Borderlands II - This is the OLD game thread

[Stik]

Ready...GO!

[Stik]

Prologue:

Luvitius Fraso is not what you would expect from a necromancer. Most tales tell of pale, cadaverous men who look much like the walking corpses they command. Fraso looks more like a greengrocer. Chubby, balding but not properly bald, not with the clean and somehow cruel pate of a man who shaves his head, or even a sickly looking mostly bald head with stringy bits of hair, no. Fraso merely has a huge bald spot gradually spreading over the back of his head. Pale, yes, but with the paleness of a man who doesn't get quite enough sun, rather than that of a man who spends his day in a crypt. In fact, about the only indication that Fraso is the right man is the necklace of bones he wears over his cotton tunic, sporting a small silver skull.
But Baron Diotus says he is the best man for the job, or rather, the baron's auxillus, Vitus Ruso, says he is. So you have all been directed to visit the necromancer's home at sundown so that he may address you, his hired escort.

Fraso's home being too modest and small to accommodate such a large number of guests, the necromancer has set the meeting outside, on a stone patio overlooking an algae-choked pond. Smoke pots burn at the four corners of the patio, although whether this is for ambience or to repel insects is unknown, as they seem inadequate for either purpose.
Several benches and chairs have been arranged on the patio, and a table against the wall holds a few bottles of wine, a loaf of bread, and a wheel of cheese along with cups and plates. The tableware is tarnished. Apparently Fraso does not get much company.

It is immediately apparent from his manner of speaking that Fraso is unused to being anyone's leader, or even speaking to large numbers of people. He begins speaking, and his voice is all wrong for a necromancer, too, hesitant and wavering: "Orr's Bay is a fishing community a few days' travel from here. What they have found there is creating quite a stir there, and is causing considerable friction between the local human and elven populations. His excellency, Lord Diotus, has tasked me with examining the find and convincing the local fishermen that is it not what believe it to be. You folks are to be my escort.

Fraso presses on, despite his obvious nervousness: "I would be hesitant to speak openly of this, but the rumor has spread widely already, so there is no danger of a secret being revealed. A corpse has washed up on the beach in Orr's Bay. It appears to be an elf, but unlike any living elf they have seen. Some folk are claiming it looks like a lich.

"Now, you don't generally get elven liches. Elves are unlike humans in that they do not have souls in the human sense, and so the magic traditionally used to make a lich doesn't have anything to latch onto. But folks are agitated, considering how long-lived elves are, that one would seek to cheat death by becoming a lich.

"So, before the human villagers take up arms against their elven neighbors, we need to go view this corpse and set the record straight. We are to leave in the morning. Are there any questions?"

[Ismaels-Legacy]

In order to break the agitated silence, Bastion chooses his words carefully and nervously asks, "My experience with elves is somewhat...limited....but it is my understanding that most of them get....bored?....with life well before the end of their age. What would possess one to seek immortality?"

[Jenara]

Angel sits quietly in the corner, surveying the room, checking out each person present, drawing a dagger she plays with it flips it around her fingers absentmindely. "My Mothers people fade, they don't desire immortality"

Staring intently at Fraso with her brown eyes, she smiles, "I take it standard rates apply? You require protection for the journey? How any will be travelling?"

[Frivolous]

Papa listens intently to Fraso's narration. His fingers twirl a quill pen in a figure-eight pattern as he considers.

He coughs a little from the smoke, then speaks, his baritone voice soft. "I, too, am interested in the fees you are offering, both for warding you and helping determine how and why the dead elf came to be there."

Then he coughs again, frowning irritably at the smoke pots.

[Jenara]

Angel raises her dagger to Papa in greeting. They haven't spoken since the last caravan.

[BryantTheSwordsman]

Hmm... As the veteran dwarf ponders the situation.

"Bothersome elves. Always their motives unknown and magic in the mix will always make what is going on more difficult to understand"

[Stik]

"I expect others here could better speak to that issue, but I have never heard of an undead elf, apart from the occasional vampire...and the bean sidhe, of course. But in both cases the subjects are typically unwilling recipients of unlife.

"Now, as to payment: I have been informed by the Baron that standard mercenary guild rates for active duty shall apply. One silver per day for the duration of the mission, plus reasonable expenses. Food and lodging shall be provided to you.
"This assignment is expected to take no more than ten days. You will receive five days' pay in advance, with the remainder, plus any additional fees should our trip run longer, to be paid by the Baron upon our return.

"I will be traveling with two servants and a small wagon. The rest of our party will be yourselves."

[BryantTheSwordsman]

"Silver a day with food and lodging sounds good to me, but this business with elves I do not like. Undead I dislike more for they do not except Moradin's Halls. So I will keep my mace handy if you keep the pay ready. I agree upon this deal with my Ancestor's blessing."

Brusen accepts the bounty though somewhat reluctantly. He waits for the others to give their agreements.

[Tempest]

"I'm comfortable with the arrangements,"Elias says. "I can't speak for the others."

"When are we leaving?"

[Jenara]

"The Price is acceptable. I trust the chosen group are professionals."
Angel ignored the Dwarves comments on elves, brushing it aside with a wave of the dagger, she nodded gently in his direction.
"We take you there, help if we can, bring you back and get paid? Sounds simple enough"

She rises her tall form gently from the chair, "My Name is Angel, my Blade is yours."

[Frivolous]

Papa nods in response to Angel but he doesn't say anything. He also nods in acknowledgment and acceptance to the terms offered by the necromancer Fraso.

He coughs again, but this time his cough sounds artificial. "By the way, Luvitius Fraso..."

The mercenary priest tries to ask the question politely. "May I ask if you are haunted?" He waves his quill at the nearest smoke pot. "These remind me of a technique used to ward against unquiet spirits."

[Stik]

"Haunted? Why? What have you heard?" for a moment he sounds nervous, or at least caught off-guard. Then he recovers himself. "The smoke serves many purposes," he says, in a tone crafted and well-practiced to sound enigmatic.

[Jenara]

Angel scoffs. [ooc] she knows nothing of such things [/ooc].
"Haunted? Are you Fit to Travel Sorcerer?"

[Frivolous]

"Haunted? Why? What have you heard?" for a moment he sounds nervous, or at least caught off-guard. Then he recovers himself. "The smoke serves many purposes," he says, in a tone crafted and well-practiced to sound enigmatic.

Papa does not smile, but he sounds amused anyway. "Me? I have heard nothing."

He gazes into the smoke. "I accept your offer, Luvitius Fraso."