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Phantasmal Rift Mods ([personal profile] phantasmods) wrote2016-04-19 11:46 pm

DUNGEON: AMESTA FOREST

MAP: Amesta Forest.

AREA GENERAL


An expansive forest to the southwest of the station, filled largely with deciduous trees that nonetheless seem to be fully green in spite of the earliness of the season. Those entering the forest will immediately note that it's constantly twilight inside, as well, as though the whole forest was frozen in time in some late-spring evening. Even the air smells of a spring rain just ended, fresh and clear.

The primary distortion in this Fissure is a faintly glowing silver mist - while it's possible to see the twilit sky if one looks directly up through some gap in the trees, every other direction will leave the intent viewer with only fog for their troubles. Vague shapes can sometimes be seen in the fog...

The western edge of the forest cups around a large lake, over which hangs an impossibly sized willow tree, impossibly dwarfing the rest of the forest. It's impossible to be sure of the tree's exact height with the foggy distortion, but it surely stretches hundreds, if not thousands of feet in the air. Across the foggy lake, the distant glow of what might perhaps be city lights can be seen.

DUNGEON-WIDE EFFECT: MANIFESTED DREAMS

Out of the fog, shapes form - and some of them more solid than others. Characters who stay in one place for too long will find that their subconscious minds have an effect on the mist, calling forth the specters of dreams into reality. Anything that might occur in a character's dreams, pleasant or nightmarish, is fair game to take shape in the mist.

Fortunately, even the most nightmarish of these visions lacks the ability to truly harm - striking the mist, or being struck by it, leaves only the dampness of passing through a particularly dense patch of fog behind. That doesn't stop them from being potentially traumatic, however, as the manifested dreams can interact with their environment otherwise. Whether it be the touch of a forgotten friend or the grasping hands of darkness, they certainly feel real enough...

Nor are the visions for you alone. They're visible to anyone in the immediate area, allowing other people to see your dreams and nightmares - and even for those dreams to fuse in ways that they never could in the safety of individual sleep. Those plagued by nightmares may wish to keep their feet moving, or to head back to more stable areas if they need a break.

DUNGEON-WIDE EFFECT: NO TIME FOR NAPS

It's perhaps fortunate, then, that characters will not often find themselves tiring within the less stable areas of the Fissure. The frozen twilight seems also to apply to those inside; they will find that they do not grow naturally tired (even those normally inclined to sleeping more than average), and even exhausting themselves via exertion only requires a period of sitting somewhere to rest and recover.

In fact, those who actively attempt to sleep will find the task near-impossible - outside of stabilized areas, only magical effects and strong drugs will send characters into slumber, and even then it will be relatively brief.

Resource: Dreamshrooms

Frequency: Uncommon but regular
Type: Fungus; magical/medicinal
Environment: All Amesta Forest, but especially where the mist pools thickest (Silvermist Hollow and the Infinity Tree's roots)

Those with keen eyes will spot these mushrooms in all sorts of near-hidden places, betrayed by the faint lavender glow of their caps. They especially favor the roots of trees and anywhere branches collect leaf-litter. The underside of the caps is a deep purple, not entirely without resemblance to the twilit sky above.

The most obvious effect of them is that they are a potent sleep-aid when consumed. Even against the effects of the Fissure, they'll knock you out roughly half an hour after swallowing. The other effect is harder to notice - the dreams one experiences while unconscious due to the mushrooms' sleep effect will always be lucid dreams, without exception. Though it takes some time to develop skill at manipulating one's dreams, with practice, it's certainly possible...

THE FRINGES

The edges of the forest seem fairly normal - while the shadow of the massive willow in the distance can be seen through the upper boughs, there's nothing that seems too abnormal about that. Those with botanical knowledge will likely be able to identify most of the species as similar to those in the eastern US, though they span from Maine to Virginia in region without much rhyme or reason.

There's just one kind of tree that no one will recognize...

An astute eye might notice that there's a great deal of dug-up earth in this area, in dug-up chunks between the trees. For a natural forest, there's also fairly little low-lying vegetation, most of it clustered around the bases of the trees. While the forest is far from manicured, it seems almost too picture-perfect.

Except, wasn't that tree over there a minute ago? It seems like it's getting closer...

CRITTER: WANDERWOODS

Danger level: Low to none
Type: Tree? (Fissure Creature)
Environment: The Fringes (everywhere)
Behaviour: Spooky

These creatures - as much as they can be considered "creatures" - appear to simply be smallish trees, with twisting branches, silvery bark, and almost paper-thin, hand-shaped leaves. As long as eyes and attention is on them, they seem to be like any other tree, though the observant will note that the earth around their bases seems freshly disturbed.

Take your eyes off them, however, and they're quick to shuffle from place to place around you, leaving behind messy, shallow holes from where their roots pull back up out of the ground. Though they follow a character fairly persistently (unless you take the radical step of, for example, lighting them on fire), they are in fact perfectly harmless to living creatures in the forest.

It's your manifested dreams that are potentially in trouble, as it is those that the trees ultimately approach. This can be as much boon as it is trouble, depending on the exact form of the dream The tree's thin leaves begin to paper the dream figment, the branches bending - until it's swallowed up and gone, leaving not even the mist behind. Yum, dreams.

CRITTER: MY DEEREST


Danger level: Low to moderate
Type: Animal
Environment: The Fringes, Silvermist Hollow
Behaviour: Nonviolent until close range

These deer seem to be just regular deer at first glance, does, stag, and fawns all peppered through the forest just like they ought to be. Their mouths seem like they open a bit wider than the deer you're used to, but they're probably from a slightly different universe, so that's fine, right?

And they're quite friendly, coming up to you curiously with unusual boldness for what's obviously a prey animal... Until they get close enough to bite, at which point they do so with unexpected vehemence and seriously unexpected amounts of teeth. Surprise! They're carnivorous, and you looked tasty.

Luckily, aside from their tendency to bite aggressively, there's not especially much different about them from normal deer. Their primary strategy is to get in close and bite deep, then wait for their prey to bleed out. If you're interested, you can absolutely hunt them down and eat them right back.

CRITTER: THE TEALEST (cw: parasitic fungus)

Danger level: Moderate to high
Type: Fungus-bearing Animal
Environment: The Fringes, Silvermist Hollow
Behaviour: Aggressive

Occasionally, however, what you run into isn't the regular deer but... these. Fur stained teal, with mushrooms growing from their backs, heads, and antlers, these deer are every bit as toothy as their mundane counterparts, but significantly more wild-eyed and aggressive. They don't seem to be aiming to eat anything, even, merely to sink their teeth into whatever they can reach.

And hopefully you packed magical healing or something to cleanse the wounds with, because those who do not take proper precautions with these bites will find that they grow over with the tendrils of a teal fungus, sealing into the wound, in about a day's time. You might also find small teal mushrooms growing in such places as behind your ears, or buried in the hair at the back of your neck.

While humans (or whatever else) are not the preferred host of the fungus, they're not entirely unaffected by the infection. Those bitten will steadily grow more aggressive in turn, and more prone especially to feeling as though they should bite anything nearby. Threat? Bite it. Potential prey? Bite it. Trusted friend and ally? Better bite it just to be safe.

Fortunately, the fungal infection isn't fatal in anything except the deer (which an be found eventually rotting beneath heaps of growing teal mushrooms - maybe don't eat either of these). The urge to bite can be safely managed with willpower and maybe a muzzle until you can find someone who can magically cleanse the fungus from your body (any universal status-removal magic will do, as well as anything that targets disease).

SILVERMIST HOLLOW

A series of clearings where the silver mist hangs unusually thick, causing the whole area to seem muted in both color and sound. The trees are thinner and smaller here - it seems like a younger part of the forest grown over something older. Shrubbery and thickets are exceptionally common, and rings of mushrooms and old stumps that have mostly decayed away show that there was once logging here.

In addition to the small glowing mushrooms common throughout the Fissure, more normal mushrooms can be found here in abundance, and quite a few of them are edible (best to leave picking them to the experts, though). There's also some large patches of grass that look almost maintained in comparison, though most of the connections between clearings are still worn down animal trails cutting through the bushes.

The thicker mist means that dream specters manifest more quickly here. This combined with the abilities of the creatures that call the more open spaces of the hollow means that characters may find themselves catapulted from one dream to another - or find that they're in for a very rude awakening from some aspect of a more unpleasant dream.

(Hey, isn't this like those dreams you've had about waking up, only to find yourself within another dream?)

CRITTER: HUSH SHEPHERDS With thanks to Asher!

Danger level: Low
Type: Magical animal (domesticable)
Environment: Silvermist Hollow; almost always found with shhhhhhhheep
Behaviour: Herding

These canines mostly resemble dogs, with oddly puppy-like faces and low, stout bodies. Their fur is longer and softer than average, too. In full light they appear almost wispy and indistinct, but in the forest's twilight they're easy enough to see. They're usually found in small packs with their flock, usually three or four individuals.

But what's probably more immediately noticeable is that there's a sort of silence that follows them - almost complete silence, in fact. You needn't panic - in fact, you may find that you can't, even if you put some effort into it. Tense and high emotions vanish as though blown away by a breeze. Hush shepherds feed on these strong emotions, and aside from their silencing and calming effects, aren't much more powerful than an average animal. After their magic, their primary defense is their teeth.

And yes, the young ones are called "hush puppies."

CRITTER: SHHHHHHHHEEP With thanks to Asher!

Danger level: Low to none
Type: Magical animal (domesticable)
Environment: Silvermist Hollow; almost always found with hush shepherds
Behaviour: Sheepish

There's nothing overtly abnormal about these sheep, save that their wool is even purer and more cloudy white than regular sheep - quite unusual, given that they're apparently feral, though they can be tamed with some effort. The herds seem to have even more of a cloudy, dreamy quality, and smell faintly of fresh laundry.

Those approaching a herd of shhhhhhhheep will find themselves drifting towards sleep (perhaps easily, perhaps with a sensation of finally, depending on how long they've been in the forest). This goes double for those who actually touch the shhhhhhhheep with bare hands or skin - as the effect is caused by a soporific oil in the wool. This could make it ideal to harvest for a particularly cuddly blanket... Assuming that you don't fall asleep in the process.

Fortunately, while they're as easily spooked as regular sheep, they're quite tolerant of anyone who falls asleep in their midst. At least if you need to nap somewhere, in the middle of a herd of these guys isn't a terrible place for it.

(The original submissions for hush shepherds and shhhhhhhheep can be found here.)

HAZARD: FAIRY CIRCLES

Danger level: Disorienting
Type: Fissure Effect
Active: Trigger mechanism; Silvermist Hollow

The effects of these circles of mushrooms are twofold. The first is that when the ground near the mushrooms is disturbed, they release a cloud of sparkly, disorienting those nearby (and possibly causing them to sneeze). The second takes effect when you actually enter the circle - with another burst of spores (these slightly pink), characters will find themselves moved to a completely different, random similar circle elsewhere in the Hollow.

Fairy circles can be distinguished from regular mushrooms by both the arrangement and the type of mushrooms involved - fuschia pink caps which look perpetually as though there are drops of water on them.

BLOSSOMGALE

Once your eyes have adjusted to the visual explosion of colour, you’ll see that this area is full to the brim with flowers of all kinds. Giant flowers. While some are simply oversized for their species, there’s just as many that have grown to about the size of a small child and more than a handful that have swollen to the size of a car. Despite the overblown scale, few of these flowers seem particularly unusual and in fact, seem to be perfectly healthy specimens for those who mights be able to pick up on that sort of thing.

There’s a few regular sized flowers scattered around the area too, though there doesn’t seem to be much rhyme or reason to their placement. Any intrepid investigations who decide to pick one will find they wilt exceptionally quick after being picked; only a few minutes after they’re taken from the ground, they’ll be dead. But what’s more important is the effect these flowers will have on anyone who picks them -- they will find themselves suddenly feeling a particular emotion, that becomes more pronounced as time passes.

Red (Columbine) -- Fear, anxiety
Blue (Wolf’s Bane) -- Irritation, impatience, contempt
Yellow (Chrysanthemum) -- Protective, affectionate
Green (Hydrangea) -- Proud, confident, energetic
Orange (Marigold) -- Sorrow, loneliness
Purple (Iris) -- Bravery, daring

The effect will only last a few minutes. Once the flower has withered away, the rush of emotion will end, leaving everyone to work out what exactly just happened.

CRITTER: KITTEHFLY With thanks to Ki!

Danger level: Low to moderate
Type: Magical animal (domesticable)
Environment: Blossomgale; occasionally the Branches
Behaviour: Fluttery

These tiny creatures look just like regular butterflies or moths at first glance, if particularly large ones (about the size of a hand). Closer inspection - or a good ear for meowing - reveals that they are, in fact, tiny winged cats, fluttering from flower to flower and harvesting pollen and nectar to take back to their nests.

These creatures are largely docile, and only defend themselves if their nests or feeding grounds are disturbed. Their nests, odd bag-shapes hanging from particularly thick stems or the lower branches of the trees, are made of a sort of wax, and contain a honeylike, silvery substance that promotes dreamless sleep. To defend themselves, kittehflies flutter sparkling dust (actually microscales) from their wings - in addition to the obvious blinding and sneezing effects, it can also cause hallucinations if inhaled.

(The original submission can be found here! It also includes art!)

CRITTER: BLISTERBEES


Danger level: Moderate
Type: Fissure Effected creature
Environment: Blossomgale
Behaviour: Toasty

Bees. My God.

While the Fissure has engorged these fuzzy friends to the size of a small dog, the Blisterbees don’t seem any more inclined towards violence than their smaller counterparts. They’re mostly concerned with buzzing along from flower to flower, collecting pollen and doing their little bee jobs, just like always.

However, if you happen to start messing with the flowers, then all bets are off.

Thankfully for literally everyone, the Blisterbees’ stingers are too blunt for them to actually sting humans (or anyone, really) with. Unfortunately, that means they’ve cooked up another method for getting rid of troublemakers.

Characters who are caught messing with the giant flowers by the Blisterbees will find themselves swarmed by a group of three or four of them at a time. While this might seem very nice at first, given that these fuzzy friends are very nice and warm, it will very quickly become apparent that the bees will continue to heat up so long as they’re not chased off. While they thankfully won’t get hot enough to cook anyone on the spot, Blisterbees will continue to swarm so long as they’re not dealt with and there’s a very real possibility that a character swarmed by enough of them could suffocate under the weight and heat.

HAZARD: DRAGONSNAPS

Danger level: Moderate
Type: Fissure-affected plant
Active: When approached

Beware of those giant snapdragons stashed amongst the first of the flowers - they're quite toothy, and ready to bite anyone who comes near that isn't one of the local pollinators. They can also breathe small gouts of fire from a nectar that's better described as an oil for how flammable it is.

FALL'S HEART

As awash with green as the outskirts of the forest were, Fall’s Heart is equally saturated in vivid shades of red, yellow and orange, which are mirrored in places by the pools of clear, cool water that have gathered around the bases of some of the maple trees that make up this section of the forest. It’s fall here and going by the thick blanket of leaves plastered to the ground, it has been for a while. Leaves flutter gently through the air but no matter how long you stand and watch, none of the trees here seem to be at risk of going truly bare and draining the area of its colour.

But as beautiful as the autumn scenery is, that isn’t the only thing of note here. As you wander deeper into the trees, you may begin to catch glimpses of things between the gaps in the trunks. At first, the shapes appear indistinct but the longer you watch, the more their forms take shape. Until eventually you realize that it’s the shape of someone long since lost to you somehow here in the forest.

Friend, family, lover, hated enemy -- there’s no real hard rule for who characters might think they see, only that this person is someone they have lost and now long to be reunited with. But no matter what they do or how loud they call, the person flitting between the trees won’t acknowledge anyone’s presence. You can chase them right into the heart of the forest, but the person you’re longing to see will always be just a little too from your reach…

Fortunately for the pain in your heart, this part of the forest is otherwise tranquil.

HAZARD?: MIRROR POOLS

Danger level: ???
Type: Fissure Effect
Active: All times

Be careful of disturbing the tranquility of the pools, in fact. For warping these natural mirrors will cause them to take on a warped reflection of you - exactly how the reflection is off varies, but it's always uncanny and slightly unnatural. Some are expressionless, empty-eyed; some have no eyes at all; some have too-long, twisted fingers.

Left to their own devices, these twisted mirrors will wander, silently, through Fall's Heart until some other touch disturbs them. At the brush of a hand or the fall of a leaf upon their heads, they collapse once more into perfect, unnaturally still puddles.

RESOURCE: CRYSTALLEAVES


Frequency: Rare
Type: Magical item/raw material
Environment: Falls Heart, buried in the leaf piles

Oddly enough, at the very bottom of the piles of leaves, should you look, you'll find leaves that seem to be coated with crystalline frost. Except that these leaves are not chill to the touch - rather, the crystals that cluster on them are frozen of the mist. When eaten, they allow the consumer to recall a brief stretch of memory - whether dream or reality - in perfect clarity, as though it was happening once more. The distortions of time are meaningless; the memory plays as close to objective fact as it's possible to get, from the character's own perspective, and at a step removed that allows them to observe things that they might not have otherwise seen.

Just be careful about where you use them, because while you relive your recollection, your ability to sense your surroundings is dampened. Not completely gone, at least... But not all there, either.

And yes, they have the cronch.

INFINITY TREE: ROOTS

You ever have those dreams of flying that start off with just unusually long-lasting jumps? Well, congratulations, that dream - probably more pleasant than most of the ones you've seen so far - is now reality. At least, so long as you remain under the branches of the Infinity Tree - among the roots, or higher up in the branches themselves.

Of course, just like those dreams, it takes some time for full flight to actually kick in. Characters will at first find, instead, that their steps are just a little lighter, and that when they jump, their fall to the ground is slowed - increasingly so, both the longer they are in the area and the harder they concentrate on the effect.

Which is a good thing, because there's quite a bit to scramble over among the roots. They go right up to the shores of the lake, and erosion has removed a great deal of the dirt from between the larger ones as the tree leans out over the water. With a bit of effort, one can get right down to the waterline, or right up against the trunk of the thousand-foot tree, which is near as thick around as a city block. Some of the roots arch up enough to create nooks and crannies, some of them large enough to hide under (if you're not especially large and you're willing to curl up under a damp tree root).

The mist is thicker here, rolling off the lake in silver waves. The dreams that take form in this area are more likely to be full scenes, rather than simple, single images. Take care that you don't get lost following them and wind up in the dark, chill water, okay?

CRITTER: HEX TURTLES


Danger level: Moderate if provoked
Type: Magical animal
Environment: The Infinity Tree Roots and the nearby water
Behaviour: Snappy

These turtles, with distinctly hexagonal, shimmering shells, can be found both on the shore and in the water among the roots. They range in size from the size of a palm to the width of a person's shoulders - the larger, the older, and the older they are, the more naturally appearing runes there are worked into their hard shells. If you don't bother them, they won't bother you.

If you do bother them, however, you'll discover that the runs on their shells aren't just for show. The runes on their backs allow these turtles to manifest a magical barrier (yes, it's a typical hexagon bubble barrier) that protects them from physical blows. Not only that, but they can at will shatter the barrier into shards - potentially painfully to anyone foolish enough to strike at melee range. In addition to their magical abilities, they're surprisingly fast, and have a bite on par with any mundane snapping turtle.

The shells are a worthwhile prize, however (not to mention the meat of the turtle, if you're so inclined). While they won't activate by themselves, it's possible to study the shells to learn to create a similar magical barrier yourself, if you have an inclination towards the magical. Otherwise, they're also very pretty, with a metallic sheen, and could probably be used to make fairly effective armor plates with a bit of carving.

CRITTER: DOUBLE-DUCKS

Danger level: Low to moderate
Type: Fissure creature
Environment: Lake water and waterline
Behaviour: Angry

Have you ever seen a two-headed duck? Well, check that off the bucket list. Have you ever seen a two-headed duck arguing with itself?

Yeah.

Aside from their two-headedness, these ducks look pretty much completely normal, though perhaps a bit on the larger side (not large enough, thankfully, to be called geese). They're angry enough for an entire flock, though - you'll hear them long before you see their light grey, speckled feathers in the mist, and they don't take kindly to...

Well, anyone. If you manage to distract them from their annoyed quacking, both heads will team up and give you a serious bite and attempt to chase you off some distance inland. Males and females can be distinguished by the black heads and white ring collars of the males, but both are equally aggressive.

INFINITY TREE: BRANCHES

Hanging like a cloud around the trunk of the tree are its branches - long, cable-like lengths that sway in the breeze, adorned by narrow silver-green leaves as long as your arm. Those unwilling to wait long enough for the dreamlike flight to kick in entirely could probably manage to grab one of the lower-hanging branches and start to make their climb up the tree that way.

The mist hangs close to the tree itself, though aside from the flight effect, its branches are mostly free of the power of dreams. Those who try to break out from under the cover of the tree's branches, or to go too high above the top, will find themselves slowly starting to sink - a gentle warning that venturing too far will cause the mist's power to fail them and make them fall entirely. Of course, those who can fly under their own power have nothing to fear.

The thicker branches - the ones actually wood instead of draping leaves - might strike one as unusual even for a dream, once you reach them. They're well-manicured with pathways, planter boxes, even benches - as though someone had transformed this upper part of the tree into their own personal garden, or even a park. Mistmatched lanterns and lamp-posts light the mist against the constant twilight, some in bright colors, some with simply a yellow glow, all of them attracting dully-glowing moths that are occasionally scaled more in line with the Tree itself.

Those who follow the paths back towards the trunk will find that they all seem to slowly converge on one place...

CRITTER: VINE SERPENTS

Danger level: Moderate
Type: Animal
Environment: Infinity Tree Branches, specifically the weepy lower ends
Behaviour: Ambushers

Be careful about which vines you grab on your way up - some of them are not vines at all, but impressively long, thin serpentine creatures. They're not actually snakes, but something closely related, because they have spines that sport the occasional long feathers - silver-green and a near-match for the leaves of the Tree.

They are also regularly twenty or more feet in length, and thin enough to twist around the unwary grabber's neck tightly enough to strangle. Their heads hang at the bottom of how they drape from the branches, swinging in the breeze, and their tails curl tightly around the branches above. Also unlike regular snakes, they can actually take bites of things rather than swallowing them whole - which is, in fact, that they do to any strangled prey, pulling the weight up to where their tails are coiled to consume at a leisurely pace.

CRITTER: STAR-LINGS

Danger level: Annoyance
Type: Animal (domesticable?)
Environment: Primarily Infinity Tree Branches; rare in the rest of the forest
Behaviour: Light-attracted

These pesky little birds look like normal starlings at first glance - it's only on closer examination that one finds that the darker parts of their feathers have a hidden sparkle, reflecting any light around them in tiny, starry fragments across their feathers. Otherwise, they look and sound much like normal songbirds, though they can occasionally be found mimicking the calls of the more normal birds lower in the forest.

And those with lights will find that they tend to swarm - both because they seek the easy pickings of the moths that are also attracted to the lights, and because they themselves are attracted to the lights. It's no wonder that the lanterns hanging the paths made in the branches are somewhat dim - anything much brighter than natural flame will rapidly gain quite a flock of them, following you around with loud voices and generally being annoying.

While it's not possible to domesticate the adults, there are a few nests to be found, and birds raised by hand can become intelligent and somewhat affectionate - if loud and demanding - pets. They're not as smart as a corvid or parrot and not as friendly as a pigeon, though.

???

Those who follow the pathways along the branches of the Infinity Tree to their nexus will eventually find their way to...

A noodle shop?

The building, tucked up against the heart of the tree, the trunk forming its back wall and its foundation half branches and half wooden planks built into a floor, has a warm light and an open-front bar, very much resembling a typical Japanese ramen shop. A doorway at one end of the bar is blocked off by a purple curtain, and a slightly tilted wooden sign over it reads simply INQUIRIES.

The shop's main sign, in contrast, reads simply ???. It obscures most of the second floor, presumably some kind of attic apartment, with a glowing window sticking out right next to the sign. The small chimney releases a steady plume of grey smoke to vanish into the mist. Shelves around the edges of the shop are loaded down with various occult-looking objects, as well as glass vials full of loose-leaf tea and other herbs.

There's plenty of seating around the deck, not just at the bar - most of it carved from wood and decorated with carved leaves, but there's a few things that are clearly the refuse of the Fissure, collected by who- or what-ever serves as the shop proprietor. The bar boasts a single modern-looking bar stool, and there are two tables with mismatched cafe chairs near the curtained-off door. Every other table boasts at least one, and probably three or four, partially-burned candles, the wax heaping up inside of multicolored glass bowls as the flames flicker in random colors.

Within a few minutes of people starting to arrive, a door behind the bar seating slides open, revealing a slice of narrow kitchen and a young woman, long silver hair tied back with a hair net and a pair of hairsticks with dangly charms at a jaunty angle. Aside from the apron over her front, she looks more like a carnival fortune-teller than any kind of restaurant hostess.