Whoop! Finished! Things are beginning to take off, everyone!
Turn 2
Vil heads into town. Doing her best to recall why she was in the area in the first place.
{} You close your eyes and focus, but no matter how hard you think, you just can’t seem to grasp the memory of your arrival to Harker’s Ford. Not yet, at least.
{} Still, comforted to have at least a basic grasp of your abilities back, you head back to town with a spring in your step and a smile on your face. Maybe all you need is a change of scenery. And oh, what a change it is. You walk the streets for several minutes, just taking in the sights and sounds. There’s just so
much! A lot of the people you see are quite different, many of them wearing everything from bright cloaks to turbans and hooked shoes, and some of them smell strongly of incense and spice. You lean in close to a pointy-eared character—an elf, you remember—who smells richly of carrots and smooth oil, and sniff. He doesn't seem to take kindly to your invasion of his personal space, however, as he jerks backward in a flustered rush and falls backward over a park bench with a thud and an animal-like screech. Not stopping for a moment, you keep going, enraptured by the delectable atmosphere of the town.
Then you turn a corner, and are almost knocked back by the pungent scent of meat. It’s the most delicious roast you’ve ever smelled. Forgetting all about the road, you dash off towards the source, and plunge into the dark alleyways running behind a block of houses. Unfortunately, the meat turns out to be the prize of a stray dog of rather impressive girth. You can only presume he looted it from the local marketplace. He looks up at you, growling low in his throat. Dejected, you nonetheless take the hint, backing away and around the corner—only to find that you are still in the alleys. Come to think of it, you can’t remember how you got here at all. There’s almost nothing in sight but stone walls, empty flowerpots, and burlap sacks of garbage. You’re lost.
Get up and try to see where the figures went.
Of all the things Davros could be thinking of, he instead tries to remember what on earth he did for a living.
{} Undaunted by the buzz in your muscles that flares in response to your movements, you snap your legs back, then forward, and leap to a perfect standing position in less than three seconds. You blink; the maneuver just felt so simple, so
natural, that you can’t help but wonder if you received some kind of acrobat training for whatever you did for a career, before. This could prove useful. (Awakened Acrobat discovered. +1 to rolls involving standing up or maintaining balance when compromised, such as when in danger of being knocked off a roof. A 5 on a balance roll will result in a skill increase.) You stomp back up the embankment in spite of your still-pounding headache, and stop on the lip, squinting to try and locate the figures you were shadowing. Unfortunately, you have no such luck; you can barely even see the trees across the field in front of you, now, as the strange bluish fog seems to be growing thicker by the minute. Infuriated by the fact that you still have no idea what's going on, you turn your efforts to remembering just what the flip you do, or did, for a living.
{} However, it’s hard enough to think as it is without needing the dazed feeling thrumming throughout your body. In frustration, you persist—and then your mind plunges. You see yourself on a balancing pole a hundred feet above a crowd of jeering spectators, in what you can only guess is some kind of public spectacle. You freeze up, eyes wide and legs shaking. And then you make the biggest mistake: you look down. Your brain screams “
AIR!!” and almost instantly you fall, and keep falling, screaming at the top of your lungs. There is nothing but empty space for your flailing limbs to connect with as the ground rushes up to meet you and
oh gods WHYYY—You jolt back to reality all at once, panting and shaking. Your hands form white-knuckled fists on the ground, oh sweet ground so solid you could kiss it. But you’re almost still afraid to look down. Or even up. (Acrophobia (fear of heights) discovered. -1 to all rolls when in high places or falling from a height, except when said roll relates specifically to landing on the ground.)
Goldy's fear stays for but a moment, as anger floods into him to push it right out.
"Well! If that's the way it's going to be, fine!"
Eat the carrot spitefully. Then get out into the streets.
You slowly but surely get your feet back under you, grumbling curses under your breath. Fresh air. That’s what you need. Screw this place, and screw everything it stands for. You snatch what’s left of your carrot off the floor and wolf it down with grim satisfaction. Mouth meets food, food meets stomach. Hand meets handle of door. Good, some things still make sense in this world.
{} Just as you are about to open the door, however, you pause. It feels like… you’re missing something. One quick glance to your left and an “AH” of comprehension later, you realize that you almost forgot your room key and money pouch, both of which were still sitting on a small shelf nailed to the wall. Smiling, you secure the pouch inside your clothes and grab the key.
{} You step outside your room into an empty, quiet hallway, and lock your door behind you. The path is lined with doors and runs to your left and right, with a single set of stairs leading down to the main corridor.
You don’t see anyone else downstairs, either. They’re probably all outside in the market for the afternoon. You head for the main door, where you can just see sunlight peeking out from underneath, and step outside.
{} About five steps into the sunlit street, however...
Sniff.Your head jerks to the right, and you behold a fox-eared woman whose face is scant inches from yours. And she's
sniffing you. You recoil backwards in shock, then trip over a wooden bench next to the wall of the building you came from and land with a pronounced
oof. Your torment does not end there, as you were unlucky enough to disturb a tom cat that had been lounging on said bench, which screeches loudly as you ram into its tail. Begrudged, the creature clings to the back of your skull, savagely biting your ears and tearing out bits of hair.
FURY at the insane world around you suffuses your veins, and you quickly roll off onto the soft grass. The desperate maneuver dislodges the animal, who gives one last spiteful hiss as it leaps off your back like a springboard and flees out of sight. You quickly rise to your feet, spitting out dirt, plant matter, and even more Elvish curses.
Gunther gets Drunk and accuses any Scholarly Types of Witchcraft and Cowardice.
{} You waltz up to the bar and plant yourself in an empty stool. The barman appears as if by magic, polishing a glass off-handedly as he asks, "What'll ya have?" Thoroughly in your element, you order up the strongest drink in the house... which turns out to be some kind of spiked honey mead. You tip the whole tankard back in one go, and it still barely burns your throat. Feh, weak tall folk liqour. You are barely on your third one before you catch the attention of the rest of the patrons, who seem to be quite impressed at how you are even holding all of it down. Five tankards down and you are all chatting and guffawing together, sometimes at some joke about gremlins and lever traps, sometimes about nothing at all.
{} You are already thoroughly buzzed as you pick up your sixth drink, when suddenly you slam it down on the bar, snickering insanely as you've just thought of the most
brilliant thing to say.
Averus walks back to the Adventurer's Guild, trying to solve the puzzle box along the way.
{} The box was clearly meant for those with hands, but perhaps wiser ones than yours. You fiddle, switch, slide, snap, and
click your way through the puzzle of latches, levers and plates, but you can't tell if you're any closer to solving the darn thing.
{} Deciding that it'd be best to sit down for this one, you open the door of the inn and step inside. It doesn't take you long to find a booth... and even less time for someone to notice you. A strange little gnome with truly prodigious white whiskers waddles up to your table, jabbering excitedly as he stares through an oversized monocle at the puzzle box in front of you. Throughout his nigh-incessant babbling you manage to discern that his name is Cogwheel Cornocker, a collector of rare and valuable items and antiques. He seems very interested in the intricate system of locks on the box, and offers you a drink if you'll allow him to examine the trinket more thoroughly.
His demeanor almost instantly sours, however, when a rather off-color joke reaches your table. Cogwheel whips around to glare at the source—a rather burly-looking dwarf, laughing uproariously with a clique of humans. In response, the collector runs over and leaps onto the bar—an impressive feat for a three-foot tall gnome—and demands satisfaction. This only causes the dwarf to laugh even louder, jamming a finger into Cogwheel's chest and jabbering on and on about the witchery ways of 'scholarly types'.
Cogwheel suddenly hauls off and punches him in the face!
{} The dwarf howls, falls off the stool, and tumbles in a heap on the floor. You suspect that it was more due to his target being compromised by alcohol than strength on the gnome's part, but the sprawled-out man is now quite clearly sporting a black eye.
{} The entire affair takes you completely off-guard, and you remain at your table, not quite sure if you should intervene or no. You don't seem to be the only one, either, as the rest of the patrons seem to be backing far away from the bar to watch, and the barman is currently nowhere to be seen. (Your next action will come only after Gunther's action next turn. Gunther suffers -1 to sight-dependent actions for next turn, but +1 to damage resistance rolls above 1 due to alcohol dulling the pain.)
"Wait!"
Go to the Common Room at the Adventurer's guild.
{} You blink rapidly as if just waking up. A voice screams in the back of your mind,
"You just let him go, you ditz!!" Determined to catch up with the dwarf and
demand stories of dragon's gold and rivers of silver, you tear down the path back towards the inn, weaving around people and carts in the road (damn the market for being so busy today!).
{} As you run down the way to the Adventurer's Guild, however, you see something extremely peculiar, and eventually come to a stop. Off to the right of the road, a woman clad in earthy tones is standing alone next to a ten-foot high stone fence... and she's carving. Figures. Into the stones. Specifically, about a half-dozen pieces of flat rock are now adorned with
painstakingly detailed faces of people. The sounds of the woman's chiselwork are slow but steady. She doesn't even look up, let alone notice you. You can also hear her smoothly and blissfully humming some kind of tune... a bizarre song that sounds like a cross between a lullaby and a funeral march. Even more strange, however, the more you look at her... you can't quite put your finger on it, but it's almost
difficult to distinguish her from the background, as though you have to make a conscious effort to pay attention.
You blink again. You could have sworn that you just saw a tinge of
blue on her clothes...
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Time/Environment: It is a temperate, partly-cloudy afternoon. The strange fog seeping into town seems to be avoiding places where many people frequent, such as the market square.
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Character Status:Location: Standing on grassy sidewalk outside apartment building.
Memories/Phobias: Fear of cats.
Items: Key (apartment room). Pouch of coins (full).
Health: Scratch (head, left ear, right ear).
Location: Lost in the back alleyways of Harker's Ford.
Memories/Abilities: Rudimentary Illusion magic.
Location: Inside the Adventurer's Guild, sitting at a table.
Items: Strange puzzle box.
Location: Outside the northern edge of town, near the wilderness. Kneeling on the ground at the top of an embankment.
Memories/Abilities: Awakened Acrobat.
Phobias/Penalties: Acrophobia (fear of heights).
Location: On the path leading to the Adventurer's Guild. Stopped in front of a stone wall with a strange woman making carvings of faces.
Memories: Remembers exactly where the Adventurer's Guild is in town, well enough to give directions.
Items: Cloth shirt, trousers, and off-white tie-back apron stained with spots of ale.
Location: Inside the Adventurer's Guild common room. Prone on the floor.
Health: Black eye. Drunk (pain tolerance).
NPCs:Location: Standing on top of the bar in the Adventurer's Guild common room, staring at Gunther.
Items: Comically large glass monocle.
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Locations:Harker’s Ford: A quaint but rapidly-growing medieval hamlet that lies astride a small river and the new land trade route connecting... actually, you can't remember the name of the nation. What you do know is that close to 600 people currently live here, and that number has steadily been growing as its prime location makes it a popular stop for travelers. The river lies on its east side, the road on the south, whilst the west and north are mostly covered by forest. Goldy and Yvette live here.
1) The Adventurer's Guild: A large boarding house/inn for travelers coming along the main road, located between it and the bulk of town. The front door leads into a common room where ale and food are served. Averus, Vil, Gunther, and Davros live here.
2) Market: A pair of major squares along the main street through town, lined with stalls and permanent shops alike. It is also one of the few places in town where the fog seems to be less prevalent.
The Wilderness: This is a region of old growth forest about a hundred meters off from the edge of town. You can’t even remember its name, if it ever had one to begin with. When viewed from the town’s edge, it looks as though the fog that’s been steadily creeping in around and through Harker’s Ford is particularly thick beneath the tree canopy.
The River: A fair-sized body of slowly running water which covers much of the town’s eastern edge. A large wooden bridge almost straight into town marks the quickest and most direct way over, but you could probably swim across without too much trouble. The river snakes north and disappears behind the wall of trees marking the Wilderness' edge.
The Road: All you can really remember of this particularly large cobblestone thoroughfare running along the south edge of Harker’s Ford is that it was designed as a trade route, though you have no idea where to or from. The road is fairly busy; you can typically see at least three traveling parties of some description heading along it every day, though lately, most of them seem to divert off the road and wind up in town.
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GM Notes: You guys might want to think of some way to defend yourselves, soon...
Author
Topic: The Veil of Memories [dead] (Read 16261 times)