[Game Thread] Episode 1: The Typical D&D Trope

[pianoman90]

Ald turned to face the newcomers, before the man with the proposition had a chance to add anything more. "Oh my!" he exclaimed, and looked closely at the pebbles still sitting in Granite's outstretched hand. "Do you think these could be those stones? Stones of Kod-peece.. What an interesting word. Is that a place down here somewhere?" Ald's roaming hands found the spare bottle of rum on the table and he drew it to his lips, but didn't drink. Clearly he was too distracted with thoughts of the city of 'Kodpeece' I don't think I have ever heard of it! And the ability to turn into a stallion would be fantastic! I have always loved horses, although I have only ridden one once. Have I told you that story before?" Ald jumped up and began pacing around the table, his storyteller's voice clear and strong. He was in the thrall of a narrative moment! "Well it was a long time ago, when I was a boy and my mother had let me see the parade through the town. It was fantastic how everyone was dressed up in all their shiniest clothes and..." He trailed off a little when he realised that he was once again the centre of attention. He turned back to the man with the proposal and said "Sorry, I get a bit excited with all these stories. I blame the rum.." Ald looked quizzically at the bottle in his hand, as if to wonder how it had got there, then switched the pebbles in Granite's hand with the bottle, before pocketing the pebbles and promptly sitting down in a flop.

"Back to that proposal!"

[bulbaquil]

Wait, you mean those pebbles actually might have value? Taalim thought as he listened to the newcomer approach with a proposition. Propositions were generally interesting, weren't they? Not necessarily as interesting as stories... well, stories tended to vary rather considerably in how interesting they were to begin with. And as it turned out they were talking about different pebbles.

"Extra coin and supplies sounds good to me too," Taalim averred, affirming the statement made by the fellow adventurer-to-be (presumably, that was generally what "propositions" in taverns entailed), who was apparently a mage as evidenced by the fact that one of the drinks passed out by the elder seemed to be on the verge of taking a precipitous and terminal tumble and then abruptly stopped. "Let's hear it, shall we?"

[MrD]

Another, well dressed, man approached the table and began a discourse with the Halfling about magical stones or something about horses?

Granite tried hard to listen but was distracted when he felt something small hard and round being pushed into the palm of his left hand he looked down and uncurling the fingers saw one solitary shiny pebble. He blinked...

The pebble thief had struck again. He was sure a moment ago he'd had many pebbles and now there was only one. He looked round the bar once more trying to spy out the culprit but who ever was playing this trick on him was nowhere to be seen. He glanced down at his right hand uncurling those fingers also. There, to his surprise, were....many pebbles. He looked from hand to hand...many pebbles....one pebble....many pebbles...one pebble...slowly the reality of the situation dawned on him and his face split in a wide grin. "Bwarr! ha...harrrrr! Now that's funny!" he put all the pebbles together and slipped them into the pouch at his belt.

A shadow fell across the table and Granite looked up into the smiling face of a well build man.

The man greeted them then said

"I have a proposition for you, if you would like to hear it. "

Granite wasn't sure what a "probosishunn" was but if it meant someone would pay for all the beer he'd been drinking,as he didn't have a single coin to his name, then it was worth finding out.

"Sit! Drriink! Talk!"

He pushed the jug of ale towards the man.

At that moment another stranger arrived at the table this one proffering up a bottle of rum!. Now he didn't usually go with rum as it tended to give him indegestion but it was free and with all these new drinking buddies he was having a whale of a time. "Gruhh!" he grunted and nodding in acceptance made a grab at the bottle which was about to slide off the table but then suddenly stopped. Magic!! He shot the new comer a suspicious glance. Magic men were usually trouble. He placed his hand protectively over the pouch holding his pebbles and with the other hand raised the bottle to his lips and took a swig. All the time he had his eye on the magic man...just....in...case.

[StealWyrmm]

The man stared shortly at each member of the group gathered around the table. Well, well, it appears we have a right party here. Obviously, we are still working on this here town. As it goes, the more we dig, the more caverns and the like we stumble upon and somehow vile beings always seem to already be there. Well we just so happened to have opened up one too many of these damned places.

He pauses for a moment, as if carefully considering what he would say next, We need a bit of... hired help, to clear out the most recent one. Shouldn't be too difficult, but we all of our other men are currently taken. If you should be interested, we will pay each of you our typical salary for our merc... err hired help.

[MrD]

Granite's eyes twinkled at the prospect of battling some 'vile beings' in the not too distant future.

"You pay for these drinks..." He indicated the table full of empty flagons, broken jugs, spilled rum and drunken rangers with a wave of a huge hand, "...and you've got yourself a...'cleaner'...Bwar ha Harr!!"

He stood and stepping out from the bench and over the comatose Ranger retrieved his Sword and Javelin from where they were propped against the wall.

"When do we leave!"

[pianoman90]

Ald perked up at "hired help". "Oh, I love to help out my friends! And you are definitely a friend of mine, so I am definitely in!" Ald looks around the group that had gathered around him, and stood up in the middle of the table. "These vile beings sound interesting-I wonder what they like to do down there? Maybe they can see in the dark, and lead us to all sorts of treasures that have been lost for centuries! Do you think that maybe I would be able to get a chance to talk to them? Do you think they speak? I absolutely love exploring new places!"

Ald jumps down and begins to jump from side to side, his energy almost palpable to those closest to him. "I heard stories from the old men who had been around for absolutely ages and had seen things no-one had ever seen! Or so they say, some of their stories I found out to be false from first-hand..... Anyway, I heard them say there were creepy crawlies that exploded when you came near! And, and, and skeletons with bows and arrows! And also there were these zombies!! And cave spiders that poisoned you with their bite!! Amazing the things this world hides just behind the corner. Oh, I do love adventures!"

Ald's speech had brought the stares of many patrons around the tavern, but in his current electric state of mind, he hardly noticed. He looked up at the portly man who had proposed the adventure of Ald's life and cocked his head to one side as he suddenly considered something. "Apart from my friend Granite's drinks here, what other sorts of 'rewards' are we getting from this?"

[bulbaquil]

"Vile beings?" Taalim perked up at this. "They are enemies of the sun, and likely of the wind, and must perish," he says in a remarkably paladin-like way. "Or at least be reasoned with. But they somehow don't seem like the type for conversation to me." Also, for what it's worth, I can see in the dark, he thought, having practically forgotten that certain other races were not able to do so - it didn't come up much. It might actually be worth bringing up. "You know, I can see in the dark too, which can create problems when I try to sleep..."

Still, he relished the chance to go skulking stealthily about a deep cave, bringing the scourge of the wind on any zombies that resided there. Apparently some of the spells he knew were rather useful against such beasts, and at any rate he wanted to gain more experience with these spells so that he could attain a higher level of understanding and oneness with the summer breeze. "I'm in. So long as there are zombies."

[Yuul]

Temir gave it a moment of thought. It would solve his monetary issues for a while, and with such funding supplies would be easier to get. How hard could this task be? He wouldn't be doing it alone after all. "Very well, I'm in for now. Let's see how things go from here." There, he said it. Glancing about the table he looks at those he was likely to soon be partnered with and hoped he hadn't made a bad choice here. Well, he'd know soon enough wouldn't he?

[mountainbound]

If he wasn't under the debilitating effects of what one might call, a serious buzz, Don would have ran as quickly and as far as possible from the kindly old man. Vile beings, no written contract, overeager help... oi. OI!

But he was crunkered, he was totaled, jober as a sudge, snookered, befuggered, schlitzed, hooched up. He was langered, plastered, three sheets to the wind, legless, phalanxed, piss-eyed... and as his dear old ma used to say, sh!t-arsed drunk.

Or, in the less eloquent vernacular of his father: he was fecked.

"Sure, that sounds like a great idea!"

[MrD]

"Bwar..Ha...Haaaarrr!" Granite burst into laughter shaking his head and holding his sides as he thought about his pebbles once more. He headed towards the door. "He's paying" he manged to shout ,between burst of laughter, to the owner and indicated the man who had just hired his services. "Harrr! Ha! Snortle!...Snk!"

[pianoman90]

"Oh are we going already? I was just beginning to enjoy myself here.." The halfling had pulled out a dirty pack of cards from somewhere in his numerous pouches and had been counting under his breath slowly as he placed each new card down. "I hadn't even got to show any of you my famous card tricks! Oh well, adventures are fun too. Maybe I will get a chance while we are on the road!" Ald brightened up, looked around at those still assembled around the table, then jumped off and started to follow Granite. He turned around and shouted to the others..

"Are you guys coming or what?"

[bulbaquil]

"Well, hold on a second!" Taalim shouts in a rather "hold your horses" manner as he realizes they are neglecting something rather critical to the success of their mission. "We don't even know where we're supposed to go!" His voice turns quieter as he changes his intended audience from the party to those who have enlisted the services of said party, "...Unless we're simply following you back there?"

[MrD]

Granite pulled up short at Talims words, his brow knitted in concentration. He was right he had no idea where he was going other than outside and away from the impending beer bill. He looked back across the crowded bar.

"Where we go?...Man!"He called at his new employer.

An unattended flagon of beer on the table next to him caught his eye. He picked it up and downed it in one go.

"BuuuuuRRrrrrrrRRrP!"

[Yuul]

Temir grimaced as the orc downed an entire flagon of drink in one go. It was a disgusting, and slightly fascinating thing to watch. He merely chose to wait with them for now, for the man who had hired them's answer on where exactly they were going. The halfling, hyperactive and bouncing back and forth that he was, would take a long while to get used to he suspected. He wondered how long he would be working with these people anyway, just what had he gotten himself into?