Ambrosia Software Web Board: The Alraeican Tavern - Part X - Ambrosia Software Web Board

The fire continued to spread. Oddly enough, few patrons in the Tavern seemed to have noticed it.

Kitran was getting somewhat annoyed. The irritating girl was still badgering him about presents, not even noticing that Christmas was now over or that her hair had been on fire for the last five minutes.

Joe huddled over his tea in the corner of the tavern, the old ranch-hand having been very quiet and unobserved for a very long time. "You know, that fire's been going fer some time now. Ya may wanna do somethin' about it," he said to no one in particular before returning his attention to his tea.

This post has been edited by Big Joe: 11 May 2015 - 08:31 PM

Just then the fire began to withdraw. It de-snaked back to the beerpuddle of where it had started, then burst up and took the form of a little boy. The boy made a frowny face and tried to shake the beer off his feet, which didn't work but the beer boiled off pretty quick so it was OK anyway. “Hey, do you have any more matches? I’m starving,” Yllym said.

Kitran was startled--both by the man in the corner and by the boy stopping the fire--but was too much of a gentlemen to lose his composure.

"Yes, well," he said politely. "I really must be going. Got to be getting ready for next Christmas. Also, you might want to do something about the girl's hair: it still seems to be burning. Have a good day!"

With that, he ducked out the door. After removing his disguise, the daemon stopped to reconsider his situation.

As long as Retsy was around, pretending to be Santa Claus was somewhat hazardous. Removing the bartender hadn't worked either.

How else could he take control of the Tavern...?

Alice sidled over and held out two glass jars to Yllym. "Found these in the kitchen. I heard you were looking for matches."

The boy stared at him.

"What? Nothing matches as well as peanut butter and jam. Now if only I could find some bread-" He glanced aside, suddenly noticing the floating cloak desperately trying to beat down flames creeping up the hem. "Not you too!" He slammed the jars on the bar, grabbed a patron's mug and threw the contents at the cloak.

Finally, Kitran decided to try the direct approach. After all, those in Tavern might become major heroes in the future, so there was nothing wrong with killing them preemptively. Then, he could simply wait for the other heroes to return and kill them later.

With that, the daemon assumed his true monstrous form and strode around to the door. He kicked it off its hinges and stood looming in the doorway.

"Greetings, my name is Kitran," he said politely. "I'm here to kill all heroes; however, I believe in being fair. You may prove you are not a hero by killing the patron next to you."

Everyone stared at him blankly.

"This is the part where you violently attack each other," he explained.

Retsy, her hair still on fire, noticed the huge figure looming the doorway.

"Neat! An early Halloween party!" she exclaimed.

Alice pointed at the ghost draped in the burning cloak. "He's already dead. Does that count?"

Ignoring Retsy--or trying to ignore her, at least--and the onset of a headache, Kitran considered the question.

"Did you kill him? Does he haunt people?" he asked finally.

Kitran almost sighed in exasperation.

"Excuse me, but you are supposed to be trying to kill each other," he politely reminded the crowd.

Kitran sighed.

"Fine, I'll do it myself."

With that, the daemon charged toward Retsy, who was too busy staring at the floor to notice him.

"Oh! An oboloi!" Retsy exclaimed and bent down to pick up the coin.

Kitran tripped over her and flew into the back wall of the Tavern.

The roof groaned ominously.

Kitran staggered to his feet. This was not going exactly as he had planned.

It was like no one had even noticed he was attempting to kill them all.