Uona gel-Gahal's Story

Uona took a mental step back from the shortling's blathering. Her hand went to her (admittedly deflated) coin purse, and she fished out a single silver. She wondered if she shouldn't ask about work while she was here. Merchants spoke to a lot of people, so the shortling might have leads.

"You wouldn't happen to know where I could find work, would you?" she asked, handing over the coin. "I'm afraid my last job fell through, and I'm a bit short on coin."

Brainde, Merrowvale
October 21, 2014--6:15 PM

As Altara neared, she noticed someone standing near the cart--in fact, it was Uona. ...well, this is a bit awkward, Altara mused internally, remembering how Richard dismissed the orc lady's offered assistance. Not sure how to act, she settled for acknowledging her with a simple nod.

Taking the kukri from this "Weasel-Eyes" or whatever he called himself, she carefully removed it from its sheath, listening to the merchant babble on and on about it. Five silver coins, huh... Well, to be sure, both tool and sheathe looked like they were in very good condition. The blade was not chipped or rusted, and was already well-sharpened. The hilt, seemingly made from some kind of horn, hadn't been worn down much from its past users' grip (assuming, of course, it even had any past owners).

Carefully shifting her body so that she wouldn't hit anyone, she swung the kukri a few times to get a feel for its weight. It didn't seem awkward or heavy in her hand...that was good. For good measure, she placed the kukri back in its sheath and took out the two smaller items on the side--one looked like a knife, but it was blunt. The other really was a small knife, and its edge, just like the other parts of this set, seemed to have been well cared for.

"Well, I suppose this will work just fine," she declared, placing the companion tools back into the kukri's sheath. Taking out a single gold coin from her pocket, the red-haired knight turned back towards Zeebarl, only to find him dealing with Uona. From the orc lady's expression, Altara could tell she was running into money troubles. But Richard's already spoken; we can't support her in addition to me, Lyra, and Hope. Can I do anything...?

"U-um...A-Altara?"

Hearing her name, Altara turned...and once again, found that violet-haired girl in the blue dress staring up at her. What th-again?! But the picture still felt hazy, especially around the face...she couldn't make out any details before she blinked and realized it was Lyra talking to her.

Noticing the dazed look in the red-haired knight's eyes, Lyra shrank back a little. "...i-is something, um, w-wrong?" she asked nervously.

"Oh, uh...nothing. Probably just my imagination." Altara laughed, but it didn't have much heart behind it. She had no clue how she had seen that violet-haired girl; Lyra's appearance was much too different from hers. Wait, the face structure mig-NO, best not to think about it."A-anyway! So...y-you were asking me about something, right?"

Lyra seemed rather bothered by her behavior, but instead turned to the cart. "D-do you, um, think..." Her lip suddenly trembled, as if she wasn't sure what to say next. "Y-you w-wouldn't, um, m-mind if...I-I mean..."

Just what is she so shy about? Turning her head, Altara tried to find what Lyra was looking at...oh. Well, that was one thing she hadn't expected to be in that heap of random objects. It seemed to be some kind of pillow, around as big as Lyra's own torso. It looked really soft, too...oh dear, merely looking at that thing made Altara feel like sleeping...

Shaking her head quickly to forget the sleepiness, she quickly asked, "I-it's that pillow, right?" Though the elf girl looked very embarrassed, she nodded affirmatively, refusing to meet Altara's eyes. "Well...I guess that's fine, then. I'll ask this guy if I can buy it as well," Altara promised, causing Lyra to look back at her with surprise, then a shy smile.

Let's just hope it's not that expensive...though I wouldn't be surprised. It looks so fluf--NO, STOP THINKING ABOUT THAT.

As he took the silver coin off of Uona, and handed her the waterskin, giving the metal coin a quick bite before shoving it into his pocket, he began pondering on any jobs about Briande. After a few awkward moments or thinking and staring furiously at his brow, he turned to the ogre warrior, and simply stated; "I'm afraid no particular adventuring jobs spring to mind, but there are certainly a few travelers I overheard wanting protection on their travels, as well as a few typical menial tasks, the usual wood chopping, smelting, leather tanning, and so on. Though i'm sure it shall be immensely easy to find an adventure or two in the local inns, not to mention probably a few request boards about. Also some talk about a pair of thieves the locals want taken care of, most likely with a reward."
He then gave an unhelpful shrug and added equally unhelpfully; "I'm afraid that is the best I can offer for you madam, though if you wish to tag along with me, it will be wont be much of a fun endeavor.", giving a slight grimace at the idea. He was never too fond of hiring bodyguards, especially ones that were complete strangers with no guarantee of taking from his stock. It would just be constant worry throughout for him.
He also did his best to ignore the wide swings of the kukri the red haired knight was doing, in an attempt to give an illusion of being so drearily used to weapons being waved about and as a result a slight air of expertise on weapons suiting their wielders. In truth it always just put him on edge, but still did his utmost to hide this fact.

After finishing his exchange with Uona, he turned to his other customer to see her discussing to her elf companion who seemed to be clutching a large fluffy pillow that it seemed was from his stock. Funny, he didn't see her get a-hold of that from his cart. Zeebarl questioned if he was beginning to lose his touch of spotting anyone nearing his cart, which left him a bit flustered. What he was joyful about however, was that it seemed as well as Altara was ready to pay for the kukri and it's accessories with a gold coin, but the young elf girl wished to purchase the pillow, which made Zeebarl's tactical grin widen.
"Ah it seems the young miss is interested in the pillow as well! And a gold coin, my how handy that you found another item of interest as you decided to hand it my friend. You see, this particular pillow is somewhat of a luxury item, having been woven by elven seamstress', spun out of spider silk, and stuffed with griffon feathers, making it quite the difficult pillow to make, yet immensely comfortable. I guarantee you will be nodding off in no time once you rest your weary head on it. Trust me, I know from experience!", he babbled excitedly yet again, giving a guttural laugh before adding; "Luckily this one is merely another silver coin, leaving your gold coin still with plenty of change my friend."
He then quickly snatched the offered gold coin from her and almost as quickly, handed over the exact change in return beaming happily to all customers involved.
"Thank you all for your patronage, it is highly appreciated. I humbly ask if you need any other supplies for you journeys and bid you all safe or at least interesting travels!", proclaimed loudly to them all as he shoved the gold coin in his pocket, directing his inquiry on supplies to Richard and Validus.

Uona strapped the waterskin to her belt, stepping a bit to the side to give Altara more room to test her new tool. She considered what the merchant had told her, weighing her options. The thieves might be of interest, but she felt she lacked the stealth necessary to deal with them. The labor options were of no interest to her whatsoever. She was next to become the shaman of her people. She would not lower herself to petty labor in a single locale, not when she had left her home to experience everything the outside world could teach her.

She wondered if the shortling didn't require a bodyguard. His cart looked heavy, and with his small size he would be easy prey for bandits on the road. He also seemed to travel quite a bit, which served her purposes for experiencing new cultures and points of view. He... did look a bit loathe to spend anything, however. And she was woefully short on coin... Bah. If she travelled with him, she could easily make money looting those who attacked them, or offering her nightly services to any taverns they stayed in. She need only convince him of the wisdom there was in hiring her. She supposed that would be easy enough.

"Do you need a bodyguard?" She asked, kneeling so as not to tower over him quite so much. "I could pull your cart, and ask nothing more than a bit of food and a room in any inns we stayed at. You wouldn't need to pay me anything. I am also well equipped to deal with any threats you might face, as you can see, and I promise not to be a bother."

She wondered if she didn't sound a bit desperate. She supposed she was desperate, in a way. Oh well.

Richard

He had been thinking of how he was going to approach the merchant while his companions were sizing up items and just shopping in general. He wore a slight frown as he looked through his money pouch, adding up what he currently had for funds even though he already knew precisely how much there was before he checked. It wasn't so much to find out how much he had for funds but more of a reaffirmation of his doubts.

"Is there anything I can get you and your exceptionally tall friend?"

Richard was coaxed out his own head as the halfing addressed him directly. He looked around for a second, confused by his words. "Exceptionally tall friend? Who do you-" He was looking about for this person that the merchant spoke of, wondering who else was with him at that moment. Halfway through his sentence he spotted Validus and it clicked in that it was his golem that he was speaking of. "Oh, you mean Validus."


Well, that was a bit embarrassing He felt a bit silly not cluing into that particular observation sooner. What a great way to make a first impression. I feel completely foolish right now. He admonished himself for his slow-wittedness.

He started to walk closer into casual conversation range with the merchant when he suddenly saw some sort of knife skim close by his chest. Altara had been swinging some form of blade about, no doubt sizing up it's effectiveness. He wasn't a particular connoisseur of weapons as he had very little standing in the art of physical combat. His sword and shield were mostly last ditch defenses, a last resort if he were forced to fight directly without time or preparation.

Needless to say his eyes were quite wide at this close call. Few could claim to have a machete swung towards them up close and not feel at least a little jolt of surprise and Richard was not about to claim to be amongst those few. Taking a step back he made a wide circle around Altara to avoid getting hacked at as he made his way to Zeebarl as he called himself earlier.


"W-Well I don't think I necessarily need anything personally. H-however Mr. Zeebarl, I was wondering if you would be-"

"Hey, Richard. I'm done. Sorry for taking so long, it was pretty hard to wrap up. Um, where are you guys? Do you guys need food? I'm still at the inn, so I think I can get some."

His shaky stuttering speech was interrupted mid-sentence by Hope's telepathic signal. He just sort of sputtered before going completely silent while looking off into space as he telepathically answered Hope back.

"I don't think we're too bad off for food. We are at the city gates, you should see us not too far from it. We are just talking with some merchant while we wait for you so we can move on from here."

He responded to Hope via his mental channel. When he was done he just remembered he was still talking with the merchant before he got distracted. Snapping out of his odd unfocused look he continued to speak.

"Ah, uh sorry. I was wondering if you would be interested in my service. I- I do repairs, I repair things. If you have anything that needs repairs or is worn down I can make it as good as new... Ah, f-for a small fee of course."


His desperate attempt to salvage his pitch was sad indeed. He was never very good at speaking while stressed as his stutter frequently got the better of him. It was never too much an issue as he was quite used to just keeping his head down and obeying people with higher authority than him. Out in the open he's survived off his rather rare skill in magical repairs. Most mages rarely ever offer their services as they are mostly taken care for by the academy which is paid for by their families. Poor wizards are rare since most students need to be rich to even be accepted into the academy and taught magic in the first place. Wizards and other such spell casters who don't have a fortune of their own by the time they can adequately claim to be full wizards are typically highly sought after as their level of arcane knowledge is not commonly available. Making large fortunes of gold for a wizard is often as simple as just casting a single spell.

Richard was not a full wizard however and making money was far harder for someone not officially recognized by the wizard's guild. There was more to it than that however.

He rarely ever charged a high price for his magical repairs. Most of the people who made use of his magic were not folk of great wealth at all, mostly commoners and small town merchants. He always charged rather little for such an efficient service since most of his clients were carpenters and craftsmen, people who didn't have a substantial amount of funds to spare. Even when he got the occasional wealthy merchant to pay for his magical expertise he never charged a higher rate than he normally offered. To him it would be unfair to charge people differently based on who they were. If a king were to ask him to fix his chairs he'd ask for no more than he'd ask from a mere farmer. It was nothing quite so grandiose as honor, simply a strong ethical code by which he stands by.

But ethics don't bring home the bacon. Because of this code by which he conducts his business he's lived a rather pauper life since his life as a wanted criminal began. He really needed this money.

Once Hope got Richard's answer, he replied 'Ah, ok. I'll head there straight away then.'

He began to walk towards the entrance of the city, humming softly. As if attracted by the tune, the yellow snake being; which had been resting in Hope's pack (it was pretty empty, with only a towel and some other basic necessities), came out and slide up to his shoulder. It swayed to the beat, and came up and around to come face to face with Hope, who gave a chuckle at the sight.

'Almost forgot about you,' he muttered fondly, directing a faint smile towards the snake. It gazed silently at him, and Hope examined it in more detail, half-paying attention to the route he was taking in order not to bump or trip into anything.

Upon closer inspection, the snake seemed to have changed slightly since the last time he saw it. The flickering had died down to a faint glow, and the scales were now a deep fire yellow instead of light straw yellow. There were faint sunny gold stripes on the side blending in with the yellow, and the reddish diamond on its forehead faded gradually into the yellow background; as though it was a diamond shaped sun about to rest or rise. The head itself had grown into something resembling a particularly rounded triangle, and it's eyes reminded Hope of the summer sky.

Oh, and it had grown more smaller too. The snake slithered out of the sack and around Hope's neck, and it hanged around his neck like a particularly tasteless necklace, wrapping it's body loosely around Hope's neck twice before running out of length to do so again. The warmth from earlier was gone; now it felt like the snake didn't even exist. Hope stopped examining it and increased his pace from a stroll to a brisk walk; he wanted to reach the meeting point ASAP and find out whether what Uona had helped him plan was a success.

'I think I'll call you Daryl. What do you think?" Hope asked the snake, ignoring the brief looks of bystanders who thought he was talking to himself. As though it was answering, it moved its translucent head from in front of his vision to resting around his neck, and Hope took it as a yes. "Daryl it is, he muttered, grinning, and increased his speed even more.

Hope decreased his pace to normal walking speed once the gates were closer in distance, getting his breath back from the almost-run he had done to reach his destination. It was kind of embarrassing that he had ran here, and no on but Hope himself needed to know that he had done so. As he reached them, he caught sight of Uona, a merchant, Richard and a red haired knight who was probably the Altara Richard had mentioned before, along with a young female elf who had blonde hair.

Hope walked towards the merchant's cart, curious about the wares the dwarf was selling. He gave Richard and Uona a grin and a small wave before turning to the other two ladies, giving them a nod in greeting and a smile. Then he turned and examined the cart's contents, careful not to interrupt anyone while he stared at the items belonging to the merchant, wondering if there was something he wanted which the merchant could provide.

(OCC: Whoops, repeat)

Seeming to be quite pleased with his transaction, a shown by his ever widening salesman grin, his eyes shifted than ever, which twitched a bit when he saw the ogre warrior kneel down, and seeming extremely intent on convincing him to hire her, listing her various talents and skills, but the strangest part, it that she wished against payment. This confused Zeebarl immensely, making even break his composure for a few moments, as he hastily made his mind scramble for any idea of how to reply, pondering on what could this lone warrior be up to?

His confusion was diverted somewhat when the mage fellow seemed genuinely puzzled for a moment on Zeebarl's query, seeming to somehow forgotten the colossal golem behind him, to which the halfling merchant had a quiet giggled about to himself, but composed himself to reply; "Ah, so that is the name of the steadfast gentleman behind you, nice to have met him, though he seems a bit of the silent type." He watched the mage carefully as he wondered over, about to ask him something before stopping short all of sudden, leaving Zeebarl back into confusion again. Before he could turn back to Uona and make a decision on her offer, the nervous spellcaster suddenly spoke again, causing him to spin round to hear what he had to say, which was in fact on offering of his own services.

Frankly, Zeebarl wouldn't mind a bit of repair work on some of his wares. They were getting a little rough for wear recently, though he just assumed it was due to having sat in his cart for quite some time, and it seemed he was just as desperate as Uona for some work. Well, maybe not quite since she was literaly giving her services for free.

"One Moment please good sir!" Zeebarl hastily told the mage, as he swiveled back round to Uona, where you could see the veins in his forehead concentrating on what decision to make on the matter. On one hand, he hated to risk his belongings to any strangers, whether to guard them or repair them, and certainly didn't trust anyone enough with those tasks. But then again, cheap labor would be handy, and though he could defend himself, it wouldn't be too bad an idea to have little help, and he did need a few magical repairs. Besides, if either of them were thieves, he could just murder them and take back what was his. Would serve them right frankly. Well, not that fighting an ogre and a mage, along with possibly the rest of the strangers here would be easy, and if anything, highly dangerous. After deciding to go along with their requests, despite his immense unease about the idea, he gave a heavy sigh and told Uona in an extremely stern and disgruntled tone; "Fine, but I will pay in minimum wage, and your are not, I repeat, not to so much as touch my cart without my say. Also, where we stop, where we sleep, and where go to and from are all for me to make the final decision on. Agreed?", staring at her for a few moments for his answer before remembering the nervous magic user behind him and telling the fellow; "Well sir, I do need a few repairs on some choice magical items. Unfortunately, sometimes travel does give a bit wear and tear. One moment please."

Zeebarl then rummaged around in his heavily stocked cart once again, this time procuring a typical crystal orb, a rather ornate sword, a grim looking medallion, and a dull wooden staff, before lumping them in Richard's arms.
"Well, here you are, not quite sure why, but they apparently don't seem to work the way they used to, suppose the mages that enchanted them seem to have been a bit of a swindling lot. Anyways, the orb is for scrying, the sword has been enchanted to be razor sharp constantly, I think the medallion is cursed with something about wearing it makes you undead, and the staff is purely for projecting magic at foe or some drivel like that.", he blabbered casually before clapping his hands together and rudely adding; "well, chop chop, young sir."
He seemed already unreasonably impatient, tapping his foot vigorously as he kept an eye on the rest of the customers and potential light fingered fools.

As he peered around, he noticed a new stranger appear, a blonde haired human with a peculiar looking necklace that appeared to be a snake, though otherwise dressed rather humbly, who was peering around his cart, as one would do.
"Hello there sir, anything I can assist you with? Perhaps a new tunic, or a few loaves of bread? Maybe some salted pork? I assure you, it's so fresh, the pig still thinks it's on the farm!", he asked gently with a slight mirthless snicker about his last comment, before continuing to eye up everyone.

Uona grinned and stood up. She had a job, finally. And she was being paid! That was... new. She waved at Hope as he arrived, then busied herself with thinking how she could best do the job she had been hired for. She supposed for the moment she could just... stand there? Maybe look a bit imposing? To be honest Uona didn't really know how to guard. She decided she'd start by watching those present, just in case. She didn't think Altara and her companions really seemed the type to steal anything, but she felt it was the guard-y thing to do.

Richard

He looked down at his arms as he was saddled with items of assorted variety. He was happy that the merchant was interested in taking him up on his offer but he didn't expect the halfling to be hauling around quite so many magical items. Then again given the latest theft of the wizard's academy which coincided with this strange onset case of amnesia there were far more items now spread out across the world, many of which were highly powerful and best kept locked away due to the dangers such levels of power presented to the land.

"A-alright, I'll give it a shot. I may not be able to do the amulet as cursed items tend to have quite a temper."

He set the grim amulet aside while he tried to explain this to the merchant. "While most magical items are passive or at the very least benign cursed items tend to react more strongly than most. Sometimes the curse can even attempt to jump over to the mage inspecting it."


He took the crystal ball first, the item with the least possibility of a mishap out of the three he was going to repair. He was fairly confident with his odds at repairing the other two items without incident but without first truly identifying the magic that bound them there was still a chance to trigger the magic during the process. With the sword it'd be likely that he'd get cut and with the staff he knew not of what would happen, only that it'd be explosive.

He began to speak ancient words forgotten by many yet remembered by true scholars for the power that this language invoked. An ancient incantation recopied time and time again, nearly lost to the onslaught of time yet kept alive by those who truly appreciated such knowledge. The Incantation of the Tower Made Whole. As he spoke aloud this spell the power the energy which flowed through the fabric of this world was awoken, bending and ebbing to his command. As he held the crystalline sphere it started to glow, a white light started filling the cracks that had formed along it's surface over the years. The light flowed through it and over it, rejuvenating not just the material of the item but it's spirit as well. Deep within every item was a version of itself from which it is copied, it's ideal form. As the light finished filling up the missing parts of the crystal ball, rematerializing the glass from which it was made, it washed over cleansing it of debris until the whole ball was enshrouded in a glowing white light. In an instant this light exploded outwards in a brilliant flash which despite it's intensity was very gentle upon the eyes of those looking upon the scene.


Not all was quite as it seemed though, or perhaps everything was more as it seemed than it seemed. When he had repaired the crystal ball it did not react it the slightest, no flash of lights or anything. Only mundane items simply remained so dark when repaired like so, which led Richard to wonder. Is this even magical?

Upon further examination he saw that the inside of the crystal ball wasn't even crystalline, it was glass. The glass was well forged indeed as it mimicked the crystalline structure of a properly cut crystal but it possessed neither the proper weight nor the refractive quality crystals had when held directly in a beam of light. It was much to light to be crystal and when the fading light of the slowly descending sun struck it the inner cuts didn't glisten or shine. It was a perfectly normal glass bauble, nothing more.

The same went for both the sword, the staff and even the amulet as he ran each one through the Incantation of the Tower Made Whole and witnessed an absolute absence of any sort of phenomenon outside of the regular magic display. All in all not a single one of these items possessed any form of magic within them whatsoever, not even the faintest lingering glow. Richard frowned slightly as he knew what this likely meant.


"Um... Mr. Zeebarl, I've repaired each of the items like you've asked. Unfortunately it seems as though none of these items possessed any magical qualities."

He held the items out in his arms for Zeebarl to take back at his leisure, although what he might think of the items now was left to question.

Seeming satisfied with Richards answer, and nodding along to his comment about curses absent mindedly, before Zeebarl turned to Hope. The latest customer seemed flustered at Zeebarl's question, seeming embarrassed at having not picked something yet as the halfling merchant stood their patiently, showing little in his smile as the new stranger suddenly froze up and started at something from his cart. It seemed he was interested in a pair of ordinary grey tear drop like goggles he had among his wares, to which Zeebarl happily announced; " Ah good eye sir, though these goggles are admittedly indeed of repair, they are still a valuable asset when repaired! Sure to keep any dirt and dusts away from your eyes, and keeping any distractions away from your glare! They also help you see somewhat further ahead of you, though only marginally admittedly. It's other feature includes and adjustable strap for easy fitting and comfort, a one size fits all if you will. And for the low price of seven, yes seven, bronze coins, they're all yours sir!"

As he awaited an answer from Hope, doing his best to ignore Richards incantations, he noticed from a quick glance around the Uona had now risen from her feet and, well, was also glancing around at everyone else, trying her best to look imposing. Well it was fair enough really, and good of her to start working so soon after a were mention of being hired, and to be honest, was what Zeebarl did when no one was buying anything. Still, best keep and eye on her too. Too early to trust yet.

As expected with a mage fixing something magical, a magical reaction occurred, of a great flash of white light as he cast the spell on the crystal orb, where the merchant had to shield his eyes from the bright light. However, Richard seemed to frown as he held it up to the light. Zeebarl could see why too as he realized glumly that the orb wasn't made of crystal, but merely finely crafted glass, much to his disappointment, definitely having to lower it's cost.
Though oddly it seemed Richard was wary of all the magical items as they were repaired, much to the merchants suspicions. He then heard what he expected about them all being repaired. What he wasn't expecting to hear however, was the mage fellow telling him the magical items were in fact, not at all magical.

His jaw hanged agape as Richard handed his items back, before hurriedly testing his theory by quickly slicing at a nearby tree with the apparently enchanted sword to see for himself it was merely given a nasty cut and not fell the mighty oak in one swipe, causing him to frown further. He carefully lumped the recently repaired items onto his cart before sighing heavily and pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Well my good man, I am very sorry to hear that. Well that truly is unfortunate, it seems you are correct. Hmmm I suppose must of been some filthy rotten heartless spell slinger that tricked me with some illusion spell or a charm of some sort! It's despicable what some people do for profit! Thank you nonetheless, here, for your troubles.", the halfling salesman blabbered to the mage, obviously distressed over the whole situation, before handing a bunch of gold coins to Richard, as he stared angrily at the not so magical items.

Hope Froloss

"Seven bronze coins..." Hope muttered to himself, searching his pockets for money. Those goggles looked cool, and according to the merchant he would be able to increase his range by a bit, which would definitely be a help when it came to battle. Pulling out his pouch, Hope hurriedly checked to see if he had enough. Yup, he did. Grinning, Hope extracted the appropriate amount of money and handed it to Zeebarl.

"Here," he said happily, placing the coins into the dwarf merchant's hands. Once he was sure that the merchant wouldn't dropped the coins, Hope reached over towards the cart and took the goggles before walking away from the merchant; the transaction now complete. Stuffing the goggles into a pocket, he strolled towards Altara and the elf girl, coming to a stop a few feet besides them.

Curiously, Hope looked on as Richard repaired the items. The lights were really bright, but once you got past the initial blinding flash the results were actually quite pretty. He stared at them; entranced, and felt slightly sad when Richard finished repairing them and handed the items over to the dwarf merchant. Ah well, at least he got to see it.

Something seemed wrong, though. It seemed like the items weren't magical, and the merchant got duped. 'That sucks,' Hope thought sympathetically. Magic items were normally pretty expensive, and the merchant would get less profit. He might've even paid quite a lot for them too. The scammer must've been pretty good. 'Better luck next time, I guess.'

Turning away from the sight of the dwarf merchant staring angrily at the fake magic items, Hope faced the red haired woman and her companion with a smile. "Hey," he said cheerily, deciding to check if she really was Altara, "Are you Altara? If you are, I'm Hope. Nice to meet you and your friend!" He held out a hand.

Brainde, Merrowvale
October 21, 2014--6:19 PM

"Hey! Are you Altara? If you are, I'm Hope. Nice to meet you and your friend!"

"Bwah?!" Altara's eyes shot open with surprise, and she even jumped backwards a little. There was a young man with blond hair, just a little bit shorter than Altara herself, standing in front of her and extending a hand in greeting. Not to mention, Lyra was looking at her with a disbelieving look, startled by the red-haired knight's rather strange reaction.

Did I seriously doze off just by looking at that pillow?! God, this better not keep happening...

Wait...so this was that Hope guy? Honestly, something about him made him look like a kid...maybe it was that unbelievably cheerful smile he had. Whatever it was, it didn't seem so surprising now that he caused all that confusion over Uona.

"...yeah, likewise," Altara grunted, turning her back to Hope and not accepting the handshake. "Just remember to clean up your own messes in the future. Got it?" Not even trying to hide her irritation, she walked back to Richard, and told him, "Since our last guy's here, we might as well get going before it gets dark. Come on." As soon as she was finished talking, the red-haired knight resumed walking down the path into the woods with long and quick strides. She wasn't paying attention to if Richard and Hope were actually close behind her or not.

Looking at her with a confused look, Lyra sighed. "D-don't know w-what could have gotten into her..." she muttered, before shrugging and looking at hope. "U-um...w-we had, ah, b-best be going. B-before she gets t-too far ahead." The elf girl hurried after Altara, though she was clearly having a tough time due to her height.

Hope Froloss

"...yeah, likewise," Altara grunted, turning her back to Hope and not accepting the handshake. "Just remember to clean up your own messes in the future. Got it?"

Hope felt his smile fade into a look of confusion, his hand still left hanging in the air as Altara turned her back to him and walked towards Richard. He cocked his head to the side and stared at her in bemusement, his unshaken hand coming down to hang at his side.

"Mess? What mess?" He muttered to himself, a small crease forming on the forehead as he tried to remember. He hadn't seen her until now (according to what he remembered, which wasn't much) and unless she had known how his interview with Axel went (which she wasn't there for, so she probably wasn't referring to that), Hope had done something within the time he had entered the city to have messed up her day.

Maybe Altara was irritated for him waking her up? That fit the time slot and would explain how it was his fault. That didn't explain the comment about cleaning up messes, as though he had spilt a drink and she was pissed off because she had to clean up after him. Not the best analogy, but eh, good enough for now. Maybe she was mad because she hadn't eaten anything and he hadn't gotten food for her? Or maybe she was angry that -

"U-um...w-we had, ah, b-best be going. B-before she gets t-too far ahead."

"Huh?" Hope snapped out of his mulling and turned to face Blonde Elf, who was hurrying after Altara. She was stalking off into the woods. "Oh, right," Hope said, and he began to follow them with loose, easy strides; spinning a half circle to smile and wave a goodbye to Uona as he did so.

'So...' he asked Richard anxiously, completing the spin to come face forwards again. 'Any idea why Altara's angry with me? This is my first time meeting her according to my memory, so unless I remind her of someone bad or something I have no idea what I did. Any ideas on how to placate her?' another though occurred to Hope, and he regained some of his normal cheer as he added 'And could you fix my new goggles for me please? You can take it out of my fees if I need to pay.'

Richard

He accepted the money from the merchant. He was sad that the man had apparently gotten conned into buying magic items that weren't magical but he couldn't remain too long as Hope and Altara were talking.
"Thank you for your patronage all the same. I wish you luck in your future endeavors." He bid the merchant farewell before turning in time to hear Hope's and Altara's exchange of words, an exchange that didn't end too pleasantly for some reason.

'Any idea why Altara's angry with me? This is my first time meeting her according to my memory, so unless I remind her of someone bad or something I have no idea what I did. Any ideas on how to placate her?'

Richard didn't have any idea as to what might have set her off in the first place. It seemed largely random to him as well. "Your guess is as good as mine. I suppose the best thing to do is listen to her suggestion for now."

'And could you fix my new goggles for me please? You can take it out of my fees if I need to pay.'

He and Validus started to walk after Altara so they didn't get left behind while he communicated with Hope telepathically. "Sure. There's no need to pay anything since free repairs are already part of the deal. He reminded him.


"Altara, do please wait for us." He tried to get her to slow down a little as he struggled to keep up with her face paced march. "Do you still think these few will be of any actual use?" Validus spoke over it's mind channel to Richard, questioning the effectiveness of their rather rambunctious crew. "There's always hope." Richard answered back as he tried to keep up with Altara, something Validus was having a much easier time doing than he did.

And just like that they ventured into the wilderness, away from Brainde and into the vast world that awaited them.

Having pocketed some bronze coins Hope handed him, softening the blow from the recent truth about his fake magical stock, as the cheery customer merrily took their goggles and wondered over to the other adventurers side. "Thank you for your patronage good sir, I do hope to be of service to you again.", the halfling thanked him automatically, though the usual enthusiasm was somewhat diminished now. He also acknowledge the mages thanks for his own business with the gentleman, replying; "No problem at all my good man, I certainly would of ran into quite a nasty amount of misfortune if I had sold them off before bumping into you! Thank you again for your services."

Odd, it seemed the young white haired man had planned on going with the group. Well adventuring sorts do tend to flock together after-all, for glory and vanquishing evil and all that guff. Zeebarl was only interested in the riches part of adventuring frankly. He was a bit taken aback himself at the red haired knights sudden reaction however, which lowered itself into mild interest at her snubbing the white haired strangers greeting, seeming quite miffed at the for some reason, before storming off.
How peculiar, seemed there was strife in the motley crew of there's already. Didn't forebode well, though then again he had just recently discovered he had been conned recently. Ah well it didn't matter to him, as long as the frustration wasn't at something he sold, barely noticing the young elf's apology on her behalf. It seemed he wasn't the only one who seemed puzzled, in fact it appeared all of the adventurers were quite confuse don the sudden moment of hostility, perhaps some past experiences this Hope character was forgetful of? Zeebarl thought to himself the bigger question was why would he care?
He shoved all interest out of his head as he put on one of his wide grins and waving them goodbye with a supposedly hearty laugh, bellowing at them as they took their leave; "Fare-thee-well adventurers, I hope you have many a tale to tell the next time you see old Weasel Eyes!"

It wasn't too long after saying his false-hearted goodbyes, before dropping his smile and turning to Uona and gave a heavy sigh.
"Hmmmm with your sudden addition to my esteemed enterprise, it seems I way have to plot my schedule a little differently. Well I believe our current course of action shall be to merely head back to town, and probably stay one more single day there.", he chattered in a matter-of-factly tone, seeming very uninterested in any input his new and only employee had to give, and selfishly grasping hold of his cart, and wandering off towards Briande, beckoning nonchalantly for the ogre warrior to follow, calling out; "Come along now Uona, we have work to do, and quality products to sell before the night comes."
A short moment of silence passed before he commented; "Shame the large fellow wasn't interested in anything, had a ridiculously large sword stashed away in the cart as well. Been meaning to get rid of the thing for years after that stuffy nobleman sold it to me."

Uona watched the little spat in Richard's party, feeling a bit guilty over her hand in it. She had intended to raise a defense on Hope's behalf, insist it had been her idea rather than his, but they were gone before she could get her vocal chords working. Her employee began moving in the opposite direction not long after, announcing plans to stay in Briande another day. Uona gave a brief look back in the direction Richard and the others had left, then followed Zeebarl.

The halfling was nattering on about something, a sword in his cart or somesuch that a noble had scammed him into buying. "A nobleman sold you a sword?" she asked, a bit taken aback. "Why? I doubt he needed the money. Why not have it melted down, or give it some warrior he named his champion?" She stepped over a dog lazing in the street. "... It's not cursed, is it?" she added as an after thought, a bit concerned by the prospect. Curses were always bad.

Zeebarl scratched his chin for a moment as he and Uona continued along, replying to her questions; "Haven't a clue why he wanted to rid of it, but frankly he did seem skittish about the whole ordeal. I wish it was cursed, then at least some magic student could want to take a bit of tinkering to it for their research or whatever it is students of the magical crafts do with cursed swords. Suppose it simply was just because it's made of false gold, not much used as a sword really, more decorative than anything. Still, even a soft sword is still a sword if sharpened enough, but it's not really my job to question unless the deal is in question itself."

He carried on along the street, his cart splashing through a puddle from last nights rain, seeming to be heading straight ahead before suddenly telling his new employee; "I think we shall set shop outside that inn, or tavern or whatever establishment it was, that you were at earlier. Minstrel something I believe. Anyways, we shall probably be staying the night there. But first we shall acquire a tidy profit, well more of it, from the good patrons of this town."
As they continued on a bit further, Zeebarl kept silent awkwardly before asking Uona uneasily; "I don't suppose you have the funds for your own room?", as he looked around awkwardly, obviously not too keen on the idea of sharing a room, or paying for a separate one either, though tactfully held his tongue on the matter.