Laughter and tears
I got to chatting with a co-worker of mine today about the two 7th Sea campaigns I've run/am running. And given that the whole game is about swashbuckling, witty bon mots, and general hilarity, I offer for your reading amusement some of the better quotes from the game.
7th Sea, Campaign 1
Our theme song:
*Rebecca is "I'm your every fantasy, cash in advance only" Gabrielle
*Chris is "I'm just like the Highwayman, only I'm cooler" Connor
*John is "My name is Don Inigo Montoya de Soldano del Castillo, Lord Drachenheim" Inigo
*Jim is "50 uses for Montaigne wine" Gustaphe
*Chrissy is "No, no, no, SHE'S the courtesan, I'M the bodyguard" Vera
*Ed is "Never go in against a Vodacce when DEATH is on the line!" Vito
*Jeff is "Let us drink, let us dance, then I'm gonna go kill Montaigne" Diego
*Yours truly is TaraLeila.
Eight PCs on a dead man's chest, yo ho ho and a bottle of wine!
Beat Elaine's Knights, we're the best, yo ho ho and a bottle of wine!
Tempting promise, sexy guile, ever in Gabrielle's smile,
Practically invented style!
Loves amour and loves to dance, she lives only for romance
But without cash, you've got no chance! Yo ho ho and a bottle of wine!
Eight PCs, the pirates' bane, yo ho ho and a bottle of wine!
As we fly colours of Elaine, yo ho ho and a bottle of wine!
Once the Highwayman, you see, stealing kisses and money
Elaine's men ended his highway spree
Now with Glamour in his soul, Sidhe mischief's taking its toll
Connor seeks to make his heart whole, yo ho ho and a bottle of wine!
Eight PCs on the high seas, yo ho ho and a bottle of wine!
Dispatching pirates with casual ease, yo ho ho and a bottle of wine!
Diego's left the family line, seeks his fortune 'cross the brine
He lives for Castillian wine
With dark and dashing handsome looks, you'll never find his nose in the books
He's out defeating Montaigne crooks, yo ho ho and a bottle of wine!
Eight PCs ride 'cross the land, yo ho ho and a bottle of wine!
Saved Montague from Matushka's hand, yo ho ho and a bottle of wine!
Second fiddle Vera plays to her sister's lusty ways
As long as some horny fool pays
So she watches Gabrielle's back against a sneaky foe's attack
Now is not the time to slack! Yo ho ho and a bottle of wine!
Eight PCs living like lords, yo ho ho and a bottle of wine!
Saved the O'Bannon from iron swords, yo ho ho and a bottle of wine!
Gustaphe Le Brun's on the run, deserting simply isn't done
Now he looks out for number one
With beer mugs he's a deadly shot, with pistols, well, he's not so hot
He gives the Knights all that he's got, yo ho ho and a bottle of wine!
Eight PCs off to Montaigne, yo ho ho and a bottle of wine!
Montgomery Pearson's quite a pain, yo ho ho and a bottle of wine!
A woman born of dark and light, her Clan destroyed in just one night
Has never known rapture's delight
As TaraLeila now she's known, Unseelie hunter of renown
All her life she's been alone, yo ho ho and a bottle of wine!
Eight PCs 'cross Theah ride, yo ho ho and a bottle of wine!
It's simply not our style to hide, yo ho ho and a bottle of wine!
Vito's usually in the dark, his knives, they rarely miss their mark
In fact this whole jaunt's just a lark
Now this Vodacce had to flee Villanova's death decree
For this, HIS death he's sworn to see, Yo ho ho and a bottle of wine!
Eight PCs looking for trouble, yo ho ho and a bottle of wine!
We just give Vito cash to double, yo ho ho and a bottle of wine!
Inigo's not known to laugh, he's actually missing his other half
Loves to watch his cousin gaffe
Castillian wine's his favorite thing, guitar he'll play and songs he'll sing
Then be El Vago for a fling! Yo ho ho and a bottle of wine!
*****
The PCs are currently attending a masquerade party held by the Duke de Crieux. Unfortunately, as things happen, his daughter could pass for the identical twin of one of the PCs... and just to be cute, the PC and the daughter decide to wear identical costumes to play a joke on the other guests. Well, the daughter's lover arrives to whisk her away and save her from an arranged marriage, and nearly whisks away the wrong woman.
In trying to stop the would-be abductor, one of our other PCs (Jim) pulls out a pistol and fires at the man, but misses and hits the nearby keg of rare Highland whiskey, spilling whiskey all over the ballroom floor.
Chris (the outraged Irishman who sees this) *shouting in dismay to the other PC with a thick Irish accent*: "You shot the keg? How could you?!"
He then throws his glass of fine Castillian (read: Spanish) wine to the floor in a gesture of disgust, to which John's Castillian wine afficiando cries out (in a thick Spanish accent): "You threw the wine! How could you?!"
We thought it was funny as hell, since it so summed up all three characters - Chris as a whiskey-loving Irishman, John as a wine-loving Castillian, and Jim as his usual rotten shot.
*****
Gustaphe, our Montaigne pistoleer, on how to deal with a Vodacce who's tried to kill an NPC: "I say we just poison him, and make it look like it was suicide."
Inigo the Castillian swordsman #1: "Gustaphe, you shouldn't suggest that Gabrielle (our Vodacce courtesan who dabbles in the art of poisoning) act in so crass and callous a fashion."
Diego the Castillian swordsman #2: "Yeah, since all we have to do is just force the Vodacce to drink some Montaigne wine."
Jim (Gustaphe's player) was ready to start throwing stuff at John (Inigo) and Jeff (Diego) while the rest of us burst out laughing.
*on the Vodacce courtesan Gabrielle pulling an NPC Avalon lady aside to give her romantic advice*
Chrissy: "Hey, it's "Dear Gabby!"
*our Inish PC on a Montaigne NPC asking our Montaigne PC for some Montaigne wine*
Connor: "Why? Does he need to get grass-stains out of the knees of his pants?"
*a more gutter-minded PC on the crew of the Black Dawn having additional spare cash lying around because of their Captain's prodigious luck*
Diego: "Yeah, I'm sure that they've picked up lots of booty."
GM: "'Platypus' - Ussuran for 'Matushka didn't know what the hell it was either...'"
GM: "There's now about 40 of them, 10 of you."
Gustaphe to Connor: "I say we let them send for reinforcements."
Alexei: "So we're facing nearly impossible odds, and we have no concept of a plan..."
Inigo: "Sounds like our usual job description."
Jim (Gustaphe's player): "What do you mean, the garrison commander didn't have the cell keys on him?! How am I supposed to get the chains off this guy?!"
Gabrielle (who is already out of the city and helped in the earlier jail break): *twirling keys around on her finger*: "So I wonder what the other keys on this chain are for?"
Repeated statement by various Montaigne: "No... El Vago can NOT be in Ussura..."
Vera: "So, this Montague, he must be pretty impressive if he's led such a successful invasion of Ussura, hmm?"
TaraLeila: "Yes, he is."
Vera: "And how did he manage such a feat?"
Gabrielle (OOC): *breaks into song* "Coz... he's a Montague and he's okay, he marches all night and he sleeps all day!"
*Becky then hides as both Chris and John make ready to hit her with pillows*
Magda the gypsy fortuneteller invites the PCs one by one for a reading of the cards to "show zem ze vay". Chris, our resident Inishman who is seeking his lost love, sees that strangely enough, despite the fact that Madga has turned over something like twelve cards, there are only two cards there, each repeated six times - The Lovers, The Queen of Swords, the Lovers, the Queen of Swords, etc.
Connor: "Maybe 'tis just me, but I'm thinkin' that that's not supposed to be happenin'."
Later, when the group goes drinking and carousing with the gypsies, they introduce the group to the notion of proving your bravery by leaping over a blazing bonfire. The braver ones go first while the fire is still burning high.
Alexei decides to join the fun and backs up to take a running start at the fire. Unfortunately, he's had a few too many, and trips and falls flat on his face once he starts running.
Alexei: "I think I'll just lie here a short while and consider my circumstances."
The Castillian in our group (who has been giving the Montaigne no end of grief) is leading a group of Montaigne toward the city walls (which have just been blasted by cannon fire) to try and rescue those who are trapped.
"Come on, put your backs into it!" he urges them, and then, to lead by example, rolls his Brawn check to lift a rock.
And rolls a 4. This is bad. Really, really bad. The entire game screeches to a halt as the players fall over from hysterical laughter.
This led to a volley of good-natured insults being thrown at the player, ranging from:
"Okay, now someone put the papier-mache rock back so Inigo can lift it."
to
"No wonder you have the Whirl skill, it's the only way you can actually lift a sword! By using centrifugal force!"
and
"I can see it now - the Montaigne all probably have the "WTF" look on their face... or however you say WTF in French."
Another good one came from the Highlander and one of the Vodacce stopping a group of infiltrators from firing the cannons again by taking the commander hostage.
Montaigne soldier (not realizing that the commander is a spy): "Why should we take your word over his?"
Vera (who has the commander at gunpoint): "Because if you don't, most of his head will be all over you."
********
7th Sea, Campaign 2
*the Ussuran shapeshifter, while wandering lost in Freiburg, decides to ask a passing lovely for directions... and ends up seducing her*
Stefano the Vodacce: "Wear a sock."
*the Avalon archer botches an archery roll*
Cael: "I shot an arrow into the air... it fell to earth way over there."
*Stefano later goes charging after several other party members to warn them about a 8-foot-long wolf that is in the woods they are riding toward... Cael the Avalon archer tells him that the wolf is most likely dead and there is no cause for concern*
Stefano: "If I didn't show up to tell you about the wolf, he [referring to the Ussuran] would be having the time of his life, I'd be trying to have the time of my life, and she-"
*points to the Vesten Rune Mage, who is the group innocent*
"-would be eating soup."
*Manfred the Eisen swordsman sees the other party members getting mauled by the wolf and heroically charges in*
Manfred: "I'm Eisen, and there's one thing we Eisen excel at!"
GM *with a perfectly straight face*: "Dying."
*Stefano and Thora the Rune Mage are at the Explorers' Society with Aleksi the Ussuran, who being profoundly bored as there are no hot women there, picks up three items at random and starts juggling*
Stefano: "Put... those... down... I don't HAVE that much money."
Thora (to the aghast looking Explorers): "I don't really know him."
*the Eisen swordsman/scholar watches Aleksi the gypsy juggling in the streets for money*
Manfred: "How do you learn to juggle out in the middle of nowhere? Do you practice on squirrels or something?"
(Aleksi the gypsy, the group Casanova, had been left behind in town to track down the nephew of the man we were helping while the rest of the party went to fight an 8-foot-long killer wolf in the forest. Having no idea how to get around Freiburg, he decides to ask directions... from the loveliest women in town. Needless to say, he didn't get far.)
Aleksi (defending himself to Stefano): "Do you have any idea how hard it is to find someone in this town? I mean, there was Rachel... and Brianna... and Michelle... but do you have any idea how hard it is to find a GUY in this town?!"
*on why medieval graveyards are outside the city walls*
Stefano: "You don't bury the dead with the living."
Thora: "So where do you bury the living?"
(Cael the Avalon archer has taken our enormous wolf kill to the Explorers' Society. Stefano has told him to get money for the wolf, but he has no idea how much it's worth...)
Cael: "You see those ropes typing the wolf to the horse? Those are some very expensive ropes..."
Ghost Raven (OCC): "Horses do not commit hate crimes."
Manfred: "Avalon, the land of the cute and fuzzy monster."
Stefano (to the now-26-up-from-6 members of the Town Guard who are escorting them to the nephew's house after the PCs decide to push them a bit): "So you don't get medals, you don't get promotions, you don't get trophies... how DO you know which guardsmen are the best?"
Leader of the group: "They're still alive."
(Thora has had enough of the men in the group picking a fight with the Town Guardsmen and finally turns to the one member of the guard who has not told the PCs to shut up or summoned help from another group of Guardsmen)
Thora: "You know... I'm not really with them. And if you want to rough them up, go right ahead."
*on Aleksi failing to find the nephew, and the Town Guard arriving the following day to "convince" the PCs to come along to the nephew's house under armed guard after the death of his uncle through no fault of ours*
Manfred to Aleksi: "Just remember, it's not your fault we're here... it's your fault we're here under these conditions."
Manfred: "We don't charge the dead for our services."
Thora: "We don't charge the living, either."
Manfred: "Yes, we do, we charge them up the a**!
*points to the nephew*
Manfred: "But we weren't doing it for him!"
*on whether they are going to accept the nephew's offer for a VERY well paying job*
Eric Karstein: "So are you all... amenable to my offer?"
Aleksi: "We are not at each other's throats, and for our own reasons, we have not yet declined your offer."
*on the group's acceptance*
Stefano (referring to the guards' arrival at the inn earlier that morning): "I believe you already know where we are staying?"
Manfred (referring to the fact that Cael has constantly been comparing things to "the way they are in Avalon"): "Yes, we are currently at the 'not-good-enough-for-the-Avalon' inn."
**********
By comparison, as part of a drabble challenge on a friend's LJ (prompt - RAIN), I just wrote this:
She stood alone in the rain, face tilted up toward the sky, the rain falling on her face, clothing plastered to her skin beneath the armor, hair hanging heavily down her back.
Picking up a Mimizuku sword, one of many strewn on the ground after the battle, and thought for a moment. Then, laboriously tracing the edge of the sword in the mud, she wrote:
Death darkens Kanna
I wonder, do the gods weep
As rain falls like tears
As the rain washed away the poem, she wondered who gods would weep for... those who died... or those who killed.
7th Sea, Campaign 1
Our theme song:
*Rebecca is "I'm your every fantasy, cash in advance only" Gabrielle
*Chris is "I'm just like the Highwayman, only I'm cooler" Connor
*John is "My name is Don Inigo Montoya de Soldano del Castillo, Lord Drachenheim" Inigo
*Jim is "50 uses for Montaigne wine" Gustaphe
*Chrissy is "No, no, no, SHE'S the courtesan, I'M the bodyguard" Vera
*Ed is "Never go in against a Vodacce when DEATH is on the line!" Vito
*Jeff is "Let us drink, let us dance, then I'm gonna go kill Montaigne" Diego
*Yours truly is TaraLeila.
Eight PCs on a dead man's chest, yo ho ho and a bottle of wine!
Beat Elaine's Knights, we're the best, yo ho ho and a bottle of wine!
Tempting promise, sexy guile, ever in Gabrielle's smile,
Practically invented style!
Loves amour and loves to dance, she lives only for romance
But without cash, you've got no chance! Yo ho ho and a bottle of wine!
Eight PCs, the pirates' bane, yo ho ho and a bottle of wine!
As we fly colours of Elaine, yo ho ho and a bottle of wine!
Once the Highwayman, you see, stealing kisses and money
Elaine's men ended his highway spree
Now with Glamour in his soul, Sidhe mischief's taking its toll
Connor seeks to make his heart whole, yo ho ho and a bottle of wine!
Eight PCs on the high seas, yo ho ho and a bottle of wine!
Dispatching pirates with casual ease, yo ho ho and a bottle of wine!
Diego's left the family line, seeks his fortune 'cross the brine
He lives for Castillian wine
With dark and dashing handsome looks, you'll never find his nose in the books
He's out defeating Montaigne crooks, yo ho ho and a bottle of wine!
Eight PCs ride 'cross the land, yo ho ho and a bottle of wine!
Saved Montague from Matushka's hand, yo ho ho and a bottle of wine!
Second fiddle Vera plays to her sister's lusty ways
As long as some horny fool pays
So she watches Gabrielle's back against a sneaky foe's attack
Now is not the time to slack! Yo ho ho and a bottle of wine!
Eight PCs living like lords, yo ho ho and a bottle of wine!
Saved the O'Bannon from iron swords, yo ho ho and a bottle of wine!
Gustaphe Le Brun's on the run, deserting simply isn't done
Now he looks out for number one
With beer mugs he's a deadly shot, with pistols, well, he's not so hot
He gives the Knights all that he's got, yo ho ho and a bottle of wine!
Eight PCs off to Montaigne, yo ho ho and a bottle of wine!
Montgomery Pearson's quite a pain, yo ho ho and a bottle of wine!
A woman born of dark and light, her Clan destroyed in just one night
Has never known rapture's delight
As TaraLeila now she's known, Unseelie hunter of renown
All her life she's been alone, yo ho ho and a bottle of wine!
Eight PCs 'cross Theah ride, yo ho ho and a bottle of wine!
It's simply not our style to hide, yo ho ho and a bottle of wine!
Vito's usually in the dark, his knives, they rarely miss their mark
In fact this whole jaunt's just a lark
Now this Vodacce had to flee Villanova's death decree
For this, HIS death he's sworn to see, Yo ho ho and a bottle of wine!
Eight PCs looking for trouble, yo ho ho and a bottle of wine!
We just give Vito cash to double, yo ho ho and a bottle of wine!
Inigo's not known to laugh, he's actually missing his other half
Loves to watch his cousin gaffe
Castillian wine's his favorite thing, guitar he'll play and songs he'll sing
Then be El Vago for a fling! Yo ho ho and a bottle of wine!
*****
The PCs are currently attending a masquerade party held by the Duke de Crieux. Unfortunately, as things happen, his daughter could pass for the identical twin of one of the PCs... and just to be cute, the PC and the daughter decide to wear identical costumes to play a joke on the other guests. Well, the daughter's lover arrives to whisk her away and save her from an arranged marriage, and nearly whisks away the wrong woman.
In trying to stop the would-be abductor, one of our other PCs (Jim) pulls out a pistol and fires at the man, but misses and hits the nearby keg of rare Highland whiskey, spilling whiskey all over the ballroom floor.
Chris (the outraged Irishman who sees this) *shouting in dismay to the other PC with a thick Irish accent*: "You shot the keg? How could you?!"
He then throws his glass of fine Castillian (read: Spanish) wine to the floor in a gesture of disgust, to which John's Castillian wine afficiando cries out (in a thick Spanish accent): "You threw the wine! How could you?!"
We thought it was funny as hell, since it so summed up all three characters - Chris as a whiskey-loving Irishman, John as a wine-loving Castillian, and Jim as his usual rotten shot.
*****
Gustaphe, our Montaigne pistoleer, on how to deal with a Vodacce who's tried to kill an NPC: "I say we just poison him, and make it look like it was suicide."
Inigo the Castillian swordsman #1: "Gustaphe, you shouldn't suggest that Gabrielle (our Vodacce courtesan who dabbles in the art of poisoning) act in so crass and callous a fashion."
Diego the Castillian swordsman #2: "Yeah, since all we have to do is just force the Vodacce to drink some Montaigne wine."
Jim (Gustaphe's player) was ready to start throwing stuff at John (Inigo) and Jeff (Diego) while the rest of us burst out laughing.
*on the Vodacce courtesan Gabrielle pulling an NPC Avalon lady aside to give her romantic advice*
Chrissy: "Hey, it's "Dear Gabby!"
*our Inish PC on a Montaigne NPC asking our Montaigne PC for some Montaigne wine*
Connor: "Why? Does he need to get grass-stains out of the knees of his pants?"
*a more gutter-minded PC on the crew of the Black Dawn having additional spare cash lying around because of their Captain's prodigious luck*
Diego: "Yeah, I'm sure that they've picked up lots of booty."
GM: "'Platypus' - Ussuran for 'Matushka didn't know what the hell it was either...'"
GM: "There's now about 40 of them, 10 of you."
Gustaphe to Connor: "I say we let them send for reinforcements."
Alexei: "So we're facing nearly impossible odds, and we have no concept of a plan..."
Inigo: "Sounds like our usual job description."
Jim (Gustaphe's player): "What do you mean, the garrison commander didn't have the cell keys on him?! How am I supposed to get the chains off this guy?!"
Gabrielle (who is already out of the city and helped in the earlier jail break): *twirling keys around on her finger*: "So I wonder what the other keys on this chain are for?"
Repeated statement by various Montaigne: "No... El Vago can NOT be in Ussura..."
Vera: "So, this Montague, he must be pretty impressive if he's led such a successful invasion of Ussura, hmm?"
TaraLeila: "Yes, he is."
Vera: "And how did he manage such a feat?"
Gabrielle (OOC): *breaks into song* "Coz... he's a Montague and he's okay, he marches all night and he sleeps all day!"
*Becky then hides as both Chris and John make ready to hit her with pillows*
Magda the gypsy fortuneteller invites the PCs one by one for a reading of the cards to "show zem ze vay". Chris, our resident Inishman who is seeking his lost love, sees that strangely enough, despite the fact that Madga has turned over something like twelve cards, there are only two cards there, each repeated six times - The Lovers, The Queen of Swords, the Lovers, the Queen of Swords, etc.
Connor: "Maybe 'tis just me, but I'm thinkin' that that's not supposed to be happenin'."
Later, when the group goes drinking and carousing with the gypsies, they introduce the group to the notion of proving your bravery by leaping over a blazing bonfire. The braver ones go first while the fire is still burning high.
Alexei decides to join the fun and backs up to take a running start at the fire. Unfortunately, he's had a few too many, and trips and falls flat on his face once he starts running.
Alexei: "I think I'll just lie here a short while and consider my circumstances."
The Castillian in our group (who has been giving the Montaigne no end of grief) is leading a group of Montaigne toward the city walls (which have just been blasted by cannon fire) to try and rescue those who are trapped.
"Come on, put your backs into it!" he urges them, and then, to lead by example, rolls his Brawn check to lift a rock.
And rolls a 4. This is bad. Really, really bad. The entire game screeches to a halt as the players fall over from hysterical laughter.
This led to a volley of good-natured insults being thrown at the player, ranging from:
"Okay, now someone put the papier-mache rock back so Inigo can lift it."
to
"No wonder you have the Whirl skill, it's the only way you can actually lift a sword! By using centrifugal force!"
and
"I can see it now - the Montaigne all probably have the "WTF" look on their face... or however you say WTF in French."
Another good one came from the Highlander and one of the Vodacce stopping a group of infiltrators from firing the cannons again by taking the commander hostage.
Montaigne soldier (not realizing that the commander is a spy): "Why should we take your word over his?"
Vera (who has the commander at gunpoint): "Because if you don't, most of his head will be all over you."
********
7th Sea, Campaign 2
*the Ussuran shapeshifter, while wandering lost in Freiburg, decides to ask a passing lovely for directions... and ends up seducing her*
Stefano the Vodacce: "Wear a sock."
*the Avalon archer botches an archery roll*
Cael: "I shot an arrow into the air... it fell to earth way over there."
*Stefano later goes charging after several other party members to warn them about a 8-foot-long wolf that is in the woods they are riding toward... Cael the Avalon archer tells him that the wolf is most likely dead and there is no cause for concern*
Stefano: "If I didn't show up to tell you about the wolf, he [referring to the Ussuran] would be having the time of his life, I'd be trying to have the time of my life, and she-"
*points to the Vesten Rune Mage, who is the group innocent*
"-would be eating soup."
*Manfred the Eisen swordsman sees the other party members getting mauled by the wolf and heroically charges in*
Manfred: "I'm Eisen, and there's one thing we Eisen excel at!"
GM *with a perfectly straight face*: "Dying."
*Stefano and Thora the Rune Mage are at the Explorers' Society with Aleksi the Ussuran, who being profoundly bored as there are no hot women there, picks up three items at random and starts juggling*
Stefano: "Put... those... down... I don't HAVE that much money."
Thora (to the aghast looking Explorers): "I don't really know him."
*the Eisen swordsman/scholar watches Aleksi the gypsy juggling in the streets for money*
Manfred: "How do you learn to juggle out in the middle of nowhere? Do you practice on squirrels or something?"
(Aleksi the gypsy, the group Casanova, had been left behind in town to track down the nephew of the man we were helping while the rest of the party went to fight an 8-foot-long killer wolf in the forest. Having no idea how to get around Freiburg, he decides to ask directions... from the loveliest women in town. Needless to say, he didn't get far.)
Aleksi (defending himself to Stefano): "Do you have any idea how hard it is to find someone in this town? I mean, there was Rachel... and Brianna... and Michelle... but do you have any idea how hard it is to find a GUY in this town?!"
*on why medieval graveyards are outside the city walls*
Stefano: "You don't bury the dead with the living."
Thora: "So where do you bury the living?"
(Cael the Avalon archer has taken our enormous wolf kill to the Explorers' Society. Stefano has told him to get money for the wolf, but he has no idea how much it's worth...)
Cael: "You see those ropes typing the wolf to the horse? Those are some very expensive ropes..."
Ghost Raven (OCC): "Horses do not commit hate crimes."
Manfred: "Avalon, the land of the cute and fuzzy monster."
Stefano (to the now-26-up-from-6 members of the Town Guard who are escorting them to the nephew's house after the PCs decide to push them a bit): "So you don't get medals, you don't get promotions, you don't get trophies... how DO you know which guardsmen are the best?"
Leader of the group: "They're still alive."
(Thora has had enough of the men in the group picking a fight with the Town Guardsmen and finally turns to the one member of the guard who has not told the PCs to shut up or summoned help from another group of Guardsmen)
Thora: "You know... I'm not really with them. And if you want to rough them up, go right ahead."
*on Aleksi failing to find the nephew, and the Town Guard arriving the following day to "convince" the PCs to come along to the nephew's house under armed guard after the death of his uncle through no fault of ours*
Manfred to Aleksi: "Just remember, it's not your fault we're here... it's your fault we're here under these conditions."
Manfred: "We don't charge the dead for our services."
Thora: "We don't charge the living, either."
Manfred: "Yes, we do, we charge them up the a**!
*points to the nephew*
Manfred: "But we weren't doing it for him!"
*on whether they are going to accept the nephew's offer for a VERY well paying job*
Eric Karstein: "So are you all... amenable to my offer?"
Aleksi: "We are not at each other's throats, and for our own reasons, we have not yet declined your offer."
*on the group's acceptance*
Stefano (referring to the guards' arrival at the inn earlier that morning): "I believe you already know where we are staying?"
Manfred (referring to the fact that Cael has constantly been comparing things to "the way they are in Avalon"): "Yes, we are currently at the 'not-good-enough-for-the-Avalon' inn."
**********
By comparison, as part of a drabble challenge on a friend's LJ (prompt - RAIN), I just wrote this:
She stood alone in the rain, face tilted up toward the sky, the rain falling on her face, clothing plastered to her skin beneath the armor, hair hanging heavily down her back.
Picking up a Mimizuku sword, one of many strewn on the ground after the battle, and thought for a moment. Then, laboriously tracing the edge of the sword in the mud, she wrote:
Death darkens Kanna
I wonder, do the gods weep
As rain falls like tears
As the rain washed away the poem, she wondered who gods would weep for... those who died... or those who killed.