Fernwood Familia

An'thirya has come into the Fernwood pub, seeking some form of refreshment... Or maybe news. News is always good too. Taking a seat at the bar itself, she's waving down the bartender. "Hey, hey!" she says. "Back in town after however long, what's the latest word around town?" the bartender raises an eyebrow and shrugs. "The usual. Someone lost their cat, someone wants to take over the world, but it still goes on regardless." An'thirya blinks and looks to start to say something, but the bartender cuts her off, "Hey. I can't do anything about it, I try to help the people near me, and that's all I can do. So no sense in worrying about the bigger things I have no control over, right?" he asks.

       Just as An'thirya is trying to squeeze the bartender for news, the door opens and a tall human warrior walks in being followed by a big reddish-purple furred dire panther who is being cuddled at the moment by a small pretty 6-year old half-elf who seems to have some Wild elf blood in her judging by her red hair. Darius seems to be a little disgruntled but smiles back at the girl and says, "Have a seat Aika, Fluffy can sit with you while I get you something to eat and some milk. You need to to eat if you want to grow big and strong enough to be like me when you're older." The child, who looks waif thin and probably was an orphan gives Darius a really big smile and obviously adores the man, "Of course! I wanna b'a hero just like you!" She runs to a free table and sits down, crossing her legs as Fluffy stretches and pads to lay down beside her. Darius then walks over to the bartender who says, "The usual Master Darius?", Darius shakes his head sadly and say with a thin smile, "Not this time, tea for me, and some stew and warm goat's milk for the child and Fluffy please."

An'thirya seems momentarily surprised, and looks back at Darius with a look on her face that might best be described as slightly disdainful. "So you've taken to shepherding the lost of the world, now?" she asks. "Someone's gonna mess with you over it, some day. Use it against you, I mean." she observes. Looking down to the child, she nods briefly in an acknowledging manner.

Darius looks up at An'thirya and says sheepishly, "Well, things... happened..." He tries to explain as Aika turns to the mul'niessa and smiles brightly, "He's my new daddy, he adopted me and helped my brothers and sisters at the orphanage find new homes, he's a hero who rescued a damsel in distress!" She sees quite proud of that too, looking at Darius with shinning eyes once more, a cough and a snort can be heard under the table... was that Fluffy's way of trying to hide her amusement at the whole situation? Darius lightly pats Aika on the head and says, "Yes yes..." The bartender can't hide his own amusement as he brings the food and drinks, placing a bowl of milk under the table for Fluffy and the rest for Aika. When he brings the tea he can't help himself, the bartender guffaws, "To think I'd see the day that "Mr. Love-Em-And-Leave-Em, Mr. I'm-Never-Gonna-Be-Tied-Down Darius becomes a family man... The regulars are going to be talking about this for weeks!" Darius just sighs.

Pausing, An'thirya sighs. "Well, it's not really avoidable now is it?" she asks, "Just... Take good care of her." she observes, "I know you want to, but be a little cautious. Life throws you all kind of new things, and we don't always catch them." she says, then looks over at the bartender. "Heh. Guess I took him for the sort of person he is the first time. Still, I just... I dunno, I get worried sometimes when I see people in new situations like that. Like it's going to come crashing down somehow. Maybe I'm paranoid."

Darius just nods and Aika hugs Darius tightly and says firmly, "He's a hero of justice, he'll make everything ok, I believe in him!" Darius just smiles slightly and hugs Aika back and says to An'thirya, "Well... at least my life won't be boring anymore."

"It's never really boring if you go looking for excitement." An'thirya says, "I just can't help but be a little pessimistic I suppose. So what exactly led to this, anyway?" she asks.

Aika starts stuffing her face and Darius reflects that he's going to have to try and teach her how to eat properly and... his head spins a bit at all that he's going to have to as a dad. He blinks then as Fluffy coughs and snorts once more and he glares through the table at the dire panther and then gets up and moves to sit by An'thirya, sitting so that he can keep an eye on Aika, he then says quietly, "I was helping a bunch of adventurers investigate a murder, we came across a dead body that had flowers planted inside the wound and a shopkeeper told us that a bald man did the deed. We followed him to a seemingly abandonned house where we learned was an orphanage. We felt the killer was inside so we went in and a couple of the group interrogated the 'old woman' who takes care of the kids while I sent Fluffy in to play tag a bit with the kids and she helped me by catching Aika here." He smiles over at Aika who looks up at him with a face full of stew, having not used a spoon and grins at him. Darius sighs and says, "Oi, I have a LOT of work with that one it seems..." He then gets back to the story, "So apparently I'm very good with kids because Aika here took a shine to me when I told her that I was a hero and I rescue damsels in distress and she uh, asked me to adopt her." He says this meekly and then continues, "Long story short, she told me that the 'old woman' sometimes is a bald man and as soon as she says that, he transforms and jumps out the second story window too fast for us to catch up."

"So he's still out there." An'thirya says, "Do we know why the murder was performed?" she asks, "I'm not really big on rules or whatever, but random murder is just stupid. I mean what's the point?" she asks. Ga'Elian walks in at this point, and immediately removes his quiver and hunting horn and hangs them on a peg, then removed his cloak and hangs it over them. He looks around the common room. Seeing a familiar mul'niessa sitting with Darius he strides over and says, "Darius, your following seems to be growing every time I meet you lately." He reaches out to pet Fluffy, and says, looking at Aika, "Who is this enchanting child?"

Darius shakes his head and says, "Not a clue, none of us are Guard trained in dealing with crime, we're just adventurers. The only thing we can think of is that he's just that sick..." He glances up at Ga'Elian when he speaks and turns a bit pink as Aika looks up at him, a 6-year oldish waif thin half-Wild elf child who says with mouth full of stew, "'m Aika! Daddy 'dopt'd me 'cause he's a hero 'nd rescu's damsels in distress! Are you Daddy's friend?" Darius sighs and says, "Aika, finish eating before you talk, it's rude otherwise." Aika swallows quickly and says contritely, "Sorry Daddy!" Darius smiles, "We'll work on it..." He looks at Ga'Elian, "It's another long story having to do with a murder, a transforming old woman who's really a bald man killer and an orphanage..." He waves a hand, not really wanting to go over it again. Fluffy purrs and nuzzles Ga'Elian and licks his hand, liking the man as Darius says, "Oh, Ga'Elian, when you have some time, I'm going to want to get together with you so that I can learn to be a Ranger, I want to turn Fluffy here into my animal companion so I'll need some training to be able to do so."

At the sight of Ga'Elian, An'thirya seems to relax a bit. "Hey!" she says, waving from the bar. "It's been a while." and gets up, walking over towards the gathering, pulling a chair back a bit and sitting in it. "I wanted to catch up somewhat, but I suppose that can wait a bit since we have a few extra people here." she observes, "...Anyway, ranger huh?" she asks, "Nature-stuff isn't really my thing, even though defending the wilds is a worthy cause." she observes. "Besides, I get the feeling that the wilds would react a bit... Poorly to me anyway." she observes, "Places of natural power, stuff like that."

Ga'Elian smiles at the child and says, "Your daddy is, indeed a hero, young one." <Sildanyari> Then he looks at An'thirya and says, "We'll have plenty of time to catch up, aye." Again, to Darius he says, "We should go hunting sometime. It'll serve many purposes and be fun, to boot."

Azteg makes his way into the Fernwood pub, finishing his pipe and tapping it out and cleaning it with a spike from his Goblin artifice knife/multitool. The pipe goes back into a pouch on his belt and he removes his hat, stepping into the pyb proper and heading for the bar, wriggling himself onto a stool to let him see over the bar itself. He has a fine masterwork looking shield hanging off his back, his firearms belt, spare ammunition, pistol, so on.

"Hey!" An'thirya says, waving to Azteg from afar. "Come join us, we've got plenty of room still. No sense in eating or drinking alone, right?" she asks with a grin.

Aika blinks and then hearing Ga'Elian speak in her mother's language smiles brightly and nods and cuddles into Darius. Darius for his part gets a handkerchief and some water and proceeds to clean the little girl's food stuffed face and says, "You are taking a bath later... I'll get a friend to take you into the bathhouse with her and make sure you're all nice and clean while I get you some better clothes." He then says to Ga'Elian, "That sounds fine, we'll take Fluffy with us, help me work on being able to use her when I need to. I recently bought a longbow too, so you can give me advice on how to use it and care for it." Noticing Azteg he nods to the man and Aika turns to see who it is and gives a small wave as well (OOC: Aika is an NPC of Darius who is a 6-year oldish waif thin, red haired half-Wild elf adopted daughter) and clings more to Darius and to Fluffy who moves to rest beside her protectively.

Morgan comes walking in to the area a bit slow but the large bag slumped on her back shows why. "Hey people I can not wave to." said a bit cheerfull like normal as she takes a seat at a table.

"Friend An'thirya. Of course," says Azteg as he slides off the stool and makes his way over to the group. His accent is all clipped and hard Rs, part and parcel of the Blar accent from the Hobgoblin accent. "Greetings, good morning," the 'ing' sounding like 'ink'.

Ga'Elian turns and looks at Morgan with a friendly smile. He says, "There seem to be a lot of grown-ups coming together. Maybe I can provide young Aika some entertainment while the grown-ups talk." He looks around, snaps his fingers, causing 3 apples to magically appear in his hands, and starts to juggle them as he springs suddenly up into an airborne somersault, landing gracefully on an empty table nearby. All the while, he never drops an apple, and the whole series of maneuvers looks effortless.

Aika watches with her mouth hanging open, hanging on to every movement of the apples that Ga'Elian is juggling, Darius chuckles and shakes his head and simply sips his tea as he turns to first Azteg who sits near and says, "Greetings, I see you're sporting the shield we found on finding Fluffy here..." Fluffy for her part looks at Azteg suspiciously, probably remembering him smacking her before and being grumpy still over it (OOC: Fluffy is the dire panther that we found during Kitty Capture (for Azteg)). He then looks at Morgan, "So what's in the bag?"

Morgan reaches in her bag and pulls out a unpolished crystal "I spent the morning in the mountains getting these for the guild. But sadly my strength spell wore off when I got to the tavren area."

"Aye. It's better than my existing steel one, so I took it in exchange for some gold," says Azteg as he clambers onto a stool. He gets comfortable and orders an ale and some fried potatoes and sausage.

"I could help you carry those." An'thirya says, then looks over at Azteg and shrugs. "I don't... Really favor defense too terribly well. Mostly just this one, here." she says, patting the handle of the axe strapped to her back. "I'm actually kind of glad that someone like a child isn't afraid of me." she observes, "I almost would have expected it. Stories about mul'niessa boogeymen and such."

Aika is enchanted with Ga'Elian but does say to An'thirya solemnly, "'ve seen REAL b'geym'n up close, you don't seem scary at all!" Darius laughs and ruffles the girl's hair, "Yep, you're going to be a hero like me some day, saying things like that..." Aika blushes, but looks really happy and curls into Darius more, turning her head into the crook of his arm while still watching Ga'Elian's display. Darius then says to Morgan, "I can also help you carry those, I am pretty strong, strong enough to lift and pull a carriage by myself that is." Aika blinks then and stares at Darius, G'E's spell broken for a second, "Daddy??? You can do that?!?" Darius chuckles, "Well, not for long periods of time and not with a whole bunch of people or luggage on it, but yeah..." Aika just blinks and it increases her awe of her father more. Darius smiles and ruffles her hair again, "Don't worry about it, I'll train you when you get older and you'll probably be stronger and better than me since you're smaller and faster than I am."

Morgan smiles at the little girl as she reaches in her bag and gets a small shiney crystal. She then makes a small hand jesture that lets the rock float to her "you can have that." then says to Darius "Its heavy for me but you should have easier time then me."

The little Gobber grins as he settles his hat on his knee and begins to dig into his food and ale - after a silent prayer for a few moments, of course. He spears some sausage, sprinkling some sauce on it before taking a bite. "I am glad to see that the creature has found a home," he tells Darius. "It was no fault of it what happened."

"Hehe." An'thirya says, "Well, I'm glad you don't find me frightening." she observes, then sighs happily a bit. "It's good to have family... Particularly family that cares about you." she notes, flagging down an employee of the bar and ordering something. "Not everyone has that, be it family or a caring one."

Ga'Elian takes notice of the break in Aika's attention to effectively vanish altogether. He reveals himself again standing beside An'thirya, and says, "Out of the shadows." He takes a seat and says, "Now, to eat." and gestures for a server to come by.

Darius smirks at Azteg and says, "Well, the noblewoman WAS like..." Here he holds a hand to his forehead and raises his nose up into the air and says nasaily, "EEK! NO! NO NO NO NO!!!! That's NOT my precious Fluffykins!! Take it!!! TAKE IT AWAY!!! Here's your money!! I'll pay you more to get rid of the beast! How could this have happened to my precious Fluffy! Boo hoo hoo!!!" Aika sees this and gigglefits. Darius ruffles her hair again and once Morgan sends the crystal her way, she oooohs and looks to Darius, "'s it ok if I keep 't???" Darius smiles, "She said so didn't she, we'll get a chain and put it on as a necklace for you, ok?" Aika nods vigorously and reaches out to take the crystal, admiring it with huge eyes. Darius looks at An'thirya and says, "Sore subject?" He asks delicately, thinking maybe she was abandonned or repudated or something. He looks then to Ga'Elian, "Thanks for entertaining her." Fluffy looks up and snorts at Darius's imitation and then nuzzles Darius's leg, who immediately reaches for Aika's forgotten stew and puts the bowl down for her to finish as he places coins on the bar to cover it all.

Ga'Elian winks at Aika and snaps his fingers. He says, "It's still stew, and as nourishing as ever, but now it tastes like choccolate ice cream."

Morgan smiles greatly at the little one but places a order for food.

Azteg flashes a tight grin at Darius, "Indeed. I suspect she was quite displeased, yes? That reminds me, we should determine if anything is ongoing with that pool. I did note it's location on our map and I would hate to see something else fall victim to that sort of arcane change; imagine a bear or fearsome wolf changed in a similiar manner instead of a common house cat, aye?"

Responding to the summons of both An'thirya and Ga'Elian, an attractive human woman in her early 20s wearing the uniform of the Fernwood's serving staff walks over and asks, "What can I get for you all?" in a perky, cheerful voice and with a charming smile. She then says to Darius, "Oh, what a cute kitty. I LOVE panthers." Then she stands there awaiting orders, but every once in a while glancing at Darius as if he happens to be just her type,

Darius waves a hand at Azteg and says, "Oh, that pool is known about actually, Yelrona told me that it had to do with a time-travelling wizard something something dead elf girlfriend something something something dragon something golems... It's all very confusing and has to do with magic and I can't even wrap my head around it, I leave it for people like Morgan and Kruulvog and Yelrona for that. I just fight the things that comes out of it." Aika blinks and looks at Darius, "Can I have another bowl of stew, please?" Darius raises an eyebrow at Ga'Elian and says, "You're going to spoil her you know..." He bends down to be on Aika's level and says, "I'll get you another bowl, but THIS time you need to eat with a spoon, and use your manners or I'll take it away from you." Aika nods quickly and Darius turns back to the bartender, "You heard the little lady, another bowl of stew please." Aika grabs her spoon and starts to eat quickly and says, "UMM! Chocolate ice cream, my favorite..." Darius then turns to the waitress and smiles, "It's a long story..." Normally he'd be all over her, but he glances over at Aika and sighs, yes, this is definitely going to put a crimp in his love life.

Ga'Elian asks for "a shepherd's pie and a bottle of 1037 Green Valley chardonnay, please." He says, "A spoilt child is a happy child, and learns to value the finer things in life."

"As long as they learn discipline and ethics. They must learn that there is an order to thing, chaos brings nothing but disagreement and unhappiness," says Azteg as he begins to pack his pipe once again once that he's finished his meal itself. "Good," he adds to Darius, "As long as someone is resolving it, yes?"

Morgan gets a drink of mead "I been looking in to leads on that certain wizard, but other things been keeping me busy."

The waitress, having taken the orders, returns into the kitchen. Azteg nods to the others, "Good. Good," he says as he sparks his pipe. "Hopefully the pool can be dealt with quickly. And I am calmed to know that others more powerful than I are working on it."

Aika finishes her stew and starts to look sleepy and so climbs onto Fluffy and curls up next to her. Fluffy curls herself around the girl mothercat-like and Aika closes her eyes. Darius watches for a moment with a paternal smile and sips his tea.

Ga'Elian says, "So, this mysterious pool is connected to the wizard folks have been talking about, eh?" He shakes his head, then continues, "I swear, sometimes it seems like individual wizards alter nature even more than thoughtless civilizations." Looking at Morgan, he adds, "Present company excepted." With a lighter tone of voice he says, "I expect I won't get married for another century or two, but the fertility rites of the fae always offer plentiful opportunities for relieving pent up libido."

"Hrmph," says the Gobber with a grunt, a glance at Darius and Ga'El, a smile there. He puffs on his pipe and glancing up at the waitresses and waiters coming around now and then he asks the table. "What's a good dessert to order here, aye? The best as they say."

Ga'Elian looks at Azteg thoughtfully. He says, "I'm afraid I wouldn't have the foggiest idea what sort of dessert would appeal to the palate of a goblin, sir."

Kaj ducks under the doorframe and makes his way into the Pub, looking quite contented as he scans for familiar faces.

He stretches massively, taking advantage of the double height ceiling and moves towards a couple of familiar faces spotted from his vantage point.

Razen enters the pub just behind Kaj, already looking around with enthusiasm. He clasps Kaj on the back in a friendly manner and grins. "Busy today isn't it?" He peers around a little bit and spots Ga'Elian. "Ga'Elian!" He waves to the elf and saunters over to the table without any hesitation. "How are you? Been a while!"

Kaj pats Razen's shoulder, smiling, "Busy indeed," he offers, following him towards the table.

The waitress follows in the wake of the two new arrivals, carrying An'thirya's order and Ga'Elian's shepherd's pie and bottle of 1037 Green Valley chardonnay. She asks Kaj and Razen for their orders, looking slightly alarmed at the size of the giant-man.

Ga'Elian looks up at Kaj and then at Razen, but his response to their greetings is cut off by the arrival of his food. He pays the waitress, then says, "Good day, gentlemen. It seems there is a fair bit of excitement lately surrounding some wizard and a black pool in the woods. Also, Darius here, despite choosing to nap right here at the table seems to gain a new follower everytime I see him lately. First it was this purple panther, and now he suddenly has a daughter.

"As my father would say, do not call me sir, sir, I work for a livin'," says Azteg to Ga'Elian with some humor - and the clipped tones/accent of a Hobglin from the citystate. "I will skip it then this time and instead enjoy the remainder of this pipe." The three foot and change Gobber is sitting at a stool with the others, chatting,a pipe going in his teeth.

Razen pulls a seat over and settles down at it with a quick word to the waitress to bring him a drink as well. "A black pool and a wizard? That does sound interesting... What's it about? Has some spell-slinger been up to no good again?" He frowns at the thought, clearly discomforted.

Kaj joins the table, sitting gingerly at the biggest seat. "And something about blue lights...blue spirits..?"

Ga'Elian shrugs and pops the cork on his wine bottle. Says, "I was just saying that I think individual wizards are to blame for almost as much disruption to nature as whole civilizations are."

"That I cannot speak to, yes, the wizarding situation with regards to disuption. Someone was saying earlier - friend Darius - that wizards and arcanists were looking into this black pool we found outside town last week or so. We believe it changed a cat, permanently, into a sort of arcane dire panther. It was quite troubling. It sounded as if something they were very aware of," says Azteg.

The half oruch shakes his head and settles into his chair more. "I agree with you Ga'Elian. So much of the danger that Alexandria faces comes from those that misuse magic. At least someone is looking into it. Even if they are spellcasters themselves." Razen glances toward the cat and subtly (not really) scoots his chair away from the creature.

"I will try to remain aware of their investigation, yes? Part of my tasking is to investigate errant use of magic with relation to artifice and crafting, and if this falls into that domain I would want to remain aware of it," says the small Gobber, "If only to assure myself that His will is being met."

Kaj shrugs his massive shoulder. "I don't understand why everyone is so upset...cat, dire panther, sounds amazing and wonderful to me. I will speak to his relatives, see what they have to say..." he adds, somewhat enigmatically.

Ga'Elian looks up at Kaj and says, "I'm not so concerned about this cat's transformation. It seems adequately happy in its fur. 'Tis more the black pool that my gobber friend here and Darius were talking about. Ine expects to see such things in the Felwood, but that whole grove is beset with foul magics."

Kaj nods slowly, understanding dawning on his mind.

"Perhaps there are other furry little people who were witnesses and could enlighten us on the when and maybe even the who of it all?" he asks, running his palm over the cicatrices on his faces pensively.

"And, as I mentioned earlier to Darius we were lucky a simple housecat was altered. Docile - stubborn perhaps, but not aggressive. Were it instead a hungry bear or wolf, things might've been a great deal more deadly," adds the Gobber as he chomps down on his pipe.

"Do you mean you'll talk to a cat?" Curiosity is in Razen's voice as he looks at Kaj. He glances toward Azteg and nods in agreement. "A housecat you say. I would hear this whole story at some point. Though if it has much to do with magic perhaps there is not much left to be told; as it accounts for much." The half ourch shakes his head. "If this is a pool in the wilderness then who knows how many more animals were affected like the cat was."

Kaj nods, tapping this fingers on the table talk. "All the little people are my friends--from the tiniest cricket to the biggest oruch," he explains, "And the People too, of course," he adds, presumably referring to other Giantborn.

Ga'Elian says, "Well, I haven't foumd this pool myself, but neither have I chanced upon an unusual proliferation of dire animals. Perhaps if those who know its location might guide me there, I could investigate, or maybe they would rather do the investigating themselves." He smiles and eats.

"It is in the forest; I have the location marked on my map. The story is simple enough, my friend. A woman - a wealthy socialite, lost her favorite cat. We tracked the cat to the forest, I tracked the cat inwards. We discovered the end beast - the dire panther - and coaxed it to come with us. In the investigation we found that foul black pool that we surmised - a hypothesis, of course - that it was involved. Darius mentioned that Morgan and other wizards were investigating it." the little Gobber says as he finishes his pipe and begins to clean it out. He digs into his side pouches, coming out with a map that he pokes out with his pipe stem to show where it is.

Kaj leans forward, absentmindedly digging in his haversack, producing a 3 foot long pipe, tobacco, and all the accoutrements and paraphernalia as he begins to prepare his own smoke, listening intently to Azteg.

The cat in question is curled up around a 6-year oldish half-Wild elf girl who looks waif thin and is sleeping peacefully next to the reddish-purple dire panther. Darius returns from the Market District with a bag full of girlie clothes and a huge metal tub that people use to wash in. He checks on Aika and Fluffy and then glances around, noting that Azteg and Ga'Elian are still here he places his purchases down carefully on the ground and scritches Fluffy behind the ears and whispers to Aika, "Aika, time to wake up... you need to get a bath."

Ga'Elian finishes his food, and corks his wine, stowing the bottle in his satchel, then his gloves and Ioun stones as well. Then he walks over to the peg where his cloak hangs, and puts his shoulder bag and amulet on the peg, too. He returns to the table and says, "Good morning, Sunshine," with a slight chuckle. He asks Razen, "So what have you been up to lately?"

Kaj scratches his nape, "The problem is, once they become in any way sentient, they lose the ability to speak with me...or perhaps it is the other way...unless they become fully sentient. Something breaks in the middle!" he says, making an anvil-sized fist which for a moment he looks like he's going to use to strike the table top, but in the end he does not.

"Perhaps it's simply a significant enough change in their mental structure that it impairs the magic?" asks Azteg as he rises, digging into his pouch for a few silver to leave behind. "That may be it."

Razen nods, looking over at the map. "You should take a look at it yourself, rather than trusting those sh-magic users to do it." He glances again toward the feline with caution, but when Darius arrives he gives the man a broad grin. "Hello again Darius, I hear you have a few good stories to tell of late." He laughs and tilts his head toward Ga'Elian. "As for me... I heard that my sister has not been well so I've been doing a few odd jobs around. Thinking I might head north to see her."

The half ourch shifts his weight and looks uncomfortable about the discussion of animal sentience happening beside him, as well as the light concern that lingers speaking about his sister. "It looks as though I might not be able to make it up there though."

Aika cutely rubs her eyes as she opens them and says, "Wha? Bath? M'k..." She nuzzles against Fluffy and gets up and Darius looks at Ga'Elian, "I'll see you later, once I get her settled..." To Razen he sighs then, "Well... yeah, this and that and another happened and it seems I'm now a family man." Aika stubbornly clings to Darius and says, "Uh-uh... you're a HERO, and my daddy and you rescued me like a damsel in distress." Her eyes still shine even dulled with sleep as she looks up at him. Darius laughs helplessly as he ruffles her red hair and says, "Well there you go Razen, I'll tell you all about it after she's in a real bed and cleaned up."