The Half-Way Tavern- Fantasy Freeform RPG (IC)

[LeahKurzepa]

The Half-Way Tavern was unusually quiet, as Tully sat at one of the many unoccupied benches. She'd chosen the seat right next to the little window which had no glass in it. The heavy rain from outside splashed unendingly on her head and shoulders, and after an hour and a half, her hair was drenched, and her sparking blue robes were clinging to her chest and back. Every so often her head would turn upwards, letting the raindrops drip straight onto her face, and into her mouth. She smiled and laughed, running her fingers under the little stream.

Tonight was a Sunday, Tully remembered, looking around the bar. It was always busy on a Sunday. Performances, cheaper drinks, and it was usually quite well-attended. But there were no more than four or five in the whole place. Wondering with a raised eyebrow if she'd forgotten something, perhaps some famous Bard was doing a show in Town, and everyone had gone there instead? But she hadn't heard anything, and from the curses coming from the kitchen, Tully guessed that Adira hadn't planned on not doing her performance. Adira was the Bar maid, but she did most of the entertainment too. Nice, for a very tiny person, Tully thought. Adira only came up to her waist, if that!

The rows and rows of benches, usually full, looked open and lonely, attended only by few. The being closest to Tully was Marcab, an Old Human Delpton Noble, Sceptic by nature, a lover of parties, drinks and young females of any race. He always sat at the bench next to her with the hope of... well... hope of something. Though it was all in good taste, just some fun. Tully liked him, he was always kind, if a little dry humoured.  The girl sitting next to him tonight was a human, for a change, and Tully could tell she was a magic-user. Human mages were never to be taken lightly, Tully had found, but this girl looked sweet, innocent, shy. She hardly spoke, just looked up at her companion with a smile every few minutes. He spoke enough, and loud enough, for both of them.

Tiring of waiting on something entertaining happening, Tully noted that the only others in the bar were soldiers, Delpton Soldiers. She wondered if that had anything to do with the lack of customers. It probably did. Standing up, awkwardly, Tully made her way around the table to the bar. Her feet had gotten used to water again last night when she arrived, dumped her stuff in the room she'd hired and then gone for a long swim in the lake nearby. Unfortunately she'd forgotten to come back, and it was late afternoon by time she returned. She'd had a little trouble losing her sea-legs after that.

Not wanting to disturb an obviously distraught Adira, Tully sighed, knowing that apart from the little water she'd absorbed through her skin from the window rain, she hadn't had a drink in a good few hours. It was starting to get quite warm. Tully didn't like the heat, not at all. "Adira," Tully inquired, feeling a little guilty. "Sorry, but when you get a minute could I have a cup of water, please?" Shrugging as to whether or not the halfling had even heard her from the kitchen, Tully turned and leaned against the tall bar. It was reasonably tall to her, and she wondered with a slight giggle how the halfling lived with it.

After a few minutes Adira hobbled around the bar with a mug that looked huge in her tiny hands. Almost spilling some of the water with the weight of it, Adira hastily handed it to Tully and bowed slightly before returning to the kitchen. "Thank, you..." Tully mumbled as she took a big gulp, spilling more of it down her already drenched robes, and some onto the floor. "Oops..." She squeaked, making her way slowly back to her table.

[Kizzi]

She cursed under her breath as the rain beat down onto her back, soaking through her cloak and running down the back of her neck. She clutched the sodden fabric tighter around her body, thankful that her bag was water-resistant and that she would be able to change her clothes once she reached the tavern. It couldn’t be much further, this was her fourth day on the road, usually she would have arrived long before night fall but several things had held her up.

She was travelling back towards Delpton from Rhinley and was barely an hour from Rhinley when she came across a young man staggering and swaying across the road. She stopped, placing her pack on the floor and called out to him, catching him by the arm as he almost fell into her.

Her first guess had been that the man was merely intoxicated, the way he was swaying across the road, but as she caught him there was no smell of alcohol. She guided him to the floor, quickly telling him who she was, that she wanted to help him, make sure that he was alright.

“Ah ran inta the guards Miss.” He explained, his voice low, it was clearly hard for him to speak. “They dun take too kindly mah type these days...”

“What did they do to you?” She asked, reaching across the ground towards her pack, never taking her eyes off the young man. There were no obvious injuries, no joints in odd places, no blood but years of experience had taught her that it was easy to inflict pain without leaving a mark.

“Said I wis with the Rebellion, Miss... Said they wilnae tolerate rebels... Said they ‘ad to teach us a lesson...”

She grit her teeth, this was absurd, what right had the guards to inflict injury on such an innocent looking citizen? She pulled her cloak from her shoulders and folded it up, placing it under his head as she guided him into a lying position, her eyes darting across the road, keeping alert for any trouble.  She reached into her pack and pulled out a container of water and a square of fabric, she doused the material with water and gently placed it against his forehead before running her hands across his shoulders, down each arm in turn, searching for anything out of place. He hissed in pain as her hands flitted across his stomach.

“May I?” She asked, as she reached for the bottom of his shirt, carefully lifting the fabric away, exposing bruises  like she had rarely seen. “Oh, your poor dear...” She breathed, pushing the fabric higher her breath caught in her throat as she exposed a large and blistering burn.  “Marked you as a rebel...” She mused. “Don’t worry, I’ve got just the thing for that.”
Once again she glanced up the road and then back towards Rhinley, there was no one else around. She dug around in her pack before eventually pulling out a jar of what looked like thick, white gloop.

“This should soothe that burn, cool it, help it heal.” She explained.
Carefully she spread the salve over the burn, then dressed the wound before helping him sit, carefully checking him over for any more injuries before doing so. She knew it wouldn’t take long before the salve would begin to work, cooling the skin and easing the pain.

“Thankyou Miss.” He said after a few minutes. “You’m an angel.”

“Hardly an angel, just trying to do what’s best.” She smiled. “Now, let me help you back to Rhinley.”

“Ah, no Miss, Ah I cannae expect more o’ ya. Ah’ll be fine from ‘ere, ‘onestly.”

The whole encounter had added at least another hour to her journey and the thought of the guards almost branding those they believed to be rebels had troubled her for the rest of the walk, and it wasn’t long after that the sky began to cloud over and the rain began to fall and it hadn’t stopped.

On the start of her third day travelling, further up the road, she had ran into a contingent of the Delpton Guards and it had taken a great deal of her willpower to keep her mouth shut, she couldn’t admit that she had been aiding rebels. They’d checked her papers, searched her pack and asked her what she was doing, where she was going and so forth, the mandatory question she was getting used to.  The fact that she was a registered Delpton citizen travelling from Rhinley provoked enough suspicion and they detained her for further questioning, not letting her get back on the road much before dusk, wasting more of her precious time.

And so there she was, looking through the rain at the light from the Tavern windows, soaked through but undecided as to whether she should enter. While her only options were to keep walking in the dark, to camp in the rain, or to go into the Tavern she was concerned about the warning from the Guards, the fact that her presence in the Tavern would be reason alone for arrest.

‘Come on, take your chances and get out of this wet, you’ll make yourself ill else, and who wants the services of a healer who is ill?’ She chided herself, and decisively set off the cover the remaining distance between herself and the welcoming warmth of the Tavern. 

Slowly she pushed the door open, welcoming the warmth that came to greet her as she kicked the door shut. It was unusually quiet inside, especially for an entertainment night. The words of the guards must have gotten out, people must be really worried. She felt her stomach knot with fear but shook her head, sending droplets of water flying around her, she didn't have any other choice. She barely gave the others in the room a second glance, just taking in their appearances, some of them she had seen before, others she had not.

Taking a seat at the bar she untied her cloak, hanging it over the stool next to her, watching as the water dripped from it onto the floor. Looking around the room she noticed Adira, struggling with a mug, handing it to someone she had not seen before. She waited for Adira to finish before catching her attention.

"Do you have a room for the night?" She asked, not wanting to mention anything about how quiet it was, deciding not to upset the halfling. "And a meal, anything you have left is fine, I realise that it is getting late." She waited while Adira found her a key and set about organising some food for her before turning once again to look at the other occupants of the room.

[LeahKurzepa]

Sitting back down at her sodden table, Tully drank down the rest of her water from the mug. She smiled broadly as she rolled the cool liquid around in her mouth. Her temperature gradually began to fall again, and as the darkness outside grew, a slightly uneasy feeling grew in her stomach. Scrunching up her nose at the strange feeling, Tully stood up on her tip-toes and peered out of the small window, the rain pleasantly tapping on her forehead as she looked. The light in the tavern made it difficult to see what was outside. Just darkness, and the swishing sounds of the trees as they were blown by the wind.

But the feeling in her gut was real. "Elensar, my God, what are you trying to warn me of..." She muttered, a frown on her face as she squinted out of the small window. Realising that she must have been making quite a spectacle of herself, Tully sat down sharply, looking around to see if anyone had noticed her strange behaviour. But there was a sharp tug-like feeling in her stomach, something pulling at her, a warning, of something, and becoming worried, Tully stood and walked quickly to the doorway. This hadn't happened in a long time. Fifteen years ago. The feeling continued to grow until Tully gasped out loud, it wasn't painful, it was just... there. Opening the door sharply, Tully had to see what was going on. Was there something outside, something dangerous?

The old wooden door creaked loudly as she opened it, but it was barely heard over the roar of the rain hitting the mud. At first, all Tully could see was the dark. It loomed infront of her, pressing into the Tavern like something sentient, something trying to come into their light, and to banish it. As her vision slowly began to clear, Tully's head spun slightly, a pang of fear spasming in her chest.

There was something standing right in front of her.

It was big. It was dark. And it was not living. Before she cried out, she managed to see out behind it. There were more. Groaning softly, swaying in the wind, blood on their hands, nothing in their eyes but death. Theirs, and, Tully prayed, not hers. Finally blinking and staggering back, Tully realised what was happening. They were being attacked, and she was standing their blinking at the undead soldiers! Breathing, finally, she took her step forward again, just as the front creature began to growl and move towards her. "Stop!" She commanded, throwing a shield of her God's light around her, shielding the door, and it shrieked as the light surrounded it, it cried out and dissolved, the light breaking apart the shadows that created it. Powerful Necromantic magic, Tully knew, and her fear rose up again, her light shield faltering.

The creature behind the one she had dismissed saw its opportunity and rushed her, colliding with her and knocking her flying back, into one of the wooden benches. As she flew she saw that finally the Delpton Guards had gotten off their arses and started to fight back. They rushed the door together, none bothering to stay and defend the patrons from the one already inside the building, and falling almost right on top of where the elf that Tully had almost not noticed was there, was standing. Tully's head spun as she collided with table, her back hitting the bench awkwardly. With the last of her consciousness, Tully looked toward the creatureand focussed what energy she had left, sending out a bolt of her most powerful light energy, hoping, with all of her might, that it would hit the damn thing, and kill it. But a part of her mind knew that there was a very real possibility that it would ricochet, and well, she didn't want to think what would happen if it hit a living being.

As the darkness fell over her, she could feel Elensar scold her, her last act had been chaotic.

Well, what else was she supposed to do? Still, Elensar was not known for her charity. There would be a price to pay, on top of the possibilty of someone's life, and Tully almost didn't want to wake up. Almost.

[Kizzi]

Elanor tucked into her meal, relishing the warmth that the food bought to her, and the strength she felt return to her body. Her clothes were still sodden but she did not mind quite so much, knowing that she would be able to bathe and change once she had finished. She cast her gaze around the room once more, taking more time to notice the other patrons, nodding slightly at Marcab as their eyes met for the briefest moment. He was often there when she was, always accompanied by someone.

As she turned back to the bar and her food she heard the inn door creak, much as it had when she had entered, but she paid it little attention, assuming it to be another rain-soaked customer, perhaps one here for the entertainment. She was tired, she realised as she swallowed her last mouthful of food, and very much ready for bed. Perhaps she would spend a few days here before continuing her journey home to Delpton, there were usually people stopping by the Tavern who could use her aid, and while she rarely charged anyone outside of Delpton it was always worth building her reputation.

The wind whistled through the room from the open door and she shivered, it felt twice as cold through her wet clothes and she turned, planning on politely asking whoever was at the door to either come in or go out and shut the door. She was here to get out of the bad weather, not have it blowing all over her through an open door that someone was carelessly holding open.

There was a sudden onslaught of light and she spun on her stool, rising to her feet all in one smooth and quick motion, only the weight of her rain-soaked clothes slowing her down. It took several moments for her brain to process what her eyes were telling her, and the soldiers were on their feet before she could react, before she could decide what best to do. There was someone in the door way, the figure she had seen at the open window when she had glanced around previously, the figure she had paid little attention to.  An elf? Yes, the figure certainly suggested so, but not one of the high elves she was used to, rather a sea-elf.

A sea-elf possessing magics of such nature to repel the undead...  She mused, but her thought process was cut off abruptly as the figure came flying through the air towards her, almost colliding with her, before her head and back connected sharply with the stool she had placed her cloak on.

Elanor cringed, it always pained her to see people injure themselves and she quickly pulled her pack off the floor and onto the bar, just as another blast of light shot through the air almost chaotically, seemingly uncontrolled. Yet it struck true, dissolving the creature that had followed the other elf into the room, almost spilling out through it into the night, perhaps even aiding the efforts of the Delpton guards, perhaps hitting them, she wasn't sure, she did not want to know. She could not help them either way, she was not armed and had no skill in combat. The only place she could help was here, with the sea elf crumpled almost at her feet.

She swept her cloak from the stool, and knelt at the female's side, her hands reaching out, hovering over her head, checking, it would not do to move her if there were any serious injuries. There were none she could sense, nothing was obvious and so she took the chancem, hastily folding the cloak under her head, knowing that the cold water in the material would automatically help any swelling and brusing.

She placed her hand flat on the floor of the Tavern, if this sea-elf had the power to dissolve the soldiers of the undead then she was a powerful ally, one the soldiers outside may need the aid of and so it seemed like a good idea to have her back on her feet as soon as possible. Elanor could feel the power and the pulse of the earth beneath her hand, drawing on it, channeling it, a talent she had learned from Elro all those years ago, channeling the pure energy into the crumpled figure, gentle pulses of healing.