Another day in the Tavern

[Coyote Skyheart]

A young man treads softly into the tavern and takes a seat by the bar. He unslings a rather dusty brown pack off his shoulder and sets it beside him. Opening it, he rummages around for a few trade-coins of this nation and slides a few to the barkeep.

"A drink please." He smiles "Whatever the locals prefer, I enjoy new tastes."

He unbuttons the leather jacket he wears and leans into the bar, trying to cool off. Unobtrusively, he observes the other locals gathered here, while nervously fiddling with the fur lining of his coyote-skinned cape. In the shadows, the golden fur almost seems to merge with the human, giving him a slightly feral look.

One look at his eyes and you see oceans admist their deep blue depths, and the rough look of constant travel over many lands and through many adventures.

 

[Kathryn_aka_Kat]

Another woman enters the tavern, human in appearance and, if so, probably in her 30's. By her clothing (shirt, leather vest, breeches, boots), the leather satchel she carries, and the way her long brown hair has been twisted up, she seems a traveller. But her manner and her quick check of the corners of the tavern show a certain familiarity with the place.

She walks quietly and easily over to the bar.

"Good morning, BeeGee. Could I have a cider please? One cider?"

The woman sighs, but smiles at the golem as he fills her order, and passes him the appropriate number of coins. Then takes the two mugs over to a nearby table.

She sits down and starts drinking the first cider.

You know, if they ever fix that, I'll probably be in shock for the rest of the day...

 

[Duilya]

The Elven girl continues to stare at the shimmering picture with awe.

That's so neat! It SHINES! I wish I had a shiny picture of m. . .

Duilya turns her head a bit and notices another picture is placed beside the one she was originaly staring at. It was. . .

SHINY!

Duilya abandons looking at the previous image and stares at the new one. It was a picture of HER! Chasing furry woodland creatures!!!

Wow! That picture's AMAZING! It looks just like me! But. . .how did this get here? I didn't see anyone post it. . .What's this?

The small Elf notices the note posted bellow the picture and begins to read it. As her eyes scan through the text they become filled with more and more excitement.

I GET TO KEEP THIS!?!? YAY!!!

The girl starts jumping up and down with glee. This was the best day of her life! Someone drew a picture of her with color chainging shiny Ink!

Beginning to calm down again, the Elf finishes reading the rest of the text and then looks towards the little brown book she had been drawing in.

Hmmm. . .she wants to see some of my stuff huh. . .

Duilya walks over to the small book, picks it up, and tears out the five drawing she had just drew. Then, with a big smile on her face, she proudly pins them up on the corkboard beside Melynxt's first drawing. They looked like pretty crude kid's drawing's, but the line quality was fairly good, and the coloring was kept mostly in the lines.

Perfect! She'll love 'em!

Gently taking the picture of her off the corkboard, Duilya slips it into a large pocket inside her cape. Then, just before leaving the corkboard, Duilya leaves a note of her own.

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!!!
I REALLY HOPE YOU LIKE MY PICTURES!
YOU'RE A SUPER GOOD ARTIST AND I HOPE
YOU MAKE MILLIONS OF GOLD PEICES!
THANKS SO MUCH FOR THE PICTURE!!!

~Duilya

Artwork copyright © 2003, Christopher C. Quigley

 

[melynxt]

*a veluptuous young woman pushes the door of the tavern open, hair draping in her face like a silken brown curtain, she strolls over to the corkboards, looking over the new parchments and what not. As her eyes scan over the notes, a smile forms on her lips. She looks to the five pictures pinned up next to her original message, and nods to herself, seeing her gift having found its recepient..she unpins the pictures, taking a seat at a near by table, she crosses her legs and dangles a sandal from her foot, brushing a bit of hair from her eyes, she studies them for nearly an hour, smiling the entire time. As she finally sets the drawings down, she takes out her favorite quill, and unrolls a bit of black hued parchment, for this special note. She leans over the table, hair falling over her shoulders like silken waterfalls as she drags the quill over the dark paper, writing in caligraphy style. After finishing the note, she draws a small picture at the bottom, of a cartoonish leopard holding an artist's symbol (pallette) in its mouth, with bright eyes and a happy look to it. She signs it with a happy flick of her wrist and stands, picking up the five pictures and walking to the board again. She pins the pictures back where they were, and then pins her new message up. Smiling again, she looks through the pictures once more, an overall happiness showing in her face, even through the hair that hangs in her eyes. She turns and heads for the door, a light bounce to her step, and disappears outside. The ink changes from silver to black to gold then black, when it goes black it isnt visible on the dark parchment*

"Wow! I'm really impressed with ya drawins' Duilya!!!!! Ya got talent !!! An' I love 'em! I'm so glad ya liked ya sketch i made fer ya hun!!! If there's nothin' else in this life i enjoy, it's knowin' that there's younger ones out there who i can make happy an maybe even inspire! Ya really did a great job Duilya ...hey...iffin ya ever wanna further ya skills...find me...id love ta have an apprentice...ya got natural talent i think. But anyway...if ya cant find me, just leave me 'nother note...i'll be sure ta check fer it okay? Ya keep drawin' hun! And keep practicin'! Take care now..."

Melynxt"

*next to the cartoonish leopard drawing at the bottom, is a small visualization of melynxt, a perfect likeness, with a small note under it*

"this be what i look like shoog' ...maybe i'll see ya some time...HAVE FUN DRAWIN!!!!! "

 

[melynxt]

*melynxt runs back in with another parchment in her hand, hair in her face as she quickly pins it to the boards and runs back out, before the door can even swing closed*

*its written in the same changing ink, silver/gold/black, in perfect caligraphy writing, the title of it being much larger then the body of the note*


ARTIST SEEKIN WORK


Hey all...i REALLLLLY need ta find me some work...i have no money left..someone..anyone!!! I'll do embossin', portraits, still life, weddin' pictures, important event pictures, sketches, blue prints, designs, tattoos, clothing designs, paintins', i recently learned how ta engrave on weopons too....i'm desperate here...just find me and ask...if its not impossible...i'll do it...and cheap! Help a girl out eh? I dunno bout ya but i dun like livin out this whole 'starvin artist bit' eh? Thanks fer readin' and please! Leave me a note 'er find me!!! ALL WORK IS GAURUNTEED 100% SATISFACTORY ...im not finished till ya happy! "


Ya friendly hardworkin' Artist,
Melynxt

*at the bottom of the note is a small visualization of Melynxt, a perfect likeness, and a small note at the bottom*

"This be what i look like...iffin ya wanna find me in person...thanks again !!!!!!!! hope ta do business with ya!!!!!!!!!"

 

[Yam Inverhan]

The door to the tavern slowly squeeks open, as a large, crude mechanical hand pushes open the wooden frame. Yet from below where the hand should be located a small and stout gnome waddles forward, followed soon after by a 5 foot mechanical contraption shaped like a man. The (very visably) old gnome adjusts his eye glasses and looks up at his metal companion.

" Well.... damn it all Smithers, don't just stand there....."

He looks upward towards the mechanical beast as if expecting it to acknowledge him.

" LIFT ME UP TO THE BAR YOU HEAP OF GOBLIN WASTE! "

Almost without hesitation the jaw of the mechanical man drops open, and then closes in silent acknowledgement. Then quickly lifts up the small man and rests him (less then smoothly) on the nearest bar stool.

Barely being able to look over the counter to the bar he stands on the stool. Looking about over the other occupants of the tavern.

" Hmmmph, look at them Smithers, heithens (sp?) all of them. Living their simple little lifes TOTALLY unaware of Gond's wonderful influance in this world. Well, we'll just have to show them our God's handywork... won't we?"

 

[Duilya]

Duilya was back in her corner of the tavern drawing on the little brown book she had found earlier. The picture that Melynxt had drawn of her was neatly placed by Duilya's side, and the Elven girl was trying to copy the picture onto the pages of the brown book. However, as hard as she tried, Duilya couldn't quite make the picture look as good as Melynxt's.

Ah phooey! I'm no good at this. Maybe I should go ask Melynxt for lessons.

Just as Duilya contemplates leaving a message for Melynxt, she notices a small old man with a. . .

. . .WOW!!!

Duilya leaps from her spot and bounds towards the old Gnome and his impressive mechanical beast. As Duilya gets closer to the old Gnome, she catches the ending remarks of what he just said.

Wow Mister! Is that Gond's handywork!? *Pointing to Smithers* It sure is pretty looking! Can I touch him? Please! He's really really really neat looking! Can Gond build me one too? What's it's name? Is it Joe? I bet it is! If I had a Mechanical Buddy I'd call him Joe. . .or Francis. . .or maybe Bill. Who's Gond? Is he a machine too. . .

Duilya continues to bombard Yam with various questions; however, nothing is coming from the girl's mouth. The Elf's voice appears to be in the Gnome's head.

(( That is. . .unless Yam possesses an item which blocks telepathic communication. If he dose, then he just sees an excited looking Elven girl bouncing up and down beside him with a big smile. ))

Artwork copyright © 2003, Christopher C. Quigley

 

[Kathryn_aka_Kat]

The woman had been watching the play of parchments on the notice board with great interest. Seeing that the artist had left (again), and the elf girl is now distracted by that most unusual golem, the woman moves to the board to examine the pictures and messages more closely.

Melynxt?! I remember her...our first meeting...oh dear. That didn't go very well, did it? I sortof owe her more help than I offered then...but a commission?

The woman sighs, thinking about her own lack of funds. The three gemstones were sold...

"Blue for the water, red for the blood, green for..." - never mind! What good is it that I remember the words without a face or voice to go with them?

She turns abruptly and goes back to her table, then pulls out a silver ring from a pocket inside her vest. Made to wrap around a finger, one end is a spiralling tendril and the other a delicately veined leaf, embedded with a crystal dewdrop. She turns the ring in her hands, studying it.

So this is next. No words attached, at least. Should buy a few brandies. And maybe a commission for Mely? Cards...to have ready...

"WARNING: Gifts will only engender kindly thoughts and obligations for this trip only. After that, sorry, it's just merchandise."

And people wonder why I'm so prickly about them...

She starts considering the best place to sell the ring.

 

[Adept_Eliria]

Eliria snaps out of her daydreaming mode and nods solemnly to Khaira and Kheldar.

"Yes," she says, "harps and lich-kings are good. And--oh, is that platinum?"

She peers in fascination at the shiny silver-coloured pieces, then waves off Kheldar and Khaira. On a spontaneous whim, she heads over to Coyote upon hearing the word "locals".

"Hi! Welcome to the Crossroads Tavern of Ford Keep of the Domain of Greyhawk of Oerth! Miss Siani runs the tavern. Enjoy your stay and spend lots and lots of coin on drinks. Consumerism is good!"

 

[Kheldar Devaentar]

Kheldar blinks after Eliria.

Hmm, never got her name. . .

With a shrug, Kheldar goes back to facing Khaira.

"Mischief? Oh, I've been up to quite a lot of it lately! Lets see. . . I found a woman beater, slapped a spell on him that made him look like me, and let him wander around for a while. . . Actually, I was going to guide him here, to the Crossroads Tavern so that one paladin could arrest him and bring him to justice!"

Kheldar shakes his head.

"My plan didn't quite go according to plan. . . Maybe it turned out better. Trand, that malicious Angel, saw my duplicate and assumed it was me. He offered the duplicate a position in the Whispering Hand if the poor commoner could do a certain task. I was going to see if I could get Trand to hire this low-life commoner when all of a sudden someone pointed out the duplicate couldn't have been me. . ."

Kheldar eyes Kathryn, then immediately resumes eye-contact with Khaira.

". . . Any way, after the "cat was out of the bag," I popped out and threw all sorts of insults at Trand. Ya know - the kind that hurt after you make a mistake. . . Ohh. . . I also killed a few of his men during my entrance. . . I don't think he took that too well. . . Bah, the man-* ahem-* the Angel could use a little humility now and then."

Kheldar faces turns some-what concerned.

"The only problem is I don't know where my duplicate is now. . . He made an escape when everything went to hell. . . And I'm not entirely sure how I'll find him. . . Speaking of everything going to hell. . . An ending to one of D'win's stories was burn to ashes by Trand during the encounter. . ."

Kheldar grabs a sheet of paper from his cloak. The page was torn, as if it had come from a book. On the front of the page there was an ending to one of D'win's stories. The back appeared to be blank. No, there were slight traces of pen on the back, but almost all of it had been faded away some how.

". . . Do you think you'll be seeing her any time soon? And If so, could you please give that to her. She seemed rather upset when it was taken away from her."

Kheldar puts the page on the table. If Khaira could give it to D'win great. If not, well he could give it to her himself he supposed.

Kheldar looks around the tavern. Some new faces had appeared. Kathryn was here. . . She had been there when he played his trick on Trand. . . Duilya had shown up. Some woman who kept on darting in and out. An Elven woman he had never seen before. A young man whom the woman who didn't introduce herself had gone to. . . And a peculiar Gnome the looked familiar to Kheldar. . .

Where have I seen him before?

"Well, that's my story - what have you been up to Khaira? Did I hear something about a Lich?"

Kheldar shuddered. Liches were difficult to deal with. They couldn't be killed with a swift dagger cut across the neck. . . and when you finally did kill them - it was very difficult keeping them dead!

Artwork copyright © 2003, Gordon R. Quigley