Amythra 29

Leaf juice is the closest thing to tea in this world. What few Annalow citizens know, however, is that the best leaf juice comes from Rumor Trees found and cultivated on Jerrow Island. Even though the leaf juice at By Graces has the second best Leaf Juice in the city and the juice was brewed cool and kept in barrels in the basement next to some of the wines, this juice was only the 11th best leaf Juice Amythra had ever had. She made a face at her cup as soon as her tongue registered the disappointment, then she continued plan a. Lament the loss of her map.

As far as Anna was concerned, this WAS the best leaf juice, but she was biased, of course, having grown up around the bizarre. This juice made her feel at home and she smiled pleasantly, politely nodding to an recently befreinded Marf Physician who noticed her from within the crowd. "It always helps me think, this juice." Anna said out loud. "Maybe it will help you."

"No." Amythra sniveled and cleaned her face on her vest again. "It's hopeless. Everything is hopeless."

"What did you lose? Or are you looking for something new?"

"I..." Amythra thought of the two things she lost in that day. Father might be so angry she'd lose her home as well. "I lost a lot. I lost a map to a place I was to deliver and I lost a brother today to the war."

"He's dead?"

"May as well be. He's at the barracks now, I imagine. At the docks."

"Oh." Goldeyes remembered the farewells she's given to some of her friends in the Red Guard because they had been recruited to help with the Borc Cross Melitia. "That war."

As they spoke, Roose and Boose sat on the other side of Amythra from Anna and ordered Calf Stake and a pitcher of Noon-Beer.

Amythra 28

"By Graces" has been in a the Flagon family name for as long as anyone could remember and rumor is told, mostly by the owners, to be the primary reason the Bizzare of Annalow sprouted up to begin with. The inside of the Reed and stone building was a large and every full diner that could be mathematically divided between the old patrons of breakfest, lunch, and dinner and the new foreigners who made trade at the gate of the city. The effect of this was everything a Game Master could need for the proverbial starting tavern of adventurers and, with or without help from outer gods, became just that setting on it's own.

What's the secret to an age old diner? Well, first start with a foundation of stone floors checkered green and the typical kind of blue stone found anywhere in Annalow. Add heavy Berry Wood tables and chairs strong enough to withstand the eventual alcohol induced fight, add a touch of the Flagon family charm and by graces you have "By Graces." Everyone's diner. It was hardly a mistake Anna Goldeyes and Amythra should take a sharp turn into this building. It felt like everyone's home and the smell was nice, too.

Goldeyes sat a weeping Amythra on a bar stool facing out a glassless window and yelled for service. "Pitcher of Leaf Juice and two cups!" One of the three Effee Maids echoed the order and wandered off to fetch it. Out front, the flow of traffic was easier to contemplate as the two womumes were seated a few feet above the crowd. Amythra wiped her eyes clean and finished snotting on her vest so she could get a better look through blurry eyes. It was remarkable that so many people could fit in one place. How did they get around or cart goods or keep from chattering throughout the night? How was anything done? When the refreshments arrived, Goldeyes thanked the maid and passed on one bit before pouring a glass and shoving it under Amythra's face. "Drink this."

Felf Rules

For the Active Exploits Take Two Game.

Linky

Here are the starting abilities and aspects of Felfs.

Fitness: 0

Awareness: 1

Creativity: 0

Reasoning: 0

Time Magic: 0

Luck: 4

Discipline: 4

Felf have angular faces with long ears that either stick outwards from the head or upwards just reaching above the crown. The tips of their ears are slightly furry and their general physical build tends to be lean. Where there are Fox-kin settlements there tend to be foxes as well. Never treated like pets, they are brethren.

Felf are clever beasts with sharp senses. Their society has complex etiquette, but remain on the friendly side to outsiders. Kind of like a cross between Victorian English and Japanese cultures. All their communities are hidden from the rest of the world, not from Xenophobia, but because there was a time when they were hunted down for fear of their magic. This comes from the story of the Shrinking Mountains which are still shrinking to this day.

Felfs understand and control the vagaries of time. As with all magic, physical touch is required to effect the time of a thing, but it's effects and price vary depending on the situation. All things have two kinds of time, Visual and Substantial. Remember that time must come from somewhere, so if something is sped up, something must slow down and if a thing is rewound, it must fast-forward to catch up.

Diff - Effect

1 - Perfect perception of time and it's effects.

2 - Control of Vision up to and hour

4 - Control of Substance up to and hour, Vision up to a day

6 - Control of Substance up to a day, full control of Vision

8 - Full control of Substance.

Edit: Anything Felf related goes hand in hand with the story of the Shrinking mountains. Only historians know for sure what happened, but the jist is this: A huge army of Borc attacked Felf-kin about 800 years ago. The Felf army froze the Borcs in time, stuck and impervious to outside assult. The time had to be put somewhere, so the Felf-kin put it into the surrounding mountains which age faster and faster each year. Thus, the shrinking mountains.

Borc Rules

For the Active Exploits Take Two Game.

Linky

Here are the starting abilities and aspects for Borcs

Fitness: 1

Awareness: 0

Creativity: 0

Reasoning: 0

Fire Magic: 0

Luck: 4

Discipline: 4

Borcs are large, lumbering beasts, growing up to 7 feet tall, like Effee, but they also grow outwards. As Bear Kin, they are hairy all over and all try to sport beards, even the Woborc. Underneath their harry lips are two small upward pointing tusks. The tend to be good smiths and fighters as when they move they act slow and lumbery with short powerful bursts of movement.

Borcs come usually from the northern hemisphere and are build for the cold there of. Great in population and have a variety of cultures. For Annalow purposes, they mimic old Norse values of warrior-ship and might-makes-right principals. That's what most borc in the great city believe, anyway, even if some have different ideas.

The world view Borc as varied, but lazy people. The borcs are so massive, both in size and number, that they really don't care what other's think.

All magic requires physical touch, but Borc touch energy, specializing in fire. Because energy has to come from somewhere, Borc magic tends to leave ice behind. It is forbidden for Borc to take power from a living thing other than plant life. Doing so is such a strain against their upbringing that it will burn 1 point of discipline each time it's done.

Diff- Effect

0/1- Sense of Energy or Movement with in 10 feet.

2- Detailed sense of Energy or Movement with in 100 feet.

4- Clumsy control of Energy, especially Fire.

6- Complex or Massive control of Energy.

8- Massive perfect control of Energy.

Difficulty to do damage along with any other kinds of energy manipulation is 3 + the amount of damage wanted, up to 5. All damage is treated like Injury damage.

Amythra 27

Roose and Boose have been looking all around for a foreigner. Someone who would need a map to a place so easy to find. They failed with two strikes against them. 1. They were short. 2. The Annalow Bizarre is 80% foreigners. The two looked at each other, thinking the same thing. This was a hopeless quest for a needle in a stack of needles.

"What then? How do you match a map with it's owner without a clue?"

"The map is the clue. Perhaps we should go to the weapon smith?"

"How would the owner find the smith without the map?"

"Then instead, we should find were the map was placed, dropped, or lost."

The trouble with luck is you can tell when it happens, but not how or why. The universe doesn't speak Ixxar or leave instructions. It makes you to work out your opportunities by your own judgment. Roose and Boose are usually very good at these things, but here they stood at the edge of the street next to a dinner, hands on chins, distracted by a fight breaking out over spilled food, or something. They tried to ignore it.

"What we need is more luck."

"No no no. We don't want to risk the Chaos Whiplash." Roose's term means the more good luck you have, the more likely fate will balance it with one large punch of bad luck.

"I know, but there is no logical way to work out this map's meaning. What we need is non-logic."

"Then quick, without thinking, what's the first thing that comes to your mind?"

On cue, both of their stomachs grumbled and in chorus, the Twins said "Food."

"No no no." Roose said. "That won't get us anywhere."

"Yes, first this problem, then food."

More time thinking.

"I wish that girl would make silence."

"She's probably crying over being caught by the Red Guard."

Roose and Boose watched Anna escort Amythra into the Dinner. As they passed, the Ixxar's tummies growled again.

"No, Boose. Fight it. We have a problem to solve."

"Yes, a hungry problem. I mean delicious conundrum. Baked puzzle. I mean I want to eat it."

"Fight it. We've stood up to Council-Borc Nors. We can fight this."

The rebellion against their stomachs was brave indeed, but reinforments came from the smells of the dinner. They finally sighed and gave in to the oppressive hunger and went inside.

Amythra 26

Anna rolled her eyes and batted away the other two mumes. "That enough of that. I'll deal with her."

"What about our food?! We paid good gold for that!" Said one of them.

"Yeah," the other chimed in. "we demand reparation!"

"Shut up. We don't know context." Anna pulled the mume's had off of Amythra.

"But..." One look from Goldeyes and the mume shut up.

"You, girl, explain yourself."

Amythra was on the verge of tears. This hadn't been what she wanted at all. "I...it just...I was looking for..." Her thoughts were as fragmented as her sentences. "I'm sorry." Was the most coherency she could muster.

Fortunately, she was just young enough for Goldeyes to face-palm and take pity. "Ugh. It's...okay. Just calm down." Anna turned to the others and said "This was clearly an accident. Cut your losses and leave, boys."

"Hey, what about our food?"

"You got a complaint? Call the city guard." Anna stretched her official looking Red Gaurd gloves tighter on her hands to show them off. "As you can see, this is out of my jurisdiction."

The mumes went wide eyed once the realized her profession and beat it, diving quickly into the crowd. Goldeyes used to firm grip to escort Amythra aside of the festival, next to a shop where a set of Ixxar twins loitered in contemplation. "This is called a crowd, islander. You may not be used to it, but you need to watch where you're going." Anna's voice was firm, but not cruel. She was used to dealing with children.

"I'm sorry." wimpered Amythra.

"Sorry means more than feeling bad, islander. It also means making sure you do not offend again. Are you really so sorry?" Amythra nodded. "Then have the curtsy to look at the ones you bump into. Now, what are you searching for?" Amythra looked up, confused. "You said you're looking for something. What?"

Words didn't come easy, stuck in Amythra's throat. Instead she motioned clumsily at the size of the map, its dimensions , and its supposed where-abouts. Anna narrowed her gold eyes and slowly shook her head. "You're having a fit, aren't you?" This caused Amythra to break out in sobs.

Anna face-palmed again. The awkwardness was too strong here, so she pulled Amythra in a local dinner, passing and ignoring a set of Ixxar twins.

Amythra 25

The Church of the Living Goddess has always taught that on the dawn of the third millennium from Zero Day, it will be an "Age of Firsts." These firsts come in waves and by people who are not really trying to be the first of anything, rather just to be more than what they were. Anna Goldeyes is such a person. She is Annalow's first criminal investigator, choosing certain justice over revenge as a hand for the Red Guard.

Anna herself looked like her own goddess, being unusually tall for a womume and well endowed. Her eyes were, as advertised, golden and brown and they shined in the presence of children. She wore red trousers, like most of the Red Guard, also a loose white top instead of her red uniform jacket. It was her day off, you see, and Anna relaxed at the City Bizarre where she enjoyed a small chunk of ice imported from the northern glaciers.

With magic, every action requires an equal and opposite reaction. Roose and Boose knew that the lucky map would lead to success, but Goldeyes was the reaction to their boon. Because of their luck, a small fight started beside Anna and knocked her ice onto the ground.

She Lamented her loss for only moment until the sorrow turned angry. Anna whirled around and grabbed her assaulter from behind and twirled him about face to face. "That ice was expensive."

"Hey, don't look at me, womume. This girl pushed me out of the way." Anna looked over the mume toward an islander girl apologizing to two other guys, one of whom had the girl by the vest. "She knocked all our food to the ground." the mume said, pointed to a pile of dinner in the dirt.