11, 2015 20:03
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Regina "Position? If anything Mother and the blue guy will be glad if we assert authority... Show the softskins that we mean business, understand? Speaking of which, we should put some skulls around. Skulls would show everyone who enters here that you can't #$%@ with Mandel!" Regina then slams at one of the flimsiest looking chairs, crushing it into splinters. "Gah, those are really ran down, huh?"
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Jan 11, 2015 20:11
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Ashar "Sadly, yes. If you want to relax, the seats directly in the center won't be needed under any reasonable plan. We're not going to maintain the building as a full theater regardless. You could start clearing out a circle to be used as a refuse pile for the majority of the seats and unneeded furnishings from other rooms, we'll clear it out in a few days after the place has been stripped so construction can start. Don't use fire, please, the more I think about it the more the dust and age on those curtains worries me in terms of a fire hazard. We'll have to get new ones, see if the dwarves have anything impregnated with asbestos for safety." She grumbles. "Also, dwarves only respect physical prowess and violence in very specific situations. I found that out the hard way when I was younger." She pauses, then looks back towards the entrance. "I wonder if we can purchase some of the neighboring buildings? I doubt there'll be space for a workshop in the theater itself, but it wouldn't be unreasonable to have one available nearby, as well as perhaps some dormitories for visitors and refugees, an armory, things like that. We should see if we can get control of the whole block, connect the buildings into an overall complex." zachol fucked around with this message at 20:32 on Jan 11, 2015 |
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Jan 11, 2015 20:25
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Kikai & Tokegi "This is starting to sound less like an embassy and more like a base of operations! I like where this is going!" "Frankly, I'm not entirely certain such extreme measures are neces-" "Necessary maybe not, extremely cool maybe yes!"
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Jan 11, 2015 21:29
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Wendily The travesty of what their scouts were doing to the antique heirloom beloved across Geareg far and wide and up and down proved to be nothing compared to the travesty of what Wendily's own travelling companions were discussing. Decimation! Razing! Taking a place of beauty and history and the arts and turning it into a dingy, cage-match filled BAR! She quivered with each new assault on propriety, the very suggestions themselves travelling like tremors up each of her legs until they had finally made their way entirely to her fingers, which promptly balled up into fists as she turned her back on the scouts to descend from the stage. "Skulls! A bar! Are you even l i s t e n i n g to yourselves? We're talking of an embassy, not of a .. floozyhouse for drunken barbarians!" Wendily huffed a mighty huff, and darted her eyes in the direction Nit wandered off of in search of cleaning. It wasn't only the gui -- pianoforte that needed preservation in here! Destroying the seating? Leveling the floor? It seemed not only an awful lot of work to manage to create something presentable in time, but to do so without completely bringing a building that was clearly dripping with history down to its foundations. "I think finding a broom and some cleaning rags would be far more beneficial than drafting blueprints or lighting them aflame right now," she decided. Silently, at least, she blessed those beautiful old curtains for saving the theater from a complete razing. She'd have to give them a bit of extra dusting and beating to thank them properly.
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Jan 11, 2015 21:47
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Ashar "This building is a highly inappropriate choice for an embassy. I'm sorry to say bar, I mean more in the sense of a ballroom. Event center. Alcohol would be served more in a socializing sense rather than as an actual full-purpose bar. We can't keep this as just a theater, it would be wasteful, but by preserving a selection of the seats and the general furnishings and decor we can nod towards the building's history while still making the most practical use out of it." She sniffs, still plugging away at cleaning. "I agree that skulls would be unfortunate. An understated dignified atmosphere with just a touch of Mandelian influence would be preferable to something so overt." She pauses. "I suppose a cage would be rather gauche as well."
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Jan 11, 2015 22:08
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Nit "Of course it's a base of operations. An embassy is a diplomatic base of operations in a foreign nation. Do you guys even know what we're doing here?" She sucks a bit of air through her teeth before continuing, "I never been in an embassy before, but I'm about eighty percent certain they generally don't contain pit-fighting arenas, cages hanging from the ceiling, or decorations in a skull motif." "...Pretty sure a dining area with a well-stocked winecellar is on the books, though. I dunno if it's inappropriate, until we see the place. For all we know there's dressing rooms and stuff that could be easily converted into offices and the like, and this room is an assembly hall in the making." Rtwo fucked around with this message at 22:19 on Jan 11, 2015 |
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Jan 11, 2015 22:11
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Suzu and Jin give Wendily two of the smuggest looks possible as she's corrected on the proper term for the piano. Jin pauses to flex his hands, showing off his talons. Sanded down to knubs! "Yeah, Countess, I reckon I know a thing or two about taking care of instruments. Same reason I don't shred every string I pluck!" Suzu accepts Wendy's help down and takes one of the seats nearby, still giggling under breath. Engaging in a drawn out discussion of how to redecorate your base you don't hear the approach of the shadow of Death itself. In one fell swoop she has thrown open the doors, looked over the ruins and seen at least three of you trying to clean or burn something. She moves swiftly and pinches Kikai and Wendily's ears, swats the back of Regina and Ashar's heads and drops a stack of a dozen bedrolls into Marie's arms, suddenly making her very top heavy. Maybe the seven foot tall green-scaled lizard-woman in a fine modest dress didn't consider the size difference... but it's too late. You're all already in her line of sight. You will be  : "I DON'T KNOW WHAT TURNIP WAGON THE LOT OF YOU HOPPED ABOARD TO GET HERE AND PROMPTLY FELL OFF OF BUT YOU'LL DO NO MORE CLEANING TONIGHT THAN WHAT IT TAKES TO FIND A SPOT TO REST YOUR EMPTY HEADS!"She stalks up and down the aisles between the rows of seating, noting each and every bit of neglect, writing with a giant feather of a quill on a roll of parchment she produced from her satchel. "The next bearded bureaucrat I see will answer for everything here! So if any of you damage anything and jeopardize our claim I'll pull the rest from your coffers!" Suzu and Jin ceremoniously sit on their hands. It's best not to be noticed when Tabitha the Green is on the warpath. Jorgen's third wife(of four) has a way of pinching stones until pennies are made. As she continues her grand inspection the doors are quietly opened again and a small tank of a lizard-man walks in, the last of your escorted VIPs, General Liam the First. An old veteran of the Great War and a bronze-scaled who holds strong values of honor and valor. He ignores Tabitha's inspection and heads over to Kikai and her gorilla-sized Golem, only coming up to it's chest. He offers her a folded note.  : "A license to operate your machines in the city limits, Chief Mechanic. Please carry it at all times."He nods respectfully to you all and gives a little salute before tactfully exiting the theater. --- Elsewhere a giant of a man saunters down the same electro-lit streets, humming to himself and shifting from side to side. Atop one huge shoulder he carries the twitching remains of a long six-legged lizard the size of a large bull, making it maybe half his own size. At his hips are a small line of "pouches"(sacks tied to a giant length of chain cinched at the waist) and a pair of bleached bone-blades the size of a man(Human, Male Adult.) Each blade is simply carved and free of any decoration save for the carving of small runic lines on both sides of both blades, each line different but only long enough for a few words. Everybody in this part of town suddenly has somewhere else to be. The big guy carries his kill to the theater and pauses to knock as gently as he can, rapping the joints of his fingers along the door. --- Several minutes after Liam leaves the doors shudder and a loud knocking pounds through and echos through the theater. After a moment of being left hanging the door is pushed open, creaking loudly in protest. A huge figure ducks under the frame so that he can bring something else ridiculously large inside. --- Regina, Voos: Two weeks ago your Glorious Leader Reinbach(an impeccably dapper and charming little red-scaled kobold with the newly developed crown-like frills of the Draconic Red) and your Wonderful Matron Leidenrot(appearing before her tribe as a magnificently beautiful, tall(5 ft) kobold with very fine red scales, some human features and an intense Draconic bearing) summoned you for an important mission. It would be the first time either of you left a distant island chain west of the main continent, the new homeland of the Red Fang for the last 8 years. As your honorary Mother told you, you would be the Red Fang's diplomatic envoys to Mandel! "You will serve King Jorgen with honor and distinction, my little darlings." Even with the size difference Leidenrot would dote over you, cupping your cheeks or patting your heads as she praised you. Reinbach was proud of you all but quite a bit more professional. "Serve him well. Heinfred, I understand that the Blue-Scale do not have any notable sorcerers. I expect you to impress them! And to send frequent reports back..." He chuckled as he rubbed his hands together, then the two stood together in a side-by-side embrace, arms locked at the elbows. Leidenrot beamed with her pride for you, but Reinbach whispered to her and the two looked very serious for a moment before facing you both again. "Babies, do not act rashly. Respect your King." "Jorgen has given the Red Fang a great boon recently. Repay his kindness honorably." It was a subject of incredible rumor and speculation that just a week prior Jorgen and Reinbach had met for the first time at sea, aboard the Red Fang's Ironclad the Dracolich. An entire squad of Human spies from Draunt have been discovered trying to interrupt this meeting! Assassinations?! Sabotage?! The engines of the mighty vessel were rigged to explode, the spies have been discovered with a potent super-poison and several weapons and powerful enchantments on them, sneaking aboard in the frist place with magical disguises polymorphing them into kobolds! And... King Jorgen has vouched for them and demanded their safe return to Draunt! It was an incredible testing of the new alliance... but ultimately the Red Fang relented. Nobody had actually been slain, there was a small issue of Leidenrot bombing a Draunt barracks in retaliation for the sinking of a Red Fang scouting ship and so on... Jorgen had demanded that diplomatic relationships be reset as best they could. Draunt and the Red Fang(and now by extension Mandel) hate each other about as much as they possibly can... so the usual amount. --  (Blue coloration/physique like this, though no actual Slaad features.) Having never seen or met King Jorgen before, everybody but Nit is filled with an unspoken dread at the sight of him. Eight feet tall, nearly that wide across the shoulders, built like a living statue and the size of most adult ogres, the King of Monsters is primordial apex predator. Slung across his shoulder is the still bleeding remains of a full-grown basilisk, the beast split from head to second set of legs along the back. King Jorgen dressed simply, wearing nothing more than a heavy chain cinched around his waist and a thick loincloth that double as a tarp. He has a few sacks tied to the chain to serve as large pouches and his ceremonial twin blades gleam with the light they catch, words in Draconic for Power, Glory, Honor and Truth carved into the side of the blades. He chuckles amiably and gives a short wave to everyone before marching with careful grace down an aisle, making a trail of fresh blood. Picking up the basilisk corpse with spear-sized fingers Jorgen drops it tactlessly on center stage. A fresh wave of viscera spills out across the wood and he looks back to you all with a toothy grin. "I've brought dinner! It just needs to be scaled, gutted, cleaned and cooked." His voice is very deep, coming from the stomach with a distinct rumble. Tabitha's shoulders are shaking with the silent anger brewing within. Doomykins fucked around with this message at 23:49 on Jan 11, 2015 |
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Jan 11, 2015 23:42
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Ashar Ashar is silent for a bit, then mutters quietly to herself. "Aren't basilisks poisonous...?" She glances over at Tabitha, sighs, and backs away slowly, folding up neatly (if somewhat loomingly) into the corner by the entrance. She can't cook, and apparently shouldn't bother cleaning, so there's probably nothing else to be done today. zachol fucked around with this message at 23:56 on Jan 11, 2015 |
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Jan 11, 2015 23:52
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Regina "Oh sure, let's ditch the skulls. Why don't we put flowers like the dainty elves instead? Or those glowing brass things from the dwarves? It's not like we have a culture to defend." Regina angrily points to Wendily and Marie. "Why do the humie and the dark elf even have a say on it? It's a Mandel Embassy, not Draunt neither Underdar-OW!" Her tirade is interrupted by Tabitha's interruption. To get struck a place that was unarmored... This was sloppy! Still, she quickly falls on her knees in respect as soon as the King enters the Embassy. "Your Majesty." If there is something that Regina respect it's strength. She did not need Mother's words to give Jorgen, the second strongest being she has ever seen on her life her full respect even though she plans to make her own flame surpass the blazing sun that is the King of Mandel.
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Jan 12, 2015 00:20
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Kikai & Tokegi "Hey, Tokegi isn't just a machine, you know! I don't need-" Tokegi taps lightly on the side of Tokejin, while simultaneously bringing a finger to his mouth in a shooshing manner. "Oh... heh... right... sometimes I forget." Kikai quickly stashes the license in some corner of her cockpit. She turns with Tokejin to the door to thank the General, only to find that he's already been replaced with a much different kind of lizard. She quickly springs to her feet in her pilot's seat, hand on her pistol in an almost primal response. She watches, mouth agape, as he walks to the center stage. Tokegi is much calmer by comparison, merely noting the King with some interest. "I suppose you're going to have to make Tokejin a bit taller now, aren't you Miss Kikai?" Tokegi says quietly. It has the cadence of a joke, but Kikai is too distracted by the huge beefy lizard-man to actually respond, actually going so far as to point directly at him. "Look, look, that's him! That's King Jorgen, no doubt about it! And he brought us dinner, wow! He's super amazing and kind and generous!" Kikai giggles to herself, bringing her hands up to her mouth. "And really scary too... I was going to tell him I love him but I don't know if he likes dogs or not." She quickly ducks down into her cockpit, tail sticking straight out of it while she rustles around for something. Tokegi scratches his head. "What exactly are you-" Kikai pops back up wearing a cloth bib, with the words 'LET'S EAT' written crudely on the front. She looks down at Tokegi with a condescending look. "What? It's a messy dinner, so I have to take precautions."
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Jan 12, 2015 00:22
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Wendily No sooner than had she begun to look for proper cleaning supplies behind the center stage and peeking into a few nondescript doors that largely seemed to lead to closets or other halls without much immediate interest than had the plan immediately changed. Namely, Wendily had found a fine broom with which to begin sweeping and had only just first touched bristle to floor when Tabitha crept in like the kind of wind that got in through the walls during a storm. The trickle of irritation that danced up her legs pantomimed itself along her spine with a foreboding sensation the instant before it was proven wise through a sharp pinch and tug on her ear. "Owowow!" Bad enough with the pinching of the ears, but it was her voice that sent Wendily to scurrying. Some people had the voice. Papa had never had the voice, but by god, Mama had the voice for a hundred ogres. The trickle of panic that had touched her back became a twitching paleness to skin that didn't have much further into the dusk to retreat, and Wendily tucked herself down and back as far as she possibly could in the face of Tabitha's irritation. Setting the broom against the stage as though it had always been leaned there, she waited a half beat for her to turn and look somewhere on the other side of the room, and then moved into motion. With a great clattering sound of rings on metal and a dust cloud blanketing one side of the stage itself, Wendily leapt with customary poise and stealth to go scrambling up the curtains she'd admired in the first place, clambering up to an intersection of cloth, pulley, and rod where her legs went akimbo to keep her perched securely up there, only peeking her head out above the top of the curtain to look down below after an abrupt and questionably timely sneeze from all of the dust she'd just kicked up. "was planning to sleep right here was just sizing it up before you got here going to get plenty of rest now mum" Wendily promised in a voice small enough that it would have gone unheard on the ground floor, much less nearly up in the catwalk. Jorgen's presence didn't do much to get her out of her scurry spot. Twisting around onto the back side of the curtains, only a bit of blonde and two eyes peeking out from above them, Wendily looked down on the King of the Monsters the same way she had ever yet glimpsed him: at a distance borne of respect, awe, and fear. It was easy, intellectually, to believe a lot of things, but in practice it could be a little harder to get all your legs going the right way in order to introduce yourself properly. Only once the basilisk found its new home among the prior dust and the new dust that Wendily left on the stage proper did she grip the curtains tenaciously and bring herself partway back down, hanging halfway up in the air and turning her head until her twin tails followed gravity more than she herself seemed to. She'd had basilisk a few times before. There was some kind of technique to cooking it to make it less like a leaden stone in your stomach, but dash if she could actually remember anything except for how long it took to make it edible. ".. I think cooking it proper might take longer than doing any renovations," she pointed out, ready to duck right back behind the curtains at a moment's notice. It was hard to look directly at Jorgen for too long without feeling as skittery inside as she did outside. A monster that could even bring ogres to their knees was a monster indeed.
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Jan 12, 2015 00:44
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Voos When the door opened and the boisterous tower of Green and Mean entered, Voos rose to his feet. He somehow managed to avoid a smack or pinch or being crushed under bedrolls. That didn't mean he was safe however, so he snapped to attention with his crispest military salute. Not that his salute was very crisp to begin with, but he was there as a diplomatic military envoy so he may as well try and keep up appearances. He didn't know who the other figure was, but there could be no mistaking His Royal Hugeness. Upon hearing Jorgen speak he fidgets slightly. He didn't know what that beast he was carrying even was, let alone how to go about cleaning or cooking it. He did, however, have some applicable talent. He stepped forward, crossing an arm across his chest. "I can provide combustion for the comestibles, and I believe we have an abundancement of kindle-ables" as he takes a look around at some of the run-down chairs, particularly the heap of wood scraps and splinters that had formerly been a chair before its unfortunate crossing with Regina. A Bug fucked around with this message at 18:17 on Jan 12, 2015 |
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Jan 12, 2015 02:51
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Nit Comes back downstairs as soon as she hears the thumping on the front door. Only one person that could be. She bows reverentially, "Hail and well met, King" and with barely missing a beat, "...and Queen, of Monsters." She then rises -- with some trouble thanks to stiff knees and back -- to appraise the field-dressed basilisk going runny all over the stage. Nit has escaped Tabitha's rage so far, so... "First things first, we'd better haul the carcass out of here before anything stains. I expect any kitchen in here is in as poor repair as anything else... What are we going to do with three hundred pounds of cooling basilisk?" She runs a hand over her head-frills. "...Because I'm thinking steak-and-kidney pies to start."
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Jan 12, 2015 02:56
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Marie Marie does her best to not be toppled by the stack of bedrolls, lest she earn another lecture for making a mess. She quickly sorts through them and hands them out, before dragging her luggage and accoutrements off to a quiet corner backstage. Returning to the rest of the group just in time for Jorgen to drop the Basilisk on center stage, getting flooded up to her ankles in basilisk guts. She looks up at the King with a bewildered expression, going to kneel and turning into an awkward curtsey to avoid plunging her leg further into viscera. "Well... I can't say I've skinned a Basilisk before, but I'm an old hand with game and a knife - I'd give it the old college try." Nature: 1d20+12 28
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Jan 13, 2015 04:58
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Nit "H-hey! Not on the stage!"
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Jan 13, 2015 05:37
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