[The Golden Flask]No nonny nonny here...

[Vega]

46th Ashan, 717

The Golden Flask
They'd arrived that trial and had agreed that, since they had just arrived and it was getting late, they were going to spend one night in the Inn, eat a decent meal together and then make their way out of the city bright and early the next morning. Whilst Arlo had gone to deal with Peg, Vega had gone and paid for the room for them. It was her turn, after all ~ he'd paid in Desnind. It was six silver nel a night, so it hardly broke the bank. Once they were settled in, Vega had informed Arlo that she was going to have a bath, and not to get lonely. Maybe, once he was clean, he could talk to some folks, find out about nearby places and so on? Either way, she said she'd meet him in the bar downstairs

Of course, it was fair warning and he knew that already. She was gone, again, an age. But she came down to the area where they were going to eat and she was clean, her hair washed and a clean dress on. It felt good, she had to admit and she grinned at Arlo and wandered over. She ordered a tanker of ale and the braised oxen with pecan bread. Once he'd ordered his own food and drink, Vega gently kicked him under the table. "The room's alright, isn't it? Nice, warm, comfortable. Is Peg ok? She'll be pleased to have a trot out tomorrow."

Then, with a grin of thanks to the server once their drinks had been delivered, Vega tapped her tankard against his and toasted, "Well, here's to adventures in Ne'haer, eh? Not a lot of hey nonny nonny goin' on round here, far as I can tell. And I haven't seen a single kid swinging his legs yet." She couldn't help but tease him, nor would she try to stop. But she did wonder, then, more seriously. "So, far as I can tell there's a lot of religion here, so we can find out stuff about Cassion, I'm sure. But other than that, I can tell you that Toben is a very friendly chap and runs a damn fine bath." Vega nodded over to the human who worked as a server.

"So, what did you find out? Where are we off to?" It was a good question, she was fairly sure he had been on his own for more than long enough to get them into trouble of some kind already.

Off Topic

Deducted from ledger:
6sn for the room.
3sn for the ale.
1gn for the food.

[Arlo Creede]

One night spent in a real bed, a hot bath, laundered clothing by another's hands and a meal cooked by somebody else, did not a city dweller make. At least so far as Arlo was concerned. Surrounded by four walls with a ceiling to block out the stars above him wasn't his preference. But after more than forty trials at sea, all of it had seemed more appealing than usual.

Peg was happy too, to find herself in a nice stall with all the hay and grain she wanted for the night. She'd been a foul tempered beast since early on during the journey at sea. But Arlo couldn't really blame the mare. The storm alone had soured her for trials afterwards, and she'd tried to kick him more than once. And had bitten him twice.

What he couldn't fathom though was how anyone spent so long in the bath. While Vega had been gone, Arlo had unpacked his things, bathed, dressed, gone downstairs and waited. And once he'd grown tired of waiting, he'd wandered outdoors to check on Peg and do a little exploring. Only to return to the inn and find her still not there.

When she finally appeared and sat down across from him, he eyed her critically before uttering, "I thought you'd drowned. I was just working out which of your things I'd keep for myself, and which I'd give away."

"Peg's fine," he told her. "She's in a sour mood but a night on solid ground will fix her right up. I'll have what she's having," he told the waitress when she came round to take their order. "It's not Desnind for sure," Arlo agreed, once they'd gotten their drinks.

"There was some kind of war or battle here," he said of the city in general. "Or so someone told me after I'd checked on Peg. It must be why so many of the buildings look newer than you'd expect them too. And there's canals running through the place. Shallow ones, but I've never seen anything like it." There was a lake, he told her then. Lake Rea he thought it was, where there seemed to be a lot of Biqaj hanging around. And mer, apparently.

"There's the Willow Woods that might be an interesting place to hunt and explore," he said, adding that he was told there was a ruined fort there, called Seraas en Avellach, if he had it right. He didn't know much about it, a fellow only told him he believed it was there and better avoided. But to Arlo's way of thinking, it was all the more reason to go looking.

[Vega]

46th Ashan, 717

"Were you? Which were you keeping?" Vega asked with a grin. She was clean, in clean clothes, warm and not feeling nauseous, "You're more than welcome to anything I've got. I don't need to be dead, just tell me what you want." She gave him a grin and took a long drink from her ale. "Thank you, this looks great." Vega made sure to say to the server when they brought the food, since Arlo seemed to be completely devoid of please and thank you at the moment. He seemed a bit touchy, she thought, but said nothing of it. If he was touchy, telling him he seemed it wouldn't help and if he wasn't? Well then the suggestion that he might be might create the very situation itself.

There were canals and a lake? She hadn't known that, she didn't think. "Like, waterways like roads? Just in the middle of the city?" Vega raised an eyebrow and considered, then nodded. "Weird." Either Biqaj or Mer were pretty 'normal' for her but she would be happy to go and have a look. "If I can find the right sort of ship, I can get a message to my father. Let him know that I didn't get eaten by a spurmaluga-thing, or drowned in the storm." She grinned at Arlo then,"I'll tell him I've met a boy. That'll send him into some kind of episode. You want my bread?" Vega had a good appetite, but Arlo was an eating machine. It was, she recognised, a definite growth spurt. "Or do you wanna just give in to temptation and order a second dinner? We're going to have to hunt big things, you know."

The Willow Wood sounded interesting and Vega could only agree. What better reason to explore something than because it was there and creepy? "Well, the guy who ran my bath was chatty. I think he was hoping that... well, you know. Anyhow, his obvious disappointment notwithstanding, he told me about a couple of local things, too." she had to admit, she was really enjoying this meal but along the way she'd kind of got used to Arlo's cooking and this wasn't as good as that. Not that she'd tell him, he'd get ideas above his station. "One is these stone caverns just outside the city. It's said that they used to be where mad bad cultists went, but they got locked in an' killed each other till just one remains." Apparently, she continued, that last one dug his way out, through the stone and when he reached the ground above, one of the Immortals cursed him into eternal, eternally damned life. "Apparently, folks who go in there have said they got confused and stuff in there, and so the tale goes, you go mad if you go in there."

He'd also told her, she said, about a statue in the middle of the town square. "It's this big statue called the 'Weeping Statue' apparently. If you go see it in a rain storm an' ask about his tears, he'll answer a question that your heart really wants answered. Apparently, so he tells me, that often happens when he visits you in a dream to guide you." Vega pushed away her plate, full and very content. "So, I figure that might be good to go and have a look at. What d'ya think?"

[Arlo Creede]

Seemed to Arlo, she was a little on the touchy side. Maybe it was all that time aboard ship. But Vega was used to that sort of thing, and he wasn't. "It was only a joke," he said, round a bite of his bread. He'd begrudgingly admit the meal wasn't bad, but he could do better. "I don't want any of your things. I'd look silly in that hat of yours anyway."

"Something like roads," he agreed as he washed his food down and took the extra roll that she offered him. "Thanks. I don't need another meal though." But the canals, he told her, looked to be mostly for transporting goods from one place to another. Though he'd thought he'd spied some kind of boat carrying passengers.

When she said she might try and send a message to her father, Arlo nodded, then considered it further. "Maybe I'll write to my mother while we're here. I haven't, not since I left home. She'll wonder if I've ended up in a ditch." It was what his mother had always said to him, he explained, when he'd wandered off without telling her, or come home too late. "She'd say, how would you feel, was I to find you in a ditch somewhere?"

As if the ditches of Idalos were just overflowing with the bodies of those who hadn't kept their mother's informed of their whereabouts or well being. When she mentioned the man who'd run her bath though, Arlo frowned round a mouthful of his meal but said nothing about it. Eventually he grinned though, after she described a series of stone caverns and referenced madmen. "Seems like all the more reason to go exploring, doesn't it?"

In fact, after the experience in Desnind, and Cassion's appearance and indication that they might just meet again, such a place, explored, might just make a good story to tell. "You mean the statue, or the spirit or whatever, is said to visit you in your dreams?" he asked. He couldn't think of any questions right off, that were plaguing him. But, he admitted, it was a fascinating prospect, and surely was also worth a visit.

[Vega]

46th Ashan, 717

"Never stopped you before, did it?" Vega quipped as he complained about looking silly in her hat. "Also, I think it's fair to say that you'd look seventeen shades of ridiculous in almost all of my clothes." She shrugged, then, though and realised something that she hadn't before. "If I die, I'd like you to have my compass and my mother's books. You'd look after them and understand how important they were. And you know," she grinned at him, "If I snuff it, you'll cry into my hat and you'd keep it to remember me by. We both know it." Her eyes twinkled a bright blue at him. He was cheering up, she thought. Had he been worried about her in the bath? He'd made a joke about it, but maybe she'd spent such a long time in there that he'd started to get genuinely concerned. Vega considered that and then dismissed it as nonsense. He was being touchy for whatever reason, he'd be happier now he had good food and a drink inside him.

"In a ditch? Why in a ditch? Did you spend a lot of time in them?" What a strange thing humans were, Vega thought. In a ditch. "Were you dead in this ditch or was she worried you'd just move into one or something?" As for writing to his mother, well Vega could only nod and agree that it was a good thing. The benefit, she wondered aloud, of having one place to write to was that at least he knew she'd get it. Still, she'd write a letter and hope that it got to her father.

The grumpy face returned though, at the start of her story and thereby to her mind confirmed his grump about her taking so long in the bath, though he ended with a grin which Vega returned. "I'd say yes, that is a perfect reason for exploring. Though we might go mad. Or more mad, I guess." It was all relative, she thought, all things considered. "I'm sorry I took so long in the bath. I really like baths and I have them so rarely. Plus, I've got a lot of hair you know. It takes time making it behave itself after all this time on the ship." If it had irritated him, it was fair enough, she should have thought of it. Not that she'd have changed her behaviour, she took as long as she chose to take, but she could have informed or reminded him that she would, that would have been fair.

"Yeah, I think so. You get your answer to your heart's question, anyhow." Or so she'd been told. "Either then and there or in your dream." She shrugged and considered. "So, I suggest we start at the statue, if it's raining tomorrow, then we do some of the Willow Woods, that ruined fort of yours first?" Once, of course, they'd worked out where they were going to set up camp and stuff. "We should start writing these crazy things down, you know, like a travelling journal we keep. Take it to the library in each place we go and offer to let them copy it. I bet you your mate would like that." Vega was still in a funk about that whole thing.

[Arlo Creede]

How had they gotten to the point of talking about bequeathing their last earthly belongings, Arlo wondered. That was sort of morbid stuff to think or speak about. Especially since he'd only been joking when she'd first come down to the table. Still, it seemed important to Vega that he should know it. And if he was honest, it flattered him.

"Alright then," he said, using the last of his bread to mop up the last trace of gravy on his plate. "I can't think of anyone better to keep my hat if it came to it. And Peg would need someone to look after her." Still, her curiosity about ditches brought a grin to his face as the waitress returned for their empty plates, and he thanked her before she was gone again. "I didn't. Not that I can remember anyway."

"And I'm not sure. It was always her worry that if I was out too late, or off without telling her, that she'd find me lying in a ditch somewhere." Dead or alive, his mother had never really made the distinction. But once he'd compared notes with his friends, and it seemed to be a common theme, a common worry among mothers.

Arlo shrugged it off though, when she apologized for taking so long. "I was joking, and you don't need to apologize. It only seemed like a very long time is all." So it was the statue next trial, so long as it was raining. Then Willow Woods and maybe that ruined fort. He liked the idea of keeping a journal, just for their adventures and outings. Cassion might in fact like that, if they really did meet again in the future. Nevertheless, they had a plan in mind and he'd leave payment for his meal on the table before they departed.

[Malcolm]

Remove please.

[Golem]

Rewards

Name:

Vega

Knowledge:

Location: Ne’haer
Location: Ne’haer: Lake Rea
Location: Ne’haer: Willow Woods
Location: Ne’haer: Seraas en Avellach
Location: Ne’haer: Stone Caverns
Location: Ne’haer: Weeping Statue
Ne’haer:Very Religious
Ne’haer:City of Canals
Peg: Foul Tempered Horse

Loot:/size] N/A

Injuries:

N/A

Fame:

N/A

Story:5

Collaboration:5

Structure:5

- - -

Name:

Arlo

Knowledge:

Location: Ne’haer
Location: Ne’haer: Lake Rea
Location: Ne’haer: Willow Woods
Location: Ne’haer: Seraas en Avellach
Location: Ne’haer: Stone Caverns
Location: Ne’haer: Weeping Statue
Ne’haer:Very Religious
Ne’haer City of Canals
Peg: Foul Tempered
Peg: Dislikes Storms

Loot:

N/A

Injuries:

N/A

Fame:

N/A

Story:

5

Collaboration:

5

Structure:

4

- - -

Comments:

Pretty brief thread. Overall, I’d like to see some more action from the two of you, rather than just discussing your plans. The story lacked conflict, something which would help give it pacing and grip the reader a bit better. Even something small, like the waitress pocketing your money and pretending you hadn’t paid yet right at the end.

Other than that, just make sure that you both make at least 1500 words!

As always, PM me with any comments, questions or concerns!