Zepher

Guts walks into the Magic Shop and sees the owner sitting behind the counter. Unlike the last time the heroes stopped in Haddon, there was no dragon in the store. "Hello hello. What can I do you for? Just take a look around, see if anything tickles your fancy." Grand Potion – Restores 25 health to the target. Costs 15 gold. Grand Tonic – Restores 15 ether to the target. Costs 40 gold. Elixir – Restores 50 health and 10 ether to the target and removes all negative effects from the target during a battle. Costs 65 gold. Phoenix Essence – Revives a fallen ally with full health during a battle. Costs 75 gold. Mead - Causes the encouraged-effect, doubling the target's attack power for the duration of one battle. Costs 25 gold. Smelling Salts - Causes the hastened-effect, allowing the target to act twice in one round for the duration of one battle. Costs 40 gold. Nostrum - Causes the lucky-effect, allowing the target to roll the battle die twice and get the better result of the two for the duration of one battle. Costs 35 gold. Minimizing Dust - Consumable. Grants the minimized effect. 75 Gold. *3 in Stock* Grating Stone - Consumable. Ups the WP of any weapon it is used on by 1. Costs 150 gold. *2 in Stock* Fate's Orb - Consumable. Must be used targeting another party member. The party member it is used on may pick their roll next turn instead of rolling a die. Costs 125 gold. *6 in Stock*

I think we're learning some important info from the poll.

Bobby wanders up and examines door #2, to see what it had to say for itself.

Haven't had much of a chance to comment on quests that aren't my own recently, but... 129 (yes, know I'm at least a month late to that game): superb. Great read. Wonderful characters as always, and the story worked together extremely well. There were some parts that felt a little tacked on, like others have said, simply because they didn't have an agenda that seemed served or not served by the end (the Crimson Crown for sure could have been taken out and the quest would have been the same, which is never the way you want to feel with story-telling). But everything else... fantastic. And the lead up to Jules' death... I really thought they would save him in the nick of time, and they were so far off, and it was devastating and real and a great character death. The flashes allowed us to get to know Melville a little bit more too, which was good, because as a big bad he seemed to come out of left field a little. Reading the PMs made that better, for me. 138 - Great quest. I agree it could have benefitted from a slower pace. I know it's a little silly to say, but I purposely try to not respond too swiftly to my quests. Say person A responds, I respond, person A responds, I respond... now person A is kind of impatient to move onto the next thing, but Person B is still hoping to engage in the first thing. Again, like getting from point A to point B, it might seem silly to make them stop at Point C in-between, because there's nothing really to do in point C, but it will help them orient themselves. But, as far as choice and characters bouncing off each other, awesome quest. I really loved Vorpalis, and I sort of wish he hadn't been so out-right antagonistic, I thought he had a chance at being King, and wish that had been a more legitimate choice because it would have been a cool switch in the game dynamic (moon elves fugitives in Eubric!!!!) but it wasn't to be. Skrall was awesome in the end there. I've been a long time fan, obviously, but it's my favorite things when the most virtuosic of a character's traits make him into the villain a bit. Even Skrall's two different traits - loyalty to the party and his sense of real right and wrong... they came into conflict within himself. It was a great intro to Jinnipher too.

Yes. Agreed. I can promise you, 53 taught me a lot in that regard. Even though I think I did end up engaging nearly everyone... but it can done better. It will be done better. Even so, I think my finale won't possibly be able to have nearly everyone I'd want on it. I'm still debating the number of heroes... Sandy on my very first quest advised me against having 8 heroes, and I totally ignored the advice. And, as more often than not, it was great advice and I was being silly.

I know, but to quote someone or other: "just when I thought I was out, they pull me right back in"... and so I may be heading North for a short excursion before hosting my finale in the Spring... EDIT: As for this other debate, it's up to the QM if it works at all, and then to make it convincing when it does. Like Sandy said, you can role play it 100 ways both as a player and then as a QM, so it should work just fine. In the real world mercenaries couldn't ask Kings to do something and if they boldly asked diplomatically it'd work, but we let that slide all the time.

I think the issue would be Frankensteining it into something cohesive, though there may be some stories that sort of flow together depending on how your final quest goes. I think you'll be hosting your finale before I do.

I wanted to say thanks to Endgame for including me in his epilogue for 138. We're getting closer and closer to a finale (the both of us!).

"Only to lead mortal beings into a Golden Age. I see much potential in the world, but also see it squandered often. It is best that we do what we can to improve the world, isn't it? That means defeating those who would prevent progress - the Cold Circles, the Order Imperial, certain sects of the Crimson Crown, and those who are blinded by past evils and hatreds, be it the citizens of Baltarok, The High Kingdoms, or Dastan, as well as, and this is important, allowing for those with good in their hearts to flourish. Many crusaders, I fear, think only to defeat the evil while neglecting to allow the good space and ability to flourish. But our's is a mission of hope, not destruction." "That is joyous news!" exclaims Tarn. "I had hoped for that, though I didn't dare dream it would be a day so soon. What are they like?" Tarn blushes a little at the mention of his high status. "From a poor peasant orphan to this-" he gestures around the Dining Hall, speechless. "Ah, you met my little kobold as well." She grins. "He gets that reaction from many." "I believe my place is here in Dastan, but I believe blows here will come shortly, especially with your display today. Your massacre today. And when that time, you will have my blade. Don't even need my gift to tell that." She exhales. "If you'd like to spar a little this evening, though, I'm sure we can find a space. I admit I've never seen a Dragoon in combat. It's a good thing that dragons are coming back to play in this world a little, I'd love to see it in action." "That is a part of being a hero I remember well. The stories in the Hall." Tarn chuckles wistfully. "Life of royalty does not afford me the same stories. Though I have discovered it does provide a similar river of free drinks and food." Tarn bows to the little dragon, and she can feel warmth radiating from him - no words need be expressed. It seems that in his time in Dastan Tarn has grown better at the unspoken language of dragons. Though an impressive spread, the food and drink look unlikely to buff the heroes in anyway. There's no doubt, however, that they'll feel healthy and hearty tomorrow. "Many," says Mallelio with a shy grin. "But much of early history is lost to us. There are many great beasts it would be interesting to track down and ask such things. The dragons must have a guess, and I hear talk of their ancestors, the Elder Dragons, who may know such things. My own chance to discover such mysteries came and went before twice I even thought of it. When Princess Ella was born, three great witches visited us, strange and old creatures. They may have had the answers to some of our questions, but I have never seen them since. And again when we fought Wren, we came into contact with beings called the Old Gods. But there was too much to be done, and one was slain, and the other disappeared." "Your chance at Vartland may come sooner than you think. I see visions of many converging there soon, and as always, heroes look likely to be involved." Natasha smiles. "It's nice to meet someone else with a bit of sense. Happens a lot in the longer living races - elves get it a bit more than most humans do, in my experience."

"Relax. Guts is just making fun of my parlor tricks." "Bringing those that should be dead back to the land of the living... but unwhole. Soulless." OoC: Let me know if you'd like to do anything else in the town, and if not, we can be on our way!

Boomingham follows Heckz to the Great Library... his eventual destination the Castle District, but his interest too high to not stop and peek at least.

Bobby hangs at the back of the group, a little nervous about picking the wrong door. "Yo, why is only one door marked? Like, do the other three doors just say nothing? How could we pick between them, then?"

Bobby stays quiet, feeling like everyone had said enough at this point about how they felt about the conflict and the two races.

Still not quite how I do it, though I've seen it different ways. ([([WPxCrit]+Level+Power bonus) X elements X Encouraged] - SP) X Fragile

Absurdly cool builds. Like the others have said, that alien is straight up beautiful, and the club is fantastic looking!

That dojo is awesome! Have never seen the back of the brick piece used for bamboo before, but it works super well! The whole thing is a great build! Wish there had been more background behind the computer console - that build feels empty compared to the dojo.

"Many ancient rights in many civilizations seem to have cross over. It is not uncommon. In the Prophetess and the Warrior the duo often speculates that the ancient world may have all sprung up from one place. They observed, as we do now, many connections between civilizations that appeared to have no knowledge of each other, or at the very least very limited knowledge of each other." Vipera replies to Purpearl within her mind OoC: Check your PMs. OoC: In the picture of the party she isn't carrying a shield - she's not a barbarian like the heroes, always armed to the teeth even in social settings. He did already give his name though, I see... "I find courts a bit of a bore myself, sometimes. I usually send my Ambassador, Heweyrt, to deal with purely social calls, but it's looking more and more like Dastan is going to take some muscle as well. You don't carry yourself too poorly, though," she says, sizing him up. "Sure did. Haven't been home in a while though, mostly a world traveller at this point, not unlike your crowd. Like I said, Dastan is a nice stop for me. Ella and I both being prophetesses and what not... you don't meet too many of them. Hard to communicate with people who aren't more cued into the bigger picture sometimes."

"I have been quite well!" Tarn exclaims as he walks swiftly over to Arthur and Hybros and everyone, hesitating for a moment before giving them all very quick brotherly hugs. "My life now does not allow me nearly as much opportunity for travel, but more time for thinking and reading. I had never really read before, in excess... I had never had the time for it." He smiles warmly. "But surely you have great tales to tell me." "Not exactly. The Right of the People is a ancient and barbaric right. In the old days, anyone could challenge an Emperor to trial by combat. Both the challenger and the Emperor choose a champion, and whoever wins... it hasn't been used in years. It was uncommon even when it was a more realized practice - the Emperor has an entire nation to choose from, and of course the challenger must convince someone to possibly die for them. But with the support that Sven is gathering... it isn't impossible." "I'll have to ask him, but I feel our place at the moment is in Dastan. Xu already had it's revolution. As for the Minoid, he's around the Palace somewhere. You'll find him." Natasha glances at her shield, leaning agains the wall, since she doesn't have it on her person ( ). "My name is Natasha. As I was telling your friend, I'm from Vartland. Everyone is a warrior there. Who might you be?" <It is a little bit of both.>

<Hissvetia is not in her own right bad, I suppose one could argue. It is her followers who evoke her name in their unholy experiments who are the true evil doers.> "Magical beams. Of course." Nona shrugs. "Captain Lane. From the Free Islands originally, but not Uland, so who cares from where. Gull, I'm thinking. Works for the Bonapartes, is mystified by his dog. Doesn't know you killed Melville yet, but now does. He fought a sea beast or two in his day, wields a cannon in combat most of the time and is damn proud of it though he won't tell anybody so. Hoping for a promotion, but keeps getting his ships damaged." "Pretty damn good. But like Guts said, easy enough to pick up if you hang around the Freeport long enough." "It was you who asked me how I knew your name. Don't need to prove it to you." "Duplova is going to be tough to reach by ship. We'll have to march there." McColt stands up. "I'll go meet with the King right now. We can be ready to depart tomorrow evening. I'll see you then." He claps Dyric on the back. "It will be good to travel again, and what's more with friends."

Boomingham shifts in his new armor. "Chaps, we have to move fast. I'm assuming it's going to be mighty suspect when the Crimson Bear doesn't show tomorrow. I've got to get to that Hotel and then track down the Black Market, and lickity split too, I think."

Still catching up/moving in, but updates are incoming!

Bobby drinks a mead.

Likewise, I'm moving back up to college today/tomorrow, so updates from me should come a little under 24 hours from now, but from there on in we should be totally set. I'm sorry again for the delays.

"You'd do well to show some empathy," the Emperor says a little too shortly, and then exhales and shakes his head at himself. "I'm not saying it's logical to cling to the old system. Hels, I'm ready to see U'Daras be Empress, like I said. But these people. It's a lot to ask them, to give up a huge part of what they know. I wouldn't come to Eubric and tell you that you were all ruled by a Emperor now. They don't... the U'Kin to them... many of them have never gotten to know a U'Kin. They're as much a foreigner as Valco to most of these people." "Natasha is here." The Emperor points to the woman Hybros has engaged in conversation. "Ask her about her Inventor. From what she's said she's the ring leader of that group." Miirym continues to listen to the conversation, having missed a little bit of it thanks to her discussion with Vipera. "The U'Kin in Eubric enjoy much more freedom. It was rare for a head to turn when I was there with the Princess it was odd for a head to turn, though there are few U'Kin in the city." "Yes, U'Voros, it is well known that you went to Eubric with the Princess, U'Voros." "Every land has it's troubles..." Mallelio repeats sadly. "I will prove myself to these people." "The trouble of course being that as soon as you do, they grow to fear you more. The more fearsome you seem, the more Dastanian, the more they will fear you. It is a strange but dangerous contradiction." "Sven is making it no easier. Do you think that it's possible he may call for the Right of the People, do you think so?" "I fear he may. It has not been used in many years, but..." Miirym cannot read any specific thoughts, but it is clear this is a conversation between friends to her. "Sven isn't a petty man. He's not doing anything he's doing out of feeling slighted. As for inviting him to the feast - I'm afraid the time for that has passed. At this point it will only serve to weaken the ground the U'Kin have won, I think. As soon as we give concessions. That's not the Dastan way." Torc finds that Vipera remains silent, and can sense vaguely that she may be making fun of the larger dragon's constant silence in doing so. "No? How quickly heroes forget their friends. I think my friend Deborah may have helped you recover your people not to long ago." Natasha smirks. "Pretty much what you described though, yes. All we're looking to do is ensure that U'Daras lives long enough to take that throne - the sooner the better. One of my compatriots has a passion for automaton as well, and he had some notes he wanted to pick up here. And to even add to the appeal of the city, I'm a bit of a history nut. Princess Ella recently recovered a book of old tales of a Princess and Warrior. Think it may have helped finding your people, actually. She donated it to the Dastan Library. I've been flipping through. Add to that the fact that there aren't all that many prophetesses around, and it's nice to meet another. So, our visit to the city is triple pronged." At that moment Ella and Tarn walk into the room. Tarn stands a little shyly in the doorway, a bashful grin on his face. Ella smiles kindly at him, pats him on the back, and wanders over to Lady Felix.

"Captain Guts Holla, from Strivvi. You had an arms deal or something over there. Now you call yourself a hero. Thwarted the Cold Circles most recently, but they'll bounce back. They always do. You were up in Baltarok too, when they did the whole bridge thing. Oh, and you took out the Dark General way back when. You're working for Guffington now, third time around." She waves a hand dismissively. "I could go on, I guess, but it's not too interesting. Think you were doing better in Strivvi, myself. And if I got some of it wrong... there's lots of you." She frowns. "Good enough party trick? I have a few more." "The eye... that was years ago. Who can remember anymore." "Duplovia..." he frowns. "Didn't you say you came from there. And things went south for you..." McColt exhales out of one corner of his mouth. "Don't like you going home alone. I'll tell you what. The King of Haddon has been looking to send a ambassador over to Duplovia for a while, say a hello. Would travel with an armored guard. Let me accompany you to Duplovia, serve as an ambassador, and watch your back. What do you say?"