Day 2 - Midday
Seawall
Unsure of where her feet would take her, Meyath began walking out of the barracks. As chance may have it, as Meyath was walking out of the barracks a young female recruit ran up to her and asked,
"What are you doing here in Seawall?"Surprised by her forwardness, Meyath responded,
"Well, I had to get away from something, and this is where I ended up. Your pulling together reminds me of my family actually"Unsure of how to respond to the personal information, the recruit began turning away from Meyath saying,
"Best of luck in your search."Realizing this young woman could be a resource for her, Meyath quickly said before she could turn away,
"Thanks, you got any advice, I helped out at the infirmary yesterday, but I don't know if medicine is realy my calling"Turning back to the Serpen, words began pouring out of the recruit’s mouth,
"Well, if medicine isn't your thing, and you aren't interested in joining the front line in the fighting, there's an alchemist who could always use help searching out her reagents. Ooh, or there's that cute hunter. I'd accompany him if I wasn't stuck here." The female recruits eyes got wide momentarily.
"Other than that, there's a forge and a bowyer that make a big difference in this town."Taking a moment to consider her options Meyath replied,
"Well I used to hunt before my family was slain, so I could do that. Not too afraid of the front lines but I'm not a trained warrior"The recruit replied,
"If you'd like to be trained for fighting, this barracks is the place for it. I'm going to be a great swordsman by the time they're done with me. If you're looking for the hunter, he's on the west side of town, near the forest."Meyath thanked her guide, saying,
"Thank you, I will go to him, if it does not work out I will come back here” and with that she walked off to the west. Coming to the edge of town, she saw a small hut with pelts hanging on various lines around it, with a man standing in front of a table taking the feathers off of a large bird.
Aetharbor
Deciding to thank the man who had helped him, Kassen searched the room for his benefactor, whom he found sitting on a stone bench writing on a scroll. As he saw Kassen approach he set down his quill and scroll and looked up into Kassen’s face. Kassen greeted the robed man with thanks, saying,
"Your water god is well, and you are well, too. I must find a tree that spoke, to find my life-quest goal. I might seek you again, for friendship and guides."The robed man looked at Kassen with a small amount of sadness in his eyes and replied,
"I hope you find what you are looking for. Our doors are always open to the traveler."Kassen said,
"Thank you" as he stood up and left the temple, a new sense of direction guiding his feet. He decided that before he took a journey into the huge strange mass of trees which covered this land, he would need to be able to defend himself. He walked south into Aetharbor and found the market he had been afraid of upon first arrival. It was just as noisy and crowded as before, but his purpose gave him strength to walk into the market. Searching around, at first he found no way to navigate himself, but eventually his eye caught the glint off of a dagger. Walking in that direction, he found an array of over a dozen daggers laying in front of him. Quickly picking out a cheap iron dagger that looked well enough balanced, he found out from the vendor that the dagger was worth 35 coins.
Near Vourun
TsuJochi had a sense for the fact that his clan was to the north of here, and that he would not need to cross the river while it was wide to get to them, but he could not say precisely where his cave system was, or which route would take them there. Not wanting to appear weak in front of his companion, and fairly certain the humans of Vourun would be little help in finding a Wolfkin clan, TsuJochi set off to the north along the path that was next to the river. They made good time for some ways until the path disappeared into overgrowth near the river’s edge. Looking around briefly, TsuJochi could see nothing around resembling a path in any direction except the way he came from. The forest here grew straight up to the waters edge, and to make matters worse, TsuJochi was unarmed.
Iseaya
As she stepped out of the barracks, Sofia was greeted by a reddish gold sky. With great excitement and anticipation, she recalled a piece of wisdom of her people, “A rose-gold sky watches heroic action and rejoices.” She whispered under her breath “This is my sky”. Feeling more confident than ever that she was destined for greatness, she went down to the archery yard. Once there, she was asked by the man she had met earlier to try to warm up a little, so He could see what Sofia was capable of.
Standing across the yard from a straw target, she drew her bow taught, released a breath, and let loose an arrow. It went straight into the neck of the straw man, causing him to tear open and collapse. Her overseer in this task gave out a laugh and told her to aim for a crate standing next to the dummy. Her second arrow embedded its head in this target, and her third hit a small metal ring hard enough to shatter the arrow.
Eyes full of pride, she shot the guard guiding her a grin and asked, “How was that?” He laughed a little, impressed by her performance, and said, “You’d be an asset. Do rounds with me today, we’ll talk to the captain when we return. By the way, I’m Turchin.”
Spirarbor
Leaving the beautiful and intriguing scene outside his window behind him, Nico went back to lay down in his bed and get to work on this book. Opening up to the first section, he found the words On Shape and Sound. This section began with the assertion “Sound is a form of shape. Shape gives the world understandable meaning. Therefor, through proper sound the world can be given meaning, and that meaning can be changed.”
Nico thought this was a bold assertion, but he’d give the author a chance to prove his point. The section continued,
“The shape of a sound can be detected through it’s effect on loose materials. Through simple chant, simple patterns can be attained. Through magical infusion of the voice, complex patterns can be attained. This manipulation of fluid objects to perceptible shapes through magical augmentation of sound-shapes is a necessary first step before intangible manipulation can be understood through anything other than blind intuition.”
The author continued with his own studies, associating moods with shapes, for example the author claimed chanting while angry produced very angular shapes, and discussing odd correlations of words with shapes, by way of example noting that mountain produced a fairly small change in shape of a fluid unless augmented by magic, but what struck Nico was a sketched diagram at the end. It showed something fluid standing still, then holding a bumped and ridged form, then growing up into a spire, and then finally taking the shape of a bird in flight.
Character Sheets
Gender: Female
Race: Swamp Serpen
Stats:
Strength – 8
Agility – 12
Dexterity – 9
Intelligence – 10
Intuition – 10
Willpower – 10
Charisma – 10
Resilience – 12
Abilities:
Reptilian Regeneration - wounds heal quickly
Unbridled passion – will have an effect as soon as I think of one
Magic:
Will of the Heart - Practitioners of this craft are intensely passionate. It uses meditation as a focus. Shapeshifting and air are what it is known for. It can best be learned through observation and experience.
Equipment: Cloth Pants, Cloth Shirt, Sandals
Inventory: Money pouch with 100 copper coins
Description: Meyath is approximately two meters tall, but has never actually gotten herself measured with a relatively modest bosom, her scales are a mottled black and blue colour, somewhat of a mutation in her family, who normally have black and dark green scales. Her tail is somewhat short for her size, but her lithe (even for serpens) makes up for the difference in agility. Her hands and feet are webbed, a normal trait for her family, who make a habit of hunting in the deeper parts of the swamp they hail from.
Starting Port: Seawall
Background: Meyath grew up in a tight-knit extended family in the heart of the great swamp (or other appropriate name), they lived mostly on hunted animals, occasionally leaving the swamp to trade flora and fauna found in the swamp for more exotic goods. Meyath enjoyed these trips thoroughly, and hoped to become the family's main liaison to the world outside the swamp. Not that she did not love her native habitat, always happy to get home after a trip she just enjoyed seeing new faces. Unfortunately however, on one such trading journey a group of bandits (race unknown, she was not there) had fled into the swamp to evade pursuit. They had, by random happenstance found the Deepfen dwellings, and proceeded to slaughter them after being offered hospitality by the friendly serpens. Meyath could not bear to stay after that, her brother, with whom she had a strong bond had been among the family staying at home. So she said her farewells to her family, and left the swamp, taking her wherever her feet took her, they eventually ended up with her on a ship bound for seawall; perhaps there she will be able to start again.
Trinket: Small piece of petrified wood, a gift from her brother
Gender : Male
Race : Wolfkin
Stats:
Strength – 6
Agility – 12
Dexterity – 13
Intelligence – 10
Intuition – 10
Willpower – 10
Charisma – 10
Resilience – 10
Abilities:
Clan Member - Interaction modifiers with other Wolfkin
Insomniac Mage – If magic is used after noon, 33% chance to fail to be rested after sleep
Magic:
Cadus’ Blessings - Enhancement spells, empathy and life are this system of magic's main uses. Practitioners suffer from insomnia. It uses ancestors to channel power.
Equipment: Cloth Pants
Inventory: Money pouch with 10 copper coins
Companion:
Arno - A lean young man with a talent for throwing axes (+1 to this, -1 to all other fighting)
Description : TsuJochi is relatively small even for his own kind and has pale blue fur that looks almost black in moonlight and pale yellow eyes. He's very well muscled for his kind and has a large collections of scars covering his body several of which are in positions that should have been mortal wounds such as a sword wound to his heart and several slashes across his throat. Mentally TsuJochi is extremely resilient surviving these wounds largely through a stubborn refusal to admit defeat, a trait shared by his entire clan. Harvey also has a unique symbol carved into his chest depicting his clan. Uniquely amongst his clan he also has a birth mark on his head in the shape of crossed claws.
The Symbol shows a fleet of ships burning at anchor with wolves tearing into the pirate crews with nothing but tooth and claw.
Clan : The Bloody Forsaken are a clan of somewhat unique Wolfkin, the clans founders were captured by pirates along with those of other clans to be taken as slaves. The founding father of the clan was a man named TsuJochi and while in his cage he prayed for salvation to any god who would listen for himself and his people. After praying while he slept he had a vision and when he woke up his own and the fur of the other wolves on board the ship had all turned the same pale blue and they all shared the same pale yellow eyes, Tsujochi also had a scar on his head in the shape of crossed claws that had not been there before.
Without understanding how it had happened he forced his cage open before freeing his kin and then with a ferocity never seen before or since they fell on the massed pirates on board the ships and shore with nothing but tooth and claw butchering them to the last man in honor of the god Cadus who had freed them and changed them.
Since that day and the founding of the clan in blood every member of it has been a devout believer in Cadus and at the age of 18 every member of the clan has the symbol of a fleet of burning ships and a pirate force being slaughtered by wolf kin carved into his or her chest in his honor.
Members of this clan have a fanatical loyalty to Cadus and believe that to accept death is the ultimate sin and so will fight beyond the limits of insanity in his name earning a reputation over the generations as an almost unwolven clan for there sheer ferocity and the rumors of members of the clan regularly surviving mortal wounds through the blessings of there god. In the clan a prophecy persists that one day Tsujochi will be reborn when the time for his clan to rise up and annihilate the pirates comes though outside of the clan it is treated as nothing more then an idiotic fantasy as is the religion and existence of Cadus himself.
Starting port : Aetharbor
Background : Tsujochi lived a difficult life from birth because of the mark on his head and the clans belief that he had been born to lead his people, because of this he was pushed hard to develop by his people and at the age of 13, far younger then is natural in his clan he had the symbol of his clan carved into his chest and was then thrown out and told not to return until he was ready to lead.
Upon his return to his clan he would have to prove to them that he was capable of leading them into war.
Because of this he set out for the Seawall island and spent the next 7 years of his life moving from camp to camp learning and aiding them in battle against the pirates, in this time he developed a reputation as a warrior to be feared killing more pirates at 13 then many men had at 20 and surviving many wounds in the process that should have left him dead. Because of this TsuJochi came to believe that he was indeed the founder reborn and that Cadus had given his blessing.
Tried and tested Tsujochi is now heading back to his clan to take leadership and begin the holy cleansing to remove all pirates from existence.
Trinket : -
Gender: Female
Race: Aethen
Stats:
Strength – 7
Agility – 13
Dexterity – 10
Intelligence – 10
Intuition – 13
Willpower – 12
Charisma – 10
Resilience – 6
Abilities:
Bond with the Wild - +1 to animal interactions
Magic:
Magic of the Farsoul - This approach to magic is learned by studying tomes and scrolls. Necromancy, farseeing and compulsion are considered its central attributes. It uses movement.
Equipment: Cloth Shirt, Cloth Pants, Sandals, Cheap Leather Quiver with 10 Arrows, Mysterious Old Bow
Inventory: Money pouch with 40 copper coins
Description: A buxom and (relatively!) tall Aethen, Sofia has hazel colored hair, which tends not to fly about wildly, yet isn't well groomed either, and goes down to just under her shoulderblades. Her somewhat narrow eyes are brown colored, and her skin is a tan color. Sofia's rather calm, not letting all but the worst of things deter her from taking her time and thinking things through. However, this is partially a matter of not letting others get to her- Sofia possesses no small amount of pride, is aware of it, and merely does not care. She has a taste for bitter leaves.
Starting Port: Iseaya
Background: Sofia had rather not wanted to live in ignominy- the Aethen, living out an annoyingly secluded life in the forest on the island Iseaya's on, wanted to make a name, a reputation for herself, to stand out, after finding a small relic of a hero famous among the Aethen. She wanted to be like that hero, to be celebrated for doing good. But she thought she really couldn't do so in this forest. So clutching that small relic (a burnt and wrecked small piece of an Aethen shield), she made her way to the only real major port on that island slowly but surely She had places to go, and things to do. A life to live.
Trinket: Aethen Shield-Piece: A piece of a shield of a famous (within her population group) Aethen warrior, this small, pocket-fitting piece of metal is highly burnt and highly twisted- a pattern of bronze and bright red being unrecognizable but for the color.
Gender: Male
Race: Human
Stats:
Strength – 9
Agility – 9
Dexterity –9
Intelligence – 12
Intuition – 13
Willpower – 10
Charisma – 13
Resilience – 7
Abilities:
Social Climber - Interaction Modifiers from social status and groups
Magic:
The Natural Academy - Practitioners of this approach to magic strive towards a kind of enlightenment. Animals and growth are its main uses. It uses chants as a focus.
Equipment: Cloth Shirt, Cloth Pants, Sandals
Inventory: Money pouch with 35 copper coins, Word and Rhythm: Using Chanting to Channel
Description: A young man with a subtle tan to his skin, which highlights the occasional scars strewn across his arms. His hair is a shade of dark brown, cascading down to his shoulders, on the off chance that he doesn't have it tied back in a short ponytail. Along his sharp, angular jawline is a thin goatee. His eyes are a faded shade of green which show a slight feeling of weariness.
Evidence of the physically demanding nature of his past is the lightly muscled, but sleek build of his body.
Starting Port: Spirarbor
Background: From the earliest moments Nico can recall of his life, he'd always been near to the sea. Whether it be the chance he'd gotten as a child to go out with his father on sightseeing trips on his vessel - a simple fishing boat, barely large enough for a single man, but kept in stately condition - or moving cargo for the merchants at the docks, something that seemed to take up much more of his life than he was truly comfortable with. At any rate, he'd grown up with an appreciation of the sea seemingly forced upon him by circumstance.
His family was relatively small, made up of his parents and sister, but it seemed as though there was rarely enough money, even at the best of times. Left with little else to do once he'd gone through his rudimentary education, he worked where he was able once he came of working age, in an attempt to earn his keep. He gained few friends, focusing on work and, eventually, his studies. For the majority of his life, he lived a simple existence, one revolving mainly around working, sleeping & eating. This was satisfying for a while, but of course, even the most hard-working person can hardly call that an existence - or, at least, not one worth living, some might say - and as such, he soon made his way to other, more interesting pursuits.
Soon after sneaking a few assorted texts from a cargo shipment, he worked at learning of the world beyond the coasts he knew like the back of his hand. And, well, his curiosity grew, leading him to steal more books from ships that'd come by the area. Which got him into quite a bit of trouble with the local law-enforcement before long. Most accusations, he managed to deflect away with a bit of quick talking, but soon the evidence piled up. As one might imagine, he decided to get right out of there before he found himself in prison, so he gathered up what money he'd saved, said his goodbyes to his family and set out on a ship headed for the Aethellian Coast, unfortunately forced to leave his variety of texts behind. Had to travel light, after all. But he didn't find himself particularly down about this, since he was free to go on to make his own way in the world.
Trinket: A small wooden albatross, finely carved from a chunk of driftwood by his father long ago.
Gender: Male
Race: Desert Serpen
Stats:
Strength – 8
Agility – 12
Dexterity – 9
Intelligence – 10
Intuition – 10
Willpower – 10
Charisma – 10
Resilience – 12
Abilities:
Reptilian Regeneration - wounds heal quickly
Magic:
-None-
Equipment: Cloth Pants, Cloth Shirt, Sandals
Inventory: Money pouch with 100 copper coins
Description: Short for a Serpen, but especially sneaky, Kassen has dark brown and green scales with small, sharp horns poking out form his brow. His claws are finely manicured, and the quills sticking out of his tail are always sharpened. His brown eyes betray his awkwardness around others (especially foreigners), while his rigid posture is telling of a tumultuous past. His smiles are slow to come and quick to fade, but are always genuine. His thick accent reveals him for what he is: a stranger in a foreign land.
Starting Port: Aetharbor
Background: Kassen always assumed that he'd live his whole life in the deserts, fighting other Serpens and scratching by. It is a life he grew accustomed to, and accepted. He never asked for any more than that, never wanted more. But his clan shaman saw something else in the entrails of slain vermin. She told him that he was meant to live 'Where kinds and kinds meet, and speak one tongue. To do what they do, and say what they say.' Kassen was only as religious as he needed to be, and was skeptical of these portents. So, he went on a pilgrimage to discover what he should do. Many of his kin lauded him for his spirituality, but Kassen simply responded, 'It is what is expected.' So, with little enthusiasm, and less direction, Kassen set off for his clan's holy place.
After many days of travelling alone in the desert, Kassen arrived at the Marker that Sets Us Apart, a large stone jutting from the sands. Without a clue of what to do, Kassen used his claws to scratch upon its surface, then he sat upon it, waited in its shadow, attempted to speak with it, and every manner of activity one can have with a boulder. He had always led a simple life, with simple desires, and given simple rewards. The concept of spirituality was elusive and arcane to him. So, instead of trying to force an insight, he sat down and waited for one, and waited some more.
Eventually night was upon him, and he was no closer to a vision. Or so he thought. Instead of seeking shelter, he took a risk and slept out in the open. Soon, though, he was awaken by a great sound. He stood up, dagger drawn, and looked around to find a great cataclysm. The stars were dying. Stars streaked across the sky in great number. Kassen dropped his dagger and fled, fearing the worst. Eventually he came upon a burrow of some predator. Under the circumstances, Kassen thought it best to risk encountering a sandlion rather than risk being crushed by the sky.
He crawled into the burrow and waited out the storm. That night, he dreamed about foreign creatures, large oases, great wooden structures upon the water, and a tree that spoke. When he awoke, he left the burrow to find the world had not ended. But now he had his answer. Or rather, he had many questions that needed answers. And the only place he would get them is in the land beyond the mountains.
Trinket: A dried head of a desert rat. A totem of protection, given to him by his clan's shaman.
Maps
Sofia heads to the archery yard.
(6)(5)(6)
Nico gets to reading his purchase.
(5)
Go home.
(2)
"Thank you," Kassen says before leaving the temple.
Before he departs on his quest, he looks for a place to buy a dagger. Nothing fancy. Iron or bronze will do. Preferable from peddlers that sell less than quality merchandise.
(4)
Go find the hunter
(-)
Author
Topic: [IC Thread] Kurchil's Children - Day 2: A Rose-Gold Sky (Read 18396 times)