Ambrosia Software Web Board: The Alraeican Tavern - part VII - Ambrosia Software Web Board

Thomas and Etiko suddenly, stop talking as they noticed that they room most mostly quite and a little bit chilly. Etiko put some logs on the fire place while thomas lit it up, it was getting warm, but no as warm as the last one. And they continued their conversation.

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Why do we kill people, who kill people, to show that killing people is wrong?

"I-I've b-been rather....c-c-cold ac-actually." Avatara shivered, looked around for a blanket, but found none. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed several patrons running out into the comforting warmth of the blizzard raging outside; he was almost tempted to join them. "T-this is V-Villa, he...he's a...s-" Avatara guestured again at Villa as if that explained everything and ceased trying to speak as he searched again for a source of warmth.

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"Its all fun and games until a rampaging robot destroys half of your city."

[This message has been edited by Avatara (edited 05-23-2004).]

Villa was also breaking out in shivering spasms, and suddenly an irrational fear came to him. He knew the Tavern roof had a history of collapsing, and he was suddenly very afraid of this. Villa stood up, but found his feet were frozen to the floor- stuck fast by the pool of flem he had coughed up earlier when he discovered the bar tending frog.
Villa wrenched at his feet at first, then, as this clearly wasn't working, he resorted to flailing wildly.
In his vain waving of arms he managed to tip the rest of the bottle of wine over Avatara's leg. It froze instantly and stuck him to the side of the table.
Soon both men were trying to free themselves, as Moonshadow looked on, only just managing to hold back laughter.

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What part of "You don't understand anything!" don't you understand?

[OoC] Wow, it has been awhile.... I'm recalling Sya and Amadeus to the depths of the character cesspool; there was supposed to be a chronicle about them, but somehow I never got around to writing it. So eh. Maybe later, and until then, I need to sort out who's staying and who's leaving. Other than that, hello again, all! [BiC]

The door to the tavern banged open and wind howled in, spreading snow across the floor. "Why do we always get bad luck with the weather?" someone grumbled.

The newcomer wrenched the door shut against the wind and turned to pick her way across the debris of the floor. "Lovely weather for a picnic, isn't it?" she said cheerily as she made her way over to Avatara, Villa, and Moonshadow. "My, but it's cold in here. Don't you all have something better to do than sit in an antarctic replica?"

"Katerei!" Moonshadow greeted her. "It's been awhile. What news?"

"Well, I regret to inform you that our beloved Sya has taken leave of Cythera with that wench Amadeus- though they failed to provide a decent explanation why- but she did mention returning here one day. We'll see. Aside from that, nothing of particular interest- what is all wrong with you two?" She looked down disparagingly, suddenly noticing the two men struggling to become unfrozen.

"We're sort of frozen to the furniture and the floor, if you hadn't realized," Villa said, gritting his teeth.

"So take off your shoes," she replied calmly. "Surely your feet aren't stuck too, and your shoes will melt out eventually. As for you," she frowned at Avatara, "you can't rightly take off your pants, I suppose. Here, stop moving for a moment-"

Katerei withdrew a small dagger and slashed through the iced wine holding him to the table. Shards flew everywhere. "Now do stop thrashing about, you two. It's quite undignified." Sheathing the dagger again and putting her hands on her hips, she glared around the tavern suspiciously. "It's bloody cold in here. Who's responsible for this?"

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Support the Movement: Ban Propaganda!

[Okay, okay, have it your way.]
"What do you mean?" Moonshadow asked innocently. "I find this to be rather pleasant," she grinned at Katerei, and sat down nonchalantly on a barstool. The wood iced over as she laid her hand on the bar.
Katerei didn't seem to agree with her, and neither did Avatara and Villa. "Undo it. Now." Katerei demanded.
"Spoilsport," Moonshadow muttered under her breath. "So I overdid it a bit, so what? I just wanted to make things a bit more homely..." With a sigh and a wave of her hand, the temperature in the room started returning to a more normal level... which is to say, it was still cold because of the lack of fire and the roaring storm, but no longer freezing. "The storm stays though," she insisted.

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Welcome to a world, where you always get the girl; you may lose a fight or two, but you'll win if you get through.

Villa grumbled and ordered another drink from the frog, and rubbed his hands to ward off the frost bite. He turned to Katerei and noted with ill concealed interest the sizeable bulge in her obol sack. Villa decided she was a good person to get to know.
"So, young lady, what brings you to a low down drinking establishment such as this?"

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What part of "You don't understand anything!" don't you understand?

"Old friends." Katerei gestured around vaguely, then looked at the man accusingly. "And don't call me 'lady'. I'm just as much a rogue as anyone else in here."

"Oooookay....." Villa muttered under his breath.

"Sorry. I don't mean to be rude." She proferred her hand. "The name's Katerei. I'm visiting from Catamarca."

Villa shook her hand, not noticing till afterwards that the skin was tinged blue. So was her hair, but he'd assumed it to be dyed. He blinked in surprise. "Are you all right? I know it was cold in here, but you're turning blue..."

"What? Oh, no, that's natural," Katerei laughed, and flipped her hair over her shoulder. "As is this. I guess most people are used to it by now; I don't think about it. So, what's your name, and what brings you here?"

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The moment ideas are conceived / They'll be out of touch, obsolete / They're faking champions hand picked / And all the fights have been fixed

"Well I came from an land not far away from here, but it was in war. And the governor, bless him, decided I was too valuable to risk in the fight, and sent me away... er... I mean, off. As an... ambassador." He finished awkwardly, looking around as if to determine what he had said was right.
"My name is Villa, by the way."
Katerei looked a bit sceptical. "So have you been to see Alaric in your ambassadoring?"
Villa stared blankly at the wall for a bit, then slowly shook his head. "No no, my country prefers to ambassadorise directly with the people... and in the spirit of such I have to ask you a few questions!" Villa decided hastily, pulling a sheet of blank parchment from his pocket he started quizzing Katerei.
"Name?"
"I just told you!"
"Adress?"
"What?"
Villa looked up from his imaginary tick list. "I mean, where do you live? This is all very... important.... for my country..."

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What part of "You don't understand anything!" don't you understand?

"No no no, this won't do at all!" Avatara muttered, swiping at the iced wine stuck to his pants. "Its just not that stylish to be walking around with a hunk of ice sticking out, maybe if I melted it..." Avatara quietly left the conversation and borrowed a log from the fire before he returned. Sitting down on a nearby barstool, he began using the flame to slowly melt the ice off of his pants, not noticing the fire was beginning to burn dusk's chair.

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"Its all fun and games until a rampaging robot destroys half of your city."

Villa continued quizzing Katerei. He was still quizzing her when he noticed it was all of a sudden getting very hot.
He took off his cloak and waved it around to cool himself down. The flames around the base of Villa's chair lept suddenly onto his lap, and Villa jumped up, desperatly swatting and beating at his flaming crotch.
"There's a fire! There's a fire in my pants!" he cried, leaping about.
Katerei rolled her eyes and turned back to Moonshadow: "Men hey, can't keep their hands off themselves."
Moonshadow nodded sadly and sipped at her wine, not noticing that the fire from Villa's pants was spreading slowly but surely around the tavern.
Avatara cheered him on, waving the flaming log in encouragement "C'mon Villa! I melted my wine off too! You've got a great idea there!"

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What part of "You don't understand anything!" don't you understand?

"Why do you all insist on repeatedly causing a ruckus?" Katerei asked impatiently, turning to watch the scene. "It's impossible to find a bit of calm anywhere in this place..."

"Maybe if you'd give me a hand here-!" Villa jumped around, knocking over chairs and the occasional table, and in general creating a very large disturbance as he tried to beat down the flames.

"Very well," Katerei sighed, and with a gesture of her hand the offending fire was doused out by a sudden gush of cold water onto Villa's pants. "If only to stop you acting like a whirling dervish, and to remove that curséd flame."

Villa stopped moving and looked down at his pants, which were now soaked down the legs. "Not much of an improvement," he grumbled.

"You're not on fire any longer; what more do you want?"

"Now, see, if you'd let me have my way there wouldn't be any fire in the first place...." Moonshadow said under her breath, but nobody heard her because Avatara suddenly pointed and said "Look!"

It seemed that when one of the tables was knocked over, several drinks had fallen to the ground and spilled everywhere. Pools of alcohol spread across the floor, and the fire that was still burning crept dangerously close, threatening to ignite at any moment.

"Not again.... haven't we had our share of catastrophes today?" someone muttered.

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The moment ideas are conceived / They'll be out of touch, obsolete / They're faking champions hand picked / And all the fights have been fixed

The fire crept closer to the pools of alcohol, threatening ignition at any moment. Avatara jumped up, took two steps forward, and then turned around announcing, "This place hasn't been this active in months! A round of drinks for everyone, on me." He immediately began setting drinks in front of the three and sat down on a stool facing them, with his back to the raging inferno.

"So, Villa, what are your plans for this evening. Perhaps I could show you-HEY! Can you guys keep down the screaming back there? We're trying to have a conversation!" Avatara yelled at an unfortunate patron whose beard had ignited. The patron fell, clawing at his face, into another group of people, igniting their table and clothes as well. Turning back, Avatara continued, "As I was saying, are you busy tonight? I...what? Why are you all looking at me like that?" He looked at the strange expressions on each of their faces, before suddenly nodding in understanding and pointing at the wall. "You don't need to worry, the tavern itself won't burn down, the walls are imbedded with stone."

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"Its all fun and games until a rampaging robot destroys half of your city."

[This message has been edited by Avatara (edited 05-31-2004).]

A human-sized shimmer appeared where Avatara was pointing, and a few of the people jumped back in surprise at Avatara's apparent ability to cast more than a simple cantrip by just pointing his finger.

Theo materialized before them, his arms across his chest and a seething look on his face. "Alright, you found me, go congradulate youself and all that. But what what manner of trick did you use to see though my Improved Sanctuary?" he demanded Avatara. "That spell was suppose to stop even the gods from being able to detect me."

Theo sat down on the nearest chair in a huff, which happened to be occupied by some burly bald fellow with huge sideburns. As soon as he felt something other than wood underneath him, Theo sprang up and twirled around, staff at the ready. The man shot him a look that was like watching someone eat worms and returned to his own matters. Theo just sighed and returned his questioning gaze to Avatara.

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"I don't need a plan, just a goal. The rest will follow on its own"
     - MtG, "Temper"
The One And Only:
[url="http://"http://www.ambrosiasw.com/webboard/Forum5/HTML/000506.html"]~Theo Nean Donly~[/url]

Edit: Talryn walks in and sits down ordering 2 pints of beer.

[This message has been edited by Dark Jet (edited 06-07-2004).]

Thomas walks over to the bar and buys the bartender a beer, saying, "You probably dont get paid enough and you look like you need one."

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"The One signature, TO RULE THEM ALL!" [url="http://"http://www.legendaryfrog.com/news.htm"]http://www.legendaryfrog.com/news.htm[/url]

the bartender looked puzzled at this and slowly said "Thankyou, no one was even done that before." He turned around slowly and walked over to one of the stools behind the counter and sat down still with a puzzled look on his face.

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The mind controls the body, but the heart controls the mind.
Half Truth

Theo, who hadn't yet blinked, continued to stare at Avatara.

Avatara was mildly disturbed by this, and so continued to avoid answering.

And so the pattern continued for quite some time.

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"I don't need a plan, just a goal. The rest will follow on its own"
     - MtG, "Temper"
The One And Only:
[url="http://"http://www.ambrosiasw.com/webboard/Forum5/HTML/000506.html"]~Theo Nean Donly~[/url]

Avatara has been tied up with selling his house and hunting for a job (and failing CCNA certifications), so he hasn't really had the time to answer.

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"Its all fun and games until a rampaging robot destroys half of your city."

After weeks of not realising Telstra (crappy ISP from a far away land called Australia) had changed their DNS server adresses and not bothered telling anyone, Villa had decided that the price being asked for Avatara's house was far too expensive; 10,000 obols was ridiculous.... Stentor was a lousy sales men anyway, that lying scoundrel probably kept half the cash for himself and one Poster was never enough to attract attention.

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What part of "You don't understand anything!" don't you understand?

Avatara sighed, "I was hoping to use that money to buy a new beach home somewhere in Kosha or north of Pynx or the like. Someplace with an ocean view that's somewhat reclusive. Oh well."

Noticing Theo's gaze still fixed upon him, Avatara turned to face him, "What do you want? You're scaring away potential customers! Can't you look friendlier? And did you bring the document I requested**?"

Theo replied, "But...you still haven't told me how you found me."

"I'll explain it after you give the scroll."

**Document containing...a name for you-know-what.

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"Its all fun and games until a rampaging robot destroys half of your city."

[This message has been edited by Avatara (edited 06-16-2004).]

Theo was obviously upset at having waited so long and still not given an answer.

"Alright, alright, just a minute," he fumed, "But you must admit, I think I've given you much information in the past, and just because you didn't like any of it doesn't mean you have to hoard your knowledge over me now."

Theo stretched his right hand into the inner side pocket of his robes. Rummaging a little, he eventually produced a rolled-up scroll the size of his index finger nail.

He held it in the palm of his hand and stared at the beams on the roof on the other side of the tavern.

After this continued for a while, he shook his head and glanced back at the tiny scroll in his hand as if suddenly remembering what he was doing. Theo focused on the scroll and chanted a few phrases, each word seeming to make the scroll grow larger and larger, until he finished with it being normal sized and handed it to Avatara.

- ---:--- -

"You know, this may not be just what you wanted either," admitted Theo, "But maybe we should talk more about that some other time..."

Avatara *sighed* and unfurled the parchment. For those looking over his shoulder, the writing on scroll seemed like nonsensical blabbering about a pointless conversation. Yet, Avatara knew Theo's work, and knew what to look for. He considered the message well and made a descision while Theo went back to staring at those captivating beems.

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"I don't need a plan, just a goal. The rest will follow on its own"
     - MtG, "Temper"
The One And Only:
[url="http://"http://www.ambrosiasw.com/webboard/Forum5/HTML/000506.html"]~Theo Nean Donly~[/url]

(ooc)Yeah guys, thanks for telling me we're back in here now! Give me a couple of days to catch up and I'll start posting again. I've only been checking the Alliance page, and no one posted anything on there about this. So, sorry. I'll be back with ya'll as soon as possible. For now, I'm going to bed! Night (bic)

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When doubts arise, the game begins

The snowstorm outside the tavern raged on, whipping freezing white confetti through the streets of Cademia and setting an icy layer of frost over everything. Wrapped in a dark green cloak, the lone shadowed figure of Nixus made its way toward the Alraeician Tavern, completely unaware of the other figure flickering from alleyway to alleyway behind her. Calmly, she removed the wooden pipe from inside her cloak and raised it to her lips, blowing that all too familiar melody into the surrounding air. Around corner after corner, left, left, right, left, all the while still ignorant to the shadow quickly growing closer.
There was a rustle of clothing. The mage lowered her pipe, listening intently. Upon hearing nothing else she turned around to further investigate. There was only one trail of footprints behind her, and when she looked around the corner of the last alleyway she found it to be empty. Dismissing it as her imagination, Nixus began to turn back around to continue on her way to the Tavern, but at that moment she felt a sharp thump and flew into the alleyway beside her. It was dark, but she could clearly see the glint of a metallic object grinning down at her. There was a tense pause as Nixus attempted to see her attacker.
‘What do you want?’ she hissed.
The imposing sword swung down, and Nixus leapt out of the way, almost jumping straight into the wall on the opposite side of the alley. She unsheathed her own sword and held it strongly in front of herself, at the same time backing swiftly out of the alleyway and into the lighted street.
‘What do you want?” she asked more harshly.
‘I was foolish to think that that brat would be able to finish you off,’ came the poisonous reply.
‘What brat? Who are you?’
‘Ha, “what brat”,’ the voice lulled. ‘The one I finally sent to be with his pathetic family.’ The tip of the opposer’s sword indicated toward a tube of billowing grey smoke coming from out of the city. ‘Soon, Nixus, you will be with your child brother and your incompetent parents.’ Without warning a small object flew out of the darkness and planted itself in Nixus’s shoulder. The mage stumbled backward, holding the three outside points of the shiruken. The pointed object had an elegant tree within a circle engraved into it, and in the centre of the tree was a roughly cut T.
As the mage wrenched the shiruken from her shoulder, the figure leapt forward into the street, tackling Nixus to the ground. Now she could see all too well who it was. The weathered face of a man imposed on her, brown hair flying wildly across red eyes and a flat nose, but it was no man. Protruding from under his hair were two yellowy-white horns, and from the waist down he was covered in curly roan fur ending in two shining black hoofs.
‘Taurus!’ Nixus said in amazement. ‘What-’
‘It’s because of you that our people are so few today, mage!’ he grunted. ‘You started a feud that would end in our destruction and then left us to fight it!’
‘You chased me away!’ Nixus protested.
‘You will pay for what you have done.’ Taurus leapt up and brandished his long sword. Nixus rolled out of reach and leapt to her feet as well, but her sword lay on the other side of her attacker. The mage sidestepped as Taurus rushed forward, but not quick enough. Nixus yelped, as she felt the cold of the blade slide across her stomach as though she were water. Blood spat over the white snow and Nixus doubled over, holding her wound. She scrambled toward her sword, but the beast standing over her swung his arm hitting her in the side of the head and forcing her entirely to the ground.
He kneeled over her and she stared up him almost welcomingly. ‘You aught to thank me for this, worm,’ Taurus hissed.
Nixus’s eyes were watery. “I’ll be with my family again,” she thought to herself. “It will all finally be over; no more running, no more hiding, no more pain…” But as the sword swung down toward her neck, something inside Nixus snapped and before she realised she was about to do it, she had thrust out her hand and was screaming.
‘S’will orne t’daris - ’
Taurus fell backward, his sword landing with a thud in the snow. Nixus stood, her hand still outstretched, the other still clutching gash on her stomach.
‘-em’lor phiratus lifey om - ’
The beast grasped at its head and screwed his face up, his mouth hanging open in painful awe.
‘-juna goth’remen neir fatalos,
‘Lor – sin – rein!’
There was a blinding flash between the mage’s hand and the beast writhing on the ground, but the light quickly vanished and was replaced with a shaft of something hard to describe, not just darkness, but negative light, negative space.
Taurus gave a final mournful cry and fell backward, shattering into millions of tiny red lights as he hit the ground, and all that was left once they had flown away was a young woman standing frozen with her hand outstretched at nothing.

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The Tavern was alive with mirthful noise once again. Avatara sat talking with a group of patrons, one of which was Villa who Nixus was familiar with. The mage scanned the room, and upon seeing the group she limped over still holding her wound. She smiled weakly at Villa and turned toward Avatara, who greeted her warmly. ‘Nixus! Good to see you again.’
‘Hey.’ Nixus grimaced. ‘Avatara, can I talk to you?’ Dark crimson blood spilled through the mage’s fingers and ran quickly down her hand. As Nixus watched Avatara’s expression change, there became two of him, and the mage’s head began to feel light.

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When doubts arise the game begins

Avatara groaned as he attempted to decipher Theo's horrible handwriting. At first it looked like a simple laundry list, but there were subtle highlights that brought out an entirely different message. "You know, most people simply write out what they're going to say, its not like its a secret key to the world or anything," he complained as he decoded the six words. Finished, he read the ackward text to himself, before looking at Theo with a grimance on his face. "That's it?"

"Yes, what more did you want?" Theo replied calmly, looking bored as he stared into the beams above with a sigh.

"Well, I was hoping for something a little more...oh well, I'll think it over." Avatara countersighed as he finished his drink. Katerei had gone back to answering some of Villa's questions, the latter scribbling down the replies in some arcane language. Moonshadow was oddly still, and silent. Noticing Theo had shifted his questioning gaze back to him, Avatara responded with a puzzled stare of his own.

"Well...?" he prompted.

"Well what?"

"Aren't you going to tell me how you found me? You promised..." he seemed slightly irritated.

"Oh that. Well, you see...I was trying to find a-whoa, haven't seen her in a while." Theo groaned as Avatara abruptly changed the subject and stared at something behind him.

"Don't try to get out of this-" Theo was interrupted by Avatara's "Nixus! Good to see you again." A female mage in a dark green cloak had limped over and collapsed into an unoccupied chair.

"Hey," Nixus grimanced. "Avatara, can I talk to you?" Dark crimson blood spilled through the mage's fingers and ran quickly down her hand. Nixus seemed to waver as Avatara's expression suddenly changed to one of worry, and he jumped up to help him help her. Avatara realized there were two of him in the room and he turned to glare at Theo.

"What?" Theo protested.

"Stop this, you're confusing her." Avatara grumbled as Nixus swayed again before passing out.

"I was just trying to help," Theo sighed as he waved his hand in some incantation. Avatara looked at the other Avatara, who shrugged and waved goodbye before vanishing into thin air. He started to reply to Theo's remark but stopped when Nixus began to fall off her chair. He caught her before she fell and was intending to set her upright when he heard Katerei cry out a "What are you doing to that poor woman?"

Avatara looked up and noticed the tavern had gone dead silent and everybody was staring at an unconscious Nixus in his arms, blood plainly visible on her hands and the cloak wrapped around her.

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"Its all fun and games until a rampaging robot destroys half of your city."

[This message has been edited by Avatara (edited 06-19-2004).]

"Murder!" someone shouted from across the room. '"He's killed her!"

A sudden clamour arose from the dead silence. People swarmed toward Avatara and Nixus. Villa immediately jumped up and attempted to fend them off so they had a bit of breathing room, but there were too many people. It was curious how a room that looked uncrowded suddenly became very much so when they bunched together.

Katerei moved around the table and leaned over to mutter something to Avatara. "You -didn't- kill her, did you? She still looks alive..."

"Of course I didn't!"

"Just checking. And, um, was it you that injured her?"

"Of course it wasn't! She was bleeding before she came in!"

"Okay, okay, keep your hair on. I believe you. Hold on a moment."

Katerei jumped up on a chair and waved her arms about to get people's attention. "Excuse me," she called. "Listen up, everyone... here! Pay attention, darn you!"

Once everyone had finally quieted down, with some displeased grumblings, she resumed talking. "First of all, she is -not- dead, so you can all calm down. As a matter of fact she's not even injured! It's a new type of magic we're developing- prank magic, we call it. Note the realness of the blood- how she appears to be completely unconscious- but actually, she's fine! Now what do you think of that?"

"Prank magic?" someone asked suspiciously.

"Yup. You can play great practical jokes on your friends, just douse yourselves with some fake blood, or stick a pretend arrow through your head- it works great! My associates here and I have just finished developing it and are now in the market. If you'd like to purchase prank magic supplies, our office is way way over that way-" Katerei pointed at random- "drop by Monday to Friday between 11 PM and 7 AM. Thank you, we're here all week."

She hopped off the chair and waited till the crowd dispersed a bit, then whispered to Avatara again. "We've got to get her out of here. Can you carry her into the back room? Maybe she can be healed."

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The moment ideas are conceived / They'll be out of touch, obsolete / They're faking champions hand picked / And all the fights have been fixed