RP:A Brief Respite

From HollowWiki

Part of the Unforeseen Consequences Arc


Hanging Corpse Tavern This once-timber tavern has been rebuilt in sturdily vitrified blackstone and imbued with powerful protective magics that prevent occult fire and several other potentially harmful spells being cast within its walls. No effort has been spared to make what might otherwise be a bleak interior comfortable. The bar is made of polished stone with an oaken inlay, the space behind filled with a bustle of attractive barmaids, sundry barrels and a dazzling array of coloured bottles that glint in the light cast by a large wrought-iron candelabrum suspended from the ceiling overhead. Here, the one-eyed Steadman stands, ready to take orders for food or drink. Beyond the bar, stout tables are firmly bolted to the floor, though the high-backed chairs are freestanding. The hearth is a true feature, seeming to be cast from black lava into the shape of a colossal, laughing goblin's head, its maw gaping wide and deep, usually containing a merrily crackling fire. A delicious scent of roasting meats drifts in from the kitchens and a winding staircase leads to rooms upstairs. To the south are set cellar doors, usually kept locked unless a special event is taking place. The walls are hung with thick, richly woven tapestries depicting persons and events in the history of Vailkrin and the Vampiric race. There's also a notice-board near the entrance, where one may leave messages. Unobtrusive but ever-present are the security staff, staunch fighters ever ready to toss troublemakers out.


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Shishi is probably stopped by guards or something momentarily outside the Corpse until he can prove he isn't a Cultist or a giant ball of tentacles. Once inside the assassin, irises still the burning crimson shade that they had turned the previous night and his left arm still dangling lifeless at his side, a black wand attached to it by a thin sliver of shadow coiling around Blue's wrist. With his right hand, the assassin swats at the annoying bat attached to his shoulder, "I'll stew you!"


Iintahquohae sat on the baby piano’s bench with another chair before her to prop up her broken leg. Somebody must’ve put it in a makeshift brace consisting of a pair of floorboards fix into place with tightly knotted rope sometime between after the falling tower and her waking up the Corpse. Now the seamstress sat quietly, unraveling and rewinding the bunch of time-thread she stowed away in her pocket, but her attention turns to the door at the arrival of Blue and the bat on his shoulder. Inks pockets the thread again, and calls out to the wand wielding man, “How is it out there? Any better than a while ago?”


Wakka flies off of Shishi's shoulder at impact of the hit, and bounces on the ground like rubber, before swooning itself to it's feet almost drunkenly. With an annoyed screech at the Blue Demon, the bat is up and into the rafters.


Zondo steps out of the kitchen area, moving to his place behind the bar he looks up just in time to see Shishi walking in. "Something to drink?" Taking a moment to glance over the man he idly takes note of his lifeless arm but decides to leave that part alone for now.


Shishi takes his eyes off Wakka and the ceiling for a moment, nodding a greeting towards Zondo, "Aye... Blood wine, I suppose. Elf if you've got it."


Shishi turns his attention towards Iintahquohae when she speaks to him. Unconsciously, Blue looks over his shoulder at the door before answering, "Aye. If 'a while ago' was the worst of it then it looks like the worst of it is over. That... -stuff's- stopped falling at least."


Iintahquohae looked relieved. No more monstrosities to deal with out there, hopefully. At least they wouldn’t be pounding on the roof and exploding on the ground again, she assumed. “Fantastic.”


Zondo nods once before turning his back to the tavern to glance at the shelves where he stocks his drinks. Selecting one of his many bottle of Elven Blood wine, he grabs a glass and set about bringing both items to place down before Shishi. "Elf seems to be a lot of people's favorites. I always have plenty of that on hand." The Elder's gaze then shifts to the seamstress. "Anything to drink for you, ma'am?"


Iintahquohae turns to Zondo afterward and gives a slight shake of her head before replying. “Nothing for me, but thank you for asking.”


Shishi rubs at his left shoulder with his right hand with a frown, as if trying to nurture feeling back into the immobile limb. "Aye." the vampire says again to the seamstress while nodding in thanks to Zondo when the wine is served. "They must have done something... It was still coming down when I managed to make it inside before."


Iintahquohae nodded at the vampire. “We mended the tear a bit, but didn’t finish..” She felt like frowning. As much as she wished she could hop off of that bench, march outside, and finish the job, the odds of her miraculously learning how to fly to get up there was, naturally, incredibly slim. Inky shrugged. “I would imagine that man with the swords has an idea of what we should do next.” She hoped he did. The seamstress couldn’t think of anything.


Zondo nods to both in turn, before moving slightly out of the way but still listening to the conversation between the two. Having been out there himself he knew what was going on but not really what happened.


Wakka stares his beady red eyes at Zondo, threateningly. As if Zondo were ignoring him, and it agitated the little bat.


Shishi nods slowly along with the seamstress's explanation, "I see." He didn't really know how someone could fix that hole in the sky. It was over his head and likely too technical for The Blue Demon to care to hear. "I'm sure he does." This is said with less confidence in Kasyr's wisdom and more concern about what a 'next step' would involve.


Wakka smiles rather lopsidedly at Zondo, satisfied at him. And remembering his face in case of future encounters. Then his little beady eyes are on In-something.


Iintahquohae isn’t sure what to make of the bat eyeing her. After staring at him for a long moment, she gives a little wave to greet him.


Zondo tips his head to Steadmen as if in some unspoken que to assume command of the tavern front. The Elder then makes his way back into the kitchens.


Wakka stares at In for awhile. A long while. Then he flaps his little leathery wings at her quite frantically.


Iintahquohae loses what she assumes to be a staring contest with Wakka after blinking confusedly when he frantically flaps his wings. She looks away afterward and crinkles her nose while readjusting her spectacles.


Shishi said to Iintahquohae, "Aye. Just ignore that thing. That's what I do. If you give him too much attention he'll never leave you alone.."


Iintahquohae said to Shishi, "Alright. I've never seen a bat that acts like that before." Really, Inks had never seen a bat up close. "Is his behavior normal?"


Shishi quickly shakes his head. "No. There's for sure something wrong with this one. Once I had ten gold pieces... and I think he ate them. That's not really normal for any animal."


Wakka said to Shishi, "Scree-scree?"


Shishi said to Wakka, "Don't play dumb. You had gold stuck in your teeth."


Iintahquohae blinks, both at the vampire and the strange bat. “How in the world did he manage to eat them without choking?”


Shishi shakes his head again, without a concrete answer for the seamstress the Blue Demon merely states, "He's a monster."


Iintahquohae nodded while shifting her gaze to the odd bat. “I see.” When it screeches at her, she waves a second time, then falls silent once more.


Dami pushed the door open with much effort, one hand free while the other lugged the black halberd in behind her. Even though it was virtually weightless in her possession, her limbs were heavy as.. rocks. So much energy was spent in this fight, and there was still more to come. Like a bulldozer, she brushed past and against chairs, tables, and even a few soldiers with barely so much as a mumbled, "..my bad." Torn, dirtied, and wearing a fresh (and old) coat of mixed body parts, Dami hating life. Quietly she took a seat at the bar; this was perhaps the only time Steadmen wouldn't turn her away.


Shishi twitched when Dami showed up, the Blue Demon, still nursing a limp left arm with that black wand remaining attached to the hand of it. Turning his attention away from the seamstress and -that- bat Blue makes his way to the bar and Steadmen. Crimson eyes dart to and away from Dami while Shishi talks to the barkeep. Eventually the cycloptic bartender shows up in front of the elf with a beer. Blue owed her one after all.


Wakka flaps his leathery black wings again; they flutter in a frantic and almost furious manner, before the creature's chest puffs up like it were imitating an angry, muscled man. Abruptly, Wakka exhales, firing from his mouth (and gullet) a rock at Blue's head.


Shishi shudders after being struck with the moist rock. The vampire bends at the knees to pluck the rock up from the floor and has to turn his body when he realizes he tried to snatch it up with his currently useless left hand. An awkward off-hand toss sends the stone back up at the Wakka, "That's disgusting! Why do you have that?"


Dami tipped the halberd up against the bar while she sat.. not even a few seconds after, it started to slide away, and eventually fell flat against the floor. Dami shrugged. A generous nod was tipped for both men, and the beer greatly welcomed. "Son of a bitch knocked me out cold.. was quiet when I woke. How is the front looking?" That was for anyone conscious to answer.


Iintahquohae saw Dami and frowned slightly. She didn’t look like she was in the best shape. With care, for fear of knocking her braced leg into something and causing unnecessary racket, she removes her broken leg onto the floor after awkwardly hopping to her feet with her good foot. With the help of a crudely made crutch of wood splinters from outside lashed together with rope, Inks heads for a seat near Dami at the bar. On her way, the rock firing bat causes her to jump a bit with surprise, then raise her eyebrows at Shishi. He really wasn’t kidding. That thing is an odd little monster. The seamstress eventually reaches Dami and waves a little, then takes a moment to climb onto a stool. “Hi there.”


Dami couldn't help but crack a smile. She still wanted to know what in the hell the seamstress was doing here. "Coat-making business that slow, I take it?" A coy tackle at some much needed humor. Steadmen was motioned to, and another beer ordered up, this one slid to Ink's whether she drank it or not.


Iintahquohae gave a little nod, followed by an amused smile. “I guess you could say that.” At least now she sort of had an idea of what Dami did, or assumed what she did, anyway. It’s safe to say that the seamstress is curious. She takes a drink from the beer slid her way and rests it on the bar, while jabbing a thumb toward the door, at the chaotic mess outside just beyond it. “Is stuff like that normal? ..Do you deal with things like that often?” Her initial assumption of a seafarer had been dropped. Maybe Dami is some kind of monster slayer..person. She’d probably come up with a better name than that eventually. Her eyes shift toward Shishi and she nods, before returning her attention to Dami. “Two other seamstresses and I, that sword man, and the uh..Dark Man? That’s his name?” She shuddered. He made her feel very uncomfortable. “We got up there and started to sew it shut.”


Shishi also blinks a couple of times at Iintahquohae and mutters to himself, "Sewing..." Perhaps he should have learned the skill if it could do something like that.


Dami glanced away. Truth be told, this wasn't her most proudest fight, having spent most of it chasing after a wyvern on the verge of death, and waking up at the edge of the city's broken sewers. Sure, she had practically decimated more than a handful of the flesh-fiend abominations, but no where near the quota she could normally reach. Or cared to reach. Fact of the matter was, Dami hated Vailkrin and didn't give a bat's ass (sorry Wakka) for what became of it; friends and family were her motive for fighting instead. "The 'hole' is closed.. but for how long? I'd imagine the cultists have a way of opening it again, no?"


Iintahquohae knew next to nothing about cults, magic, or anything really that pertained to what the others and she were trying to do, aside from sewing the rift shut. Between sips from her beer, the seamstress answers with a one shouldered shrug. “I honestly couldn’t tell you. It isn’t even sewn all the way shut.” Her hand briefly rested on the pants pocket that held that time thread. “That swordsman gave me this chunk of solidified time, I think he called it? I stretched it into thread and that’s what’s holding the parts the other two girls and I stitched up.” She still wanted to get back up there and finish it, figured it would have to wait for now.


Dami said, "Sounds like him alright. Nothing we can do now till we rendzevous with him again. You going to be alright..?" She pointed down at the leg and crutch, amused at how easily it was to break a bone. For Dami, it took literally- a fall from heaven. Or maybe a loss from an arm wrestling contest with say.. a dragon. Looking at the woman's leg reminded her of the wyvern which she flew in on, and the rooftop spike that was stuck-- or rather he was stuck on --through his leg. She hoped he made it through this. "What about you.. how you holding up?" This was directed at Shishi, and sure.. the bat too.


Iintahquohae glanced down at her leg and shrugged a second time. As far as the seamstress was concerned, she was lucky to still have that leg attached to her. “I think I’ll manage. I’ve done alright for somebody who didn’t have a clue with what she walked into while being pretty much weaponless.” The woman glanced at Dami’s halberd. “I should probably get my hands on something a bit more sturdy than a chair next time around.” Her fingers sorta wiggled a bit in the air, as if to gesture magic. “Or that.. whatever it was that you did. With the rocks in the road.”


Shishi shrugs to the elf with one shoulder, "Could be worse." he states, obviously referring to the lamp post that wasn't allowed to hit him by the Rock Vampire, "Doubt I'll have this back in time for our next move." The blue Demon says with a nod towards his immobile wand holding arm, "Not that I'd say I'm useless without it."


Dami said to Shishi, "Isn't much I can do myself, without tearing the city down. Defeats the puprose of being here, wouldn't you think?" She was being honest.. precision hadn't been her best trait over the last few years. "And you don't want that weapon.. it'll kill me one day." She paused, finished her beer, and continued. "No- literally, part of the binding contract.. but someone of your talent could easily craft something."


Iintahquohae didn’t like the sound of a weapon with a binding contract that involved killing her. The seamstress frowned. The supplies for her job weren’t exactly lethal. “..It would be amusing to see a pair of razor sharp knitting needles, or ones imbued with magic.” She can’t help snorting at the thought. “I’ll just wait for something useful to come my way, I guess.”


Shishi shuffles his feet while looking towards the door, "Aye." he acknowledges Dami, "Now that those things aren't falling from the sky like they were... Those with heavy hands like us probably aren't as useful."

Dami watches him leave, and leans in with a sigh. She bumps her forehead against the bartop and sinks as heavily as she could against the stool. "Those hotsprings up north sound perfect right about now.."


Iintahquohae watches Dami with a slight frown. “You okay? Need to lay down?” She could probably round up a few chairs for her to lay across like Inks did for the past two nights.


Dami shook her head. "Sleeping isn't my thing.. I think I might just head upstairs and see if I can clean up a bit though." She'd pay for her drink later, simply because she was lacking a single coin to her name; she lost her pockets in the fight. "Try and stay off that leg.." And quietly the elf headed for the stairs, leaving the weapon the floor alone. No one would touch it.