[IC] New Crobuzon & the World Beyond

[GM Marvel]

Agloval looks back and forth at each of you and then says, "We're here... Feel free to go inside...  Your giant spider isn't going to stay fresh forever."

[Betimi]

"Lead on sir Agloval.  You were going to make introductions?"

[Nacesh]

Nacesh looks around and tries to peak through any windows. Is it just the yard that's out of shape, or the complete Child is out of service (read: abandoned for who knows how long), meaning it's not a tavern anymore just the headquarters of someone? He recalls what little he's learned about the lowlife of bustling cities and tries to recite any and all tidbits he's ever picked up about thieves' guilds; thieves' cant; innuendo and such.

OOC - Nacesh is usually the "silent friend" kind of charismatic person and not the one to lead bands into battle but he probably has a significant knack for smooth talk. Guessing it's part of Gather Information in 3.5?
Gather Information [1d20+4] = 6+4 = 10

He also sends a "casual" look at Agloval (Bluff to try to avoid being noticed as "glaring") to see if he's willing to take the party inside, or maybe this is a trap (Sense Motive)
Bluff [1d20+5] = 10+5 = 15 Sense Motive [1d20+1] = 7+1 = 8

[GM Marvel]

[OoC1:  So I know the last time Forge was on the site he said he was having Computer trouble.  Do we know if Selina's player is still around?  She has only posted once since the 5th?]

[OoC2: @Nacesh  Smooth talk?  What are you saying?  Except for Agloval, communication with others is a little difficult.  Though not completely impossible.]

Without hesitation, Agloval enters.  Light seems to give up the struggle halfway through the thick, soiled windows, leaving the interior in shadows.  The walls are unadorned except by dirt.  The pub is empty of all but the most dedicated drinkers, shambolic figures huddled over bottles.  Several looked like junkies, several were the part human and bits and pieces of mechanical and/or biological enhancements(?) and some were both.  

Agloval whispers to you, "They are called Remade.  Nearly all have been rebuilt as punishment for some sort of crime.  It's how they repay their debt to society.  Best to not get mixed up with them unless you can help it.  But here at The Dying Child, no one is turned away." 

A group of emaciated young men lay draped across a table twitching in perfect time, strung out on something, but you know not what.  One woman held her glass in a metal claw that spat steam and dripped oil onto the floorboards.  A man in the corner lapped quietly from a bowl of beer, licking the fox's muzzle that has been grafted to his face.

Agloval quietly greets an old man by the door whom he calls Joshua, whose Remaking had been very small and very cruel.  Later he would explain that Joshua was a failed burglar who had refused to testify against his gang, and the magister had ordered his silence made permanent: he had his his mouth taken away, sealed with a seamless stretch of flesh.  Rather than live on tubes of soup pushed through his nose, Joshua had sliced himself a new mouth, but the pain had made him tremble, and it was a ragged, torn, unfinished-looking thing, a flaccid wound.

Joshua nods to Agloval and with his fingers, carefully holds his mouth closed over a straw and sucked greedily at his cider.

Agloval heads to the back room.  The bar, in one corner, was very low, about three feet from the ground.  Behind it, in a trough of dirty water, wallowed another creature from the same race as your guide but he looked ancient and fat and grumpy.  He hauls himself toward Agloval, trough and all with his huge, webbed hands and frog's legs, his body wobbling like a bloated testicle, seemingly boneless.  He was a bag of old blood with limbs, without a separate head, his big curmudgeonly face poking out from the fat at the front of his body. 

"You're looking well," Agloval says.  

"Go fook yerselv," the bartender replies.

"So it's been a good day, has it," Agloval says with chuckle.  Before the bloated frog can spit out another colorful reply, he says, "Friends, this is Silchristchek, the landlord"  He then says to the bartender,  "Silchristchek, these are my new friends.  They come from a long ways but they don't really know the local languages.  One of their companions who is not with them at the moment, is a communicatrix so I've been gifted with the ability to speak their language but I don't know for how long."  

Stinking piss-colored water slops over the edges of the tub as Silchristchek wriggles his way a few feet closer.

Agloval translates:
"Good for you," Sil barks.  "What will you all be having?"

Agloval looks around and says, "My scientist friend isn't here but he will be shortly.  In the meantime you should pick a table but tables aren't free.  I will cover whatever you want and my friend will reimburse me with my finders fee when he gets here."

[I'm giving you the chance to RP a little.  React to anything you've seen or heard.  Get a drink or a meal.  Your choice.]

[Betimi]

[OoC Dougfan = Selina I thought  meaning last post was the 12th]

Betimi looks at the barkeep unflinchingly seemingly unperturbed by his appearance, or even the appearances of any of the remade. Her only reaction seems to be that they might have broken the laws of this land, rather than their inhuman forms.

"What would you recommend for a typical human palate, sir Agloval. I do not know what would be safest."

[GM Marvel]

[OoC:  @Betimit might be because I'm still sick but I didn't understand what you typed in your ooc. ]

Agloval translates, "Most popular around here is a drink called Kingpin, which is probably the best tasting of the cheap beers.  If beer is not your thing, Sil has stronger spirits.  As for food Sil has a few things like the house stew.  Today's is made from local vegetables and salted pork parts.  There's also some jerky, bread, cheese and crackers.  But mostly patrons just come here for the beer or to get high.  If you're interested in narcotics he has Shazbah and Dreamshit.  Or if you just want a nice buzz you can try the Very-Tea."

Sent from my SM-G925W8 using Tapatalk

[Selina Parcellus]

[OoC1:  So I know the last time Forge was on the site he said he was having Computer trouble.  Do we know if Selina's player is still around?  She has only posted once since the 5th?]

((Sorry.  Still dealing with a lot of things.  I'll try to be a bit more consistent.))

GM Marvel

---

A group of emaciated young men lay draped across a table twitching in perfect time, strung out on something, but you know not what.  One woman held her glass in a metal claw that spat steam and dripped oil onto the floorboards.  A man in the corner lapped quietly from a bowl of beer, licking the fox's muzzle that has been grafted to his face.

Selina uses every ounce of her willpower to contain herself, or she would have made a scene attempting to turn the creatures despite their seeming lack of undead features.  By the Moon...where in the Goddess' good name are we??

Nothing here made any sense at all to her.  It was as if the world had been turned inside-out and upside-down at the same moment.

((Were this Eberron...Selina would be wondering if they'd all just travelled to Xoriat ))

GM Marvel

---

Agloval quietly greets an old man by the door whom he calls Joshua, whose Remaking had been very small and very cruel.  Later he would explain that Joshua was a failed burglar who had refused to testify against his gang, and the magister had ordered his silence made permanent: he had his his mouth taken away, sealed with a seamless stretch of flesh.  Rather than live on tubes of soup pushed through his nose, Joshua had sliced himself a new mouth, but the pain had made him tremble, and it was a ragged, torn, unfinished-looking thing, a flaccid wound.

Selina pulls up at the sight of Joshua, eyes widening slightly as she clutches her holy symbol frantically, desperate to feel something normal, to feel the bite of its edges against her palm.  Goddess...  Selina is not quite sure whether to Heal this one or smite him.
((I realize that I never showed the style of holy symbol Selina uses to channel Selune.  Here it is.))

GM Marvel

---

Agloval heads to the back room.  The bar, in one corner, was very low, about three feet from the ground.  Behind it, in a trough of dirty water, wallowed another creature from the same race as your guide but he looked ancient and fat and grumpy.  He hauls himself toward Agloval, trough and all with his huge, webbed hands and frog's legs, his body wobbling like a bloated testicle, seemingly boneless.  He was a bag of old blood with limbs, without a separate head, his big curmudgeonly face poking out from the fat at the front of his body. 

"You're looking well," Agloval says.  

"Go fook yerselv," the bartender replies.

"So it's been a good day, has it," Agloval says with chuckle.  Before the bloated frog can spit out another colorful reply, he says, "Friends, this is Silchristchek, the landlord"  He then says to the bartender,  "Silchristchek, these are my new friends.  They come from a long ways but they don't really know the local languages.  One of their companions who is not with them at the moment, is a communicatrix so I've been gifted with the ability to speak their language but I don't know for how long."  

Stinking piss-colored water slops over the edges of the tub as Silchristchek wriggles his way a few feet closer.

Agloval translates:
"Good for you," Sil barks.  "What will you all be having?"

Agloval looks around and says, "My scientist friend isn't here but he will be shortly.  In the meantime you should pick a table but tables aren't free.  I will cover whatever you want and my friend will reimburse me with my finders fee when he gets here."

Poor Selina keeps silent throughout this tirade-filled duet, for once thoroughly comfortable saying nothing at all...how completely unlike her.  Given the state of things, she politely declines Sil's offer of a meal/drink with a vigorous shake of her head.

[OoC Dougfan = Selina I thought  meaning last post was the 12th]

Betimi looks at the barkeep unflinchingly seemingly unperturbed by his appearance, or even the appearances of any of the remade. Her only reaction seems to be that they might have broken the laws of this land, rather than their inhuman forms.

"What would you recommend for a typical human palate, sir Agloval. I do not know what would be safest."

Selina turns her eyes to her companion...Betimi should really be Selina's second?  That wasn't exactly fair to her, given how helpful and important Betimi had been to keeping Selina calm and rooted.  Not just on this new world...but on their own home plane.  The time for an internal discussion on the grammatical and philosophical enquiries of Betimi's quality and station was not now.  She was showing Selina once again how important it was to have a wingman...woman...whatever.

[Betimi]

[ooC    LOL my OoC was pointing out that Selina is Dougfan... (which I only know from playing in Dougfan's Kingmaker pathfinder game).  So not as 'missing' as you thought. Just the entire site has been a bit slow of late. We all have busy/stressful lives.]

"I will have some Kingmaker then, as long as this beer is non-addictive. It isn't is it?"
Having seen the rivers she knows anything has to be safer to drink than the water.
"The stew sounds like it would be okay, i shall have some of that as well."

She scratches the back of her hand idly Will be good for us to get something in my blood besides trail rations eh? That sounds good.

[GM Marvel]

((Sorry.  Still dealing with a lot of things.  I'll try to be a bit more consistent.))

[OoC: That's alright.  I haven't been very consistent lately either.  It's just that Jonath and Forge have disappeared from the site.  Who knows if it's just temporary or permanent.  So that leaves the game with four players: Betimi, Gilley, Nacesh, and yourself and I have Tomeal, Piper, Jonath, Forge and Eek and Meek to NPC.  That's a lot to keep track of especially in combat.  So when I asked about Selina it was more in the hopes that you were still around.]

((Were this Eberron...Selina would be wondering if they'd all just travelled to Xoriat ))

[OoC2: I wasn't familiar with Xoriat so I had to look up.  It sounds like the Far Realm.  I can see where there are some comparisons.  New Crobuzon is a shadow of it's former glory.  It use to be an city of high technology and Thaumaturges (what they call magic) but much of the knowledge has been lost through years of decline and war.  So now the city suffers from not only decades of neglect but also from a remarkable lack of city planning.  You know a city is bad when Hell has representatives on the city council (called the Iron Council).  ]

[OoC3: As for any chance of healing Joshua, Agloval will explain later that he can't be healed.  The Punishment Factories Remake people permanently.  Whatever modification that has been made become part of their genetic make up.  If the ReMade could just go to a priest to heal the modification then it wouldn't be much of a punishment.  Casting a cure spell on Joshua would either completely fail because his mouth has healed this way or it would just heal his mouth closed again which he doesn't want.  Only paying for another ReMaking by an independent chirugeon or a miracle or wish will return the ReMade to their former selves.  Unfortunately, spells like miracle and wish are even harder to come by than in most other D&D worlds. ]

Agloval replies to Betimi, "You mean Kingpin.  And no it is not any more addictive than any other alcoholic beverage.  Oh, I forgot to mention that Sil also has cider if that's more your thing."  Whatever drink Betimi decides upon, Sil will have Agloval serve her.  Agloval then sets a metal bowl down in front of Betimi.  To everyone except Betimi, the stew looks a little scary.  The chunks vegetables that were mixed in with the pieces of pork ears, tails and other parts that normal humans would be afraid to guess from what part of the pig they came from, smells absolutely delicious to Betimi.   

Agloval looks to the rest of the party for their order.

[Selina Parcellus]

Selina, for her part, is still very uncomfortable with her surroundings and just the thought of a meal from this place makes her slightly queasy.  Her stomach churns and she looks as though she has turned a few shades of white. She shakes her head again, still clutching at her holy symbol.  "N-n-nothing for me, please.  I think I need some water."  She lifts her waterskin to her lips and takes a deep gulp, before resuming fingering her symbol and murmuring prayers to Selune for guidance.