Opluriko smiled at the elf, recognizing him as a kindred spirit in his love for animals. They would have to speak later.

But for now, she couldn't help herself and had to add to the mayor's statements, "We have no inn, but we have a schoolhouse that is nearly complete, and nobody lives there. It's nicer than a barn right now, and if we all chip in for the rest of the day, we can make it even better - even if not fancy." She said to the mayor, caught up in the excitement, even though it probably wasn't her place to speak and later she'd probably hear all about that. She turned to the strangers, "Then, if you wish, you can all be together." She turned back to the mayor again, "Heck, we could make it dual function for the near future - school during the day and inn at night, if we're expecting more visitors - much faster than building a whole new building." Then she turned back to the strangers, "Do you suppose there will be many more visitors?" The excitement in her voice made it loud enough that at the very least the people in the front of the crowd could hear her words.

Alia paused when she heard the T'skrang's voice. Her eyes seem to focus a little more than they usually do, but that occasionally happened when she was very interested in something.

Once he was done talking the word stories had a chance to sink in. "Oh father! See? I told you that they might have interesting stories! And engaging conversation too! Do you think we can invite them over?"

She tugged on her father's arm in an attempt to get through the crowd and close the distance.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:16, Wed 28 Mar 2012.

By the Dark !  Already uncomfortable at finding himself at the forefront of the crowd, Kerric's invitation to the strangers catches Peck by surprise, and perhaps no less the Dwarf himself.  The young smith is not minded to emulate his friend offer, though he has hope of being able spend the evening there himself and hear the promised tales ... even earn some coin into the bargain should the strangers require a smith's services.

"You can stay over at the forge," Peck suggests to Kerric in an undertone as Opluriko gives voice to her thoughts as fast as they occur to her.  A fine idea the T'skrang has, though, he'll admit.

As interested as he was in hearing the stories of the strange group of travelers, Mace'aurek was not sure that his family would be at all interested in inviting any of them into their home, let alone the enclave.  Of course, there appeared to be a troll among the group who would have a better chance of finding the hospitality of Mace'aurek the than the others.

"I don't know about you," Mace said out of the corner of his mouth to Yona, "But I can't see any of them staying at my place for the night.  Still," he shrugged, "I wouldn't mind hearing any stories they might have."  Mace tried to play down his own mounting interest in the strangers, but he couldn't stop trying to strain to see what was happening over the crowd.

"Should we accompany Alia and her father?"

"Wouldn't even want a bunch of strangers staying at my house." Yona muttered back to Mace, "Too many of them to fit in, and we couldn't expect them to sleep in the barn."  Not the barn - that's my hiding place!

The question about following Alia and her father needed a little more thought.  Moving forward, into the crowd would probably give her a better view (and if pressed she would have to admit interest in these visitors), but it would also make her more vulnerable to Urdon and his cronies catching her by surprise.  On the other hand, she'd be standing near Mace, and Alia's father.

"I suppose we should." she replied with a somewhat over-exaggerated sigh, "We won't learn anything from all the way back here.  Don't go too fast though... your legs are a bit longer than mine."  She started forward, using her stick for a little extra support...

Laeth's brow furrows, and he turns.  "Young Kerric!" he says, aghast, but flounders a bit, having his own mention of `hospitality' suddenly twist against him.  The crowd, which had begun breaking up a bit, pauses, curious to see how this new turn will go.  "I..."

And then Opluriko offers her idea, and he turns again.  "The schoolhouse is not ready for habitation," he counters.  "And was never meant to serve as a hostel in any case!"

The T'skrang watches, his head turning almost flat sideways, and then he steps forward, waving his hands in a generally conciliatory manner.  "Oh, goodness, no!  We certainly don't mean to cause any difficulties - although I'm sure this unfinished building would be perfectly adequate, we'd hate to be in the way," he assures the Mayor, and then turns to Kerric.  "Sir...Kerric, was it, yes?  We will gladly--"

"No," the Mayor interrupts, with a heavy sigh, and although he does not, in fact, drop his head and rub between his eyes, it's only because it wouldn't look right.  "No, no, I know his father and that is not going to go well.  The schoolhouse.  Fine.  It will shelter you from the wind and, if not all of the rain, at least most of it."

The Human woman in the group outright smirks, but the rest of them look suitably appreciative, and the T'skrang gives a sweeping bow.  "Ah, you have our gratitude, good folk.  We'll certainly do our best to be good company for the brief time of our stay," he promises.

"Very well," Mayor Laeth agrees, taking a bit of command again.  "Now," he makes shoo-ing gestures to the crowd again, raising his voice, "Since you know they'll still be here tomorrow, let's give them some breathing space."  He pauses a moment, looking at Kerric, and then back towards Opluriko, thoughtfully.  "I have work to get back to," he says, a bit disingenuously - truthfully, he's never that busy.  "Perhaps the two of you could show them the way?"

"Yes. That is, I would be pleased. I'm sure we could scrounge up something for them to eat, as well."

His plan had either worked better, or worse, than expected, depending on how you looked at it. There was definitely a chance his father might not even think about what he had when he ahd left, after all...

"Please, right this way," he said indicating the proper direction. "I'm afraid I am horrible with names, but I will try... You must remember, everyone I have evr met, has been here my whole life. Or theirs, I suppose, if they happen to be younger than me."
This message was last edited by the player at 11:50, Sun 01 Apr 2012.

Opluriko looked a bit abashed when the mayor turned to counter her idea, though probably not as much as she should have. But she did dip her head enough to show that she wasn't going to argue in any way.

And she didn't mind when it seemed the group of newcomers was going to break up to go to different people's houses. Certainly one would stay with the t'skrang, and if they did, she could prod for stories. Her curiosity was only barely contained at the moment.

But she couldn't help but smile a bit when the mayor came around to her way of thinking. Some of the long-lived races seemed to get a bit too set in their ways to figure out how to deal with strange new things like this. But it was she who had planted the idea the mayor had finally accepted, and she was proud of that.

Even though she knew that she was likely to take a lot of flak for that in the near future.

She was stunned when the mayor turned handling over of the newcomers to her and Kerric. She glanced at the dwarf, wondering if this was some sort of April fool's joke a day early ploy to get them in over their heads, but Kerric was taking right to the task, so she figured she might as well also. "Yes, yes sir. Thank you," she said to Laeth. Then, turning to the others, she slid off her mount so she could be at ground level with them, leading Jayme. Kerric was already leading the way, so she walked alongside. "I'm sure we'd all love to hear a story or two, before you go, not right now, of course, I mean.

I'm Opluriko.

Is there anything that you need during your stay or before you leave again?" Opluriko wasn't normally quite this talkative, but she wasn't normally faced with something so new and exciting either, so she was having a bit of a hard time containing herself.

Alia turned back to Mace and Yona. "You know, you could come with us. I'm sure that they'll want to talk with father about getting healing herbs and things like that."

It was hard to hear what's going on, but the wind whispered and she nodded in response. "I think we should wait by the schoolhouse. They'll be there soon enough and we're closer than most of the people here. What do you think?"

The young Smith shrugs his sympathy to Kerric as the Mayor gainsay's the Dwarf's offer, but grins widely when his friend is appointed as official guide, if he has to share that honour with Opluriko.

Nor is Peck minded to just watch them go, no more than he expects the gathered throng to turn around and go about their business.  Keeping close to Kerric, he tries to look both unobtrusive and as if he's doing what he's supposed to, as he tags along, mouth firmly shut but eyes and ears drinking in the appearance and alert for any words the strangers utter.

"This," he says, indicating his companion, "is Peck Murtagh, our junior smith. And you have met Opluriko, who is involved with raising and training horses, which is why she tends to bring one to every tea party," he jokes. "I am Kerric, K-E-R-R-I-C, descended indirectly from the original man who founded this town. Except those who came here long ago must have been illiterate and spelled it wrong," he adds. "I'm afriad I really have no idea what you would need, although I expect food to be high on the list. Please don't hesitate to enlighten me. There was a suggestion you might be able to stay in the forge, but I'm not sure whether the senior smith is using it at the moment. If you prefer a warmer, dirtier place that has a complete roof over it, we can investigate that. It doesn't seem our Mayor was too pleased to have you stay with us, for some reason. That doesn't hold true for all of us, I just wanted to let you know. We'd be delighted to hear stories, if you're willing to share them. I for one, am curious why you're here, where you came from, how you got here, and most especially- what's it like out there?" He gestured vaguely to 'out there'.

... though as usual Kerric was doing enough speaking for the both of them !  With the Dwarf barely pausing for breath, even those to whom the litany of questions were addressed would be hard pressed to get a word in.

His friend's mention of the Forge does alarm the smith, but Peck's 'I meant just you !' dies on his lips as Kerric's speech races on by, and the young man breathes a sigh of relief.

Yona stopped as Alia suggested a different plan.

"Sounds like a good idea to me." she replied, and looked up at Mace.  It did sound better to her.  Probably less people about.  "Might be a bit quieter there, and we'll be able to hear what's said a bit easier.  And if there's less people, we might even be able to speak to the strangers.  Ask them some questions."

Then, because she was already committed to going with Mace, she thought it would be polite to ask him, "What do you think?"

Mace nodded to Yona and Alia.  "I was never one for crowds," he commented.  "Hopefully they don't take too long to get to the school.  I have my duties to attend to."  It was true, he had to finish the crystal carving that he had been working on, and his family would not appreciate him disappearing for the day without it being completed, but it was something that Mace'aurek was known for.  He didn't show much enthusiasm in his families job even though he was expected to carry on in it's business.  With the strangers coming to town, maybe they would accept his absence more readily this time?

Opluriko did not interrupt or otherwise stop Kerric's rather lengthy questions, but she at least did not burden the strangers with still more questions.

Peck grins at Opluriko, amused that even her habitual enthusiasm wanes in the face of Kerric's assault.  Even though he can barely tear his eyes from the strangers, fearing to miss any word or marvel, he spares a glance for the T'skrang's mount, admiring the big horse.

"Ah, and I," the T'skrang says dramatically, "Am Tralistaire Ten-Tails!  Traveler, adventurer, storyteller nonpareil!  My elven friend is Llewendan," he gestures with his tail, "And that is the lovely Kira," he indicates the Orc, who nods briefly.  "And wise Calisaren," he notes, gesturing to the Windling.  Although the overall crowd has indeed begun dispersing as the Mayor passed the reins on to the pair of well-meaning children, there is a pause in their movements as the names are given, and, aware of this, Tralistaire again pitches his voice to carry.

"I'm sure your forefathers must have been quite the buffoons, to have so dreadfully mangled your name," he laughs, dropping his voice to a less projected, if still not actually private, volume.  "I've no doubt this schoolhouse will be perfectly adequate - we're not fancy folk, you understand.  Well," he allows, "I am, but nevertheless, we've no interest in ruffling any more feathers than already ruffled."

The Orc shrugs at Kerric's comment about the Mayor's unhappiness.  "We bring disruption at best, trouble at worst.  Can't really blame him."

She drifts over to walk closer to Peck, though.  "Mind, we haven't seen a proper Forge in too long," she comments, her thoughtful tone giving the poor young man good cause to panic.

Opluriko couldn't resist any longer with the orc's comment. "How long have you been traveling then?" she asked.

"The school it is then." Yona pronounced.  There seemed to be further discussion at the front of the crowd, but she couldn't hear a word of it over the murmuring, shuffling, coughing, and general inconsiderateness of the mob.

A movement caught her eye, and she glanced in that direction.  There was nothing to see now, but she was fairly certain it had been Chaia.  Quite frankly, Yona didn't need that sort today.  She started walking towards the school, "This is too crowded for me.  Let's go."

"No, no," he corrected quickly, "not buffoons! No, they just didn't read Throalian, is all I'm saying. Spelled it all wrong."

Alia nodded agreeably. It seemed that her friends thought that the school was a good idea too. She glanced back over at her father and looked a little surprise (as if she'd forgotten he was there). "Father, is it alright if we wait by the school? I'm sure it won't be too long before  the visitors get there."

Peck is indeed perturbed by Kira's attentions.  The crystals embedded in her flesh are most unnatural and disturbing and that would be bad enough, save it seems her interest in his father's workshop is something other than just the need to order a bag of nails or have an edge put on a blade.

"Trouble ?" he blurts out, eyeing the orc, but not meeting her gaze.  Perhaps her words are the most perturbing of all.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:38, Mon 09 Apr 2012.

"I'm sure she means, in the Mayor's eyes, strangers can not be good. Right?" he asked, looking at her, almost pleadingly. He wasn't so sure he wanted to find out why they were here, all of a sudden.

"Well, don't count on that, Alia," Mace said with a small chuckle.  "With Kerric talking to them on the road there, it's bound to be night fall before they reach the schoolhouse."  He then turned and looked down at Valystinus, "Yona and I will go with Alia, sir.  We'll make sure she gets home safely."