The Exploits of Misfit Company

Once the blindfold had been removed, Yvan stared in awe at the city before them, his mouth left slightly agape. It reminded him almost of the time he first experienced going to the Feywilds. It was simply jaw dropping. When they point out the smith, it takes the goliath a few seconds for the gears in his head to turn. "O-oh, yes... Uh, shall we?" He questions to the group.

"Mn. You have our thanks, such that it is." Bix replied softly, feeling just a tad under the weather from the jaunt. Then, he looks around, and suddenly that ill feeling just gets a bit worse. "Mmph... Yep. We should. We should do that quick." He says to Yvan hurriedly, and would briskly make for the smith with cheeks occasionally bulging from time to time. 'I appreciate your effort, in case that wasn't clear before we left, Yvan... With the dinosaur' He added through the link to the barbarian, but without so much as glance back.

"Oh. I should look for you later..." Alys will mutter to herself while her glasses get stripped and she's blindfolded by the scout. It wouldn't take much to make her feel disoriented, so she would be relieved for the spinning to stop. When her blindfold would be removed, she'd pat herself down for her glasses to put them on before gawking at the sights with the others. She'll dizzily stammer to follow Yvan to the smithies.

"Can I be a dinosaur again??" Kasha whined.

"Later Kasha. I don't think that it would go down well if a T-Rex was running about the city." You follow the directions to the smithy. Upon entering, you see up on the walls there are weapons and armor crafted, but in place of metal, you see that the armors are made from grey wood and scales that look like they were removed from the body of a reptilian creature. Running the forge is a goliath male, who appears to be in his fifties or sixties, but is still in excellent shape. "Greetings. My name is Hiatho. What brings you to my smithy?"

Bixby takes one look at the Hiatho, and then his sights are immediately upon Yvan for a reaction. While it was more than possible he hadn't known the full story of Yvan's upbringing, the somewhat sheepish nature of the goliath compared to what he knew of others of his kind left him ever curious about future encounters.

But unless Yvan acted in a peculiar way within the first few moments, a sigh is followed by Bixby turning to address the male. "Your skills, to be frank. Or more accurately, the smiths in general of this place." He admits frankly. "The name is... Bix, and we are the Misfits. Mercenaries, of a sort. And to put our request of you more succinctly, we are hoping you can fashion these dragonscales we collected into armor with transmutative properties for our elven compatriot here." He gestures back to at least where Kasha last stood. 

"That way, when she inevitable decides to take on more beastly forms, as she is want to do, the armor would shift to provide protection for that form as well. So, might you be of aid? Or have we barked up the wrong tree?" He asked with a completely straight face.

Stella looks around the forge, silently impressed by the array of weapons and armors. The young woman turns her attention to the smith quickly, although as usual, Bix quickly initiated the talking (it was somewhat his area of expertise, after all), and she settled for keeping an eye on Obsidian to make sure the fey cat didn't knock anything over.

Obsidian, looking downright offended that Stella thought she had to keep an eye on him, flicks his tail around his paws and refuses to look at Stella, staying on Kasha's shoulder and examining Hiatho from afar with a hint of disdain.

While I thank you for the reassurance, I still must apologize for not coming up with anything of real use... I need to better control my strength next time... Yvan reponds back to Bix, his hands opening and closing briefly before they made way to the smithy. His eyes didn't immediately go to the blacksmith, instead he had been eyeing the armor's made of wood and scales, not having seen armor such as this before.

However, when he does finally make eye contact with the other goliath as he introduces himself, he immediately shuffles to the back of the group and let's them handle the talking and negotiations as he normally did. He seemed to have grown more anxious, fearful even, at just the sight of another of his kind. While they spoke, Yvan's eyes were everywhere else but on the smithy himself. If I don't see him, he doesn't see me.

"Can you show me these dragonscales, so that I might know what you wish for me to work with?" Hiatho asks, before turning his attention to a very poorly concealed Yvan. "I do not mean to be rude, but your compatriots look like children while standing next to you. Regardless, you have nothing to fear from me. I have disagreements with my kind, just as you do."

Yvan freezes up when the goliath talks directly to him, his shoulders slouching soon after in defeat. It takes him a minute to look directly at the smithy before questioning them, "... What are you doing here?"

As one of the ones in front of Yvan, Alys would try to straighten herself up to look taller.

Kasha’s on the floor playing with Obsidian, using druidcraft to create sparkles and lights.

"I left my tribe decades ago, as the result of a disagreement with their philosophy. In my tribe, everyone was expected to pull their weight or be cast out, even those who were hurt. My father fell from a great height when we were hunting in the mountains. He survived, but his leg was damaged and he would walk with a limp for the rest of his days. My father tried to work for his keep and remain in the tribe, but it was clear that he would be unable to do so. One night, rather than face exile or becoming a burden to the tribe, my father chose to leave our village and give himself over to the mercies of fate. This decision was called an honorable sacrifice, but I ask you where the honor is in forcing the infirm to work themselves half to death so that they aren't cast out? I was cast out myself for sharing these thoughts with the chief in front of the village. I traveled far throughout the mountains before coming to this one. As I am sure that you have found out, it is dangerous for a group to travel here, let alone one man. I was quickly attacked by the predators here and almost slain before some scouts rescued me. They worked to heal my wounds and gave me a place in this tribe, since I had none. It appears that you have found a tribe of your own, young one."

As all the warm fuzzies are being passed around (or played around with in Kasha's case), Bixby goes through the process of finally unlatching a heavy ass chest from his back. A chest that he probably should've put in the bag of holding before now, but either hadn't thought too or couldn't be bother with after the last big talk of ownership. But eventually, the chest is set before the elder Goliath Smith with a tired huff and some jazz hands thrown in afterwards.

"Apologies for the interruption, but here you are. Harvested what we could off a Black Dragon we fought some weeks or so prior. Should be still good thanks to the chest, but you would be the expert on that."

Seeing Alys shift to make herself seem taller got Yvan to crack a small smile before going and giving her a light pat on the head in appreciation, even though his 'cover' was blown. He gives his fellow goliath an ear as he tells his story, his eyes narrowing a bit at how... similar in thinking they were. Their peoples 'philosophy' was never something Yvan agreed with, which was in part of why he left his own tribe, among the many other reasons he had been scarred with. The barbarian found comfort in actually being able to meet someone who agreed with him instead of feeling utterly alone in the matter.

At the last of his words, Yvan is silent for a moment as he looks among the misfits, his friends, his new found family, with a smaller, softer smile tugging at the corner of his lips. "Yes... I believe I have..." 

Alys would smile and adjust her posture to accept the pats as she listened. No wonder Kasha likes this kind of praise.

Rinn lets the conversation play in the background, surveying the city with a nostalgic wonder. For the first time in quite some time, the elven warrior lets his guard relax -- just a bit mind you -- as he recalls the forest cities of his youth. Brief, fleeting and definitely flat-out denied if questioned, a smile makes a momentary mark on Rinn's face before he returns to his trademark scowl.

"The scales of a black dragon. Difficult to kill and only slightly less difficult to harvest without ruining them. I have not made armor from the skin of a dragon before, but scales are scales. I will do this for you, outsiders, but not for nothing. I call upon powerful magic from the Feywild to craft armor that will maintain its shape despite the changes that a Druid's form makes. Every so often, I must journey to the Feywild to gain more power for my forge, which is a difficult and dangerous endeavor." He goes back into a section of his workshop and comes back with a beautiful necklace made out of silver and emeralds that has been forged into the shape of interwoven vines. "Go to the Summer Court and present this to Queen Titania. It will put her in your debt, which she will have to repay by allowing you to obtain some of the Feywild's power. But beware. Do not make any promises nor accept any deals in the Feywild, even with a Fey that is your ally, as they rarely speak the full truth and promises are used as traps in the Feywild. Do not accept anything given to you by a fey, as that will put you in their debt. Do not look directly at the Summer Queen, or any other fey Queen for that matter, lest they drive you mad. Do not insult the Summer Queen. Do not remain in the Feywild for more time than you must, as the passage of time is inconsistent on that plane. Get the essence and depart at once. " 

Having been warned by Hiatho, you follow him to a portal in the back of his smithy. Stepping through it takes you to a field in another plane. The sky is colored with purples, oranges, and reds as if the sun was setting. Or rising. You can't quite tell as the sun is hanging on the horizon, but it doesn't appear to be moving in either direction. You also notice that the colors here are more vibrant than they are in the Material Plane. What really strikes you as odd is that this area of the Feywild is a forest similar to the one that you came out of, but it's different. The trees are white with blue leaves, and they are impossibly gnarled. 

What also grabs your attention is that where Obsidian stood there is now an incredibly handsome male with piercing blue eyes, dark hair, elven features, and a dark blue robe. "Ah yes, I am the one that you've been calling Obsidian all this time. The cat guise was fun, but I suppose that it is time to walk with my own two legs." He takes about five steps forward before suddenly stopping. "Actually this is exhausting." He climbs back on to Stella's shoulders, as he has done more times than you can count. "CARRY ME HUMAN!"

It had been a while since Yvan had traversed the Feywilds, so the reminders of its dangers were a good refresher for him. Finally finding that he had nothing to fear of the smithy, he takes the necklace from him with an affirming nod. "It will be done."

No matter how dangerous the Feywilds could be, Yvan couldn't help but admit that despite all of that it was quite beautiful. His eyes had been everywhere else other than on the group for the time being, but hearing an unfamiliar voice causes his attention to snap back onto the 'new' addition. The goliaths brow raised in question at not-cat Obsidian trying to climb on Stella, waiting for her to give him the okay to grab him by the nape of his collar and pull him off if need be.