After breakfast, the party breaks camp and resumes their trek up the over-land route. After a mile or two they come upon a town. After beating themselves up for deciding to camp out instead of staying at a nice hotel, they decide to have a look around.
Not one minute later a group of 3 young girls ran out in the street screaming, "AXEM!!" The princess, who was walking next to him up to this point, takes a step back as the three girls trounce upon AXEM, nearly causing him to lose his footing.
Girl 1: "Where have you been??"
Girl 2: "You've been gone for so long! We've missed you!"
Girl 3: "Did you bring us anything?"
AXEM, embarrassed at the spectacle being created and trying desperately to remember the names of the three girls now clinging to him, says "Hey.....uh.... girls! How are you?"
Girl 1 (slightly angry): "That's a rude thing to say!"
Girl 2: "Yeah! You promised us two years ago you'd come back!"
Girl 3: "And you were gone all this time!"
Girl 1: "Well come inside and let us bathe you!"
Girl 2: "Yeah! You smell as if you were sleeping by the sea!"
The girls whisk AXEM away to a house on a side street while he remains dazed and confused, but glad for the attention.
Ali, kinda pissed now that she realizes what kind of gigolo her new friend AXEM is, decides to locate the other 2 party members who have scattered. She glances to the right to see TRITHAL walk into a blacksmith's shop. She looks to the left to see CHRIS glued to a store window display of Star Trek memorabilia. Choosing the lesser of two evils, she decides to approach CHRIS. But before she could take two steps, she heard her name called. An older gentleman approaches her from behind.
"Greetings, Princess!" The man says. "I am the mayor of this humble village, Daiichi Shingetsu. For what do we owe your visit?"
Nearly startled by the fact that she was identified by a stranger, she replies, "Oh I'm just passing through on my way to the castle of King Midus. The underground route between the southern ports and the castle has been damaged, and now I have to take the long way around Mount Sabretooth."
"Oh, how unfortunate. Please feel free to stay here as long as you need to. My town is at your service." The mayor says reassuringly. "Are you traveling alone on this long journey?"
Ali: "No. I'm accompanied by the very knuckle-heads who knocked down my catwalk. But, when we got here they all scattered."
Mayor: "Then please allow my constable to be at your guard."
Ali: "That won't be necessary, but thank you. As soon as I gather these weirdoes up we'll be on our way."
"Very well," said the mayor. As he was about to turn to leave, he said, "By the way, I hear King Midus hasn't yet named a successor. Since he doesn't have a child of his own, and being that he is now in poor health, it may be time to do so. Tell me, if one were interested, how would they go about... ya know... declaring their candidacy?
Ali, now growing pissed at the impudence of this fucker, says "The mountain king doesn't plan to die any time soon. He will name a successor at a time of his choosing. At that time, he will lay out the terms, if any, of candidacy." She leans closer to the mayor and says in a softer voice. "I will say this, though. Those who wish for his premature death may find theirs before his."
Now scared for his life, the mayor says to Ali, "Oh, ok. Well then I wish you a safe journey." Then turns and leaves.
Ali makes her way up the street and is met by CHRIS and TRITHAL. CHRIS asks, "Where's Axem? I thought he was with you."
Ali: "He was. But three young girls snagged him a while ago."
CHRIS and TRITHAL shake their head simultaneously, then explain to Ali how AXEM seems to have at least one 'long-lost girlfriend' in almost every town. Ali snorts in disgust. TRITHAL then says "Let's go to the grocer's shop and get some food and supplies for the road." CHRIS and Ali agree and walk across the square to the grocer's.
On the way back they spot a weapons shop and the three go in to browse. TRITHAL spots an array of large cutlery that could be used as weapons in close combat. Ali looks through the selection of western swords like the ones she's trained with at the castle. CHRIS wanders around for a minute scratching his ass, and staring at the various weapons... almost all of which he obviously doesn't know a thing about. A minute later TRITHAL approaches him with a strange-looking wooden stick.
CHRIS: "What's that?"
TRITHAL: "It's a 'Wizard's Staff I'. I want you to buy it."
CHRIS: "Why?"
TRITHAL: "With Thrax gone we need someone else who can pull their weight in battle. If you equip this, your SP will increase by a factor of 20, you will be able to heal your party members, and when you level up some more you'll be able to summon demons of the elements."
CHRIS: "Well, why should I have to? You have Ali now. She can fight ok."
TRITHAL: "I'm tired of you just being a liability. Either buy this and equip it, or go home."
After he thought about it, and realized that it would be quite a long journey by himself if he were to go back home, he decides to purchase the Wizard's Staff. He ends up having to trade the autographed picture of William Shatner he had just bought for it, since he doesn't have enough money. Ali purchases a well-balanced right-handed dueling sword, and TRITHAL purchases a whet stone and what appears to be a large pizza-cutting knife.
CHRIS asks TRITHAL "What's that pizza knife for?"
TRITHAL: "It's for chopping. It has more density than my katana blade. And, I just spent 125 GP getting my sword repaired and sharpened at the blacksmith's, so I need to protect my investment."
CHRIS: "Well then why not buy just a regular hatchet or something. A pizza knife seems a bit much."
TRITHAL: "Because if you sharpen it correctly and know how to do it properly, you can use a pizza knife to behead more than one person at a time."
CHRIS, now kinda creeped out at TRITHAL's psychopathic tendencies, asks "Where did you learn all these gruesome fighting techniques?"
TRITHAL: "Oh, here and there..."
Ali glances a suspicious look in TRITHAL's direction.
The party leaves the weapon's shop with their items. Ali now has 3/3 SP since she equipped her new weapon. CHRIS equips his new Wizard's Staff and his SP increases to 25/25, and his HP increases to 18/18.
TRITHAL: "See, now isn't that better?"
CHRIS gives TRITHAL the finger.
The three go back toward the house where AXEM disappeared with the three girls. TRITHAL shouts at an upstairs window where the sounds of giggling girls and splashing water were emanating from, "AXEM! Get your womanizing ass out here! We're leaving!"
AXEM, shirtless with wet hair, sticks his head out the window and says "Huh? What's going on?"
TRITHAL: "We're wasting time here. Let's get moving!"
Not wanting to be a flake like TRHAX, AXEM dries off and gets dressed in record time and makes his way out the front door in about 10 seconds. The girls, nude and wet, shout from the window, "You'd better come back soon!" AXEM blows a kiss toward the girls as the party turns and heads down the street, stopping by the records shop to save their place before leaving the Village of Tsuitachi behind them. It's about mid-day now.
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