Xaltwind

Goblin Slayer: Newblood (CANCELLED)

Druid Girl laughed herself once she heard the nomad snicker at her silly posture.

"Hey! Don'ät laugh!" She blurted out, before putting her leg back down on the ground.

She then listened intently to Big Red's words of wisdom once more... He claimed that a day's worth of physical excersise could still achieve something... A rather remarkable statement, considering she'd worked on a farm and was used to hard labor, and knew for a fact that you didn't develop muscles or stamina over-night for just one day of hard work. But she decided to stay silent. Perhaps lizardmen anatomy worked differently and they developed faster? She really didn't know much about the species really, apart from what her Master had told her and what little Big Red had shared... And honestly, they didn't seem too pleasant so far...

Next up was the stance. The caramel-skinned young lass watched carefully as Big Red demonstrated. It looked... Peculiar... To say the least. But the giant mass of red assured the two girls that using this posture would disallow others from tackling him to the ground... Not that she understood what the point of that was, since in most fights with weapons you didn't actually tackle someone, you tried to bonk, bap, slice or poke them... But hey! It might be good for if a tavern-brawl broke out, or an unarmed rapist tried something in a dark alley... Or some other very specific situation where weaponry wasn't involved....?

"Errr.... Like this?" She said finally, attempting to mimic what the lizardman had done... Though, not quite getting it right... Her knees were angled inwards towards one another and she looked more like a newborn calf trying to stand up for the first time... Or like she really, really, really needed to go and take a little tinkle in a nearby bush...

"So...? Uh... How do we, y'know, fight while standing like this? It's a bit awkward..." The raven-haired girl stated, trying to adjust her knees and feet to more closely resemble what Big Red had shown...

Alas, she was a not but a former farm-girl, without a single day's worth of training in any sort of martial or even basic combat-arts What she knew of fighting she'd learned herself, or by watching her Master. Trying to teach someone like that how to use martial arts was going to be a bit more work than just showing her what to do...

Guild of Renta-Experts [[CANCELLED]]

Alice only needed to knock a single time on the wooden door of the large house. In an almost instant, the door - quite litteraly - flew open, and standing in the now gaping, looming, dark and somehow foreboding doorway, was none other than the wicked witch of the east old lady Elmwood, giving the pair a glare. A glare of the kind that made the camera shrink back and make the old woman look much bigger than she actually was, along with a dark shadow being cast over the top part of her head, and a disapproving scowl on her face that would make a baby soil itself by being in her mere presence.

Even Brandy, who was oblivious and unconcerned with most things, had her ears twitch and eyes blink a few times - looking rather perplexed by the arms-crossed, glaring-daggers old Elmwood-woman. Either she hadn't expected to see her in such a menacing state, or she wasn't quite sure why she was in such a state... Let it be known that Brandy certainly wasn't going to win any awards for coherent thought.

"... You..." Was the first thing to come out of the old crone's mouth. At this point, one could amost envison the elderly woman being accompanied by black, swirling clouds that unleashed ominous thunderbolts and a harsh, biting wind causing her clothes to billow dramatically. None of that was actually happening, mind you, but it certainly felt like it! "... What did you two do...?" Shge more demanded than asked, to be fair.

Francoise, who had resumed his rather snooty and arisocratic _{(aristodoggy?)} behavior, suddenly seemed perturbed by his master's behavior, and began to shrink back... Now hiding behind Alice and beginning to whimper somewhat pathetically.... For an Aulderian Royal poodle, he sure didn't seem all that brave when faced with the angry presence of his mistress.

"Uh... Hi, Mrs... Elkword!" Brandy said, shrugging off the imminent aura of doom and greeting the woman - with the wrong name - as if nothing was amiss in the world. "We brought ya yer pooch back! Safe and sound too!" She boasted, puffing out her (rather ginormous) chest with pride and giving it a soft bop with her closed fist, causing said chest to somewhat wobble and jiggle. "He got a little crazy at first, but we managed to-"

"IMBECILE GIRL, SHUT YOUR TRAP! I DO NOT WANT TO HEAR YOUR PRATTLING!" Not surprisingly, it seemed Mrs. Elmwood was not in the mood to deal with the nonchalant satyress and her obliviousness. "Now. Tell me. What. Did. You. Two. Do?" She seemed to be seething with rage ad she was speaking through her teeth... Which were probably fake anyway, but still. "While you two were away, walking my Francoise, I was visited by a fair number of townspeople. And do you know what they said? They claimed that you two had chased my precious Francoise through the town, tearing down laundry and assaulting the local huntsman. Not onlt that, but you also stole his wares and fed it to Francoise." ... Either Mrs. Elmwood had been wrongfully informed, or she had somehow managed to either misunderstand, or misinterpret, the story and series of events... Regardless, it was clear that currently she was under the impression that Alice and Brandy were the root cause - and the main perpetrators - of today's eventful events...

Goblin Slayer: Newblood (CANCELLED)

Druid Girl internally noted that these tow really were from different cultures than her own... Normally, she was fine with trekking through mud and dirt, she was a farmer's daughter after all, but even they didn't wander on out into the fields and start getting all sweaty and gross after a bath! Granted, baths back home were usually done at night,a fter the day's work was done, but still... That being said, she didn't exactly have any better ideas and perhaps - if she was sneaky - she could do more of the talking and less of the training... Though given how Big Red was, he'd probably get grumbly about it if she tried...

"Right then. If we're gonna train, I suppose we should head out one of the gates and do it on some grass. Dirt and gravel, or cobblestone for that matter, don't exactly make the best for softening a tumble or fall." She said, with a slight laugh, before gingerly strolling on, towards the east gate of Palisade Town.

A few minutes later, the group was outside the walls yet again. Not too far from the place where they'd done their very first job together actually - though no boars were in sight this time. Druid Girl pitter-pattered about for a while, checking the ground and shoo'ing away smaller woodland creatures such as mice, birds and a curious squirrel. After making sure there were no brambles, thistles or other pointy and/or hazardous plantlife in their immediate area, she turned back to the other two.

"Alright, so what should we be training?" She asked. "I doubt things like push-ups or sit-ups would do us much good if we're just doing it for today... And the same could be said for running... Oh!" She suddenly realized somehting. "You said something about training balance?" The girl inquired, looking over at the muscular behemoth of red scales. "How do we do that? ... Stand on one leg like this?" The raven-haired girl said, lifting one leg up and balancing on her lone one... A bit wobbly, but nontheless managing to stay upright without hopping aobut or falling over.

Goblin Slayer: Newblood (CANCELLED)

"I can make some basic salves with the herbs, sure. But it won't be anything nearly as potent as an actual healing potion mind you. At best, it'll help close up small cuts and such." Druid Girl replied when Big Red asuggested she use the plucked plants that their plucky pal from the steppes had pouched from the pesky woods outside of Palisade.

Upon hearing, and seeing, the archer's reation and vehent unwillingness to do the sewer-crawling job, the nature mage simply nodded in agreement. She wasn't going to argue or persuade her friends to go through with it - especially since she didn't have any desire to really do it herself in the first place. The question was; What to do with the rest of the day though? It was a bit into the afternoon, but there weren't any jobs available that they wanted at the guild. And they'd already gone shopping for both supplies and gear, as well as visited the bank.

They could go eat again, that was an idea... One that the druid almost blurted out with questionable eagerness - but she managed to restrain herself before the suggestion exited her lips. What else was there? Walk around Palisade and enjoy the scenery? Not like the place was a marvel of culture or archietecture, so there wasn't that much to look at. Go drinking at a bar? Druid Girl had never been much for imbibing spirits or alcohol, nor was she fond of taverns where drunks and other riff-raff hung out... They had a tendency to try and get handsy with her...

They'd already bathed as well, and while going for a stroll through the nearby woods would've been lovely, Druid Girl somehow doubted that the branch and leaf-covered Steppe Archer - who had just spent her time running around collecting plants - would be up for more hiking, even if it was just for leisure. So what could they do then...? She rubbed her chin slowly in deep thought, before a proverbial light bulb finally sparked above her head.

"So! If we're not gonna go crawling in the sewers and smashing bugs, why don't we do something fun? All work and no play is bad for you, as my dad used to say! ... Even if he never followed that saying himself... A-anyway! What do you two when you got time off? Anything particular you like doing? Like say... Uh... Butterfly catching? Hoprse-shoe tossing? Wrestling?" She paused and looked at Big Red. "... Sharpening your weapons...?" It was rather obvious she didn't exactly know how lizardfolk spent their - if any - leisure time...

Guild of Renta-Experts [[CANCELLED]]

"Maa-haa-haa-haa~! You jerk, take this!"

It was clear Brandy was enjoying herself. After having been splashed in the face and tickled herself, she seemed to be in a very good mood indeed, playfully splashing small scoops of water back at the werewolf. Once the alchemist started talking though, the satyress - amazingly - listened intently and politely, without interrupting or trying to use the moment to take advantage of, and attack Alice. Instead, she just paddled about in the river, ears twitching and perking up as she took in what her companion was saying. When the werewolf was done, Brandy smiled brightly and her eyes twinkled with excitement.

"Wow! I have no idea what you just said, but it sounded 'totes amazing, Al!" Yup, she hadn't understoof a single thing. But at least her brain was capable to fathom that there was a lot of things and work that had gone into making the stain-cleaning powder, so at least she could appreciate just how smart Alice was... Seemingly.

Francoise eventually began to lose steam, and paddled his way back onto the edge pf the river. Clumbsily climbing out of the water, the pooch did the doggy-deed of shaking his entire body, sending droplets of water in every which direction. Once done, he barked happily and wagged his tail, before calmly padding over to where Alice was sitting, plopped his butt down next to her and just... Sat there... Perfectly content with just being a dog, sitting next to another half-dog. It was kinda cute, or so Brandy thought at least. After a bit more swimming on her own part, and failed attempts at catchign river-fish with her bare hands, Brandy eventually got up and out of the water too. Unabashed and uninhibited as always, the little satyr got up and out, and didn't show any signs of modesty or consideration, not being bothered at all to put her hands and arms in places to cover up any bits that might cause a cesnor-editor to drop his jaw and slap a big, fat 'R' or 'M' onto the work in question. Lying down on her back, spreading her arms out and letting out a peaceful, satisfied yawn, Brandy smiled as she stared at the clear blue sky above, while the sun lazily dried her glistening, curvy and supple body.

"So, Al. Whaddya wanna tell the old bat when we get back to her place?" Brandy asked, slowly turning her head to look at the other girl. "I'm not sure, but I think those mean bitches who bonked you mighta already gone and spilled the beans to that frowny-faced prune." She ask-said, while still smiling. "We could always just, y'know, leave Frankie on her porch, knock on the door and leg it... Maa-haa-haa~" Apparently, being responsible wasn't high on Brandy's list of priorities. "... Oh! Or maybe we could go back to the guild and get that glasses-raccoon to come with us? She seemed smart, so I'm sure she could smooth things over, yeah?" The satyr suggested, seemingly very pleased with her own brilliant plan...

Once dried off, Brandy slipped on her clothes, adjusting and brushing them off, then taking a bit of extra time to make sure everything was where it was supposed to be and that nothing was out of order. Finally content with her visage, she bounced over the Alice's saide and grabbed the other girl by the wrists.

"Welp! Let's go tell thecrone that she's raised a real ill-mannered mongrel!" Brandy exclaimed, excitedly, for whatever reason.

Francoise barked happily, wagged his tail and jogged on over to the two girls - completely oblivious to Brandy just having insulted him.

Goblin Slayer: Newblood (CANCELLED)

Druid Girl watched as Steppe Archer ran off, apparently having something to do while she and Big Red went to do a potion-run. That girl was certainly full of energy, all the time. It brought a slight smile to the nature mage's face. Then Big Red spoke up, again sharing his wisdom of the world with the girl. However, this time, she felt compelled to counter some of his 'lessons' with knowledge and common sense of her own.

"Alcohol might burn well, but it's dangerous to use. It's very hard to actually see the flames, and it burns out reallly fast. Plus, it's not like anyone around here would be seeling alcohol that's pure enough to use for fuel... Unless you think watered-down ale and wine'll do the trick." She laughed slightly. "Also, torches might be good for swminging around, but you're just as likely to set yourself on fire doing that. You might not have to worry about it, big guy, but me and the arhcer? Well, we got plenty more flammable bits on us..." She said, gently reaching back and tugging softly on her long, velvety, jet-black hair.

"Also, not sure what kinda lanterns your people have in the swamps, but the ones here we got here are just a brass frame with glass on all sides... They shed more light and reach further than a torch, plus they last way longer." She explained, while they walked. "Besides, if I'm not mistakaen, my Master told me something about open flames and certain gases that can interact and cause huge explosions... What was it again...?" She tapped her chin and seemed lost in thought for a bit. "... Err... It was somehting like meth... math...? Moth? ... Some kind of gas, anyway. And apparently, that kinda gas is generated by... Well... Poo." She made a grimace that was clearly a mix of disgust and embarrassment, having to talk about litteral feces with someone. "And if that gas is down in the sewers too, we might accidentlaly go ka-booom! if we swing a lit torch around, y'know?" She paused for a bit. "Come to think of it, I think Master also said that the same gas was common in swamps and bogs too... I've never actually seen it myself though, but it sounds dangerous." She continued.

Druid Girl would continue to speak freely and merrily, all the way to the store. The pair eventually arrived at the same shop that she and Steppe Archer had visited before, and after purchasing their desired items, they were off once again. This time to the noble district of the town, where they entered the local bank. After convincing the staff that Big Red wasn't there to rob the place, they were able to successfully convert their money. Druid Girl even opened an account and squirreled some of her earnings away. After this, it was back on track to the adventuring guild. Amazingly, despite all their running around and rather relaxed pace, they still somehow got back to the guild hall before the archer.

"Pfft....! We just bathed, and now look at you." Druid Girl said, covering her mouth and stifling a laugh.

The poor poofy-haired nomad was covered in leaves, twigs and petals. She looked like she'd been running full-speed through the thickest undergrowth around, with reckless abandon and not caring what was in her path.... Actually, that sounded pretty much spot-on for this little bundle of energy. Druid Girl couldn't help but laugh at the thought of the nomad archer running through the woods, screaming like Tarzan. It was a very amusing mental picture. Still, once she calmed down, the druid noticed the bundle of herbs in the nomad's hands.

"You want to sell those?" She asked, tilting her head and raising an eyebrow. "I'm sure some pharmacists would pay you for them, but that's a fairly common ingrediant... Which means most alchemists already have a decently large stock of them on hand..." The girl explained, not wanting to overly rain on the other's good intentions. Still, most alchemists knew where to gather those plants themselves, and those that had apprentices or employees likely would just send them out to fetch the herbs for free...

"A-anyway!" Let's have a look at that quest boa-" Druid girl paused and looked at the single scrap of paper hanging from the board. "-oh... Roaches, huh?" She said, blinking and looking at the notice.

80 Measly copper for killing 20 giant bugs... While crawling arorund in an amonia-smelling, feces-wafting, dark, damp and unsanitary mess, right after getting cleaned and freshened up...? Well... That was 4 coppers per dead bug... And they couldn't be that big, right? Druid girl stared in silence at the posting, trying to find reasons and justifiable arguments to actually motivate herself enough to take this job on.

It didn't go too well.

Guild of Renta-Experts [[CANCELLED]]

Alice would find that Brandy, much as she had come across earlier, was completely void of both shame and reservations. Once the werewolf had started scrubbing the muddied sheets in the river, Brandy proceed to, quite litteraly, burst out of her clothes and performed a playful cannon ball-dive into the river. Francoise barked joyfully in approval and joined her - before being stopped by Alice, who was now scrubbing him. The poodle whined plaintively at first, but soon realized that he was being pampered. As such, his tail began to wag fervently and he turned around to be more accomodating and obediant towards Alice.

... At least until she was done.

At which point, the large poodle chomped down on Alice's collar and, with a mighty and surprise-tug, pulled the girl forward and into the river too. Once she emerged from under the water's edge, she would find that her face was being assaulted by a releentless amount of licking. Brandy, watching the whole scene - while buck nekkid - was laughing so hard she nearly forgot to keep swimming, and nearly swallowed some water in the process...

"Maa-haa-haa-haa-*glorp*-hah...! 'Atta boy, Frankie! If we're having a bath, so should Al." She laughed merrily. "Thanks for the offer though! I'd love to have my stuff scrubbed clean. That powdery stuff you got is 'totes amazin'! I bet you'd make a killing as a laundry-maid for some rich folks." The satyress added, which was a strangely mundane idea... Didn't seem quite so adventuruous to be a maid, but then again, it was already established that Brandy's head didn't quite work with all cylinders firing.

Swimming about for a bit in the significantly below actual bath-temperature river, the satyr did some breast strokes, some backstrokes, some diving and eventually doggy-paddled her way over to Francoise and Alice. She ruffled the poodle's head and, for whatever reason, tried to tickle Alice's side, all the while smiling and laughing in her friendly manner. It seemed she was really enjoying herself.

Her clothes, if you could call them that, had been left in an unceremonious heap on the bank of the river... Dangerously close to the water... If a strong breeze or sudden wave or slight flooding were to happen, she could kiss her shirt, bra, skirt and whatever string-like piece of underwear she had goodbye... Luckily, no such thing had happened. Yet.

"By the way, Al." Brandy said, amidst her tickling of the other girl. "How many of these adventurin' quests have ya been on? A lot? You like, a super-veteran adventurer? You know how'ta make yummy drinks and magic wash-powder, so you gotta be real experienced, right?" Brandy asked, apparently very excited about having a friendly chat. While in a river. While completely nude. And certain perky and soft bits of her body being very buoyant.

Goblin Slayer: Newblood (CANCELLED)

"Tnaks for yer business. Feel free to drop by any time if ya lot ever need anything' else." The blacksmith, showcasing his toothy smile - mostly concealed by his facial hair - once again. The large, muscular man scooped up the coins left by his customers and opened up what was, in essence, a very primitive cash register. As he tipped his giant bear-mitt of a hand to the side, the sound of clinking coins falling into the wooden container was quite remeniscent of rain on a roof during a storm... Except much more brief in duration. Done and content with himself, the smith waved the trio a friendly farewell, before marching into the backroom where he'd tossed his inept son earlier, and began howling and yelling at the boy about various things - including, but not limited to, customer service, work-ethics, motivation, his utter lack of talent with the forge, how he smelled like old cheese and other less important matters.

Raising an amused eyebrow, Druid Girl turned from the counter and waltzed on over to Big Red by the entrance. Apparently she was very pleased with her purchase, as she kept looking at her new bracers, holding her arms up and turning them from side to side, inspecting the leather protection with the same enthusiasm that a young noblewoman showed after she'd purchased a fancy, and expensive, dress of questionable practicality.

Once she heard the other two mention their thoughts though, she tapped her chin in thought before replying.

"I honestly don't think there'll be much at the guild at this hour, at least not when it comes to available jobs. Most of the good stuff gets grabbed right after they post the questss in the morning. The only things that doesn't get picked up are usually stuff like clearing out the sewers or quests that take you reeeaaaally far from town and pay reeeeeaaaally little money in return." She mentioned. After all, Druid Girl had been in Palisade Town for a while longer than the other two, so she had managed to pick up on how things worked over at the adventuring guild during her stay in the frontier settlement.

"I don't think exchanging our money would be a real issue either. Most shops and services have change in coppr, so even if we over-pay for somethign with silver, it shouldn't matter. Still, if you'd rather have coppers on you, that's up to you." She said, tilting her head at the Steppe Archer and looking a bit puzzled as to why the nomad would want to carry a large, jingling sum of coins that just screamed: 'Hey! I got money! Please purse-snatch me!'... But perhaps they didn't have different types of currency where she was from?

Exiting the smithy, Druid Girl stretched and arched her back slightly backwards, letting out a long and cutesy 'Hmmmmmmmmmmm~'!'-sound as she did, before letting her arms to drop along her sides. Turning back to look at her companions she spoke up again.

"We might wanna pick up some new potions, to replace the ones we used when helping that girl in the cave... Oh, and if we're going into the sewers, we might wnna pick up some torches, or a lantern. It's really murky and dingy down there." She suggested. "Other then that, I don't think I've got any more shopping I wanna do... Except maybe for a snack... Or two..."

Goblin Slayer: Newblood (CANCELLED)

Roleplay Update:

. Once a party-member has visited a shop, met the owner or clerk and bought or sold something at the location, future visits to said shop can be done automatically, without much detail needing to be posted - unless so desired. Quick Buy and Quick Sell will let you buy and sell without having to go through entire bartering conversations, unless you want to!

Guild of Renta-Experts [[CANCELLED]]

Francoise, at the hearing of the most insulting and highest grade of scolding in the doggy-universe, lowered his head and his poofy ears began to droop. A low whine escaped the poodle's mouth and he seemed to be legit upset about having been called a bad dog by his remote cousin. Brandy merely looked on in a indifferent bemusement, beofre having a look down at her own clothes. Apparently something had caused her to do so, and when she saw the state in which her getup was in, a shrill, brief shriek escaped her lips.

"Aiiieee! Awww man!" She started. "This is like, 'totes no good! This is my favorite outfit, and it's all gross and muddy and stuff. Jeeeeeeez~ I knew I shoulda switched to my work overalls, but I wanted to be all fancy and look my best when I went to the guild for the first time, y'know?"

Apparently, Brandy was more concerned with her physical appearance than with what had actualy just transpired, or Alice's apology and comment about taking responsability... Either the satyress didn't hear, or she didn't care. Well, at least it seemed like that at first anyway. After letting out a sigh, she walked on up right infront of Alice, looked athe werewolf square in the eyes and then flicked the other girl's forehead, before putting both hands on her own hips and giving her senior a serious, upset look.

"Al, listen up. You didn't do nothing wrong, and I didn't do nothing wrong either. Frankie's the bad boy here. If you're gonna be all doom'n gloom about stuff that ain't your fault, I'm gonna hafta nibble your ears 'til you get over it, 'kay?" She said - straingely serious... Before smiling happily again. "'Sides, we're friends! So if you wanna apologize for this mutts bad 'tude, then I'll be right there with ya, apologizn' too! ... Not sure why we needa apologize, but if you wanna do it, then I'll do it too. Now let's go!"

She grabbed Alice's wrist suddenly and firmly, with a hint of forcefulness, but not hard or unpleasantly. She also grabbed hold of Francoise's neck-scruff and pulled him along too.

"I think someone said there was a river around these'n parts, yeah? Bet we could get all washed up there! Might help Frankie blow off some more steam too so he won't pull crap like this again before we get him back to that old raisin." Brandy said, laughing as she led the way ... In the completely wrong direction, not having been in town for even a day and not knowing the lay of the land...