OOC:  This is a Fuzzy Time thread for the newer recruits.   Fuzzy Time means that you can continue to post in this thread while taking part in other activities.  Conversations here  are are not linear or time constrained - but take part in your 'down time'.

Domitius,  Fiddler Ashfoot,  Gehron,  Kendric Winters,  Quentin Ragoon,  Rose of the North  Safiya Vallani, Silvius Cozma, Zelona &  Zirul.

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As you arrive you are shown into a half finished building -  A shell that is little more than a massive common room with a fireplace at one end, a few tables in the middle and straw mattresses at the other end.  A local woman keeps a couple of pots in the fireplace topped up.  One pot contains a fish flavoured savoury porridge, the other contains hot water to make cups of herbal tea - she has the ingredients to make either onion or apple flavoured teas.
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:04, Sat 30 June 2018.

A thin, wiry man with a pencil moustache that is complemented by a small tab of beard on his chin greets you. He is clearly of Varisian stock and wears bown leathers - a small owl sits in the rafter above his head.

"I'm Tib, and this is our 'palatial' accommodation for the time being.  Not much, I know - but better than being out in a field in the rain .....  Anyway.  Make yourselves at home, while you are here.  Doris over there .." he waves to the local woman, who half waves back "Has some tea and pottage ready, if you want some.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:26, Sun 01 July 2018.

"Greetings and well met Tib!" Zelona says setting her pack down in one of the corners. "Rain in the fields can glorious, but it is nice to have something dry to come back to at night to wring out." With a nod, she moves over to Doris. "I could use some of that porridge, it smells delicious, is it ready?" While waiting Zelona helps her self to the makings of some apple teas. "Mmm, this is refreshing, my thanks for preparing the water."

Kendric was grateful that he received a horse at Ringbridge. The trip probably would have taken twice as long on foot. He spent considerable time practicing various commands while on horseback, but the horse wasn't properly trained to accept the commands he was given. "I'll have to get my own mount in time. And I should spend more time in training as well." He turned over the horse to the stable master in Tusk town as instructed. He slung his gear over his shoulders and found his way to the barracks.

He entered the barracks. "Ahh, it seems that I'm one of the first to arrive. The name's Kendric and there's a number of us that just arrived from Ringbridge." He moved deeper into the barracks until he found a place near the fireplace. "Have you been hear long? This places looks old, but then there's new buildings as well. How long has this town been here?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:06, Sun 01 July 2018.

The woman nods silently and ladles some of the porridge into a bowl for Zelona.

Tib smiles at Zelona's comments, it is fairly obvious that he spends much more of his time outdoors that in.  "Aye.  I  never was keen on the idea of spending a night halfway up a tree with only the leaves to keep me dry.  I've done that a few times, but I never really slept well." he grins as she  gets herself some tea.

"A couple of days." Tib responds turning to Kendric, "Henry has me running all over the place at the moment ...  ThisTown is brand new,  but parts the Keep seem to have been here for ever.  They think the mound was  built as a defence for an old Taldan town here, as we have found remnants of buildings in the surrounding fields as we were clearing ground for the new  town.  Bits of the keep as as old as the mound, although some of the walls are a lot newer.  Apparently, the mound might have been here when the original Sword Baron himself, was around."  Tib grins and  shrugs.  "You hear a lot of this history stuff, when you hang around with the wrong people ..."  He quips, almost as if he doesn't understand how an outdoors man, like himself,  knows all of the 'history stuff'.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:04, Sun 01 July 2018.

Quentin simply nodded, strode over to the pot, and poured himself some tea. He blew over it once before taking a sip, nodding, and finding a place to sit near the others. He listened for a moment, enjoying the tea.

"Quentin, by the way," he said.

Fiddler came in shortly after the others, only catching the last half of Tib's story. He set his possessions down in the corner and came to sit with the others.

"I suppose that's the nature of things. Empires rise and fall, as do towns and settlements. Sad to say some upstart youth will be kicking over our bones a thousand years from now."

He moved to the food and gratefully accepted a bowl of porridge once it was ready.

"I'm Fiddler. I know these louts already."

Jokingly pointing a thumb over his shoulder at Quentin and Kendric.

"Greetings Fiddler, Quintin, and Kendric. I am Zelona. I hope in a thousand years that my bones are not shuffling around to be kicked over by said upstart youth. I will take a quiet grave thank you!" she ends with a laugh as she looks at Fiddler. "And tell me, do you Fiddle sir?"

Now finished with her porridge, Zelona doffs her green scaled breastplate and lays it over her pack and shield. "Ahh!" she sighs deeply, "much better. First food, now we can relax a bit!"

Domitius sat with a hot cup of tea, "You have my welcome as well, Domitius Solanus late of the Restov Guards." he said with a friendly wave.  "Now I'm looking for a little more excitement and less pushing paper.  From the looks of things this is the right place."

Rose was doing her best to act the part of a seasoned traveler, so she refrained from throwing her arms in the air and cheering at reaching any manner of civilization. "It's a true pleasure to meet you all. Tib and Doris, thank you for your hospitality. You wouldn't happen to know where I could find those "wrong people" would you? I've a fascination with determining where the world is headed based on what has already been.

Rose accepted an apple tea from Doris, thanking her with a quick bow, then returned to sit with her traveling companions.

The sound of Silvius’ voice rang out shortly before he actually arrived in the barracks. He was chatting the ear off of some blonde farmer girl the caravan had picked up en route.

”...and so then the flying chariot was careening through the nights sky like a blazing comet. I am told that they could see it as far away as Galt. Have you ever been to Galt? Oh what a pity for it is a wild town with a quite active night life. Anyway so I was on this metal sky chariot and it was streaking towards the heavens themselves and I thought to myself ‘Silvius you are not ready to meet the gods just yet’ so I...”

Silvius entered the barracks and paused before grinning at all the new people he was meeting. He unslung his traveling pack and spread his arms out wide.

”We are here! Desna teaches us to celebrate every safe arrival because every arrival means that a new journey can start at any time! Welcome and well met everyone. I apologize for not getting to know you sooner but there were stories that needed to be told. Welcome and well met. I hope that we can become fast friends and stalwart allies in all of our future journeys.

He went around the room shaking hands, clapping people on the shoulder and taking the time to give an overly friendly wink towards the ladies of the room. He paused when he got to the food pots.

”Look at this hospitality! What service!”

He swiftly maneuvered to have a cup of tea in one hand and a bowl of porridge in the other.

”Please good sirs and ladies, introductions are in order for how can we become fast friends and stalwart allies if we do not even know one another. I am Silvius Cozma, Varisian swordsman extraordinaire! I have traveled all the way from Varisia to be here.”

The trip south was fortunately uneventful, though by the time they reached Tusk Town Safiya was heartily sick of the road. Or what passed for roads in the Stolen Lands. She left her horse at the stables and took a walk through the town before heading for the barracks. Not much to see, the place seemed little more than a frontier settlement at this point.

After looking around, she follows her companions to the town barracks. At entering she sighs wearily. She was really hoping for a room of her own, but no such luck. Perhaps she should look for her own lodging somewhere else, though at least the food does smell good. Dumping her backpack by an empty mattress, she goes over to the pots for a bowl of porridge and some apple tea.

She greets her traveling companions cordially enough, but is more guarded around new faces by the table. "Safiya Vallani, at your service." She introduces herself briefly before starting on her meal.

Upon arrival Zirul greets the others.  A pleasure to meet you all.  Zirul is my name  He bows in greeting to the others.

After making introductions and shaking hands with new arrivals, Fiddler turned to Zelona.

"No mum, unfortunately not much of a musician. My old man gave me the name when I was even littler, if you can imagine that. I used to fiddle with all the bits and bobs he had laying around the house. The moniker just stuck."

Walking into the barracks, Gehron dropped off a pack laden with various things he might need on their journey - Bedroll, pots, as well as his trusty scythe.

When there was mention of porridge and tea, Gehron approached Doris for a serving of porridge and apple tea. He needed something with a bit of sweetness to go with the porridge, and onion tea didn't seem like it would quite go right with it.

Taking a seat at a table in the middle of the room, he watched the others talk and converse, curious how well some of them would be able fight. As the introductions are called out from one another, he bellows out his name. "Gehron!" Making sure they could hear him farther down the room, so he wouldn't have to do it over and over.

He enjoyed the meal, as basic as it was. But he was used to the simpler in things in life, which he doubted could be the same for everyone here. Licking the bowl clean to make sure he didn't waste any of it, he rose from his seat, a satisfying belch erupting from him as he did.

"That filled a hole. Now, anyone care to spar? This is a barracks, right?" He looked around the room, cracking his knuckles as he did.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:55, Sun 01 July 2018.

Tib acknowledges people as your come in,  welcoming you and pointing you towards the two ends of this large open space -  sleeping  pads at one end -   and Doris, by the fireplace handing out savoury porridge and  tea at the other end.   Tables in the middle for chatting and eating.
Tib is social, listening to conversations smiling, nodding along but generally quiet – letting you get on with introducing yourselves and getting to know each other.    But he does respond to specific questions.

”Well, Rose, that would be the Ladies Bai and Valoria.  Valoria and her husband rule the town of Ringbridge and aren’t in Tusk at the moment.  However, Bai is here with Henry – arranging their wedding I believe.  You need to be careful young lady,” he says with a wink, ”Interest in that type of stuff leads to getting married to a lord ….” although his smile tells you that he is half-joking.

”Desna be praised indeed.” the older Varisian mutters as he listens to Silvius make his introduction.  However, the more observant among you might see his eyes narrow slightly and his lips.  (Perception check 20 if you want to react to it)

”Not really Gehron, although it is serving as a sort-of barracks at the moment.  However, there is a yard out the back that you can use for sparring if you like.”

OOC: Use the Fuzzy:Sparring Pit thread for a small group chat based around sparring

"Gehron." Kendric rose from his seat. "I'll spar with you if you'd like." He was looking forward to working out some kinks in his muscles with a good workout. And it was good to test the mettle of those he might be working with in the future.

Pipre just shows up leading a big, unimpressed looking yak and carrying a bottle of wine. The yak is heavily burdened but doesn't seem to mind, and Pipre herself doesn't seem much to mind either when she leads the creature into the barracks. "Hey Tib, help me with this thing. Some of you strappier folk, too, it's heavy."

On the yak is a full barrel of ale that Pipre indicates with a few healthy slaps to its fragrant, oaky belly. "I thought you all might like something proper to drink while we have you stuck in here. Where do you want this, Doris?"

Silvius jumps at the opportunity to help a lovely woman and her ale find a good home. At least his spirit is willing as he swaggers over to the barrel and gives it a testing tug. His smile drops a bit and slaps the oaken side and then leans against it instead of lifting it.

"Perhaps I was a bit too hasty. I believe my dear friend Gehron would be more than happy to help lift this ale, eh?"

Fiddler stood up on his chair at the sight of the yak laden with ale. He moved to help, then immediately thought better of t.

“While I will be more nuisance than help in unloading that beast, I am none the less grateful. I’m Fiddler Ashfoot, who might you be mum? Besides obviously very generous.”

Pipre makes a face at the barrel, wondering what the best way to unload it was. She had porters load it in the first place. She shrugs and takes a long swig from her wine bottle. After the pull she looks down to Fiddler with a grin, "Hey there, Fiddler. I'm Pipre, I'm a councillor here at Tusk Town, owner of the Bottled Nymph, and an ex-bandit who gave up the life in time to join Henry's initial claim of this place. I'm an alchemist and did my part in the fight against the Stag Lord."

She pats around on her short leather jacket until she finds a small case of hand-rolled cigarettes. Taking one for herself, she offers anyone nearby one as well. "But I ain't just trying to brag, those are my bonafides. When I heard we got more adventurers I wanted to meet you. Despite everything else-- just going out into the field and adventuring is one of my favorite parts, so I am eager to meet you all."

Domitius put his mug down and rose to his feet "I'll help Pipre, I'm Domitius by the way.  He moves over to Silvius "You grab that side and I'll grab this, I'm sure we can manage between us."  he add with a grin.

Silvius moved into position to help but the expression on his face did not give one of confidence. Instead the blonde woman he had been speaking to before stepped forward.

"Here...let me help you."

She had a the stout, barrel-chested frame of someone used to heavy labor and between the two of them lifting up on the other side they were able to dislodge the ale barrel and get it grounded without cracking it from a heavy drop.

As soon as the barrel was down Silvius was wiping his hands off om his leathers before extending a hand out to Pipre.

"Ah, a fellow adventurer! Come let us trade tales over this fine ale you brought us. I had heard stories of this Stag Lord, it is what drew me out here in the first place. I am quite saddened to hear that the rapscallion will not be choking on my fine Varisian steel but I am sure there are more scoundrels to be had."

Pipre helps by slowly releasing the keg from the straps on the pack saddle's wooden frame on her Yak's back. When the barrel was placed she used a small pry bar to take the plug out and replace it with a spigot. "Ah, well done," she says, putting a hand on Kima's bicep, her eyes lighting up appreciatively.

She shakes hand with Silvius and thanks Domitius. "The surprising thing about the Stag Lord was how good he was with a bow, and how fine his bow was. I got plugged right in the chest, took the wind out of me, nearly dropped me in one hit. Luckily I'm loaded down with healing potions.

"Yeah, there are plenty of things left out there. In the last foray we had a fight with an enormous, infamously ornery boar called Tuskgutter. He was huge-- gave my friend Percy quite the limp for a while there. We brought back his head and ate smoked boar strips for days."

She makes sure everyone gets a cup of ale if they want one, including Tib and Doris.

Kendric introduced himself and accepted a cup of ale in return. "There's opportunities beyond the walls. But we also need to be careful in the towns and villages. We just left Ringbridge and one of the folks was cursed, became a werewolf. As these villages grow, they'll need more structure and make sure that things like sanitation is done correctly or there will be plague or worse."

Reaching up high, Fiddler gladly accepted one of Pipre’s rolled cigarettes. Lighting the tobacco with a long pipe match, he slowly enjoyed the smoke. When the councilor had a spare moment he showed her his treasured pipe and offered to share some of the tobacco he brought with from the River Kingdoms.

When Tib points out he can't train in here, but can use the yard outside, he shrugs his shoulders. "Fine."

Then when Kendric offers to spar with him, he opens his arms wide. "Excellent, at least someone here wants to do something beyond standing around and talk."

Heading towards the exit, he finds his way blocked by Pipre and her yak. When Silvus suggests Gehron use his impressive size to unload the yak, he doesn't have a chance to reply before others assist in getting it down.

"I'll see you outside when your ready." Gesturing towards the exit with his attention pointed towards Kendric.

Just after the ale is unloaded and the first cups poured, you realise that there is much more noise than normal coming from the street.  Looking outside, you can see people making their way towards Port Henry.

Silvius dashes to the window and takes a peek outside.

"Aha, perhaps adventure has found us here! How kind of her to meet us on our terms. Pipre, is there any reason a mob should be heading towards the port?"

Zirul hopes this does not mean there will be a fight.  Such a thing may be common but does little to help the well being of the community.

Grateful for a stiffer drink in this out of the way place, Zelona slowly sips, savoring the flavor. Hopefully this will help relax my stiff muscles a bit from travel she thinks as she drinks.

"My thanks for a drink Pipre. An ease to the weariness of travel. I look forward to our adventures to come. May the arrows of your enemies continue to leave you short of Pharasma's Boneyard."

She drinks a bit more as Silvius brings up a commotion down at the docks. Setting her drink and armor to the side as it would take too long to don, she grabs her shield and cudgel and follows a few people down there to see what is afoot.

Tib shrugs and walks over to collect a cups of ale for himself and Doris.  Then settles down in a chair as the woman stirs the pot over the fire, before taking a seat herself.  "I am sure they can look after it.  What ever it is ..." Tib comments companionably
This message was last edited by the player at 19:45, Thu 05 July 2018.

By then it was too late as the flighty Silvius had already departed to see what the commotion was about.

Kima starts sorting out Silvius' and her packs within the barracks. When she sees Tib take a seat she sits down next to him with a sigh having finally gotten off of her feet.

"So, what is there to do about coin? I am beginning to think I will not be getting the wages Silvius promised me when we departed weeks earlier."

"Start off by grabbing a beer and some food," Tib says waving towards the barrel and the pot.

"There are all sorts of jobs you can do, but most of them are fairly mundane.  The guards take on casuals fairly regularly, and there is always someone prepared to pay a few silver  for a 'house guard'  just because it makes them look important.  Or, if you have the skills - the town always needs food -  so Hunters, Fishermen -  even foragers who  knows which plants are in season and where to find them ...."