Mokley

Lantern

Haha anything for the dear princess! But @Keplo deserves credit. ;)

The Bawdy Dog

You guys are insane and I love it.

When I get home today I can write a summary of what happened since the last mod post, and try to clarify the chaos.

The Bawdy Dog

<Snipped quote by Mokley>

Ah, so I suppose I haven't got a sword, either, then? Hm...

@Illogical Jim

Well I'm flexible really. Honestly unless your lute has magic properties it wouldn't count as an Object. ;)

Edit: I'm at work on my phone, so for clarity I mean nobody panic about objects, just no more than one weapon (or spell) of mass destruction per character. That is my only concern. :D

The Bawdy Dog

@ViolentViolet then go with my blessing, and the knowledge that four dangerous women are between you and the bard. Just sayin. ;)

The Bawdy Dog

@ViolentViolet I did say one object per person, including spells. ;) how you interpret that is up to you. You can trade your Object for something else if you want.

I'm not keen on a massacre, personally.

The Bawdy Dog

I get the feeling we're all waiting to see what @ViolentViolet will do. ;)

The Bawdy Dog

THE SCENE AT PRESENT

---

Pallas, Edward, Milo and Seloria sit in conversation at a long table by the hearth. Only Milo has been served a hot drink. Milo's air-written words become more hostile.

Fate makes rounds of the room, waiting on patrons.

Ealdwine, with his lute beside the hearth, defiantly continues to sing a ballad despite Fade's threats of violence for doing so.

At the bar sit Jargo, Dirion and Fade. Dirion has already been drinking for several hours. Jargo the Trickster smears blood on drunken Dirion's neck (which consequently fills the room with the smell of blood) and gives the man a dagger, telling him the bard has attacked him.

WINK

---

She was only just running the names of open wine cellars through her head when she was stopped by a vaguely familiar voice, though it was smoother and deeper than she remembered. Wink squinted at him with a suspicious step back -- she recognized him, all right, but Uncle Gharlyc was the last thing she might've called him. Stinky old bastard Gharlyc, more like. Seven years had made her wiser and had only made him creepier. @Tricheus

Wink scrubbed a palm over her shoulder where he'd touched her, and she scowled after him, angry because his was the last help she would ever want, but she was forced to grudgingly accept it. Even the thought of the handsome noble inside didn't quite lighten her mood after this encounter. Knowing that Gharlyc had returned -- and that consequently her father was about to sink to even deeper lows -- she dropped the coin in her pocket and returned to the tavern --

-- Which was not in the state she had left it.

The drow was tense and livid, and the nobleman seemed at once displeased with the bard and enamored with at least two other women. Poor Dirion was covered in blood for some reason, and the shiny writing from the one-eyed girl (though Wink couldn't read it) was being written with an angry swipe. The worst of it all was that she only spotted two drinks out of the lot of them, despite the fact that Fate was well doing her job.

Wink was in a mood.

So when her father shook her for an explanation for her lack of wine, she snapped at him, "Gharlyc went for it." With that she pushed past him to the ale casks, filled four tankards, and with two in each hand proceeded to distribute them (each with a quiet bang) before Jargo, Seloria and Pallas. The last was held for Edward, and she managed a flirtatious smile while she laid it before him, but her heart was no longer in it. There were several murderous auras and a palpable tension in the air, and she couldn't bring herself to relax while Gharlyc was in town. @karamonnom@Strafe@AgentFallenSoul@Keplo

Wink caught Fate in crossing and spoke quietly, her eye on the drow and the table full of weapons, "You might want to get the hammers out." @SilverWolfAngel

BUSKER

---

With a grin and a shaky nod, Busker placed before Fade a round loaf of dark bread and cheese, as well as a bowl of rabbit stew, hoping beyond hope that the dark elf would be pleased with the exceptional service. @ViolentViolet

Instead, she threw a knife at the bard.

The proceeding act of defiance by the bard made Busker's face turn ghostly white -- and then red with livid rage. He raised a finger and opened his mouth so that he might tell this noisemaker, for the sake of peace and of pleasing the patrons, to cease and desist this instant -- but he was interrupted when the door opened and Wink returned empty-handed.

This was a disaster. They were all going to die.

Busker yanked a tuft of hair out of his head, momentarily forgot the bard, and accosted Wink regarding the wine, to be told that this was where Gharlyc had disappeared to. Gharlyc, at least, would bring back a decent bottle.

The odd one at the bar asked for a broom and mop, instead of food or more drink. Busker turned on him with a strained and impatient smile. "Certainly, but whatever for?" @Keplo

Even while he spoke, he kept the drow and the bard in his peripheral vision.

Just your average tavern thread (where the tavern's burning and being besieged by zombies)

<Snipped quote by Mokley>

You monster!

@NorthernGR

Lantern

The Inn

---

Randold? Rhea's expression twisted in confusion. Surely she meant Talan? And then she remembered the big bearded guy who had refused to speak a word, who had dropped into a sinkhole of the Sparrow King's making. The pirate was about to say as much when she was interrupted:

"You can't have it! The Lantern is my way home."

Anise

The violet lantern on the table pulsed twice, then brightened rapidly, growing brighter and brighter until Anise and Rhea were forced to shut their eyes.

The truth of the violet Lantern was this: it alone had the ability to create in the real world whatever the bearer desired -- but it could only bring to life one thought at a time. The Inn had been built by the violet Lantern because Robin had required warmth and food. Now, it recognized Anise as its bearer, and saw that she required something very different.

And so, the inn disappeared.

When the bright violet light faded, Anise and Rhea stood in the dark woods, surrounded by rocks and trees with the starry sky above. The inn had completely vanished, without even a broken twig to mark its passing, as if it had never been there at all.

A cool breeze swirled by them, carrying with it the sound of the waterfall. Not too far along the creek was the orange glow of a campfire. In the grass nearby was the violet Lantern, and the green Lantern rested on a boulder at the edge of the clearing.

A blue light glowed in the woods, not far in the distance. It might be familiar to Anise as the same blue glow that she had woken under so long ago.

But the most curious thing -- more curious than the sudden disappearance of a fully furnished house -- was that a man was now lying at Anise's feet. He was unconscious, at least for the moment, but very much alive.

Talan's Camp

---

Tyaelaem grinned enigmatically -- and because his eyes were hidden in the hollows of his mask, it was unclear where he was looking or what he was seeing. It was likely that he took pleasure in Simon's enormous hatred, and was eager to see if the older boy would finally snap.

He gestured to Talan that he had no problem with the skinning and cooking of the rabbit -- the beasts of the forest eat one another, after all -- but would not partake, himself.

"The right question," he said after Talan had asked about the inn, "is what is it not? The Pirates didn't make it, the Kith didn't make it, and it wasn't there before your bridge-boat crashed in the creek. So the only conclusion is that this big house doesn't belong." In other words, he had no idea what that thing was in the woods. He'd never seen anything like it -- the most advanced structures he'd seen were the ruins of the far gully, and they didn't compare to the strong warmth of the inn.

And then, suddenly, a violet light flashed brilliantly through the windows of the inn, lighting up the surrounding trees like a small sun -- and then, in a blink, the entire inn vanished. All that was left were the woods and the grass, the green and the violet Lanterns, and two figures standing silhouetted in their light. The inn itself was completely gone, as if it had never been there.

"Ah, see!" Tyaelaem said triumphantly. "Never belonged, left as quick as it came." He looked between Talan and Simon again, as if disappearing houses was a commonplace occurrence. "So, the Princess tells me she wants to go home to Riverforde. Do you want the same?" He leaned forward on his knees eagerly, still with that knowing grin.

The Woods

---

Adam awoke with a headache, after having blacked out suddenly -- it was unclear how much time had passed.

He was lying face-down in the grass, illuminated softly by a blue glow. It was night, and the leaves above rustled in the cool breeze. Occasionally he could hear the distant sound of voices carried on the wind.

As he oriented himself, he would find that the source of the blue glow was an old iron lantern with odd symbols etched into the metal. At its heart was a glass orb, inside which was something that appeared to be an egg, which was glowing as bright as a strong blue flame.

Attached to the lantern was a hand, curled around its handle. The hand belonged to a corpse: a young man lay dead, crumpled as if he had been struck down suddenly, though there were no wounds. His gold-colored eyes stared emptily. This was all that was left of Arin.

Not too far away, in a clearing visible through the trees, was a green and a violet light. This was where the voices were coming from.

The Bawdy Dog

After we finish we just have to figure out how to get in, or do we have to wait?

@AgentFallenSoul

After you finish your cs just go ahead and post your character arriving. :)