Most of the knights are moving on, but there's a squadron still around, relaxing in a tavern. The leader, a woman with a suit of reddish medium armour, and a bandolier of magic wands around her barstool, looks about the right amount of mellow. Mellow enough to not attack a strange black bird while still being sober enough to answer questions. At that, the bird comes in for a landing on the next stool.
"Hello."
Perhaps Raucous slightly underestimated her sobriety, as she jerks back in fear for a good moment.. before settling back down and getting another sip. She's drinking some kind of strong-smelling liquor, something a lot stronger than beer. The birds experience with booze has been eating partially-fermented fruit, which is tasty and doesn't kill you, but it takes a good bellyful of fruit to end up totally hammered. This stuff is a lot stronger.
"Hello." the Knight responds. "What are you?"
"I'm an animal! Here, let me give you my ID."
SpoilerName: Raucous.
Species: Bird.
Level: 1/5
Hitpoints, 10/10.
Magic Capacity, 0/0.
Strength, 4
Defense, -21
Speed, 32
Skill, 4
Specials:
Increased Intelligence -> Human.
Animal Soul.
Skills:
Flight 3.
Basic Theft.
Strong Stomach.
"You some kind of town mascot or something? These stats are out there."
"Not really. I've got a job, though. I'm a hitman."
"A hitman?" says the knight. "I'm not sure if I want to hear how you manage that. How do you hurt anything?"
"It's mostly to cause trouble, not hurt people. If you want someone to mess with your opponents with style and creativity, I'm your bird."
"Huh." She says, taking another sip.
"So how do the Knights work? I'm new here."
"New in town, or new to the country?"
"Country."
"Ahh.. well, we follow the gigantic horrifying Avians around and fight back if they swoop down and start breaking things. Every once in a long while we'll get together a huge group and some of the toughest fighters around and try for a kill. We kill about one of them a year, and fight.." Another sip.
"I've fought five battles myself and been at it about three years. Maybe one out of every fifty towns gets attacked. Nobody knows why, not properly."
The bird then interrupts. "So how many of these things are there?"
"Thousands. They fly over from the lands of Sedona, and I've heard they come from west of there, as they fly over that country too. They then fly east over the sea and hit the island of Terinos... but they fly east that way too. Far in the south of here they fly back west, although fewer than went east. Overall we see maybe fifty of them a year, spread out all over the country, and they spend years flying around the world."
"Huh. Would it be valuable if someone flew west to deal with them?"
"Of course.. but we don't really want to wipe them out. The ones that head back west are almost all injured and they were fighting something in the distant east. So people figure it's better to discourage them from attacking towns and cities, but trying to wipe them out might just bless us with a plague of whatever it is they're fighting."
"Speaking of that, could I see your ID? I haven't seen anyone properly powerful in this world yet."
"Sure, sure." The knight plucks a coin from behind her ear and tosses it to the bird.
SpoilerName: Carla Adunal. [Knights of the Talon] [Sergeant Knight of the Talon]
Level: 78/80
Hitpoints, 565/565.
Magic, 297/297
Strength, 96
Defense, 57
Speed, 55
Skill, 104
Magic Power, 87
Magic Channeling, 99
Specials:
Human Soul
WandMaster
Skills:
Flight 2
Wand Use 5
Armour Specialty 2
Spearman 2
Dodging 2
... (40 more)
Rain Protection 1
"Wait.. did you say in this world? Are you an exile or something?"
"No, apparently I'm supposed to save the world."
"You're the.. I don't know if I'm drunk enough to believe you. I don't think I'm drunk enough to entertain the idea that you're the World Champion. And if I was sober I'd probably challenge you to a duel for suggesting that you're the World Champion. If you are actually the Champion, we might be sent one that isn't horribly weak. And if you're not, nobody would complain that you were killed for making the claim."
"Any idea what I should do about that?"
"I don't know, it's above my pay grade. Maybe head to the capital? There will probably be someone there who can test you, and they are supposed to be waiting for a new Champion, so.." Another sip.
"I don't know what they'll do with a weak bird that's capped at level 5. Try to buff you up? Kill you hoping for another one? Deny everything and ignore you? Lock you up and do experiments on you? Could be anything, really."
"Hmm.. what if I had a reputation?"
"That might change things. If you get stuff done and you can keep them from seeing your ID, you might pass muster and get some of them on your side. Still, though, the world runs on numbers, so if anyone sees your ID, you're going to be in real trouble."
"Are there fake ones?"
"Nah, they're god work. There's no hiding the truth. It's probably possible to make fake ones, but they won't match the real thing. And there are spells and fonts that confirm your identity with them."
The bird's not quite sure what 'font' means.. but that can wait for later. One more question. "You can fly?"
"Aye. It's a skill like most others. Harder to learn, and you need a bit of help, but you pretty much have to fly if you fight Avians. It's just kinda necessary."
"That would make sense. At least I can fly better than you."
"Hah, you should see Knight Commander Adrian. He has Flight 5 and can basically move freely in three dimensions. It's amazing."
"Dang. I can backwing, but not hover. Remind me to look him up at some point."
"Well, he's based out of Tir-Osanti, which is on the other side of the capital from here, so.. probably not?"
"Hmm. You mind giving me directions to the capital?"
Most of the knights are moving on, but there's a squadron still around, relaxing in a tavern. The leader, a woman with a suit of reddish medium armour, and a bandolier of magic wands around her barstool, looks about the right amount of mellow. Mellow enough to not attack a strange black bird while still being sober enough to answer questions. At that, the bird comes in for a landing on the next stool.
"Hello."
Perhaps Raucous slightly underestimated her sobriety, as she jerks back in fear for a good moment.. before settling back down and getting another sip. She's drinking some kind of strong-smelling liquor, something a lot stronger than beer. The birds experience with booze has been eating partially-fermented fruit, which is tasty and doesn't kill you, but it takes a good bellyful of fruit to end up totally hammered. This stuff is a lot stronger.
"Hello." the Knight responds. "What are you?"
"I'm an animal! Here, let me give you my ID."
SpoilerName: Raucous.
Species: Bird.
Level: 1/5
Hitpoints, 10/10.
Magic Capacity, 0/0.
Strength, 4
Defense, -21
Speed, 32
Skill, 4
Specials:
Increased Intelligence -> Human.
Animal Soul.
Skills:
Flight 3.
Basic Theft.
Strong Stomach.
"You some kind of town mascot or something? These stats are out there."
"Not really. I've got a job, though. I'm a hitman."
"A hitman?" says the knight. "I'm not sure if I want to hear how you manage that. How do you hurt anything?"
"It's mostly to cause trouble, not hurt people. If you want someone to mess with your opponents with style and creativity, I'm your bird."
"Huh." She says, taking another sip.
"So how do the Knights work? I'm new here."
"New in town, or new to the country?"
"Country."
"Ahh.. well, we follow the gigantic horrifying Avians around and fight back if they swoop down and start breaking things. Every once in a long while we'll get together a huge group and some of the toughest fighters around and try for a kill. We kill about one of them a year, and fight.." Another sip.
"I've fought five battles myself and been at it about three years. Maybe one out of every fifty towns gets attacked. Nobody knows why, not properly."
The bird then interrupts. "So how many of these things are there?"
"Thousands. They fly over from the lands of Sedona, and I've heard they come from west of there, as they fly over that country too. They then fly east over the sea and hit the island of Terinos... but they fly east that way too. Far in the south of here they fly back west, although fewer than went east. Overall we see maybe fifty of them a year, spread out all over the country, and they spend years flying around the world."
"Huh. Would it be valuable if someone flew west to deal with them?"
"Of course.. but we don't really want to wipe them out. The ones that head back west are almost all injured and they were fighting something in the distant east. So people figure it's better to discourage them from attacking towns and cities, but trying to wipe them out might just bless us with a plague of whatever it is they're fighting."
"Speaking of that, could I see your ID? I haven't seen anyone properly powerful in this world yet."
"Sure, sure." The knight plucks a coin from behind her ear and tosses it to the bird.
SpoilerName: Carla Adunal. [Knights of the Talon] [Sergeant Knight of the Talon]
Level: 78/80
Hitpoints, 565/565.
Magic, 297/297
Strength, 96
Defense, 57
Speed, 55
Skill, 104
Magic Power, 87
Magic Channeling, 99
Specials:
Human Soul
WandMaster
Skills:
Flight 2
Wand Use 5
Armour Specialty 2
Spearman 2
Dodging 2
... (40 more)
Rain Protection 1
"Wait.. did you say in this world? Are you an exile or something?"
"No, apparently I'm supposed to save the world."
"You're the.. I don't know if I'm drunk enough to believe you. I don't think I'm drunk enough to entertain the idea that you're the World Champion. And if I was sober I'd probably challenge you to a duel for suggesting that you're the World Champion. If you are actually the Champion, we might be sent one that isn't horribly weak. And if you're not, nobody would complain that you were killed for making the claim."
"Any idea what I should do about that?"
"I don't know, it's above my pay grade. Maybe head to the capital? There will probably be someone there who can test you, and they are supposed to be waiting for a new Champion, so.." Another sip.
"I don't know what they'll do with a weak bird that's capped at level 5. Try to buff you up? Kill you hoping for another one? Deny everything and ignore you? Lock you up and do experiments on you? Could be anything, really."
"Hmm.. what if I had a reputation?"
"That might change things. If you get stuff done and you can keep them from seeing your ID, you might pass muster and get some of them on your side. Still, though, the world runs on numbers, so if anyone sees your ID, you're going to be in real trouble."
"Are there fake ones?"
"Nah, they're god work. There's no hiding the truth. It's probably possible to make fake ones, but they won't match the real thing. And there are spells and fonts that confirm your identity with them."
The bird's not quite sure what 'font' means.. but that can wait for later. One more question. "You can fly?"
"Aye. It's a skill like most others. Harder to learn, and you need a bit of help, but you pretty much have to fly if you fight Avians. It's just kinda necessary."
"That would make sense. At least I can fly better than you."
"Hah, you should see Knight Commander Adrian. He has Flight 5 and can basically move freely in three dimensions. It's amazing."
"Dang. I can backwing, but not hover. Remind me to look him up at some point."
"Well, he's based out of Tir-Osanti, which is on the other side of the capital from here, so.. probably not?"
"Hmm. You mind giving me directions to the capital?"
