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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Scarogoth" data-source="post: 327762" data-attributes="member: 3507">Evaristo pays a visitThe figure might not have cut much of a dash in some cities, and normally a passing gnome would escape attention altogether from many of the taller races, but the brilliant hue and sheen of its vermilion cloak meant few failed to note its passage. Of course, in the hot, desert-adjoining Dijishy, a cloak was not considered a necessary part of day to day garb, but Evaristo had always enjoyed its colour, and the lightweight material fluttered like a sail in the breeze. There was just something about silk...Were the red not enough, his clothes were similarly garish -- an astonishing layer of patched cobalt blue cloths, tied loosely round with golden thread, as was the tradition of his people back in Svimohzia, also added to the overall effect, and just to round things off, his hair was tied up in a vertical topknot on the top of his head with a lime green band to such an extent that it managed to look like some kind of exotic palm tree. Although the dryness of the air was relatively new to him, the intense heat was nothing, and he quite happy to leave the very dark skin of his arms and legs open to the brilliant sunshine, whereas many of the paler races would fry and blister in no time.The bobbing mass of colour and hair made its way down the street, smiling attentively and happily at every creature that crossed his path, but eventually came to the house in which he’d become a regular visitor.Reaching under his belt, with an enormous flourish he produces two entirely spherical maces, one in each hand, and pretending the timbers of the front door where the largest marimba in the world, he taps out a familiar tattoo on the quaking beams.Finally, just as the gnome was beginning to wish he hadn’t started this musical fest, the small door within the main body of the gate opens and Veeta pops her head out. As he always pretended to do, he’d heard her approach and has his right mace precisely over the spot where her face appeared. As is her wont on these occasions, Veeta gives a little squeal -- it really is hard to imagine that he’s got the weapon until control, it moves with such speed. But he’s a fully trained monk, and he hasn’t even grazed her as yet. Still, even though she knows it’s coming, Veeta can’t help but flinch and shy away. It’s not much -- but he knows she did, and what’s worse, she knows that he knows.Evaristo laughs good-naturedly. “Hello, heartface. Is the old battleaxe at home? That was a lot better than you used to be... but I ... saw... you... MOOOoove,” he says, ending up almost singing. “Practise, practise, practise, my dear.” However, he’s clearly at home here, for he waits for no reply from the young girl, but instead hops over the bottom lintel, and marches towards the house as though he owns it.He tucks his maces back under his belt, and removes his cloak, which he thoughtlessly hands to Veeta and lays across her arms.With a shy giggle Veeta says, “Yes, the lady is home Mr Evaristo.”“HEeeeelllllOOOOOO!” he sings into the cool marble of the atrium. “Anybody HOoooommmme?”“In here,” says a voice from the livingroom. “And I heard that ‘battleaxe’ comment.”Doing a little hop and a skip, Evaristo zips into the living room.“Hello darling,” says Lisanara to her long time friend giving him a peck on the cheek.“Hello, angelfart. Well, I mean. I don’t remember old Croxalatl giving you this house volutarily...”With a little chuckle, “No, he didn’t.”“Well, what’s cooking?” asks the gnome, dropping his maces on the floor and flinging himself backwards into the largest comfy chair in the room. It dwarfs him.As soon as Feledar hears Evaristo’s yelling at the corridor he walks out of his room and sees someone enter the livingroom. He follows there and looks a little puzzled at Veeta who has quite pale face, but enters the living room right behind Evaristo.“Our first guest has arrived darling. Do be nice. Feledar, meet Evaristo.”The gnomish monk looks wounded at her suggestion that he might not be nice.“Evaristo, this is Captain Feledar.”“Good afternoon.” Feledar nods at Evaristo.“Darling, that was a little below the belt,” he mutters to Lisanara. ”Not that that bothers me anymore,” he giggles, leaping up and running to shake Feledar’s hand.“I’m delighted and honoured to meet you, good sir. My, but aren’t you a big boy, though?” he says, as he stares up at this unbending cleric.“Feledar, I’ll leave you in Evaristo’s good hands so I can be off to collect our next member. He’s pretty up to date on all the information we have.” And with a wink and a a mumbled “Prompeldia,” Lisanara disappears in a slight flash.Feledar looks,puzzled, but finally bows a little to enable himself to shake Evaristo’s hand. “Pleased to meet you.”Feledar towers near 7 feet tall and has a quite well built muscles over fighting in several wars. He’s in his very late 30’s and has a brown hair with streaks of silver in it and reaching well below his shoulders. His moustache seem to be also well grown and tended. He wears white Tunic and a green cloak, on which two crossed spears and two chevrons are clearly emblazoned. He looks very wise and charismatic figure in his stance there.“Don’t worry, love,” says Evaristo to the hulking great priest, “she’s always popping off like that. She’ll be back soon enough. You fancy a drink to pass the time?”“I am used to that kind of thing, as I have lived almost next to the college in Bet Rogala for years,” Feledar explains to Evaristo. “Why I do believe a drink would rather pleasurable.”“I see you are a priest of Natirel,” the gnome says, looking at Feledar’s emblem. But, he doesn’t really wait for an answer, and pops across the room to fetch his new, tall friend a drink for Lisanara’s cabinet.“Yes, I have been called by him for decades now. If I understood correctly, you have been helping Lisanara with her research for quite a some time already?”“Oh, well, one does what one can. I don’t claim to be a great scholar by any means, but I have one or two, ahem... skills that she occasionally feels the need to call upon...”Ella has climbed up on the chair her mistress vacated and looks to be asleep.“Where’d you say you were from? Bet Rogala? I don’t think I’ve ever been there. Is it much fun?”Feledar walks to the cabinet too as he sees Evaristo can’t quite reach the bottles without chair. He points one of the bottles and asks “Is this one good? Shall we?”“Oh you want wine, do you?” asks Evaristo in surprise. “Tend not to drink that in the day over here, I’m afraid. Can make you incredibly drowsy all afternoon. I was going to recommend a rose-scented, pimaka juice cocktail of my own concoction...”“Hmm... a person like you might consider Rogala as a fun place. For our order the current times make it more work than fun there though. Indeed... Lisanara told me something about that quaint custom here...” Feledar sighs.“You’ll love the cocktail, ducky. Can give you a FABulous tingle all the way down...”“Feel free to serve me one of those, too, then,” the great priest smiles at the gnome.“Oh! Kind of greedy for a priest, aren’t you?” he jokes. But the gnome happily takes the bottle that Feledar is proffering and shouts for Veeta. “’Ere! Veeta! This ‘ere bish wants a drop of the ol’ nectar. Be a dear and fetch me an opener, will you?” He turns back to Feledar and winks at him. “That’s me boy. Save the hard stuff for the evening. Of course, I never touch the stuff...”“Oh?”“No, very dangerous. It’s very bad for my figure. Last time I had a binge or two, I went up a whole dress size. It was AWful. This silk can show EVERYthing. Plus, of course, drink tends to slow your reactions down, and, you know, those bods”, and here he winks and gestures with his eyes upwards, “in charge upstairs don’t tend to like their monks reeling around the place, semicomatose... So I don’t touch it, of course.”Evaristo pauses, and then adds, “Except for festivals. Fortunately, I know a lot of festivals. Even some Krangi ones...”“Ah... so you belong to some monastic order then? That explains it.”“Didn’t she tell you? Oh, that thoughtless old cow. I’ll kill her. Yes. I’m a member of the Order of Virtue. That and everyone’s worst nightmare, a lawyer.”“Hmm... Interesting.” Feledar says approvingly, even though the realization causes him some concern as he realizes that the gnome he’s talking to must have been castrated.“Yes, I’m kinda involved with the Keepers of the Word, too...”“So how did you end up to work with Lisanara then?”“It’s a long story... It’s kind of like a soulmate thing you know...”“Please entertain me with it.”“I’m not sure when we actually became friends, but she’s a bit of a bookworm on the sly. Spends all her time digging around in the library here.”“I would expect that.”“Anyway, because of my job, sometimes I’ve got to go around digging in the library for various letters, precedents, rulings... you know the sort of stuff... inCREDibly boring, but I guess someone’s got to do it... And, I mean, I don’t go very often, but you could just betcha bottom crown that everytime I would do so, she’d be sitting there all prim and pretty, scratching away with some infernal feather... SOOOOooo... anyways, there I am, just trolling around minding me own business, when a quick vada shows me that she’s fallen asleep in the middle of one of these big old books she seemed to be so interested in, and she’s fast asleep. Drooling...”Feledar can’t help but smile, but Evaristo’s in full flood...“Making a big old sticky smudge of all that beautiful old ink work. So I thinks to myself, Evaristo, you can’t have that happen to some of the holy words in the Great Library. It would... not... be... ETHical.” So up I jumps, and goes and pats her on the legs, wakes her up, tells her she’s working too hard, and takes her out to lunch. And, really, I guess, that’s where it all started. Been friends ever since.”“One would think a monk would have patience to do that kind of academical digging though.”“It’s just books I get bored with. Ask me to stand in a field for three hours holding sticks out level... I’m your gnome... But reading in a dingy, old dark room, with nasty old small print some horrible old scholar’s dribbled all over... count me out...”“I’m sure we will have something for you to do in the upcoming expedition, that is certain.”But, finally, the gnome has finished the mammoth preparation that is his cocktail. “’Ere,” he says, shoving a tumbler of “Evaristo’s Special Spangly Sparkler” into his fist. “Slap your lips around that...” And with that he skips back to the comfy chair, and awaits Veeta’s return with the grape juice...Feledar takes the drink and takes a sip. The bubbly, fizzing tingle on his tongue tastes of sour grapefruit but it is surprisingly refreshing in the arid desert climate. “Thank you” he says to Evaristo “this is quite good.”“Quite good!” snaps Evaristo. “QUITE good? Give it a while, give it a while. And for god’s sake don’t hurry it.” Unbeknownst to Feledar, because it is so well hidden in the flavours, the alcohol content of a Special Spangly Sparkler is actually rather high.At that moment, Veeta cames bustling through the door with the open wine, and sets it down on the table, asking “Anything else for you gentlemen?”“Not at the moment, dear...” Evaristo says to the bobbing maid. “I think I’ll have a glass of her majesty’s best grape juice, but our “friend” here’s enjoying his very first ‘triple S’!” he finishes with a wink.Veeta scuttles away again, but you might have heard a little chuckle as she turned.”Sooooo... anywise, what’s made Mistress Popsicle magic you over here...?” asks Evaristo, settling down to hear Feledar’s side of the story. He pours himself a glass of the wine, but shudders. “I hope she gets back soon. This needs chilling, and she’s got a marvellous little incantation that can do that in seconds... Always be friends with a wizard, as my dear old mother used to say.”“So you don’t know our church has hired Lisanara and the company for a specific mission?”“What, you mean that rotten old flag Lisanara’s always harping on about. Sure, she’s mentioned it. You really reckon you’re going to find it?”“Yes, we are to recover lost Banner of Natirel.”“Well, bully for you. To be honest, I’m not sure that we’re going to find anything, but I fancy a bit of adventure, and I’ve got to look after Lisanara, because she’s determined to go on this wild goose chase. I wouldn’t get your hopes up too much though.”“I am here to look after all of you. I will provide the help from our church to this expedition.”“OOoh! I think I heard a pop! That means she’ll be back with somebody else in a second.”</blockquote>

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