Ambrosia Software Web Board: The Alraeican Tavern, Part V - Ambrosia Software Web Board

[quote]Originally posted by Light:
...I may well hang around here, and post when I want to clear my mind with a bit of fantasy-related whirling.    


[quote]Originally posted by Light:
Er, I'll start one character in this bar now, and you guys can feel free to interact with him, but is it OK if I develop his character on my own for now?  I'll start a few others later which you guys can jointly develop, or something    

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Kobayashi Maru!

Rulir walks through the door of the Tavern.
"Well, since no one came by, I thought I'd just set the game up here."
From his pocket he pulled a deck of playing cards and a bag of oboloi, complete with a zipper and bells (just in case ). He sat down at one of the tables, tapped the deck on it's cracked, wooden surface, and asked, "Anybody in?"
Lucas walked over and sat down. He said, "Deal me in."
Rulir dealt the cards and set quietly as they weighed their options.
"I'll take two." said Lucas, and Rulir dealt two.
"And the dealer takes three."
The game went on and continued until...



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-TheDarkDragon
"The goal is to accelerate the release process incrementally until we actually tear the fabric of space-time. Each final candidate will precede the one that came before it, and eventually EV Nova will be released sometime in 1937."
-mcb 3-10-02 (release of Nova fc3)
[shameless IRC plug]Go to #cythera on IRC for the rock-hard-abba-dabbas #ev3 just can't do. [/shameless IRC plug]

Avatara looked at Slayer as though he had had too much to drink, and indeed Slayer had. "I don't think we need to go back to the Sorcery Tower," Avatara said. "I think we've spent enough time there already."
"Right, right," Slayer responded, smacking his head, "my other idea was that we hold a magic contest."
"That actually sounds like a good idea," said Avatara.
"Well, then, shall we make an announcement?" Slayer asked.

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Slayer's guide to Cythera:
[url="http://"http://www.macclassics.com/cythera/cythera.htm"]http://www.macclassi...era/cythera.htm[/url]

Slayer stood up, as if he intended to make his announcement, when suddenly he collapsed and crashed into the table behind him, spilling the beverage on it all over himself. Sensing trouble, Avatara leaped up and positioned himself over Slayer, attempting to assure the angry brute that it was an accident and Slayer was simply too intoxicated to know what he was doing.

Reaching down to pick the empty mug and the debris from what was formerly a table leg, Avatara whispered to Slayer, "I need to talk to you...in private." He grabbed Slayer's arm, pulled him upright, and practically dragged the dazed human into the storeroom.

"You're not to have any fun until you're sober." Avatara scolded Slayer, then handed him an odd white powder. "Here, eat lots of this, it'll help wake up your mind. I'll go cover for your mess, you aren't in any condition to be in public." The last was a hint at Slayer's attire, which now that attention was brought to it, he saw he probably should change into something else.

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"I'm a controversial figure. My friends either dislike me or hate me."

(I was aiming for a more heavily-drunken behavior, and by the way - the powder is salt)

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"I'm a controversial figure. My friends either dislike me or hate me."

"Ahem!"

Slayer and Avatara both jumped slightly at the sound of someone clearing their throat.

"Next time you want to have a private conversation, don't you think you should check that the area's clear first?" Brianna said sweetly, peering around one of the shelves.

Slayer looked accusingly at Avatara. "I'm drunk; what's your excuse?"

"It wasn't my intention to eavesdrop," Brianna continued, "so I'll just leave you to it."

Avatara held the door open for her, exchanged a chagrined glance with Slayer, and followed her out into the tavern.

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I will classify my lieutenants in three categories: untrusted, trusted, and completely trusted. Promotion to the third category will be awarded posthumously.

Avatara stood just as Brianna was as they surveyed the scene that had been so friendly and cheerful moments before. Various drinks had been sloshed all over the walls, and the shards of tables seemed to swim in the puddles of chaos. All around lay the bruised bodies of several fallen brawlers, yet another fight was brewing, and the men in this one were dangerously weilding torches and swords.

"What the hell..." Avatara stuttered.

"...happened?" Brianna managed to let out.

A quick glance revealed Shi squaking around in a frenzy, demanding everyone stop this fight. It was almost a humourous image, seeing a small phaerie order full-grown men about. Unfortunately, most either did not hear her or ignored her. Lucas came up trying to explain something, but a sudden cry and the sound of a conflict arose, drowning out most of his words. All that the two elves caught was something about "...magic...found...Sorcery Tower...."

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"I'm a controversial figure. My friends either dislike me or hate me."

A quick glance around the tavern showed Avatara that most patrons were either involved in the brawl, were unconscious, or had fled. One of the few exceptions was the Scribe, who was still sitting at his customary table - one of the last intact pieces of furniture left. Like the table, the old elf seemed remarkably unscathed; he had dropped his quill, and was staring at the carnage in complete disbelief.

A club arced through the air toward the Scribe's head. Avatara noted, without much surprise, that it seemed to bounce off some kind of invisible shield, spinning harmlessly away into one corner. He thought quickly; the shield, combined with that 'privacy screen' the Scribe had used on a previous occasion, should allow them to safely and clearly hear what it was Lucas was trying to tell them. Avatara took the battle-scarred man by the arm and led him towards the table. The Scribe saw them coming, and beckoned to them vigorously.

Out of the corner of his eye, Avatara noticed Brianna hurry over to the bar, and reach beneath it. He was distracted then, as one of the sword-wielding brawlers let out a loud roar. Avatara and Lucas both glanced in his direction, seeing that the man was about to land a powerful blow on a defencless opponent.

Before either of them could react, the sword was knocked out of his hands by a well placed arrow. That first was followed by a blindingly fast volley, each shaft striking true - swords, clubs, torches and other weapons fell to the floor in a brief rain of destructive implements. A few of the more beligerant patrons found themselves pinned to walls and beams by a well placed arrow through their sleeves.

Both men glanced at each other, then stared at Brianna - who was standing behind the bar, bow at the ready, and scowling darkly.

"Enough!" she yelled, loud enough to cause anyone present who had any elven blood to wince; even Shi zipped several feet higher toward the ceiling, covering her tiny ears with her hands. Everything halted.

"I will not tolerate this kind of behaviour! Now, what in the name of Eru is going on here?"

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I will classify my lieutenants in three categories: untrusted, trusted, and completely trusted. Promotion to the third category will be awarded posthumously.

(and you wonder why this place is so inactive, I try to start a little fun and you end it in one post )

The remaining men looked at their bloody hands, then to their fallen comrades, then back at the elf behind the bar. Brianna dropped her bow in realization of her mistake, and started to back towards theScribe and the others. Just then, Slayer burst into the tavern, and stared in confusion at the group advancing on Brianna.

"Now look what your drunkenness has caused." Avatara grumbled as he drew his sword as if to cover Brianna's retreat.

The angry mob continued to slowly advance on them, and only now in the brief lapse of order did they realize several of the members were magic-users.

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"I'm a controversial figure. My friends either dislike me or hate me."

[quote]Originally posted by Avatara:
(and you wonder why this place is so inactive, I try to start a little fun and you end it in one post  

Brianna is more than capable of handling a few drunken brawlers, provided she doesn't let them get too close. Now, if you intended them to be more than just drunken brawlers, then you needed to make that clear in your initial post - and at the same time, discount whatever known talents those present might have that you didn't want them to use.

In your last post, just who was it you were trying to say were magic users? It's not clear, so I'm going to have to assume you were talking about Avatara and Slayer - which still leaves it open for me to finish in one post. Since you might object to that, I won't post just yet; I'll wait to see if you want to take it any further.

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Kobayashi Maru!

Quote

Perhaps my use of the word "chaos" wasn't enough to hint at it. That, and the fact that Avatara avoided the fray could've been a clue. Magic-users was referring to the patrons in the brawl.

I actually have no definate plans for this, and was doing it to provide people a situation in which they might actually have to *do* something in the tavern. It'll follow whatever course it takes from here, just don't expect me to turn it into a full-blown story.

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"I'm a controversial figure. My friends either dislike me or hate me."

Slayer stood, as best he could, and began casting a spell in an effort to subdue the brawlers. Before him appeared what could be best described as a large misshapen ball of energy. As the energy ball grew, its outline began to waver. Slayer was obviously struggling to control the spell. Suddenly, the ball ruptured, spewing forth its accumulated force, and in the process knocking over several tables and several patrons. Slayer himself was thrown clear across the tavern.

***And that's why friends don't let friends cast spells drunk***

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Slayer's guide to Cythera:
[url="http://"http://www.macclassics.com/cythera/cythera.htm"]http://www.macclassi...era/cythera.htm[/url]

[OoC] Chaos and havoc indeed. Thought I'd contribute to the fun. Oh, and I don't know how she's speaking to them, but it's mentally. Just a fun little post. [BiC]

Sya poked her head into the Tavern and looked around, frowning. She was about to leave, then suddenly whirled around and took a second glance around the room. She gaped at the chaos that had been wreaked, and noticed the patrons menacingly approaching the others. Slayer was on the other side of the room.

Surprised, Sya hurried over to them. "What on earth is going on?"

"I'm not entirely sure," Brianna said wearily. "But they don't look happy, do they?"

Sya followed her gaze to the angry patrons. Shi had ceased shouting at them, and for the time was hovering near the ceiling.

"Oh dear," Sya said, exhaling a large amount of air. "I'd say run, but I don't think that would work..."

"They're mages, anyway," the Scribe added. "They shouldn't be too much trouble to us, but I'm worried about what they might do to the tavern if we just...ah...disappeared?"

"Well, come on, let's do something," Sya said impatiently. "But first things first."

She scampered around the patrons, who were still wielding weapons menacingly, and over to Slayer, who was lying unconscious against the wall. She grabbed his arm and attempted to haul him onto his feet, but she wasn't strong enough to get him very far. Making a face, Sya turned back to the patrons. One of them had turned around and was coming after her now.

"Uh-oh," Sya squeaked. She grabbed a broken table leg and backed against the wall, almost stepping on Slayer as she did so.

"Oh, this is stupid," Brianna said impatiently. She was about to get her bow out again, but Sya shook her head.

Dropping the table leg, Sya bent down and turned into the black fox. Smiling to herself, Sya took a running jump and leaped over the approaching man. She landed on the other side, stumbled, shook herself and bared her teeth at the patrons.

"I don't think that's going to do much," Lucas commented.

You have a better idea?

Another man strode forward, wielding a sword. Sya shrunk down and scurried behind the Scribe. Ok, maybe the wasn't such a good idea, Sya admitted sheepishly to them. She swished her tail and peered around the Scribe's legs.

"I'm surprised they haven't attacked us yet," Avatara said, "especially since some are mages." He gritted his teeth. "No matter, though. The longer they wait, the better for us."

No kidding. Sya mentally frowned. It was pretty strange, though. But, c'mon, let's do something. This is boring.

Lucas hid a grin. "Make up your mind."

Sya swished her tail again and stepped forward. Aw, let's go, just a little bit? Grinning mischiveously, just like a fox, Sya dashed towards a man. Grabbing his pant leg in her teeth, she shook it back and forth, dodging as he struck at her with a club.

"Sya, don't be stupid! Some of them are mages!" Lucas said, annoyed.

Yeah, but they weren't doing anything, were they? Sya called back gleefully. She swiped at another one with a paw, jumping out of the way as he turned. It's fun!

"Crazy, she is," Brianna muttered.

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Some people say I have too much time on my hands. I say their hands aren't big enough.

Sya turned her head, suddenly sensing danger; letting out a 'yip' of surprise, she dodged aside just before another sword swished through the space she'd occupied a moment before. The man holding it seemed to become fixated on the small, dark animal, lifting his sword high for another strike. He swung - and the blade was stopped with a 'clang', caught in the iron grip of Lucas' left hand.

Sya looked up at him in surprise, as he effortlessly turned his hand, twisting the weapon from the man's grip.

"Try picking on someone your own size," Lucas quipped - then dropped the man with a lightning round-house kick to the head. The black fox scurried over to the others, while Lucas backed slowly away, watching their other opponents close in on them.

"Something's not right," he muttered. "They're acting like zombies!"

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I will classify my lieutenants in three categories: untrusted, trusted, and completely trusted. Promotion to the third category will be awarded posthumously.

In response to Lucas' words, they mindlessly advanced on him. Lucas fell back, escorting Sya with him. WIth the diversion, Avatara had slipped over and moved Slayer back to the corner with the others.

Lightning crackled outside despite the fact that the stars shone brightly through the night sky. Sya muttered something she thought nobody else heard.

"Quit your kvetching and think of something!" Lucas rebuked as the zombies closed in. In their state of mind, they were impervious to both pain and reason, but normally they were well-known citizens, and some of them even had small ties of friendship among the heroes of the land, hence the dilemma.

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"I'm a controversial figure. My friends either dislike me or hate me."

The door to the tavern suddenly slammed open. Everyone glanced in that direction - even the zombies - trying to acertain whether the two grey-cowled figures that dashed inside were friend of foe. The question was answered for most people as they threw back their hoods, revealing the familiar faces of Flynn and Moonshadow.

They paused in astonishment, shocked by the wreckage strewn about the tavern floor. The zombies turned about, and began to slowly and menacingly approach the new arrivals.

"What in the world -" Flynn exclaimed, casting his cloak aside and whipping the Ruby Fang from its scabbard. Moonshadow's eyes glowed silver, as she instinctively powered up a spell.

Before either of them could strike, there was a white flash - and they suddenly found themselves standing beside the Scribe's table, behind his magical shield. "That lightning, outside," the old elf said in Flynn's ear, tapping on the still-sheathed diamond sword, "that wasn't you, by any chance?"

"No," Flynn replied. "We ducked in here to escape it, it was way too close."

"I was afraid of that," the Scribe muttered. "This could be worse than I thought."

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I will classify my lieutenants in three categories: untrusted, trusted, and completely trusted. Promotion to the third category will be awarded posthumously.

"Hmm...we're too bottled up. We need to split up, and quick - before they trap all of us." Without waiting for comment, Avatara slipped out of the shield and made his way quickly to the opposite side of the tavern. As he knelt down in the corner, he noticed that none of the zombies had followed him. He tipped the table he was near over for cover, and grinned as he readied his plan.

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"I'm a controversial figure. My friends either dislike me or hate me."

A bar support idly watched everything, standing solidly in place.

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[edit for annoying sig...how is everyone? ]

[This message has been edited by theKestrel (edited 04-22-2002).]

Quote

We were waiting for you.

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"I'm a controversial figure. My friends either dislike me or hate me."

Shiroko, who had obviously been in some kind of trance, suddenly stands up and walks out the door silently.

/me is bored

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(This space left intentionally blank.)

*** OoC: Had a humorous idea on how to write myself out of all the Team Stories ***

Ferazel poked his head into the bar. He instantly slipped on some ale that lay at his feet. Seeing the zombies, he thought this a wrong time to ask for a drink. Casting a teleport spell, he tried to get back to his feet. He managed to get back to his feet, but something was wrong.

Where was he? This didn't look like anywhere he knew of.

He was in a patch of flowers, standing next to a young lady with a ribbon in her hair. A man with a backwards, white, baseball cap was advancing on another man with a blue headband. The man with the headband pulled back suddenly and the other man just stood there. Headband charged forward, sword out and struck Baseball Cap with it. Baseball Cap then muttered "I lost." and the world shimmered. Now they were at the front of a house. Flowers were planted everywhere in front of it. A small pond was about a yard from the front door and a low bridge was placed over it. Behind the flowers and pond was a large forest where only one winding path could be seen.

Ferazel was now standing next to the man with the headband, and Baseball Cap with the girl that was standing by Ferazel before. "That's odd," he thought, "if they were fighting over her then why did the loser get her?" He found out why in a moment. The man in the headband, Curtis, was seeking a healer, which was the girl whose name was Janice. The other man had been her bodyguard, and the deal was Curtis could take Janice back to heal an old man if he could prove he was strong enough. Now Janice and the bodyguard, Bran, were jumping up and down madly and suddenly vanished.

Now Curtis walked to Ferazel in strangly repeticious steps. He began to say he wished to challenge Ferazel to a fight and Ferazel was about to answer "no," when Ferazel's mouth opened and something forced him to say "Ok."

The world flashed and faded out, then faded in again. Ferazel was holding a long sword and carried some shields, helms and body armour. Some rather annoying music could be heard. A screen in front of him read "Curtis does the Blade-Cut" and an orange line, then a green line flashed on Ferazel's chest. The world shook and Ferazel felt weaker. He raised his sword and charged at Curtis, attempting to slash him to shreads. He did so, and Curtis faded out. The screen flashed this time:

You claim Victory in this battle
50 Neas
32 Ex

and the world faded back in. "What a strange place this is," Ferazel thought aloud, "I hope I don't have to stay here much longer." He tried to teleport away, but nothing...happened. "This is very, very strange," Ferazel thought again. Mind racing, he checked what items he was carrying. He found a teleporter, activated it, and selected Cythera.

Suddenly, he was back in Cythera. More specifically, Pnyx. He walked outside and breathed in the rich sea air. The earth shook. Ferazel groaned. A hole opened. A face popped out of it. Ferazel grinned. "Geroditus!" he yelled, racing over toward him. "It's been a long time, Ferazel," Geroditus replied, "we need you back in Teraknorn. We've gained control over the entire land, and every Habnabit alive has voted to make you the ruler." "I...I don't know what to say..." "Just come back with me, Ferazel. Come back and live with us. We need you." Ferazel remembered all the good times he had had in Cythera and after a long silence, weakly said "Okay."

He looked one more time at the land he had lived in most of his life, the wonderful land of Cythera, and was gone through the hole..never to be seen again.

Some say he comes back every once in a while, to pay a little visit. Others say he has forgotten.

No one knows.....

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Taft's Law: "If 'pro' is the opposite of 'con,' then 'progress' is the opposite of 'congress.'"
Norman's Household Hint: "Give me a home where the buffalo rome, and you've got a room full of buffalo chips."
Canada Bill's Supplement: "A Smith & Wesson beats four aces."
Westheimer's Rule: "To estimate the time it takes to do a task, estimate the time you think it should take, multiply by two, and change the unit of measurement to the next highest unit...thus we allocate two days for a one-hour task."

Shinoken had been exploring his newly found enviroment and was fascinated by a large structure in the distance. He made his way through a valley to get there when suddenly with a bright flash of light he was someone appear. Shiroko was about to call to him when suddenly a large image rose up from the ground with a great tremor that made several loose rocks tumble down the mountains.
When Shiroko looked back to where the stranger had been, he found that he had disappeared. Alarmed by the strange events, Shinoken hurried back to the tavern....


*OoC*
uhm...
What is going on??
Are you gonna be gone for a while ferazel?

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(This space left intentionally blank.)

The expressionless zombies stopped, blinked, and then burst out laughing.

"Heh, we showed you. Sorry, it was just so dull around here. You should have seen the look on your faces!" One of the brown robed youngsters stepped forward to the group, delight on his face.

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"I'm a controversial figure. My friends either dislike me or hate me."

Lucas sidled quietly up to the Scribe's table. "Something's still not right," he said quietly, "that kid I dropped with the back-kick should have been out for hours."

"I agree," the Scribe replied, while Flynn and Moonshadow listened with interest. "That, as well as the thunder from outside on an otherwise clear day, are plainly not normal. But that brings us no closer to finding out what really is going on."

"And one more thing," Flynn interjected. "Why'd they suddenly change their act?"

The four of them exchanged uncertain glances, not knowing quite what to do next.

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I will classify my lieutenants in three categories: untrusted, trusted, and completely trusted. Promotion to the third category will be awarded posthumously.

Avatara slipped out into the night and began pacing impatiently down the streets of Cademia, wandering mindlessly. He looked across the ocean, at the glimmering of the moon reflecting off the waters creating an almost magical beauty...and had the answer.

Avatara silently returned to the tavern, via a window, and walked over to Slayer, who seemed in a very poor condition but was conscious. He helped him stand up, and they walked over to a corner where Slayer finished wiping the mess off his face, ignoring the rest of the group.

"I think I know what happened." He said softly to Slayer, after they had drawn away out of earshot from the others. "It could be somebody's idea of a joke. After all you did mention a magic contest, and I'd hate to meet the person that orchistrated that....mind controlling."

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"I'm a controversial figure. My friends either dislike me or hate me."