Story so far: Ninana chases Aretia, bandits attack her. Alex the wolfman archer helps her chase them off, then chase Aretia down through a cursed forest. The two become fast friends - he even lets Ninana hug his tail. [She is gentle.] They make their way to a small town that hasn't seen officials in years. They stop at Big Stan's tavern, intending to hold Aretia and her husbands there.

[11/14/2012 12:00:50 AM] Tluffle: Aretia and her husbands try to back out, but tied up as they are, they can't quite manage it.

Ninana ignores the laughter and smiles at Stan, removing her helment and bowing to him after he kisses her hand. "Thank you kindly. It's a pleasure to meet you, Big Stan. Your establishment is charming."

Yeah, that foof of blonde hair with the dark skin is pretty unmistakable.
[11/14/2012 12:03:40 AM] Jimborg: It most certainly isn't as there is a soft intake of breath and the general conversation dies down. "Holy shit." the same patron as before echoed. "Is... is that?" The general murmoring was struggling between 'that's Nina' and 'that's Nina, coming to kill me for living a sinful life.'
[11/14/2012 12:05:42 AM] Tluffle: Oh Silan damnit. Ninana manages not to grumble. Can't get out from under her ancestress' shadow!

"Dame Ninana Torrosen, Prince of Windland and Margravine of DeMatea, at your service."
[11/14/2012 12:08:35 AM] Jimborg: "I apologize, I did not recognize you." Stan said, bending one knee before her. "How can I help you, Dame Ninana?"

Alex gestured. "Guess who was my classmate~?" he said in a sing song voice.
[11/14/2012 12:11:02 AM] Tluffle: "Alex pretty well covered it. There's no need for formality, Master Stan."
[11/14/2012 12:13:28 AM] Tluffle: "What the CRAP Ninny?!" Aretia is starting to panic. Shit shit shit-
[11/14/2012 12:14:19 AM] Jimborg: Stan nodded being careful not to gore her. "Of course." he said, grabbing the rope holding the prisonors together.

Alex made a show of waving 'good bye' to them as they were lead to the cellar door. "And that takes care of that. Now that we don't have to keep watching them for escape attempts, we can send the runner on his way worry free. Then, you can take the time to get this place up to code while we wait!"
[11/14/2012 12:15:17 AM] Tluffle: "Heh. Makes me wish I'd brought something besides my armor. It's a pain to make people think I'm not an avenging avatar when all I have is plate."
[11/14/2012 12:16:16 AM] Jimborg: "Yeah, you're too scary with it and too cute without it. Uh, wait, that came out..." Alex voice trailed away.
[11/14/2012 12:17:49 AM] Tluffle: "Heh. There's a reason I'm not wearing traditional clothes under this. I get told I'm a dead ringer for the blessed queen quite enough without that, too." Ninana rolls her eyes. "And call it even for what I did earlier."
[11/14/2012 12:20:49 AM] Jimborg: He waved away her concern "Don't worry about it. You asked permission... sorta. And yeah, I can see how living in the shadow of someone could get annoying" he said, gesturing at Stan, who gave Alex a short 'whap!' across his shoulder that almost sent the smaller beast man sprawling.
[11/14/2012 12:21:44 AM] Tluffle: Ninana giggled as he almost went sprawling, holding out a hand to catch him.

Oh wait she's a tiny girl she's not supposed to be able to catch someone that easily-
[11/14/2012 12:27:14 AM] Jimborg: Sprawling forward, Alex collided with Ninana, sending the two of them tumbling down. Alex braced himself at the last moment, leaving the two of them with thier faces less than an inch apart. "...hey..." Alex said, snapping himself out of the brief stupor her gaze put him in. "Sorry." he said, his ears flattening in sign of shame as he stood up and helped her to her feet.
[11/14/2012 12:28:24 AM] Tluffle: Ninana took the fall easily, and started to giggle again as he helped her up. "Hehehehe. It's alright. I'm not some delicate china doll!"

[11/14/2012 10:01:19 PM] Jimborg: Alex shuffled his feet. "I know, you don't have to remind me with how you handled yourself back there." he said, giving a sort of awkward laugh. He blinked, "Though, that does remind me." he said gesturing to where the members of Ninana's extended family were being held/stored. "If she was going to sell the diary, that would imply she found a buyer, right?"
[11/14/2012 10:02:31 PM] Tluffle: "Correct." She nods. "I know roughly who it was, too - or at least who they were working for."
[11/14/2012 10:05:03 PM] Jimborg: "Well, you said that DeMatea was on the border right?" Alex said, suddenly looking almost as nervous as he did in the forest. He leaned closer to her. "And I bet you Zenny to donuts that the mountain range serves as a nice demarcation line."
[11/14/2012 10:06:31 PM] Tluffle: She nods. "Pretty much..."
[11/14/2012 10:07:35 PM] Jimborg: "Well, if you were you sister, or lets be honest here, your sister's bussiness partner, wouldn't you want to make the exchange in a place that no one would notice or care about?"
[11/14/2012 10:09:35 PM] Tluffle: Ninana smiiiiiiles. "Indeed."
[11/14/2012 10:11:32 PM] Jimborg: "Which means, if we act quickly, we can nab the represnative of the Empire. Only problem is, I suspect these guys will know what they're doing. And that makes them dangerous."
[11/14/2012 10:12:13 PM] Tluffle: "That it does..." She nods. "You've a good head on your shoulders, Alex."
[11/14/2012 10:14:31 PM] Jimborg: "It helps keep it attached." Alex said, looking over his shoulder again. A nervous tic then. "Which means, you're probably going to have to wait to introduce yourself to your adoring public... besides here, I mean." he said, gesturing to the rest of what could be generously called a tavern.
[11/14/2012 10:15:06 PM] Tluffle: "Assuming the lot of them don't blab."
[11/14/2012 10:17:23 PM] Tluffle: Ninana shifts her weight, thinking, and lowers her voice. "And assuming they aren't *here*."
[11/14/2012 10:21:07 PM] Jimborg: Alex's blood ran cold at the suggestion. What was effectivley the entire town's adult male population was here. A half decent spy could slip in and out in this smoke filled room, and no one would notice.

"Okay," he said, running his hands over his face, his ears springing back to attention when ther are removed. "First priority is to make sure everyone stays safe. Next priority is to let the kingdom know we're here with the book. Thirdly, we grab the Empire's rep. If you have any ideas, oh wise Dame?"
[11/14/2012 10:23:34 PM] Tluffle: "We can accomplish the first by executing the third. Other than that..." Shrug.
[11/14/2012 10:51:50 PM] Jimborg: "Okay, first things first. I'll grab my runner contact, and then we'll plan our next move." Alex smiles at her, and places his hand on her shoulder before turning around and ducking into the smoke filled room. Alex vanished, his tail reminding Ninana briefly of a fish swiming through water. The expression on his face when he did that made Ninana think he wanted to do something else...

A minute or so after Ninana sits down, a hand snakes out and grabs her around her mouth and her midsection. "Hand over the book, child, and no one will be harmed." a heavily accented female voice whispered into her ear.
[11/14/2012 10:53:53 PM] Tluffle: Ninana CHOMPS down on the hand and slams her elbow back into her would-be captor, not quite hard enough to shatter ribs. As it turns out, the Dame is not the one you want to threaten.
[11/14/2012 11:00:33 PM] Jimborg: The sound of a 'whoof' of escaping air greets her elbow as the form staggers backward. Getting a better look at her assailant, Ninana notes that it's actually the panther beast man (woman?) that she had spied out of the corer of her eye earlier. Small black furred ears and tail (both twitching irritably) graced her form. A lock of ponytailed jet black hair her set of was compleminted with a set of concentric black tattoos, making one suspect she's from this worlds equivilant of India.

Shaking her head to clear, she cradles her bit hand, while her eyes widden in shock. "Wait, you're not the other one?! What in gods name?!"
[11/14/2012 11:03:17 PM] Tluffle: "You picked the wrong Torrosen to mess with." Ninana grinned, lunging for the panther woman, intent on slamming the woman's face into the wall. Again. And again. Until she can see bright red blood starting to coat it. The grin she's sporting is rather psychotic-looking too.

Nina with bloodlust is a /terrifying/ thing.
[11/14/2012 11:07:31 PM] Jimborg: The panther lady leaps out of the way, quickly flipping from chair, to bar patorn, to rafter, all in about the space of two seconds. "You don't know what you're doing!" the voice pleaded with her from beyond the haze of smoke. "The Brood have to be stopped for the good of everyone else!"
[11/14/2012 11:08:54 PM] Tluffle: Ninana uses her momentum to freaking WALLJUMP to another rafter. SHE'S IN FULL FREAKING PLATE. "The Brood are *PEOPLE*. They're no worse and no better than anyone else, and to destroy them would be an unforgivable act!"
[11/14/2012 11:13:18 PM] Jimborg: "Tell that to the people who died in the canyons of the sun! Tell that to those who have to suffer under thier madness!" From this distance, the expression on Panther Lady's face is clearly "Oh that is /bullshit/."

Thier activities haven't gone unoticed by Big Stan. "Everyone! I'm calling in your bar tabs!" This prompts an immediate exodus from the tavern, as patrons even resort to leaping out of rusted windows to escape thier financial fracas.
[11/14/2012 11:14:49 PM] Tluffle: "Killing them will do nothing but anger Ladon! They can be reawakened to their humanity." Ninana growls. Yeah, she should not be able to balance that easily, especially not in heavy akward armor on a rafter. So much bullshit.
[11/14/2012 11:19:10 PM] Jimborg: "I don't have time to argue with you! Either hand over the book or I'll take it!" Panther lady replies pushing up her sleeve to reveal her tatoos continue all over her body, some form of energy arcing up them.

She's about to launch some variant of 'arcane blast to face' but an sudden arrow lancing into her shoulder throws off her aim, instead causing a bolt of lightning to strike the wodden pillar holding up Nina's rafter, immediatly sparking a fire.

"Ninana! You okay?" Alex voice echos up from below, though the room becoming /even smokier/ isn't helping matters.
[11/14/2012 11:20:32 PM] Tluffle: "RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH-" Ninana throws herself at panther lady. Oh crap. For just a moment, panther lady could swear the prince's eyes have gone slitted - it doesn't help they're already dragon-green.
[11/14/2012 11:23:52 PM] Jimborg: To be fair, Panther Lady just wants everyone to know she /totally/ could have dodged that attack, only that there wasn't anywhere to dodge /to/. Bending backwards to avoid the charge, she's only half succesfull as the weight of Ninana's form carries the pair of them off the rafters, /through/ the rotten boards of the tavern, across the street, through /another/ wall and in to what appears to be a poor man's bait shop.
[11/14/2012 11:25:46 PM] Tluffle: At which point Ninana rolls off, and goes for her sword. Panther Lady is also reminded of what BULLSHIT it is this prince-general can do acrobatics in FULL FUCKING PLATE. She should have dropped like a stone!
[11/14/2012 11:31:15 PM] Jimborg: Panther Lady is alive,on her feet even!. Though it looks like that Ninana's low charge had bent her leg at an impossible angle. Eww. She shook her head to clear the ringing the impact caused. "Your second isn't here. Meaning there's nothing stopping me from dropping you right /now/!" Another arcane arc, this time triggering a burst of electricity that arced along the ground in a wave, heading straight towards the determined Dame.
[11/14/2012 11:33:27 PM] Tluffle: Who... Gods damnit Ninny stop that... leaps up into the air with impossible grace and a delighted cackle. "You'll have to do better than that!" At the same time, she's shedding armor, and HUP goes the helmet, followed by a guantlet.
[11/14/2012 11:37:34 PM] Jimborg: She reaches up to block the helmet with her other hand, only for it to unbalance her with it's wieght, pitching her backwards. Give her credit, she turned the motion into a backflip that arced her out of the flight path of Ninana and her gauntlet.. only for her to land on her bad leg and sprawl unceremoniously down. With her concentration broken, her electric wave fizzles and dies, it's path of destruction comming to a halt a good several hundred feet behind them "What do you make those things out of, fucking lead!?"
[11/14/2012 11:39:26 PM] Tluffle: "Lead's poisonous, moron!" Ninana sheds the rest of her armor in a series of thumps and bangs, and is on Panther Lady in a flash, sword raised. "Give up, or I start chopping off limbs."
[11/14/2012 11:46:12 PM] Jimborg: Panther Lady gives a sound of distress. "It wasn't supposed to be this way! It was just suppose to be the greedy bitch and her two lap dogs!" She clapped her hands together, producing a /loud/ ringing thunderclap the pitches both of the away from each other. "Know this! I am Teresa, Mistress of the Storm and the fifth ranked bounty hunter of the Matelan Empire!" She grins at Ninana. "And you now have thier /undivided attention/."
[11/14/2012 11:47:25 PM] Tluffle: "Oh like I fucking didn't already." Ninny shakes off the ringing, but it's startled her out of her bloodlust.
[12:15:27 AM] Jimborg: Alex came rushing forward, with Big Stan and the three prisoners in tow. "Sorry, we rescued them as fast as we could! But not before-" his explanation was cut off of as an explosion rocked the area the tavern simply disintergrated. "My booze..." Stan said, looking about ready to cry. That must have been some liqiuor, Ninana could feel the explosion echo in her bones
[12:17:24 AM] Tluffle: She drops the sword. Oh /no/, the town! She starts swearing loudly. That probably set MORE of the town or even the palisade on fire-
[12:21:13 AM] Jimborg: Teresea had apparently taken the opportunity to run, because she's nowhere in sight. She may be a terrible bounty hounter, but when it comes to running, she's in a class of her own, with a broken leg no less! Clearly, storm magic based bullshit is at work here.

"Shit!" Alex said, instinctivley shielding himself from the blast. "If we don't hurry the entire place is going to go up in smoke!"
[12:23:10 AM] Tluffle: Ninana nods. "We need a bucket line!"
[12:28:06 AM] Jimborg: Alex nodded and turned to the beast men staring in horror. "Right lads, time to get your thumbs out of yer' ass an get in gear! Grab the buckets from the bait wall and get to work!" he said, gesturing to the iron buckets that are hanging there.

As they scramble to, Alex turns to Ninana and shrugs "At least they won't complain about /taxes/?" he offered, trying to find some angle on this situation other than 'disaster'.
[12:29:20 AM] Tluffle: "No, just how their liege lord destroyed half their town." She buries her face in her hands!
[12:31:58 AM] Jimborg: "Hey, it was that crazy Matelan bitch, nothing you did!" Alex said, instinctively hugging her to him. "Now you go over there, and you show your people how it's done."
[12:34:00 AM] Tluffle: Ninana instinctively leans into the hug, before steeling herself. She nods and dries her eyes, rushing over to organize the bucket lines, helping to haul the water from the river easily - she can rush through two buckets in the time it takes others to get one, after all.
[12:41:06 AM] Jimborg: With Alex helping in the lines and Stan carrying a bucket /and/ the prisoners, the fight to safe the town was joined. The moon had returned to the sky before the last of the flames were put out. The tavern was beyond repair, being the epicenter of the explosion, as was most of what passed as the town square. The old stone goverment building shielded the dock from destruction, though the front of it was burned beyond recognition. As for actual homes, only the three closest to the Tavern were destroyed, the shacks and lean to's only suffering minor disturbances and burns.

All in all, it was a disaster, but not a complete loss.
[12:43:51 AM] Tluffle: Ninana doesn't stop to rest until every flame is out. By that point she's covered in soot, only her eyes standing out. Filthy, sweaty, but satisfied they've done all they can, she finally allows herself a smile.
[12:45:27 AM] Jimborg: Now that the work is done, the eyes of several hundred beast people smeared with soot and ash are on her, looking tired, sad. Defeated.

Alex nudged her forward. "You're on, Dame."
[12:49:00 AM] Tluffle: Ninana straightens her spine, takes a deep breath, and starts to speak - she praises their quick response and their hard work, and speaks of rebuilding - not tonight though. Tonight, they rest. Tomorrow, they will rebuild - not just the destroyed sections of town, but all of it - the town will be better and stronger despite the tragedy.
[12:53:31 AM] Jimborg: The eyes of the assembled crowd stare at her, most of the still in shock over the fire, but Ninana is getting the ocassional smile and nod. Stepping forward thorugh the crowd was an old man, a racoon hybrid, whose tail dragged behind him. "That woman said she was Matelan. The war, will it come again?" he asked.
[12:58:41 AM] Tluffle: "I am sorry, Elder, but I do not know if they intend to make war on DeMatea and Windland. I do, however, know they intend to make war on our ancient allies - the Dragons. Those like Saint Ryu, and their own once-emperor. That woman was here in search of my theif of a sister, and Nina's Diary."
[1:06:04 AM] Jimborg: He nodded slowly at her explanation. "This is a place where people go to forget and be forgotten. Yet, the past lingers among us: the hex in the mountain pass, the tortured beast in the Verdant wood, among other, smaller scars. The world," he said, gesturing to his cane at the mountain, beyond it. "reminds us that time moves forward, whether we want it or not. I must consult with the others, but those who remain here, shall do so in your service." he said, kneeling in front of her, giving an odd sad smile. "It's is a terrible thing, to wake up from a pleasent dream. Yet wake up we must, for the day calls."
[1:07:45 AM] Tluffle: She looks for her sword, but doesn't see it, so instead she very gently lays a hand on his head. "I accept your fealty with honor, and grant that there shall be a school built in this place, in thy name, that the children may learn of the bravery of their parents and elders."