2020-01-09 - "Amorphophallus Titanium", and Losing a Friend
Jan 10, 2020 22:29:45 GMT
BB, Stedd, and 1 more like this
Post by Deleted on Jan 10, 2020 22:29:45 GMT
Arkadius hadn't even unlocked the front door to Ffirst Airmail’s office before he felt the telltale tentative mental connection with Ida fully forming. You're back, was all Ida said as he stumbled through the door. ”Yes, barely… Ugh. I'm not gonna be looking at plants the same way any time soon… They damned well nearly killed me. Though I did get this wand out of a kobold, so… Not all bad…”
A surprise meeting from Mathew led me to be spending a little more time than I had planned for in the Flourished Hook, waiting for people to be looking for him. People being adventurers for a quest, for which he'd asked me to take over the organizing and planning. And paying.
I'd only met Onno once before, and it just so happened to be a very… humorous time for me, given that I adored every moment with Onno, his personality and demeanour. "I have been given a mission…" was his greeting, and straight away I knew it was going to be a pleasant day.
A few carrots, and a bottle of whiskey later, and a rag-tag bunch of adventurers… Sorry, a well-fitting coterie of adventurers did we make. Me, Onno, Wren, Bones, Mace and… Kegs? Cakes? Caex. Sure. The Flourished Hook happened to be closing for a private event, so the coterie travelled that night. I think I may have annoyed everyone by inventing a new whiskey song (”One bottle of whiskey in my bag, one bottle of whiskey! You take it out, and have a swig, and put the bottle of whiskey back in the bag!”. Though it will show them when it wins loads of awards in years to come.
On reaching the bog and the swamp, it didn't take long for us to notice trouble, Caex wasn't wrong. There were dead things. With tracks that looked like all the snakes had crawled up into a ball together and… Am I misremembering this? Is this all in a different order? Oh well. It's my story, I'll tell it how I want.
There were kobolds too! Oh yes, seven of the little blighters. All dead. And wearing her symbol. That made me annoyed. Wren, the City Guard whattymajig person cut off one of the symbols, saying the City Guard should be aware. Not sure if they'll be able to help, given… Well, her abilities. I will find her, one day.
We followed the trail, and apparently it went near Caex’s shack thing. I can't believe he lives out there. We stayed there for the night, and found Keith the next day. Oh, I
I forgot to tell you about that. Keith is… This… Horse. With humps on his back. And the worst possible mood and temperament you can imagine. He definitely has the hump...s. With everyone.
So, he was struggling in quicksand. I was immediately volunteered to fly over with rope to try and get that tied to him,so the strong people could pull him out. Yes,I could have used Mage Hand, I forgot all about it. You know how much I like to show off with my wings.
That's when, after a little while in a different clearing, we found another kobolds. Alive. I pointed a hand of fire in his direction, just to help… Keep the conversation civil. Long story short, stuff happened and we started fighting. He had the symbol of her too, so he had to go down ultimately.
That's when the two massive flowers came out of the woodwork, and started being vicious. Last thing I remember is one of them taking offence to my use of fire, and coming along to absolutely throttle me. The first thing I remember after that is them both being dead, and Mace saying something. The kobolds offered us a deal, and we found out they were… Oh yes, there were two of them. Not long before I collapsed, his brother cast a spell from the tree line. But yes they, the brother and sister, are the cousin of Khaosborn Cow-face, and said there were others who didn't see eye-to-eye. Not sure, they're all so small… Made a deal, let them go and got this pretty cool looking wand for letting them go. Might try to find them some time. Or others in the family...
So yeah, that was my day, how was yours being here all alone, mooching around the city like a cat? Hear any interesting gossip?
Some time later…
For a brief second, it felt like a portal opened up in his chest, and took away all his insides. “Is that… who and what I think it is?”, was all he managed to say, followed by Mathew asking "I need privacy and a few things, can I use your office?”, before a solitary tear made its way down his cheek, closely followed by a near-constant stream. It took a few seconds before he half-composed himself and he nodded silently. It was the first proper loss he had felt in many, many years, and it stung bitterly.
He cleared his throat, and turned to the staff behind the counters. “Folks… I'closing the office for two days, please get word to the delivery team and put the word out amongst the citizens of Port Ffirst. Undoubtedly, they will hear of the reason why soon enough. You may all go home, and you will be fully paid for the time. Just… be with your families, and appreciate the time you have with them.”
Arkadius quickly led Mathew back into the private area which housed his office, brushing away everything from atop his desk onto the floor with one sweep of his wing, his papers, books and writing implements clattering away noisily onto the floor.
Ida quietly made her way into the room, appearing in her cat form which she felt most comfortable being in when at home in the office and Port Ffirst. She walked by Arkadius’ foot, rubbing against his shin for a moment letting him know she was there, before sitting stone-dead still next to him.
“We will leave you be, me and Ida. But before you even dare think about riding off into the sunset again, I would like to… Know what happened. An explanation, if you will deign to enlighten me. Do you need anything, before I go?”
[Time passes. See the rest of the action here.]
Arkadius moved over to his friend’s side, placing a hand on Matthew's shoulder. Ida, Arkadius’ cat familiar, joined him too, rubbing up against Mathew in an attempt to soothe him. “I'm sorry, Mathew. Gegrun was an amazing guy, and… He will be missed. And we should heed his words. Be nice...”
A surprise meeting from Mathew led me to be spending a little more time than I had planned for in the Flourished Hook, waiting for people to be looking for him. People being adventurers for a quest, for which he'd asked me to take over the organizing and planning. And paying.
I'd only met Onno once before, and it just so happened to be a very… humorous time for me, given that I adored every moment with Onno, his personality and demeanour. "I have been given a mission…" was his greeting, and straight away I knew it was going to be a pleasant day.
A few carrots, and a bottle of whiskey later, and a rag-tag bunch of adventurers… Sorry, a well-fitting coterie of adventurers did we make. Me, Onno, Wren, Bones, Mace and… Kegs? Cakes? Caex. Sure. The Flourished Hook happened to be closing for a private event, so the coterie travelled that night. I think I may have annoyed everyone by inventing a new whiskey song (”One bottle of whiskey in my bag, one bottle of whiskey! You take it out, and have a swig, and put the bottle of whiskey back in the bag!”. Though it will show them when it wins loads of awards in years to come.
On reaching the bog and the swamp, it didn't take long for us to notice trouble, Caex wasn't wrong. There were dead things. With tracks that looked like all the snakes had crawled up into a ball together and… Am I misremembering this? Is this all in a different order? Oh well. It's my story, I'll tell it how I want.
There were kobolds too! Oh yes, seven of the little blighters. All dead. And wearing her symbol. That made me annoyed. Wren, the City Guard whattymajig person cut off one of the symbols, saying the City Guard should be aware. Not sure if they'll be able to help, given… Well, her abilities. I will find her, one day.
We followed the trail, and apparently it went near Caex’s shack thing. I can't believe he lives out there. We stayed there for the night, and found Keith the next day. Oh, I
I forgot to tell you about that. Keith is… This… Horse. With humps on his back. And the worst possible mood and temperament you can imagine. He definitely has the hump...s. With everyone.
So, he was struggling in quicksand. I was immediately volunteered to fly over with rope to try and get that tied to him,so the strong people could pull him out. Yes,I could have used Mage Hand, I forgot all about it. You know how much I like to show off with my wings.
That's when, after a little while in a different clearing, we found another kobolds. Alive. I pointed a hand of fire in his direction, just to help… Keep the conversation civil. Long story short, stuff happened and we started fighting. He had the symbol of her too, so he had to go down ultimately.
That's when the two massive flowers came out of the woodwork, and started being vicious. Last thing I remember is one of them taking offence to my use of fire, and coming along to absolutely throttle me. The first thing I remember after that is them both being dead, and Mace saying something. The kobolds offered us a deal, and we found out they were… Oh yes, there were two of them. Not long before I collapsed, his brother cast a spell from the tree line. But yes they, the brother and sister, are the cousin of Khaosborn Cow-face, and said there were others who didn't see eye-to-eye. Not sure, they're all so small… Made a deal, let them go and got this pretty cool looking wand for letting them go. Might try to find them some time. Or others in the family...
So yeah, that was my day, how was yours being here all alone, mooching around the city like a cat? Hear any interesting gossip?
Some time later…
For a brief second, it felt like a portal opened up in his chest, and took away all his insides. “Is that… who and what I think it is?”, was all he managed to say, followed by Mathew asking "I need privacy and a few things, can I use your office?”, before a solitary tear made its way down his cheek, closely followed by a near-constant stream. It took a few seconds before he half-composed himself and he nodded silently. It was the first proper loss he had felt in many, many years, and it stung bitterly.
He cleared his throat, and turned to the staff behind the counters. “Folks… I'closing the office for two days, please get word to the delivery team and put the word out amongst the citizens of Port Ffirst. Undoubtedly, they will hear of the reason why soon enough. You may all go home, and you will be fully paid for the time. Just… be with your families, and appreciate the time you have with them.”
Arkadius quickly led Mathew back into the private area which housed his office, brushing away everything from atop his desk onto the floor with one sweep of his wing, his papers, books and writing implements clattering away noisily onto the floor.
Ida quietly made her way into the room, appearing in her cat form which she felt most comfortable being in when at home in the office and Port Ffirst. She walked by Arkadius’ foot, rubbing against his shin for a moment letting him know she was there, before sitting stone-dead still next to him.
“We will leave you be, me and Ida. But before you even dare think about riding off into the sunset again, I would like to… Know what happened. An explanation, if you will deign to enlighten me. Do you need anything, before I go?”
[Time passes. See the rest of the action here.]
Arkadius moved over to his friend’s side, placing a hand on Matthew's shoulder. Ida, Arkadius’ cat familiar, joined him too, rubbing up against Mathew in an attempt to soothe him. “I'm sorry, Mathew. Gegrun was an amazing guy, and… He will be missed. And we should heed his words. Be nice...”