World of Warcraft®

Verelleste shook her head as she watched the gnome trot ahead, shifting the overly large bundle of flyers back under her arm. Comfortably perched on her shoulder was a light green turtle, dutifully keeping hold of the stapler in it‘s mouth.
"Slow down, Cup," she said, chuckling. "The board isn't going anywhere."
The little warrior almost tripped over her own feet in excitement as she spun to huff at the night elf.
"What? Oh. I know that! But I wanna good spot!" Cup replied. "C'mon already!" She may have tried to flail her arms, but looked surprised to find them full of even more supplies.

The little troop made it to the notice board and proceeded to eye it up and down, sizing things up as only two warriors and a mechanically gifted turtle can. Verelleste “accidentally” brushing a few notices for lawn care and a pet walking flyer from the middle of the board.
Cup observed the designated spot with a frown. "You can't possibly put it THERE!" she squeaked, and pointed to the very top of the board, which wasn‘t plagued by as many flyers. "We gotta put it at the very top!”
Verelleste’s sigh and rolled eyes lead Cup to huff, cheeks puffing out before she kicked the night elf in the shin. “It's IMPORTANT!"

"That’s too high, Cup.” Verelleste hopped, rubbing at her shin. “No one will even see it ther-"
"Yeah-huh!“ the gnome interpreted, getting louder. “We'll *all* see it!"
"We?"
"Gnomes!” Cup gushed, taking the flyers falling out of Verelleste’s grip. “We always hafta look WAAAAAY up anyways. So we'll see it!"
"You are aware we‘re hoping to hire more than gnomes yes? "
Now it was Cup's turn to roll her eyes. "Vere. Who talks more than a gnome? Duh! It'll spread faster than butter onna biscuit!"

Verelleste went to argue the point, but thought better of it and shrugged. "Fine. Hand me one; I'll tack it u-"

"Iwannadoit!" Cup bounced.
"You can't even reac-"
"But....butbutbut-" Cup looked at the staple gun with longing. "Pick me up!"
"Just hand me the flyer so we can move on!"
"Noooooo! PLEEEEEEASE?!?!?!"

Verelleste heaved a sigh, head lolling back, arms outstretched as if to ask, "Why me?" But it really was no use arguing with a gnome in the middle of gadget frenzy.
"Oh very well..." She set Mitch safely onto her head, and hoisted the gnome up to the top of the board. She could hear Cup trying to talk the turtle into giving up the stapler. By Elune, she was heavier than she looked....
Cup laughed as the liberated stapler chunk-snicked and affixed the flyer to the board.
"Cool!"
*Chunk-Snick!”
“Okay, goo-”
*Chunk-Snick!”
“-d job. Let’s move to dwar-”
*Chunk-Snick!”
“-ven.. You’re not eve-”
*Chunk-Snick!”
“-n listening are you?”
*Chunk-Snick!”

[[ The flyers read thusly: ]]

Hear Ye, Hear Ye, All and Sundry!

The Feathers of Iron organization is thrilled to announce the First Ever:

***Official Feathers of Iron Expo!***

RUT'THERAN VILLAGE
SATURDAY, JUNE 9TH
(SERVER) 6:00pm

-PRIZES!
-FOOD!
-FORTUNETELLING!
-LEGAL COUNSEL!
-COMBAT COACHING!
-AND MORE

We'll showcase some of the finest arts and crafts on all of Azeroth!

"What's the Price?", you may ask? Why, it's absolutely, positively free of charge!

As one of the Most Successful and Enterprising Companies ever to grace the face of Azeroth, we're sharing our Good Fortune with You! So join us for Free, Fantastic Fun, courtesy of your Friends in the FEATHERS OF IRON!

Gentyl rode by the notice board and looked it over for anything of interest. Food, combat training and legal counsel? She was so there.

Jalou peered into her crystal ball, watching as the colorful fog within twisted and turned about. She gave a nod of satisfaction to the skull that sat beside it, staring in as well.

“Looking good, isn’t it? Oh, what’s that? You can’t see it? Are the new eyes not good enough for you, you demanding bastard?” She tittered cruelly, and drew from one of the eye sockets a vial of blood. “How rude of you, for all the aid I’m trying to lend, you still leave me the silent treatment? Oh, wait, you can’t speak either!”

She chuckled to herself, unstopping the vial by yanking from it the cork. “You’ll be talking soon enough though, hm?” She poured the blood over the head of the skull. “Don’t bother answering, even if you could. I already know that you’ll obey my will well and good, just like any worthless corpse I’ll command to do so. Now, speak, puppet.”

In contrast to (or rather, in compliance with) Jalou’s orders, the skull made a fizzing sound, and red smoke began to rise from within. She grinned, waving a hand over the bloodied skull, through the red smoke that now intertwined with the thin stream originating from the burning black candle nearby. “Elaborate on what tidings the crystal ball brings, now.”

A figure of a pair of eyes, angry and glaring, began to form in the smoke. “Hello spirit.” Chimed Jalou with joy, “What have you for me?”

The spirit simply stared, its eyes boring into her mind as she watched it. With each thought coming and going to her mind, the spirit’s figure was rippled and distorted in flashes, seemingly teeming with mysterious energy, too powerful to sit fully still.

The woman and spirit locked eyes, none blinking, in a visual and mental battle to see who would be first to falter and fall. Thoughts raced through the mind of the summoner, each melting a grain away from her concentration as if it were crystallized sugar in a pot of boiling water. Her mind was failing her quickly, falling away from focus, leaving her in a state unfavorable, lost in confusion.

In surrender, she drew back her hands, leaving the spirit to vanish and drop back downward, reforming a splatter of blood atop the skull. “Blast.”

Jalou brought her hand to her face, leaning into it as her elbow rested on the table. Memories continued to come to her, dominantly, recollection of her séance with Eloise DuFrense just days earlier. “‘Wow, that was all improvised? I can’t wait to see your final draft of this! ‘, or something, she’d said…” Jalou mumbled to herself, “Next now, though?”

She looked up to the crystal ball, skull, remnants of the “spirit”, and the candle. “I do have the props now; that’s something. Ball, blood, bones, candles, cards, and more smoke…” She whispered a spell under her breath, and pinched out the flame of the candle. “Steps, though. Steps and shows are what I need.”

The red smoke was quickly starting to die, dissipating into the air, and ceasing to be produced from within the skull. Jalou lifted herself from the chair and tossed herself onto her bed.

“Come one, come all, to the wicked show of Jalou the Witchdoctor! Be anxious of her mastery of dark magic, be astounded by omniscience! ” She mused aloud, laughing to herself, “I’ve got the marketing down, if nothing more. Though, marketing is but an invitation, an ushering to the feasting table; and this I’m not. I am the table.”

She laughed at the stupidity of the analogy, letting out a sigh to calm herself. “I’ve got time before the expo, I’ll figure it out.”

Looking over a pilfered notice brought back by an old friend, Kyalin regarded the news with little more than a raised eyebrow. "Guess it'll be better than watching the bridges..."

((Kya may not be all that excited about mobs of outlanders coming to Rut'theran, but I am! :) ))

*Totally didn't sneak out with the stapler and a stack of flyers in the middle of the night. Also, did not return it covered in fingerprints of orange marmalade.*

She touched her carpet down on the landing strip above the tavern with a soft patter. The magical life pulling away and dropping off completely as she rolled up the carpet and tied it to the bottom of her sack. There were excited greeting and the clanking, clashing, clunk of pots and pans below as guests were being taken care of in the restaurant and Dolingen smiled at the thought of the conflicting personalities of Cup and Mariiku trying to manage all the customers while she hefted her big sack up the stairs to her room. At the end of the hall stapled to the top of her door, quite nearly in the door frame, was a notice for the upcoming expo. Reaching a gloved hand up, she jerked the paper off its staple and read it, wondering just what she might be able to do to help out at this event.

Again the clanking, clashing, clunk of pots below roused her from her thinking reverie and she plopped the key in and twisted it opened in a matching sound to the clattering reverberating through the building.

'It's amazing this place hasn't fallen into the water with the abuse that gnome puts it through. And the bar fights.' She thought to herself as she dropped her bag onto her bed next to the freshly cleaned robes and purple throw Eloise had laundered.

What could she do though to help out with the expo? What services could she provide that some people may want to indulge in? Dolingen preferred her peace and quiet. She could offer her services in finding information for people. She was honestly surprised Cup hadn't asked her to get the recipe for a cheating no-good Orc's worg haunch barbeque that had won the last two horde barbeque cookoffs. Dolingen licked her lips as she remembered the savory salty taste of the rib tips the goblin had prepared with his super secret make you scream like a Kaja Cola firestorm rub from the last competition. Yes, she could offer her services.

That's when the stacks of cloth on the windowsill caught her eye. It towered in such a way that it blocked the view of the incoming gryphons and bats. Maybe she could get Eloise to wash the cloth and just make shirts to provide people instead.

CRASH!

The noise from below pulled her out of her thoughtful trance. 'I better go see what's happening downstairs and try to help out,' she thought as she picked up a stack of letters she needed to post containing details from her previous excursions. Maybe she'd do both. Make shirts and offer to find things for people. That barbeque was on her mind now and that wasn't going to go away for a while.

"Batter batter batter...! Where's the eggs?!?! Oh. Right here. But what about the sausages...?! OH NO I DIDN'T- Oh. Here they are. Good. And where's that drum of oil.....No, this is motor oil....HERE IT IS! OHBOYOHBOYOHBOY! CORN DOOOOOOGS!"