Generic Fantasy Stat RP Chapter 2

[Rothene]

Emocni

Sitting down, Qaahir introduced himself as well, "I am Qaahir bin Haddad. Been working as a sellsword for more than a decade and am proud of the fact I am more literate than most of my peers. More so than the number of expeditions to the various ruins in Emocni I've acted as bodyguard in."

Before he could ask any questions, the tavern keeper came to them and asked, "So what would you like to day? Water or wine?"

"I would have water," Qaahir replied, "and what meat would be available today tavern keeper?"

"That would be lamb only. Although we have it prepared in two ways, stewed or grilled."

"I'll be having the grilled one," answered Qaahir, then turning to his companions, "what about the two of you?"

[Eail]

"I'll have the same as him." responded Oscar before asking the owner "Just for future reference do you serve anything harder than Wine? I might be coming back for a drink later."

[Snowy_One]

"I will be having wine, and do you serve bread with your meals? If so, I would like only a small stew and double bread." she patted her belly. She had to keep fit and in shape, but couldn't do the better exercises. That meant a lot of dieting to remain in good physical form.

[Rothene]

Emocni

"Ah, bread? Sure, we have plenty of those," the tavern keeper said smiling as he ducked into the kitchen to relay the orders to his wife. He returned quickly with two mugs of water and a mug of wine.

Qaahir pushed the wine to Sumomo and the remaining mug of water to Oscar, "Wine? Heh, make sure you keep yourself hydrated after drinking those, girl"

Shifting himself to properly face his companions, he emptied almost half the contents of his mug into his mouth before asking, "So, merchant in training eh, girl? Helping your family sell something? I don't remember you bringing along any wares."

Edited April 25, 2012 by Rothene

[Snowy_One]

"I never said I was a good merchant." she said before taking a small sip of the wine. "Though one does not always need great wealth. I know of a young girl by the name of Recette who started off with nothing more than a loaf of bread to her name and managed to start a successful store through sheer talent. I hope to be like her, even though I am several years older."

[Rothene]

Emocni

"I never said you were a good merchant," Qaahir said taking a sip of his water, "Recette, sounds like a Rekamite name...or was it Letamite? Well, interesting to hear since I always thought traders almost never get past the borders of Tsae. She must have good connections to set up a store in Tsae."

[Kay]

"Uh, sure, I'm free now," Alyssia smiled to see the boy back to his normal self. I guess kids are still kids, no matter how rich they are. She glanced at their surroundings briefly. Maybe I can sneak out to that brawling circle later. It could be good practice to try fighting without a weapon for a change.

[eclipse]

The strange mount tore into its food, no doubt hungry. How much does he eat? How often does he eat? Is flying through the air better than being on a horse? I wonder if he's friendly? Alena's stomach made a rude noise. If the big guy gets to eat, I'd better do so, too. I think I'll find a nice quiet corner and observe everyone. She did a quick check to make sure that no one was around, then came out of the shadows. She walked down the street back to the tavern, as if nothing had happened.

---

Once inside, she found a small table tucked in a corner. She watched the various customers walk in and out. Qaahir looked like he was enjoying the company of his new companions. Most of the customers kept their voices down, although Alena could pick out the louder voices of the patrons who had a bit too much to drink. The two men closest to her were discussing something about a fighting ring. One of them slammed his fist into the table.

"That lady cheated, I swear! There's no way she coulda hit me that hard!" the first guy said, irritation in his voice.

"That's yer own fault for underestimatin' her," the second one said, a bit of mirth in his voice.

"I tell ya I didn' underestimate a thing! One minute I was up an' the next I was out cold!"

Alena shook her head. Fighting for sport means that you have too much time on your hands.

A waiter came by, offering wine or water. Alena politely requested the latter. Luckily, this place didn't require Alena to read, so she was able to order a lamb stew without making a fool of herself. I can't afford to be drunk. Not in a place such as this.

Edited April 26, 2012 by eclipse

[Snowy_One]

"I do not even know if the tale is real, or simply something told to encourage merchants who are struggling from a lack of experience. That a young girl could manage to become successful with almost nothing to her name to start off sounds like it could be either. Regardless, it has encouraged me to try and become a good merchant."

[Rothene]

Emocni

Marching joyfully to the spring, Roune took off his robes to swim, proud of the fact he knew how to perform such a mighty feat without any personal servant to help him. The water felt extremely cold, a sharp contrast to the hot Emocnian air.

Laying on the cool water the mage in training pondered on how much he had enjoyed himself thus far. It had seemed exciting at first, leaving the empire. But just a few days through the mosquito infested jungles back home had dampened his joy entirely. Now he did not know why was he even travelling with his father. Why was he even brought along?

***

Hmm...sitting in a dark corner on your own, Qaahir thought when he noticed Alena pick her seat. He decided to watch her surroundings from the corner of his eye. She was sitting a one, and she was a girl in a tavern without enough wenches to distract the large majority of male patrons.

"Your meals masters," the tavern keeper said setting down the bowl of hot stew with a chunk of bread floating on top of it before placing two plates of grilled lamb on the table, "that would be five gold each."

Qaahir reached into his pouch and handed the man the coins before reaching for his knife. The meat was tough, but thankfully not to the point of being a worthy competitor to leather armour he used to protect himself from arrows. It took some difficulty to penetrate the tough exterior of the steak and at various points, the Emocnian contemplated hacking at the piece of meat with his axe.

Eyeing Sumomo's stew out of curiosity, he could tell from his eyes that the meat was at least soft. The taste was something he could not guess, but the smell of the lamb was strong, hence he suspected most of the taste might be in the soup instead of the meat.

[Eail]

'Master huh, well that's certainly a new one for me.'

Digging out the coins he payed the owner for his share of the meal and dug in. After not really eating a damn thing for two weeks even this tough meat tasted like heaven to him. Not really in control of him self at the moment Oscar almost choked on his lamb, luckily he had enough water to wash it down....... though the fist to the back courtesy of Qaahir didn't hurt either. "Oh man, thanks for that. Got a little to excited ya know?" he explained while chuckling

[Snowy_One]

Sumomo didn't try to gulp the food down. Instead, after paying for her portion of the food like the others, she picked up her bread and tore off a small chunk, dabbing it in the broth, before eating it. After she did this several times she picked up her spoon, holding it oddly at first as if she was holding a chopstick, before figuring it out and lowering it into the broth to keep drinking, almost avoiding the meat entirely.

[Rothene]

Emocni

Chaen Lang searched the village for a particular target. He had ignored her presence throughout the trip...and so did almost everyone. The battlemage would have rushed to the tavern to find her if he had not spotted her walked off slowly into an alley way in the distance.

He suspected that gesture was an invitation but he decided to hold onto his tome anyway. A battlemage could sling a spell as fast as he could draw his sword. Ducking into the alleyway, the Tsaen saw Nissa sitting on top of a barrel fully draped in cloth and scarf. "You have a question for me Chaen Lang?"

"Yes...why are you here?" the battlemage asked.

"I was exploring those ruins like I said. Coincidentally your group were there to disturb something, or so I gathered," the female Yracian said shrugging.

"So what are your plans from now then thief?" Chaen Lang inquired.

"I don't know. Perhaps I should stick with your merry lot until we reach Central Emocni...or maybe I should just leave in the cover of darkness? Anyway, how's the trinket I got for you?" Nissa asked. The Tsaen could not see her expression due to the scarf that covered most of her face. But he could tell she was grinning by looking at her eyes.

Chaen Lang fought the urge to pat his chest where the piece of the artifact he carried lay and instead stared at the woman in front of him. "It's safe."

"Good to hear. One thing I hate more than not getting paid is that whoever paid me to perform the task fail to hold onto what they paid for. If there's nothing else, I'd like to have some time alone where it's not so hot," said the Yracian.

"No there is nothing else," said Chaen Lang turning to walk away. As he was about to exit the alleyway, he stood still and without turning to face Nissa, said, "I would rather we part ways as soon as possible," before resuming his exit.

***

The tavern keeper brought a bowl of stew to Alena and requested for the five gold coins. As he waited for her to pay up, a group of Tsaens entered the tavern laughing and taking among themselves. Chaen Lang had just recently let some of his men take a break while some continued guarding the caravan.

The tavern keeper swallowed and quickly counted the number of soldiers and then the number of available seats. There was not enough seats even if they split up among the various tables. But first he had to find out how many seats he could really spare. Turning to Alena he asked, "Would you mind sharing the table with these men?"

***

"Heh, your welcome. Would do me no good having you choke to death now since you've proven yourself to be very useful at taking hits," Qaahir said chuckling. Finally giving up on using his knife to eat his meat in a civil manner, Qaahir picked it up with his bare hands and proceeded to pull chunks of it apart with sheer brute force. Finally he could eat properly.

Gulping down the last piece of lamb, Qaahir leaned on his chair lazily and asked his companions, "So, any particular plans after the meal?"

Hearing the arrival of many Tsaen soldiers Qaahir shook his head smiling as he wondered how would the tavern keeper handle so many patrons at once. "Well my fellow comrades...I guess it would be wise for us to leave now so that some of our employer's men could have their seats."

As he spoke, he could not help but glance at Alena worriedly. Would she be fine alone...

Edited April 29, 2012 by Rothene

[Eail]

"Well I had planned on teaching her a little bit on how to defend herself, figured I owed that to her after saving my life after I passed out." Said Oscar as he pointed his thumb towards Sumomo. "I suppose now would be as good a time to start as any considering how packed this place is, so you ready to go?" he asked.

[Snowy_One]

Sumomo looked down at her meal, still largely unfinished. Good thing she had ordered less stew and extra bread. "I am ready." she said simply as she picked up the loafs of bread before taking a final sip of her stew, trying to get a good amount of meat in without appearing crude. She put it down before moving out of her seat. "You can finish what I did not eat." she said, trying to smile, as she picked up the loafs. She would need to be careful during this practice. Nothing fancy or advanced, keep it like she barely knew how to use the weapon, stuff like that. Still, she needed to practice, lest she become rusty.

"Let us go Oscar."

[eclipse]

Well, if they're traveling with us, I guess I should learn more about them. "I don't mind sharing a table, if it means they'll get out of the doorway," Alena said as pleasantly as she could.

[Rothene]

Emocni

The tavern keeper nodded and gestured to the soldiers. Still chatting among themselves noisily, the soldiers split up to share the two tables. Taking up the two spaces beside Alena was one large burly Tsaen with a badly broken nose and neatly trimmed whiskers on her right, while on her left sat a very fair skinned Tsaen who was slightly plump but still built well enough run in his armour without too much trouble. Both became silent as soon as the tavern keeper came to take their orders.

A rather lanky soldier sitting on the other table called out in Emocnian, "Boss! my friends no speak Emocnian...better come tell me what food you got, I tell my friends later."

The tavern keeper nodded and told the soldier what food was there and what drink they would prefer. The soldier then relayed what he heard in his native language. There was some murmuring as they discussed among themselves if what they imagined the food to be is what it actually was due to unfamiliar terms. Then they all saw the stew in front of Alena and ordered that along with water.

As soon as the tavern keeper ducked back into the kitchen to tell his wife to cook more stew, the soldiers resumed talking among themselves noisily.

***

"Training? Don't mind if I come and watch?" Qaahir asked grinning. He had nothing else to do anyway, maybe he could spend his time giving some pointers himself where suitable.

[Snowy_One]

"Oh my... Do all of you really want to see a poor merchant girl like me get beaten to a pulp while she learns how to wield a sword properly?"

[Eail]

"I don't have a problem with you coming along, so lets get going before more people try to squeeze in here eh?" Looking at Sumomo he said "Trust me okay, nothing bad will happen."

Edited April 30, 2012 by Eail

[eclipse]

Alena hid her smile. I may not understand their words, but they'd have to sit on their hands in order for me to not understand them completely!

The meat in the stew was tough, but not rotten. The vegetables were overdone, but edible. It was better than the food she'd become accustomed to. She ate heartily, while observing what she could.

[Rothene]

Emocni

The soldier on Alena's right kept talking and occasionally gripping an imaginary spear to thrust at imagined foes while talking about some event in his past, perhaps back in the days of his training, perhaps he was reflecting on a time he was involved in a tavern brawl. All anyone who did not know the language could gather was he seemed to be recounting about a fight in the past. Whether he was even part of it was unclear. The rest of his comrades sat silently as the soldier's voice grew louder in what appeared to be the climax of his story, and he started shifting in his seat as if dodging an imaginary foe.

Some of his comrades snickered at the man, who promptly pointed a threatening finger at them and muttered in his native tongue. The rest of the soldiers burst out laughing while the one who was pointed at slammed the table with his fist and leaned forward to challenge the bulky soldier to an arm wrestle. The bulky soldier accepted the challenge leaned forward. At this point, the other soldiers stood up to clear some space for the duo to fight it out.

The lanky Tsaen soldier from the other table then walked over to the table and called for bets in his native tongue. Facing Alena, he grinned slyly and asked, "You want to bet, girl? Is two for one if you bet on Chook!" he said raising two fingers and pointing at the tough looking soldier who had challenged the soldier who sat on Alena's right, "And three for two if you bet on old Zhuang," he finished, pointing at the bulky soldier on Alena's right.

Betting:

In case my phrasing was too poor, for every 2 gold you bet on Chook, Alena gets 1 extra gold back if he wins. For every 3 gold bet on Zhuang, Alena gets 2 back. Zhuang has a marginally higher chance of winning, hence the trade off is not so high. You'll be using actual gameplay gold. She cannot bet on more than 10 gold for this. And she can always decline

[eclipse]

"My apologies, but I don't gamble," Alena replied curtly. As long as I'm not kicked out, I don't mind. I should observe their fighting style, now that I'm not worried about an enemy!

[Eail]

With the now trio leaving the tavern and making a quick stop by the caravan on Oscar's plan to grab some spare wooden practice blades they eventually made their way to the Oasis to begin practicing.

Getting rid of the majority of his armor Oscar was only keeping his leg guards and gauntlets. After handing a blade to Sumomo he walked several paces away from her and turned "All right let's begin, I want you to come at me with everything you've got ok?" Eyes narrow and all kindness gone from his voice he continued "Don't hold back at all."

[Snowy_One]

Sumomo gripped her blade in her hand. For a split second she could feel her fingers wrapping about it in familiar ways and manners, holding it properly. As quickly as she could, she turned her hand a few degrees and lowered the angle of the blade. It looked showy, but was impractical for a fight, perfect for deception. She took a breath as she looked up at Oscar, her feet trying to grip the Oasis sand beneath her feet. It felt much better than it should, too good in fact. She could almost not feel the pain in her right hand at all.

She lowered her sword down to her side, letting the tip touch the sand, before she darted forwards, letting it trail behind her. As she approached him, she suddenly stopped and tried to swing it overhead and down in a chopping motion. Storybook-esque, but horrible in combat.

[Eail]

Seeing the incredibly sloppy move coming at him Oscar simply batted away the attack with his sword, seeing that she wasn't taking this seriously he decided to change that himself. 'This one ought to do it!' Bringing his sword around in a righthanded slash he immediately feinted and sent the blow coming back around from the left. A strike like this could cause some serious harm to a person, there was no way she could dodge it. The only chance she had would be to knock his blade away with her own, there was no way a rookie could pull it off.