Tales of Virtual Tavern "Sanctuary" - a roleplay story thread

Jin is relieved to see that the night has progressed without any events in the crowd. It is amazing, as always, to see the three races mingling without any sign of the violence among them that was so common prior to the Wraiths' return. Now, a quiet evening in a tavern is too precious and the old animosities too trivial for anyone to even consider disturbing the peace. As Jin contemplates his cooling cup of tea, though, he becomes aware of the human swordsman sitting at the stool beside him. Jin had taken this human for a quiet individual absorbed in his own thoughts. But, the human disturbs Jin's sense of the balance of nature and Jin notices that the human is alternately muttering into his mug, giggling in quiet hysteria, and fighting back tears. If he was further away, Jin could ignore this tortured soul, but sitting right next to him, he cannot. The choice is to either leave or try to restore some balance to this poor soldier. Jin does not back away from a fight - even when it is a spiritual battle. "Pardon me, stranger, but you seem to be struggling with some inner demons. Can I help you?" The swordsman slowly lifts his head. Jin notices the thousand-yard stare. "Oh no, is this another spiritual casualty of the constant conflict," he thinks. BUt when the swordsman speaks, he is remarkably soft-spoken and centered. "I don't know if you can help me. I don't know if anyone can. What they ask is so much. And, it seems there is never any end to the list of things that have to be done." Jin senses that the storm of imbalance has been trapped behind this swordsman's facade of self-control and waits to hear how the situation will resolve. "I've been trying to do everything I can for the defense of the world. I've never shirked from duty. But now, they have set me to an impossible task and I know that if I manage to somehow accomplish it, there will just be more and it will always be harder until either I break or the Wraiths break - and I don't see them breaking. Do you?" Jin has no answer to that question and the swordsman goes on. "I saw a lot of good heroes fall to Stormhaven. It took ten of us to eventually bring the beast down. And now, I'm supposed to go out and rid the world of Khewy the Rattus Lord and if I survive that, I'm to take on Jewelscalen, and somewhere I must find a way to free the Sumor Camp of the plague of wolves by defeating Suzerix the Adalwolf Elder. It is too much, isn't it? One person cannot do all this. We need an army of heroes and instead we have just a few people who must take on so much until they must break." Jin paused in cautious thought before trying to speak. "What you say is true. We do need an army. But what is an army except a lot of good men and women each giving as much as they possibly can? Yes. We will probably each meet our fate in some cold field somewhere, but if we let the certainty of that knowledge deter us from facing the Wraiths we have lost even more certainly." Jin could sense the chaos in the troubled swordsman being eclipsed by a rebirth of his inate devotion. "Thank you. You have opened my eyes again to the reason I am here." As the swordsman raised himself off the bar stool and walked slowly out into the night, Jin could sense his stoic determination to duty filling him and pressing the chaos out of his spirit. The swordsman would likely be dead in a day or two with a to-do list like that, but Jin ordered another cup of tea with an easy heart knowing he had accomplished more in this short conversation than in his whole day in the field.

once outside LunarStorm says to Altihnkai; "No big deal, if this is all we can take em." Altihnkai smiles, writes something down on a piece of paper, walks to the door nd attatches the paper on the door with a dagger. "Lets move before the guards notice us"; he said. And there LunarStorm nd Altihnkai dissapeared in the fog coming out of a strange dark forrest.

The door to the tavern opens and a mess of an Untamed named Tso steps in, his footsteps loud on the wooden tavern floor from the combined weight of his large body and heavy armor.Most of the patrons looked back to see who.....or what was taking the heavy steps. Most just turned back to their drink. A few snarled their nose probably more from the smell than the fact he was an Untamed.

Tso glanced around the room, to check things out before he got too far in or too comfortable, this was pure instinct from his training in the Untamed army and many nights spent in less than hospitable towns.He noticed an older man warming his bones by the fire, and Tso thought the fire looked very inviting but decided not to go over. The older man looked to be in conversation with a mage who looked deep in thought, and he didn't want to impose. So Tso header toward the bar.

When he reached the bar before taking his seat he stripped off the heavy chest plate,shoulder plates and gauntlets.Breathing a sigh of relief from the loss of the wait he took his seat.Tso was a rough site indeed, where the heavy armor had been his fur was all pressed down from the weight of the armor. The rest of him did not look much better. The exposed parts of his fur that had not been mashed down from the armor was mostly stiff and covered in enemies blood, with a few healing wounds here and there.

Tso handed the barkeep his armor and maces to put behind the bar for safe keeping as he ordered a beer.While waiting on his beer, Tso looked down and seen just how badly he needed a good cleaning,it was apparent that he had not seen the comforts of a town for a long while.He was thinking of going to get a room and bathe then come back to his beer. Tso was brought out of thought by the clumsy barkeep who spilled a little beer on him when sitting his mug down.Tso licked the beer from his wrist and decided to have a few before going for a room.Who knows....with any luck he might could find a naughty venomancer to help with the bathing.

As Tso turned his mug up to finish off the last sip there was a huge explosion from outside.The battle hardened veteran turned to scan the room, without the slightest flinch.There was a little commotion afterwards.As the barkeep sat down a fresh mug Tso overheard something about wraiths.As he turned for his fresh mug the warrior motioned to the barkeep for his armor and weapons.As the barkeep handed over the heavy belongings Tso threw some coin on the bar with a nice tip added and a little extra for the mug. Then mumbling something about "there will be no rest tonight" he headed out the door with a sigh. Armor, maces.......and mug in hand Tso went out to make sure there were no Wraith stragglers who survived the blast around to make trouble. Maybe tomorrow night he could find that naughty veno and a warm bed.