A fresh start

[Breila]

"Now that's interesting" Kim tells Amon. The sheet with the x and - gets just a glance, but the map is pulled close. "Do you have an idea what the x on the map might mean? Where it is? This map certainly is something the council should see."

[Jenara]

Brax stands by the bar, ordering another drink and watching the amusing exchange between Amon and the others.. Faced death? He didn't know the meaning of the word, she had emerged from the underdark barely clinging to life.. But that was another time, the physical scars had healed at least.

Slowly she heads back to the table, another glass of red wine in her hand.

"What are we discussing?" she asks quietly.

[The_Muffin_Man]

Searos simply gawps at Amon a little bit. "You didn't face death... for the record, when the town and your daddy show up to rescue you, you have not faced death. At best, death was waving merrily at you from across a wide river while you were naval gazing. Man, at least I had a job interview while you were lying on the ground. Gods, I think I came closer to death with whatever Patches here is trying to sell. That reminds me... who in the hells are you?"

[Breila]

"Still, it may have been the closest encounter with death yet in is life, and of course he feels changed." Kim remarks quietly to Searos, before turning to Brax. "Look here, Amon found a map in one of the books in Sanbalet's study."

[Jenara]

(If only you knew what he was selling.. I'll have to find the link later, lol.)

[Robbo]

Gunter had spent most of the night at Searos' side, drinking and carousing, trying to forget just how close had had come to not making it back out. For some strange reason, the unfinished fight against the gnoll irked him...he'd been bested and didn't intend to let it happen again. What would his father have said?

The morning had been rough on him to say the least. The smells of food wafting up to his room only seemed to make his condition worse. After an hour poised over the chamberpot, he felt well enough to join his companions downstairs.

Stumbling down the steps, still sore from his many wounds suffered the previous day, he wills himself across the floor and loudly plants himself in a chair at their table.

He nods, belches loudly, and regards the new fellow at the table.

"And who's this then?"

[JadedDM]

Amon seems to shrink into himself a bit. If he had not used his master's ring to summon help, they might all be dead now. He had thought they would be, if not grateful, at least a bit more respectful toward him now. But it seems the opposite is true. Those that were not ridiculing him were just patronizing him instead.

Over the years, he had grown accustomed to the constant abuse from Echo, or so he told himself. Not even he realized just how much of it he had internalized. A stronger, wiser man may have realized what a toxic influence Echo had been on him. He may have understood that she lashed out like that out of jealousy. But such thoughts never occurred to Amon. He had spent his whole life being compared to others, and told how inferior he was. His father always pointed out to Amon how much more successful his older brother, Fergus, was. His master constantly called him stupid, especially in comparison to Echo, largely because of his choice to study Abjuration a 'useless' school.

Amon had struggled for many years to find his own identity and prove himself. He wanted to show that while he might not be like his father, his brother, his master or Echo, he could still be successful. Perhaps that was why, despite all of the danger, he agreed to delve into the mansion. And he had succeeded! He had saved the lives of the whole group, and helped expose a smuggling scam going on right under the town's nose.

And yet...not only had this failed to change the opinions of those around him, their negativity had seemed to spread to these strangers, people he had fought alongside with and knew nothing of his past or reputation, instead.

How is it that people who knew nothing about him could reach the same conclusion as those who had known him for years? Obviously, as far as Amon was concerned, there was only one answer. Everyone had been right about him all along. He was a failure. He was always a failure, and would always be a failure. And his attempt to change this had been nothing more than a feeble fist-shaking at a fate that he never had any control over to begin with.

Just like that, the haphazard tower of false confidence he had built up for himself came tumbling down, like a child's sand castle kicked over by a large bully, next to the ruins of his real confidence that had laid so long as to gather moss and be all but forgotten.

Amon didn't stop and realize that if he was so 'stupid' that he wouldn't have been able to master magic in the first place. He didn't understand that the reason his master was so hard on him was because it infuriated the wizard that Amon was actually much more talented and skilled than the technically more intelligent Echo--which Daos took personally (after all, his own daughter should be a much better mage than some human fop). He didn't see how foolish it was to classify 'success' the same way his father did. Fergus was running the family business--of fishing. Amon, however, could bend the very laws of physics to protect other people.

Alas, Amon did not consider any of this.

All good cheer drained from his body, Amon barely even noticed Gunther's arrival. He looked blankly at the map Kim indicated and simply shrugged, not knowing what the 'x' might reference or the significance of it.

[HorizonsDream]

All merriment that Echo had at Amon's expensive seems to fade. She was waiting for him to give her a comeback, but he didn't do it. Now that she was back home, she was falling back on more comfortable situations such as picking on Amon. Insulting him was something that she did on a regular basis in front of people that actually knew them. Though, complete strangers were taking her lead on picking on Amon now, and she couldn't help but wonder if they had any right to do so? They didn't know her, and they certainly didn't know Amon like she did. She knew that look upon his face, and while she started with the insults she knew that she wasn't the complete cause of it.

"It is doubtful that any of you have really faced death," Echo finally says casually. "At least, none of you did yesterday except, maybe, the burly warrior there," she says, motioning to Gunter. "Amon might not be some big damned hero, but all of you owe him a little more gratitude than what you're showing him. Of course, most of you are complete imbeciles so it really isn't a surprise that most of you are a bunch of ungrateful wretches too."

[Robbo]

Wondering what the hell he just walked into, Gunter rubs his temples and sighs. He didn't like to admit it, but without the skinny wizard's help they would all still be tied up in some cave somewhere, or worse.

"Aye, he may not be the most fearsome lad, but what he lacks in muscle he makes up for in brains. We owe the fact that we're sitting here right now to you, mage."

With that, he retreats back into a mug of badly needed water and continues to wonder who this newcomer is, and when this damned headache was planning on subsiding. This would be the last time he stayed up all night with the silver-tongued thief, although it did please him to see that Searos didn't appear to be in much better shape.

[Stik]

"All things worth having must be had in excess, if one wants to lead an interesting life. But I perceive that the neoteric adventurer here is recommending an excess of moderation. Which is a puzzle most interesting. I must think on 't.
Martin turns to Searos and Gunter: "But meanwhile, you may call me Drake, and I assure you that what I am offering will not kill you. Well, it hasn't killed anyone yet. I mean not since I obtained it, anyway, although the source of this mana was a fearsome beast. Sort of fearsome, anyway. Or it would have been, if you saw it. Or rather if you didn't see it, which we didn't, which made it considerably more dangerous.
"I, too, am an adventurer. And an entertainer. And a purveyor of a variety of needful things large and small. And a swashbuckler of no small skill, should you need bucklers swashed."

[The_Muffin_Man]

Searos seems to have forgotten Amon and Echo as he listens to Drake for a few moments. He takes another bite of whatever he's eating, chewing on it deliberately as if he's digesting the barrage of words directed at him. After swallowing, he points his spoon/fork/spork at Drake and pronounces "Nope. I like Patches."

He then turns back to the table. "So whats with the map?"

[JadedDM]

Naturally, Amon had no comebacks for Echo. He never did. It just wasn't his way. Despite all of their years knowing each other, she never did pick up on that.

He looked at her with surprise as she then tried to defend him. It rang of insincerity in his ears, though, for she was the one who started the assault in the first place. Perhaps she thought him so pathetic, she was now pitying him.

He brushed those thoughts away for now. At least Gunter sounded sincere. He nodded his thanks to the ranger, but said nothing. It was Searos who, whether intentional or not, provided the change of subject he was seeking. "I found it," he explains to the thief. "In an almanac I found in the mansion. It's pretty vague, but I suspect the 'SM' is supposed to stand for Saltmarsh."

He was still waiting for the colorfully dressed waiter to get to his order. Wait, what did he just say now? Amon wasn't really paying attention, but it sounded like he said he was an adventurer. So he's not the waiter? Why was he here, then? He glanced over to Geraldine. Well, if he tried to cause trouble, it would be an easy matter to have him arrested. He hoped the vagrant left before the Council arrived.

[HorizonsDream]

Echo finally takes a look at the colorful man in the room. "You look more like a fool than an adventuring, entertaining, swashbuckler," she says, then smirks. "You fit right in with the rest of these miscreants. I'm not sure I can handle another fool, so...go away."

[The_Muffin_Man]

Searos glances at the map. "Looks like the next stop in the smuggling operation. Whatever they were smuggling."

[Robbo]

Gunter looks at the map absentmindedly, his head hurt too much to focus. On the other hand, Echo's war of words with the odd peddler could prove to be very entertaining indeed.

He let's out a soft whistle and looks over at the man awaiting his response