Dalgoon walks backwards by the tavern front door, keenly interested on going the direction he is facing but unable to direct his legs that direction. He sputters and curses as he plods along in reverse.
Inside the tavern, Ecelece is happily coloring her latest tribute to Aloysius, the little blue (yet scribbled with red crayon) wooden dragon she's dragged everywhere since Tinryn brought it home for her. Hearing the commotion, she looks up sharply and leans FAR from her seat to peer outside. Confused, she yells back to Tin, "Tin! Tin! Tin! What is.. what is.. what is a Gonk? What's a Gonk, Tin??"
Frowning at the following gesture Kirell made, she leans far out of her seat so that she can be seen without breaking Tinryn's instruction for her to "sit right there and not move". She yells, "Tin! Tin! Tin! What does.. what does this mean??" She repeats the gesture to the gasps of the tavern-goers around her.
The wizards face contorts in rage and his ears redden to the color of beets. ?!lleriK em ta erutseg taht ekam uoy erad woH? the wizard states. Then steps forward after the Angori. Passing through the doorway he see?s the small Ecelece make the gesture to the onlookers.
?Has everyone in this town gone crazy? Children just going around making rude gestures and Angori insulting me, a master of the arcane arts!? Dalgoon rounds on Kirell. ?You there, Dragon. You?ll need to be a lot nicer to me if you insist on getting that information out of me that I got from the cultists.? Dalgoon sits hard at a chair near the kitchen. ?Is the Habbash hot today?? He calls into the kitchen.
Kirell snaps around to face the Wizard, and in a curt but calm voice says.
"Perhaps now that your back to your old self we can communicate with out insulting one another.
The Angori leans in close to Dalgoon so that the on lookers can't hear him and whispers in his ear.
"In case you weren?t aware GONK is not a term of endearment."
He steps back away from Dalgoon.
"I apologize good sir, and to you as well Ece."
Kirell sits down, still clearly fuming from the insult.
"Please join me Dalgoon in an ale."
"Friends come and go, but enemies gather at my feet in a heap."
After gaining no answer from the kitchen, Ece turns back to her art. She nods slowly, "It's.. it's.. it's ok, Word Man. It's ok." She grabs another sheet of paper and starts drawing the rude gesture. Must remember to ask Tin about it when he's not cooking supper. She mutters to herself, "Bacon.. bacon.. mustn't eat the bacon. We need it for dinner, Ece. We need it! Ece, sit there. Sit there until I tell.. until I tell you to.. to get up." Wrapped in her own world, she pays little attention to the conversation around her.
Stunned that he isn?t backwards anymore. Dalgoon smiles and jumps up from his seat, does a litle shuffle of a dance and plops back down in his chair anew. ?Some Bomgarten stout would do us both a world of good. I have news of your ogre friends.? Dalgoon smiles slyly.
Kirell gains his composure believing that it was some temporary malady that had over-taken Dalgoon.
"Loosen your tongue then. Tell me what you know."
Kirell waits anxiously for Dalgoon to begin.
"On the day that I was born. My daddy sat down and cried. I had the mark just as plain as day. It could not be denied."
"AND"
Kirell pauses, waiting for the mind of Dalgoon to process the next thought.
"Yes Dalgoon, They worship Dragons and intend to use me in some sort of ritual."
"What have you found of the cult and this ritual."
"Like maybe, I don't know "WILL I SURVIVE?"
"They say that Cain caught Able rolling loaded dice. Ace of spades behind his ear and him not thinking twice "
Dalgoon looks taken aback for a moment then hearing the ritual remark looks thoughtful. Reaching into his sleeve he produces a small stick sparkling with mystical energy. He holds it out before him and asks, ?Won?t you be a good fellow and break this on your side of the table please? I find it?s easier to break when held over one?s head.? Dalgoon smiles awaiting Kirell?s response.
Kirell takes the item from the hand of Dalgoon.
"What have you got there Dalgoon, and how does it factor into this conversation."
The Angori holds the stick at arms length and studies it carefully. (Identification)
"The grass ain't greener, the wine ain't sweeter eather side of the hill."
Lost in her own world of coloring, Ecelece almost doesn't see the stick that Dalgoon produces. It does gain her attention, though. Pupils dilated and tail twitching, she murmurs the reason why, "Shiiiiiiiiiiiney..." She even almost gets up, but Tinryn's instructions are law in her mind. She pauses mid-stand then sits again. She tries to pay attention to her drawing again, but her eyes continue to dart toward the stick. "It's.. it's very.. it's very shiney. VERY shiney!"
Dalgoon?s eyes grow wide with excitement as Kirell follows his directions. As the twig snaps in his hands Kirell feels the weight of 1,000 books slam into him. Huge tomes, large scrolls and ancient librams stream from the small hole created above the red Angori. All that watched see Kirell get covered in a deluge of every kind of book known to man. The books cover Kirell completely and continue to fall from the hole.
As if some sort of cherry on top, a small woman falls neatly onto the top of the pile cross legged and reading a book herself. Adyslaine looks up from her copy of ?The Rabid Skunks of Tarkalsys? and blinks. The books slow to a trickle of a flow as Dalgoon leaps forward and snatches a small book from the pile.
Thumbing through it quickly he smiles and says to the pile of books that was most recently Kirell, ?Nope, you are not an reagent that I know of.?
Oi! Ece, you can get up now hun. *He sets a fist full of mugs down on the counter with one hand and puts down a bowl of stew from his other hand.* I have some news. Be light with your colors, Corvax has decided to requisition the cauldron we use to make the colored wax sticks... I hope he was not planning on cooking. The wax is not tasty. Remember how the wax tastes? *He pulls a note from an apron pocket and tosses it on the bar.* I guess he has not stolen since he told me that I would borrow him the cauldron. *He turns and heads towards the kitchen door.* Dinner is near done... I have saved some bacon for a good little furry creature. And, OI! Pick those books up, this is a tavern, not a tower of research... *He walks into the kitchen shaking his head.
Adyslaine looks more than a little miffed about the rude way to summon a book. She snaps her book shut, glowers at Dalgoon and snaps her fingers. In a rush of wind the books and the woman are gone. Dalgoon clutches his book to his chest looking dejected at the librarian.
The absence of the books and the comely woman reveals a gravely wounded Kirell in a crumpled ruin on the floor. The chair he was sitting in is crushed, along with a lot of his bones. Kirell looks unconscious.
Ecelece nods slowly, wide-eyed at Tinryn. She makes a face, "The wax.. the wax.. you do not eat the wax." She frowns a little, "But Tin.. Tin... Tin, I NEED it. I need the .. the cauldron." She hums and murmurs a very drawn out, "cauuuuuuuldron" as she follows Tin into the kitchen for her afore-mentioned bacon.
Coming out of the kitchen, bacon clasped in one hand, Ecelece spies Kirell under a stack of books. And what is this? Blood?? Tossing the bacon to the table (because wasting good bacon is a crime!), she runs to the pile, "Word man! Word man!" A glare at Dalgoon as she's certain he has something behind it, and she kneels beside a spot where she can see the half-dragon. "Light of the land heal you," she murmurs, fervently hoping she's not too late. (Minor healing wind 10)
?Adyslaine took them back to the great library of Dragon?s Crest. I upset her I?m afraid. That was the whole wing on dragon reagents. Poor Kirell hasn?t seen a summoning stick before has he? That one was gifted to me by an Angori sage of the library, he does love his sticks. He professes to own a stick that when spun will always point you in the direction of least peril.? Dalgoon looks thoughtful.
?If Kirell returns from his spirit journey, I?ll talk to him m ore on the matter of this ritual and what I believe is going on. ? Dalgoon smiles.
Dalgoon lowers his voice to a whisper, leaning toward the young wizard. ?The spoons told me who is to blame for Kirell?s untimely death. They blamed the stick!? Dalgoon looks deathly serious.
Ecelece glares hotly at the wizards. "You're not.. you're not.. you're not supposed to kill people here. You're not," she insists. "You're not.. you're not a nice man at all." She glances at the place where Kirell was and sniffs sadly. "Tin.. Tinryn! Tin.. he .. he.. he killed the word man," she glares at Dalgoon again, her eyes brimming, "You killed the word man. Nasty trick.. Nasty!"
The old wizard moans as he awakens. Finding himself face down on the table and his hands bound, he smiles. A madness seems to overtake him and he begins to laugh hysterically. The old wizard bolts upright and turns to face the would be constable. Spit from his laughter sprays Steirs as the wizard laughs nose to nose with the youth.
Then in a very serious tone the wizard states coldly, ?Did you think your bonds could hold the likes of me??
*Release*
With a loud clang the shackles fall from the old wizards hands.
Astrum steps in quickly. "Leave this knowledgable man alone! Come my good wizard, let's talk." Leaning in close to Dalgoon's ear out of hearing for all else, Astrum whispers, "What are you to blame if the stupid warrior thought to break it over his head? Come let's go somewhere where we are not surrounded by..." he glances towards the warriors... "ignorance." *Astrum whispers a sooth spell on the raging warrior Stiers.*
The wizard mutters a spell in the direction of the would be assailant, ?Your bones grow cold as I make you a stone? *Freeze* and turns to the young friendly sprout of a man to his side. He smiles as he hears the words ignorance, then says ?My good man the spoons blame the stick for that mishap, I told you once before. Now where is that paladin??
The wizard speaks a few words of magic, ?Come you brute follow me.? *Cary* As Stirs rigid frame rises from the ground and levitates out of the tavern. Every minute for several minutes you can hear the wizard repeat his spells as he calls for the paladin, walking in the direction of the warrior?s hall.
Astrum plods along behind, taking every opportunity available to suck up to the obviously powerful wizard. "I say sir, where did you learn such a trick? I would certainly love to learn a thing or two from you!" Astrum says. "What might I do to convince you to teach me?"
Watching the whole progression play out in the tavern, Ecelece seems to decide something and plods off to the kitchen. She mutters under her breath, "Bad men.. all bad men.. all stupid wizards. Stupid. They're all bad men." She retrieves her bacon as she passes and wanders off, searching Tinryn again.
Looks up from her latest stick of troll-weed. The faerie quirks an eyebrow at the wizard and his floating Stirrups statue and pops up to toddle after the trio. As they walk, Ripper skips a few times to get up to pace with the taller Wizard.
She reveals a big, toothy grin and chirrups, "Wow Mister, that's an awf'fly neat Stirrups dolly! D'you think you could make me a bobkitty?"
While enjoying his loaf of meat and ale, Kirell notices what appears to be a distressed Dalgoon pass the front door,
He tosses a few coins on the table as he walks to the door to investigate.
"Master Dalgoon, are you in need of assistance?"
The Angori hops off the porch into the street and begins to walk along side the confused Conjurer.
Far be it from me to point out any oddity, but you don't seem yourself.
"I think I need to work on being more spontaneous"