In the plains someplace...Timothy finds that things are going uncharacteristically well, what with how he seems to have stolen food from another plane without any visible repercussions.
"...Maybe dis works after all!" he says, grinning like the master criminal he is.
"Hmm. Well, close a-nuffs."Knowing Blynn can't be too far off, he floats into the sky. Once he rises hard enough, he finds that his suspicions have been confirmed! Blynn is indeed not too far away from here! Just some ten or so kilometers, he thinks, until his legend can properly continue to grow.
Inside the Ponderous Tingfish...Kevin knows he can't take this kind of frivolous attitude toward severing limbs. So he can only do what he's already tried to do - leave.
"What the fuck do you even want from me? Enjoy your fucking drink! You can drink the entire barrel! Just let me go!"The patron decides he won't take this kind of guff, apparently, because his response is to throw some kind of wooden object at Kevin.
[Homicidally Impolite Patron vs. Kevin: 1+1-
1 vs. 4+1]
This object flies quickly through the air, but it only hits the wall, not coming anywhere close to actually harming Kevin. Quite glad that drinking seems to hurt this fellow's aim, Kevin hops away on his single leg, escaping into the streets as quickly as he can, which definitely isn't too quickly.
"you need to be nicer to esteemed guests! even if they are often murderous and perplexingly aggressive! morton will arrive shortly! will you back him up?"Indeed, Kevin can spot the desk trundling toward the tavern from afar. The question is, what's he going to do about it?
On the shipwreck-rich beaches of Mothdale...Scott, as part of his gift to this community as the new god of hellfire, brings fire to burn everything. Except
Sigmund. Maybe.
[Scott's firestarting roll: 2]
The fires ain't starting, though. Maybe that explosion took too much from him. Or maybe he's afraid it won't be as cool next time. Or maybe he had a limited amount of fire magic he could use, and he just used it all. Scott knows all too well that the potential reasons for
why he failed this particular time could be listed all day. But that would be very unproductive, so he'll instead feel disappointed as he watches Sigmund try to help...
Hey, wait a minute! Sigmund's not trying to help! He's trying to steal stuff! Look at him go! He seems to have recovered a rather nice silver teapot that has a skull-shaped dual spout from one of the ships. He looks somewhat proud of his find, actually.
~that teapot! we cannot believe little tommy left it behind the way he did! we shall send him to retrieve it at once!~At the ex-guard HQ of Mothdale...Morton, informed that he doesn't actually need to pack anything, moves out immediately.
~Oh, that's a relief, you had me worried there for a moment, group Gub. Just point me in the right direction and I'll have that place cleaned up in a spiffy. I have to say I'm a little surprised that things aren't going well, good jester Kevin is always the first I look to for a humorous outlook. But I suppose entertaining people isn't quite the same as hosting a tavern, I've always imagined a more respectable approach than a, albeit humorous, sillier approach.~~we have also found this turn of events disturbing! fortunately, you shall save the day!~~If you could please tell good jester Kevin I'll be there shortly?~~in due time! now, the way you have to go is...~ the gub begin to explain the road to Morton, who follows their directions to the letter, eventually arriving at the tavern in question. From the outside, he thinks he can see a single guy sitting inside and drinking. He doesn't see Kevin in there, though.
At a mysterious cul-de-sac...Darren, after a valiant try at becoming a door-to-door advertiser, decides to give up.
"Ah. I understand."The statue man nods, and Darren promptly leaves the neighborhood, looking for the place he saw that mechanical man and his machined daughter. He finds it soon enough, and promptly decides to loiter a while, do magic tricks and stuff. He doesn't have to wait long before a group of four small humanoids, metallic simulacrums of a small gang of boys from the looks of it, comes out of a nearby alley and notices him.
"Look at that! It's a dead guy!" one of the little ones walking along the side of the group exclaims in a metallic, musical voice.
"What's he doing?" a rather broad-looking kid in the middle asks.
"Probably being crazy. You know how they are." another metal child with four spindly arms and a rather sophisticated-looking jaw explains dismissively.
"No, no! Didja see that?" the excitable one points at Darren as he does a rather ingenious little coin trick.
"See what?""Magic," a short little automaton boy marching in front of the rest says.
"Yeah, what he did with the coin! Look!"The group approach Darren, watching his tricks with varying reactions. The excitable one seems more pleased than the rest, though all of them seem intrigued at the very least, and their interest in Darren seems to grow with every trick he does.
"Can he see us?" the one filled with wonderment suddenly asks.
"Yes," the laconic kid says.
In the Red Tower of Power...Niklas decides he can break the standard northlander rule of never reading any contract lest he scare away adventure, and accepts the offer of a copy of the agreement he may need to sign. He takes it and reads it.
The contract appears to be written in large, friendly letters throughout, with no fine print in sight that Niklas can see. It mostly involves the signer of the contract pledging to be the most amazing, fearsome, terrifying, generous, friendly, open, ferocious, wild, festive and inimitable individual he can be under the wise guidance of a Minor Mentor until such a point when he can be trusted to be all those things on his own and of his own initiative, at which point he will be reassigned to a Greater Mentor and will, in turn, be a Minor Mentor to the less initiated assigned to him. He shall accept a Minor Blessing decided by his Minor Mentor upon becoming an Initiate, and in return will respect and follow the rulings and orders of his Mentor and the Mentors above his Mentor, and above all the word of the Grand Mentor. Depending on his amazingness, he will receive more Blessings in time. And if he acts in a way that is blatantly contrary to the ways of the amazing, he is liable to have to pay the price in humiliation before his peers.
Honestly, this contract reads as much like a legal document as it does like a brochure. Niklas wonders whether that might be at least part of its point.
"So, you in or not?"
Author
Topic: Life Begins At Death - Epilogue: We Live And Live Again (Read 565128 times)