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<blockquote data-quote="Lylandra" data-source="post: 7333950" data-attributes="member: 6816692"><p><strong>Chuu-chuu! And off we go</strong></p><p></p><p>10 days later, our train is scheduled to depart in the morning. As a certain Mr. Rackus turned the whole planning upside down, one Avery Coast Railroad employee asked us for our preferred compartment and we take one close to the dining car (<span style="color: #008000">Number 18 I guess?</span>).</p><p></p><p>On the day of departure, we are received by train conductor Zorina Marchand who introduces us to the rest of the train staff and shows us around. On this small tour, we meet Doris Gavagne, a pianist who's working in the dining car and who shares a friendly chat with “fellow pianist” Amiranya Fernandez. When Doris learns about Amira's beran heritage, she immediately plays a lovely folk melody for the Senorita which impresses Amira. </p><p></p><p>Then there are Kov Marik, the dwarven chef de cuisine and Malia Baccarin who's chief of security. When Hector Fernandez asks Chef Marik for a special romantic menu for himself and Amira, the proud Eschatologist promises that he'll do his very best to make sure the memorable meal will find a good and proper ending. Hector takes this less literally than intended, glances over at Amira, then nods enthusiastically at Marik and thanks him for his effort. </p><p></p><p>We then move to our compartment and find that this room was maybe designed for a family, or an adventuring group, but not so much for a couple. So we get some train staff to re-arrange the compartment to our needs. </p><p></p><p>(<span style="color: #008000">Yeah, a bit fourth-wall / meta teasing on our side. The first class compartments “just happen” to have four beds for the presumed team of four. And of course, the Fernandez wouldn't sleep in separate beds. Poor Mr. Carlyle. In some regards, Hector Ignacio Fernandez and Gabriel Carlyle seem like polar opposites and I was kind of surprised that Carlyle actually managed to convincingly play the role of a rather passionate husband without too many struggles</span>)</p><p></p><p>We use our private compartment to closely observe the other passengers who enter the train afterwards. As expected, Rock Rackus arrives last minute and causes a small delay for the 2nd class passengers. We're happy to see Victoria Royceton among the crowd and also spot a group of danoran cadets, a dwarf carrying a trumpet case and a blonde woman who's wearing sleeveless clothes and who must be shivering due to the bitter cold. “Pirate” Burton is among the 3rd class passenger group and one of the last people to enter the train. </p><p></p><p>The train itself has some rather unusually strong acceleration and a pretty high maximum speed for such a massive object. This causes Amira to feel sick for a the first minutes, but she manages to get accustomed to the new environment after a while. Once she's fine again, the Fernandez head to the dining car to get breakfast. </p><p></p><p>We meet the Grientos again who seem to be just as hungry as we are. Along with us there are also Damien, a woman who was previously with the danoran recruits and the short sleeved woman who looks as if she was even more of a trained combatant than lieutenant Damien. Now that she's come closer, we see that her upper arm bears a big scar that catches Taro Griento's attention. </p><p></p><p>“Awesome!” the young orc says while pointing his finger at the woman's scar. Hector gently pushes Taro's arm down and explains the young boy that pointing fingers at someone isn't particularly nice or adequate. Then he laughs softly and muses that young children will always be curious. </p><p></p><p>The woman doesn't seem to mind though and instead asks us whether we've seen a Tiefling around here. As neither of us has seen one, the woman just shrugs and we promise her to keep our eyes open. She doesn't wish to give us the man's name or even a description which makes this seem a bit mysterious. Before she moves to the next wagon to look for her missing Tiefling, we get to know that she's a danoran veteran of Yerasol IV, but doesn't wish to fight in another war. </p><p></p><p>Damien, the lieutenant, on the other hand, seems much more excited on the prospect of combat. She tries to explain that the Danoran military is the best in all Lanjyr, which is why they kicked the Risuri's sorry asses in the last war. When she goes on to explain that Danor could just invade any country they wanted, we are kind of amused and tell her that the feeble danoran bullets wouldn't do much to a Tyrannosaur's or even Dragon Tyrant's massive hide. Damien goes on to claim that disciplined and structured Danor would surely crush the barbaric, chaotic tribes of Ber which is when we reveal that we two are Berans and neither of us is barbaric. Yet not everyone is able to grasp the difficult clan structures and hierarchies, or even understands what it means when “the hearts of all Berans beat as one” when it comes to foreign interference. </p><p></p><p>Hector uses this opportunity to muse about the fact that he read of an engagement of the King of “barbaric” Risur and a danoran “princess” in one of his newspapers. “From what I know, it is only the hero who marries the princess.” he jokes “So I guess this Aodhan guy still won in the end.” </p><p></p><p><span style="color: #008000">(To shamelessly quote Mel Brooks: It's good to be the king. Hector vs. Damien was so much fun. He's a expert prick who loves throwing around classic tropes and basically sees everything through the lens of a narrator. </span></p><p><span style="color: #008000"></span></p><p><span style="color: #008000">Also both of us fell for the “romanticized Ber” patriotism of the Fernandez. Carlyle and Auryn sympathize with our neighbor nation, but picking a beran's point of view and befriending the Grientos allowed for a much deeper understanding of their culture. The thing with this cover identity is that it basically became roleplaying a character who is roleplaying another character... )</span> </p><p></p><p>Our train stops at two smaller stations where we pick up more passengers. Among them is a dwarf juggling dice, a Tiefling with an oversized hat and a crossbow, and an obese human woman with a smaller person who's completely hidden behind layers of veils. </p><p></p><p>As soon as the train starts moving again, the Tiefling enters the dining car and orders a drink. When his gaze falls upon Amira, he gasps theatrically and immediately tries to hit on her. He introduces himself as Olivert Boone and blatantly ignores that Amira is obviously married to the man who's sitting next to her. When both her rather polite-yet-sassy “Sorry darling, I'm on my honeymoon with my lovely husband over here.” and Hector's really displeased look fail, Senor Fernandez just grabs his wife and lets her sit on his lap while he puts on a disarming grin. </p><p>“Bah, you're ruining all the fun!” Boone complains, to which Hector replies “Yep, that's the plan.”. This leaves the Tiefling pissed, but we still manage to find out that he's not the guy “that blonde woman who could be interested in him” was looking for. </p><p></p><p>(<span style="color: #008000">Again, Auryn was baffled by Hector's reaction. She expected a professional cover, sure, but didn't think Carlyle would be able to pull off a stunt like this. Not after his constant “500 years of distance, can't touch this” demeanor</span>) </p><p></p><p>Shortly after Boone leaves the car, Zorina Marchand comes to inform us that there has been a deadly accident near the snack counter in one of the 2nd class cars. Apparently, a dwarf choked after eating a peanut. We are both horrified and ask whether there is some kind of doctor who could care for the poor guy as he might be still alive. We add that we just saw a woman carrying a doctor's bag with her among the 2nd class passengers, so it could be wise to get her involved. </p><p></p><p>We claim to “look after our baggage” in the baggage cart (which is obviously just an excuse to look for the dead man – authors need their inspiration) and walk through the other wagons towards the mentioned place. On our way we hear a “Stop that!” from one of the other first class compartments, but don't know who this voice could belong to. </p><p></p><p>Once we reach the dwarf, Victoria is already examining the lifeless body. She confirms that this man is dead indeed, but he didn't choke on a peanut. It was a chestnut. Before she leaves the scene, Victoria quickly slips a glass dagger and a portrait of the dice juggling dwarf into one of Amira's pockets. We excuse ourselves as we have to take a moment to recover from the shock, return to our compartment and examine both objects. The dagger turns out to be filled with poison and the portrait is indeed a striking image of the juggler. We make a copy of the image, write down a description of the dagger and transfer both to the pirate Burton who's playing cards with said juggling dwarf in the 3rd class. Seems like someone just avoided an assassination. </p><p></p><p>(<span style="color: #008000">Regarding trains and chestnuts: Coincidentally, Mr. Carlyle's player just happened to bring along a box of - very delicious - Toffifee with a train printed on the box' exterior which looked like this: <a href="https://www.picclickimg.com/d/l400/pict/122789795805_/15-Euro-Bahn-eCoupon-Gutschein-Bahnticket-ICE-IC-Toffifee.jpg" target="_blank">https://www.picclickimg.com/d/l400/pict/122789795805_/15-Euro-Bahn-eCoupon-Gutschein-Bahnticket-ICE-IC-Toffifee.jpg</a>. </span></p><p><span style="color: #008000"></span></p><p><span style="color: #008000">We were all having a long laugh and fortunately, no one choked on one of the sweets which are a combination of caramel, nougat, chocolate and, well, a chestnut.</span>)</p><p></p><p>As we return to the dining car, we see the fat lady again, as well as her veiled companion. We cannot gain more information about this person besides the facts that it is most certainly a woman, has light brown skin and no tail. What's more intriguing and also disturbing is the sight of a golden chain that seems to connect both of them. Amira politely introduces herself to the fat lady and she returns the favor by telling us that she's Elanor Janette, a professional matchmaker. Her client, she explains, is afraid and wishes to travel incognito which is why she cannot tell them more about her. </p><p></p><p>As soon as Mrs. Janette realizes that Senorita Fernandez is in fact an Eladrin, she asks her about her age (60, she guesses, but she isn't really sure. All she knows is that it isn't too old for her people.) and whether she'd like to find a good spouse. A rare beauty like her would be able to choose among the finest (and wealthiest) gentlemen of all Lanjyr, she promises. Amira politely declines the offer as she's already in a really happy marriage with a more than just “fine” gentleman, but she'd totally take Mrs. Janette's card should her friends be interested. Elanor tries to bait her again by adding that she could find her client a rich danoran businessman who'd surely buy her anything she could wish for, but Amira is still not interested and quickly excuses herself. </p><p></p><p>Pulling herself together to put up Amira's usual smile, she returns to her dear husband, squeezes his hand tightly and says that they should maybe both return to their compartment as she's really, really tired and needs some rest. </p><p><span style="color: #008000"></span></p><p><span style="color: #008000">(Oh my gosh. Auryn had a bad feeling about this strange duo from the beginning, but the golden chain and her interest in Amira totally revealed how Elanor's wind blows. At this point she was shaking, barely able to focus her thoughts and all she knew was that she had to find out more about Mrs. Janette's companion. No matter what. As she's not stupid, she knew that she had to discuss any further plans with her partner. But the real question was: Would Carlyle play along?</span>)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lylandra, post: 7333950, member: 6816692"] [b]Chuu-chuu! And off we go[/b] 10 days later, our train is scheduled to depart in the morning. As a certain Mr. Rackus turned the whole planning upside down, one Avery Coast Railroad employee asked us for our preferred compartment and we take one close to the dining car ([COLOR="#008000"]Number 18 I guess?[/COLOR]). On the day of departure, we are received by train conductor Zorina Marchand who introduces us to the rest of the train staff and shows us around. On this small tour, we meet Doris Gavagne, a pianist who's working in the dining car and who shares a friendly chat with “fellow pianist” Amiranya Fernandez. When Doris learns about Amira's beran heritage, she immediately plays a lovely folk melody for the Senorita which impresses Amira. Then there are Kov Marik, the dwarven chef de cuisine and Malia Baccarin who's chief of security. When Hector Fernandez asks Chef Marik for a special romantic menu for himself and Amira, the proud Eschatologist promises that he'll do his very best to make sure the memorable meal will find a good and proper ending. Hector takes this less literally than intended, glances over at Amira, then nods enthusiastically at Marik and thanks him for his effort. We then move to our compartment and find that this room was maybe designed for a family, or an adventuring group, but not so much for a couple. So we get some train staff to re-arrange the compartment to our needs. ([COLOR="#008000"]Yeah, a bit fourth-wall / meta teasing on our side. The first class compartments “just happen” to have four beds for the presumed team of four. And of course, the Fernandez wouldn't sleep in separate beds. Poor Mr. Carlyle. In some regards, Hector Ignacio Fernandez and Gabriel Carlyle seem like polar opposites and I was kind of surprised that Carlyle actually managed to convincingly play the role of a rather passionate husband without too many struggles[/COLOR]) We use our private compartment to closely observe the other passengers who enter the train afterwards. As expected, Rock Rackus arrives last minute and causes a small delay for the 2nd class passengers. We're happy to see Victoria Royceton among the crowd and also spot a group of danoran cadets, a dwarf carrying a trumpet case and a blonde woman who's wearing sleeveless clothes and who must be shivering due to the bitter cold. “Pirate” Burton is among the 3rd class passenger group and one of the last people to enter the train. The train itself has some rather unusually strong acceleration and a pretty high maximum speed for such a massive object. This causes Amira to feel sick for a the first minutes, but she manages to get accustomed to the new environment after a while. Once she's fine again, the Fernandez head to the dining car to get breakfast. We meet the Grientos again who seem to be just as hungry as we are. Along with us there are also Damien, a woman who was previously with the danoran recruits and the short sleeved woman who looks as if she was even more of a trained combatant than lieutenant Damien. Now that she's come closer, we see that her upper arm bears a big scar that catches Taro Griento's attention. “Awesome!” the young orc says while pointing his finger at the woman's scar. Hector gently pushes Taro's arm down and explains the young boy that pointing fingers at someone isn't particularly nice or adequate. Then he laughs softly and muses that young children will always be curious. The woman doesn't seem to mind though and instead asks us whether we've seen a Tiefling around here. As neither of us has seen one, the woman just shrugs and we promise her to keep our eyes open. She doesn't wish to give us the man's name or even a description which makes this seem a bit mysterious. Before she moves to the next wagon to look for her missing Tiefling, we get to know that she's a danoran veteran of Yerasol IV, but doesn't wish to fight in another war. Damien, the lieutenant, on the other hand, seems much more excited on the prospect of combat. She tries to explain that the Danoran military is the best in all Lanjyr, which is why they kicked the Risuri's sorry asses in the last war. When she goes on to explain that Danor could just invade any country they wanted, we are kind of amused and tell her that the feeble danoran bullets wouldn't do much to a Tyrannosaur's or even Dragon Tyrant's massive hide. Damien goes on to claim that disciplined and structured Danor would surely crush the barbaric, chaotic tribes of Ber which is when we reveal that we two are Berans and neither of us is barbaric. Yet not everyone is able to grasp the difficult clan structures and hierarchies, or even understands what it means when “the hearts of all Berans beat as one” when it comes to foreign interference. Hector uses this opportunity to muse about the fact that he read of an engagement of the King of “barbaric” Risur and a danoran “princess” in one of his newspapers. “From what I know, it is only the hero who marries the princess.” he jokes “So I guess this Aodhan guy still won in the end.” [COLOR="#008000"](To shamelessly quote Mel Brooks: It's good to be the king. Hector vs. Damien was so much fun. He's a expert prick who loves throwing around classic tropes and basically sees everything through the lens of a narrator. Also both of us fell for the “romanticized Ber” patriotism of the Fernandez. Carlyle and Auryn sympathize with our neighbor nation, but picking a beran's point of view and befriending the Grientos allowed for a much deeper understanding of their culture. The thing with this cover identity is that it basically became roleplaying a character who is roleplaying another character... )[/COLOR] Our train stops at two smaller stations where we pick up more passengers. Among them is a dwarf juggling dice, a Tiefling with an oversized hat and a crossbow, and an obese human woman with a smaller person who's completely hidden behind layers of veils. As soon as the train starts moving again, the Tiefling enters the dining car and orders a drink. When his gaze falls upon Amira, he gasps theatrically and immediately tries to hit on her. He introduces himself as Olivert Boone and blatantly ignores that Amira is obviously married to the man who's sitting next to her. When both her rather polite-yet-sassy “Sorry darling, I'm on my honeymoon with my lovely husband over here.” and Hector's really displeased look fail, Senor Fernandez just grabs his wife and lets her sit on his lap while he puts on a disarming grin. “Bah, you're ruining all the fun!” Boone complains, to which Hector replies “Yep, that's the plan.”. This leaves the Tiefling pissed, but we still manage to find out that he's not the guy “that blonde woman who could be interested in him” was looking for. ([COLOR="#008000"]Again, Auryn was baffled by Hector's reaction. She expected a professional cover, sure, but didn't think Carlyle would be able to pull off a stunt like this. Not after his constant “500 years of distance, can't touch this” demeanor[/COLOR]) Shortly after Boone leaves the car, Zorina Marchand comes to inform us that there has been a deadly accident near the snack counter in one of the 2nd class cars. Apparently, a dwarf choked after eating a peanut. We are both horrified and ask whether there is some kind of doctor who could care for the poor guy as he might be still alive. We add that we just saw a woman carrying a doctor's bag with her among the 2nd class passengers, so it could be wise to get her involved. We claim to “look after our baggage” in the baggage cart (which is obviously just an excuse to look for the dead man – authors need their inspiration) and walk through the other wagons towards the mentioned place. On our way we hear a “Stop that!” from one of the other first class compartments, but don't know who this voice could belong to. Once we reach the dwarf, Victoria is already examining the lifeless body. She confirms that this man is dead indeed, but he didn't choke on a peanut. It was a chestnut. Before she leaves the scene, Victoria quickly slips a glass dagger and a portrait of the dice juggling dwarf into one of Amira's pockets. We excuse ourselves as we have to take a moment to recover from the shock, return to our compartment and examine both objects. The dagger turns out to be filled with poison and the portrait is indeed a striking image of the juggler. We make a copy of the image, write down a description of the dagger and transfer both to the pirate Burton who's playing cards with said juggling dwarf in the 3rd class. Seems like someone just avoided an assassination. ([COLOR="#008000"]Regarding trains and chestnuts: Coincidentally, Mr. Carlyle's player just happened to bring along a box of - very delicious - Toffifee with a train printed on the box' exterior which looked like this: [url]https://www.picclickimg.com/d/l400/pict/122789795805_/15-Euro-Bahn-eCoupon-Gutschein-Bahnticket-ICE-IC-Toffifee.jpg[/url]. We were all having a long laugh and fortunately, no one choked on one of the sweets which are a combination of caramel, nougat, chocolate and, well, a chestnut.[/COLOR]) As we return to the dining car, we see the fat lady again, as well as her veiled companion. We cannot gain more information about this person besides the facts that it is most certainly a woman, has light brown skin and no tail. What's more intriguing and also disturbing is the sight of a golden chain that seems to connect both of them. Amira politely introduces herself to the fat lady and she returns the favor by telling us that she's Elanor Janette, a professional matchmaker. Her client, she explains, is afraid and wishes to travel incognito which is why she cannot tell them more about her. As soon as Mrs. Janette realizes that Senorita Fernandez is in fact an Eladrin, she asks her about her age (60, she guesses, but she isn't really sure. All she knows is that it isn't too old for her people.) and whether she'd like to find a good spouse. A rare beauty like her would be able to choose among the finest (and wealthiest) gentlemen of all Lanjyr, she promises. Amira politely declines the offer as she's already in a really happy marriage with a more than just “fine” gentleman, but she'd totally take Mrs. Janette's card should her friends be interested. Elanor tries to bait her again by adding that she could find her client a rich danoran businessman who'd surely buy her anything she could wish for, but Amira is still not interested and quickly excuses herself. Pulling herself together to put up Amira's usual smile, she returns to her dear husband, squeezes his hand tightly and says that they should maybe both return to their compartment as she's really, really tired and needs some rest. [COLOR="#008000"] (Oh my gosh. Auryn had a bad feeling about this strange duo from the beginning, but the golden chain and her interest in Amira totally revealed how Elanor's wind blows. At this point she was shaking, barely able to focus her thoughts and all she knew was that she had to find out more about Mrs. Janette's companion. No matter what. As she's not stupid, she knew that she had to discuss any further plans with her partner. But the real question was: Would Carlyle play along?[/COLOR]) [/QUOTE]
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