@ineffable

"Don't worry about Clay, he always looks like that. Just stay on his good side and everything could be okay." Ayeka says to Alexis as her ears droop as she did not want to hear another fight from the basement. She hopes she did not piss him off, as his ears are sharp as her ears. She walks to the door of the basement door and enters to go down the stairs. She hopes she could find the drink he is currently drinking at the moment before something bad happens.

THE GAME

_{Remember: avoid giving away any detail or making any assumptions about your character until someone else has mentioned it.}

....

The tavern had been quiet for quite some time now. Quieter than any reason could grant it. Business was slow to the point of non existent. The tavern was seemingly forgotten by patrons and workers alike. Now but a sad empty husk that had long been given up on, simply left to die.
But it would not die just yet.
Amongst the wide hall and open spaces, of the many chairs and tables suspended in a still silence, lost to time and settled with dust, one was currently occupied and in use.

Someone (or thing) sat alone in the tavern, waiting.

Meanwhile outside, the trotting hoofs of a horse stirred the forgotten and overgrown cobble stone pathway that had not been properly used in so long.

ignore post.

Romus heard the approaching horse. There was only one person he imagined it could be. Elizabeth, if so there would need to be more drinks on the table. Romus quickly collected a small assortment of different bottles of spirits and ale from behind the empty bar and placed them down onto the one clean table.
Elizabeth was known to not only be a heavy drinker but a picky one at that.
Romulus hoped to save them both some time by finding the right drink early.

Elizabeth slips off her horse, she ties her horse to the railing of the tavern. She kicks open the door with her foot."Hey Romus, got any good booze? The last tavern I was at ran out of the drinks I like." She sits down at the only clean table in the bar area. "So, why did everyone leave the tavern to leave it in a dusty state?" She notices Romus looking for something and may have not hear her questions at all.

Romus put out the most fancy drinks he could find along with some large mugs.
With a shrug he replied "I dunno, maybe they all got sick or were kidnapped by demons."
He looked down at the table as he spoke, careful not to look her in the face. Fearful of noticing or bringing attention to Elizabeth's eye patch. He knew it was there hidden beneath the long black sleek fringe hanging over half of her face.
"How was your trip?" he asked as he busily found an excuse to scurry back to the bar. "Must of taken a while, who else are we waiting for?"

Elizabeth pours herself a full mug of fancy wine, pulling the veil away from her lips to drink deeply from the mug. She guess she scare the crap out of another person. She is thinking Romus does not need to be scare of her, she notices a few battle scars running up his arms. "My trip was fine, I wish it was a little more peaceful. I think we are waiting for Max, I am not sure if anyone else is coming." Elizabeth says as she does not remember if Max is a girl or a guy. "What have you been up to lately?"

"Max hey." Romus says aloud as he searches his memory for anyone by that name. Nup! "Ah you know, the usual. Just been practicing the things you taught me. Keeping myself busy, a little of this and that." He says nonchalantly in reply as he pulls out a broom from behind the bar. He begins sweeping the path taken by Elizabeth, cleaning the floor of all the dirt trodden in by her heavy mud-stricken boots.

-

A person approached the tavern door and knocked, before turning the latch and peaking a head inside. "Hello... Is anyone here?"

"And that must be Max now!" said Romus as he eagerly put aside the broom and spun to face the door. He was about to welcome the stranger until he suddenly lost all words. Startled he froze and just um'ed and ah'ed on the spot as he stared wide-eyed at the two large sharp black horns poking through the doorway atop the strangers head.

"Ahh, Liz... This your friend? Romus asks in an uncertain whisper.

Manzieen walked through the door, his boots thudding onto the floor as he dragged in a bit of muddy snow. He looked at the other patrons in the tavern and frowned only slightly. He was used to much more weirdness back in his home town. However, he thought that you shouldn't be so friendly to strangers, they were dangerous. He settles down in a chair, pulling it in between his legs and crossing his arms on the top of the back, looking at the patrons with lidded eyes. He rubs his stubble with his hand and gives a grim smirk.

Elizabeth is glad that Romus did not get bored while she was away. She is glad his black shoes did not squeak anymore as he continue sweeping the dusty floor. She hears a knock as her friend enters the tavern, "hey Max. What kept you from coming here?" Elizabeth ask as she pours herself another glass of wine. "Romus stop staring at Max's horns, you seen other demons." She hopes that answer Romus question as she gives him a slight nod. She did not care who she made friends with as she sips on her wine.

"Hello Elizabeth. I'm sorry, I was slowed down by some demon hunter. He shouldn't be a problem anymore."

Elizabeth addressed a man named Romus. The man was quite intrigued by Max's horns. "It's really not polite to stare. You know what they say, if you stare at someone's horns too long, yours won't grow in evenly!" Max knew that Romus was not a demon (he was clearly of centaur decent, judging by the lower half of his body); this was just his lame attempt at mortal humor.

Just then, a thought struck Max like a bag of bricks. "Hey... Elizabeth... You should probably slow down with that wine. I haven't seen you drink anything but Jesus juice for the last week, and I know you've had at least 4 glasses today."

Romus nodded to Max, unphased by his comment.
"Last demon I saw you banished." he said to Liz over his shoulder as he carefully backed up between the tables, keeping a cautious eye on the demon. If it were not for the horns, the black claw like nails and the brief glimpses of serated fangs, he could almost pass as human. But Romus did not know if this was his true form or not.

Turning to the unannounced entrant, a wide smile suddenly grew on the lips of Romus. His eyes lit up with excitement as he gazed over the bright motley colours of a minstrel costume.
"Oh good gracious, we're in the presence of a jongleur. Please do bring merriment to these old tired and forgotten walls. I will fetch you any drink you like."

"Great, just what I needed."

Samuel tried to lift up the edge of his tunic to avoid it getting even muddier. It had been raining heavily all day, but it had finally calmed down into a drizzle. Which for him, was incredibly lucky, as he had run out of mercury to conjure magic disks to use as cover.

"A bloody umbrella would've worked just as good; but no, Sam had to show off" he berated himself.
What had started as a quick walk through the woods around treadwood had gone south really fast. He knew better than to follow Will 'o' the wisps into the forest. Curiosity killed the cat after all. He counted himself lucky for not having drowned in the swamp, but before he could thank his lucky stars for that, he realized he was as lost as a trout in the desert.

"Soaking wet, almost drowned and I am going to need a new spellbook. Great. Counselor Bayern is going to chew my head off when I get back." He looked around "If I get back." he sighed.

"But Sam had to follow the pretty lights"

He stumbled across the forest and spotted what he thought was a clearing. Surprisingly enough, he came face to face with a tavern, of all things. Who in the world would think of building a tavern in the middle of nowhere? Before he could ponder whether if it was a good idea or not to go into a strange building all by himself, the idea of a warm bed and a meal confronted him with the fact that he was cold and hungry. Not to mention, wet to the bone from his little swim in the marshes.

"Well, If I die, at least I die as I lived. Doing something stupid."

He trotted out into the clearing and towards the door of the building. He tried to shake as much as the water off of him as he could, put on his best smile, and tried his best to look decent. He grabbed onto his catalyst hid it under his sleeve

"Just in case"

Finally, he stepped into the building.

Elizabeth's horse neighs and snorts at the newcomers that enter the tavern. She forgot about the horse as she was too darn happy to see booze. She has a feeling Romus could understand it. "Romus, do you a place to store my horse?" She puts down her glass of wine and looks at Max, "I don't think it will hurt me." She stands up tipping over her wine glass as she is thinking she needs to help Romus serving the newcomers. She will clean up the mess later as most of the wine is on her clothes.

Samuel was received by a horse snorting at him. Off to a good start.
He looked around confused at the tavern, an then at it's patrons. One of which was the aforementioned horse. For a second he thought he had seen a second horse only to realize what he was looking at was a centaur. And at that point he wondered where the hell he was, if this was a good idea, and most importantly, if it was too late to turn back and head out the door.

"Uh...Hey." he managed to mutter. He then hurried towards the bar, leaving water drops on the floor along his way

Romus who had just swept the floor looked at the latest entrant with displeasure.'Why were his boots even wet?' he thought to himself. He caught the man eyeing his form. This only further irritated the centaur who said nothing of it. Doing his best to avoid raising the attention of the new occupant Romus turned his focus elsewhere. Hopeful eyes swung back to the entertainer, his cautious mind stayed aware of the demon and his lips spoke back to Liz as she made her way to the bar.
"I resent that I hope you know! Expecting me to store your horse just because I'm centaur...
But yes I saw a barn around the side earlier, I'll go take care of it."
With a sigh he looked up as he carefully trotted around the furniture and out the taverns doors. He was happy to be out on the open with a cool breeze running across his skin. Things were getting a bit cramped in there and he could feel the tension and anxiety creeping on.

Samuel sat on the nearest empty stool he could find. He didn't stop grasping his catalyst. So far, nobody tried to kill him, so that was a good sign. Still, better safe than sorry. Did he have any money left? He opened his component pouch. A silver coin and three copper ones. That should do for a drink at least. So he sat, and waited.