Gypsie Princess Effie's Logs: Entry Five -- Meeting (Infernal) the Neighbors
In this episode, our adventurers meet some of the neighbors and help a man under a gypsy curse.
If you wish to start at the beginning, it is here.
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That evening, Effie informs Black Hawk that they are having guest for dinner. Black Hawk says it is only a matter of time till Mad Dog strikes back for our attack on him.
There is an ominous perfectly normal knock at the door.
Ichigo answers the door, sword drawn, while Black Hawk takes up a hiding place to spy the door, certain it is one of the many enemies we have made in town in the 3 short days that we have been operating Black Hawk Enterprises.
Ichigo opens the door to a portly older man, huffing from exertion, and some younger men standing outside with a large iron tub.
Effie explains it is a delivery for her and directs the men to her room to place the tub.
Effie heads upstairs and spends the next 20 minutes having the men move the tub about her room to find the perfect spot.
Black Hawk wants to look nice for the dinner guest that Effie mentioned, goes out shopping for a nice set of clothes, while Effie is dealing with the tub.
Effie and the men eventually come back downstairs. The men take seats that Effie offers, while she finishes preparing meat on a stick, stew, vegetables, and bread for dinner.
Effie is serving food to the delivery men when Spy Mistress Trilby announces that her network of rabbit spies have sent out an alarm.
Effie continues to entertain the delivery people, while Ichigo goes outside to investigate, and Trilby calls up a couple rats to go find Black Hawk.
Outside, Ichigo sees 5 armed men heading down the street in the general direction of ours, as well as all the other, houses of Pushing Up Daisies Lane..
Ichigo wastes no time to ascertain the intent of these armed men walking down the street that frightened Tirlby’s rabbits. In a move that surprises and shocks everybody, including those not even able to see or discern the battle, Ichigo sprouts giant wings of beautiful white golden-tipped feathers as he draws his sword and takes flight at the startled men.
As is often the way in these things, before anybody can even act, Ichigo, with the pommel of his sword, drops one man apparently lifeless from the blow.
Trilby, clearly having renounced her pacifistic ways from earlier that day or possessed of some strange terrible sense of humor, waves her hands in mystical gestures while wearing her battle bikini, and a herd of Capybara appear. None in the general melee or area having ever seen or heard of a single Capybara, let alone a herd, are horrified at the sheep-sized rodents. Effie does wonder why Trilby has a thing for rodents and not fish or some other aquatic creature but is too grossed out by yet even more rodents, now the size of sheep, in the house.
Black Hawk, meanwhile, is met by two rats, who greet him with a smart salute. Black Hawk, being the astute leader of rodents that he is, immediately orders the rats to lead him at a brisk jog, that could only be sustained by those in great shape and anything else able to run as fast as a rat. Wearing a smart-looking jacket, Black Hawk arrives just as the 4 remaining, surely guilty of something, men begin to fight back against Ichigo and a herd of never-seen-before giant rodent Capybara.
One man waves his hands in mystical ways and a flaming bird appears in the sky, Effie, still inside serving, detects a disturbance in the force at that very moment. Black Hawk sends his black hawks to attack the flaming bird and the men.
Before too many of Black Hawk’s black hawks are fried and become a meat on a stick dish, there is a flash of light, and the men vanish, clearly broken by the terrible to behold Ichigo, and the charging herd of menacing giant rodents.
Ichigo carrying the corpse of the slain man, Black Hawk, and Trilby return to the house. The delivery men are clearly unnerved by the returning, corpse-carrying Ichigo. To make matter worse, Black Hawk scolds the delivery men for sitting at his table and using the front door. The men stand up to leave, but Effie needs to pay the merchant. Effie starts to slowly count out the money she owes, losing her count, once or twice on the way.
Ichigo is playing with corpse like it is some sort of marionette and talking to it like the guy is still alive. Effie asks Ichigo to toss the corpse in the basement for now, but Ichigo doesn’t want to and says the man is not dead.
The delivery people run out before Effie can finish counting out the last 5 berries in a hurry to return home.
Black Hawk is not happy about common people sitting at his table, but Effie explains that they were her guests for dinner. Black Hawk once again displays his legendary patience as he rhetorically asks Effie if she invited the delivery people to eat. Effie explains she did because the merchant said she was stealing food from the mouth of his children, so she invited them all over for dinner to close the deal.
Ichigo meanwhile is tieing the corpse to a chair to stop it from escaping or something. Ichigo, still playing with the corpse, hits it with the pommel of his sword, and the corpse is suddenly alive again!
Ichigo explains the man is not dead, just that his spirit is out of his body. Effie believes that is splitting hairs but is willing to go with it.
Black Hawk questions the man about the now-certainly-hostile men that frightened the rabbits. Black Hawk learns he was with a group, headed by a man named Big Moe, who lives down the street from us.
Black Hawk tries to get more information out the man, but he refuses because he says Big Moe will kill him.
Black Hawk has Ichigo knock the man out of his body again and asks Ichigo to have the house ghosts watch the man.
Black Hawk then orders a counterattack, but Effie insists that everybody get some food first before heading out on an empty stomach.
Trilby, maybe not really eschewing pacifism since her rodents didn’t technically hurt anybody, brings her herd of freakishly giant rodents to gnaw Big Moe’s home, riding one on the way there, side-saddle, in what must be the only items of clothing she owns, her battle bikini.
Ichigo, still sprouting golden-tipped, white angelic wings, flies, followed by Black Hawk’s black hawks.
Big Moe and a large group of men, maybe 40 or so, plus the flaming bird are waiting for Black Hawk.
Black Hawk decides to parle at this point and asks to speak with Big Moe. A man comes forward and says he can speak for Big Moe.
Black Hawk asks the man how much ransom would they give for our captive, Curly. The man then turns back towards the house and shouts, “Big Moe how much for Curly.”
Another man, presumably Big Moe, shouts back from the house, “25 Berries.”
Negotiations continue with both sides undermining their own positions in a strange form of bargaining that results in the 2 groups declaring peace, we are neighbors after all, and 100 berries if we can prove Black Hawk’s claim that Curly was brought back from the dead.
Ichigo leaves and returns shortly with Curly in hand, alive and kicking.
Big Moe and his men are impressed.
Black Hawk then goes on to boost of other things, both true and not yet true, that impress or scare Big Moe in his men even more.
Big Moe in his men back down and bring out a bag of 97 berries to pay the 100 berry ransom for Curly. Black Hawk and his group satisfied with the parle return home.
Back at the house, Balck Hawk having told Big Moe that he controlled the 666 house, tells Ichigo to go place his banner on the cursed haunted house that none of the locals will even look upon.
Ichigo goes over to 666 Pushing-Up Dasies Lane and decides he is going to hit the house with his spirit-exorcising sword, as if it had a spirit. There is a large noise as a giant gout of flame covers Ichigo, and he is thrown backwards. Ichigo is unharmed, in large part due to the fire protection spell Effie had cast on him while at Big Moe’s place, from the encounter.
Black Hawk suggests placing the banner maybe out by the mailbox, but Ichigo not to be beaten so easily tries to fly to the roof and place the banner, only to once again be sent reeling back in a gout of fire and noise.
Still not deterred, Ichigo then knocks on the front door and much to the horror of anybody who would have been there with Ichigo, but nobody else was crazy enough to set eyes on the house, let alone go to the front door, the door is answered by an old man. Ichigo has a short chat with the man, and Ichigo claims the house in the name of Black Hawk and places the banner on his house so all can see.
The old man touches the banner, and it turns to ash after which he closes the door.
Ichigo, knocks on the door again, this time bereft of banner, and asks the man his name. The old man says his name is Mr Primrose, and then he promptly closes the door again.
Ichigo returns, telling his tale to Black hawk who is determined to learn more about the house.
Effie says to Black Hawk, they are getting side-tracked and have many jobs that need to be dealt with. Black Hawk agrees, and Effie suggest they take the job to help Brad Soup with his orangutan problem.
The group heads out to Brad Soup’s house, only to be accosted by orangutan poo being flung from the windows by orangutans as they neared the house. Effie wonders why each adventure has to involve poo and is glad she has her new tub.
Black Hawk knocks on the door, ready to dodge any poo that may come his way, to be greeted by a very tired man.
Brad explains he was cursed by a gypsy for being rude long ago and will pay 10 berries per orangutan. Black Hawk agrees, but Effie says if the man will pay double, she will accept his apology as a gypsy.
Brad agrees to those terms and gets down on a knee apologizing for being rude when he was 6 to a gypsy. Effie says she accepts his apology. and there seems to a be a slight sound of a bell ringing, perhaps the orangutan were signaling tea time or something. Black Hawk then has Ichigo knock the man out of his body; and Black Hawk announces the man is dead, and the curse is over. All the orangutans leave, 36 in all, and Black Hawk has Ichigo place the man back in his body.
Brad pays 200 berries right away and needs time to collect the other 160 berries. Black Hawk tells the man the work is guaranteed, to which the group, clearly being mind-controlled by Tirlby, say in unison, or you can slap Ichigo.
The group returns home that evening after yet another successful poo-filled day of operations.
Effie that evening balances the books and pays out to each party member 70 Berries as their share of the payment and places 31 Berries into the house fund.
XP awarded: 2 xp each
Bonus xp for my journal: 1
Next Week: Gypsie Princess Effie's Logs: Entry Six -- Black Hawk's Inspiring Vision
