Seeing the puppy dig, Willhelm becomes curious.
"What hope you to find in this desolate corner where His light does not shine ?
watch the wolf dig
The wolf quietly digs out a mound of snow. It jumps back after reaching the ground, which means it probably found something. It then looks at you, or more likely past you, toward the other wolves. You turn around and see a small congregation of pixies, small glowing ball-shaped creatures on two short, stubby pairs of insect wings. Pixies are known for leading adventurers off of trails and getting them lost in the wilds, but they rarely inhabit regions cropland places such as this area.
...
You have a large greatbow (Attack power: 3 (charged), 1 (uncharged)) (charging takes one turn of preparation)
You have 14 arrows in your quiver (Attack power: 1)
You have an important scroll in a copper cylinder
You have about one hundred Hours
Traits and Skills:
Man of Steel
>Gain +1 positive dice when using melee weapons
>Your opponents get +1 negative dice when attacking you
Fists like Hammers
>Gain an additional +1 positive dice while unarmed
Bow Mastery
>Your targets get +2 negative dice when you target them with a bow
Illiterate
>What's a book?
Amnesia
>You have forgotten many things
Injuries:
none
Zikal takes not of the human, who watched him go to the mound. He does not know whether he is naive, or confident. I'm not sure which would be more unsettling. Focusing on the mound, he decides that perhaps the sound comes from within the mound.
Start digging the mound to find the source of the sound.
[5][2] Using your doggie skills, you start unpiling snow at the desired location. The ringing continues in your ears, but you're not sure if it's an actual sound or something inside your head. Either way, you determine it to be coming from a strange, rounded piece of crystal colored white like an eye. It seems to have a pupil at the top which--MOVES. The giant eye looks at you! [2][3] You jump back, but the chimes continue at greater intensity than before, and the eye remains fixed on you no matter what.
You hear walking and turn to see a woman walking up behind the human. She is surrounded by glowing orbs, each flying on two pairs of insect-like wings. The woman herself is dressed in snow-white robes trimmed with golden fabric, and on her head is a crown.
She speaks in a voice like the howling wind.
"Why do you disturb the eyes of nature?" She chuckles afterward in a vaguely human way.
"Of course, some things are not meant to be seen."The eye closes, and fades into the dirt.
"Zikal, you are not like most men. I pity that one," she glances at the man, who seems to have watched you dig, unaware of the woman's presence.
"He sees himself as a servant, and a servant he shall remain. You, however, are a seeker, but you will no longer seek. I call upon you to visit the castle on the shore of the Lake of Dreams. Take this man with you. He may be a servant, but he is a righteous one."...
You had a Beech Javelin (Attack power: 3 (thrown), 1 (stab)) (thrown attacks must be recovered)
You had 10 Javelin memories (strong)
You had about thirty Hours
You remember the Lady of Winter (strong)
Traits and Skills:
Forest Ranger
>Gain +2 positive dice when navigating and moving through the wilderness, as well as performing stealthy actions
Javelineer
>Your targets get +2 negative dice when you target them with a javelin
Noble's Education
>Gain +1 positive dice when learning from writing or conversing about literature
Shapeshifter
>You have unlimited strong memories of forest animals
Cynical
>Others will press any advantage...
Xenophobe
>Foreigners always disappoint
Injuries:
none
Archae stops. He motions to the faerie on his shoulder, and tries to communicate that he can handle animals fairly well, but didn't know anybody else, and thanks anyhow.
The scholar nods, and presses on.
Visitor: I see that, do you have any plans to travel through the woods? If you could set this up on a tree branch and check it on your return trip, that would be great.
She hands you a trap. It is a small cylinder made of leather and textured like wood, with several imitation leaves pasted on. The trap does not seem to have any bait, so its effectiveness is uncertain to you.
Looking outside, you immediately notice a decorated noble with some kind of Court Astrologer at his side in the typical astrologer's suit. The noble's hat, though narrow-brimmed, seems to be blocking a lot of light to his face, giving him the characteristic look of a shady person.
Nobles are rare in cities, from your experience, but they do make visits sometimes.
You look toward the inn, and hear a thud from the alley behind it. Sounds like something's just fallen.
For the most part, however, business is as usual. Families, burghers, scholars, and peasants all walk within their own isolated circles. A group of artisans marches on, the rear two personnel carrying stacks of textiles. Faeries are congregating in whatever places are left, especially around the inn.
The stick's spiny coating continues to prove resistant to the shearing action. You will need more force, since it's clear the glassy substance won't cut like normal bark.
...
You have a spiny walking stick (Attack power: (attacking head) 2, (attacking other parts) 1)
You have a silverseel falchion (Attack power: (on odd swings) 3, (on even swings) 2)
You remember your time in the wilderness well
You have some sandwiches and citrus
You have a Sprite Trap, labelled with the words "Samantha Magdelene, professor at U.T"
You have about seventy Hours
Traits and Skills:
Mystical Learning
>You can create and cast simple Aganis spells on the same turn
Animal Handler
>Gain +2 positive dice whenever animals are involved, unless you are hunting them
Wilderness Survival
>Gain +2 positive dice for actions involving gathering natural resources, starting fires, tracking, and other survival skills
Photographic Memory
>Magical memories and thoughts last longer.
Cannot Speak
>Silence is golden
One-Eyed
>Your targets gain +2 positive dice if you attack them from a distance
Injuries:
none
((I'll assume the steps aren't coming towards me.))
Leonhard pushes the door open and tries to communicate with whoever's on the other side, making sure Klein's still around and safe. "Who goes there?!"
Open the door and initiate conversation. Stay on the moderate cover provided by a corner or the doorway.
[3][5] You open the door just as you hear windows sliding. You cry out to whoever is there, but receive no response. The doors of the hall ahead of you are closed except for two. One of them leads to the room where the window was opened, while the other leads into some dark room. The hallway itself is decorated with several small shelves lined up on the walls between the doors, each with various tomes of fiction, philosophy, and culture.
You hear the rustling of fabrics, as if someone is crawling across a bed. You then hear a loud tear, coming from the same room as the rustling and the opening of the window.
You feel something light brush against your shoulder.
...
You have a Zweihänder slung on your shoulder (Attack power: 4) (can only be used offensively every other turn)
You have a Katzbalger (Attack power: 2)
You have an arquebus (Attack power: 3) (Your opponent gets an extra positive die to dodge)
You are wearing light plate armor (incoming attacks lose 1 attack power if over 1)
You have about one hundred and fifty Hours
Traits and Skills:
Charisma
>Gain +1 positive dice when speaking with others and persuading them
Veteran
>Gain +1 positive dice to defense rolls, and your enemies gain +1 negative dice to their defense rolls
Swordmaster
>Gain +1 positive dice to attack rolls with long, bladed weapons
Sharpshooter
>Your targets get +1 negative dice to their defense rolls
Noisy
>You get +1 negatice die to stealth, and an additional +1 negative die if you are wearing armor
Old Pains
>In cold weather, without thick clothing, you get +1 negative dice to all actions
Injuries:
none
You jump down from the rooftops into a shadowy alley, and listen to see if you are still being pursued. To your sides are storefronts, "The Old Shop" and "Kin's Armory" respectively.
[3][1] You hear the nobleman coming just above you, so you look for a place to hide. But he reaches the edge of the roof before you can conceal yourself.
Nobleman: I have you now, fiend!
He leaps down onto one of the store signs, which each hang from a wooden cantilever attached to the wall. The cantilever snaps when he sets foot on it, but it slows his fall enough that he lands in fighting condition. After landing, he charges at you.
[4][5] You manage to slip right past him and evade his onslaught, for now. The nobleman spends a couple of minutes searching for you, but you remain unseen, and eventually the astrologer arrives, having followed the chase on the roads.
Arnold: Good heavens, are you okay?
Nobleman: Gentlemen, I have failed in the most ignominious of ways! The beast was at my fingertips, just outside the reach of my blade. And then I lost it. It slipped off into the shadows, and I could not find it afterward.
Arnold: I would not fret. You did your part.
Nobleman: That murderous creature took a victim today. Do you believe it will renounce its ways and live in harmony with us? How was that poor sap in the alley killed, anyway?
Arnold: Stabbed with her own blade, it seems.
Nobleman: Damnation.
The noble expresses his desire to continue on his trip, toward the University, to speak with a renowned scholar named Heroditus Monacus. A Vaykor by birth and a seaman by heart, Heroditus was performing research on the mysterious "krakens" infesting the waters of the north, cutting off all access to a rumored pair of islands shrouded in mystery.
Traits and Skills:
Secret Powers
>DoOOoobillidabidydappidydap dipigillidydapda!
Current Stat Modifiers:
+0/0 positive dice to attack rolls
+0/0 negative dice to enemy attack rolls
+0/0 positive dice to defense rolls
+0/0 negative dice to enemy defense rolls
Injuries:
none
It is the 2nd hour after noon, and the Twin Suns are obscured by a cloudy blanket.