It was a little after dawn when Jan and the old man arrived... the others just starting to get ready for their trip...and for breakfast.
They were scattered about the inn when he entered, a few natives also hanging about, chatting with Sally and keeping to themselves.
The old man walked past absently and went to pet the large red bird that was hanging out on the stony top of the cool fireplace.
A typical morning, all said and told.
Dracos
Sitting at a table near the entrance to the inn, Mei-Ling consults a small map she procured from Dr. Simmons, considering where she should go next. Her small travelling bag is with her, indicating that she plans to leave today. She doesn't pay much attention to the newcomers..
Well, there's the tower, which he advised strongly against, New Reno, which he said could be pretty dangerous for a young lady, and Vault City, which he said was pretty hard to get into but safe enough.
Dracos
"Been there, done that," Mei-Ling mutters as she looks at the tower-marked section of the map. No desire to actually go inside it, no-sir.
New Reno or Vault City it was, then, and Mei-Ling predictably decides to go to whichever is closest.
Darx is sitting alone at a table, silently eating his breakfast.
"Hey birdy." Jan followed suit to pet the inn's mascot and feed it a piece of bread before turning to hail Darx. "Long time no see." He half turned towards the old man.
"Hungry, sir? You can join us for breakfast if you're up to it."
Darx looks up and grins.
"Hail, Jan. Been a while, ne?"
"Time well used on my end. Have you settled into things reasonably well?" He quickly ordered a simple breakfast from Sally and paid ahead of time for the old man before joining Darx.
"Blah, it's boring, sitting here in this town, doing nothing."
"The sooner we can all get to that tower, the better."
"You haven't picked up a job for Doctor Simmons while you were here?" Jan asked, perking an eyebrow. "Must've been kinda rough living on just that last job's money all along."
He shrugged. "Oh well. Anyway, seen anything interesting lately?"
"Aside from the normal new people to the wasteland, I haven't seen many things of interest."
He nibbles a piece of bacon for a moment, thinking.
"How about you? Found anything of interest?"
"The town of the wolves was abandoned. Cleared out of all the books that might've told me more about it. Fortunately I ran into the old storyteller there and he told me something that might've explained what happened there."
Darx smiles a little...
"Oh? Go on, do tell...."
He went into the same story the old man had told him, not nearly as skillfully as the storyteller, but covering the major points.
How an invading army had attacked the village to plunder a treasure that had been given to them to protect, and how the soldiers had slaughtered every man, woman, and child. Of how the souls of the villagers had used their righteous fury to turn into spectral wolves that tore the invaders to pieces and had safeguarded their legacy.
"I found evidence there that backed up the story. The crest of that invading kingdom on the armor of slaughtered soldiers. They looked like they had been shredded to pieces."
The old man had followed them, eating and then dozing off, his hat over his face as the tale was told. Or at least he appeared to be anyway, it was hard to tell.
Dracos
"Interesting....any idea on what this treasure is?"
"Not quite sure yet. Anyway, has anyone else from the group around?"
"Leets was here, but he's heading to Vault City. Not sure if he's gone yet."
"Ryder is around, as usual."
"Regardless, if we're going to go to the Tower as planned, we need to talk to Farnham. He went in there before, so maybe we can find out what awaits us from him. Afterwards, you want to go with me to Vault City? I need to pick up something there."
Darx nods. "Sounds good to me....anything beats sitting in this damn town doing nothing."
Jan finished his breakfast. "Well, let's go. He's probably hanging out near the filtering building or near Dr. Simmons' place. We can always fill in Ryder or Leets when we see them and they want to go along with us."
He rose from his chair, turning to look at the old storyteller. "Thank you for the helpful information earlier, sir. Take care of yourself, alright?" Waving Darx to follow, he started out as pausing for a moment to pay for his meal.
"Got your supplies ready? I'll need to take a bit to restock before we head to the Tower."
Darx finishes, standing and following him.
"The only supplies I'll need is my sword. Let's get moving."
"Eh...it was nothing."
The old man watched them carefully, moving his hat slightly from his eyes "later we shall walk again..."
Dracos
Jan looked after the old man as he exited the inn. "Maybe we will." He cheerfully responded as he followed Darx out in search of Farnham. And to get himself restocked.
Checking around, Farnham was found behind the inn, still asleep in the shadow of the inn. A drunken smell wafted off him.
Dracos
"Farnham, you alright there?" Jan tried to get the attention of the drunkard.
He was snoring away. Might take a bit to get him up.
Dracos
"Farnham, wake up." Jan shook the man.
"EEEH?" He shouted flailing a bit at the shaking.
Dracos
"Hey! Watch it, Farnham!" Jan moved back before he could get a black eye.
"And this is the one supposed to help us?" Darx quirks an eyebrow, amused.
"Appearances are deceiving. He's the only one who's gone into the Tower and come back from it." He helped Farnham up, dusting the man off.
Darx eyes him up and down.
"Sure doesn't look like it..."
"Eh...what..you wouldn't last....twwweeentytwo...sepands!" He spat on Darx drunkenly. "Be dead..dead dead dead dead."
Dracos
Darx looks down at the spit on his cloak with an air of disdain.
"Again I'll ask.....are you sure this is the right guy?"
Leets left his room, packed for the journey ahead to Vault City. As he left the inn, he noticed a small commotion behind the building. Upon investigating, he wasted a moment staring at the spectacle.
"Getting your kicks by picking on old men now, Darx?" he asked wryly.
Peering over Leets' shoulder, Ryder added suddenly, "And it's a wonder why nobody likes him that much..."
Of course, the first thing anyone should notice is that Ryder is currently a girl, and dripping wet...
"I'm not picking on him, simply stating the ob.....well, looks like our group's eye candy is back."
Wicked grin.
Leets eyes the team's psychopaths warily. "When you two decide to kill each other, can you do it outside the city?"
"Hmph, if you insist." Darx replies with a grin.
"Understood... And for YOUR information," Ryder says while pointing to Darx, "I need to train in this form every-so-often so my reflexes and such don't screw up when they're needed. Anyway, cold showers are as good as coffee..."
"If that's your excuse, that'll work." Darx says, before turning to the others.
"Now, can we start pumping this drunk for information about the tower or what?"
Regarding Darx with a shrug, Ryda walks off calmly before teleporting to a nearby rooftop to work-out lightly.
"Stop fighting." Jan commanded as he turned to Farnham. "We need your advice about the Tower."
"ehhh....don't go...cursed place. CURSED. Demons..ghost,blood blood everywhere." He whimpered.
Dracos
"Sounds like fun, I think."
"I'm sorry, but you know that I can't let something like that go. I've already faced some ghosts before, and I handled it perfectly."
"You'll die...like they did...all dead, dead, dead dead..." He seemed frantic. "you're with them...no, no," he seemed like he was about to run, his face twitching.
Dracos
Darx decides the man is indeed out of his mind and hides his wings, to stop from freakin' him out worse.
"'Them'? I'll assure you that I work solely under my own console. C'mon, let's get you a cup of coffee or something, okay?"
"You drink coffee?" He said a bit dazedly. "eeeh..oh, it's...only you. yes.." He seemed to calm a little.
Dracos
Re: Mei-ling
Checking through the map, Mei-ling found it'd be a few day trip to either city.
Dracos
Therefore, she leaves her decision up the whim of fate, and flips a coin on it.
"Heads," she mouths to herself as she catches the grey metal. "'Vault City' it is, then.. I wonder how it earned such a name?"
She decided to start getting some supplies ready; Vault City was quite a trek, and she'd need more than one waterskin to get through- there was hardly any water in the wasteland air, and she didn't want to be caught without it.
Hence, she went to the barkeep and starting enquiring about such things.
A few moments later and a few coins lighter in the purse and Mei had some decent travel supplies.
Dracos
"C'mon, and I'll have Sally get you something warm to eat." Jan guided the man towards Sally's place.
'What a bother" Darx mumbles, following behind.
The older man followed along.
Sally was frowned a bit at bringing him in, but served them all the same, and soon Jan was sitting across from the middle aged wreck.
Dracos
"Why haven't you gotten yourself to the Filter Facility? I put in a good word for you so you could have some steady work there." Jan lightly began as he sipped his coffee.
"work...yes...demons, no, demons everywhere." It seemed like it'd be hard to get him to focuse elsewhere for the moment, now that he was started up on the tower.
Dracos
"But you're safe now. You're in New Brunswick. Not the tower."
'Y.yess..." He nodded, calming a bit..."But there always around..watching, hundreds...thousands...."
Dracos
"Well, y'know what I can do, right? I've faced down lots of things, and I'll make sure that they don't get you, alright?"
He reached forward with strangely strong hands, grabbing hold of Jan by the shoulders as his wild eyes came near to Jan's face. "They'll grab ya. They'll rip your soul out of your body before you know what happened. You'll fall and then they'll rip you to pieces....blood...everywhere."
Dracos
"Please, try and tell us as much as you can. Innocent people may die if we leave that Tower as is." Jan grabbed hold of the raving man's hands to calm him down as he looked at Farnham's eyes steadily.
"Ohnonono...that thing...keeps things in...and keeps things out. It didn't want us. Said wasn't time...we weren't welcome. Steel moving and twisting about...like a face!"
Dracos
Jan frowned. "So it was protecting us? What did it specifically say?"
"say...say..sya...not the time...sign not there...none may enter none may enter....but we, found a window we did!"
Dracos
"Is it sealed away now? If so, we should go take care of it." Jan continued to try and reassure the former explorer.
"NO~...Go..bad place. Don't go there. Once inside...never go...never back."
Dracos
"Don't worry, we won't go there." Jan soothed the traumatized explorer, "The Tower will be left alone, but did anything get out when you got out?"
"Nothing, left...horrible screams, everyone screaming...all over..."
Dracos
"Okay. Thank you for the help, but I have one last question for you, Farnham. Why did you go there with the others in the first place?"
"There...there...why? Because...it'd never been done..never, never...all dead..."
Dracos
"Hey, hey, it's all right. You're not there any more," Leets said reassuringly, pushing an cooling bowl of soup towards the old man to placate him.
After making sure her gear was in order, Mei-Ling couldn't help but notice the old man that Jan had brought in with him.
Dressed in those robes (and the hat) as he was, it was all too easy for her to pin him as a western-style mage; a magi who used a form of magic that was both intriguing.. and repelling to her.
It couldn't hurt to see if he was for real.
"Hi, there," she greets, taking a seat near him. "What brings you to New Brunswick?"
He flailed out for a moment, waking up. "What..where?" His hat went flying, revealing long, white hair as he chased after it for a moment. "Brings me here, miss?"
Dracos
"Mmm," replies Mei-Ling, trying to make sense of nonsensical speech. "Call it curiosity."
"That is something for the stars to wonder, is it not?"
Dracos
"You don't know why? That makes two of us," chuckles Mei-Ling.
"The stars move in mysterious ways sometimes young lady." The old man chuckled retrieving his hat and putting it on sloppily. It rather fit him really.
Dracos
"In this place, I don't recognize any stars at all," replies Mei-Ling, looking up.. at the ceiling.
"I couldn't say how they moved, or even if they moved. Only that they're there."
"Watch and you might see..."
He got up, moving as if to leave.
Dracos
Re: Leets
The middle aged man started digging in hungrily.
Dracos
"Well, we'll leave you for now. Try and get yourself to the Filtering Facility, okay?" Jan asked Farnham.
He grumbled non-commitingly.
Dracos
"Take care of yourself." Jan rose from his table and started making his way to the exit, leading them out. Once outside and out of the hearing range of the former explorer, he continued. "Well, let's go everyone. If nothing else, I figure we should make sure the Tower really is sealed. Considering the wolves from before...I just get the feeling that the building is leaking something fierce."
So they began making their way to inspect the Tower for themselves.
As they found their way out, they spotted the old man, relaxing against the sign post on the way out.
Further, they could spot Mei-ling, not ten minutes in front of them.
Dracos
"Hey old man, what are you doing?" Jan greeted the old man, pausing a second as the rest of the group kept walking on.
"I think I'm about to take a trip." He nodded.
Dracos
"Where are you heading?"
Darx is bringing up the rear of the group, keeping a careful eye on things from behind.
He spun around, twirling a little ragged stick.
"NORTH!" He intoned as he stopped.
Dracos
"Well, if you'd like, you can come along with us. We're heading north."
"An invitation? How can I refuse." He smiled.
Dracos
"Well then, let's go." Jan started after the group.
The party moves on to The Tower (http://www.soulriders.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1956).
Dracos