The Silver Hog

(( Not really Ry))

Tsenre, Liz, and Badger walked into the pub.
"Find us a table, aye lass?" Tsenre motioned towards the tables. "I'll get us some grub." Liz nodded, and moved towards an empty table in one of the darker corners of the pub. Badger followed her.
Tsenre made his way to the bar, and pounded his fist on the counter. "Server! We be needin' some food!" he yelled.
The barman ambled up to the counter. "Keep it down, gramma, we..." He squinted as Tsenre. "Hey, wait, you're old twoales! Back so soon?"
"What can I be gettin' for this?" Tsenre fetched his remaining dagger and dropped it onto the counter.
The barman picked the blade up and inspected it. "Huh. I don't normally take trades, but ever since that curious incident with the vampire at night time last week I've been needing a new blade." He balanced the blade on his finger. "It's a bit rusty, but it looks to have a few good stabs in it yet. I'll give you a couple loaves of bread and some meat for this, best I can do."
"Wot? Vampire?"
"Yeah. City's lousy with them." The barman stashed the dagger and leaned in closely, looking paranoid. "Something about being a safe haven for every race in the world draws the freaks in, you know? Oh, you get some nice types like that Drake bloke or that cute healer lady, but you can hardly open your doors here without some dwarf charging in, swinging a battle axe and yelling about gold. And don't even get me started on the gnomes."
The barman leaned back. "I'll get your food in a second. Just have a seat." He disappeared into the backroom. Tsenre shrugged, and made his way to the table Liz and Badger were at.

Tsenre plopped himself down on a chair. Badger looked at him momentarily, then returned his attention to the door. Liz was absentmindedly playing with one of the buttons on her satchel.
"We be gettin' some food, soon." Tsenre muttered.
"What? Oh, good!" Liz said, stirred from her activity.
"So, lass, ye be an... alkamist?"
"Yes, it's really quite an interesting profession you know!"
"What be an alkamist?"
"Oh, I suppose you don't know then." Liz smiled. "Well, an alchemist is a practioner of alchemy, which is the chemical science of attempting to create new compounds by transmuting existing compounds!"
Tsenre, getting caught up on some of the more difficult words such as "transmuting" and "chemical", looked helplessly at Liz.
"She makes potions, master." Badger said flatly, not taking his attention away from the door.
Liz frowned. "I suppose you could describe it like that. You're really doing a disservice to the trade, though."
"Aye, potions, eh?" Tsenre stroked his chin. "I remember havin' an old woman in me town that made those. Could whip ye up a cream that'd rid ye of the red itch in a flash!"
Liz looked puzzled. "I think that would be more of a pharmacist. What's the red itch?"
"A rash." Badger continued to stare at the door.
"Aye." Tsenre stared dreamily in the distance, his face a mix of pleasant nostalgia and terrible recollection.
"Oh, hmm. So what brings you two to the city anyways?"
"Wot? Oh, we be adventurers."
Liz stared at Tsenre. The old man stared back.
"What are you adventuring for?"
"Ye know, treasure and quests and adventure!"
Liz began to look a bit worried. She looked at Badger who was still staring at the door. "Badger?"
"I don't really know either, miss. I'm his familiar, and I go where he goes."
She shrugged. "Well, I suppose it doesn't really matter too much."

The barman rambled over to the group and dropped a couple of loaves of stale bread and a hunk of meat on the table. He shot a suspicious glance at Liz, who nervously thanked him for the food. He sidled into the backroom, vanishing into the darkness again.

Tsenre warily regarded the bread, then tore into the meat. Liz ripped a bit of bread from one of the loaves, and gingerly offered it to Badger.
"Thank you miss, but I'm a familiar. I don't need to eat."
Liz nodded and nibbled on the bread, watching Tsenre violate every written and unwritten rule of dining ever conceived. Badger finally stopped staring at the door, and turned to face Liz.
"Miss, do you mind me asking why you're here?"
"Oh! Not at all!" She clapped her gloved hands together and grinned. "I'm on a mission!"
"A mission, miss?"
"Yes! See, I come from the city of Alvar. That's where I grew up and learned all about alchemy!" She dropped her hands and her grin slowly began to fade. "But there was always fighting. My city was at war with the Rockcrusher clan, a group of dwarves." She put her hand on her chin and looked up in thought. "Something about a deposit of gold underneath the forest. Anyways, ever since I was little, they've always been fighting." She perked up. "Until recently, that is!"
"The dwarves and elves signed a truce! I couldn't believe it! The dwarves wanted the gold still, but the elven council refused to have the dwarves descecrate the forest with their mining. Instead, the dwarves hired elves and traded with them to mine the gold! That happened just before I left."
"The first thing the council did was petition the alchemists to create a substance that would dissolve the earth without damaging the trees. Elves, uh, aren't very good at digging." She looked sheepish for a moment, and adjusted her glasses. "And since I had just graduated as a full alchemist, I voluntered to head the project!"
"Unfortunately, the compound I made didn't quite have the desired effect. It was actually quite bizarre. It was very similiar to liquid fire, if you've ever seen that before." Badger shook his head. "Well, it did burn through the earth. But the chemicals I added didn't stop it from spreading to the trees... quite the contrary, really. I don't think it would've been too much of an issue, but we had some dwarves attending the test run. They're rather flammable, you know. Too much alcohol."
"The council was understanding. They knew alchemy was an uncertain art, and that sometimes you have to break a few eggs to make an omelette. But they took me off the project, and gave me a new mission! They sent me here, with explicit instructions to perfect my compound with knowledge gained in the great city of Sacriana! That was their only instruction, actually. They seemed rather flustered and in quite a rush."
"So I came here, flown by express hippogryph, and found a nice place to stay and perform my experiments. Unfortunately, my latest trial was rather... unstable, and my attempts to stabilize it just made it more volatile. Then I met you two! That's the short version, anyways." She grinned again.
"That was enlightening. Thank you, miss." Badger returned his attention to the door, while Tsenre licked his fingers. Liz hummed peacefully to herself for a moment, then spoke up.

"So, where do we go now?"

(( Backstory. The crew is fed, Tsenre lost a dagger, and I AM WRITING A BOOK LOOK AT ME GO PEOPLE ))

((*I kiss at your feet* WE ARE NOT WORTHY! lol))

Rock's eyes crack open, the morning after he and Ginine met. He sits up and ruffles his hair before looking beside him at Ginine, smiling softly. He sits, waiting for her to awaken.

((He like is seriously writing a book. He's collected every post he's made and every one that pertains to Tsenre. It's actually quite impressive. : D ))

Ginine sat up and stretched. With a small yawn she turned to Rock and smiled. "Good morning," came her sweet voice.

Tsenre began to speak, but was abruptly cut off by a loud scream coming from the plaza. The occupants of the silver hog looked up from their drinking.

"Whaddya think that was?"
"Wern't no murder scream, I can tell you that."
"Yeah, murder screams are more of an 'EEE' sound. That sounded more like an 'AGH' to me, meaning some bloke just found out something unpleasant."
"Really? I thought I heard more of an 'RGH' in there, signifying great pain."
"You're both wrong, it was clearly a 'YAR', obviously someone just led a charge."
"I think the other guy was right, that was mostly 'AGH' with a hint of 'RGH'."
"Yer daft. Been drinkin' too much ale."
Another scream, with a very distinct 'LIZ' sound to it, cut through the air.
"I haven't heard that one before."
"Me neither. Maybe someone found a nest of basilisks?"
"In the city? You are daft."
"It'd be worth screamin' about, I think."

The occupants returned to their drinking. Tsenre, having been interrupted, was trying to repair the damage done to his mental train station caused by the derailed train of thought. Liz had gone pale.

"Master, I think we should go. Now."
Tsenre snapped out of his mental fog into his usual mental haze. He stood up and wiped his hands on his nightgown. "Right! We're off then!" he bellowed, and started to approach the front door.
"No! Not that way!" Liz yelped. She knew exactly who that scream belonged to, and exactly what would happen to her if she went out the front door into the plaza.
"Wot?"
"This way, master!" Badger trotted towards a door in the back.
Liz hastily grabbed her satchel and followed Badger. Tsenre, never one wanting to be left out, plodded after them. They rushed through the door, and slammed it shut behind them.

"Where are they off to in such a rush?"
"Dunno. Must be guild members though."
"What makes you think that?"
"That door leads to the underworld."
"Oh. That place gives me the creeps."
"It gives everyone the creeps. Even the creeps. I think that's the point."
"Right."
Silence descended on the pub, except for the occasional slurping of an ale. A large man with a shiny bald head holding what could only be described as a wad of book bursted in through the door.
"Where is she?!" he yelled, a vein throbbing on his forehead. "Someone said they saw her come in here!"
The patrons of the bar pointed towards the back door.
The bald man stared, then laughed to himself. "The underworld, eh? Serves her right for what she did to my house!" He grinned, tossed the book wad on the floor, and left as abruptly as he came.

(( Group is enroute to the underworld. ))

Rock kisses Ginine lightly and pulls away. "Well, Ginine... that was a mighty interestin' night." he says, raising an eyebrow.

"Agreed. I'm truly glad to have met you," Ginine smiled, blushing.

"So, you're serious about staying then, right?" he asks, blushing a little bit. "BEcause... y'know, that'd be awesome."

Ginine nodded, "I have much more reason to be here now... so I assume I can stay for good, if that's okay with you that is."

Rock smiles sincerely. "I jus' said I wanted that, yeah?"

She laughed lightly, "Just making sure..." She grinned brightly and kissed his cheek.

Rock grins and hops out of bed, dressing back up. "Hey, Ginine... I'm gonan go out. You should go meet up with these friends you came to visit. I got a couple of bloodsuckers to check on real quick." he says, smiling and slipping out.

She watched him leave and then began to slip her clothes back on. She got out and went to see Maria once more.

Ayda walks in the pub, ordering a glass of beer, waiting for her friend to stop by and at least catch up on some things ...

She chugs the beer like it was her last drink .. " Hiccup...." She chuckles after .." Hmmmphhh... I guess this is going to take awhile"

Exyen enters the pubs, almost trips.. when the door slammed him inside, feeling embarrased and trying to play it cool like no one was him.

"Heehee..." .." Wow its crowded here." .. He whispered to himself

He tries to find a table but instend he sits at the bar..

" Oi.. Can I get 1 round.. " .. He saw a glow next to him.. He quickly put his shades and hid his eyes and make sure his trench coat was on, covering his neck and ears... He found out that glow was a clip on the hair of the elf next to him..

"hmmmm"

Ayda glares at the new face. *Cough* .. She starts to Clear her throat.

" You new here? " She hints a smiles on herself

"I know I am."
Sabri walks through the door, her long red hair held into a ponytail blowing around her as she carried herself almost defiantly across the room to the two people standing there.

Exyen takes in a huge whiff, as he smelt a sweet sence on a human, He looks back and saw who it was.. and turned back trying to hold the chills on his skin.

" Well yea I am new ... Its crowded here. I got lost for a few hours so I came here to rest. " ..

He puts his hands on his face, rubbing his eyes as they water up, with a stingy feeling ...

He whistles to the bartender.. " Oi mate, can I get another. thanks" ..

" Well you came to the right place. Say you know that human who just walked in? " She wondered trying to find out who she is..

She got up and just stood there, as she finishes her double.

"I think I know the human who walked in, hehe."
Sabri walked up to Ayda with a smile on her face. She surveyed the elf and the other patron next to her. She supressed a giggle at the guy.
"My name is Sabri, how are you?"

With a quick smile that jumped onto Ayda face.

"Well Im doing just great, and you? .. You new here? "

With an expression resembling irritation or amusement Sabri reached forward and grabbed a piece of Ayda's hair that had escaped from behind her ear and placing it back there.
"Yes, Im here for a good challenge, or someone interesting atleast."

"Oh ... I couldnt help but hearing... What do you mean .. someone interesting.." As he put down his drink and concetrated on Sabri

As Ayda spine chilled with the cool breeze that flew in ... she asked the same question Exyen did.. "Yes what do you mean? "

Sabri smiled and giggled, turning away from the strange man. She wrung her hands together in her hair in a nervous-like manner. She surpressed another giggle.
"Well you know... Interesting people, places, thrills. I love the.... excitement the most."

She turned towards him and smiled a half-smile.