Stackman's Adventures (Chapter twenty-one)

[bsftcs]

By the Seaside

Being the twenty-first chapter of Stackman’s adventures

In which the bard examines the inside of a sinister, heavy, black, cast iron cauldron, in which the party takes a prolonged lunch nap, and in which a seemingly widespread Gael Serran leprechaun cult is revealed.

“Zzzzzzzzzzzzz…”
“Zzzzzzzzzzzzz…”
“Zzz…”. The barbarian suddenly awoke from someone’s yanking his arm. He looked up into Sabastio’s bearded face. The last rays of the waning sunlight fell through the coloured glass of the windows in the magic shop, indicating that night was falling over Brimloch roon. “I am closing my shop for the night”, Sabastio said in his monotonous manner, “so you cannot stay”. The barbarian yawned vehemently just from the sound of Sabastio’s voice and straightened his back, aching from lying across the shop’s counter where he, judging from the ache, had lain for quite sometime.

He looked around. In a corner behind the entrance door lay the valkyrie. She was faced to the wall, and small regular clinks emanated from her chain mail as it came into contact with the stone floor when she breathed in. She was sound asleep.

Huddled on a small bench in the back of the room the warlock had found a place to lie down. And in front of her stood the zenmaster with his eyes open. But the barbarian knew that was just a trick he had learned during his monk training. The zenmaster was able to stand upright with his eyes open and being sound asleep. Sure enough: Waving his hand in front of the zenmaster’s face revealed that he was not responding in any way. The barbarian tapped him on the back to wake him.

A distinct snore from a dark recess of the room disclosed that the assassin lay there cloaked in shadow. The barbarian searched the area with his hands until he found him. Another search of the magic shop revealed that the bard had curled up to sleep in Sabastio’s druid cauldron. Very fortunate, since Sabastio would always light the fire underneath the cauldron to cook some soup after having closed the shop.

Bleary-eyed, but assembled, the party once again stood in the bustling streets of Brimloch Roon. They did not have to check their belongings since they knew Sabastio was just as honest as he was boring. They looked at each other knowing that they had to praise their luck that D.W.Bradley had not made Sabastio a randomly spawning monster in the Wilderness, but instead made him a peaceful shopkeeper. His monotonous litanies on Mada Mabbig had eventually made the adventurers fall asleep, and there was no telling what disasters that could have led to in the Wilderness.

Before accepting the “Mada Mabbig” quest from the magic shop, the party had accepted the “Fountain of Isis” quest from the temple, the “Talrik’s Hook” quest from the pawn shop, the “Strumbold’s Helm” quest from the armoury, and the “Darkened one” quest from the Bushi Dojo. They had also been to town hall and accepted the “Kill Gineleng” quest.

They rubbed their eyes and looked in both directions of the main street of Brimloch Roon. It was obviously too late to set out on new adventures tonight, so they decided to take the rest of the day off and enjoy some spare time. They split up.

The valkyrie walked towards the harbour. Down by the seaside she came to a large house, which was apparently home to a guild of some sort. Outside the house a group of people was running around in circles in various stages of undress. It was apparent to the valkyrie that she was witnessing a cabalistic ritual.

She walked up to a woman who was taking part in the ritual. “What is this all about?”, the valkyrie asked. “Our guild seers have been in contact with the Great Ones assembled at the Celestial Forum beyond the Endless Sea, and foretold that we need to do this”, the woman whispered ecstatically. “In order to achieve what?”, the valkyrie asked. “In order to resurrect the leprechaun. The fabled leprechaun of the Gael Serran. The watcher and tutelary patron of our humble guild”, the woman replied. (The leprechaun ressurection procedure is explained by Bungleau in a topic started by Nancyepk). “And how do your seers come in contact with the Great Ones?”, asked the valkyrie suspiciously. “By surfing on the net”, the woman replied, “Each month by a full moon, the seers borrow the fishing nets from the local fishers, spread them out in the lagoon, eat some hallucinogenic substances, and surf away all night. The Great Ones will then contact them”.

“Come with me”, said the valkyrie, and took the woman to the side of the house. “I have a well-informed contact among the Great Ones… And I have good and bad news for you”. The woman looked at the valkyrie anticipatingly. “The good news is, that the fabled “Reset Adventure” button has been pressed, so the leprechaun is once again alive”. The valkyrie looked at the woman as she was almost overcome with ecstatic joy. “The bad news is that there is a widespread public demand on the Forum that we silence the leprechaun again, since he to some of the Great Ones is seen as a great irritation”. Baffled the woman went to tell the other members of the guild of her encounter as the valkyrie walked on.

It was a perfect starlight night. The glowflies swarmed in the upper parts of the port city, and the cicadas could be heard over a long distance. On the pier the warlock and Stackman discussed the contents of the Tome of Legends. And from the terrace in front of the inn, a melancholic tune sounded from the bard’s lute of tranquility. A warm and barely distinguishable breeze bore the fine tune out over the lagoon, and further out into the Great Sea.

[Wyvern]

hehehehe

Excellent!!!

“Come with me”, said the valkyrie, and took the woman to the side of the house. “I have a well-informed contact among the Great Ones… And I have good and bad news for you”. The woman looked at the valkyrie anticipatingly. “The good news is, that the fabled “Reset Adventure” button has been pressed, so the leprechaun is once again alive”. The valkyrie looked at the woman as she was almost overcome with ecstatic joy. “The bad news is that there is a widespread public demand on the Forum that we silence the leprechaun again, since he to some of the Great Ones is seen as a great irritation”. Baffled the woman went to tell the other members of the guild of her encounter as the valkyrie walked on.

I really love the bit above!!! IT does indeed seem like the inhabitants of Gael Serran are very out of touch with the "Great Ones". I can only imagine that they have a really slow modem!


Wyv

[Olli Kalma]

They looked at each other knowing that they had to praise their luck that D.W.Bradley had not made Sabastio a randomly spawning monster in the Wilderness, but instead made him a peaceful shopkeeper. His monotonous litanies on Mada Mabbig had eventually made the adventurers fall asleep, and there was no telling what disasters that could have led to in the Wilderness.

Perhaps best thing D.W. did for Gael Serran! [img]smile.gif[/img]
Keep us laughing !

[Bungleau]

Love the humor, love the tongue-in-cheek references, love the descriptions... way to go, bsftcs! Keep 'em coming!