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[OSH] West Marches IC
Neaden
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Note: If any of this sounds cool to you hop on over to the Recruitment thread and join in.
Among the philosophers of the Empire of Gold it is said that dumb men and smart men are united closest by their ability to make mistakes. Two hundred years ago in the Western Marches some very smart people did a very very dumb thing. Under threat from Invasion from across the seas they brought the most powerful magic users, god-talkers, wisemen, witches, magicians and warlocks that money could buy to protect their lands by creating a magical barrier. Unfortunately, it worked too late, instead of trapping the invading army out, it trapped them inside. No one outside the Western Marches knows what happened next but the consensus among the few archeologists who have examined the ruins is that things were not settled peacefully. Cracks have begun to fill the barrier and the Central Kingdom has built forts to make sure nothing is allowed out. But the astrologers who advise the young child king have seen ominous portents that something may be stirring in the Western Marches and asked that someone investigate. The kings military advisers objected, saying that their forces are already spread too thin and it would be a suicide mission to explore it, and no mercenary would be crazy enough to face certain death for mere gold. It was then the court bard stepped in “Ah my friends, you are looking at it all wrong. If you order people to go investigate they will desert, but if you forbid anyone to go explore the ancient ruins where the treasures of the greatest wizards the world has ever known once lived you will have to fight them off with a broom.”
You have come to Fort Donner on a wagon train along with two dozen new recruits, a rather bad tempered old priest, a small crew of circus performers, and a small herd of oxen. A carpenter who was also traveling with you sadly died after a decision to ford a river. Fort Donner resembles a small town more then a military installation, it is clear that discipline is lax and it is mostly seen as a place to put old troops near retirement, cripples, and young soldiers too incompetent to be trusted doing anything important but too well liked to send off on a suicide mission. The soldiers uniforms are unkempt, the bright blue has become faded and dirty, chickens walk the street and you can hear the sounds of a schoolroom.
A soldier walks over towards the wagons. “You those adventurers we've been waitin' for?”
Among the philosophers of the Empire of Gold it is said that dumb men and smart men are united closest by their ability to make mistakes. Two hundred years ago in the Western Marches some very smart people did a very very dumb thing. Under threat from Invasion from across the seas they brought the most powerful magic users, god-talkers, wisemen, witches, magicians and warlocks that money could buy to protect their lands by creating a magical barrier. Unfortunately, it worked too late, instead of trapping the invading army out, it trapped them inside. No one outside the Western Marches knows what happened next but the consensus among the few archeologists who have examined the ruins is that things were not settled peacefully. Cracks have begun to fill the barrier and the Central Kingdom has built forts to make sure nothing is allowed out. But the astrologers who advise the young child king have seen ominous portents that something may be stirring in the Western Marches and asked that someone investigate. The kings military advisers objected, saying that their forces are already spread too thin and it would be a suicide mission to explore it, and no mercenary would be crazy enough to face certain death for mere gold. It was then the court bard stepped in “Ah my friends, you are looking at it all wrong. If you order people to go investigate they will desert, but if you forbid anyone to go explore the ancient ruins where the treasures of the greatest wizards the world has ever known once lived you will have to fight them off with a broom.”
You have come to Fort Donner on a wagon train along with two dozen new recruits, a rather bad tempered old priest, a small crew of circus performers, and a small herd of oxen. A carpenter who was also traveling with you sadly died after a decision to ford a river. Fort Donner resembles a small town more then a military installation, it is clear that discipline is lax and it is mostly seen as a place to put old troops near retirement, cripples, and young soldiers too incompetent to be trusted doing anything important but too well liked to send off on a suicide mission. The soldiers uniforms are unkempt, the bright blue has become faded and dirty, chickens walk the street and you can hear the sounds of a schoolroom.
A soldier walks over towards the wagons. “You those adventurers we've been waitin' for?”
Neaden on
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Twitch Stream
"On second thought, that's probably a really silly question," Cecil quickly adds, mostly to himself, while looking speculatively at the poor state of the town. "Of course you don't."
Flipping his hair out of his eyes, his guileless grin hastily returns. "I would love to see the General. By all means, lead away."
"Ah yes. The general. Of course. I suppose I must start somewhere. Of course, I do not really need any information from the general. I have everything here in my Book."
With that, Galric waves his hands about mystically, throws some flashpowder and - while everyone is distracted - pulls a slightly battered book out of a hidden pocket in his sleeve. He waits for the others to acknowledge his Magical skill, but soon realizes that no acknowledgement will be forthcoming.
He opens the book and starts scanning the pages looking for information on Fort Donner.
(Galric is using his Book of Power to find out a useful fact about Fort Donner).
Switch Friend Code: SW-1406-1275-7906
"Right...sirs.. This way then." The soldier leads you over to a building where the guards seem, if not in good discipline at least better then elsewhere in the fort. Inside you are escorted to a meeting room where a rather rotund man with various metals pinned to his bright blue jacket waits.
"You must be the new batch of adventurers, damn shame about the first group but then I guess it works out for you. Just wanted to officially welcome you to the fort, feel free to use any civilian establishment and our quartermaster can provide you with some supplies if you have the coin. If you make any trouble I'll just kill you and tell anyone that asks that I last saw you heading into The Mistake with a treasure map so do try to behave. Bill Four Fingers is the only one of the first group who made it back, he stays at the Rolling Dice the innkeeper seems to think he is some tourist attraction, talk to him if you must. If you have any questions ask them now because I hope to not after talk to you lot again after this."
Edit: Oh I forgot, there are 10 Awesome points in the stack right now, feel free to give them out to each other if someone does something awesome.
"Where am I? What... oh no, it's daylight again." Disgusting, he thinks, looking blearily out at the small fort-town. Then he realizes he's looking at some chickens and scrub brush. Oh, right. Town. He stretches, not without stiffness, and gets up. His head pounds like a moderately-sized battalion constructing earthworks. Hadn't counted on how fortified that wine had been.
"...Feel like I'm missing something," he mutters. What is it? What's wrong? "Oh! The other adventurers are gone! Damn!" He stumbles into town, somewhat lost, as his head begins to clear. Where would the other adventurers be?
Then, maybe he can see about going out exploring with some of the others.
Twitch Stream
A little girl holding a chicken tugs at Celderielel's shirt. "Why do you look so funny mister?"
For anyone who wants to go to the bar.
Most of the soldiers are still on duty so the bar is mostly empty. Before you can get a good look around a middle aged one eyed man limps over to you. "Oy! You the new adventurers? M'names Bill, me and some others were the first to go in back when the hole in the wall back when you still have to squeeze through. We had some good times there before the rest of 'em get 'et. I just hang about here now, dispensing my wisdom. Oh sure I think about leaving sometimes, but the soldiers here look up to me, sort of like a father y'know. It would break my heart to leav 'em. I spose I could give you guys some advice to if ye wants to here. I even got a map o' the places we went, though this was years back so I can't guarantee that things are the same anymore."
"Ahem, that is, I mean," he continues in a more normal tone. "Good day, Mr. Bill. We are indeed the new adventurers. Allow me to buy you a drink, and we can look at this map of yours and see what I can glean from it in the way of usefulness. I'd like to make my own version too, if you don't mind going over things with me. I've brought my own paper and ink."
Cecil would like to subject this fellow's map to a thorough audit, checking what's on paper against what Bill can recall of his travels. A natural-born [Cartographer] like Cecil is sure to uncover a useful tidbit others may have missed.
"I don't mean to bring up bad memories, but... what, exactly, was it that "'et" your companions, if you don't mind my asking?"
"Yes. How about we all have a drink to ease our minds", he speaks up. "First round is on me, chums."
Galric realizes that he has spent the past little while reading the book instead of looking where he is going. He doesn't exactly know where he is now. Oh well, perhaps he can find a local to help him out.
Switch Friend Code: SW-1406-1275-7906
"Hah!" Bill laughs "What didn't eat 'em. Ol' Dave got eaten by some sort a plant thing. Galorindel he was an elf you see, he got eaten by those Hideous Rat Men and I never saw what ate Ralph. And as for what ate Big Dave well, that one was me. Now its a funny story really, I thought it was a feral dog that bit me, but turns out it was a werewolf! Sure enough when the full moon comes I start gettin hair where it taint suposed to be and poor Big Dave caught the worst of it. Don't worry, I'm cured now. Now ye've probably seen that I got all my fingers by now so ye be wonderin' why I'm called Bill Four Fingers, well y'see when Dave got eaten by the plant we wanted to have something to bring home so it could be buried in his family plot, then when Galorindel bought it we found part of his body and it seemed like the thing to do. Well to cut to the chase like the Cleric told the maid when I finally came back I had 4 extra fingers with me! Still makes me laugh to think about sometimes. Now as for the map, I could let you take a copy of it I suppose, but maybe you could buy me a couple of drinks first."
Galric lost in the fort.
A quick look around you can see a pair of middle aged women who seem to be giving you very disaproving looks over to your left, and a hung over elf, a little girl, and a chicken to your right.
Cecil arranges for drinks for Bill while he interro- makes inquiries about what can be found in the West. If he can covertly request for those drinks to be a bit watered down (more watered down then usual?) so Bill does not get terribly drunk before he can squeeze the necessary information out of him, so much the better.
He stops short of the elf and throws a pinch of his special Flashpowder in the air. Bright light shimmers in the air, burning itself into the retinas of all those around.
"My my my. You don't look very good at all my elvish fellow! Or is that elven? I'm afraid I can never quite figure out which phrase is technically correct. I don't mean any offense in the slightest.
Perhaps you could be bothered to direct me to closest place of Magical significance? An Archmage such as myself has important business he has to attend to but I seem to find myself quite lost!"
Social interactions have never been Galric's strong suit, but he's confident that he's made a big impression this time.
Switch Friend Code: SW-1406-1275-7906
"I am an adventurer, dear girl." he says to the diminutive human clutching at his fine shirt. He turns to the mage and looks wryly to the side, trying not to let his terrible, terrible headache impede his locution. "As for pieces of magical significance, I don't know if I could say. I'm new here, and... wait. Haven't I seen you around? On the wagons?" He searches his memory.
"Hey there, Mr. Bill! I hear you're the guy to talk to about all the stuff out there! You know where some interesting things out in the wilds? Ooooh! You seen any goblins out there?"
Twitch Stream
Also because it's not a good idea for someone with the muscle tone of a wet newspaper to make enemies at every turn, but mostly the disease thing. What if kicking one turns you into one of them?
Is the terrible affliction known as being a Kobold a KTD? Cecil doesn't know and doesn't care to find out.
At the Bar
"Well hey there little fella." Bill smiles looking down at Throgo and downing a shot that seemed to appear from nowhere. "You got yourself a pet goblin eh professor? Sure there are plenty of goblins out there, lot of 'em gone weird from the magic though, met one with 5 arms once who could play the piano something fierce. I guess since you seem like group of fellows I can show you my map.
Anything you want to know in p'ticular?"
Marsh deduct a gold for the drinks.
Goblin? What Goblin? Oh thaaaat Goblin. No sir, I've never seen him before in my life, and I'm certainly not liable for anything or anyone he's chewed on or eaten. Definitely not. I have official papers saying I've officially nothing to do with this Goblin, even. Look, it's signed and everything. It's even... notarized!
Otherwise, he dutifully copies down the map, not bothering to make things too tidy as he's certain he'll be needing to redraw it from scratch later anyway once he's gotten a good look at the lay of the land, in person.
His finger stabs down at the map. "What can you tell us about this 'Monastery of Hesheuphat'? That doesn't sound like a Dwarf or Elven diety..."
"Oooh! That's just where I was thinking of going! It sounds like a really neat place! And look! The Goblin Marshes are on the way! We could see if any nice goblins are there!"
Twitch Stream
"Oh yes indeed. Erm. I'm afraid I didn't get to know anyone very well on the way here. I'm usually reading my books or, er, preparing to cast spells that could, erm, rip the cotton of time itself. Well, if you can't help me find where I need to be, I guess I'll be off. Contact me if you ever need a Magic User on your side."
Galric is about to leave when his stomach grumbles. It's been a while since he's eaten.
"Small girl! How much for that chicken?" he says to the small child who has been hovering around.
Switch Friend Code: SW-1406-1275-7906
At the bar
"Hesheuphat eh, well he's a human diety near as I could tell. A fertility one to, you can tell by the fact that he has a great big set O' family jewels. And the goblins eh, well most of them have gone local by now. Live in the swamp and don't mind you. O 'course, that doesn't mean all of them have so I'd still be careful."
Marsh sorry I just realized I forgot to give you a tidbit for your cartography talent. Examining the map you notice a riverway marked through the swamp that seems to lead to the monastary, traveling across it might save you some time if you can get a boat.
At the chicken
The young girl looks at Galric and seems to quickly come to a decision. "Oh this Chicken, this is my special chicken. I couldn't sell her for less then 5 silver."
"It looks like the quickest way there would be to pass through the swamp," he says, groaning quietly under his breath. "I may need some sort of guide. 'Familiar with the locals' kind of thing. Gob- Thorgo... how confident are you in your ability to procure a boat by, say, tomorrow-ish?"
Throgo starts to work out how to get what he wants. Throgo doesn't like his chances out there by himself, since various monsters have told him he's very tasty. Goblins appear to be the monster equivalent of junk food. So, having at least a partner would be nice. This human he came here with seems to be interested in that human Temple, and that's as good a place to start as any. Humans keep better records than Goblins, so if there is some clue about where he should look for the original Goblin homeland, that would probably be a better place to start than the swamps. Now he just needs to convince the human to bring him along...
...And then the human says goes and says something like that. They make it too easy some times.
Throgo cocks his head at the man,"I can try, but I just got here too!" Pretending to just come up with the idea at that moment, Throgo acts all excited and says, "But, it would be a good idea to have a partner when you go out into the wilds, huh? At least that way if one of us dies horribly, the other can bring back the awesome tale of how the other got eaten in one gulp by a giant monster! Or even better, we could keep monsters from eating each other!"
Twitch Stream
Throgo shrugs and nods in agreement. If the big, loud man wants to call himself the leader, that's just fine with Throgo. With his wide grin, Throgo exclaims, "Sounds good mister! I'll see both of you here tomorrow ok! I'm going to go look for that boat!"
And with that Throgo leaves to go find a boat. There's gotta be some docks or something around here.
Twitch Stream
"C'mon little girl. That's just an average chicken. I'll give you 3 silver for it."
Galric's smile is sickeningly sweet.
Switch Friend Code: SW-1406-1275-7906
"Wow. Great. A Leader. Wondrous," he says carefully. "I'll just take care of... things, and meet the two of you... here tomorrow then? Yes? Excellent."
He rouses Bill long enough to determine how many hours (days? weeks?) travel it would take by boat to get to the Monastery. That done, he sidles across the barroom, avoiding treading in anything too organic, to find the innkeeper and attempt to secure a private room for the night. Preferably upstairs. Preferably with a good lock on the door.
At the Chicken
The little girl seems fairly excited when she takes your money and runs off, leaving you holding a rather confused looking chicken. The Chicken looks at Celderielel and squawks "Where did my little girl go?"
The Bar
Cecil: You are able to get some more details from Bill and think you have a pretty good idea how long it will take you. The river itself is close by , you will have to carry the boat aways though but from there should be able to go downstream and get to the swamp by nightfall if you leave in the morning. From there, Bill's guess is 1 or 2 days from the swamp should be able to get you to the monastery. The best room in the Inn is 4 silvers including a dinner and breakfast in the morning.
Looking for a boat.
While the fort does not border the river itself, you find a carpenter who sells canoes. He is willing to sell the canoes to you for 2 gold apiece, each canoe could handle about 3 people and their supplies, a 4th might be pushing it.
Hmm, if the goblin manages to find the boats without any problems, perhaps he can just foist the list on him and have him work that out, too.
He gently folds his paper in thirds, and slips it into a jacket pocket.
[No further plans unless Throgo shows up again. He'd be fine with dropping some gold for boats and supplies for the party, or planning things out further if anyone particularly wants to bother with that.]
[Ain't sharin' his room though, sod off and get your own.]
*KNOCK* *KNOCK* *KNOCK*
A giant goblin grin greets Cecil at the door. "Hey, Cecil, I found some boats, and each one is big enough for the three of us! But... they're two gold each! That's more money than I've ever had! How are we going to get that much money!"
Cecil hands over the money without incident, and Throgo goes off to get the boat. He tells the Carpenter that he'll be by to get the boat tomorrow with friends.
As night comes, Throgo sleeps hidden outside in his blanket, as per usual.
Twitch Stream
Switch Friend Code: SW-1406-1275-7906
The women just shrug the shoulders sullenly at your questions, one of them suggests that you just go hang out at the bar where your kind are welcome, the other one suggests searching for her in an anatomically improbable location.
"It appears you have lost your girl, but you've got a mage in exchange. Probably a good trade, I think."
To Galric, he says "It seems like we're not very welcome in this part of town. Perhaps we should head to the bar,
as these kind women suggest. Mayhap we'll find warmer reception there."
"I'll let you have some of my chicken. A fellow caravaner is always welcome" He says as he picks the chicken up and sets off in the most barlike direction. Maybe he can get the elf to buy him some drinks.
Switch Friend Code: SW-1406-1275-7906
As Cecil and Bill discuss the details of the journey to the monastery, the scholarly human catches a fair whiff of... is that crypt moss? Looking up from his hastily scrawled map, he notices a tall figure in dark robes looming over his shoulder. He cut quite the menacing silhouette, with all detail of his face hidden within the deep shadow of his low cowl. However, any sense of intimidation disappears as the figure pulls back his hood, revealing a young man's face flashing a slightly crooked grin.
"Sorry to intrude, but I couldn't help but notice you were discussing some of the local attractions for those of an adventuring sort. Do you have any details on that old Wizard's Tower there?"
"Beer please." He looks over at the conversation going on at the bar to the right of him and gives a wink, smile, and nod. Followed by a loud belch.
"Not any that I know, chum. Good 'ole guy-person buddy-friend, Bill here might, though," Cecil replies, returning the stranger's slanty grin with one of his own, albeit with a small undertone of anxiety.