Fruity Rumpus Asshole Party - D&D Edition [Closed RP]

Lei is not at all used to negotiating for things on his own behalf, and it shows despite his best efforts. "I think we should probably see if there's actually anything we can do before we start talking about debts and things. Though, if we could make a bit of a trade at the start, there is something I was hoping for your help with, Vesta." Lei steps toward them with the sleeping wolf puppy in his arms, hoisting it up a little so that they can see.

"This puppy will need a guardian through the winter and perhaps beyond, until they're able to survive and live well on their own. I'm, er, not really equip to raise a wild animal, but I can't just let Snoopy, I mean the cub, die. If I agree to investigate this whole blight mess with you, will you foster this wolf cub for me until it reaches adulthood?"

[Persuasion 20, goddamn. He looks absolutely pathetic and charming, look at his face.]

 

Vesta evaluates the cub, and then gently takes it from Lei's arms. The little wolf initially twists and struggles, but their fingers smooth through the thick fur with reassuring tenderness. The mouse in Vesta's hair burrows out of sight. Vesta's eyes flash golden for a moment, and they lean down and touch noses with the cub. Their head tilts, and the cub whines. Vesta makes a few deep, deep sounds - almost growling, but not. The cub's ears perk up, it looks between them and Lei, and the tail thumps against Vesta's leg. It rises up on its hind legs to lick under their chin, then dips back into a easy sitting position in their lap.

"We have reached an agreeable accord." Vesta smiles. "This little female is strong willed. She will grow into a magnificent beast, in time. I will gladly be her guardian." Their smile fades, and fingers still. "You have my thanks for bringing her with you. I have been tracking her mother for months now, but she had always managed to elude my efforts. She was touched by a madness that was spreading deeper within her mind with every passing season, an aggression that overrode her base instincts and intelligence. I doubt this one was the sole birth of the litter, but it seems she is the only survivor of her mother's malady. I sought to cure her, but I now believe her illness tied to the sickening of the land. If you can find the source of this blight, and remove it, you will help the forest as well as the town."

 

The relief pouring from Lei is nearly visible in its intensity. That, of course, means that he talks even more. "Thank you so much, I'm so glad that, she?, will be okay. Snoop is such a good girl. Can you talk to her? Will you ask her if it's okay if I visit? We're going to find the evil bastard who brainfucked her mom, no way that's okay. They are going down."

 

Giselle laughs, and slams her hand on the bar.

"Oi, Jugs. Grab this lad a beer, would you? On me."

"Aye." Jonah grabs a stein from under the bar, and pours out a perfect pint of beer with a fluffy foam top. He slides it in front of Lei, and leans over to scratch the wolf cub behind the ear. She bites him, and he laughs and wiggles his finger in her mouth. The cub's tail thumps. Vesta makes a few more sounds, tilts their head to one side. The cub produces a tiny yip around Jonah's finger.

"I believe that was a yes." Vesta smiles broadly. "And the holy warrior is correct, talk of debts is premature. The task must first be completed. You will have left an excellent trail. I shall accompany you tomorrow and assist you in tracing the steps of your foe."

 

Lei puts down the tankard he was already holding to accept the new one, before thinking twice and looking at Pyralspite. "I still have most of a full pint here. Would you mind terribly helping me finish off the new one before we head to bed?" He scoots the full, untouched pint towards her, hoping that it'll help smooth out whatever problem she's developed with him in the past couple of hours.

 

Pyralspite grins, showing off a large mouth full of sharp teeth, and wraps a clawed hand around the pint offered to her. She's glad the city boy has passed the literal, full-blooded wolf cub on to someone who actually knows how to take care of such a thing, and maybe he's not as thoughtless as he was starting to seem, to her. "Thank you, that's very kind." She's never had human beer before, but it smells about the same as the stuff that was brewed in her village, so she lifts it and takes a careful drink. Being from a reptilian race in a world of people with lips is hard. It's hard, and no-one understands.

 

At Pyralspite's toothy grin Lei feels enormously relieved. He takes a second sip of his own drink before putting it down and affecting an exhausted sigh, ruffling his already travel mussed hair. "I think it's time for me to head to sleep if we're going to be up starting an investigation in a few hours."

He looks at the rest of the group. "What time would you like to meet, and where? Also," Lei turns to the tavern owner. "Your daughter offered us lodging, though we don't have her here to vouch for us. I," He quickly corrects himself. "We, might need to stay for a while if we don't find other accommodations in town. Perhaps we could come to an arrangement of some kind? I think I've proven tonight that I can be very entertaining, and would be willing to provide for your customers and guests in exchange for whatever accommodations you felt able to offer."

 

Vesta ponders.
"Magic that alters the natural tends to be stronger at dusk and dawn. High noon would be the ideal time to navigate through potentially dangerous territory. We should convene at the temple of Casta."
Jonah chuckles, resting his thick and rather hairy arms on the bar.
"You sure you're not just taking it easy on them, Vee?"
"Jonah, would I?"
"Hah! Nah." He winks at you all. "Have fun trying to keep up. As for lodging, don't fret. I don't need anything in return, considering you're trying to save our town and all. If you want to spin us a tale when you come back to roost, feel free."

 

Pyralspite takes another long, careful drink from the mug of ale that Lei gave her, because free drink is not to be scoffed at, then sets it down on the bar with a satisfied sigh. She listens to the others talk, a little surprised that the inn's owner would let them stay for free, but quick to thank him when he does. "It's still very kind of you Jonah Branson, and very, ah, civic minded. If anything does occur to you that we could help with, in return for lodging, I'd be happy to do it." Because after all, doing something for the town is not the same as doing something for a specific person who's helping them with free lodging, inside a building, with some sort of mattress and maybe even a couple of big, thick blankets, and... wow that sounds good.
Pyralspite blinks her eyes back open.

 

"Honourable, you're falling asleep on your feet if you don't mind me saying so. C'mon, I'll show you two to your rooms." Jugs pauses. "Separate or together?"

 

Lei responds quickly, jumping at the offer. "Separate would be wonderful and incredibly generous! Though, um," Lei's enthusiasm wilts as he looks at Pyralspite. She seems very touchy about what generosity is okay to accept and he'd rather she didn't hit him again. "If you have some objections?"

 

["A 22 on insight makes your face mine to read!"]

While she may be falling asleep without having given her body permission to do so, Pyralspite is still awake enough that she can pick up on Lei's wilting enthusiasm. She's not sure why, as obviously a farmer offering them money she may not be able to afford and a barkeep offering them two rooms that would otherwise stand empty are completely different scenarios, and she therefore has no issue with the latter at all, but there it is. "Separate rooms would be ideal, and as Lei says, very generous."

 

The top floor of the inn boasts six rooms, three of which have a brown ribbon tied around the door handles. Jonah shows you both to two side by side rooms, ties matching brown ribbons to their handles, and bids you a restful night.
The rooms are fairly spartan, each featuring single beds pushed against the far wall from the door, a pail in a corner, a small table with a candle affixed, and a three legged stool. Each bed features a heavy patchwork quilt of simple cream and gold squares that look incredibly inviting on this frigid night. You find yourselves easily slipping into sleep after attending to any pre-rest routines you may have.

["You regain all lost hitpoints and your spell slots are refreshed. That includes you, Gamzee."]

 

Your rest is relatively peaceful, aside from any disturbing dreams you may have had as a result of your encounters during the night. When you wake, the sun is climbing high in the sky. It's not yet high noon, but you have two hours before the sun reaches its zenith.

Nowhere Mann, you wake in an empty bed. The room you found yourself in is less spartan than the others, but considerably more messy. Patchwork blankets in various stages of construction are flung about, along with spare temple robes, undergarments, and books.

["Due to the. Success. Of your romp last night, you now have inspiration."]

You all meet up in the common room downstairs, once any waking rituals have been attended to. The Homely Holt is almost empty in the morning, the only signs of habitation being noise coming from what must be the kitchen, judging by the delicious smells of baking bread and roasting meat.

 

Pyralspite wakes relatively early the next day, considering their late night, and when dressed takes her full pack and weapons downstairs with her. She settles diagonally into a chair by the fire (so her tail has space to curl out from behind her) and sets her pack by her feet. She's going to wait for Lei and Nowhere Mann to appear before going to investigate breakfast.

 

Lei is used to getting to sleep much later, but the rigors of the day exhausted him enough that he's able to fall asleep relatively quickly, and wake up well before their meeting at midday. At least a couple of hours before. That's all that's really necessary, right?

He stumbles around his room ungracefully until presentable, fusses and deliberates about his things for a few minutes, and eventually decides to take all of it with him for now. The people here seem nice, but he has yet to meet all of the people and there isn't exactly a lock on the door. When he manages to get downstairs Pyralspite is already there, but no one else is, so Lei doesn't think he's slept in too late.

"Good morning. Have you eaten? We should probably get food. Oh, I don't see the tiefling, and he doesn't even know about the meeting... and he hasn't exactly agreed to help either. We should probably ask him about that. Maybe we can butter him up with food; he's is going to stumble down here ravenous I'm sure."

 

[Gamzee ponders a bit, then decides: "I think I'll up and be saving that inspiration shit for later."]

Nowhere Mann is a little surprised to find his bedtime companion gone, but not particularly hurt--his churchlady, she's got her dawn things to do, like she said. Mostly he's surprised she was able to walk okay after all their happy exercise the night before.

He can hear people shuffling around outside his door, but he's in no particular hurry to leave his bed. The floor is goddamn cold on his feetstubs, after all, and he is buckass naked under his blanket shelter. He is feeling relaxed and unwound, more than he has in a long, long time, his tail curling and flicking contentedly. He grins sleepily at the ceiling, as if sharing a secret with it.

After a little while various inevitable facts make it so that remaining in bed is impossible: He is hungry. He has to pee. And there are his bros downstairs he hasn't seen since the day before.

He rises on wobbly legs and stretches. Humming to himself, he makes use of the room's little bucket and pulls on yesterday's clothes. He fluffs the pillows and makes the bed as best as he's able--it's still a bit lumpy looking and the top quilt is kinda crooked, but it would do. It is incredibly difficult not to simply fall forward and faceplant those pillows again, but he manages.

He rummages a bit in his backpack until he finds what he's looking for: a small mother-of-pearl shell in surprisingly nice condition, one of many little treasures he picked up while wandering. He doesn't remember where he found it or how long he's had it with him, but originally he thought he might make something pretty out of it. Now he's got other ideas.

Smiling at the shell as if it were Altea herself, he reverently pokes a dent into the center of a pillow with one finger and puts the shell inside. The colors inside remind him of her somehow, all shifting and shiny so you could keep on looking forever. If he could, he would be leaving her a seagull all roosted up so she could get to see one and talk to it and pet its feathers, but since he can't, he figures this will up and suffice:



That done, he shoulders his pack and shambles downstairs. Goddamn but his knees are wobbly. His face breaks out into a huge grin once he spies his bros sitting near the fire, and he waves at them as if from across a long distance. "Hey brosephs, I think I up and all saw God a couple times last night, how 'bout you?"

 

Lei takes in Nowhere's wobbling gate and serene face before grinning at him. "Well, we didn't see any gods down here but it seems like we're all being showered in blessings of various kinds; gratitude, sex, and coin are three currencies not to be scoffed at. How would you like to stick around these fine folks for a bit and help them with the town ruining bullshit that spooky ass motherfucker was getting up to last night?" The tiefling is an audience Lei is pretty sure he knows how to play to even with their short acquaintance; affable swearing and kindness to kind people seems to be his MO.

Lei steps toward the kitchen, because food also always helps. "Why don't we all eat while you're caught up on what went down in the common room last night?"

 

"Ah, about that." Pyralspite stands swiftly out of the armchair she'd settled into, touching one of the pouches at her belt. "I intend to pay for my breakfast, and rather than put pressure on you both to do the same by doing so, I'd like to offer to pay for yours, too. I have the money to comfortably do it."

 

[You snicker and give Rose a lewd grin. "Looks like you're gonna be getting some wicked use outta that yarn wig. BETTER COMB THAT SHIT OUT TO BE SURE, MAKE IT REAL PRETTY."]

Mann's eyebrows shoot up. "Oh, we're stayin'? Hell yes, I can be getting all kinds of down with that mischief. You just point me where I gotta be." He straightens just a little as Pyralspite stands--he doesn't know her that well, and while she doesn't scare him normally, she can be a bit... imposing. Especially when he hasn't had coffee yet. His eyes go wide at her offer. "Oh fuck, yeah, I'm being broke as hell, I would be every kind of grateful if you were all to be doin' that. You want me to make you up somma my special tea later or some shit in exchange? I been savin some of that herbacious whimsy, got all kindsa dried shit up in my shit."