Glad to hear, and thank you.
(Do I say thanks TOO much? Prob'ly not.)
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Kazo walked back through the hallways, in the general direction of the cliff face. He noticed that traffic was disappearing from the halls... likely, as the sun had been up for several hours now, they were retreating home for time alone and rest. Eventually, he came across a doorway near an intersection that was actually a double-door, surrounded by masterfully made art in silver, curved rays shooting out from the frame. Kazo entered the double door, and found himself within a large tavern, far to the back, an opening to the outside was visible, an artificial waterfall pouring down creating mist for those sitting nearby to enjoy. Steel grates with spikes sticking up from them allowed water through... but should an unwelcome guests enter through the waterfall, they would find themselves stuck in the waterfall to the amusement of the townsfolk.
There was a bar toward the rear left corner of the tavern, and behind the bar, a goblin was washing out an obsidian mug. Kazo approached, and spoke, "Why hello!" The goblin replied, "'sa bit late, we're s'pposed to be closed." Kazo asked, "So why aren't you out pillaging random dwarven forts?" The goblin replied, "I tried'a kill the king when me and my bunch sieged last, and it didn' work. I made an escape an' ended up out here. Bein' the bartender ain't as good as bein' a king but it sure beats bein' dead!" Kazo smiled, "I see! What do you serve here?" The bartender replied, "New 'ere eh? We always got gnomeblight on tap. 's the only place around that's got the stuff." Kazo asked, "So I take it this 'gnomeblight' isn't your average drink then?" The bartender responded, "You been livin' under a rock the last thousand years?" Kazo snickered, "Close!... So what is it?" The bartender replied, "It's the best damn stuff ever to show up on this 'ere world. Go figure the government went'n banned it. Just means more trade from the guys at Shadedports, they love runnin' the stuff, pretty profitable too! Favorite among the pirates, and a favorite around here. Just watch out for the crap stuff. We make the real deal here, but that's cause the military cops are afraid of Nefarious. Other places, people make crap fake stuff in their basements, an' it'll REALLY poison ya." Kazo snickered, "So why do they call it gnomeblight anyway?" The bartender continued, having moved through a few mugs already, "Notice there ain't no more gnomes anymore? The stuff was invented by the kobolds back in the day... 300s I think it was. It was an instant cash factory for the kobolds, a specialty of theirs. They sold barrel after barrel after wagon-full-o'-barrels to the gnomes, who couldn' get enough a' the stuff. None of em knew the stuff messed with the gnomes down there, if ya know what I mean. They all ended up shootin' duds! A few generations later, no more gnomes! Hah!" Kazo spoke, "Extinctions... they happen once in a while! So why did the government ban it?" The bartender answered, "The official reason 's 'cause it corrupts the young and makes people beat their spouses. Fat load 'a manure, that is! The unofficial reason's 'cause people could make it at home from the base plant, so the government couldn't regulate it or tax it. They couldn't get any money off it, so now they're tryin' to get rid of it." Kazo replied, "That seems to be a common theme these days. Thanks for the information! Goodbye!" The goblin waved. Kazo waved back, and left, turning down a corner and reaching a main hallway.
He turned left at the intersection, and proceeded up the main hallway toward an exit. To his side, he saw the entrance to a now empty obsidian-lined arena, quite vast actually, windows overhead and rows of seats leading down to the flat arena in the center... though it appeared there were a variety of devices surrounding the arena, likely to modify and manage the environment at the center. Kazo continued on, reaching the exit. There was without a doubt more to explore, but he expected he would be paying this site several visits. The hallway ended at a steel gate, open, that led outside to the desert. It was the middle of slate, but even in this season the badlands were quite hot. Luckily, Kazo was immune to 'standard' heat and cold. As Kazo approached, he noticed the guard by the gate. The guard was actually... a snakeman? This snakeman was clad in steel armor, equipped with a masterwork steel sword, not a half-sword the police use, a real sword, and a masterwork steel crossbow with ratchet-and-sliding-gear mechanisms. As Kazo approached, he noticed the snakeman leaning on a wall... he was holding a rock, and smiling. The snakemans tongue flicked in the air, and he promptly placed the rock against his face and started petting it, happily mumbling at it and grinning. The snakeman was startled to see Kazo, and immediately stood at attention, hiding the rock behind himself. Kazo snickered, "That's an adorable rock!" The snakeman grinned and stood tall. Kazo exited. Then, he looped up to see another guard standing on a high perch in the shadows of the cliff face. This guard was a kobold, dressed in a black robe over leather armor. Unlike most kobolds, he had grey fur and a long beard. He had a bow, rather than a crossbow. This odd kobold watched Kazo as Kazo walked away from the gate. Kazo passed by a few wooden buildings, windmills, and a trade depot. Within these few buildings were mostly storage equipment and vehicle maintenance equipment, notably at the landing strip. Kazo walked around the strip, and started noticing peculiar patterns in the dirt around the strip, as well as a second runway placed intersecting the first in a very odd position. Kazo snickered... the second strip was a very short strip, ending abruptly right at the cliff face. Right next to it, in large dirt-path writing meant to be visible from the air, the words "I bet you 2000*!" were written. Kazo smiled. Perhaps there were more of these oddities scattered about? The next time he visited, he made a goal, he would find the others.
Kazo walked away from that town headed south. He looked around, smiling at the cacti, the dirt, and the tough creatures that inhabit them. Kazo hopped into the river, swam across, and then continued on across relatively flat terrain, a small mountain ahead in the distance. Kazo walked toward the small mountain, and after several hours of walking, found himself eventually ascending it. This slowed him down, but not by much. He often simply leapt up from one level to the next, allowing him to progress much more rapidly. As Kazo walked and climbed, the sun moved through the sky. He hopped from one rock to the next up a large red rock formation, climbing to the top, and continuing further, eventually reaching the summit. Kazo looked down at the steep, rocky incline, a small town of wooden buildings in the distance beyond it. Kazo grinned, waved his tail about, then jumped up, landing on the steep slope and sliding down it, faster and faster.
He grinned and ducked down, a trail of dust in the air left behind him. He steered himself toward a rock formation jutting out, crouched down further, then leapt into the air as he launched off of it. He spun in the air, and let himself plummet, drifting gracefully over a chasm, and landing smoothly on another slope. He guided himself toward the town, but launched off of another outcropping, doing a back flip in the air over a flat area of sharp rocks, landing again on another steep slope. Kazo grinned, and leapt off of another outcropping, walking on the air... though as he came down, his foot brushed against a patch of grass, but the other didn't causing him to spin as he slid. As his back was turned, he was about to leap up and reestablish himself, but his foot was cought by a larger than usual rock. Kazo stumbled, and fell onto his side, though his body kept sliding. Kazo spun, and ended up tumbling as he attempted to right himself. He tumbled right off of another outcropping, spun through the air, and faceplanted the rocks below. He slid for a ways, rocks piling up over him, leaving a trail of scraped dirt behind him. Eventually, he came to a stop, his upper body and head covered in rocks, his lower body bent upwards, the tip of his tail nearly at the back of his head. A moment later, his lower half fell to the ground. He stood, feeling rather sore from it all, and shook off. He felt himself, and found some more of his face was now scratched a little. Kazo again found himself embarrassed about his weakness, balance compensation, but he found it in himself to snicker. Unexpected results were always an amusing twist. Kazo sat, and rested for a bit, focusing his energies upward, repairing his slightly damaged head. When that was done, he smiled, ran down the slope, and resumed sliding down it. He slid down for a while, eventually reaching dry grass and more level dirt, at which point he began to run rather than slide. It was now after noon, and right ahead lay a small town in the desert, consisting entirely of wooden buildings, a dirt path leading in and out of it. Here he would meet Rostus... Kazo thought, there was a chance Rostus could actually be quite a bit like him... there was also a chance Rostus could be virtually the opposite. Kazo eagerly looked forward to meeting this person, and the chance of getting fuel was a bonus as well.
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I get the feeling I may not have gone into enough detail at some points. At least that's easy to fix if that's the case. I actually ended up deep in thought quite a few times writing this too.
[ February 16, 2008: Message edited by: AlanL ]