Stories by a fire.

[Christoph]

It was a lively night at the tavern. Tables full of regulars and strangers alike were full of activity as the patrons talked, gambled, and just relaxed as barmaids walked from table to table, passing out food and ale. The welcoming light of a roaring fireplace reached every corner of the hall, filling the tavern with warmth and a feeling of well being.

The largest gathering was around a rectangular wooden table in front of the glowing hearth. There, an assortment of customers ranging from adventurers to traveling merchants to the average farmer sat and listened to a young, brown haired man wearing a white chef coat and hat and a stained apron recite a story as he leaned against the warm stone of the fireplace.

His soft brown eyes flared with life as he told his tale and he projected his voice with a dramatic flair and made wide gestures with his arms, and would sometimes pace a few steps before returning to his place of leaning.

“...and so finally, Big Chef Mike comes charging out of the kitchen, waving around a butcher’s cleaver and a frying pan, yelling and screaming like a madman. At that point, the one guy who was sober enough to have an instinct of self-preservation chose to grab the two other drunks that were coming toward me and take off out the door rather than stay to talk things over with a huge, angry, hairy man with kitchen tools.” The story-teller chef chuckled.

“Mike had all he could do not to burst laughing as I hauled the other drunk that had gotten knocked out. Of course, I stole his coin pouch before I threw him out.” A small round of laughs went around the table as he finished. He sighed and smiled.

“So, surely someone else must have a story to tell,” he claimed. “Come now, tell a tale to enchant... or at least amuse the patrons here.”



OOC> So there we have it, have your character tell a story. It can be of adventures that occurred during an RP (with your character’s own spin, of course), of their history, or even something you made up. Have fun with it.

[Corvus MacCallum]

The feral hunter had been picking idlely at the table as he listened,arms folded in front of him,the buckler hiding his claws making short work of the tables worn out finish, not that the story was dull it was actually pretty interesting he just felt the need to fidget. Smirking as the story finished up he pondered on what would make a good boastful tale, one that would cause the teller to rise up from his stool, place his big booted foot on the table and demand a wench in his arms before beginning the introduction...so many to choose from. One of his feet started to kick about his satchel underneath the table,listening to the fangs rattling pondering over which monster made a good tale...

"Alright I got one, theres a small farming community called Reskin its way far to the east and its at the foot of this here mountain...well its more a huge hill, one of those places that gets way-layed by orcs and the like often since its in the out-backs but this place was pristine, not a hint of trouble but also, no armed guards and when you wander into a place like that you just know some weird shits up...As I walked down the main street all these eyes were on me from inside the houses, but they weren't looking at me, all the eyes were going to me sword here.."

He couldn't help but smirk a little wider as he jutted a finger in the direction of the weapon pile, his Slammer sword dwarfing most of the other weapons.

"Anyway visit the village chief and turns out the place is visited constantly by this Dragon Rider, its basically the old deal of protection in exchange for your finest daughters and free food, accounts of course for why no men are fighters in the village the ones that tried to fight back wound up getting the realms biggest deep-throat courtesy of his orange tinted reptile...saying that it seemed more like a young drake than a proper pure blooded dragon but then an ass-hole like that could hardly tame a proper dragon anyway"

Taking a moment to close his eyes and let it all pass through him again, clambering up the hill, the brunette ankle biter that tried to give him a gift...good times.

"Well they weren't stupid, just scared and saw that my sword was one of those anti-monster types...wasn't entirely sure if I should give my help I mean the stories they told me about what the guy did I thought he rode this monstrous black dragon that could shear a building in two...but then thats not too hard all the buildings are wooden in that village heh, but seeing as how I only really needed to take down the rider and then deal with the dragon while confused it didn't seem incredibly tough....difficult yea but I`m sure I could have managed...turns out this 'dragon' the guy was riding was about twice the size of a horse so not particulary gigantic"

Admittedly he was a tad more nervous at the prospect of tackling a dragon solo, most monster hunting parties were in the tens with plenty of support but knowing that it was tamed by a human let him know it was a pretty weak specimin or a tad thick.

"The rider..never found out his name had his home up in on the hill in some shack he had them put together so at the least I had good acess, no skulking about the one entrance into a cave which was a welcome releif..also meant wide open spaces with opportunity for cover which is always good"

He saw a few of the more grisled warriors nodding in agreement,never hurt to have somewhere to hide..even if your nuts are made of steel.

"finally got to see the guy during the evening, I had hidden myself in the chiefs home and realised my target was a lot less intimidating, buckled armour, really worn out leather undersuit but he had quite an impressive weapon was one of those Drying pole weapons.."

He just saw lots of rather blank looks and decided to go ahead with an explanation.

"Has about a six foot long blade, no pommel on the handle...pretty fragile but if you can get enough weight behind the swing great on unarmoured opponents...doubted this guy had the intelligence to use it properly likely he picked it up because it was big and he could hit people on the ground with his drake...he flaps off after picking up some green guff from the fields and I took off after him, thanks to the hill with all its green foliage I had lots of cover and eventually we had that big kind of shodown at the shack...sorta heheh I caught the guy taking a crap and quickly whipped out my blade to level it at his meat and two veg...amazing how quickly a guy can stutter out no when in that kind of situation...still I underestimated him, the Drake got me from behind, nearly broke me back with this big sweep of its head, the rider hopped on, unsheathed his sword and got to see it immediately shattered..you don`t trade blows with a Slammer,its just not smart, spun on my heel and caught the Drake and him in one blow, its neck was severed and his waist was gone....god I was soaked to the bone as that thing sprayed and then collapsed but I got some great teeth for my collection and freed a village heheh...always good,still it was a long way down so they had to wait till the next morning before finding out I had slayed the great opposition"

[Patois]

"Dragon-slaying?" a deep voice called from the end of the table furthest from the hearth. The dark skinned sailor kicked his boots down from the table, sitting up in his chair. The sudden motion made the spider monkey on his shoulder cling to his shirt tight with surprise. "That's the kind of thing that ends nights like these. I mean, how can someone hope to follow that?"

Sensing his pet's anxiety, Angio pulled a walnut from his pocket, reaching up to his shoulder and handing it to the small primate. It grabbed the nut greedily with both hands, immediately starting to gnaw on the shell to try to crack it.

"N'erless, I guess I'll try to bring us back down to the land, not have everyone else feel they have to reach so high." He cracked a smarmy grin, but had a feeling it wasn't as amusing the to previous storyteller as it was to him.

"Let's see... well, there was this one time, I was out on the seas. The rolling waves carrying me and m' crew towards destiny. Riches. Fame. Maybe a little infamy. Aye, it was another time and I was among a crew of bucaneers- though many of you folk would call us pirates. We had long been searching out the big prize, the treasure that would make us kings of the sea and have our names written in history. And after enough rumors and legends, the crew had set out with just such a prize in mind.... the Eye of the Deep. 'Tis a pearl the size of a man's eye, colored the deepest azure of the sea. For a long time, no one could find it... and I can't really blame those who tried. Trying to find a dark blue pearl in the ocean is about as easy as finding a tanned parchment in a sandstorm; your chances start at next to impossible and only go down from there. But there was rumor, some sea crawler had grabbed the pearl and scurried with it onto land. A trader who was collectin' sea glass came across it and took it for himself, determined he had found his own ticket to the good life." The sailor looked around at the faces circling the table, making sure he still had their attention. The monkey on his shoulder grunted with frustration as it continued to chomp at the shell of the walnut, unsuccessful in breaking it.

"Unfortunately for this poor fool, he wasn't expecting us. He had already had couriers go scout several markets of jewelers and collectors, planning to auction it off. We had caught up with one of them near the north lands, and found out what route his ship was going to travel to go to the auction. We set sail to intercept him. Am’aleh must have hastened the waters beneath us, as our ship made it to his route in half the time we had planned. And destiny it seems had a reason: the messenger had decieved us and told us the wrong day, thinking we would miss him. The fortune of the gods however delivered us right on top of him. We raided his ship and took his freight, and the Eye. But the legend of the Eye had a stern warning, one we would come to learn about firsthand. One of our crewmen stood in awe of the pearl as our captain held and examined it, and made the err of asking him if that was indeed the famed Eye of the Deep." Lowering himself down towards the table, the sailor looked around suspiciously, trying to add suspense to his story.

"The legend of the Eye foretold that any who spoke the name of the pearl would reap the destructive fury of a great sea spirit. Aye, even as the very name o' the pearl came from his mouth, the sky darkened, the waters began to tumble about, and the boat shook violently. The men were clingling to the rigging to keep from being thrown into the deep by the sudden tempest. It was then that a great blue cloud rose up from that pearl, and from it came the form of a fearsome Djinn!" He slammed his fist on the table for emphasis. "The vicious spirit roared mightily and drew a scimitar cast from coral that was harder than the finest steel. In one swipe, the one of our men who had made the mistake of freeing this monster was cleaved un'er his armpits; it seperated his top half from his bottom half in a blink of the eye. The fiend slashed at our riggings, making masts fall and sails crash to the deck. He slashed another rigging and two of our men were tossed into the cold depths of the deep, never to be seen again. Woe unto us for unlocking this curse, for it seemed this day would be our last. But, there was one thing none of us- not even the Djinn- had expected..."

The monkey impatiently climbed down his arm to the table, the walnut in it's mouth. It sat on the table and grabbed the nut with both hands, slamming it against the wood. Angio motioned to his pet with a grin. "Sha'hkrai. In the commotion, I had lost track of my friend here, and hadn't even thought of it. I was already plottin' out how my grave would be at the bottom of the sea at that point. When the Djinn appeared, the captain had dropped the Eye of the Deep, and this mischievous little devil saw it. Didn't even pay notice to the Djinn for his greed in chasin' that azure treasure. Sha'hkrai had grabbed the Eye, and was admiring it, checkin' it out for his own liking. He decided to see how sturdy it was, and raised the pearl overhead..."

Just then the monkey hit the nut against the table hard and it finally cracked, splitting in half. "Slammed it right down on the deck, cracking it!" Several onlookers chuckled rauchiously at the timing of this as Angios leaned back in his seat.

"The Djinn swirled back into the broken pearl, roaring in protest as it was trapped back inside. The waves calmed and the clouds parted, the sun coming back down on our faces again. And as we all clambered to pull ourselves together, to keep our boat together... you know what this little anklebiter did?" Angios extended his hand, the monkey ate the insides of the nut hurredly and scurried up his master's arm to perch on his shoulder once again. "Decided a broken pearl was no good to him, and tossed her right back into the sea!"

A round of laughs and chuckles went around the table as the sailor again propped his feet on the edge, leaning back in his chair. He reached up, scratching the scruff of his pet's neck affectionately and looked around the table, eager to hear the next patron's story.

[Taskmienster]

This thread has been siting for over a month and a half. Since no response has been made to create activity I am going to be moving this. If you would like it to be reopened please feel free to PM myself or another admin and they will be able to move it for you back to the Peaceful Promenade.