"Indeed a logical step." He tilted his head to the side, the light glinting off his sharp features. "I wouldn't call myself an assassin, but work is work, and a dagger is comfortable inhand." He swirled his glass of drink, taking another sip. "That was a jumble of languages you spoke before, none of them which I've heard. Which is rare, living on the streets of a capital city." He turned to look back at the assassin. "Where are you from?"
Scalba: I was born on an unimportant rock in the Tharishi Isles called Calmorian. Well... it was unimportant. And it was home. But neither of those things are true anymore. Sorry, to answer your question-- the first language was my mother tongue, Talanari. The second was Tashtumeni, a language spoken in the desert wastes of lower Gentathine. The second was Slitharin, the dialect of the Romanali elves. The one I spoke before switching to this was was Dawarzic, language of the dwarves. I learned the Orthonian dialect. My father was raised in Ortho. I also speak Mammon. What languages do you speak, besides Romanali?
"I've never heard this language called Romanali, but considering the language poison is flowing through my veins at the moment, thats probably why I can understand you. Though it must be wearing off, seeing as I can only understand one language at a time." He said this, more as if he was thinking out loud, but then he answered. "I mostly speak Bannik, also known as Brykinn. Though I speak Underspeech almost as often as Brykinn. Canneen was my first language." He let out a string of barking growls. "Not the most civilized of tongues, but with a mountain caravan as your home, it works as well as it can." He scratched at his now. "Ennonian, Z'adrian, Khannian, and Raneen." Fluent in all of them, though my Z'adrian is rusty, I can still speak, read and write it. The languages I speak are all the most common in the Central City."
Scalba: I've never heard of any of those languages, but Canneen sounds as difficult as Car'rawdi. I can't understand or speak Car'rawdi at all. It just sounds like ravens' speech.
Clare: Look, buddy. A rare specimen. Mags: A lemon cake? Clare: No. Not that one. Assassins. Mags: Ohhh... Clare: Notice how they casually talk about their deeds in the open? How bold. Maybe there are too many people where they're from, which means there is a healthy market for snuffing out lives... I'm curious about the places they mentioned. Mags: Maggie wants to be an as...assa- sin, to eat many snacks from many places! Crow-Crow! Clare: Gran-dah said he used to deal with their kind in the Green Gallows. I'm not sure what he did but it must be a good deal because they never came back. Did you just say that you want to be an assassin, Maggie? Mags: Yeah! Yeah! To eat the many snacks, crow-crow! Clare: I'm sure assassins don't speak like that, buddy. No matter, I have no choice but to... deal with you before you become one. I will trade one hug for your aspiration. Mags: Two! Two hugs, crow-crow! Clare: Deal.
Sunnu: We know a necromancer who can... un-deal with assassins for you. That's a word, now. Jade: Don't do this. Sunnu: She's also got a loophole on the immortality thing. Jade: Leave Chess out of this. I have no idea what Mags is, but it's adorable and I'm not letting Chess mess with it. Sunnu: Well, I could get Macha. Snow: How on earth would a druid even apply to this situation? Sunnu: She survived being in a crystal, right? Tuo: Because the crystal was a prison, not an execution platform.
Seren: Crystals prison? *shivers* I hate prisons.... And crystals never brought my anything good. Sounds like another thing from those darks. Varlin: I wonder if the crystal is edible? Seren: Are you entirely incapable of thinking of anything else? Varlin: Maybe it's crunchy... or perhaps it soft inside like a bone? Seren: Impossible you are. Here I am, wondering what to do with this crystal and you're thinking about eating? Varlin: It looks a bit like that rock of yours. *sniffs the crystal* Maybe it's elemental? Seren: It's possible. But why? Why not just kill the person instead of locking them up in a crystal? Seems a lot simpler and easier. Varlin: I wonder if there is any deer around here. This crystal is boring. Doesn't seem to do anything other than exist. Seren: *gives up and shrugs* Fine. Go find yourself some food then. You ancients are like children. I've known you since you've hatched but what about others, what would they think? If only they knew your every thought...
Etzeo looked around at the people around him with a chuckle. That Mags was a very interesting character. He turned to Scalba. “Cannen is the language of canines.” He tapped on his chin. “The word you said doesn’t made sense, but the language of crows sounds like the language of ravens. My mother’s language. Z’adrian.”
Scalba: Car'rawd is just the name of a place a short flight from Calmorian. Your mother speaks a ravenlike language? Can you speak it as well?
Jade: Well, the mage that locked Macha in the crystal did so because they couldn't kill her. The romans wanted to destroy her forest, but a druid with the power of a warlock turned out to be too much for even rome's mages. So they locked her in a crystal and destroyed her forest. She was in a coma for three-fourths of a millenia before the big gem finally broke. Couldn't even remember her own name for a while. Tuo Jie: Unfortunately, Chess thought she was a corpse to animate. That was a rough night. Sunnu: Wasn't that bad. Tuo Jie and Snow: Shut up, monkey.
Etzeo humphed and crossed his legs. "Sistra infi onsi gooh." As he spoke, magic trickled through his veins. "I can indeed speak the raven langauge, Z'adrian. I'm half Z'adrian." He ran a hand through his auburn waves. "Tell me more about this Car'rawd."
Scalba: It's a coastal desert. The Car'rawdi make high structures of timber and cover them with concrete of their own design. They're a very ingenious and industrious people. Dalgorax made an alliance with their king. When the knight-mage Kayven chased us from Calmorian, we fled there. He followed and was captured. His squire came to rescue him, along with the duchess my father was supposed to kill. The three of them were sentenced to death, but then more knight-mages came and freed them. My father was killed in the battle. Then the seed-men came and helped the knights instead of attacking them. It was the worst day of my life.
"I apologize. I know what it's like to lose family. I don't remember my mother much, I only know that she was a Z'adrian from the stories my tribe gave me. I lived among a familial group of Canneen. I lived there for four years of my childhood. We were one people. Then we were attacked, my brother and I were stolen." He scowled, then looked back up to Scalba. "I hope that you achieved vengeance from the man that killed your father."
Scalba: No. I was betrayed when I tried to take revenge and thrown in prison before I got the chance. In all likelihood, someone else will kill him before I do. Knight-mages have many enemies.
Henrietta: My mother tongue is French, but here I am required to speak English. I also speak German, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, and Russian, to varying degrees. Vanna: Yeah, I think we've moved on from that. I'm so sorry for your losses, Scalba and Etzeo. Jasmine: Why was your father supposed to kill a duchess? What did she do?
Scalba: It was part of Dalgorax's war. Romanal had abolished its standing army centuries ago. Then there was a vote to bring it back. If it passed, Gentathine would be able to take it as a sign of aggression. The duchess of Iladel intended to vote against it. Dalgorax ordered Ko and my father to eliminate her so our plans would not be compromised. He failed and Ko took her own life rather than betray him. If either of them had been captured alive, the knight-mages would have discovered the seed-men. Of course... they did anyway.
???: What? What in the rat's butt is that supposed to be? Is this a make-believe club or something? Where am I!? Clare: A wild mouthbreather appeared. ???: Who are you calling a mouth- Mags: Fio~ *Mags greedily pounces on Fio then she begins to viciously maul her scalp.* *nibble* *nibble* *nibble* Fio: CLARE! Stop teaching Maggie weird things! And you! Let's go, its almost lunch time. Mags: Fio! There is a free snacks here. Here! And here's a seat! Over there is the monkey peoples, and the as..assa-sins, and the soldier ladies, and the ghost old-man. Fio: That's a lot of weirdos. (I don't think this is a good place for us to hang out. Let's go, Maggie!) Mags: But there is free snacks. Fio: (I don't care!) Clare: That's not very nice. Fio: That's rich coming from you! Uhhh... (They're on to us!) Clare: Get used to it. We're stuck here... forever~. Mags: Snacks... forever~
*May is back. Her eyes glow yellow.* May: So many new people... I hope this doesn't make me part of the Old Guard. Nah, I'm still too young. Wait, is that how that works? I guess it doesn't really matter. Anyway, I'm May Knell. I'm a hero... It's nice to meet you all. I've been gone for a while, so it might take some time to catch up with everything that's been going on. So, you're a monkey, Sunnu? I've met a few talking animals before, but you seem to be a bit more powerful then them. How do you not age? I've learned my own tricks, but I could learn a few more.
Clare: Mags' eyes are like sunny-side ups. Mags: Sunnies? Where!? Clare: No, buddy. I am the only one allowed to eat you. You are my emergency food supply. Fio: Clare! Gimme your shovel! I'll dig us outta here! Clare: Hello, May. Please don't mind the screaming mouth-breather- Mags: Fio! Clare: I mean... Fio. In time she will understand the gift that is immortality. Fio: No! I will not have the experience of growing up into a responsible adult robbed from me! Clare: Anyway, we-- Magsie and me, popped into this world a few days ago and we agreed upon the best course of action which is to conquer it and start our own kingdom. You claim to be a hero, May? You don't look like a bad person. If you swear fealty upon the great Moogs, you will be spared from the mandatory daily tortures. Okay, Magsie. If you really want to become a great lord of this land you must... train to become one! Mags: Ooop! Clare: Good Mugs. Then let's start with... jogging. *Fio digs for another two hours until she finds a glimmer of hope! She summons the last ounce of her strength for the final strike aaaand she falls back into the chatroom through the ceiling.*
May: Listen, there isn't a reality in existence where I'd swear myself to someone else, so don't even try to threaten me. Yeah, I'm a hero, alright, and heroes don't bow down to so-called immortals who torture people. And as a matter of fact-! Gabriel: May! Cool off. *May closes her mouth and starts breathing slowly* Gabriel: Sorry about that, ladies, she's just stressed about our new job. Neither of us will be swearing fealty to 'the great Moogs' anytime soon, but thanks for the offer. If any torture comes our way, I'm sure we can handle it. So, you're immortal, too? There sure are a lot of them coming here lately.
Clare: Not really, but this room is giving off an aura of 'character growth is nonexistent' which I guess is a form of immortality on its own. That also means jogging for a thousand years won't give Moogsie god-tier legs, but it's okay. At least I can jog with her... forever Oh yeah, all the places we hang out to get blown up for some reason where we're from. Sometimes we play house then a monster gets too curious and I have to shoo it away but not before it ruins our stuff. The guild scolds me if I kill the monsters because it ruins the balance of their habitat or something like that. Annoying. That's why we need professional protection. I can pay in Tolls. Wait-- no character growth means I can't become poor which means what I have now in my pocket will never run out but that also means the steel coins have zero value. Maybe I can use them for ammo instead... You're a hero, right? I heard heroes don't ask for recognition or anything in return for their services. Mags: Hullo! Clare: I guess we have to conquer this place as we are now, buddy. Help me with setting up the tent. This will be our base of operation. Mags: Clare-Clare! Maggie wants to nap. Clare: Mm. Help me out with this and I'll read you stories until you... nap. Mags: Deal! Fio: What is this place!? I... I can't stay here! It's too unnatural!
Sapphire: Oh, did we miss the language discussion? A shame. I have much to ask about the languages some of you mentioned; I have never even heard of them. Nina: I believe we may have missed too much; I’ve no idea what is even happening at the moment. (beat) Could someone please explain to us?
May: Just try not to think about it, Fio, it makes it easier to handle. Gabriel: It's not like we're heroes or anything. We're just doing our job. May: We can still be heroes, even if it is our job, because, if it wasn't our job, I'd still do it. Gabriel: Hey, Clare, what are the great Moogs? Are they some kind of gods from your reality?