The Break Inn

Renrek fluttered through the air, yes I said fluttered, recently Renrek had tried his hand at shapeshifting. Normally to do so would involve him just moving to a different dimension and letting it happen naturally, this time however he wanted to force it. This forced shapeshift took the form of a small butterfly, while cute and innocent turns out being such a creature was terribly hard. "Son of a Gornrad I'm never doing this again." He said, if anyone were nearby it would have sounded like faint squeaking. "Oh jeez oh god I'm gonna pass out. I need a drink" he added. Finally to his unplanned torment, there was some avail, the inn. "Oh thank you, beer alright woah woah WOAH!" His sighs of relief turned into fear as a strong gust of wind threw his tiny body around in the air uncontrollably. As the butterfly was sent spiraling out of control it came to a sudden stop.

Panting for breath as he was no longer being thrown around like a child's plaything he recollected himself. "Alright that's it I'm never picking a butterfly again. From now on the smallest I'll go is a hummingbird." He yelled at himself as he readjusted to his surroundings. "Alright time to be me again… wait… uh oh…" Renrek tried to reach for his wand only to find out that his arms were stuck, as well as his legs and body. "What the hell am I stuck on?" He asked aloud as he looked around, sadly he had gotten his answer. He was stuck on a particularly large spider web, large enough to be huge even if he were human. And luckily his greatness managed to land on a strand, this information was of course followed by tiny screaming.

The sound of loud bickering echoed off the basement walls of the 'lucky drop', a front speakeasy running out of the red light district of sector 9, the occasional puff of smoke from expensive cigars drifting were the only backdrop to the heated conversation. "I swear Joe, if you keep telling us 'wait for the boss', I'll fucking kick your teeth in!" a heavy-set orc threatened a nervous looking elf clutching a weird-looking cube device that had ominously glowing veins wrapped around it "I beseech you to wait for our patron a little while longer, this matter needs to be dealt with the utmo-" Joe was cutoff as the orc grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and lifted him up, preparing a punch as he did "I'm tired of your big words tree hugger". However, before the punch could be thrown, a polite cough resounded from the secret entrance to the basement.

"Ahem. Am I interrupting something?" Case said with a lackadaisical attitude as he slowly walked down the winding staircase to the rest of his crew, the loud thud of his cane hitting the oak floors was punctuated by the newfound silence that permeated the room. The orc quickly dropped Joe and pointedly looked at anything except Case who was walking towards them "Na, we were just roughhousing is all. You know how it gets boss." Joe indignantly picked himself off the floor and pointed at the orc "that brute almost assaulted me, I'm raising the price to 300 gold coins!".

Case merely brushed his two-piece stripe suit and sighed, taking an imported sector 1 cigar out of an inner pocket in his suit. 

The elf wondered why the men behind him were beginning to look nervous.

"light this for me will ya?" Case held out a zippo lighter to the elf with a bored expression as he deftly put the cigar between his teeth. Joe, sensing something off, refused "I'm not lighting anything! You know what? Forget about the item,  I'm raising the price to 400 gold coins just so I don't tell the enforcers where to find your hideou-". The next words out of Joe were swallowed by the sound of a gunshot. Joe looked down towards the cane aimed at his heart and was puzzled by the trail of smoke leaking out of the bottom. Many questions came to his mind, how did he get a cane to work as a gun? Why did he shoot at him? but the most urgent question would be, what is that bright light in the distance?

Case idly lit his cigar and tsked at the blood staining his suit and picked up the glowing box, stepping over the now corpse and gesturing at the rest of his crew. "So, did anyone find out what this thing does?". The men all turned towards the orc, Case's right hand man, and waited for him to break the bad news that they had no clue. The orc mumbled under his breath "You worthless sacks of shit" as he went to stand beside the boss. However, before he could open his mouth, the glowing box started to float in midair and start to make a high-pitched humming noise.

"That isn't supposed to happen I take it?" Case asked calmly as the weird cube started to make both the men and random objects in the room start to levitate too. He just flicked open the zippo lighter and took a long drag from his cigar as the box seemed to reach it's peak, now spinning wildly and flashing rays of rainbow colored lasers everywhere. "Welp, I had nothing planned today."  

BOOM

When the strobe lights finally cleared from his vision he could see that he was still alive, an arguable positive, but he was clearly not in the same place he was a moment ago, a clear negative. He brushed some imaginary dirt off his lapel and looked around, occasionaly puffing out rings of smoke from his cigar, which was surprisingly still lit. He could see many interesting things around him, namely the giant space ship dropping off what appeared to be a snake women and a small butterfly trapped in a comically giant web. However, what caught his eye was the bar directly in front of him. Something about the place spoke to him, and it's clear he had nothing to gain just standing here, so he went inside. Who knows, maybe the bartender won't call the enforcers the first chance they get. He could use a drink before figuring out a way back home.

The noise of Zha shouting would get a loud chirp from Uppuy in response, who had up to that point been trying to polish his mask and clean it while at a table, facing a corner of the inn opposite of the bar. Zha was one of the few visitors he had managed to be annoyed by enough for a negative vocal response. Though never in English, either due to his vocal cords making it hard to, or reverence to the place he's mistaken for an afterlife.

Either way, he continued to clean his mask before putting on and securing it once more, three out of seven eyes focused on Zha as he looked for a hallway, unsure of where he thought his room was, eventually giving up after a quick glance around the room though. Uppuy would then chitter a bit while approaching the bar, he usually ordered water or such, only going for something a bit more intense on the anniversary of his arrival. How he kept track of time mostly was asking the keeper via a written note every few weeks.

As the single strand flew through the air, it was followed by tiny screaming until it landed on the ground below. Renrek tried to get his bearings straight as he surveyed the area, garbage, lots of garbage and trash panda's. The creature's slowly approached the single strand of silk and looked at the insect with caution and hunger. Renrek tried even harder to reach for his wand in fear, to be eaten would be extremely problematic and incompetent right now. He could feel the animal's breath as it got closer. "Crap! Crap! Crap!" The little butterfly yelled as it tried ever harder. Finally as the trash panda approached and reached out to grab the easy meal, a miracle happened, Renrek finally grabbed hold of his wand.

With a hand gesture and a word he morphed back into his human form. Unfortunately for one of the trash panda's it happened with such force that Renrek essentially punted the poor creature away like a child's ball. Renrek tried to recollect his breath after another near death experience he put himself into, "Oh god. Never again." He said as he began to crawl out of the refuse. He climbed up and out and wiped off his robes, he turned back to the large spider and nodded, "thank you for not eating me" he said as he walked into the inn.

He looked around and found himself a seat at the bar, he looked around for familiar faces and there were. they were just ones that didn't like him. There was the metal thing, tall, intimidating, and ignorant of his situation. And the snake woman, the same snake woman that Renrek avoided at all time for fear of being executed for some interplanetary law he had probably broken in the past. Renrek simply hailed the bartender and asked for a water.

"Water for you? Three coins." The bartender stated.

"Three coins for water!?! That's ridiculous." Renrek exclaimed back in disgust.

"It's because I know what you'll do to it. Three coins." The bartender finished as they put their hand on the table.

Reluctantly Renrek handed the bartender three coins and received his water. He circled the rim and tapped the glass and the clear water turned into an amber brown, honey beer his favorite. He sat back and drank to forget this awful start to the day.

Case took a long drag from his cigar as he opened the doors of the 'break inn', an unfortunate name, and was welcomed with several odd sights. The snake lady was certainly the most obvious distraction in this establishment; her incessant yelling for a refill drawing many eyes aside from his own. Normally, he would make it a priority to stay far away from such a nuisance. However, considering the fact that she had casually flown in on a spaceship, he would hazard a guess that he was no longer on Trema anymore. Consequently, it seems like he would need to have a conversation with the boisterous lady so he could request a ride home. Whether that be facilitated through kindness, threats, or violence has yet to be decided.

His cane hit the floor as he walked with a measured gate towards the bar proper, putting out his cigar in a nearby ashtray before asking "Excuse me barkeep, Could ya fix me an old-fashioned? an extra shot of whiskey would be much appreciated." He placed 5 gold coins on the table with confidence and patiently waited for his drink. In the meantime, he examined the other oddities in the bar.

There appeared to be a disheveled warlock who turned his water into wine sitting near him. "Well, that settles it." he mumbled underneath his breath, he was no longer on Trema. The Alchemy Association has been chasing after a transmutation process that could change matter on an atomic level for centuries. To see such magic practiced openly and without commotion could only mean that this was a common occurrence. There's no way the AA would let such magic be performed in a common bar; they would keep it hidden as best they could. That's just another piece of evidence on the large pile pointing to him being stranded on another planet.

"Good thing I had nothing planed for today anyway." he stated aloud as he leaned on his cane, subtly glancing at the last strange one. It appeared to have 7 eyes and wore a metal mask; the thing looked like something from a horror movie. It also spoke in chirps, making it a dull prospect for conversation, and thus lost his interest immediately.

Case coughed and covered his mouth to hide a grimace. He could already hear Brute chewing him out for judging someone based on appearance, the damned orc. Maybe he could bare to be a saint and not write the horror extra off as being unworthy of respect. After all, a majority of 'Whisper' were made up of non-humans and if he could make nice with Brute's ugly mug then he could be nice with anyone. Still, time for forced friendships can be saved for later, his foremost priority is to collect intel.

He grabbed his old-fashioned and started to chat with the bartender; he would know a thing or two about where exactly he was. "Mind if I catch your ear for a moment fine sir, I got a few questions I'm sure a respectable gentlemen such as yourself will know the answers to."

It wasn’t long before two more drinks were delivered to Zha’s table. Since her very first meeting with the Keeper, as she calls him, she had made it abundantly clear she was never to be kept waiting; basically she threatened to level the establishment into dust along with everyone in it. Zha was actually impressed that the Keeper had accepted her terms without fear or question, earning her respect and her generous patronage.

As to the rest of the Inns customers, visitors and the like, Zha’s presence often felt…..abrasive, to put it mildly. Setarians we’re never easy to deal with, but the pros often outweigh the cons for those who could.

With one drink down and the second in hand, Zha continues to survey the room unimpressed. Well, there was the Istosi female, at least she assumed it was, whom she recalled from a previous visit. To think such a creature held a shred of actual intelligence was fascinating. Beyond that, the selection seemed dull, unless someone proved her wrong.

“You there! Istossssi!” I’m sure it has a name, what was it again? Oh yes, “Chela isn’t it?” Hard to believe it has a name. “ Caught anything interesssting lately?”

Small talk was a sign that the Keeper’s cocktail concoction was finally kicking in, making Zha seem a little more……agreeable, in her own way.

Ah, so she had been noticed. Chela was not disappointed, as she was not attempting to be stealthy, yet she had noticed that many sentient creatures seemed to ignore large parts of their environments. It probably meant it had been too long since they had been eaten, if they were being so inattentive. It mattered little. She tapped a right foreleg twice in greeting, then clicked her pedipalps and moved her legs through a ripple of motion, allowing the translator implant to respond in a vocalized standard: <Few interesting meals. I captured a small winged one, but I set it free and it became a large unwinged one. If I catch it again I may eat it. -amusement->

Another creature gave her a wave and a series of chirps, but it seemed to be in one of the languages her implant didn't handle. Why he didn't get his own implant that translated to Galactic common, she did not know - perhaps it was one of those religious things. The Istossi were not a particularly religious people. There was little point in gods if they couldn't be eaten.

<How go your trials?>