[Tairan finds himself well into the Salamanders. The sun is setting, giving the entire area even more of a red-orange hue than normal. Tairan's running near empty by now; a full day's walk is tiring, but traveling across mountains is even worse.] [Fortunately (as the case may be) he spots a modest shrine nearby, easily visible by the fires kept there.] [Session Start.] * Tairan stops for a moment, taking a deep breath. "Cripes. No wonder the war ended. Soldiers musta gotten sick of walking through these goddamn mountains." *starts walking towards the shrine* [As he approaches, Tairan sees that the shrine is very well kept, and most likely in tribute to fire, given the number of candles and such through the covered windows. He reaches it without problem.] * Tairan grins wearily. "Fire shrine. My kinda place. Wonder if there's anyone around..." * Tairan pokes around, looking to see if there's anything sentient about. [Nobody's wandering around outside the temple. There is, however, a door. Convenient things.] * Tairan reaches for the door, then decides that walking in on someone in a fire temple is a good way to get charred. Instead, he knocks. [The door's answered by a pretty teenaged girl with long, black hair and violet eyes.] * Girl looks Tairan over, then looks at the sky. "Oh, hello. Travelling?" * Tairan waves tiredly at the girl. "Yes ma'am. Would be very grateful if you'd let me take refuge in the temple for the night... mountain air don't seem too good for a nights rest." * Girl nods. "Yes, please come in. You can leave your shoes," she points, "and I'll call my grandfather." * Girl moves down the hall a bit. "Grandfather? Grandfather, we have a guest!" * Tairan bows. "Many thanks." *takes off his shoes, putting them where he was told to, and steps inside* ["A guest?" an old man's voice asks as steps can be heard coming your way. And, yes, the voice did come from an old man: a short, nearly bald one wearing a robe.] * Tairan tips his hat to the old man, then bows. "My name is Tairan, sir. I'm a traveller heading west, and seek shelter for the night, if you would be so gracious." Of course. Come right in. * OldMan gestures towards the back of the shrine. A traveller, eh? We haven't had any in ages. Most of them take the easier, faster pass. * Tairan chuckles. "Alas, my travel plans were made on rather short notice, so I didn't have a chance to make proper arraingements." Oh? Well, it's quite all right. We always keep some spare rooms for the occasional visiting pilgrims, so it'd be no trouble to put you up for the night. * Tairan grins. "Thank you again. This is a fire shrine, isn't it?" * OldMan grins and nods. "Quite perceptive of you, I see. Yes, this is indeed a fire shrine, dedicated to the god of the Salamanders." Always had an affinity for fire... warms and destroys, can be contained but never fully controlled. Quite right. And should the god of the volcanoe's become upset, I shudder to think of what would happen to the surrounding towns. * Tairan nods. "A good reason to make sure the god stays content." * OldMan nods. "But the hour grows late, and you're probably tired. Rei, show him to his room." * Girl nods. "Yes, grandfather." She gestures to Tairan to follow her. * Girl is now known as Rei * Tairan follows along, adjusting his hat as he does. [Rei leads you into the back area of the shrine, pretty obviously used for living quarters. The room you reach is small but, like the rest of the temple, very well kept. While bare, there is a mattress there, making this much better than sleeping outside.] * Tairan steps into the room, then turns and tips his hat at Rei. "Again, my thanks for your hospitality." * Rei bows politely. "Of course. Please don't hesitate to ask if you need anything." Well, I'd better retire myself. Excuse me... * Rei shuts the door and retreats. (Run away!) ( Seconds later, the room explodes. ) (Tairan, you fool.) * Tairan nods, and makes his way to the matress. "Sure beats the rocks..." *lays down on the matress and sighs* "All over a freakin' gun." * Tairan fingers said pistol in the holster at his side. "Hope you're worth it." [Tairan retires to a reasonably good night's sleep. That is, until he wakes to the sound of giggling and footsteps.] * Tairan blinks from under his hat, and takes it off his face and puts it atop his head. "Huh? Someone there?" [Tairan's room is dark, and there doesn't seem to be anyone there, but outside, the giggling continues.] * Tairan grumbles slightly, stands up, and slowly makes his way to the door. *opens it a bit; pokes his head out* ( Tairan's room is dark. He is eaten by a Grue :P ) [He spots the source of giggling! It seems to be Rei, and she's heading out of the temple the back way.] * Tairan blinkblinks. "What the..." * RowynWorkyn is now known as Rowyn * Tairan shakes his head, and starts to go back to his room. Alas, Curiousity wins out over Logic, and he follows Rei gingerly. ( I never win ;_; ) [Rei goes out back. It's nothing particularly special, but there is an unusually large rock. It wouldn't be all that special if it weren't for all those wards around it.] * Tairan blinkblinks again. [She's making a beeline for the rock. Either she hasn't noticed you, or she doesn't care.] * Tairan steps outside. "Rei?" * Rei ignores Tairan. * Tairan jogs lightly after her. "Hey, mornin' Rei. How ya doin'?" * Rei looks over at Tairan and smiles. "Morning." She gestures at the boulder. "Be a dear and help me get these nasty things off, okay?" ... erm, what are those wards for? * Rei grins and gets to work. "Come on. It'll be funny, you'll see!" * Tairan blanches. "I don't know... why don't we go get your grandfather? I'm sure he'd know the best way to remove them..." *tugs lightly at Rei's arm* Oh, we don't need him. Just pull them off, rip them up... whatever works. C'mon. * Tairan chuckles nervously. "I dunno... hey, I have a cut on my back that I think's getting infected. You think you could show me where you have some medical supplies?" Maybe later. Let's do this first. I dunno. It's really hurting... Well, this won't take long. * Tairan coughs and clutches his back for dramatic effect. * Rei hums as she removes wards. * Tairan blanches. "I really don't think you should be doing this, Rei... c'mon back inside. Please." Of course I should! It's my shrine; I think I'd know what I should be doing, don't you? But those wards... aren't they there for a reason? I dunno if just ripping them down is a good idea... * Rei snickers. "But it'll be such fun! You'll see." * Tairan frowns, and mutters under his breath. "Dammit..." *grabs Rei by an arm and starts tugging her back towards the shrine* C'mon, Rei, we need to go back inside. * Rei is pulled away. She pouts. "You're so mean!" So I've been told. C'mon, let's go help your grandfather with the shrine. We'll take the wards off later, after breakfast. Can't very well remove wards on an empty stomach. Gods don't like that. He's still asleep. And besides, that old fuddy duddy'd just try to stop us anyhow. He's no fun. How would you know? I'm the priestess here, remember? I know a lotta things. 'sides, we should go wake him up. I'm sure he'll wanna get an early start today. *dragpulldrag* Oooh, that's not a good idea. He's old. Waking him up so suddenly could give him a heart attack, y'know? [Tairan drags Rei into the temple. She's offering resistance, but not enough to stop him.] Well then, we'll have to wake him up gently. You could prolly do that better than I can, what with being his granddaughter and all. Yeah. Since I'm his granddaughter, I know what's best for him, right? What's best is to just let him sleep. * Tairan is fairly obviously starting to run out of bullshit excuses. "Well, I have to get going soon. I wouldn't want to leave without thanking him. Just for a moment, and then we'll let him go back to sleep." Oh, that's okay. I'll tell him for you! I'm sure he'd appreciate it more if you let him rest. But I insist. Honor... *says that word like it tastes bad* ... demands I thank him in person. * Rei chuckles. "Does not. And in this part of the world, sleep is more important than honor anyhow." People where I'm from are odd. If I didn't thank him, I'd have to commit hara-kiri. Or eat my nose. One of the two. Aw, we won't tell, don't worry about it. And you wouldn't look very good without a nose. * Rei winks. ... thanks, but I must insist. *dragdrag* Aw, you don't have to! It's okay, really! I apologize for imposing, but I really must. *dragdrag towards grandpa's room* Think how miserable he'll be if you wake him up just to say goodbye. Poor old guy. [Tairan is almost at the grandfather's room now. You can hear him snoring.] Zzzzzzz.... I'll make it up to him somehow... * Tairan knocks on the door when he reaches the room. With five years' worth of service? 'Cause that's about what a good night's sleep is worth in these parts. [The snoring continues.] Zzzzzzz.... If need be. I'm not really going anywhere in particular. Life as a fire shrine keeper sounds kinda nice. Oh, it's really not. * Tairan knocks louder. "Sir? I'm sorry to disturb you, but I need to talk to you for a moment..." You have to eat fire for lunch, coals for dinner, and we drink lava, not water. Might be too spicy for ya. And all you do all day is wash the floor and sweep the steps and rake the leaves. It's really a chore. Sounds... peaceful. * Tairan knocks a bit more urgently. On the plus side, we get to burn a lot of trees needlessly as sacrifices. That's kinda fun. Oh, and we kill, boil, and eat every fifth traveller who stops here. Lucky you're the fourth, huh? Good for the soul, I bet. Yeah, and it tastes better than hot coals. * Tairan knocks quite a bit more urgently now. [There's a thud.] * OldMan groans and opens the door. "Yes?" He yawns. "My, it's early." * Tairan chuckles nervously. "Yes, I'm sorry... Rei was out back by the boulder, and wanted me to help her take the wards off. I wanted to check with you and make sure that was okay." She WHAT?! * OldMan stares at Rei, who giggles sheepishly. * OldMan narrows his eyes. "Fumio!" * Rei grins and waves. "Yo, old man!" ... that would've been bad, I assume. *sighs in relief* * OldMan frowns and picks up a stick with wards at the tip. "Sir, my grandaughter has been possessed by an annoying-" He glares at her as he says that- " fox spirit. If you'd be so kind as to hold her still while I exorcise it..." * Rei pouts. "Aw... You don't wanna do that to little ol' me." * Tairan blinks. "Fumio? I thought this... ah. Okay." *takes hold of both of ReiFumio's arms* I wasn't doin' nothin' wrong. Just wanted to see what's so important that it had to be sealed, is all. ... right. Nothing wrong. Just unleashing yowling horrors from beyond or somethin'. * OldMan ignores her and lights a candle. He starts chanting, waving the wand back and forth. The candle flares briefly, and a fox appears in front of Rei, who goes limp. * Fox runs out the room! "Eh, you woulda killed it anyhow." ( ...I am a hedge. ) * Tairan acks, and cradles Rei before she falls. * OldMan sighs. "I apologize for that. Are the wards intact?" Mostly. I think she tore a few before I stopped her. Kinda had me dumbfounded for a moment... That's what foxes do. As long as there's still one ward left, though, the damage is repairable. That's good. I think. What's in there? The founder of this temple, my father, sealed a fire demon in that stone. ... okay, definately a good thing. This temple exists for worship of the volcano god, but also to watch over the demon. * Tairan picks Rei up and places her down on the grandfather's bed. He wipes his brow. "This happen often?" Not often, but this isn't the first time. * Tairan chuckles. "Figures. Interesting times always seem to follow me." * OldMan nods. He then considers. "Say, are you heading to Redrock City, by chance?" * Tairan nods. "I am." Then you may be interested in this: a few days ago, a trader was returning from there and stopped by the shrine. According to him, there's a job available there. A rather high-paying one. If you're in need of work... I am. Wanderer doesn't pay that well, alas. *grin* * OldMan nods. "Well, I hope it's beneficial to you." Did he mention what this job was, by any chance? * OldMan shakes his head. "I'm afraid not. But once you get there, it shouldn't be too difficult to find out, no?" * Tairan nods. "Many thanks, sir. Do you need any help with repairing the wards or with Rei?" That's alright. She'll be fine in time, and I can easily repair the damage. It would be good to get a fresh set of wards on there anyhow. * Tairan nods. "I'd better get going, then. Don't want to get there and finds that job already taken." * OldMan nods. "Very well, and please come by again if you happen to be in the area." [And so, Tairan takes off, tow- er, away from the rising sun. Redrock City awaits!] [Session End.]