[Game Thread] Trouble in the Land

[Valistar]

Zuma almost responds with some sarcastic retort like shi usually would to people, but stops hirself, forces a smile and says: "Thank you sir." Then turns to the room, finds a nice corner, and sets hir backpack down. Zuma then kneels down says a few arcane words and makes some gestures and then continues concentrating at the dirt seems to slowly get extracted from Zuma and hir clothing. After all, who needs a bath when you can get cleaner with magic? It only takes about a minute and Zuma is done. "Alright, lets go get some food. I'm hoping for steak and corn, and I'm hoping my steak is so rare it eats the corn." As much as Zuma usually fought the orc instincts of rage, the desire for rare bloody meat was not one that shi bothered to fight. It was one of hir outlets for the orc side of hir. Otherwise Zuma did pretty well at appearing less orc than most half orcs. Virtually nonexistent tusks, well kept skin, and well kept hair helped that appearance. The green skin and violet eyes on the other hand still managed to make things obvious.

[Explosionguy]

Genericho splits the bill with Gabby, drawing a couple of coins from his purse. He takes the key after handing them over and puts it in his pocket.

After Zuma did a magic trick to clean his clothes, Genericho responded.

"Are you getting cravings, Zuma? May as well try to satisfy them now, since we might not have these luxuries during our travel. I wonder what sort of stuff they serve out here in the boon - I mean - the countryside?"

Genericho turns his head back down the hall.

[HBlossom]

"Zuma, you look suddenly quite refreshed! I wish I felt like you look! Well then, my companions, this may be more than an opportunity for getting our bellies full. I shall be keeping my ears and eyes open. Shall we?" Gabby asked as she stepped toward the door.

[Valistar]

"Craving? Just the usual desire for delicious bloody meat. Maybe a fresh salad... that my meat can eat just before I kill it. Anyway, as for my appearance I have a simple spell that allows me to magically clean myself. Anyway, yes, lets go eat." Zuma says just before following Genericho out the door to the main hall. Given that the young half-orc was still growing it meant that quite a lot of food was about to be consumed. Not that Zuma was fat or anything, shi just had a rather fast metabolism.

[Explosionguy]

Genericho goes to the dining area to get food and find a seat at an open table.

[Valistar]

Zuma joins Genericho shortly after and begins looking for a waitress being rather hungry. "Well, judging by the smell this is going to be a nice change from what I'm used to at the training mess hall. Probably better than the dust that they serve to you scribes, eh?" Zuma nudges the man with hir elbow in jest. "So, you have any plans for this trip other than to head down the road and see what happens? Personally I think we should go to bed early and get an early start tomorrow. Might not be a bad idea to spur some of the others here into drinking contests or something to slow them down even further. Also, did you see those weird foreigners earlier? I wonder if they are going to be coming this direction or not. They looked... capable."

[Explosionguy]

"Come now, we're not fed that poorly. Also, no. I don't really have a plan for this journey other than traveling and getting to our destination. I'm all for going to bed early and I wouldn't mind a spot of drinking. As for the foreigners, I noticed them, but I can't tell whether they're more or less skilled than the other guys here."

Speaking of them, Genericho looks around to see if the shadowy folk stopped at the Fat Pony.

[HBlossom]

Gabby looks at her companions and around the tavern and suddenly realizes she feels too grubby to enjoy her meal. She also ate an oat cake recently and decided she would rather eat a bit later when she's hungrier. She excuses herself and goes in search of the baths.

[Aarroun]

The heavyset brunette, Helen swings by the table almost as soon as you're seated and takes your order. The food is out a few minutes later, a hearty beef stew with rich dark bread, just warmed and a dish of butter. Apparently this counts as making due for this establishment for they only have one man working the kitchens and there isn't much variety to be had. Despite that, the food is excellent even for those acquainted with the Lord's table.

The dark haired trio of foreigners is eventually spied in a corner booth away from the general conversations. Keeping to themselves, they make quiet talk to each other and pass mostly unnoticed by the rest of the guests.

The bath house is a rather large building, signs in front clearly marking sides intended for male and female usage. A few stairs bring you up into the changing room where a thin curtain obscures the view of a large heated pool. Beyond the curtain, the air is steamy; the water kept hot from a heated reservoir and clean by some feat of dwarven ingenuity. Broad hanging shutters are propped open near the ceiling to provide some airflow.

[Valistar]

*Sigh* Not nearly rare enough. Zuma thinks before digging into the delicious food. It was great food, but shi wasn't about to admit it. Naturally Zuma falls upon the food like the ravenous teenager that shi is, quickly devouring everything and promptly asking for more. Being young had its advantages, like being able to eat enormous quantities of food without getting fat. "That woman is strange... leaving before getting food. Seriously, I need to learn to hunt. I'd save boat loads of gold by getting my own meat." Zuma says in reference to Gabby leaving already just to get a bath. Baths took far too long when one had magic readily available to take care of cleanliness. But other people didn't have that magic available. Granted, Zuma's opinion of comfort wasn't exactly normal. Shi would likely be a much nicer person if shi did grant hirself more comforts.

[Explosionguy]

"Going to the baths, Gabby? Just make sure you'll have time to eat before bed."

Genericho slowly eats the stew, blowing on each spoonful. He carefully watches the folks with the dark hair across the room as he eats, barely listening to Zuma's words. He felt there was something peculiar about them, seeing how he can't remember seeing anyone like them before in the kingdom.

Dice Perception:

1d20+8

(10)+8

Total = 18

[HBlossom]

Gabby asks for the room key, goes up and selects a clean tunic from her pack, returns the key to her companions and makes her way to the bath area. As she enters she sees a stack of clean, folded towels and takes one. She quietly prepares herself and submerges in the deliciously steamy water. She takes special care to make sure her blue green hair is clean and checks her feet for blisters. When she is done, she carefully dries herself and puts her hair in braids so they don't drip. She takes all of about 12 minutes and hurries to dinner in her clean tunic and road dusty tunic rolled under her arm.
"The bath was just what I needed. Now my appetite is a bit more sharp. How is the food? she asks her companions.

[Valistar]

"There's meat in it, so not bad." Zuma was already at 3 bowls of stew and seriously contemplating more. "So Gabby, tell us a bit more about yourself. Like where were you raised? What skills do you have? Have you ever tried to evade your taxes? Any hobbies or pastimes that you enjoy?" For the most part Zuma already knew Generico, maybe not as well as shi probably should have, but a lot better than Gabby.

[HBlossom]

Gabby orders stew and answers Zuma, "I grew up outside a small village with an older woman, Mae, who adopted me when I was very small. There had been some trouble with fey and I lost my mother. She wasn't married so I never knew my father. Mae has some skill in healing. We got by on what little fishing she could do, the few chickens he had that roosted in the trees in summer, the garden she planted, and herbs she gathered until I was old enough to learn how to track by one of her hunter friends. He got me my first bow and showed me how to hunt, skin, and dress game. We didn't require much so a rabbit or a couple squirrels were a nice supplement to our limited supplies of meat, although I can clearly remember my first buck. You always remember that. That kind man was slain by a bear just a half day walk from our home. He was the closest thing I ever had to a father. When he didn't return from hunting I tracked him to his camp where I found him....." Gabby coughs lightly and dabs her eyes. "... I have his bow and his boots to remember him by. I don't like shooting deer so much because I can sort of talk to the animals."

[Valistar]

"That is an interesting story, though it makes me think... Eh, not a valid idea, animals don't earn money anyway." Zuma had been trying to think of a way to collect taxes from animals, but since animals don't use money it isn't really helpful to try to collect from them. It just meant that the animals would have to serve by providing delicious meat. "You seem to have a fair amount of experience with the wild, the farthest I've ever gone from the city is just the farms surrounding it to collect taxes so I have little knowledge out here. So Gabby, do you have any thoughts on what we should do to figure out this quest?"