The Horn and Halo

#16

"Bah" Gruganus replied "I didn't do squat, that pansy did..."
He considered his situation for a moment.
"He's the one with all the healing magic though... if you wanna help, get me a drink. A strong one."
Gurganus pulled himself up and slowly staggered over to a table, and sat down, wheezing slightly.

#17

'Couldn't he just heal himself then?' Cp wanted to say, but kept his mouth shut for now. He was sure there was a fair enough reason, or else he would have done it by now.

As for the drink, one of the bar's patron's, thoroughly impressed with the whole ordeal, gladly slid his over to help the cause. Taking it, and offering a quick thanks, Coolpikaaa made his way over to the table where the man had limped to.

"This'll help?" he said, setting it down.

#18

The tavernkeeper looked quite startled at what had just happened in front of him, his jaw hanging open and black moustache quivering slightly with suppressed anger. But most of all he had to wonder, where the heck had Tala been in all this? The werewolf was supposed to have been watching the inside whilst the draconian watched the outside-so why hadn't she stepped in and stopped this?

"You-you're banned!" he shouted lamely after the man, who's storming out of the door caused a metallic crash as it smashed into the nose of the sivak draconian Syllak. Ah, so that's why the werewolf inside was looking so disoriented. Maybe he should put their guard positions in different spots? "As for you, err, two, keep your disputes out of my establishment. Both of you. Or at the very least try not to smack my guards on the head when you barge in here. Can't you read?" the man shook his head in disgust, then turned to CP. "Sorry about that, that sort of thing isn't supposed to happen in here. Ugh, now I feel guilty" he turned and frowned at the one/two people in the same body "at the very least I can offer you two a room to rest in until you feel better. You as well CP, can have one free for the night, since you got caught up in this mayhem-and a drink on the house too. Hey, Nym! Prepare two rooms please!"

The last part was more raised, and caused a woman who looked similar to the one calling herself Swix around these parts to emerge from the cellar. She had shorter hair, a longer flowing grey dress, and grey boots to match. She also looked a bit miffed. "But I was practicing-oh" she said, finally noticing the injured man "right away. Hi CP!" She called back as she jumped over the counter and rushed up the stairs to the rooms.

#19

"Perfect." Gurganus replied, and practically inhaled the alcohol. Feeling woozy now, in his weakened state he figured the drink would make him black out, and he could relinquish control.
"Well..., I'll be heading off now, I'll see you lateeeer..." He slurred before letting his head fall to the table, and blacking out. A few minutes later, he woke up again, except it wasn't Gurganus.
"OW OW OW!" Cried Irenaeus "What happened?! Oh yea, the fight..."
He tentatively stood up, and made sure the area was clear. Then he began to mutter something and held back the pain as bones snapped back in place, flesh healed and blood stopped bleeding. When he was done, the now much fresher looking Irenaeus dropped back into his chair.
"Urrrg... thank you. My name is Irenaeus, pleased to meet you. Are you okay?" He turned to the tavern keeper. "And I'm rather sorry about all of this."

#20

"Uh huh, sorry" the man didn't look angry anymore, he looked upset "just do me a favour and next time you're getting chased, hide behind Syllak outside. Or you know open the doors a bit more softly so they can come help out. You're lucky the fire-lizard wasn't here, she'd've had you both"

#21

"Oh man, I didn't even notice the guard..." Irenaeus groaned. "I hate to put you through more trouble but is there anywhere here I can hide out if I need to? It's not him I'm worried about... it's the Family."

#22

The tavernkeeper pointed behind him at the hole Nym had emerged from earlier, looking at Irenaeus with a lot of concern. "Other than the rooms down there's the best hiding place we've got-although Nym's constantly telling me about the bugs she keeps finding down there. Though, come to think of it I've never seen any myself. Uh, wait what?" he suddenly stopped, peering at the man oddly "what do you mean you didn't notice the guard? She's a 6 foot tall, bipedal dragon like being. How could you not notice? Come to think of it you should probably apologise to them-later, when the sting's not so fresh. And who are 'the Family' anyway?"

#23

"I- I was running for my life! I don't do the fighting, Gurganus does... damn him." Irenaeus replied. "But yes, I shall do. But for now, you ask about The Family? I'm surprised you haven't heard of them yet. They're ruthlessly taking over large areas of the encampment from the inside... well take over is too strong a phrase, perhaps dominating might be a better term. They a nasty group who put the fear of the gods in people for their own personal gain, and commit all sorts of crimes to get money. Slavery, drugs, you name it they do it. Back home they were even sinking their claws into the rulers of the country discovered above ours..." Irenaeus explained.
"So now they've been hounding the poorer people here. Pushing them into paying "protection money" and all sorts. If you don't join them, you're squeezed for every penny you have. if you run out of money... well you either starve or they do what... what Gurganus obviously did. Oh gods!"

Irenaeus was visibly trembling now, the gravity of what his hands must have done hitting him hard.
"Sometimes I wish they'd never taken me in!"He yelled, seemingly at no one. "But what can I do? I owe them my life."

#24

Coolpikaaa sat at the edge of Gurganus' table, paying attention to an extremely flustered Barkeep. It seemed a bit of a delayed reaction to what had been happening the whole time, but the mustached man yelled his stance on banning anyway.

"Well..., I'll be heading off now, I'll see you lateeeer..."

"Hmm?" Cp hummed, his attention brought back to his patient. "Hey... Where'd your drink go?"

Slam!

Coolpikaaa was nearly shaken off as the table rocked, the drunken man rather impressively smacking his head right into it.

"Hey!" The electric mouse yelled, bolting to his feet, fearing the worst. Luckily, the man rose again only a few minutes later. Even better, Irenaeus seemed to look... great. As if he had been completely healed as he got up...

The Barkeep was making his way over to their table now, still looking quite frazzled. Well, this was surely the end of Cp's room gaining idea. Sure enough, he gave the man with two personalities a strong warning, and began to look towards the electric mouse, disgust still on his face.

"At the very least I can offer you two a room to rest in until you feel better. You as well CP, can have one free for the night, since you got caught up in this mayhem-and a drink on the house too. Hey, Nym! Prepare two rooms please!"

CP wheeled in place, turning to look at the woman who had just surfaced from the cellar. Sure enough, he did know a staff member here.

"Excuse me... I'm gonna go check out my room!" he said, jumping off the table and following the route Nym had gone. "I'll be back! For that drink!"

Cp vanished quickly up the stairs, before pulling on the long gown of the woman ahead of him....

#25

The tavernkeeper stood politely listening to Irenaeus with a raised eyebrow, like he wasn't quite sure whether to believe the man with the split personality, or whether he might've had his head banged a bit too well by the extremely quick beat down he'd been given. "Uh-huh, and how exactly is this 'Family' doing that? Most people I've seen here are quite capable of looking after themselves-are you saying that they've got all of the, mm, superhumans under their thumb so well even they're not fighting back?" It was a genuine question, the guy was genuinely curious and puzzled. he'd opened this place as a means of recreation and relaxation, rather than as a place people could eat. If it turned out people couldn't get their food by other means, he might just have to hire a chef at some point.

Meanwhile, Nym had gotten about halfway up the stairs when she felt a tugging on her dress. "Cut it out Sallah" she said absently, before she stopped and looked down as something else occurred to her. Mainly that the fire-lizard wasn't here, so it must be something else tugging on her. "Oh, hi again CP" she said in a friendly tone of voice "you must be a customer then. So is there something you wanted?"

#26

Irenaeus seemed to twitch slightly, as if something had tried to grab his attention.
"Well a lot of the super humans are ignored for the most part, it's just not worth getting into an argument with them. Any we do have any "control" over are usually paid. No, the Family may be powerful but they're not dumb. I suppose their lack of notoriety is a good thing right now."
Irenaeus glanced to the door again. He was concerned that a couple of Gurganus' goons would come after him. After all, they really only did what he said.
"I will accept your offer of hiding in the cellar for now, thank you. If anyone comes asking for me, I would be highly grateful if you redirected them for now."
And without another word he hurried downstairs. It almost felt like home.

#27

"Oh, hi again CP. You must be a customer then. So is there something you wanted?"

"A customer?" Cp said looking puzzled, then smiling. "Haha, I guess. The innkeeper is giving me a room for the night because of whatever happened down there. I actually want to ask him about a more permanent stay but..."

Coolpikaaa suddenly darted past the woman, going up several steps toward what he assumed were the rooms.

"I have to check it out first!"

#28

The moustached mans mouth dropped open again as Irenaeus bolted from the table after explaining as best he can, before quickly disappearing down into the cellar. The owner of the place closed his mouth, shook his head and started gathering up empty glasses. Seemed this was going to be the normal around here.

In the cellar, Irenaeus would find it lit quite brightly by several mounted candles, illuminating barrels full of everything that was being sold here. Most were large and wooden, but there were many bottles of thick, blood red coloured liquid, and a few that resembled whiskey but had the words 'Dragonfire Water' attached to them via pieces of paper.

There was also something in the murkiest part of the cellar, making an irritated chirping noise.

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"Well, you best wait up for me then" Nym told the electric mouse who'd hurried right past her to the top of the stairs, and she hurried to catch up with him, but carefully so she didn't trip over her dress "since I've got the keys. All you'll be able to see up there are doors. Unless you developed X-Ray vision at some point" the last part was meant to be a joke, and Nym giggled immaturely to herself at it.

"See?" Nym said as she reached the top, gesturing to several wooden doors that lined the sides of the platform they were now standing on, none of which looked different to the others. "They're not all that special either really, except that some have windows and some don't. You got a bed, a wardrobe-or closet, and a table cut into the side with a mirror plus a wooden chair. That's about it"

#29

Irenaeus turned to face the chirping noise and slowly walked towards it, but keeping sure to keep a somewhat respectful distance.
"Ummm, hello? Anyone there?"

In his mind, a nasty little voice piped up.
"There's always me..."
"Shut up!"

#30

Coolpikaaa waited in the hallway, watching with interest as Nym attempted the stairs with her long gown. It clearly wasn't the best 'battle ready' equipment for any adventurer to have, but then again, perhaps that was the point. The difference in clothing style was obviously to make the woman unique... given her interesting family ties.

"You're going to trip one day..." Coolpikaaa said, smiling as the barmaid finally caught up to him. "... And I don't need X-ray vision to see that coming."

Nym then went on to explain the comforts he should expect during his stay. It was fairly average stuff, and he could definitely see himself adjusting with ease. Once Nym had finished her summary, Coolpikaaa glanced around the hallway, taking in the uniformity. Since the barkeep had mentioned Cp was the first to ask for a room, he assumed they were empty.

"So..." Coolpikaaa began, looking as if he was simply going to ask when Nym was going to let him in to unpack. But, when a moment passed, and Cp's smile slowly seemed to vanish...

"Are you having any sort of trouble... Adjusting?" he eventually said carefully, with a deep look of knowing.