Tahra Schwarz, chiromancer [palmreader] and singer among other things. And this bat is Klimmin.

"Nwofia Barandi" says Nwofia with all due formality on hearing Tahra introduce herself and her bat.

"Siankiir," said the elf, nodding her head politely as she did so.

And all the while trying to push aside the numerous insults and complaints her mother had for the dwarven people echoing in her head.  How they were dull and smelled of soot and drunk all the time.  How disgusting their beards were.  How none of them would know grace if it bit them on their noses.  How greedy they were...

...and gods only know what they must think of me if they've had to deal with elves like her beforehand...

Alayna curtseyed, and her Angel did so as well, bowing down and lowering his head.

"Alayna, rider, tumbler and friend of my horse Angel. We come to entertain with physical skill."

Topaz waits what he hopes is a reasonable amount of time for Celeste to introduce herself, and perhaps the performers as a whole.  Eventually, in an effort to alleviate the awkward silence the Faun gives a slight bow.  "Topaz.  Skald and musician, occasional envoy at large to the court of Her Diminutive Highness, Princess Nia Sian Rosedrake."

Gesturing to Celeste, he offers with a wry smile, "Celeste Argentos, she who leads our merry band and inspiring us ever to great feats of renown."

One of the Dwarves has a sudden, happy reaction to Alayna.

"Ah!  A tumbler, you say!  Of stones, to clean and polish and bring out their natural beau..."

Another Dwarf suddenly engages in some frantic ear whispering.  The first Dwarf goes through several rapid changes of facial expression, including two variations of befuddlement.

The Dwarves give Alayna close look, as if trying to figure out what "physical skills" someone with her physique could possibly do.

How hard could she possibly throw an ax?

"I am Celeste Argentos," Celeste says.  "Of the Argentos troupe of performers... you may have heard of..."

Dwarves shake their head.

"Nevertheless we are known from Basilia north and south throughout Gaul.  We have never been this far east before, and we thank you in advance for your hospitality."

The Dwarves make a very official sounding announcement of the party's arrival.

They tell the party that they have a Caravanserie, in accordance with law and custom, every town of Roman law must provide a place of safety for travelers, including merchant caravans.  It is alongside a wall... everything here is alongside a wall... and is roofed and has available fresh water, in accordance with the law.

The Dwarves seem proud of the fact that they have observed the law to a T.

"Let everything else blow away in the wind, we have not even shaken," a Dwarf observes.

Anything beyond a roof and water may be obtained from their inn, the Rhine-House.  That, according to the law, does not have to be free.

And the Rhine-House's proprietor is already hustling out of the inn to greet the party, perhaps expecting customers.  It's hard to tell male from female with many Dwarves, but this one looks female, with long blond pigtails and a long and quite sturdy looking leather apron over a heavy and near floor length dress.

"Weary travelers of afar," she says as if it is a very familiar line.  "I welcome you to our fair town. We have had traveling bands of performers visit us... but not of late.  I was young.  It was.. oh, I think seventy or eighty years ago when the last one came through.  We may be a little rusty on how it is supposed to be managed and all that."

Mistress of the Rhine-Ho9use, the behavior of all who have met us is a rusty as a newly forged anvil.

We would not want to fall afoul of the law here. Are the statutes written. If not, well, we are well-behaved folk.

One of the younger Dwarves, part of the "Welcome Troop", looks at the mistress of the Rhine House and asks, "What, there was a lot like these once upon, Aunt Grulla?"

The Dwarf woman nods.  "But when there were lots, that was even before my time.  Things didn't change all of a sudden, Bovdin. Even when Orcs came by, the Huns, the Goths, it wasn't like one day we had daily visitors the next day none.  It was like, it was once a week, then once a month, then once a year, but the pace slowed gradually. You had to live a long time to notice.  But there was a time, Germania to the north was flourishing, and so was Italia to the south, and so many people came and went along the roads between and some even took the minor roads, like ours.  The time of Once Upon."

The Dwarf woman returns her attention to the party.  "I remember them telling tales with music and dancing, and juggling fireballs, and having colorful birds that spoke.  Always strange things.  We haven't seen anything much more than our own faces in ages.  You don't happen to have a talking bird, do you?  I would like to see that again.  I was a young Dwarf then, but I remember."

Alayna couldn't help but giggle at the dwarves. She could hear the comments with her keen hearing, and she was not insulted. She was not strong in the dwarven sense, but she was strong in her own way. They would see. And if the little she understood was true, they would like it.

Her winged costume might be good. She could not fly, but she could soar. And with Angel, she would.

She followed everyone to the Rhine-House, curious and almost bouncing on her toes in eagerness to experience something new. What tales she could tell to her love! Still, she looked around in amazement.

"I do tricks of tumbling and tricks on my horse, Angel. Which reminds me, can I bed her down somewhere? She needs nothing special, and I can sleep with her if I need to. But I always take care of her first. Before having fun!" The teen giggled.

After translation, Nwofia smiles her brightest, whitest, toothiest smile. "I remember talking birds from my childhood.  A beautiful grey bird called a Psittaca. In the wild they do not speak but imitate all the sounds they hear. The traders of Zanj like to train them, just as they train monkeys to dance and turn cartwheels and play drums".

Topaz goes along with the flow, travelling with the other members of the troupe to whatever lodgings are offered.  Idly, he twirls a short wooden whistle through his fingers as they go.  There is an inn, apparently with a tavern, the Faun considers to himself before voicing aloud, "Everything's going to be just fine."

Playing to type, he smiles his warmest smile.  "Is there a time where folk gather at the Rhine-Inn?  I'd like to wet my whistle and bend a string in thanks for your hospitality."

"I have stalls," the Dwarf woman says while giving the horse a serious look.  "In the old days there would have been food for the horse.  The eat... well it must be the same thing as our ponies, yes?"

She looks as if she is really hoping that the answer is yes.  Like the other Dwarves here, she's not exactly familiar with horses.   Dwarves do not take to horses as well as Humans and Elves do.  It's a simple matter of body design.  Their short legs do not do a very good job of straddling the horse's body.  They do have ponies, strong and tough and short of leg... like Dwarves.  But those ponies are not nearly as numerous as horses are among the taller folk.  It's not that they are too expensive... it's just as much as a "thing" in Dwarven culture.  Perhaps its all those centuries living in the mountains.

Then the innkeeper turns back to the group.

"Oh, we gather every day when the work ceases with the sun down.  Work hard, but there's a time for it and a time not to, right?"

Something clicks in what she remembered about these traveling groups.

"Do you want a crowd there, then?  Are you going to... well, whatever the horse does, we certainly can't be having that in the inn. Rafters will clear a tall Human's head, but no further."

The Faun smirks, then gives a little chuckle, short tail wagging with amusement.  "There are some things that're best done outside, on the green or in a large courtyard.  For this evening, though, there's no need to gather up a crowd.  Far better for such a thing to come of its own accord should people find their own reasons to come."

With an easy smile, he adds, "Tonight, the inn would be best."

Nwofia smiles imagining a performance in an Inn with rafters.  This was going to be even more fun than zephyr dancing.

Alayna puzzled out parts of it, but then Topaz set her straight. "I can perform without my horse, if need be. I have other skills." She smiled, already getting excited to perform again.
This message was lightly edited by the player at 04:53, Fri 23 Apr 2021.

A chance to rest for a bit would be welcomed, but Siankiir promised herself to stay alert for the sake of the others.  The dwarves so far seemed hospitable -- and she hoped it would stay that way.

As they settle in, the Clan-Lord shows up.

It's an old title, but Dwarves hate changing things.  Sure, centuries of mixes and matches have left clans as more fuzzy concepts than solid realities, but the Clans.. whatever they are... were the masters of Dwarven domains, and so the Clan-Lord is the acknowledged hereditary ruler of Tasgaetium.


Age is hard to tell with Dwarves, with those white beards filling out so early in life (Dwarf babies are born with wisps of hair on their chins, giving them a head start).  But perhaps this one looks young for his title.  Not young for a Dwarf, just young for one called a Clan Lord.

He seems curious, if bewildered.

"Guests?  Travellers?"

"Performers," the innkeeper says, nodding.

"Oh.  Err.. Umm.. Respectable ones?  Good references?  Morally upstanding?"

The red-headed woman drinking herbal tea speaks up. Yes, none, and yes. More importantly, a breath of fresh air, for once more the World to the west is changing.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:16, Thu 22 Apr 2021.

Nwofia sips at her spring water and watches quietly, following Topaz's lead, even though following the lead of a faun may not be the most morally upstanding idea but she's an alien so what can she do?

Once it was translated fully, Alayna relaxed, asking for tea as some of the others. "I am but a girl, and I love my woods, my horse, and those that perform with me." She leaned back in her chair, and sighed, her long hair falling behind. "I have no home, but I mean no one harm. And I be happy being me, with no malice. Accept me if ye will. I will be content either way."

Truly, the teen was happy. Good friends, good tea, her horse was happy. What else did she need?

For references, Topaz has none but the best, having travelled with the Argentos' Travelling Show intermittently.  He's performed for royalty and served as courtier, special envoy, and occasional advisor to courts across Gaul.  His manners are impeccable, though he's likely a mite short of moral rectitude as far as Dwarves are concerned.  That, however, is not his role.  Still, he knows how a Dwarf might see him.

"We come from the Argentos Travelling Show, m'lord, and perform various arts of entertainment.  The Show itself is much larger, with many more players, but the road from the Baiovari is no longer well-kept, thus the full troupe has not made the journey.  We made our way through the forests along the Rhein."  Regarding upstanding ethics, he lets the response of the others carry the message.  He is hardly one to suggest that working hard is the best way to spend one's day.

"All I have as reference is this.  I crossed the Great Sand Sea, what Romans call Desertus Sahara in my bare feet", says Nwofia.  "I have performed and drawn applause from all those who crossed my path.  I hope to do so for the Dwarves of Bodensee."  She stands impassive as she awaits the translation of her words.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:43, Thu 29 Apr 2021.

"I am but their guard and defender on these roads and paths," Was all Siankiir said.  Her blades remained peace-bonded in their sheathes.

The Dwarves are most fascinated with the story of Nwofia, as the others represent things that are at least somewhat familiar.  Alayna... well that just sounds sorrowful to them.  Dwarves love their homes and their families.  To not have a solid, familiar place where you can sit beside a fire at the end of a good day's work... it sounds sad, and she can see sympathy in their craggy faces, even as she tells them she likes it that way.

The Lord of Tasgaetium is impressed by Nwofia.  "An extraordinary journey! To have come such a long ways, great tales you must have!  Stories of far off kingdoms!"

One of older, craggier Dwarves concurs.  "I have read as much in the Library at Constantia... they have Ptolemy, you know.  There are kingdoms south of the Sea of Sand.  Not any Dwarves, mind you.  And strange animals such as the Efellant and Hyperpotenus."

The innkeeper speaks up.  "A shame they've got no exotic animals.  I remember a bird, that talked..."

Apparently the tale is a familiar one.  The innkeeper gets a few looks from other Dwarves and stops talking.

The King continues.  "As you may know, though we are proud of our home, it is only the western gateway to the Bodensee.  We cannot claim the magnificence of Constantia or Brigantium.  Any audience you might find here would be small- only ourselves, perhaps a few of the Gnomes that live in the area. Maybe even Humans if they are nearby, they come and go.  But it is our duty to know what passes through our gates, and bar the way to Constantia to those not worthy.  We must require that you give us at least a demonstration, lest we hear from the Lords of Bodensee, what rabble do we send them?"

The head of a large bat emerges from Tahra's clothes. It emerges fully and looks at her. Then it turns its head toward the innkeeper. Master Innkeeper, I possess no such memorable wonder. However, here is my friend Klimmin. If you wish it, he will light upon one of your forearms, and permit himself to be petted. I believe you will find the sensation pleasant.