Session Start: Tue Jan 08 19:20:04 2008 Session Ident: #TD&DG * Logging for #TD&DG started * Demota is now known as Lidya * Cyn is now known as Althea * Robin has left #TD&DG [Our story begins, as many do, in a tavern. It is late afternoon, and a small riverside inn that doubles as a wayfarer's shrine to Farlanghn is just beginning to bustle. People of all sorts - halflings, humans, elves, gnomes, dwarves, and even the occasional half-orc - stop in for a bite, to make offerings to the god of roads, or, as the sun is starting to go down, to find an early stop for a comfortable night.] * Ierikc has joined #TD&DG * Zegon has left #TD&DG [Posters line the inn doors and walls, announcing events, job openings, or offering services and giving rough maps to farmsteads. Such exciting opportunities as becoming a farm hand, or rescuing a farmer's daughter from the neighboring farmer's son (who is doubtless at least part ogre, really, by the extremely crude drawing), or --oh, wait, another adventuring party just grabbed that one.] [Oh well. The atmosphere is friendly and warm. With spring slowly turning to summer, it can't help but be warm. And a bit dank. The innkeeper is a portly dwarven woman who either gives lie to the idea that female dwarves have beards, or shaves regularly, and her employees are buxom wenches of varying races, and a few handsome lads who cater to the females who dare travel alone.] [The lanterns are being lit as the sun streams in through the large, high-up oiled-paper window in the west wall. There is a sleeping half-elf youth near the shrine under said window, wearing a rough holy symbol to the Dweller on the Horizon. Ostensibly, he seems to be guarding the donation bowl. A more senior priest is not in evidence.] [Cast: Anybody and everybody as they arrive. | Start!] * Lidya is sitting at a table. She's a young and energetic halfling, enjoying a drink and a meal as halflings tend to do. She has a set of cards in front of her, but she doesn't seem to actually intend on using them to play games. * Althea enters the inn wearing a big cloak and hood combo that, while hiding most of her form, reeks of "trying too hard". She walks by the donation bowl and drops a few copper in before making her way to a table. * The young acolyte starts awake as the coppers clatter and clink against the wood and the other coins in the bowl. He makes a quick blessing sign after the mysterious hooded figure. "Thank you, Sir," he mumbles, still not quite awake. * Ierikc walks in as well, cloak over his head and generally covering his small frame that couldn't be more than two and three quarters feet in height. He places a silver piece to the bowl with a clawed hand, muttering a few hushed words to the acolyte. Keen eyes would spot a slight lizardy tail from beneath the cloak, and a not-exactly-upright posture as he walks torwards one of the tables. * Lidya eats. :9 * The acolyte's eyes widen a bit. * Althea does not pay any real attention to the small, cloaked thing that entered. She's too busy trying to remain inconspicuous. * CCD has joined #td&dg * CCD is now known as Wurr * Stella walks in, wearing a tattered old ensemble of clothing with about half of an old traveler's cloak over it. Her feet are bare, unless you count the layers of road dust caking them. Despite her obvious destitution, however, she seems generally cheerful, and doesn't hide her pretty face and fair hair. * Another obvious adventuring party - you can tell by their mis-matched gear - is eyeing the two mysteriously cloaked figures, and debating something amongst themselves. * Stella strides to the innkeeper's desk and, when she has her attention, begins to negotiate for some road rations. * Demota has joined #TD&DG * Wurr enters...well a circus tent does. Bring purples, reds, yellows, mixed with darker uglier versions of themselves twirl in a sympothy of ugly. Inside that horrid colored cloak is a blue scaled face with tusks and dirty colored hair that has a real color under it some where. * Althea continues to sit at the table, waiting for someone to take her order. * The innkeeper seems dubious about Stella's ability to pay for them, but is generally polite, and offers her a free hot meal, at least. * Ierikc leans his as-of-before unmentioned quarterstaff against the wall and has a seat in one of the chairs. * Lidya is now known as Demotafk * Stella claps her hands and praises the innkeeper for her hospitality, but shows that indeed, she does have a few coppers in her hand with which to purchase some meager food of the sort that rots very slowly. * Althea taps her fingers on the table, impatiently waiting for someone to take her order. Not that she's said that she's waiting for that, but she's getting impatient. * Ierikc chuckles to himself as he takes out a small book and starts reading. * A bard in poofy pants and dagged sleeves walks over to Althea's table from the other obvious adventuring party. "Pardon me, Madam, but you seem to have need of aid. Can my companions and I offer our assistance in whatever grave matter brings you to this place?" Excuse me? Grave matter? I'm just waiting for one of the serving staff to come take my order. * Wurr heads for the innkeeper. "Cheep beer, something to eat." The voice seems..practiced. There's a pause, an almost too long one before "Please." * Demota looks over to Althea. "Wanna share some of my stuff? It's good." (Dem. Name) (Aaah! How'd Demota get here!) * Demota is now known as Lidya * Lidya looks over to Althea. "Wanna share some of my stuff? It's good." Fear not, fair maid or matron. We will protect you from the eavesdropping ears. You may share your quest with us. I assure you I have no idea what you're talking about. Right away, sir. *as she puts a mug on the table and pours something frothy therein* Nice to see one of your kind with some manners. That'll be two coppers for the beer, and a half-silver for our cheapest stew. * The bard seems...confused. * Ierikc continues reading, occassionally glancing over at the adventuring party & hooded girl. * Althea gets up from her table and goes to sit down at the halfling's table. Maybe this weirdo will leave her alone if she does that. * Lidya smiles and waves. * Wurr slowly pulls out a small coin purse counting things out slowly and hands it over with a little extra in it. Either generasity or stupidity, who knows? * The innkeeper accepts it, counts, and smiles. "Boy! If you can't stay awake guarding the donation bowl for your master, make yourself useful and get the gentleman here a slice of apple pie from the cellar! And bring this poor girl that pair of boots the last welsher left. She's getting my floor all dusty." * Ierikc generally tries to be unnoticed, but for whatever reason has ended up at the same table as Lidya. It's the short-people table. * The half-elf leaps to his feet, and dashes off to the back. * Althea isn't short, though. * The bard has gone back to his table, which is now discussing amongst themselves again. Something about "conspiracy" and "plotting". * Stella beams at the Innkeeper. "Oh, thank you! It's been months since I had something to wear on my feet. You are a credit to your profession, ma'am!" * Wurr seems happy just eating right now, looking out over the people in the tavern. * Althea addresses the people at her table. "So, how are you doing this night?" * The dwarf looks up. "The least I can do, dear. The shrine's god has been good to my inn, so I try to help those who are in need on his roads." I'm good. Where's the shrine? * Lidya smiles * The innkeeper gestures to the shrine in the western wall, which is getting easier to see now that the sun is mostly out of the oiled-paper window in the wall above it. It's currently abandoned, since the half-elf acolyte dashed off. * Lidya looks. * Stella nods. "I am glad nonetheless. Now that I've paid for my food for the next few days," she says, seemingly overestimating the rations she's purcheased, "I shall donate to this shrine that has helped you, in turn." * Meanwhile, one of the two youths serving alongside the buxom wenches walks up to Althea, Ierikc, and Lidya's table, and, with a friendly smile, asks what he can get for them. He's handsome and just a bit naieve-looking, eager to please. * Wurr slowly stands moving over to the shrine to study it. I'll take some sort of stew or soup, whatever you have handy, and something to drink with it. Nothing too heavy though. I don't want it keeping me down all night. * Ierikc looks up at the youth, yellow eyes and a non-human snout becoming apparent when he looks up. "Some simple stew and ale, nothing fancy." After that he glances at the others at his table. "More active than in a long time, that's for sure." * Lidya keeps eating what she already has. :9 * It's a fairly straightforward shrine to Fharlanghn, the god of travellers, with a woodcutting depicting a road disappearing into the horizon with a friendly, yellow sun setting on it. There is a wooden bowl on the table in front of it, about half-filled with copper coins, and a few silver. * Stella has her stew while waiting on the altar boy to return. I try to remain active. Boring is no fun. * Wurr drops in a gold coin and walks away back to his food. * The human servingboy nods. "Right away. Seven silvers for the soup and a light ale, or six for beer and the stew." [More travellers start streaming in as the tavern's shadows get sharper due to lantern-light replacing sunlight. Rumors and gossip fly, and more and more uneasy gazes start settling on the "short people's table".] * Althea rummages around in her cloak, trying to find her money pouch. A small, orange, fox's head peeks out from the cloak as Althea withdraws seven silvers from her cloak, dropping them on the table in front of the serving boy. Ooh. That's an adorable fox. * Ierikc takes out six silver pieces and places them on the table. "This had better be good soup then." * The boy picks them up carefully, and puts them into a belt pouch. "It is, sir. Madam Helga's personal recipe. Her daughter's the head chef. I'll be right back!" He walks purposefully off. * Lidya looks at Ierikc. "It's great soup." * Althea lets the fox out of the cloak and drops/dumps it on the table. "Oh, Jessie? Yeah, I try to keep her out of the way. She tends to find her way around though." * Ierikc looks at the small fox. "She doesn't bite, does she?" * Althea takes a few bread crumbs out of her cloak and feeds them to the fox. "She doesn't bite. People anyway." * The acolyte finally comes back up with the slice of pie and those boots (carefully held away from each other in opposite hands). "Here you are, Madam Helga. Can I go back to the shrine, now?" At the innkeeper's nod, he goes back to make sure the bowl hasn't been emptied in his absence. * Jessie, the fox, seems to have disappeared in the time it took for the servingboy to serve the soups and ales. Can I get you anything else? *a bit shyly, mostly directed at Althea* * Althea doesn't seem terribly concerned that Jessie has wandered off. "No, I think we're fine here. Thanks anyway." * Wurr watches the half elf at the shrine as he eats. * The half elf is a bit swamped by many travellers asking for blessings as they leave small offerings. * Stella gives the acolye a cheerful 'thank you' before putting the boots on. She seems terribly pleased with them. She offers the empty bowl of stew to one of the serving people and then heads over to the shrine to donate her last wo coppers. * Stella loses her balance as something furry obstructs her ability to put her right foot in the boot, toppling into Wurr's massive, blue, scaly frame. * Wurr grins as he catches the girl. "Hello there! I have heard of head over heels but..." * Stella 'oofs' cutely. She giggles at Wurr's comment. "Oh, that *is* amusing, sir, but it was this adorable fox here that tripped me. I wonder if it belongs to someone?" * The fox pokes its head out of the boot, cocking its head to one side, curiously. * Althea looks up and swivels her head about looking for the fox. * The whispers and gossip keep mentioning "bandits" and "kobolds". And something about kidnapped nobility. * Stella reaches down and scratches the fox behind one of its ears. * Althea sees the fox over in Stella's boot and jumps up and dashes over to grab the fox. * Ierikc glances. "You may wish to keep a tighter reign on your pet." * Wurr let's the girl go shaking his head. "The snack is a pet?" * Stella smiles. "I suppose you get to enjoy it longer that way." * Althea grabs the boot and shakes it till the fox falls out while scolding it. "Jessica Alexandria Westbrook, you know better than to get bother other people." * The fox looks smug. ..the pet has THAT name? That's a fancy name * Stella clasps her hands. "What an adorable name!" * Althea continues to shake the boot, trying to get the fox to fall out, while addressing Wurr. "See, she likes the name too." * Lidya watches the fox. ^^ * The fox vanishes back up inside it, before allowing herself to be shaken out with a dead mouse in her mouth, which she takes up onto the table next to Althea's plate. * Stella smiles. "Oh, so that's what was in there. Thank you, Jessica. That would have felt odd once I was back on the road." Adorable. * Wurr shakes his head watching the whole scene. * Althea holds the boot out to Stella. "Sorry about that. Sometimes she just does whatever she wants." * Lidya looks at the fox. "Hello, Jessica! I'm Lidya." ^^ * Jessica kindly offers the tail to Lidya. * Stella nods. "That's not always so bad." She puts the slightly-overlarge boot back on her foot. * Althea heads back over to her table, halfway expecting that weird orc and Stella to follow her. * Wurr shrugs and finishes off his drink not disappointing Althea's fears. * Stella walks over to play with the helpful fox some more. * Althea addresses everyone at the table. "So, who all do I have the pleasure of having evening meal with?" I'm Lidya! ^^ * Wurr holds his hand out, blue scaled skin pokes out from the cloak. "Wurr." * Althea very hesitantly takes Wurr's hand and gives it a half-hearted shake. "I'm Al...yson. Allyson. Nice to meet you." * Ierikc taps his right-hand claws on the table. "Ierikc-ssaerth, the Dreamer." He chuckles. "You seem to have quite the magnetic personality, Allyson." * Stella beams. "I am Stella! And I am ever so pleased to meet you all!" * Wurr gives Althea a very clamy hand shake before sitting down. * Althea responds to Ierikc, "I take after my parents in that regard, just like my siblings." * An old dwarf with a steel-gray beard helps an even older man hobble into the room. The acolyte hops up to take over with the elderly human - probably the priest - as the dwarf heads over to talk to Helga. Their conversation starts low, but intense. Nice to meet you as well, Stella, Wurr, and of course Lydia. "So, where are all of you heading from here?" I'm just traveling to travel. ...you mean 'not here yet'? ....performing...hour ago! *her voice rising* * Ierikc waves his hand. "Simply seeing the world." I'm just travelling for a while to see what I can learn. * Althea listens to the others while watching the scene with the dwarf, the human, and Helga. ...Orlan? He was supposed to go to Westbrook! He didn't go after the reward, did he? Does anyone know what is troubling the innkeeper? * Althea shakes her head no and continues to listen to the conversation. Maybe we could ask. I think we should. She has been ever so kind, and I would like to help her. ...another performer, now? Stupid wannabe-hero. ...MERCHANT GUARD!? Augh! * Althea leans in closer to overhear. "I dunno. I don't want to be nosy." * Stella smiles at Althea. "Avoiding answers never got anything done, however." I'm sure if we help, she won't mind * Stella stands after that, and begins to make her way over to Helga the Dwarven Innkeeper. * Ierikc sips on his soup and ale. [Those listening closely can now hear the male dwarf's part of the conversation. "Regardless, he's not here -tonight-, so we don't have nightly entertainment. If the rumors are true, then he's not getting into Orlan. He's not dumb enough to die to a bunch of bandits. Especially not kobolds. But they'll probably delay him."] * Lidya listens. * Wurr blinks letting the other listen in him barely listening. * Althea rises and follows Stella over. She's nosy. Send the wenches and boys discreetly about to find out of anybody wants to make some money tonight. We seem to have an open stage. * Ierikc is nosy, but he's not crazy enough to draw more attention to himself. I'll let them know. Let's not tell Brun where he went, though. She'll worry. * Stella smiles at Helga. "I do not need for money, but I would like to help. I believe there are some new friends of mine who may be interested, as well." No offense, sweetie, but you seem unsuited for the stage in your current getup. I appreciate the offer, though. * Wurr glances over at Helga. "What are you looking for?" * Ierikc glances through his book. A performance. ...just about anything would do; the gossip's getting a wee bit tense for my taste tonight. A performance... ? I could do something I was never any good at that sort of thing. That was more my sister's territory. Brun's boy is our usual, but he travels, bless his soul. He was due back tonight, but the idiot's got it in his head to try to hark out for Orlan. --oh, could you? *to Lidya* What do you do, Miss? I know some traditional orc songs. I don't think people will understand them. * Stella looks thoughtful. "Perhaps we could go and find him for you?" And you're afraid that these kobolds might get him? Performance art. Lots of neat tricks. Looks like magic to most people. I think I'd rather go find this guy, though. I'm a little worried * Ierikc hops to his feet and takes his quarter staff, walking torwards Helga and the rest of the party. "What appears to be the situation?" Now, don't you go off there, either! The bandit trouble's nothing to deal with. He'll find his way back when they stop him. Orlan's no place for honest folk these days. The Duke's getting desperate, even. Totally out of hand. We'd love a magic show. Tell Syv there *points to the acolyte, who's finally getting something to eat now that the priest has taken over the shrine* your name, and he'll announce you. Any props or special lighting you need, dearie? Desperate? Might there be a reward? * Stella frowns. "If the situation is so terrible, then surely we must do something!" *eavesdropping* Oh, yes! The duke's offering 5,000 gold coins to anyone who can open up the travel routes again! I don't need much, but.... oh my. That's a sizable amount of coin. Say, you're planning to go after the poor guy, right? When are you heading out? Leaving on an adventure at night? That's not really done. Kobolds running wild and robbing or killing anybody who travels through the duchy. It's...it's...well, just wrong. ... I think my travels might go that wway. I don't see a problem with it. If you wish you may wait for day, however. It would be a shame to let the Kolbolds do that. * Ierikc nods. "Hmmm, it would." * Stella nods. "The robbing and killing would be a problem, yes." Banditry is bad. We should go stop them I dunno. We're only five people. *sigh* Well, at least stay the night. If the little miss here would perform for us, I'll count that as her and the...*eyes Stella* this young lady's night's stay, if they don't mind sharing a double-room. Of course. We would need witnesses to assure the duke...er I mean the people that the menance is gone. Sure. A room is a gold coin, and includes a hearty breakfast and mead. Syv! Get the stage ready for our illusionist! * Ierikc grins. Even though you can't exactly see it, you can feel it. "All great stories have such humble beginnings." * Syv nods, and swallows the last bite of his bread a bit too fast, dashing for a curtained corner of the common room and quickly behind the curtain. Of course. Sounds reasonable. * Althea crouches down and picks Jessie up off the floor. "I've never been out that way before. I could be fun." * Ierikc walks back to his table and continues eating, asiding to Althea. "You know, you don't need to hide your face here." * Lidya walks over to the Acolye. "I'm Lidya" I'd rather keep it covered here. Not that I have anything to hide, or anything. * Ierikc takes a drink from his mug. "Of course not." * Syv nods. "I'm Syv. Pleased to meet you," he says, cheerfully. Possibly happy to be talking to an adult he's actually taller than. "I'll announce you and open the curtain whenever you're ready, okay, Miss Lidya?" Sure! [Syv prove to have a good voice as his pipes over the crowd, announcing Lidya's Amazing Magic. The crowd is a good one, ready for the easing of worries brought about by a good performance, and she gets showered with coppers before the night is out.] [The next morning, Helga waves you all over to a table already set with a hot slab of meat, a bowl of thin soup, and a mug of warm mead for each of you. Syv is sound asleep by the shrine.] * Lidya walks over and starts eating. :9 * A younger dwarf woman comes up. "How is everything?" she asks, a bit nervously. * Ierikc walks to the table and sits down, taking a small piece of meat for his breakfast. Wonderful. We got a good night's rest. * Althea walks over to the table, her fox following her. She's still wearing that cloak/hood combo that she did yesterday. "Well, the room was nice enough, I guess." thank you for the room. Very comfortable, thank you. * She nods, smiling. "I'm glad. Mother takes good care of them. I'm Brun, the head chef. ...I hear you're going to Orlan?" We are going to try. I think that's what they were talking about. It is certainly wiser to go together than alone. And I've never been out there before. * Stella walks in from the outside and goes over to partake of the freely offered meal after thanking Helga some first. You're a native then? Just be careful. ...and, if you see Carblinkarn...make sure he's okay? We've not seen him in four months, and he was supposed to be back today, but...I overheard my parents. I know he tried going there. What does he look like? Yeah. I don't live too terribly far away. * Brun gets a bit of a dreamy look on her face. "Tall and slender, with dark brown hair. He keeps it so neat. He's a dapper dresser. Can't afford anything fancy, but he wears it well. And his voice...melts butter." * Ierikc nods, and turns his attention to Brun again, waiting for a description. * Stella nods. * Wurr nodds. "Then before we go I shall eat. When you don't know if it will be your last good meal you should eat up." Yes, please do. Enjoy. I made your meals personally. ...if you'll excuse me, though, I need to get back to work. * Ierikc nods. Right! * Althea sits down at the table to eat her meal. * Lidya2 has joined #TD&DG * Lidya has quit IRC (Ping timeout) So, have any of you been out that way? * Lidya2 is now known as Lidya Afraid not. no. * Stella shakes her head. My caravan's probably been through there once or twice, but if it did so recently, I was too young to remember Well, it'll be an adventure alone getting out there, then. * Stella smiles. "Oh, good! It's been so long since I had an adventure." [A short while later, the well-fed travellers received a short blessing from a hastilly-wakened priest of Fharlanghn, and Syv offered each a small charm for luck. The mysterious cloaked Allyson had to go get something, so we join the others as they're walking away from the inn. | Start!] * Lidya smiles. ^^ * Wurr makes sure to store his charm in a safe place on him as he walked, then in a deep horribly off pitched voice in probably one of the worse singing voices you've heard in your life he starts scream "singing" in orc. * Ierikc walks along, finally shedding the head of his cloak to reveal he is *shock* a kobold. He hisses amusedly. "I hate wearing a cloak over my head, but people tend to stare if I don't." * Althea walks out of the stables, leading a horse by the reigns. She walks towards the group and finally removes her hood revealing that... she's... a human. An ordinary-looking human. * Lidya is a halfling! She's ADORABLE! * Stella wraps the charm around her left wrist and proceeds along with the others. "Oh, how unusual." * Wurr is matching his clothes in song and isn't taking off his hood. HA! * Stella is a human. She's cute and dressed poorly! And alas, her cloak has no hood. * Lidya does her best to keep up * Althea climbs onto the saddle on the back of her horse. "So, are we all ready to go?" I think so. * Wurr takes a deep breath, pausing his song. "Sure! Travel on!" * Ierikc is, unlike most kobolds though, brightly colored red in his scales, with his eyes being gold with barely noticable black slits. He looks aged from what you can tell, but despite this he doesn't seem any more frail than someone at the prime of their life. "I believe we have already started." So what brings you out here/ My feet. We're going to fight some mean kobolds. That's what's bringing us out here. * Stella nods. "We will make the road safe for the free transfer of material needs and ideas once more!" I wonder if they're annoyed because of the dragon that was killed out there a few months ago. You can just say trade, you know. I mean, kobolds are just little dragons, right? * Ierikc grins. "There is certainly a resemblence." There was a draogn killed out here? What happened then? The duke got his army together to drive it off. Lost most of his army doing that, though. Confronting a dragon is not something one should do lightly. ...That's sad. * Stella frowns. "Lost enough to make chasing kobolds hard. How sad for the poor dead men and the poor dead dragon." Yeah... Well, we're here to make this sad stuff stop happening. * Ierikc hmms. "It sounds like the dragon was chased off. Not killed." * Althea shrugs. "I dunno. I'm just saying what I heard." "Ah! How lucky for it, then." [About midway through the day, the burble of a river can be heard ahead. The road has entered a thin forest, providing a nice dappling of shade from the sun.] I hope the dragon wasn't killed. Not lucky for the king's descendents. Dragons have long memories and longer lives, and will seek revenge. Y-yeah.. If you live that long, you have to have something better to do than seek revenge. * Ierikc hmms. "You clearly don't think like a dragon." That sounds good. The river. We can get some water there. * Stella giggles at Ierikc's comment. Well, I've not really met any dragons, so I don't really know how they think. You've met one. she has? Not that I know of. * Ierikc smiles. "Of course, you all have." [The river is actually just a glorified stream, with beautiful, clear water. A sturdy, wide bridge crosses it, and a sign in several languages (most prominently Common) proclaims that the Orlan bridge is sixty miles ahead. A notice nailed to the bottom warns of banditry beyond the next river.] * Stella smiles. "You're a dragon? How good for you! What do you breathe?" Air, mostly. * Lidya admires the view. * Ierikc shakes his finger. "Not all dragons are big, elemental-breathing creatures." I guess everyone has to start somewhere * Jessica leaps onto Ierikc's head, sniffing at his left ear. * Ierikc ducks and swats at the fox with his claws. "Get off of me!" Aw... it likes you. -it +she * The fox is swatted, and leaps onto Althea's shoulders, glowering reproachfully at Ierikc. * Stella smiles a little more melancholically. "Oh, that's sad. If you could breathe purple fire, that would be so interesting!" * Althea gallops over to the stream and hops off her horse to refill her waterskin. "I've never seen purple fire before." Well she can like me, just not so leapy-clingy-without-warning-like. * Stella takes a moment to wash her feet. And her new boots! ....I see. * Ierikc washes his feet and gathers up some water in his waterskin. "I'm unsure where you'd see it again." There is a first time for everything. * Wurr just grunts and takes out the charm fingering it. * Ierikc thinks. "A simple Continuous Flame spell could do it, I think." * Stella blinks. Purple fire would be pretty. * Stella pulls off one of her just-washed boots and fishes around in it. * Stella blinks and pulls out a bat. "How curious. This wasn't there before." Animals seem to get into there a lot. Might be why they were left behind. It must be a comfortable boot. * Ierikc shrugs and answers it with the age-old reason for everything. "Or maybe a wizard did it." Wizards, like dragons, must have better stuff to do with their time. I don't know. They might see it as a joke they want to watch. * Stella frowns. "Ah well. As long as they do not bite me." Jessie would never bite people. Shelby here, on the other hand. * Althea pats her horse. ...do you have a trained bird? Really? I've heard of some very strange things whose only reason for existance would be from a wizard. Why would I have a bird? I don't know. Why would you have a fox? Maybe she just likes animals? Then she'd have a reason for a bird. I heard young human females seem to have facinations with things like ponies, birds, and the like. I saved Jessie from some mean hunters. Ah, surprised Jessie is so...well behavied. Says you, she didn't jump on you and try to eat at your ear. She wasn't trying to eat your ear. She's not mean like that. She was trying to find another rat. * Jessica nods in agreement. There isn't a rat in my ear. How did it know if it didn't look? Have you been eating rat recently? No, unless the innkeeper decided to serve us rat. In which case I'd have a few choice words for her. [Far, far away, Brun sneezes, and feels mildly insulted for some strange reason.] If it was rat, it was very well-prepared. Oh, I doubt she'd do anything so lowly. * Wurr has quit IRC (Quit: ) Precisely. Which would be a good question on why your fox decided to go after my ear. I dunno. Why don't you ask? Because even if she had an answer, I don't think she could tell me. * Ierikc glances at the fox. "Could you?" I dunno. She's a pretty smart fox. Foxes generally are. * Jessica nods once, then wraps herself around Allyson's neck like a fox scarf, and turns her nose pointedly up and away from Ierikc. Stuck-up, isn't she? She's not stuck up. You just hurt her feelings. She did leap on me and nip at my ear. Perhaps an apology and I'll forgive her straightforwardness this time. * Jessica opens one eye at Ierikc, and gives a small, foxy squeak. * Ierikc glances at Althea. "What does that mean?" Either she's sorry or she's choking on a chicken bone. * Ierikc nods and bows his head. "I am sorry as well, and certainly hope you're not choking on a chicken bone. That would be most unfortunate." * Lidya watches and smiles * Jessica nods. And discreetly swallows a chicken bone. [And so went the travels of the newly formed party of adventurers!] [End Session] Session Close: Tue Jan 08 22:57:25 2008