Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[GreatWyrmGold]

True enough, I suppose. But how else are we to find out if elves can digest cellulose? It seems like an entirely reasonable adaptation for them to have, and it never hurts to know for sure.

Why would it be reasonable? Elves aren't grazers. Especially not cave elves; cavern flora wouldn't even have cellulose.

[The Froggy Ninja]

True enough, I suppose. But how else are we to find out if elves can digest cellulose? It seems like an entirely reasonable adaptation for them to have, and it never hurts to know for sure.

Locate a tree and climb it.

Do this. Hang on tight if the bear decides to try and shake you off.

Bad idea, if it's a brown bear it will clime the tree and kill you, and if it's a black bear it will knock it down and kill you.

[kahn1234]

((GWG, i can assure you i will not be making any Mary Sues in this game. This is not the Forgotten Realms. This is a universe of my complete creation that i have been planning for the past 10 years (and writing multiple (unpublished) books in). What (i am hoping) this Drow will come up against will more often than not seem impossible.

I want creative thinking to extreme challenges. If this character had been one of the strongest sapient races, Dragon-kin Humanis, there would still have been a great challenge. As it happens, Drow can only really rely on their magic, agility and intelligence. Dont be thinking you can physically overpower a troll, ogre, dragon, archdemon or any other myriad creatures in this world, especially when you got chased down a road by a bear!

But i appreciate you telling me and giving criticism. And i am hoping people could give me advice on my writing style in the future as well)).


You find a nice sturdy tree. From your quick look at it you think it may be an iron oak. As the bear is hot on your heels, you scurry up into it and spend a good long time resting. From your vantage point, you can see some berry bushes in the forest near you and the bear bouncing about beneath you, trying and failing to climb up.

Taking the initiative, once you are sure the bear is gone which takes some time due to the enraged nature of the bear, you jump down and eat a few handfuls of berries, drinking the juice.

'That hits a spot' you mentally sigh. Surprisingly, they rejuvenate you better than expected. Smiling you return to the road and carry on your way.

Eventually, after at least an hour walking and with the sun now setting behind the horizon, you look up to see in the distance a large city wall. 'Well thank the Goddess for that! I was starting to think i was trapped in one of those Silfroudar forest mazes....'.

You jog the rest of the way.

As you grow closer to the city, your instincts seem to tell you to raise your cloak hood. You stop and fiddle with your hood, making sure it covered your features. Eventually, after much fiddling, you had it up and your features, you think, are completely covered, protecting them from prying eyes.

You continued on towards the large reinforced gates that straddles the road and the four guard patrols patrolling outside. You noticed other people, about ten of them all wearing black robes with their hoods up, five wearing intricately decorated robes. 'Mages? Strange, their robes haven't got their school sigil on them. Those five who have decorated robes only seem to have crimson and dark green designs on......' That seems to jog a memory, although you cannot quite remember it yet. Something about dark magic users and necromancers.

You are brought out of your brief reverie by arguing. One of the robed people, one with intricate robe designs, was arguing with a guard who looked very much like a captain, or other such officer, who was dressed in heavy steel armour.

“How many times do I have to tell you, you hairless ape! We are traders! Not thieves or murderers!” said a man who also had his hood up, in a desperate voice. However, there is one thing that is extracted from your memory, the fact that is a distinctly Drow accent.

“Sir, please keep your voice down and your language civil!” chided the guard, gruffly. There was something about his voice that indicated he didn’t like being called a hairless ape. 'Well, no human would...' You think passively.

The first man who spoke waved his hands about in apparent exasperation. “What do I have to do to get you to let me in? You have already searched my brethren..” He motioned to the nine other figures. “...and my wagons. What more do you want?”

“I want your trading papers. All Adavta, or Drow if you want it in layman's terms, traders in Yellow Banner territory need authorisation since the last war between our peoples.”

Whilst the two argued, you walk forward. You eventually come close to the rear most wagon in the wagon train, the last of five. You notice that the covering of the wagon is loose, and inside there is a pile of weaponry. A drow longbow with the initials AW carved into the area just above the hand guard, a quiver of arrows, two long knives who handles are obscured under a sheet and a beautiful longsword, with a series of runes on the base of the blade and a fantastically gleaming eagle hilt, which felt extraordinarily familiar......


What do you do? Do you grab the hilt of the strangely familiar sword? Do you ignore the impulses? Do you try and interrupt the argument between the suspicious traders and the rule abiding guard captain?

[The Froggy Ninja]

"Hey I'm pretty sure some of this is mine!"

[Taricus]

((Harry, that's the wood elves. Besides, the only cows in Drow society are the males

Now onto GWG's analysis:  He is kinda spot-on with the amnesia/fugue state, though I dispute the part where it state that it's used for less work, but more for special snowflake syndrome.

As for the GMing, any game where there isn't much happening, on either the players or the GM's part is boring. Feel free to push it along a rail at the start, you can let the players have some freedom when they have a few ideas, and have some knowledge about the game world under their belt.. That's the point where some players have enough knowledge to start going off and doing their own thing, though you still need to guide them to keep the game running and keeping it interesting at the same time.

And one last thing, back onto GWG's point about Drizzt: FOR THE LOVE (or lack thereof) OF LOLTH, Please don't do the "Atoning for the sins of my race" cliche. It's a horrible, horrible thing ;_;

One other thing, multiple hair colours, unless explained to be caused by dye, is also a little too "Special", in terms of character))

Hmm. Right now, I don't think we;'d want to draw attention to ourselves. If we can reclaim any goods without being seen, that's what we should do. If not, let's try to sneak into the cart instead. Simply put, we either take the weapons out with us, or we go put ourselves in with them. Either way, we can give them a little nasty shock when they go to uncover them.

As a side note, while these guys may seem like dark mages and whatnot, I doubt they're here on anything more than a supply run. The weapons were most likely a chance acquisition (I'd suspect one did knock us out, but being drow, fair play to him )

Ninjaedit: DON'T SAY ANYTHING. Drawing attenton to ourselves isn't the best way here!

[GreatWyrmGold]

Bad idea, if it's a brown bear it will clime the tree and kill you, and if it's a black bear it will knock it down and kill you.

It's the other way around, and I doubt that even a grizzly could knock over an old, sturdy tree.

((GWG, i can assure you i will not be making any Mary Sues in this game. This is not the Forgotten Realms. This is a universe of my complete creation that i have been planning for the past 10 years (and writing multiple (unpublished) books in). What (i am hoping) this Drow will come up against will more often than not seem impossible.

Again, not my opinions, just what I'm guessing others' first guesses are. And then explaining those guesses of guesses.

And one last thing, back onto GWG's point about Drizzt: FOR THE LOVE (or lack thereof) OF LOLTH, Please don't do the "Atoning for the sins of my race" cliche. It's a horrible, horrible thing ;_;

There are probably more drow atoners than atonees by now.

One other thing, multiple hair colours, unless explained to be caused by dye, is also a little too "Special", in terms of character))

White or gray interspersed with whatever isn't so bad, if the character is fairly old.

Hmm. Right now, I don't think we;'d want to draw attention to ourselves. If we can reclaim any goods without being seen, that's what we should do. If not, let's try to sneak into the cart instead. Simply put, we either take the weapons out with us, or we go put ourselves in with them. Either way, we can give them a little nasty shock when they go to uncover them.

Same here. I'm all for following the laws and such of society, but these folks laws seem to be the kind that involve killing us on sight.

As a side note, while these guys may seem like dark mages and whatnot, I doubt they're here on anything more than a supply run. The weapons were most likely a chance acquisition (I'd suspect one did knock us out, but being drow, fair play to him )

It's possible, maybe even probable, but far from certain. Assume the worst and all that...

[kahn1234]

((Harry, that's the wood elves. Besides, the only cows in Drow society are the males

Now onto GWG's analysis:  He is kinda spot-on with the amnesia/fugue state, though I dispute the part where it state that it's used for less work, but more for special snowflake syndrome.

As for the GMing, any game where there isn't much happening, on either the players or the GM's part is boring. Feel free to push it along a rail at the start, you can let the players have some freedom when they have a few ideas, and have some knowledge about the game world under their belt.. That's the point where some players have enough knowledge to start going off and doing their own thing, though you still need to guide them to keep the game running and keeping it interesting at the same time.

And one last thing, back onto GWG's point about Drizzt: FOR THE LOVE (or lack thereof) OF LOLTH, Please don't do the "Atoning for the sins of my race" cliche. It's a horrible, horrible thing ;_;

One other thing, multiple hair colours, unless explained to be caused by dye, is also a little too "Special", in terms of character))

Hmm. Right now, I don't think we;'d want to draw attention to ourselves. If we can reclaim any goods without being seen, that's what we should do. If not, let's try to sneak into the cart instead. Simply put, we either take the weapons out with us, or we go put ourselves in with them. Either way, we can give them a little nasty shock when they go to uncover them.

As a side note, while these guys may seem like dark mages and whatnot, I doubt they're here on anything more than a supply run. The weapons were most likely a chance acquisition (I'd suspect one did knock us out, but being drow, fair play to him )

Ninjaedit: DON'T SAY ANYTHING. Drawing attenton to ourselves isn't the best way here!

((Understood. the multiple hair colours is probably going to be explained later on. As aprt of the world at large and considering just how big the Drow population is, especially in Drow strongholds, Arin's hair type is not that special or different. It is caused by a mixture of genetics and divine tampering. I may go into more detail in the future if/when we get to a Drow city or township.

If anyone is interested, this is what i have down as the main characteristics of the Drow in my fantasy universe:

Characteristics Summary:

Height: 5 foot 8 to 6 foot 2 for males on average, 5 foot 5 to foot 9 for females on average.

Hair: Usually white, black, light grey, platinum blonde, silver (a colour for older ones, usually originally light grey haired elves) or light/faint golden blonde (for older ones who started out with white hair). Some Drow who have white or light grey hair have natural crimson red locks of hair with purple and/or black streaks/highlights. Likewise, some Drow with black hair have white locks and crimson red and/or dark purple highlights/streaks through their hair. Some very rare and usually extraordinarily powerful drow have fully crimson or violet hair.

Eyes: Bright Red, Crimson, Grey, Violet or Amber in Darkness. Varying shades of Black, Grey, Blue (especially Ice Blue), Violet/Purple/Lavender or Amber in light. There is some overlap. In darkness, the colours tend to glow.

Oh, that Drizzt. Dont worry, i wont be using that cliche (although the 'cliche' of good vs evil is the pervading feel in this universe, both sides are prone to shade-of-grey actions, like the High Elves torching an entire city with super-powerful magics to kill a nest of Void Striders and arch demons....).

Finally, thanks for letting me know that railroading for the early game can be done. I am always nervous as i never know if i am going to turn people away with my railroading. And i do at least try to make my main characters different.


next update will be when i have maybe one or two more responses))

[Taricus]

((Ah, okay. Understood about the hair then. Makes some sense at the very least, which I appreciate

As for assuming the worst GWG; If they weren't doing it for the money, we'd have found ourselves inside wherever these guys operated out of, without armour (This doesn't imply nudity. There's more than likely a full set of clothes underneath the armour.) and certainly not being chased by bears. So yeah, somewhat optimistic on that front, since you don't just steal weapons as a dark mage unless it's for monetary purposes only.))

[GreatWyrmGold]

((If they were, why wouldn't they take the armor? That's probably worth more than the weapons.))

[Taricus]

((Armour takes more effort to remove ))

[kahn1234]

You walk behind the last wagon, the one containing the weapons. You look to the weapons and then t the people further down the road. You dont think they have noticed you yet. Trying to stay out of sight, you reach into the wagon.

When you grasped the hilt, your eyes once again rolled back into their sockets as they did earlier. This time, it was accompanied by fragmented memories, mostly of your childhood and, yes, huntress training in the religious order of Calithari, the patron goddess of the Drow who denounce the Drow Houses and guilds that joined the evil Atlovans and their allies.

You remember your childhood friends, your mother and your family. Much, if not most, is still missing, but you can remember who you called family and comrade and where you call home.

One memory comes through strongest though. From what you can make out, it is one part of your Huntress acknowledgement ceremony. The vision comes through strong.

*

‘Rise, my daughter’ Said the woman standing before you, who you recognise as your mother from the previous vision. ‘You have proven yourself a clever and resourceful Calathari Huntress and have therefore earned the respect of the Goddess and your sisters in arms. Take your bow and sword, your huntress garb and Sisterhood knives. Keep them safe, and go forth! Drive your blades into the hearts of our enemies!’

*

You only get small, scattered memories after that, although the feelings of great sorrow, great joy and love shine through. They are, unfortunately, out of reach at this time.

You come back to your senses and steady yourself by reaching out and grasping the side of the wagon. "That....that was intense" you mutter to yourself. Shaking your head, you grab what you now recognise as your weapons. You sheath the sword. You grab the daggers by their blades and, whilst you withdraw them from the wagon, you see their hilts, inscribed with your last name, Winterlocks. 'Yes, definitely mine' You smile at the though. You quickly sheath them, shoulder the quiver and grasp your bow.

You have barely taken a single step away from the wagon when you are hit with realization.

Those people...Drow....in robes belong to one of the many houses who betrayed the Adavta Elven nation and joined the Atlovans in their brutal wars against the Coalition. But they aren't any old members. They aren't your standard foot soldiers or supply runners. The ones in plain robes are trainee magic users but the ones with designs.....

You turn around, and you take a closer look at the intricate patterns on the robes.

Yes, you realise each is subtly different, representing different spheres of magic. They are extraordinarily powerful magic users, the various markings aside from the magic discipline markers on their robes denoting veterancy and power. Your eyes widen and you gulp involuntarily as you realise they specialise in at least half a dozen magic spheres each. From what memories you have, you cant seem to remember meeting any Drow with such magical capabilities.

There is one thing common to all, though, that intrudes upon your observation. Necromancy, the most vile of magical disciplines, hated but never truly banned. It makes your blood run cold, although you do not know why...yet. You can, now that you are more in tune with your senses, even smell the faint odor necrotic magic gives its practitioners. Disgust fills your emotions.

You feel a compulsion, an urge to charge forward and rend them asunder with your blades. You try to force it down. You cant help but shout out towards the guards...

"THEY ARE NECROMANCERS! THE WHOLE GROUP!"

The heads of all ten hooded Drow snap round. The one who was arguing with the guard captain spins completely around, startling the Guards he was standing in front of. He points at you and yells back. "YOU! You TRAITOROUS BITCH".

Well, that escalated quickly.

What do you do? Arin's anger got the better of her, you are now the focus of ten pissed of magic users and the Yellow Banner Guards are confused.

[GreatWyrmGold]

((Armour takes more effort to remove ))

((Not that much more, if you've got a couple people. And it's well worth the effort. Even a cheap suit of armor would have been worth several years' wages, and I don't think we're wearing low-quality pig iron here.))

NinGM'd.

Hm, ten magic users and all angry at us...

Run.

[Taricus]

Run away (To a better ambush point). Let the yellow guard deal with them. Also rethink attitude about necromancy (It's not that "vile", the dead aren't helping folk out while being stuck in a grave (Even if they were an utter prick, an afterlife of labour helps make amends )

[kahn1234]

((I will give you this little tid-bit of information. There are many reasons the Drow magic users took Arins weapons. There are three main reasons, though. The first being practical. She cannot harm them easily without her weapons, and they expected to be far away from her by the time she woke up. As you saw with the bear incident, she cannot protect herself easily against the thousands of possible ways to die in the wilderness in this world and the alst reason is it is a great dishonour for a Calithari Huntress to lose her weapons to her enemy. If it turns out she lost her weapons in a particularly pathetic way, she would be exiled.

Also, Necromancy is far more vile than just raising the dead in this world, Taricus........


And there are far worse things out there than zombies, skeletons and ghosts.....hehehe))

[Taricus]

((Even if it also binds the soul to the corpse, all that means it's a practical (And economical!) means of capital punishment if you animate the corpse (Can't see a way of making a ghost artificially, and having it actually be servile at the same time. Thus, they'd generally appear in ancestor-worship areas rather then conventional necromancy.

I do agree we ought to wipe these assholes off the planet, but that's because they're dicks ))