Sound of silence

[Ivy]

[November 29th]

Hugo sits in the inn, Writing in a book. Every now and then he takes a sip of water from an old glass bottle. It is quiet, and every now and then the door opens and closes on its own.

[Torvallis!]

[Nov 29th, 9pm]

Torvallis! comes in from the cold, a small amount of snow gathered on their shoulders, a small amount of melt down the front of their robes from sitting close to the forge.

They sit down on the floor by the fire, looking deeply into the flames.

[Ivy]

Hugo watches them come in and sit down, then turns to a new page and begins writing again.

[Degren Brightforge]

Wandering in from the cold, Degren will sit himself down at the end of the right table, and look around for the waiter. Failing to see one, he grabs a half-finished, seemingly abandoned, drink and downs it swiftly.

[Ivy]

Besides the wind blowing outside, and the crackling of the fire, there was nary a sound to be heard in the inn. Hugo flipped to another page in his notebook, presumably to take note of this.

[Degren Brightforge]

By now, Degren has found a couple of bottles of whiskey behind the counter, and has become fairly intoxicated, "Eh! You! Hugu, Wetche writting der?*hic*"

[Ivy]

Hugo looks to Degren, then turns to a fresh page in his book and writes something down. After a second he flips the book around such that Degren can *probably* read what it says.

In large text it reads: "A JOURNAL"

Hugo turned to another page.

"DEGREN WHERE DO KEEP FINDING ALL THIS ALCOHOL"

[Degren Brightforge]

Degren looks at the words on the page and nods, being very new to reading, he takes some time to understand, "Hmm? Oh, There's a wee amount o' the good stuff behind the counter, heh heh... I've, err, got some o' me own too, right here," He pulls out a small silver flask and takes a long swig, then offers it to Hugo, "Here, it'll put hair on yer chest, for sure."

[Ivy]

Hugo flicks to an earlier page and shows it to Degren.

"SURE"

Hugo take the flask from Degren, has a swig, then hands it back.

One page turn later:

"THANK YOU"

[Torvallis!]

Torvallis! notes the spectacle with some degree of amusement.

They reach into their sleeves, grabbing a book & a writing implement, and scribble something quickly down. They rip the page out, and hold it out to Hugo.

The page reads:

"yes, yes, very well, but have you yet mastered punctuation and lower case letters?"

[Degren Brightforge]

Degren is pleased by Hugo's acceptance of the booze, but is confused by Torvallis!' letters, "What're them dashes n' markings? Some sort of elvish?" he continues to drink, though at a slower pace to better maintain his preferred level of hammered. He suddenly notices that you always pull strange and unusual items from your sleeves and becomes confused. He is now very confused, and very drunk.
OOG: I need to mention that the name of this post always makes me begin whistling the tune to "Sound of silence" and makes me want to watch Donnie Darko again. And again.

[Ivy]

Hugo turns to a new page and quickly writes out his response to Torvallis!. He holds out his journal facing them.

"YES. BUT AS YOU CAN SEE THE USE OF ALL CAPITAL LETTERS ALLOWS FOR GREATER EASE OF COMMUNICATION IN THIS FORMAT. ESPECIALLY WITH THOSE WHO MAY BE INTOXICATED OR OTHERWISE MENTALLY INHIBITED."

[Torvallis!]

Torvallis! turns to Degren:

"Yes! Well, nearly, these are actually Dwarfish runes, which I learned during my time in the great northern tunnels. It was pleasent, but it turns out they don't like fire mages who enjoy the pleasures of the mushroom honey. Something about OI LAD, YA CANNAE BE DOING THAT, ALL THE SMUK FRUM THE LAST TIME NEAR'Y KILLED ME GRANNY."

T! held up a page to Hugo that they had been writing while talking:

",d'o..n;t' --t.e'-l;l .h-i'm"

[Degren Brightforge]

"Ye watch it now, las, Them dwarvish runes are nothin' to be messing around with. They hold great power, mark me words," He swigs from his flask again, offering it to T!, "here, lad,Put some hair on yer chest."

[Degren Brightforge]

"Oh! Right, Hugo, Tell me, What's yer thing, eh? You some kind of scout, or something? During the fight with the bongo-feller, I remember sneaking about a bunch with you, so scout, or spy is what I'm thinking. I'm trying to get a more organized idea of what we have at our disposal for squads, and formations. Maybe get a real army onthe go, eh?"

[Ivy]

Hugo Sighed, this would take a while to write out.

A minute or so later, his answer was written out and presented to Degren.

"I was trained as a light infantryman back out west, In this training we were taught how to fight, as well as some rudimentary scouting and ambush tactics. Besides this, I have had no formal training in sneaking or scouting since I started traveling. However, I have gained some experience in these fields since then."

"In the event you cannot read the above text: MORE OR LESS, YES. HOW ABOUT YOU?"

[Degren Brightforge]

Degren takes a long while reading the note, often stopping to sound words out slowly to himself. Finally, he says, " I've got a fair bit of experience as a caravan guard and sword for hire, as well as a few years in the army, a long time back, now though. We trained a fair bit in formations and single combat; But, all in all, I've much more experience as a merchant, and a smith. So, err-- Why dontcha talk with yer mouth, eh?"

[Marcus Laneous(Centurion)]

The sound of idle chatter is interrupted momentarily by the door swinging open as Marcus steps in from the cold. His tired yet cheerful voice recites a familiar greeting.  

"hail "

his hand raises for a casual wave as he kicks the door closed behind him, knocking most of the snow off his boot in the process. Marcus then trots over to the counter and grabs one of the apples layed out for a snack

[Ivy]

Hugo waved to Marcus, to acknowledge his presence, then turned back to his book to respond to Degren.

A line of text later: "LONG STORY SHORT: I AM NO LONGER CAPABLE OF SPEAKING."

[Marcus Laneous(Centurion)]

he takes a few bites of his apple and finds a seat close to the conversation.

"so whats the word of the day boys ?"

[Degren Brightforge]

"Hail, Markus!" Degren says, giving a wave before continuing reading, "Ah. Shame that, lad. But hey, silence can be golden, and it doesn't stop yeh from getting madly drunk, heh? Hang on, lemme grab some more booze for us, eh?" Degren wanders behind the bar and grabs a large bottle of a dark liquid as well as four glasses, "So, What's yer story, eh Markus?" he pours a small shot glass for each person in the bar and passes them around.

[Torvallis!]

"Eh, what huh? What's this about you being unable to speak, Hugo?

Not much has been happening for me lately but the slow study of fire and the growing hatred of snow. Sure makes one appreciate the warmth of the forge & the fire, though. Yourself, Centurion?"

[Marcus Laneous(Centurion)]

Marcus swings back his shot and slams the cup back down.

*yawn*" not a lot on the go honestly. cant patrol quiet as far as i'd like with the snow coming down but at-least i'm spending winter with a roof over my head. how about you Degren how you been keeping busy ? "

[Ivy]

Hugo Accepts Degren's offer of drink, and sets to work on some responses.

A few moments later, a page has been filled up.

"For Torvallis!: While I was away, complicated circumstances led to me losing my voice. However, I am fine with this arrangement."

"For Degren: TRUE."

"For Markus: HAVE YOU GOTTEN USED TO READING YET?"

[Torvallis!]

"Sounds like an interesting tale, you should write it down for me sometime!"

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