It was the morning of Rochtag, 3rd prime post-Planting, and several Freelancers were in the back tavern breaking their fast at the long table. Aranel, Ka, Minji, and Petrichor were out on a mission to Stormhaven; but Kairos, Maghris, and Carmen were thinking they would ask Arnari for gainful employment anyhow. As part of that thought, Carmen had donned his brigandine armour. Arnari had already finished her breakfast and gone upstairs.
Dominic, a human man with greying hair and moustaches, entered from the stables and joined them. As they sat there, eating and chatting, a new person entered the room with a bit of a flourish. He was also a human man, wearing nicely-fit, though worn travelling clothes, and had a black sash bound over one of his eyes, with a stylized eye embroidered in it in silver thread.
Carmen and Dominic each lifted an eyebrow, as they noticed the wear on the stranger's clothes was… in the wrong place?
- Dominic: and, who are you?
Stranger: I am Ricardo Monroe, Adventurer Extraordinaire– you may have heard of me. <paused as if to wait for recognition, then> mind if I join you? I just joined yesterday.
Ricardo was welcomed at the table, and soon the plan solidified: the 5 of them would go upstairs and ask Arnari for a mission. While they were coming to this agreement, a group of well-dressed persons entered, and Valan, who was onduty in the front tavern, escorted these worthies up the stairs.
The Freelancers finished their breakfast, and went upstairs to Arnari's office, which was locked. They swung by Tomtom's office, which was also locked. As they returned down the hall, they realized both leaders were in the large meeting room having a discussion with the visitors Valan had escorted up. <Narrator voice: actually, PG&E cut power to the GM's house with no ETA.>
Shrugging, they returned to the back tavern and got a second round of morning beverages. To put Ricardo at ease, they shared a bit more about themselves.
Kairos, a bald male Holder dwarf, explained he was estranged from his family for going into business by himself. He spoke condescendingly of their condescending attitude about it, but apparently they had a thriving business of their own. His care to avoid mentioning the nature of the business prompted Carmen to ask. Kairos explained they sold ornate arms and armour to those who could afford it; weapon quality was simply okay, but they looked very fancy.
Maghris, a black & white long-haired nekomata, explained he was from a small settlement on Zephyr near Lands on Feet called "Midnight's Hollow". Mostly they raised livestock, he said, which is where he learned to handle animals; but his uncle's stories of adventure stoked his wanderlust. As he spoke, he played an interesting little finger-game with his homunculus, Mr Zircon.
- Carmen: what livestock did you raise?
Maghris <wryly>: yaks, sheep, and pigs
Kairos: did you ever have to shave the yaks?
Maghris: constantly, which also contributed to the desire to wander!
Carmen, a big male firbolg with black hair and freckles, was actually only known to the Freelancers because they'd rescued him and diverse others from pressgangers. He'd had some amnesia from getting clocked on the head and could not remember the airship he'd crewed. So they were surprised when he explained he was from Waypoint Lark, which on the part not servicing airships is a bird sanctuary.
- Carmen: my parents are the only firbolgs in a settlement of Wild elves who take care of the birds. <moved awkwardly in the brigandine> I… have a lot of tattoos on my arms and legs, Wild-elf style.
Kairos <surprised>: what are they of?
Carmen: vines and leaves and abstract. You can see them when I'm not in this armour… they show, but don't stand out when I'm just in clothes.
Dominic had come to Cliffshadow from Ripa Daneo, and all anyone knew about him from there was that he'd been (still was?) a member of the Gnomonic Guild. He slightly reluctantly mentioned that he'd worked as security for House Greyaere for a while, which was the house on Commerce responsible for the Freelancer's badges. Ricardo pulled his badge out, and looked at it anew.
Then it was Ricardo's turn. Without hesitation, he said, "I, Ricardo Monroe, Adventurer Extraordinaire, was hoping to have my debut adventure as a Freelancer today. Alas, it seems it was not meant to be. But I have had plenty of prior adventures! I'd be happy to dive into the tale of the monstrous Ardnak I defeated single-handedly by outwitting it in its own lair!
"Now, the most important thing about Ardnaks is what makes them so monstrous. Namely, that they eat people, and when they do, they take on the appearance of the last person they ate. This understandably makes them tricky to track down. I, Ricardo Monroe, Adventurer Extraordinaire, am quite observant and when the people of the town of Radience asked me to investigate I knew I was up to the task."
Ricardo paused dramatically, but the other Freelancers did not seem interested in prodding him to go on. After all, they already knew the outcome: here he was, having survived to tell the tale.
Of course Ricardo was right, and it was not meant to be. The morning was ended before Arnari's meeting, and Valan escorted the visitors back out to the front tavern. By then the Freelancers had given up on getting a mission, and Carmen changed back into clothes and was showing off his tattoos.
- Ricardo → lvl 1 bard!