The Ocean Strider's Voyage

[Kendai]

((w00t, yay for baddies! Okay, don't mind me, I'm just a bit hyper right now... really, I'm not evil... :P))

 

Kendai laughs to herself as she hears the news of the coming army.

 

"This is almost too easy..." Gripping her dagger between her teeth, she easily dives overboard, swimming for shore away from the others, intent on meeting this army herself. As she pulls herself out of the water into a small enclave just out of sight of the ship, she thinks about her mission:

 

((flashback... everyone "ooh" and "ahh" at my transitions... ))

 

Kendai stands before the priest, dropping on one knee before him as she can sense the female orcs around her, tolerating her only because of her orchan blood and her services to their master. The priest stands rigid, looking straight ahead, his eyes white. He whispers the rites, allowing the god he served to speak through his body.

 

"Do you know what to do, my young friend? The mission must fail, at any cost."

 

Kendai bows her head. "It shall be as you wish, my Master..."

 

Mortos smiles through his priest, a twisted grin that promised only darkness and death for both Seridia and Illarion. "Then my curse shall be complete at last, and no one, not even that accursed Alluwen, will be able to stop me..."

 

((end flashback))

 

Kendai shivers, but not just from the water that still clung to her body. She had made a dangerous choice, choosing to work for Mortos, but the promise of the rewards was too much to pass up. And with her job already halfway done it seemed, she would get her reward sooner than later... She makes her way through the trees, checking her weapons and preparing to meet the leaders of the army.

 

((btw, I hope you don't mind the Mortos twist... I'm sure he'd wouldn't want this to happen anyway ))

[Arnieman]

((Guess who? ))

Atahn came to rest on a branch next to the draegoni he saw fighting the sailors with the elf - Now he knew him as Brom. Shortly after came the elf - Pennifuin. And shortly that, an arrow that almost made its mark on the elf, just as accurate as the one that took out the poor dwarf back in Portland - he heard Brom refer to him as Tumaros. Is this the Treesoar I've heard of? Atahn mused to himself.

 

Just then, he thought he heard Brom's voice, but he really didn't see Brom's lips move - "What are those? Orchans? I myself know not. They strike a familiar coord with me, but I cannot put my finger on it... Like I used to know them. ::Pause:: I used to have strong feelings about them, But I cannot tell if they were positive or negative, Its like my memory of these...creatures was wiped from my brain and only a shadow remains. What do you know of them?"

 

Atahn began to count the forces, then heard an unfamiliar voice speak - "Even if they were human, there are 12 of them and a leader...Captain I suppose. 13 against 4 is not exactly good odds, and I do not think they would be very keen on us just dropping out of the trees and asking them questions. How many other stow-aways did you see? Do we have enough force to oppose them?"

 

This voice puzzled him - was it his own? Or was this still Brom, or even Pennifuin or Tumaros, or someone else who had seen what was going on, and had spoken - in his mind, of all places? Yet this was neither the time or place for such dilemma's - just as the words had formed in his mind, he sought to answer them.

 

At last, he spoke. "I don't think we have a choice but to find out." By now, though, he found himself alone up there, Brom and Pennifuin returning to the ship. He alone stood trapped in the tree, with thirteen beings marching below, as if to prepare an assault on the ship. By now, though, he looked into the distance - there were more coming. There was no choice now, there would be battle - and the sailors and stowaways, all on the ship, appeared as if panicking. At least the Baron, the Mage Councillers, and the Captain had left; if this battle was lost, the mission continued - but Atahn wasn't about to let this be defeat, if he could help it. Someone needed to command this lot, if they had any chance of survival, or at least at not descending into legends as a quaking mess.

 

He leapt from the tree, and somehow landed on the deck of the ship, uninjured - what was this magic that now he felt? And was someone actually still READING his mind? As he landed, he straightened himself up to his full human height. He rapped the free end of his staff 3 times on the deck, as if to draw attention to himself, and then spoke, louder that he'd ever thought anyone could - "ALL people and creatures of Serdia! To me! There is a large party of unknown creatures marching towards us! Sailors on-Deck and arm yourselves!" At that, he looked over at the tailed thing pummeling the sailor, and realized this must be that humkey I've heard of... strange... And then he continued, "That includes humkeys!"

 

He figured Brom was still in his mind, and not exactly being close to him, he began to try to project a thought at Brom - perhaps you can help me. We need good formation - warriors in front, mages in back, and archers - somewhere high for coverage. Even as he thought this, the makeshift army he had at his command just seemed to take places, as if they were chess pieces lined up on a chess board. He even saw the dashing elf from earlier dashing up the mast for a good shot from the rigging. He himself walked to a crate, and found someone had left a perfectly good titanium short sword in there. He took it for himself, fastened it to his belt, and went toward the mast himself. He then took stock of the essences he had, and the potions too. He had enough of both that he could reasonably carry with a few offensive spells for awhile, and could also help heal these men, if they fell faint in battle. He had no where near enough to take more than the thirteen who came first, or even to just keep the fighters alive for more than a few rounds, so he hoped there had been other mages handy.

 

At that, a light thought passed over him at that moment, and he muttered to himself, "Look alive men; we don't want to die afraid." With that, he threw his head back in a hearty laugh.

[Lyanna]

((Btw, forgot to mention this, but the Ocean Strider crashed on the shores of Bethel Province))

 

-Lyn-

[Placid]

Placid stepped forward, acknowledging his friend Pennifuin.

"Hiding? I've been keeping an eye on things back here young one, which is more than I can say for yourself"

"Where's Brom then?" he said with cynicism.

"I rather expected his crazy hide to be in the middle of this, or was that someone else I caught my eyes on earlier?"

 

Pennifuin smiled with a wry expression, "You certainly underestimate the two of us"

 

(xD not quite sure of the situation here :-) )

[Regar1]

After returning to the wreck with the Baron and their three 'escorts,' Regar was surprised to see that most of the stowaways were out of hiding and working on lightening the ship's hold...mostly of themselves. Regar was surprised however to see the Captain come forward to meet the strange soldiers. One of the soldiers, the leader, he thought, began questioning. "Who are you people and why have you come to our shores? If you're with those Mortos-cursed Orchans, be on your way, or we'll show you the sharp side of our blades."

His challenging stare raised the fine hairs on the back of Regar's neck, but the Baron Wilde began calmly, "First off, we are from the Land of Seridia, sent by the Lord of Whitestone, Luxin, and by the Council of Portland. Our mission is to open relations between our divided brethren here in Irillion. Lastly, I find my self insulted that you would group us with some group of blood-crazed savages. I've never understood what Glydoc saw in them, but they don't serve Mortos." Regar thinks back to the tales he heard of the Orchan people's hsitory. Yeah, sure they don't, unless their being duped into it. And they didn't exactly seem guilty about their savagry after the War of the Gods. They were more concerned that Glydoc would punish them for breaking their oaths to him. Orchans and their bloody honor code.

Suddenly a fourth soldier rushed from the trees, whispering in the leader's ears. "Well, if your allied to those orchans, your 'friends' are on their way here." Suddenly Regar heard a commotion from the trees and a number of people emerged yelling. Is that Brom? and Penn? Blessed be Aluwen, that looks like Tumaros with them...AND Atahn. Regar notices a small figure huffing to keep up. And a gnome...from Seridia? Wait, isn't that Placid? Maybe things won't be so bad after all. Regar had been so absorbed in the group emerging from the trees, he had missed what the Baron and the Captain had told the strange soldiers, but suddenly the elf (Regar was sure of that now, he glimpsed the distinctive point on the soldier's ears), Baron Wilde, and the Captain were gathering up some supplies and preparing to march. The Baron called over a number of his bodyguards, and addressed them. "Men, I must leave to meet with the Prefect of this land, apparently the province of Bethel. I can only take a few of you with me, more might alarm these soldiers and the Prefect." The Baron paused and pointed to three of the guards, pointedly ignoring Regar clearing his throat when he wasn't included. "The rest of you must stay and defend the ship and her cargo. Get these lazy stowaways moving, before the tide grinds her hull to bits. Also, you may have a small problem. It seems a number of ORchan raiders are approaching. Defend the ship. If the mages cannot establish teleporters back to Seridia, that boat may be our only way home."

Regar looked around at his fellow guards. A couple of steady souls with me atleast, and more among the stowaways. This shouldn't be too bad Regar turned as the Baron and his party rushed off into the woods. His eyes widened as he sized up the Orchan force approaching the ship. Then again, we might be in for a spot of fun. Regar felt someone's thoughts intruding on his own and he swiftly moved into position among the other fighters. Baring his thermal serpant sword, he snagged a handful of essences from his pack and quickly teleported into the formation.

 

 

((yeah, LW, most of us have hinted at loads more stowaways, and I've left it open for a number of other players to RP as guards...its kinda getting hard to keep referring to them in the 3rd person all the time, lol.))

((Edit: spelling, grammar, and had to change a couple of things since Brom smoothed things over with the Orcans ))

Edited September 6, 2005 by Regar1

[Brom]

Brom stands ready in the middleground, As he had just helped Atahn to rally the men with a simple spell, he himself was going to obey it too!

Counting the odds up he now relised they outnumbered the 13 creatures more than 2 to one, And he knew many of the stow-aways that were now revealing themselves and knew they could take on a horde much greater than 13. Quietly he began relaying messages to men on what they should do. Sending the obvious warrirors to the front, deciding if men should be distance or short-range fighters and setting up the spellcasters around the ship so their skills could be used to their fullest extents.

 

He himself stood amidships behind the wall of warriors, Brom was no leader, but he could often see what needed to be done and work things the right way, Falling into his element he began walking toward Atahn to counsel him on whatever needed to be done.

While on the way he spotted a very short man. Placid! You did make it! When did you get on!? Why did you not show yourself before now! Have you grown since I last saw you? Brom had a knack for getting distracted, but before the answers could be given a low gutteral voice yelled from the 13 creatures now 50 feet from the ship.

 

"What are you doing in the Bethel Province"

"We are explorers from a continent far way called Serdia!" said Placid!

Brom grumbled under his breath, "Yes they are going to take the little guy seriously"

"What is your business here?" said the largest creature in front.

"We will answer if you answer us this question first, Who are you?" Placid said with a high-pitched but nevertheless loud voice.

"We are Orchans from the Islands in the north, Raiding this puny human city!"

"I see, We are exploring for new islands to promote communication between our two continents and in search for a cure to the Curse of Mortos"

The Orchans low chuckles could be heard from hundreds of feet away.

"We will not bother you on your quest, if you do not bother us!" But we also lay under the curse of mortos, We wish you luck."

 

And with that the Orchans turned around and headed back towards the main horde.

"What do we do now? Ahh, I did not get to kill anyone! Whew, that was close" and many other sayings came from the crowd atop the ship as everyone released their pent-up air.

Brom looked over at Placid and said, "Good job little one, May I treat you to a drink in the nearest tavern?"

"Aye" said the gnome, and they carelessly walked off toward the tavern, before getting too far Brom yells back, "You are all invited of course! we need news and information on this forsaken continent! just do not get your necks broken! If we could meet back here at the boat in the morning I believe will have orders for everyone, including the stow-aways"

Looking to Placid, Brom said, "Personally I would love to see a Draegoni city! ha! like those exsist!"

Edited September 6, 2005 by Brom

[Lyanna]

((No, Bethel is part of the main island, just east of Idaloran Province and the Imperial Capital. It's mostly desert, but I suppose there are some woodlands. Orchan islands are to the northeast. Irilion has one big island, several islands to the east, one small island to the southwest, and one stretch of islands in the south, where Iscalrith is.))

 

-Lyn-

[Lyanna]

One of the soldiers who had been sent to scout the area came hurrying back after the fight. Looking around uncertainly at the bustling crowd of stowaways and failing to see Captain Gaildren, Baron Wilde or either of the two mages, he hesitantly approached Regar, the Baron's personal guard.

 

"Excuse me, m'lud," he spoke diffidently. Regar turned and arched an eyebrow at the young private. The scout blushed and stammered in his haste to report, but eventually made it known that he had spoken with some of the locals, and had managed to obtain a roughly-drawn map of the lands surrounding them.

 

Quickly, he presented the scrap of parchment to Regar, and heaved a sigh of relief. Regar looked down at the flimsy scrap of torn parchment.

 

[Brom]

A young man ran past him toward the ship. "Ohh well, ok we will hold the drink until later Placid. No No Ill still buy you one." said Brom while heading back to the ship.

 

Ooooos and Ahhhhs came from the Serdians as they glanced over a scrap of parchment one of the soldiers was holding.

"A map!" yelled Alderan

"Just what I was looking for" said Brom.

As Brom reached the soldier holding the parchment and said, "What is your name soldier?"

"Regar"

Brom recognised the name from Serdia, but had not met him.

"Regar, May I see that?"

Handing over the scrap of parchment he said, "Sure, but its not much"

Looking over the parchment Brom said "Pennifuin! which way is north?"

Pennifuin pointed north with his newly aquired staff.

"In that case!" said Brom, "We have to go that way to the nearest tavern" Pointing in the other direction, Taverns are the very best place for information. Thats where Im off to. I will be back here in the morning! After an evening of a little of this and a little of that." A Wry smile crossing Brom's face. And he was off south with Placid and Pennifuin toward Bethel.

Edited September 6, 2005 by Brom

[Arnieman]

Atahn had been ready to cry out for the battle to begin, the words of a powerful spell on his lips. Before he could, he saw, out of the corner of his eye, a gnome standing on a barrel. Placid.

 

As the gnome began to speak, Atahn remained tense, though thought of battle quickly faded from his mind. As soon as the gnome finished his address with the Orchan raiders, they left... strange, he thought to himself, with a word, that swine has cheated me of battle... oh, wait, I am still alive.

 

At first, he saw the gnome and draegoni take off, but he saw one of the orchans still hanging around, except this one seemed familiar - Kendai. He didn't trust the look in her eyes. He wrestled with himself whether he'd take off after Brom and Placid, or keep an eye on Kendai.

 

About that time, a guard came back with a parchment, and on that parchment a rough map of the area. Mentally, and in his log, he made a rough sketch of the terrain, just before Brom removed it from Regar's hands.

 

After a brief exchange of words with Pennifuin, Brom and Placid were off. Kendai already having disappeared, he figured the only option now was to go with Brom and Placid. He figured he could learn as much as anyone of the area, and at the very least he bore the chance of restocking his used essence supplies. Furthermore, there was something he wanted to ask Brom about that... whatever he'd felt earlier, as they were about to do battle. If anyone knew, it'd be Brom; though Atahn wasn't entirely sure he wanted to know.

 

Before he left, he took mercy on the poor sailor who'd lost the battle to Brom and Pennifuin - he healed him, cut him free, and gave strict orders for the sailors to begin repairing the ship and shoring up any defenses that could be made. Orders he was sure would be ignored and likely forgotten before he was even an earshot away.

Edited September 6, 2005 by Arnieman

[Brom]

((Dont you love how while you post another comes up and you need to edit yours to fit ;P Then by the time you edit that one they have edited to fit yours! Anyway, I liked the last one you wrote and it only needed a little editing, not a complete redo.

 

Im being quiet for a while, you guys take over ))

Edited September 6, 2005 by Brom

[Arnieman]

((yeah, I realized as soon as I scrapped the old post, with no hope of recovery except retyping, that at least half of it was still good - so I put it back in anyway. ))

[LadyWolf]

*Background on LadyWolf*

 

LadyWolf had always been interested in the art of shapeshifting as a child. She had always wondered what it would be like to change her form so as to not stand out from the humans. How she hated now that she had ever wished to have this power.

 

She had been training with a friend when a large bear had decided to attack. The bear knocked her friend to the ground and lunged for her. She fended it off the best she could, but it over powered her. It was going for her throat, but her wolf Gai, her pet since childhood, lunged at the bear. The bear's jaws clamping down on Gai. LadyWolf's friend ran the bear through with his titanium serp. LadyWolf lay dying, her wolf laying across her dying, his blood covering her as well as her own, mixing in her wounds.

 

Her friend, one of the strongest mage's in the land, cast a spell over LadyWolf and Gai. It was the only way he knew to save his friend. His spell drained Gai's soul and combined it with that of LadyWolf. What She was from that day bonded with her friend for life. Gai's blood flowed through her's.

 

Now, when angered or when there was a full moon, she was cursed to shift from her already different form of a draegoni, to that of what she had deemed a draegoni wolf. Noone else knew of her secret except her oldest dearest friend.

 

 

 

**Boarding the Ship**

 

She had been hiding in the shadows not far from Tumaros. She had watched, impressed, as Tum had let fly the arrow that dropped the dwarf guard. She was about to make her move when others appeared out of nowhere, scrammbling to board the ship.

 

LadyWolf had almost laughed as she saw her fellow draegoni Brom rush past Atahn, almost knocking him to the ground. She sat patiently, waiting for all the others to make her boarding easier.

 

Finally, all was quiet, she stood and looked around. She saw only her friend Regar who had taken up a job as a guard for the Baron. He was busy polishing his sword, so she made her move. She moved with stealth, despite the fact that she was larger than a human. She ran past the dead guard, pausing to muse " Damn fine shot Tum. " then quickly made her way, unseen, to the cargo hold.

 

Once in the cargo hold LadyWolf found a large crate that was filled with brown and white rabbit furs. She pryed open the lid and was about to step inside when she heard a loud crash. She looked around in the darkness, her eyes adjusting very quickly, and saw none other than Sora, that monkey boy creature. She decided to ignore his rantings, she had always found him to be a bit odd.

 

LadyWolf sat on the edge of the crate and swung her long legs over into the crate. There was a full moon out tonight, and despite the clouds, she knew she had to move fast. She pulled the lid shut on the crate and settled down into the furs. She took a vile out of the pack she carried beneath her grey cloak. She pulled the stopper out of the vile and drank the whole sleeping potion in one gulp. This should hold me til the journey is over. At that, she closed her eyes and entered a deep, almost coma like sleep.

 

**Present Time**

LadyWolf was snapped awake from a sound sleep by a familiar voice deep she heard deep in her mind. She pushed open the crate that she had been stowed away in and stood and stretched for the first time since she had boarded the ship all those months ago. She squinted at the brightness of the sun.

 

LadyWolf's eyes finally adjusted to the light. She stood looking around at all the commotion on the shore. She saw Brom, Penn, Placid and Tum all looking off into the distance.

 

It had been Brom's voice that had awakened her. Her mind still foggy from having slept so long she could not focus her mind to channel with Brom's.

 

She stepped out of the crate and gazed at the horizon. Sniffing the air, she caught the scent of something that made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end.

 

LadyWolf, ignoring her hunger, quickly ran to the edge of the ship and lept with her draegoni/wolf like reflexes and landed lightly on her feet. She ran to where the others stood staring. She almost stepped on Placid in her haste, cutting sharply around him.

 

LadyWolf bounded past Brom and Penn, heading off into the woods. following this strange yet familiar scent. She was smelling orchans but didn't know it. She had a strange feeling that she couldn't quite put her finger on. Like she had encountered this scent before.

 

LadyWolf shook her head and kept running. She had to reach a town soon, and gget food, and a shower. Then she could confront this curious smell.

 

**Sorry this was so long, but I had to catch back up**

**Edited to follow the story line better, also fixed my background.Wrote this in haste while I was at work. Also my first attempt at role playing.**

 

*** Feel free to use me in your adventures***

Edited September 6, 2005 by LadyWolf

[pennifuin]

"Well Brom, this looks like the place."smirked Pennifuin.

"Well the map must have been wrong, drawn by a dunce or such."

"Excuses excuses, the older you get, the worse you get at navigating!"

"And the plumper we become!!" added Placid who was quite happily quick marching alongside the two strolling big folk.

"Should we go in...?"Suggested pennifuin.

Edited September 6, 2005 by pennifuin

[Dunian]

Dunian relaxed the grip on his sword as the orchan horde marched off. From his long years of traveling the lands of Serdia, he had trained himself in the art of stealth, and now he would need all of his skill in this new continent.

 

He walked back to the ship, just in time to see a gnome, a draeconi, and an elf setting off. "Well, most anywhere beats here, and I don't exspecially want to meet that captain." he thought. "Might as well follow them."

 

He chanted a spell and placed some essences in his hand. As the spell took effect, he dissapeared, with only his shadow remaining. After hours of following the trio in circles, they finnaly arrived at a tavern. He drew closer, close enough to hear what they were saying.

"Well Brom, this looks like the place." said the elf with a smirk.

"Well the map must have been wrong, drawn by a dunce or such." replied the draeconi.

"Excuses excuses, the older you get, the worse you get at navigating!"

"And the plumper we become!!" added the gnome.

"Should we go in...?"Suggested pennifuin.

 

"Why not?" Dunian released the spell and appeared before them with a small cloud of smoke.

 

((Feel free to use my char))

Edited September 6, 2005 by Dunian

[Brom]

An apparition appeared before Brom, Placid and Pennifuin. Like lightning they all stuck out, but Pennifuin got the first hit. Bringing his staff up with amazing speed he struck the apparition under the chin, less than a half-second later Placid gave the apparition a quick jab in the belly! Buckling him in half. Brom's hit then made contact with the spot in-between the shoulder muscle and tricep, striking the bone. As you can imagine this apparition fell off to one side, doubled over in pain!

"Who be ye!" said Placid glaring down at the man.

"Ohh shoot" said Brom, picking the man up. "You should know better than to appear right before three men like that! At least put some distance between us next time! What is your name youngin?"

With a weeze he said "Dun..ian"

Pennifuin picking up Dunian's other side said, Well, join us in the tavern! We will discuss why you appeared before us and how you did it, I would love to know!"

The group now trundled into the tavern, taking places around a table, Dunian laying across a few chairs.

Others entered the room, some of the stow-aways that decided to follow the group.

[Kendai]

((Just a question, who's playing the orchan raiders again? It's quite confusing, with people posting for other people and such ^.^; ))

[Brom]

((No one in particular is playing the Orchan horde. You may join them if you wish, make them do what you want, Its all up to you. Just try not to impeed too much upon others lives and actions as it sometimes can make people angry.

 

For you a bad person, try to help the bad people, perhaps go after the Baron or join the horde in attacking and raiding. Its all up to you. We will adapt accordingly. Thats Roleplaying!))

Edited September 6, 2005 by Brom

[pennifuin]

Pennifuin suddenly noticed that the very few locals that inhabited the tavern, were all looking at the odd foursome, with unbreaking glares.

Pennifuin leaned over to Brom and whispered, "I'll get the beers in then..."

 

The creaking of the chair being withdrawn aginst the cold slate broke the dead silence. Pennifuin walked up to the barman leaned over the bar and before he could open his mouth, the barman said rather hesitantly,

"What'll it be?"

"Four ales please, with plenty of head!"replied the Elf.

Pennifuin looked around as the barman readied the beverages. It was a cold dark place, lit only by two lanterns by the bar. The air reeked of pipe smoke. Save for a few locals, the room was empty. There was a rather ominous looking fireplace at the far end of the cramp room, unlit and covered in cobwebs. Above it, were two rusty swords, and a rather peculiar looking shield.

The barman produced four filthy pewter tankards, filled with a scummy brown liquid, that, if you were half blind and had previously lost your sense of taste, could probably just pass as ale.

 

"Here you go my fine fellows, drink up"said Pennifuin as he placed the drinks on the wonky, beer stained table.

"Mmm, comes with bits!"exclaimed Placid excitedly.

"Added fibre..."explained Brom.

Pennifuin could see the Bartender chatting to one of the locals, perched at the bar. They glimpsed over occasionally, but flinched away, everytime Pennifuin saw them looking.

"I'm not sure we're welcome here Brom" Pennifuin whispered.

"Nonshense!" cried Placid,"We're welcome arent we?!" asked Placid, standing up on his seat and looking at the locals.

"Sit down you stupid gnome, before you get us thrown out, or even worse, killed!" said Brom forcfully under his breath. He lay one hand on the gnome's shoulder and tugged him down.

"How many has he had Penn?" Asked Brom

"Just the one!Well hes only small isnt he!"

 

All of a sudden, the bartender nervously walked over, brandishing a rather large wooden hammer. Trying to make himself look big and fearsome, he stuttered,

"L-l-look here lads, we dont want n-n-no trouble here see. I would like if you left my p-p-premises right this minute. And n-n-n-never c-c-come back!"

The drunken Gnome rose to his feet,

"you shaid wha?! I'll shquish you with my...my....*hic*" Placid roumaged in his pockets,"with thish biscuit!"

The bartender looked confused. Pennifuin calmly stood up,

"Please sit down Placid, before you do any more damage, to yourself or someone else. I must apologise for my friend, hes only small, cant hold his liquor. We are but tired explorers from a far off land. We would like ever so much to stay a while, drink a few more....ales...or such."

"Hmm, well i suppose that wouldnt do any harm, i suppose" said the barman, obviously suspicious of the strange band of explorers.

"Would you mind if we lit your fire? We bring nothing but meriment, fear us not!"

 

Pennifuin produced a glowing fire essence from his pocket, placed it in the fireplace, and started tending the fire. The place lit up and filled with a warm radiance that had, they sensed, been absent for a very long time. The locals grimaced whilst they let their eyes adjust.

"Right, now we can see who we're talking to!"said Brom excitedly,"Let the merriment begin!"

Edited September 6, 2005 by pennifuin

[LadyWolf]

LadyWolf stumbled into town and walked to the tavern she saw there. Once inside she saw Brom Dunian, Penn and Placid. Placid was loud, and obviously drunk. She decided to sit a bit apart from those four, not knowing them all that well. She ordered some ale and a bite to eat and felt very uncomfortable as she felt people staring.

 

LadyWolf hated being all alone in this new land, but because of her curse, she had never really tried to get to know many people. The less that knew the better.

 

Lady sat back and chuckled to herself as Placid made an arse of himself. "damn gnomes can't handle their booze" she thought.

 

 

 

**have no clue where to go with this lol**

[pennifuin]

Halfway through educating one of the locals about the art of winding up gnomes, Pennifuin looked to the corner of the tavern, to see a young Draegoni, staring emptily in the bottom of her beer.

"You, in the corner,"Penn shouted across the now bustling room (more locals had wondered what the commotion was, there was now quite a gathering)"care to join us? What is your name?"

 

((there you go))

[gilthanas]

Gilthanas sighes, this was way to easy, he says to himself. He has a bunch of stoaways working for him, he already gotten rid of the real captin by getting rid of his memory and droppoing him off at the village, and finally he is getting payed to explore a continent. Life was great

 

~~~~~few hours later~~~~~~~~~~

 

BOOM!!!. What in the world was that?, he yelled at a nearby sailor. The patch on the ship didnt hold, we are taking on water. "great" gilthanas thought to himself. Get the as much of the cargo off of the ship as soon as possible.. Yes sir. the sailor said as he was running off to follow his orders.

Edited September 6, 2005 by gilthanas

[LadyWolf]

"You, in the corner, care to join us? What is your name?" LadyWolf looked up from her empty beer. Penn was looking directly at her. She looked around, saw noone else, then back at him. "Me? I am LadyWolf."

 

She stood slowly, her muscles screaming from having been unused for the duration of the trip and then her having run most of the way here. She slowly crossed the tavern, looking at the ground to avoid the stares of the locals.

 

She arrived at the the table of Seridians and Brom motioned for her to pull up a chair. She grabbed a chair from the next table and sat down gingerly.

 

Not totally feeling comfortable in the company of her new companions she sat back and listened. She had the over-whelming hunger for raosted gnome as she watched Placid continue his drunken banter.

 

Brom ordered another round and she was pleased that he had included her, she drank deeply of the cool ale and began to relax a bit.

[Yoshi]

((brom, Aokan is an Assasin, but lets not go there right now ))

 

Aokan sighs not seeing Tumaros get off the ship, he decides to move deeper into the continent, searching for a place to call home that isn't a bloody desert. jumping down from the tree he hits the sand running, a trail of dust covers his trail in the sand.

 

He heads for the area they call Palon Vertas at full sprint

 

((im coming for you Lv ))

[Arnieman]

Atahn had followed closely the other 3, but never truly made it close to them. In fact, as they reached the tavern, he was about to say something and join them - but Dunian beat him to the punch - and taken one himself. As the four stepped in, he stepped in with them. As their order was served, he thought better of ordering - the mugs just didn't meet to his standards. He took one look around, and noted that there were few patrons - except of course the ones that had made the journey with him. Well, I can see why the locals don't frequent, thought Atahn to himself.

 

All eyes remained on the four at the bar, particularly the gnome who'd downed his tankard. Atahn thought better of sticking around any longer, and risk betraying himself as one of them too soon. He left the tavern, and made his way to the village market. Adept at barter and trade in general, he had gained a few essence to replace the few he'd used, some metals that were mined locally (somewhat different from those on Seridia, but not so different as to make them unusable for his purpose), and even some of the local wine (slightly different flavored from the Seridian wines from Caladak, but not too bad).

 

With that, he made his way to the village square, where he sat for a moment and rested. Soon, some of the village children ran up to him, asking if he'd tell them stories of the places he'd journeyed. Hesitant at first, he capitulated, and began recounting the stories he'd remembered from the bards; stories of the War of the Gods, of the building of Whitestone, of a number of other stories. As he spoke, the crowd around him grew larger, and older people, including some of the ones he'd just traded with.

 

At last, he tired of speaking and said, "now, you've heard much of my travels and lore; please, share with me some of yours." Several eager people, evidently mesmerized by his own storytelling, tried to shout over each other, and Atahn spoke again, "Please, I want to hear all of your stories, but I can't hear them all at once. If each of you wish to take a turn..." As he trailed off, he saw the look of understanding of the others. They drew lots, and one by one told the stories they knew. Atahn faithfully jotted notes of each to his personal log. Maybe later he could compare notes with some of his compatriots. Moreover, he wanted to share them with his friend, whom he'd known had taken company with the mages as a scribe/historian. There would be time later for that.

 

Finally, all who had stories to tell finished telling them, and they again begged him for more stories. "One more, and then I must be off," he spoke to them. He told them a story of what he'd only called the Day of Pigs - an uprising of boars and goblins at the gates of Mynadar.

 

As he finished his story, he rose again, and journeyed back to the tavern where he'd left his compatriots. They were still there, though where he'd left 4, now were 5. There were the elf, draegoni, and the mage from earlier, as well as an obnoxiously drunk gnome who grew even more obnoxious and drunk by the minute, or so it seemed. At least the tankards appeared cleaner by now.

 

"Fancy meeting you here, Brom and Pennifuin. I see you brought the gnome," and, noticing the slightly banged-up Dunian, "his whipping boy?" Then turning to female Draegoni, he continued, "and who might you be, milady?"

 

Before she could speak, Brom already had for her - she was LadyWolf. Then Atahn turned to Brom, and thinking better of speaking about the lady having her own mouth to speak, as she looked shy and completely out of sorts there (which wasn't too much different from how he felt), he turned to the bartender and ordered an ale for himself, and another round for the table. He took a seat close as far as possible from Placid, which left him seated next to LadyWolf. Having seated, he fought the urge to whollop Placid with his staff.

 

He leaned forward toward Brom, and spoke. "The townsfolk have some interesting lore. Have you found anything here?" With that, he took a swig of his ale - it wasn't as bad as he'd first thought, but still not quite what he'd consider drinkable normally, but there's nothing normal in exploring a new land, and as he'd not had much to drink since leaving Portland, he wasn't about to be picky.

 

Brom looked back and said, "Not much more than that gnomes can't hold their ale."