Filmed in the Miracle of Skeletorama!
After a bit of wandering through this odd town, by the way, how do they know what is down town, if every part is down from another? I was concerning my time with helping Deitricha who had become greatly bothered by the city. I held her hand and kept telling her not to look up. I think it was too much of challenge to her senses though.
Me, I found this place amazing. If I didn’t know better, I would say it was built by a quirky Gnome named Eldrek, or Gadgets as my father called him. Gadgets seemed to make everything upside down. Not that his creations didn’t work proper, they just seemed completely built upside down. Well, Gadgets was a fine person indeed, and I would sneak over to visit him some nights. He had things that had lights and whistles and moved in so many odd ways. He would always show me his newest attempts, then we would sit down and share some of his finest Gnomish weed. Come to think of it, maybe that is why I always snuck over to visit him.
Well, the party tried to lead us to an inn. It took a while, but eventually we found a signpost. Now, I had to try my hardest to look disgusted by it, but inside, I was laughing my guts out. In this strange place, which I have yet to hear a name for, hmm… I will call it Gadgets. Well here in Gadgets they make signposts out of mummies. Deitricha wanted to stomp it out of existence; I did my best to hold her back. After all, how could let her destroy a part of Gadgets, especially a part that was so odd it would seem if old Gadgets made it personally. Eventually two of the party went to read the thing, I was quite busy holding Deitricha back, and they found directions to a nice inn. Here is the kicker; I looked up in time to see the mummy point out the direction to go. I love this place.
The pointing was all she could take; I think we moved on just to calm Deitricha down more than to find the inn. We took a path that we thought most promising and passed many, many, many more oddities. Gadgets is a great place!
Finally we found an inn and the ladies were exited to find that it had baths. I followed Deitricha in to one room and did my best to clean her clothes and items for her, between getting her new bars of soap. She was trying to rub her skin off to get the feeling of blood off of her. I had to keep telling her that it was all gone, but she continued to clean. Eventually I cleaned up too, although I don’t take the pleasure in a bath as humans seem too. I have heard that elves are worse, but I have never seen that in person. I can only imagine the Dwarf, Rosorc, is probably trying to rub some foundry dust into his skin rather than rub it out.
Well, Areon had purchased the rooms and we got some food and went up to get some rest. The inn was very nice; I think it may be the nicest inn I have ever been in. The food! Oh, blessed by the gods in my opinion. Yes, it was the finest meal, seconds and thirds, which I have ever had. For a while I think my mind was wandering, we had all gone to some places to find a portal, which meant we needed to negotiate and fill out forms. Now, why any society needs so much paperwork I can’t imagine. I let my mind wander most of the day, well maybe the entire day.
To me, it felt as if I have changed a little, as if Tempus is smiling upon me. I feel energized and maybe even a little bit hardened by the trip to the Nine Hells. Perhaps Tempus is showing me that I don’t have to kill every foe I meet. Or maybe he is happy that I have survived the trip. I don’t know, but I do feel … stronger.
I think we were at a market; I was just enjoying my company and the wonderful city of Gadgets. The rest of the party seemed to be having a good time. I noticed for some reason, that Rosorc kept looking at Theona. If I didn’t know better I would think he was in love. But, he is a Dwarf, how do they show love? Do they hit their prospective mate with a hammer? Do they five them an Orc head? I have to admit that this will be very curious to witness. Oh, I almost forgot, Areon likes her too. This will be good.
Finally we were back at the inn, Areon had told me the name of the place, but to me it is still Gadgets. After another night of a comfortable bed, in which I am ashamed to admit I really enjoyed, I got up early to get some breakfast. I have to get up early; it takes a little time to get some breakfast in before the party usually gets up to join me, for more breakfast. Today I found Rosorc already eating. He called me over for some food and a talk. I could see by his uncomfortable body motion that he wanting to talk about some personal thoughts. Now first Dwarves don’t talk about their personal feelings to anyone, and having a guess of what the talk would be about, I was more amazed that he wanted to talk to me.
If you don’t know, Dwarves in particular are the most mischievous race in all the Realms. I didn’t know that until I moved to Silverymoon, where I met many a Dwarf. Now what a Dwarf does is plays games with others. Their favorite game is to play stupid. Oh the joys I have witnessed watching a Dwarf in a bar. For instance, one may come up to the bar and take someone’s ale, drink it down in one gulp, and wander away as if it was no big deal. Usually it is done to humans for humans think themselves so smart. Well, after a bit of astonishment passes and the human realizes that someone drank his ale, he will get up and confront the Dwarf. Now the Dwarf first will act like he does not know what the human is talking about. And let me tell you, a Dwarf can keep a straight face. And if the human makes a strong enough case for the deed, the Dwarf will change his method to looking confused and telling the human that it was either his ale to drink, or better yet, he will tell the human that he had offered it to the Dwarf. After a while the human gets tired of beating his head against a stone wall or believes the Dwarf. In any way it goes, the Dwarf always gets the drink for free and the human is convinced that the Dwarf is the stupid one.
Now knowing this, it was time to play a game on a Dwarf. After all, they think themselves smarter than anyone else. So when Rosorc asked how Deitricha and I get along, I smiled greatly and made some mentions of how to be in the right position of to use leverage. After his initial shock wore off, he stopped me and stated that he meant since we were of different races. With an even bigger smile I started to explain that all the races in our realm seem to have ‘boy parts and girl parts.’ And before he could stop me again I began the stupid birds and the bees speech my father gave to me. I was having so much fun; I thought I might stain my shorts.
Rosorc stopped me again and with a quite a bit of effort to ask me in unmistakable terms how it was for me to date a person of another race, in the way of personal feelings and if it was strange to be with one that was different from myself. It was hard to not laugh out with all of my being, but by some means I kept a straight face. I then began to tell him how to protect a person of another race in battle. Always making sure not to mention Theona’s name, instead I used “loved one of another race and other gender.” Each time I used the “other gender” phrase he seemed to wince, I was not saying that his hammer swung the other way, no just picking on him. For in all of his trouble he never mentioned that it was a woman that he was interested in. Oh, the looks on his face that day will stay with me forever.
Eventually he was saved from more confusion as other members of our party started filtering in to get some breakfast. Deitricha was the only one to notice my smile, I told her that I would tell her later. And I did, when no one was around to hear her laughter, she nearly fell to the ground when I explained the looks the Rosorc was giving me.
After some more breakfast we headed out to finish the paperwork. Some time, which I had little concept to the time in this place, we finally got directions. I was pleased to have a feeling of direction or goal. We went to the market again to find a black rose for the portal. I wonder if it just had to be a black thing, like the orb I carried. That is still bothering me too.
Anyway, blessed Tempus was upon us for he gave us a chance for a little battle before we leave. A couple of meager undead. Not a real challenge, but it got our muscles into use, and that felt good.