Saiyan

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

"...we should probably know our way around better."

"Not a bad plan," Zell said. He looked out towards the nearest window. "Seems a nice day for it too."

When Lillianna appeared, Zell gave a cheer. "Mornin Lily-pad." She asked to join them and he made a friendly gesture to the empty chairs, then laughed loud when he heard her belly grumble. "Sounds like you could eat a horse right about now."

He listened to the women talk, mostly attentive but keeping an eye on the backroom until Frederick appeared, then he grabbed the barman's attention and asked for a cup of tea. When the response was 'what kind of tea?' Zell was perplexed. "Excuse me a moment, ladies," he said before getting up and going to the bar. "You don't have normal tea?" Frederick named a few fruit teas and Zell shook his head. "Nah bruv. Regular tea. I don't know how else to describe it. With tea leaves. In a tea bag."

Frederick said he'd bring him something, so he went back to the table. Not long later he did get his cup of tea but it whatever it was, it wasn't good ol' English tea. And why would it be? Zell grimaced after sipping it. "I guess that'll have to do," he muttered to himself.

Passing conversation with the Wizard and Ranger was a decent morning, and when Fenna appeared, it got even better. "Fenna," Zell greeted with a grin. "You've been out all this time? 'Early bird gets the worm,' n all that. Can you believe this world ain't got no proper tea?"

When MacKensie asked him about university studies, he replied bitterly. "Psycology. You?" Sociology. "Oh, so I study how bonkers a single person is. And you study how bonkers groups of people are. No wonder we make a good team." He grinned, but the smile was wiped off his face after he sipped his tea again. Then he turned his sights onto Lillianna. "What about you, Lily-pad - I'd bet my last silver you were a grade-A student - What was your subject?"

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

@Saiyan@Zool Posted! A mage who has had a wordy and long morning is asking to sit with Zell and MacKensie. If they find that ok at least. :P

@Crusader Lord

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THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

"Slept like a log, doll." He stretched his neck to one side again. "Got a crook in me neck for it, but still..."

He said hello to James and watched the man zoom off out the door. "There goes a man with things to do," he commented. His stomach growled and he looked over at the backroom door, hoping Frederick would manifest in the frame through the Englishman's sheer will and desire. It didn't work, much to Zell's disappointment. MacKensie distracted him, drawing his attention. "Plans for the day? Hmmm..." He interlocked his fingers behind his head. "Well, I need to get that sword appraised. You know, the one I picked up from the prick who killed Clive? I was thinking; it's probably magic or something - powerful - so I'll get it checked out, see what's up with it. It's a katana. Looks of elven craft, but I'm not so sure because of the black steel blade and hand-guard... doesn't seem like the elves to me." He shrugged. "Don't ask me how I know all this about swords and elves... I have no idea myself... but I'm pretty sure it's worth looking into. An arcance blacksmith should know more. I'll look for one in the city."

Frederick came with his breakfast. "Frederick, my mate. I love you," he said as he looked eagerly at the plate set down in front of him. "Cheers boss." Then he continued his conversation with MacKensie. "After that, my schedules empty."

Unlike the ever-prim MacKensie Trydant, graceful in her eating as she was in everything else, Zell did not require a knife and fork. He picked up the toasted sandwich of ham, cheese and egg with both hands and took a massive, audible chomp. It was delightful.

"Good isn't it?"

"I'm in heaven, darlin," he replied, mouth full.

"We French call it 'Croque Madame.' It is commonly served with toasted brioche bread. I am just glad that this world has something resembling our foods, at least."

His eyebrows raised, impressed as he took another massive bite. He thought French food consisted of all crossaints and frogs legs. Thankfully he didn't speak with his mouth full again. "Oh, I bet brioche bread would be perfect with this," he agreed. "Back on campus, we'd buy loads of brioche buns and just live on bacon-egg buns for breakfast. Loved em." He'd nearly finished already, and was tempted to ask Frederick for another. "What are you up to today?" he asked the Ranger.

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

"Ugh," Zell groaned as he awoke under the table. "What a night."

The table and nearby chairs scraped the floor as Zell moved furniture aside with his feet and hands, then stood up groggily. The taproom was pretty quiet, only the sizzling sound of cooking coming from the backroom. The accompanying smell of food was quite appealing. He looked around and noticed MacKensie. "Mornin Mac," he greeted with a sleepy face and a raised hand. Then he gingerly took steps toward the stairs to go up to the washroom.

"You've got showers!?" Zell echoed the maid incredulously.

"Of course," she answered. "What kind of no-good cheap'n'dirty establishment do you take us for?"

"Sorry, I just... I dunno... the medieval look of everything, ye know."

"Medi-what?" the maid asked, confused.

"Never mind. Yeah, I'll take a shower. Don't mind about washing the clothes today, I'll get another day out of em. Get back to you on that one, tomorrow, yeah?"

With that, he grabbed some towels and got himself cleaned up. Coming back downstairs, he saw MacKensie getting her breakfast served and quickly asked Frederick to fix him him up the same thing. Plopping himself on a chair, he stretched his neck to one side and ran a hand through his hair, then let out a breath. What a night indeed. He was still tired, but fortunately not hungover.

"Sleep alright?" he asked the Frenchwoman.

Escape from the Prison Mine

Unable to do much else other than stand there and be silent like the prisoner he was, Titus listened to Kristo go back and forth with the other guard with apparent ease. The bard was an impressive actor, to say the least, playing the part to perfection and manipulating the other man rather effectively. Once the coast was clear, “Time to go in…,” Titus nodded to Kristo and prepared himself with a deep breath.

Hearing the faintest voice of Rizx in the shadows, Titus looked to where the voice came from and shook his head. Unfortunately he'd only had enough materials for one sleep bomb - one canister was all he could procure. Perhaps it would've been more prudent to save the sleep bomb for the guards, but Titus had gambled on throwing it in the prisoner barracks. For one thing, rioting prisoners would've complicated matters, possibly even creating more obstacles. Plus how to guarantee hitting all the guards with the sleep bomb without half of them escaping the smoke? One of their gang might even have been caught in the blast, there were so many variables. Better to rely on stealth and the talents of his accomplices. At least, that was his conclusion.

Titus and Kristo went inside and skirted around the edges of the party until Titus saw the stairs leading to the second floor and and forcibly changed the pair's course leftward towards them. There would be no seeing Vito.

Once upstairs and alone, Titus looked around and sighted the desks at the head of the room. "Alright, unlock my cuffs." Then he went over to them and started checking the drawers, glad to find each drawer already unlocked. One drawer. Two drawers. Nothing. Titus' face hardened as he grew with frustration. But then upon opening a fourth drawer, he saw what he was looking for. "The master map," he pulled it out and showed Kristo, his eyes alight with delight.

If there were no other complications, Titus and Kristo were downstairs and back outside, going to hide in the shadows with the gang. Titus got the map out once more and they all peered at it, hoping to find the location of the key that they needed...

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

"I mean..." A flustered MacKensie Trydant was the funniest thing this side of the dimensional rift. Zell threw his head back with a teethy grin after seeing her react to calling it a date, "...you can pay for the drinks and then leave the vicinity so that I might enjoy them without your annoying bravado." but she instantly brought him crashing back to reality with her comeback.

"Come on!" he protested with fake outrage, before breaking into a chuckle with her. With all the struggle and strife that was going on, light-hearted banter was keeping his morale afloat. The prim and proper Frenchwoman was a blessing for the frat boy.

When James turned up and called them all for a meeting, "No problem, bossman," Zell gave his friend a salute, his mirth lingering through the interaction until the Cleric left to gather the others. He turned back to MacKensie, smile still on his face.

"You are incorrigible, Zell Brooks."

He winked. "Naturally."

In James' room, the party leader explained that the Temple had offered Second Chance the services of an experienced Paladin. Zell wouldn't admit it, but he was over the moon to find out they were getting help on the front line. Just him and Joji to cover everyone would've been a tough task, and Zell was determined not to lose any more of his friends. This Barracker guy was more than welcome. Sign him up! was Zell's internal celebration. He was grateful that Fenna and MacKensie were also on board. After the two Ranger's said their piece, Zell shrugged.

"I mean, sure, why not?" he said. His arms were folded as he coolly leaned against the wall. "Not that me and Joji aren't more than enough to handle the job up front. We'll be fine now that we're stronger. But no sense in refusing an extra hand if it's offered. Bring the man aboard."

Once the discussion was settled, Zell went downstairs with the intention of just one last drink before bed. He ended up making friends a random local who taught him a few tavern songs. They were singing and drinking until midnight, with a few other Mended Drum regulars. They all told their best stories of other wild nights of drinking antics, tales of lost loves, shitty employers and more. Before the end, they drunkenly professed brotherhood to one another, arms around eachother's shoulder, Zell giving the man random kisses on the top of his head.

When Frederick was kicking people out to close up the inn for the night, he found Zell asleep at a table in the corner of the room. Because the swordsman had already paid for a room, he tried once to get the Englishman to go up stairs to bed, failed, then promptly ignored the unconcious man. All the lights shut off once the barman finished cleaning up. Zell was left in the silent, empty taproom, snoring until morning.

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

@ZapdosIf you have one last night-time post in the chamber, fire away. It will make me feel better about doing a third post in seven days lol I need to cap the night off before deadline.

Escape from the Prison Mine

I know you just posted Zora, but unless someone does something wild and fun, the story is dependant on you writing us past the guard and into the guard house.

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

@Teyao A hooker for all Gods lol James the unsung hero

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

"Still no Heineken," Zell echoed Fenna with feigned indignation. He shook his head. "The ale's not bad though." When she took her drink her bed, he bid her goodnight, then turned his attention back to MacKensie next to him. She looked super far inside her own head, so he let her stew for a moment before giving her arm a nudge with his fist. "You alright, doll?"

"The war is coming here, Zell," she finally said. "To Valhiem. That is what the Academy thinks. I'm not so sure how long we have left before we are dragged into it further."

He pulled a stool up to sit down next to her. "Welp. Good job we didn't hang about with the silver contracts, eh. Hopefully we've got enough time to get this Source Comm message before all hell breaks loose." He swigged his beer, then mirrored her as he stared into the mug. "Whoever left that message knew we'd go to the guild. That person is our one lead in this mad mystery."

"I feel that whatever our path to success is, to get Fenna and the others home - to maybe go home ourselves - that path might go through the Witch Queen." He looked at the Frenchwoman's troubled face. "I hope I am wrong."

"Ay," he said, nudging her again. "If our path goes through the Witch Queen... then we go through the Witch Queen. Head first." He shrugged and smiled. "No sense in worrying about what we have no control over." Clive and Arthur's faces appeared in his mind as he went on. "Look, we got caught flat-footed today. We didn't know anything about the world, didn't know how our powers worked properly, or the crystals. But we're clued in now - heads screwed on tight. We're going to be alright. Okay?"

He gave her another (hopefully) reassuring smile before turning back to look behind the bar, hoping his unearned confidence would overshadow the reality of the situation. In the past, it usually worked, but never had he been in such a grim position with such high stakes. This was completely new, but no sense in changing now.

"Not sure that gold piece is going to cover this tab you've ran up," Frederick warned. After pretending to not be listening, he found a space to chime in.

"Not to worry, mate," Zell bounced back, fishing out another gold from his satchel. "There you go."

That visibly satisfied the barman who went back to other duties. Zell changed the subject. "You know, that fruit juice was probably a little on the cheap side. Not sure I'd feel right counting that as one of the drinks I owe you. How about we settle that debt another night?" He let her answer before adding on, "You also owe me one too, now that I think about it. I seem to remember teleporting halfway across the battlefield to be your knight in shining armour. Yep. Seem to remember it quite well."

"So, it's a date then." Perhaps casually slipping in the word 'date' might've gone unnoticed if he didn't raise an eyebrow and give her a sly smirk.

Classic Marsel Brooks.