ximilia | [video] BACKDATED TO JAN. 19TH

[Ah, yes, it's the half-dragon birthday boy!

He wastes no time in playing out the likely anticipated song of celebration.

Watch on YouTube

This lute is getting some mileage.

It ends on a smug, contented:]

Haaaappy biiiirthday to meeeee!

That's the second birthday in a row that we're stuck on a mission. Man. But at least this birthday wasn't me stuck on a western-themed planet where we literally ran out of food to eat. That was a real freakin' bummer. [... well, it was the worst part until the townspeople turned into ash, but we don't talk about our traumas, new bloods] You guys better tell me happy birthday by the end of the day, or I'll cast a spell on you.

.... Mmmmnah, that would be too easy.

I'll just follow you around playing nothing but the happy birthday theme.

But the point of this wasn't just to shout at the rooftops that I'm 37-years-old! I spoke with the barkeep, Fribbington? What a queen, guys; I'm so jealous of her beard. Do you know how hard it is for me to get one of those? It's borderline impossible.

Ah — Right. Like, I spoke with her, and she really does not like Jun Shortaxe. Something about being sure you and him are on the same side, because it's not always that clear. But she had a lot of good things to say about Dweyre — that he was smart as a tack, helped a lot of people while in their party, best in his group at the Knights of the Seven Sisters... that after he died, nothing was ever really the same for them. I wish I could say anything else about the conversation jumped out at me... but...

Oh!

She mentioned the heirloom was some kind of scepter.

Round and royal-like, passed down through the kings. So valuable to King Zaros that he was willing to send parties after it and into deadly situations. Apparently this kind of gig, it would have set up Fribbington and the Brigade for the rest of their days as adventurers.

Unfortunately, things went really sideways. You know.

But uh! Yeah, that's all I got. I gotta admit, I've never been very good at finding the little details when it comes to things like this — maybe that's the ADHD talking. Either way, I'm almost done with the Ballard of Dweyre, so make sure you stop by the tavern and give a listen.

... Also, like. Cake. I want cake this birthday.

Someone around here has to have cake.

And I've also got an important questionnaire for everyone, by the way; no rush to finish it, it's just a little something to pass the time. Especially you new people. New people are required to fill this out.

[Anyone who knows him knows he's full of shit. But the text file comes through:]

NAME:
DATE OF BIRTH:
FAVORITE MOVIES:
FAVORITE FOODS:
FAVORITE MUSIC:

What’s your claim to fame?

How do you like to spend your free time?

What skill would you like to master?

What is your proudest accomplishment?

What is your biggest pet peeve?

What is the most useless talent you have?

If you had a warning label, what would yours say?

Are you a cat or a dog person?

Do you sing in the shower?

If you only had 5 minutes in a grocery store, what would you buy?

Which body part do you wish you could detach and why?

If you had to change your name, what would you change it to?

If police arrested you with no explanation, what would your friends assume you had done?

Can you touch your nose with your tongue?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Happy birthday Newton! And that's... interesting. If she was also a member of the Songbird brigade- well, I wonder what she'd say about Jun's claims of Ellia betraying them.

[It sounds like there are conflicting, overlapping versions of the same story.]

And the king's clearly desperate to get his hands on the orb. Although given what he was using it for, he's the last person who should be near it.

Thanks! I feel like a million bucks just making it to the next year at this point.

[These missions are totally dangerous, after all. Also, the whole 'being possessed and surviving' thing. He knows he's damn lucky to have a 37th birthday.]

Are they really not all on the same page about these Ellia person?

I don't know, but- at least one of Strongarm's teammates is less than enamored with him, an might dispute his version of events. And another, the Great Mulgrowe, didn't speak of what happened then as a betrayal.

So I wonder- what happened during that time? Memory can be unreliable, even without any magical tampering.

Huh... I guess the only real way to know for sure how potentially bad this lady is would be to find her and see if she's got the heirloom, right? If she's got it, she'd have to be the one who is totally okay with the weird influx of deadly monsters.

And if she has it, what she wants in exchange for it. Fighting her seems unwise.

What, on account of her being a super magical badass with her own unique spells?

I don't know. It feels fishy, but maybe I'm used to missions throwing us weird curveballs. I think we're mostly in agreement that we don't want to go all gung-ho on this lady until we're totally sure she's not a victim in her own way in all of this, right?

... And that the king has been up to some real B.S. Potentially multiple kings over time.

Well, that, and our own abilities are limited at the moment- even if we had more evidence to indicate ill will, negotiation would be advisable.

Perhaps they were never the figureheads they appeared to be.

Right...

I'm kind of bummed that you can't use your usual abilities. It'd all be super useful right about now.

You're not the only one. But everyone has magic right now, so we're not helpless.

Dude, right?!

Not only am I half-dragon, I can do magic. Sometimes!

Gotta admit, this mission's a lot nicer than the last few...!

[until you go and get almost murdered, sabriel, geez]

Yes- we can actually avoid the monsters if we stay in town, and there's no ghosts or Dead!

[Yeah, about avoiding those monsters...]

... For now, anyway...

Not to be a negative nancy and all that, but I feel like we get our shit wrecked right when things seem to be going well.

True. But... there are lots of adventurers about town. If monsters do attack, the locals should be able to defend themselves.

They do have a lot of pretty buff locals.

It's nice not to have a lot of completely vulnerable citizens.

I've seen so many swords, I think I'll never see so many in such a small space again.

[video] BACKDATED TO JAN. 19TH | un: newt

audio; un: Sabriel.Abhorsen

audio;

audio;

audio;

audio;

audio;

audio;

audio;

audio;

audio;

audio;

audio;

audio;

audio;