The Lost Tavern

[Quonundrum]

Aliendron

Again, he is puzzled with the spell failure. It certainly wasn't due to magic resistance. The entire tavern must dampen spellcasting. Following the barkeep's gesture and noting the swirling, pink glow, he felt that he was beginning to understand. This place must be some kind of neutral ground built in the ethereal or astral plane ... somewhere outside the material plane, at least.

Is it another component of the balance between positive and negative energies? He glances at Theo's sword to see if it still glows. "Absolutely clear, Mr. Marlaman. If I may ask, during your time here as the caretaker, has anything ... unusual ... happened?"

[kruk]

Cresty

Other portals aye. Cresty's eyebrows arch up in an expression of curiosity. He then eyes the bottle of wiskey. He put 8 gps on the table for his share. Whiskey eh. I haven't had anything like this before. Hope it laste better than the grog at the island town. What was the barkeep's name? That was some gut wrenching stuff Wow that seems so long ago. i miss that place. He then pours a glass for himself and looks to the others to see if they want a glass as well.

Lerrick

The cleric looks at the bartender. Understood. She bows her head in affirmation. She then holds her hand up to get the attention of the waitress. If you are indeed seving tea I would like to have a cup please.

[jemmus]

Theo's eyes start as he sees Cresty dole out 8 gold pieces for a share of the whiskey. (He doesn't realize it, but his sensible, parsimonious, frugal, sparing, abstentious, penny-pinching (whatever one may call it) nature is a part of lack of personal attraction and charisma). He opens his purse and counts out and forks over 8 gold pieces.

The homely ranger with his big ears, big nose, and unkempt ginger hair and beard says, Cone of Silence, Mr, Andron, your lips were speaking, the same always. But there was no sound. It was like we had no ears. Except for normal tavern noise I'vc heard of that. Among the old rangers around the fire.

[ravenn4544]

Alordan is not surprised at the mortal danger waiting just beyond the shadows. "Understood." With everyone answering the question, he asks suspiciously of the barkeep, "What do you mean exactly about us being 'ready' for the main room...?"

[gurusql]

Torbath

Torbath seeing the price tag on the Drow Whiskey, will order some tea instead with his other adventurers.

[OGRE MAGE]

The Lost Tavern
Beyond The Backroom Shelf

Marlaman appears pleased that everyone seems to understand the dangers of rushing through unknown portals. Reminiscing about Randall at the old Treehouse, Cresty and Theo pull out some gold coins for the bottle, pouring themselves a taste to savor. The Drow whiskey is especially pungent and definitely potent, a flavor none of you has experienced before. The barmaid brings tea and any other drinks, offering up a plate of hot and well seasoned fried bread fingers as a complimentary appetizer with the first round of drinks. They are SO much better than iron rations.

Aliendron wisely surmises that they are no longer on Big Shiny Island, pontificating over the pink mist flowing through the open vent in the tavern ceiling. He notices the magic items they currently hold seem to have distinctly less power inside this place. The frugal rangers sword still glows slightly with a magical light, but its intensity is greatly subdued for some reason.

Looking over the gold coins with great interest, Marlaman bites into one as he nods appreciatively. "You mean more unusual than a group of folks suddenly arriving through a portal that's been blocked by a shelf for more years than I can remember? I guess you might think this entire place is unusual, but everyone who comes here understands the rules. Since I have been in charge, nobody has tested Big Red's security abilities as of yet."

When Alordan inquires about the barkeeps concern for the newbies and the main room, a lone figure passes by the doorway to this back room. Marlaman calls out for the figure to stop. "Hey Paul! Got a second?" None of you has ever seen a creature similar to the figure who steps back into the doorway.

Paul.jpg (56.32 KiB) Viewed 568 times

In perfect common, this insectoid simply nods his eyeless head and replies. "Hey folks. How ya doing? Sorry, gotta pee." With that, he makes a break towards the bathroom.

"If you folks think you can handle seeing plenty more strange looking folks like Paul there, I suppose you might be ready for some mingling in the main room."

Actions?

Aliendron AC10 13/17 (CL4) 1st 0/5 2nd 1/4 (MU3) RM, CL, DM, 1st 0/2 2nd 0/1
Theo AC:5 13/13 (Sword)
Alordan AC3 18/22
Torbath (M3) AC8 18/18 RM, CL, DM, 1st 2/2 2nd 1/1 (top of backpack) Comet AC:7 4/4]
Lerrick: (C5) AC:5 26/28 1st 2/5, 2nd 4/5 3rd 2/2 (Light Stone)
Cresty: (F2) AC:4 17/17
Tlachtga (D4) AC7 31/31 1st 6/6 2nd 4/4 3rd 2/3 (Light Stone)

[Rex]

Tlachtga

Chuckling again, "I think we are pretty good at dealing with strange actually."

[gurusql]

Torbath

"Thank you for the kindness and respect, we can head to the main room."

[Quonundrum]

Aliendron

After seeing Paul, he doesn't feel quite as uneasy in his new body now. Removing the cloth cowl from his head, he nods appreciatively at Marlaman. "Yes, I think we will do just fine." Turning to the barmaid, "That does sound better than whiskey. I will have, tea, Earl Grey, hot."

[ravenn4544]

Alordan thanks the bartender for his answer. "So that was Paul. Seems nice enough. I much prefer nice people."

[kruk]

Cresty

Cresty quaffs his whiskey, closes his eyes only to open them with his sight focused on Paul. He quickly shuts them again and shakes his head vigorously, then reopens them. By this time the strange insect creature is no longer in sight. Whoa!...this stuff is strong. One glass is enough for me.


Lerrick

The cleric shakes her head and sighs at Cresty...like she's done hundreds of times before. She gladly accepts the hot tea from the waitress when she arrives with the drinks.

[jemmus]

Homely Theo gobbles up the delicious hot fried breadsticks, chewing with his mouth open. Apparently table manners weren't included in ranger school curriculum, alongside tracking, being alert for surprises, and fighting giant-class monsters. Before he knows it, he's eaten the last breadstick, and more than his share. He looks around the table. Oh. Uh... sorry. Do we have time for another order before we go to the main room? He digs in his coin purse.

[Rex]

Tlachtga

"You wouldn't know we feed the boy."

[OGRE MAGE]

The Lost Tavern
Beyond The Backroom Shelf

The waitress looks at the oddly shaped Andron without judgment, her face showing a bit of bewilderment. "We have another regular who orders his tea that exact way as well. Are you folks putting me on or something?"

Marlaman shrugs and motions for the group to follow him into the main bar, being sure to point out the location of this room, in case anyone wants to return to the Fun House again. "If you don't mind terribly, can I get you to ask one of us if you need access to this room again? I cant have other patrons thinking they can wander around back here all willy-nilly."

Once everyone is ready, the group is led out into the general population. The Lost Tavern is by far the largest interior room you have ever been inside, and its walls are indeed covered with doors and shimmering magical portals of all makes and colors. The first thing you notice is an 8 foot high platform just off the center of the room. Atop this platform sits a statue of a massive curled up red dragon that appears so lifelike it startles you initially. The dragons head pivots slowly as it surveys the room, reminding you of what Marlaman warned you about earlier.

The tavern is about half filled with what you might guess to be around 100 people in all, plus a few waitstaff. These folks are definitely not all human, scattered about the place sitting at long tables or in private booths discussing all manner of interests. A few groups look to be celebrating something, as they drink and sing along to the three piece minstrel on the stage in full throated revelry. The bar itself is an ornately carved wooden wonder, smattered with even more interesting looking persons of unknown ilk and origin. Nobody in the bar gives your group a second look, understanding that this place is a proverbial melting pot of varying races form every known spectrum.

You notice a few things about the groups closest to your table, trying not to stare at the most bizarre looking of their members. One party is comprised of elvish looking folks, but their exposed skin is as black as pure ebony. If these are members of the wicked Drow you have heard about, they certainly don't live up to their reputation here, sitting around quietly smoking, drinking, and talking without any sense of violence or danger. Another group of 8 is made up of tiny humanoid people, much smaller than halflings even. A third group appears to be giant ant creatures, their segmented red bodies glisten with some kind of pungent pheromones. Another nearby group has a long haired grey robed wizard sitting at the head of the table smoking from a long stemmed pipe and looking over a brown stained map. He is surrounded by 2 men, a surly looking dwarf, a pretty woodland elf, and 4 halflings who laugh and sing along loudly with the band. Like Paul, every one of these creatures is speaking in perfect common, regardless of make or model.

The strange ridge vent in the ceiling runs the entire length of this room as well, the pink mist flowing in and out continuously. The weird looking creatures up there float around harmlessly, periodically levitating down to one of the tables, hovering over it silently before flitting over to a back area behind the bar to eventually return to the pink soup above again.

Instead of me making this an even longer novel, lets do this: Marlaman notices you all looking around like children in a candy store, you minds brimming with questions. "Like I said, no fighting. At all! You nice folks have any questions before I get back to work?"

Actions?

73347FF6-1360-4A9D-9536-EC609C8AD1BF.jpeg (87.67 KiB) Viewed 517 times

Aliendron AC10 13/17 (CL4) 1st 0/5 2nd 1/4 (MU3) RM, CL, DM, 1st 0/2 2nd 0/1
Theo AC:5 13/13 (Sword)
Alordan AC3 18/22
Torbath (M3) AC8 18/18 RM, CL, DM, 1st 2/2 2nd 1/1 (top of backpack) Comet AC:7 4/4]
Lerrick: (C5) AC:5 26/28 1st 2/5, 2nd 4/5 3rd 2/2 (Light Stone)
Cresty: (F2) AC:4 17/17
Tlachtga (D4) AC7 31/31 1st 6/6 2nd 4/4 3rd 2/3 (Light Stone)

[Rex]

Tlachtga

"A very interesting place. I imagine randomly going through portals would be very dangerous."

She will try and listen in to some of the other groups around and see if she can catch any conversation that might tell her which portal they came through.

[OGRE MAGE]

You notice a few things about the groups closest to your table....

I swear I do my best not to make these updates too long to read carefully, but sometimes I have a lot of information to give out and it cant be prevented.

In other words......you are already at a table.

[Rex]

Sorry. I tend to miss little details when in a hurry. Editing post now.

[Quonundrum]

Aliendron

"Fascinating. Is he here today? I would like to introduce myself to this fellow tea connoisseur," he asks the waitress. "Of course, Mr. Marlaman, we will ask for access to the back room before leaving, and we also have absolutely no intention of fighting anyone. Is there anything outside the tavern? What are these creatures floating about?"

[OGRE MAGE]

Maybe I can break these giant updates into more manageable bite size chunks if I answer a few of these as they come up.

Aliendron

"Fascinating. Is he here today? I would like to introduce myself to this fellow tea connoisseur," he asks the waitress. "Of course, Mr. Marlaman, we will ask for access to the back room before leaving, and we also have absolutely no intention of fighting anyone. Is there anything outside the tavern? What are these creatures floating about?"

The waitress shakes her head. "Nope. Haven't seen the good captain in a few days now."

Marlaman smiles. "The only thing outside is the pink soup. Take a look out the window if ya don't believe me." He points to the area of the patio, where the glass windows reveals even more of the strange pink mist outside that you noticed at the apex of the ceiling. "Those creatures are natives to the soup. They are called Thought Eaters, but the ones inside here are well trained to take only orders from your minds. That's a promise."

"You folks really don't know where you are, do you?"

[kruk]

Marlaman smiles.
"You folks really don't know where you are, do you?"

Cresty

The fighter chimes in Nope...not the slightest idea.

Lerrick

The cleric moves to the window to get a better view of the pink mist and the floating strange beings.