"Welcome! It's 10gil per person per night! Care to stay?" L'Oreille nodded with a casual smile. It was late, getting dark outside, and she had been travelling all day so she was tired and very ready to call it a night. She took out a few coins and tossed them at the Inn Keeper. "Have a pleasant night!" He said as everything briefly went black. L'Oreille often wondered if it was the whole world that faded to black every time someone stayed at an Inn, or if it was just inside the Inn. In any case, all she knew was that as soon as the four second musical exerpt seized to resonate in her head, she opened her eyes to a bright and sunny morning feeling refreshed. "Hope you had a nice stay! Come again!" The Inn keeper said as L'Oreille left. she felt ready to take on the day now.

L'Oreille travelled from town to town as a travelling minstrel, a one-woman band. She played music on the side of pathways, she entertained children with song and dance, she sold four second music excerpts to Inn's to use as their transition from night to morning music. She lived and breathed the arts and made it her life. The main factor in that decision was the fact that it was a very simple and easy ambition. She was carefree and the arts suited her lifestyle perfectly. It allowed her to be completely lazy and not tied down to a job. Despite her odd dresscode, she usually found herself getting a few whistles while walking through towns. She never really understood why, although she was addly pretty in her own way and walked boastfully and ocnfidently, she really was humble and oblivious.

"What better way to start the day than a stop at the bar." she said to herself. She strolled into a local pub and made herself comfortable on a stool at the counter. "Poor me a cold one pops." she said and winked at the bartender. The bartender raised an eyebrow at the odd looking girl, but poored her a cold one without question, money was money. L'Oreille noticed a large poster on the wall behind the counter. She squinted and looked closely...

WANTED:
A group of heroes willing to risk their lives to save my dearest Princess, who has been captured by the evil Prince Prad.
I, King Klad, wish to summon the most noble of warriors in my kingdom to venture out on said quest. A pricey prize will be rewarded to the brave warriors who complete the mission and return my daughter safely to me.

But first, you must prove your worth to me. Only the best will be selected to venture out, my daughter needs to be in safe and protecting hands.

So I need a group of less valuable warriors to venture out with 5 fake crystals I will give you to hide in the depths of Klad forest which is said to be dangerous grounds to wander on. If you should return, you'll be rewarded with cash.

Then I will hire a group of warriors to venture out to seek the hidden crystals and return them to me. The warriors who return with the crystals will be my warriors to save my Princess.

At first it was cool not having her around cause I didn't have to worry about babysitting, but I'm starting to miss her :\

"Huh." L'Oreille said to herself. "Sounds like too much work if you ask me. I'd rather make a buck singing a song than sweat and labor in the forest." she said, and sipped on her large mug of beer. The bartender raised an eyebrow at the odd girl again as she was sitting there talking to herself. "Speaking of singing a song!" she said, she stood up. She carried her beer over to the piano sitting in the corner of the room and began to play. It had an old western saloon sound to it. And she began to sing,

"Kings and queens and jesters alike
Sit in the castle loosing out on experience points
Make noble choices, a word that rhymes with alike is bike
And they let the poor hang out in booze-filled joints
Oh what a life, oh what a life."

She continued, providing a nice background music and atmosphere to the bar.

(Loved the part about the screen fading to black and inn music. lol I've always wondered about that too.)

Fade was sitting in the back of a bar, nursing a glass of ice water and thinking about the poster he saw calling for adventurers. It said he'd pay. Whatever, I guess I'll do it if the money's good. He noticed a young woman walk into the bar but paid her no heed, continuing to sulk in the corner. She suddenly broke into song. A terrible song at that. Fade got up and left the bar. "Jeez, she calls that music?" He slowly made his way to the castle.
"Welcome to the castle," one of the guards said when he approached.
"Uh, hi," Fade said. "I'm here about the job from the king."
"Welcome to the castle," the guard repeated.
There was another guard standing nearby so Fade decided to talk to him instead. "I'm hear about the job from the king."
"Just go straight from here, walk up the stairs, go straight, go through the door, go straight, and the king will see you when more adventurers arrive."
"Right..." Fade said and did as he was told.

A shadow entered the doorway to the inn, followed by a green clothed man with a scarf covering his mouth, the rattle of coins in his coin bag indicate he's a strong warrior, his sleeves covered in stains of red.
He walked towards the bar as several men and woman glanced at him, his boots beating against the floor with every intense step.
"Who is this man?"
"Its that ... guy... could it be him? Here?"
"Edd Age, comes from a far away place... tormented by short 4 second flashes of darkness every now and then, at war with the sun, poor sod is insane, I've never heard of any black flashes. Some say he wears green cause he's 'fraid o' being a red mage, most say he's just stupid. I.... I'm with the majority, the guy's an idiot."

Edd slammed his fists on the bar, grabbing the bar keepers attentions.
"Uh... can I help you?" The bar keep asked cautiously.
"Mhmmhm mmhmhhh mmhasf..." Edd pulled the scarf down "My appologies, I'm here about that job you posted."
Edd's red eyes concentrated on the mans forehead, never blinking.
He dug into his coin bag, and pulled out the rattling noise's origin.
The bar keep gasped, momentarily he stared before a tear ran down his face.
Edd's eyes were having difficulty staying open, the deep stare was wearing down.
"Thank you so much, Little Johnny loves his rattly toy!" the barkeep grabbed it and waved it around, clearly in love with the object.

Cheers were released from the many content drinkers.
"Its a kids toy... who would steal that? Why is this such a big deal?" An unimpressed drinker said, sitting on the stool next to Edd.

Edds eyes were reddening.
"Reward! Quickly!" He demanded.
"Why would I reward you for a charitable act? Surely the smile on our faces is reward enough." the barkeep smiled a viciously horrible smile.
Edd sighed without blinking.
"Of course, in this case I would like a drink, perhaps a- huh? Why are all these drinks so poorly named? A fireball brew? Is that to indicate it was brewed in a hellish place? why would anyone drink that?" Edd complained.
"Uh, actually, its named after my dog, in memory of him and his firey energy. Thanks for that... geez what a nut..."
Edd blinked astonishingly.
"I say, what did you just call me?"
"I said... OW! Itchy Butt!"
"You should get that checked out..." The same unimpressed drinker mumbled.

Moments later Edd turned around after taking a bowl of peanuts on the bar.
He pulled his scarf back up and left the bar, taking the rooms intensity with him.
"To the castle!" A yell could be faintly heard from outside, then a crash and then "Ow... my nuts. My salty nuts."

"That guy has a problem, he just took all of the peanuts. " The unimpressed drinker said.
"You should have seen the fire in his eyes... he didn't blink for ages, so intense. Its like he can control the room by not blinking!" the barkeep.
"That guys gonna have the taste of urine in his mouth for a week." The drinker replied.

(Fudge this is random...)

Walking into the inn the troubled knight needed a break. "Darn goblin making a fool out of me. I wish that woman would stop playing that dreaded song.” Alan noticed a large poster saying his beloved princess was kidnapped Alan started thinking "The princess has been kidnapped I can get money and maybe even her hand in marriage" Alan started getting excited and ran to the castle.

"Eeeeeeeeeeek!" screamed Jacques.
"I hate snails!"
"That's it I had it with you little vermin! WE FIGHT TO THE DEATH."

2 minutes later.

"MERCY!! DEAR SNAIL MERCY!"
It wasn't too much of a good day for Jacques, he had nothing to do.. and he had a snail on his back.. and he was crying. Can skeletons cry? Really? Like seriously..

The wind blew a wanted ad, Jacques took a look and thought it was his big chance. He ventured off to this castle, but got lost. So he cried again.

"oh, dear. It appears as if I've been kidnapped. How awful," Elayne muttered under her breath staring at the poster, caught between amusement and irritation. She ran a hand through her hair and continued muttering, "Honestly, I leave for five minutes and Daddy decides I need rescuing. He's such a spaz!" She looked around but to her relief nobody seemed to recognize her.
Clearly, this was not a good situation for her. It had only been a few hours since she had slipped out of the castle, which was hardly diificult; there were only two guards after all, and already there would be people looking for her. Not just any people, but adventurers! Dirty, stinking, drunken, profiteering, horny adventurers! Truly, a lower class of man did not exist.
She recalled with a shudder the story of her great aunt Francine. Francine had been a princess of another kingdom who had been kidnapped by some evil wizard or another. Elayne couldn't recall his name; there were so many evil wizards running around kidnapping princesses as virgin sacrifices or for ransom, or whatever, that it was impossible to remember any one of them. Anyway, she had been rescued by an adventurer whose name had been something like "Slagg Manflesh" or "Rock Hardpec" or something, and her father gave him her hand in marriage, quite against her will, as a reward and made him his heir. The adventurer had been an incompetent lout who drove the kingdom to the ground within days of his coronation. And, Aunt Francine had mentioned, his blade wasn't quite as firm in the bedchamber as it had been when he faced that wizard...
"No! That's not going to happen to me! I won't let it!" Elayne screamed out, shaking her fist at the heavens, causing people to stop and stare. Elayne flushed slightly and stammered out, "I... I... Um... Pardon me... I have to use the little girl's room..."
Elayne pushed her way through the crowded tavern, unpleasant thoughts churning in her mind. Right now, everybody was looking for her in the wrong place, but sooner or later a group of power-leveling, village-robbing degenerates would find their way to Prince Prad's citadel and find... maybe six or seven princesses, but she wouldn't be among them. Then they would start looking closer to home, and she would be found, and she would be dragged into unwilling matrimony with some freak who had muscles almost as thick as his skull. That was, unless the unlikely scenario of her rescuer being a woman came to pass... That was it! She would participate in the contest, and she would win! That way, her father would be forced to acknowledge she wasn't a little girl anymore, and furthermore there was no legal way she could be married to herself! Elayne turned around and started to head for the market square when she slammed into a rather large man.
Elayne staggered back from the impact, tripped over her own feet, and landed on her rear, "Owie..." She whined, rising slightly and rubbing her sore behind, "My most sincere apologies, sir. I'm afraid I'm not so graceful, and..."
The man didn't even blink. Without moving, he intoned, "This is the capital of the land of Klad. Welcome."
Elayne rose to her feet and smiled at the odd fellow, "Well, thank you, but I already knew that. I grew up here, sort of, and..."
"This is the capital of the land of Klad. Welcome."
Elayne's smile faded, "Er... you just said that."
"This is the capital of the land of Klad. Welcome."
"Um, sir? Are you alright?"
"This is the capital of the land of Klad. Welcome."
Elayne raised an eyebrow, "Erm, my apologies, but I'm sort of in a hurry. I think I'd best..."
"This is the capital of the land of Klad. Welcome."
"...Be going. Uh... Farewell!" Elayne took a few nervous steps back, before breaking and running.
As soon as she left, the man continued wandering randomly, a glazed look in his eyes. It wasn't long before he ran into a teenage boy. The boy staggered back a step and shouted, "Hey, old man! Watch where you're goin'!"
The man simply replied, "This is the capital of the land of Klad. Welcome."

"Home sweet home," Elayne murmured under her breath, standing in front of the castle gates, adjusting the pointed straw hat she had bought along with a heavy blue cloak as a sort of disguise. The merchant had been rather astonished that she had paid full price for the garments, and had asked her if she didn't want to do something he called "haggling". Elayne slapped the man for being fresh, paid for her purchase, and left in a huff. The hat's wide brim shrouded most of her face in shadow, so she supposed it would make a decent enough disguise. It wasn't as though the gate guards were particularly sharp anyway.
"Halt!" The guards, shouted, baring the gates with their spears, "State your business!"
"Halt? Me? How dare you! Don't you know who I am! I'm Pri..." Elayne did a double take as she remembered she was supposed to be incognito. She affected a slightly nasal voice, "Pr... Priscilla! Yes, Priscilla! Just a simple country girl who knows some magic and wants to help save the princess, because she's ever so pretty and wonderful and perfect! I do so look up to her!"
The guards looked at each other as shrugged. The one on the left said, "Well, the king did say he wanted to see any and all adventurers. You may pass, but be careful, eh? There's some rough folk in there right now, miss."
Elayne smiled, "Thanks, Karl. You're a real sweetie," she gave the soldier a pat on the shoulder, and strode past the gate into the castle.
A few minutes after she passed, the guard called Karl had a thought. How did that strange girl know his name? He shrugged it off and resumed his duties.

Dom shook his fists and started jumping furiously on the spot, his dirty white robe remaining perfectly still as he did so. Finally he barked to his younger brother Dick,
"Dick! Stop playing games and help me find the castle!"
Dick, seemingly oblivious, continued to skip. To each side of Dick was a child holding opposite ends of a skipping rope. After a few moments, Dick answered Dom,
"But I just need to jump ten more times and they'll give me stuff!" Dick turned to a box above his head, "See!"
Dom looked up and to his immense dismay saw the number 90 turn into the number 91 when Dick jumped. He grunted then slumped down on the ground and waited. Eventually Dick did his hundredth jump and the children stopped spinning the rope.
"Here you go mister!" One of the children shouted excitedly, handing a pouch into Dick's hands.
Dom rushed over immediately,
"What is it!? What is it?!". He hopped about Dick, desperately trying to get his hands on whatever reward they'd received. Slowly Dick opened the bag. His eyes lit up,
"It's 150 Gil!" He exclaimed.
Dom's face grinned then turned to the kids, then back to Dick, "Where the hell did those kids get 150 Gil?! All they do is play jump rope, endlessly, forever? I've never seen them not playing that stupid game!"
"We've only been here an hour."
"And that's all they've done for the whole %$&*ing hour!"
Dom's head turned, he looked utterly puzzled, "What the hell does %$&* mean?"
"I don't know, but all the really cool people say it."
"I think you mean illiterate."
"Shut it! Now find me the damn castle Dick!"
Dick ran off immediately with Dom chasing him behind with his staff. After running down several streets the two brothers collapsed.
"What the hell Dick? This town doesn't make sense. We've been up three hills, ended up in the same place, but we only went back down two of them, not to mention the damn castle can only be seen from OUTSIDE the town. The thing is MASSIVE, why the hell can't we find it?"
"Well, Dom, we could always ask directions, here I'll ask this man here."
Dick innocently stumbled over to a rather large fellow, "Excuse me, do you know which way is to the castle?"
...
"This is the capital of the land of Klad. Welcome."
Dom slapped his face, "I %$&*ing HATE this town."

[OoC Oh jesus, the epic of this topic is %$&*ing EXTRAORDINARY!]

Hero was slowly but surly approaching what seemed to him like destiny, in other words a big castle. But to his dismay he manged to run into highway man. Who was trying to rob him. That poor sap never saw it coming...

"Hey...Hey big guy! It takes 3 gil to enter town, I am the toll collector." The man grinned and licked a knife.

Hero looked dumbfounded at the man, raised his hand to his chin and rubbed it in thought, started pacing, then finally spoke to the man, "I'm not a fish, Hero don't have gills." Proud of his statement, he raised his chin high in the air and started to walk to the end of the forest.

"Wow wow wow wow...I don't think you under stand me big guy, You give me your gil, I don't cut you, don't you understand?" The highway man was slightly annoyed by Hero, and was now pushing the knife against hero's throat.

"Funny little man, I tell you I not a fish, Humans have no Gills" Hero easily brushed aside the little knife with his bare hand.

"Gil! Money! Gold! Cash! Give me your riches before I kill you!" The highway man was now clearly showing his intentions to rob hero, which hero still wouldn't understand.

"Stop calling me a fish!" Hero grabbed the knife that had been used to threaten him, more or less crushed it in his hand, then balled a fist, "Hero used Smash!" after announcing his soon to happen action, he thrust his fist into the mans gut, causing him to be thrown a foot into the air, and land on the ground on his back, out cold.

"I find loot!" Hero kicked the body a few times, and after a few whines the highwayman woke and threw his hard earnings at Hero.

"Now I buy new sword! Shiny stuff is good for trade!" Hero pranced rather happily into the town.

HEKJHFV!!!

A loud abrupt noise resonated through the tavern as L'Oreille smashed both hands down on the piano and stood up. The tavern was getting a little too rowdy for her, too much going on and too much noise. Not only as it irritating and distracting, but it also meant no one would hear her music. What was the point of playing music if no one could hear? She wouldn't get any change or money for it!

"Maybe I'll give it one more try." she said, and sat down. Not two words were out of her mouth before someone handed her a small bag of coins. "Look lady, yer cute'n all, for for the love of god, I'll PAY you to STOP PLAYING."

L'Oreille wasn't too sure what to make of the comment she just got... But she was given money, which was more than enough to make her happy. It was the first bit of money she made in a while... She really could use some extra cash. She glanced back around her shoulder at the poster on the wall behind the counter again to take into consideration whether or not to take it into consideration. "Why not?" she said to herself, and stood up. She walked toward the door, continuing to talk to herself "I mean, if i decide midway through that it's too much work I can just stop and turn back, heh."

L'Oreille ran through the village by holding down B button until she arrived at the castle. "I wonder if anyone else will be here?" she thought, and wandered further in. She walked by one person she recalled seeing briefly at the tavern and took brief note of it. "Well, while I wait for others... I may as well!" She said, and pulled out a lute from behind her and started strumming on it.

"OHHH" she began to sing.

"Waiting in a castle, waiting in the great hall
Looking at the decorations and waiting for the king to call
Walls are made of brick and windows trimmed in wood
The drapery and the carpets match, like all well interior-decored places should
Paper on the table looking like some clutter
Sun shining so bright it could melt some butter
Happy happy day in the castle
Happy happy day"

She continued singing.

Fade looked at the minstrel from the bar with mild annoyance. She began to play again and he couldn't take it. He drew his pistol from his holster at his side and put the barrel to his temple with a grim expression on his face. I hate this entire world but this woman is the last straw. He pulled the trigger, painting the walls and floor with his blood and brain matter.
"Maybe not," he said, rousing himself from his daydream. "Hey," he said louder to L'Oreille. "Cut that out. You're making my ears bleed."

Several musical notes began floating through the air as Edd walked along the path to the castle.
He looked in horror as the notes began to close in on him.
"Someone is playing music! And by the look of these notes, it can't be good!"
He drew his dagger and sliced a twisted, mis-shaped musical note in two.
The note hit the ground and formed into a treasure chest which Edd opened with curiosity.
Inside, another musical note, equally as wrong. Regardless, he put it into his bag for later and escaped from the remaining notes, his speed was high enough after all.
"Well, I did my part, the townsfolk will have to deal with it themselves." He shouted as he ran.

Getting closer to the castle, he came upon two other folk, one with a gun, the other with a lute singing and playing music.
"Good morning fair people! I happened across a note from the king! Didst thou also happen across a note?"
Edd spoke in a false manner.
"I am new to this town and land, my poor village was besieged by a dramatic Sun and its foul plan caused great drama, I am in hopes of settling here!" He rambled on.
This lady, she is the cause of the mischievous musicals!? This man with the gun...an action hero?
Edd Age pondered, just what the heck is going on!?

Dick walked up a seemingly random street, Dom moments behind, "Oh come on Dick!" Dom shouted, "It's a straight road, if the castle was here we'd be able to see it. We may as well just~"
Suddenly the castle came into view and was completely obvious.
"Oh %$&* it!" he yelled.

Dom half skipped up to the others, then burst out excitedly "Never fear! The mages are here!" He posed magnificently, until his older brother walked up behind him and pushed him over, "Where's the money? I'm hungry."

(If only you had been there to save me from the music earlier, Darkblade. )

"Great, more noise," Fade said as he saw Edd walk in followed by two young twins. "Don't tell me, you're here for the 'rescue the princess' job." He sighed and put his palm over his face. Don't tell me I have to team up with all of these losers. I work better alone. Hopefully the king shows up soon. "Just stay out of my way. I can rescue her on my own."

"I'll have you know... I'm here for the job too!" Edd dashingly said.
"I'll tell you what Gunner and Bard, how's about we team up? We can get the job done quicker!"
Edd rolled up his sleeves and pulled his hands close together.
"Also, the two o' yer will be missing a vital component to your group!"
With a small flash, he had a small fireball under his control.
"See? You'll be missing some fire!"
He shot the fireball to the floor and made it dance about, hopping around.
He clenched his fist and the fire extinguished itself.
"Also, I can use a multitudes of weapons and armour including swords, daggers and light and medium armour, my stats are pretty average, I look awesome on the world map, I can hold my own, I'm pretty damn good in battle... You know...?"
He said pretty much trying to sell himself like a TV shopping channel.
"If I had a car, it would be like the Batmobile."

Dom stepped forward, "Shut it red mage! We can do that in our sleep" he shouted unconvincingly, his hat falling on his face. He lifted it back up as Dick stepped forward, "And we only have to pay child prices at the Inn!"
Dom pushed Dick to the side and finished, "Cuter too" he grinned and the two of them posed in an undeniably cute fashion.

(Win.)

"The name's Fade," Fade said when Edd referred to him as "Gunner"," and I work alone. Other people just tie me down. I don't need fireballs. I don't need a twincest doujin waiting to happy. And I most certainly do not need horrible show tunes." After saying that he sat in a corner of the room and sulked.

Alfred strode through the forest, following this very coincidently placed path that only seemed to go from exactly where he woke up this morning to where he wanted to go. He stayed in the town next to the one he was travelling to. And when i say stay, i mean slept in a barn, because we all know they wont let lions into inns, well he hadn't tried anyway. He had seen a poster placed on the wall of the town hall of that neighbouring town, and had decided to go and see what all the fuss was about. Because obviously it was very coincidentally timed so that at that moment he had no job, family, or friends, and all of the people in the town hadn't noticed that there was a lion wandering their small living area.
He wondered to himself what the people at this other town would think of him, and whether or not they would accept him, ignore him, or attack him. He was after all a lion, and not many people usually make friends with lions, as they are usually assumed as being very violent or unreasonable creators, but not Alfred. Alfred was a very friendly lion, although he knew how to protect himself, he was still the typ e of person to make friends before enemies.
Just as he was thinking that, three robbers jumped out from behind a single, very small bush. He was puzzled at what they were all doing behind there at the same time, in the middle of the woods, where no one was, three grown men, in stockings. I think he'd made the point that it was very strange in his mind, but once he had finished pondering such a strange notion, he was confronted with another equally strange and bemusing question, with what should be such an obvious answer. One of the men; the seeming leader roughly asked him, "Oi! Hand us all of your money!"
Now there was two problems with this question, that jumped out straight away to Alfred. First of all was that of how it was possible to make ths transaction threw 'hands' when clearly he was a lion and so did not have hands. The second was, why were these men that had strangely jumped out from the single small bush and who were all wearing very unfitting tights asking a lion for money? Why did they assume that this lion would have money? He was a LION! Something that i hope i have made very clear to you all, but unfortunately was not made clear enough to the bandits. They obviously didn't notice Alfred's lack of hands, large mane, four legs, and all of the other features that comes with being a lion in comparison to a human. But still the man in tights asked again, "Give us all of your money!" There were other strange things to consider in this situation, such as why these people would think that a lion would understand English, why they wouldn't just get torn to pieces by a wild lion, or why they would need money when they were clearly having a very nice time in the bush that they had appeared from.
Anyway, thankfully for the bandits, Alfred DID understand English, and he wasn't a nasty lion that tore people to shreds when going for a stroll in the woods, in fact he was very polite, and so answered simply with,
"i'm so dearly sorry gentlemen, but it seems i do not have the coins in which is desired at the present time." At this point the bandits looked at each other with strange expressions upon their faces. Was this because they just realised they had witnessed a lion talk, whether they had not been ripped apart yet, because the lion was indeed so pleasant, or because they just realised that they had all just jumped out of a very small bush together wearing quite unfitting tights. Fortunately, the reason for this strange look upon their faces was never known for definite. But what is known is that the bandits did just let the lion continue on his journey. Maybe if everyone answered bandits in such a polite manner after they had just jumped out of the same bush wearing awful looking tights, then there would be less fights in the woods, and casualties would be kept to a minimal. But anyway, we continue our journey...

"My name is L'Oreille, pleased you meet you friends
We're going on an adventure we'll hope will never ends
Forgive my broken grammar as I just want to rhyme
I do it in the name of art, I do it all the time"

L'Oreille continued singing, and did a little dance, and curtsied to everyone. She put her lute behind her back where it disappeared, and leaned against the wall with her arms crossed and one leg crossed over the other in a moreorless manly manner. "You all here to make an extra buck too?" She said, and pointed a finger at Fade, snapping her finger as she did. "Hey kiddo, the more work you want to do, the better." she continued, "I like to do my work in the background anyway. Like, totally watch this amigo's." She said, and pulled out her lute again.

The room suddenly shattered in a transitional manner, and they appeared in the same room with intense battle-like music playing with dramatic camera angles. L'Oreille pointed to Edd, and an arrow appeared above his head. She began to play,

"Oh what a day, it's been so long
I tried to order breakfast but the food they gave me was wrong
So I was all like, take this back please and remake my order
And they were like, eat it up bitch or I'll consider your presence loiter"

The music notes from the lute made their way over to Edd, and small "Zzzzzz"'s appeared above his head in a thought bubble. A small triumphant tune played and the room resumed as it normally was, the Z's gone, music gone.

"So I mean, not only do you all get entertained by my killer music playing, but I can like... You know, do stuff with it."

The skeleton had been wandering and saw a lion.
"A kitty kat! You remind me of my only friend.. Mr.Truffles the cat."
"Err.. you wouldn't happen to have money would you?" Tears could be seen in the skeleton's face. (How is dis possible!? D:)

Elayne was nonplussed at the adventurers assembled in the antechamber. Whatever it was she was expecting, this certainly wasn't it. None of these people were even mute, and everybody knew successful adventuring parties were always led by a mute with bad hair. Even if she were kidnapped, there was no chance these screw ups would be able to rescue her. With her batchelorette-hood secure for the moment, she began to relax a little. Here was a chance to meet new people who hadn't been thoroughly screened. When she heard Fade's little tirade about working alone, she could no longer contain herself.
Elayne began to run around the room, giggling and speaking rapidly as she did, "Woooow, mister, you're a jerk! A real live jerk! I've never met a jerk before! This is kind of exciting! Oh, and there's another crazy person over there; what's with that dumb hat, mister! Wow, lady, that music is so awful! Did you just break the world with it a second ago? And aren't you two just so cuuuuuuuuute!" She leaned down to pinch Dick's cheek, and said, "But not a single one of you is husband material, especially not the jerk. Er... I'm just throwing that out there."
"So, um, introductions, right. I'm El... Er, I mean... El Bruja! That's right, I'm the mysterious sorceress known only as El Bruja, and certainly not the princess. Nope, not at all, that'd just be silly. Ah hahaha!" Elayne laughed nervously for a bit before regaining her composure, and cleared her throat, "Forgive me. I am unaccustomed to such company. So we are to hide some crystals in the forest? Sounds like easy money... That is the sort of thing you lowlife adventurer types would say, isn't it?" Elayne looked around nervously, grateful that shadow of her absurd hat concealed her bright crimson face. She was not off to a good start.

(@MM Ouch. lol Even less husband material than 10 year-olds and a female bard. You do know that guarantees that I'll have the most character growth and we'll get married though, right? xD)

After L'Oreille had given them all brain aneurysms with her terrible music, another whackjob burst into the room. This one seemed like a sheltered princess who had never been out of the castle before and was enthralled with everything around her. Fade was sure he was just imagining things, though. The princess had been kidnapped and that's what they were here to help with. She ran right up to his face and called him a jerk. "You trying to pick a fight?" Fade growled with an angry look on his face. But she was across the room bugging someone else before he could finish the whole sentence. She was all over the place and he couldn't stand the sight of her. Energetic women: his one true weakness.

Dick smiled enthusiastically until Dom elbowed him in the ribs, he muttered under his breath, "Just cause your younger". The two strolled off to the side and began talking, "Aren't these people a little bit odd?" Dom asked, "Apart from the red mage they're all completely messed up in the head, and the red mage is a jerk, we're the most normal people here!"
Dick replied quizzically, his finger and thumb pinching his lip, "I don't think magic is very normal..."
"What are ya talking about!" Dom snapped, "Half the people here are mages! All we need now is a talking animal and some undead looney and we'd have a %$&*ing circus!"
Dick looked around, "How do you even pronounce that word?"
"What word?"
"%$&*"
"You just said it."
"Yeah well it's not like I can hear myself... All I can hear is some really bad victory music... Why is that still playing?"

Edd suddenly felt very violated after being hit by a song like that.
He would have hugged himself if he wasn't surrounded by other adventurers.
"Jolly good show, Madame and all that!" He gave an obviously insecure smile.

Seconds later a crazy witch burst from the castle.
She bounced around criticizing each and every one of the group.
She even insulted Edds awesome hat which was just menacing.
After attacking one of the twins by stretching their face while trying to give them false compliments
she calmed down and introduced herself as El Bruja.
Unsurprisingly, it was obvious she had magically erased herself from every magical document in the pixelated lands.
She was clearly in league with the Sun!
To top it off, she tried to hide her evilness with a clearly fake laugh!
Holy crap... No one has said anything about this! I'd better do something...

"Your time will end soon you villain!" Edd burst out.
He paused for a second while his face turned red.
There was so much blood rushing to his face, it was a miracle it didn't drip from every hole in his head.
"I mean... That crime will end soon!" He turned to face the direction of the town "You villains!"
He turned back to the witch, El Bruja.
"Because theres evil. Everywhere. Even in this town you control."
it was best he just play along with her, lest he be the death of all those in the group.
"I'm... Edd, Edd Age, I'm a Re- just a mage... No real... colour alignment...heh."
Good grief! That was close...

[OoC Bump?]

Dick and Dom walked over to the strange mage in a gloating fashion, "Aww, there there Edd, us heroes will take care of the evil and then you won't have to worry about it." Dom said as condescendingly as possible. Dick merely stared curiously, "Are you sure your not a red mage? You don't look like a black mage or a white mage, and there's no such thing as a grey mage, so you must be a red mage!"
"What about blue mages?" Dom retorted
"They're not really mages, just walking mirrors."
"Hey! I'm the mean one!"
"Oh who cares, we're indistinguishable anyway, the fans will probably just say some crap like we switched outfits"
"I hadn't thought of that."
"See, that's why I'm the older brother."
"Yeah... Wait, no you're not!"
Dom slapped Dick over the back of the head, then they both turned their attention back to Edd.
"What the heck are you?!" they yelled in unison.

Turtle Enthusiast walked in a semi-random pattern restricted to three paces from the fountain in the market all day and night. He desperately needed three wilted strawberries to feed to his pet turtle, and if anyone talked to him, he was sure to let them know. He also would inform them that wilted strawberries were usually found in garbage cans throughout the realm,.. but they have been rather rare as of late. No other man had ever known such determination and purpose. Except the persons who would travel the land to find them.

He even had a special suprise for the person who could find them all.