Borderlands II - This is the OLD game thread

[Ismaels-Legacy]

((Sounds good to me))

Bastian transfers his coin to his left hand and hefts his flail in his right. "We need to get out of this cave as fast as possible."

[Stik]

"Steady on, priest," Boomer says, quietly. "A young bull and an old bull on a hilltop spot a herd of cows grazing in the valley. Young bull says: 'Let's run down there and have us one of those cows.' Old bull says: 'Better yet, let's walk down there and have all of them.'
"Best if we go slow and careful, and watch our footing."

"These things seem to prefer carrion. We might be safe," Barber says, the forced cheer in his voice almost covering his nervousness.

The walk out is tense, but brief. At one point one of the little creatures turns towards Boomer and raises its head end, its tentacles waving in front of it as if tasting the air. Boomer kicks the ground, sending a scattering of dirt and gravel at it and causing it to withdraw.

Then the group is out of the cavern and into the afternoon sun. Guards are still posted outside the cave mouth, but nothing much has happened outside.

[Kafen]

Durant looks around and jokes. "We should avoid getting into the bug nest, next time. I wonder what the adult creatures look like."

[Stik]

[OOC]There is a dead adult in the cave - the party killed it "yesterday." The pupae were feeding on it.
But for the record, it was a large, nightmarish looking, caterpillar-like creature. Its pale green body was about ten feet long and segmented, with short hooked legs at the base of each segment with which it clung to the rock. Its head was darker green, broad and plated with chitin with two large oval-shaped black eyes. At the front of the head, where an insect's mandibles would be, were several waving tentacles which gleamed wetly
And it looked like this:
Click thumbnail to enlarge



What do you guys want to do now that you're out of the cave? Once we finish up here we can reunite the party, bring in the two new PCs, and move on to the next phase of the adventure. Not rushing you or anything... [/OOC]

[Ismaels-Legacy]

((Let's go ahead and jump forward and reunite the party.))

[Stik]

Once out of the cave, Boomer and Barber begin acting with the quiet efficiency of legionnaires in action. Barber rushes to Octo to report, while Boomer begins assembling a work team. Out here, with men and materiel available, dealing with the little creatures becomes more an engineering problem than a combat situation, and there is very little Boomer cannot accomplish with enough naptha.

The area being secured, the former legionnaires settle in to wait for instructions. This leaves the adventurers with very little to do besides talk to the off-duty men, something which Octo appears displeased about. He stops short of forbidding the adventurers from talking to the men, but points out that "there is little benefit to filling men's heads with speculation and wild tales of unknown creatures." Bastian sees Octo's suggestion that "the temple ought to be informed of the events of the past two days" as a polite way of sending them away come morning.

Eldon is still too badly injured to travel, but insists on getting out of his cot anyway and moving to a different tent. The energetic conversation between Eldon and Barber that follows leaves everyone within earshot with the impression that it's a viatori thing, that giorgios would not understand.

Come morning, after a fairly simple legion breakfast, Wheels offers to guide the way back to Paulding Depot. Before noon, more than halfway back, they encounter their three compatriots, Liri, Papa and Angel, headed the other way.

Reunited, the group heads back to Paulding Depot again, carrying a report for Viletti. They wait in Town for word from Fraso's superiors at the MageGuild.

[OOC] Now that we have everyone in town, with an afternoon to kill, if there's anything anyone wants to get done, please let me know. [/OOC]

[Headshot]

How did it go? Learn anything while we were away?

[Stik]

[OOC]Just in the interest of getting the ball rolling:
The party is on the road a short distance from town. Is Papa speaking to someone in particular, or is it just a general question to the group? [/OOC]

[Kafen]

(( Durant gets to know the group, and he secures a long sword if possible along with a short bow. ))

[Stik]

[OOC] Times like this call for what we like to call in the industry "a nudge."
In this case, the nudge will be a bit of a video-game-style "cut scene." Or, if you prefer, you can picture it as crawling letters against a starfield, with appropriately rousing background music. [/OOC]

Reunited on the road, the group makes haste back to Paulding Depot. There, Villeti accepts Octo's latest report from Wheels, and also debriefs Durant and Bastian. Upon hearing their account Viletti is concerned, but after a moment's consideration concludes that Octo can be trusted to exterminate the larval creatures and secure the site, but dispatches orders to that effect just in case, leading to some good-natured grumbling from Wheels - something about having to make the same trip repeatedly.

Bastian also returns to the Temple to brief Vecchio and Thesidus on his experience. As soon as Thesidus lays eyes on Bastian, his expression darkens, but he says little by way of explanation. The aged priest barely greets Bastian, then sits quietly and listens as Bastian makes his report, then gets up and walks to the courtyard without saying a word. In response to Bastian's quizzical look, Vecchio says: "There was a pyre last night. Nobody from your group was here to see your comrade off. If you're thinking of bringing it up with him, I'd wait for a day or two."

That evening, Viletti's runner Lucchio finds the group at dinner in the caravan. The boy approaches the adventurers at their table, announcing that Villeti wishes to see them at his villa.
Villeti manner is somewhat officious, and he says: "Word is in from the Guild of Mages in Rauxes. They want to speak with Fraso there. He must depart as soon as practical, which means tomorrow morning. Maughus knows the quickest route, and will accompany you part of the way. A special Legion unit will meet you en-route and take you the rest of the way.
"And if I might make a suggestion: you're a bit short-handed. I've taken the liberty of sending a message to Baratrus at the Mercs Guild hostel to find you a few more hands, if you'll have them. He'll see you and Fraso this evening at the Blue Bolt, and introduce you to the candidates."

The Blue Bolt is fairly quiet this evening, and as the group enters the taproom, they are directed through to a courtyard behind the place, situated between the pub and the Guild hostel. Baratrus is there, looking grumpy, with a number of mercenaries.

[Ismaels-Legacy]

Bastian is unusually taciturn this evening. Hearing that no one went to the funeral pyre for his comrade-in-arms seems to have affected him more than on just a spiritual level. Something in his being has him thinking about his final moments and whether anyone will send off his soul to the afterlife. His tendency to burn bridges in one form or another has left him with few colleagues and even fewer friends. In fact, in reflection, it seems there may be a longer list of people who would be quite content at his passing....

Bastian enters the courtyard and leans lightly against his staff. With a casual eye he examines the mercs assembled before him.

[BishGada]

In the middle of the mercenaries, Galanis, a tall half elven warrior, had made already quiet some friends. It looks like he purchased a barrel of ale and brought it with him to the courtyard to the delight of the others in his company. Leaning on the barrel, he loughs a lot and seems in the middle of action, conversing with the others each of which telling his own bravery stories, and special encounters while on the road, obviously exaggerating to spice the stories up.

Being among the firsts to notice the group enter, Galanis stops talking, stands strait and turn the others attention to the group.

[Breila]

Liri nudges Angel. "Look, another half-elf" she whispers, then stands next to Bastian, drawing back her chestnut-colored hair so that her elven ears become visible.

[OOC:] Too bad Jenara is gone, she might have thought about Daos's funeral. I frankly had forgotten it hadn't taken place yet, there have been such long pauses in game time that I'Ve lost track. [/OOC]

[Stik]

"We're everywhere," says Angel, eyeing up the local talent. It was a common story - every half-elf, regardless of whether they lived in the community of their human or elven parent, would be different from most of their neighbors, an outsider to some extent. It was no wonder so many of them chose the adventuring life.

The group of available mercenaries is small, only five: the heavily-muscled half-elf, a human man (stick-thin with a large head with a balding pate), a stern-looking human woman in leathers, a dark-haired dwarf and a big northerner with a broad nose and lips that barely cover his teeth.

Baratrus, the guild representative, takes a seat on a stool and sips his beer, then says: "This is to be a standard contract, pay in exchange for service, with living expenses to be paid for by the employer..." Baratrus pauses, looking about the courtyard for Fraso, who hasn't arrived yet, then plunges on: "who I understand will be along any time now. So smoke it if you've got it while we all wait patiently and..." The rest of what he is saying is lost beneath some grumbling.

[Hordeling]

Off to the side sits Calah, a 5'4" human woman with fair skin, brown eyes that are so dark as to be almost black, and straight, black hair that is cut at about the level of her jawline. She is wearing a well maintained suit of black leathers that fits her wiry form quite snugly. She has one foot up on a table and the other dangling to the floor as she leans back a bit in her chair, running a curved dagger along a whetstone in a smooth, precise arc. Most people might look rather uncomfortable sitting as she is, but Calah makes it look normal and relaxed, and she looks as if she could get up from this position at a moment's notice rather easily. In the ambient noise of the place, Calah looks to have a cool, easy, undistracted focus on her task, though a perceptive person might occasionally notice a subtle tilt in her head to tip her ears to better keep track of something going on around her.