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Post by irishmagician on Sept 26, 2012 19:32:35 GMT -4
(OOC: You might be wondering what the heck this thread is for. Good question! Interludes, as the name might suggest, are breaks in the main storyline/plot for various things to occur. This things include, but most certainly are not limited to, spending your hard earned gold in town(s), rest, exploration, side quests, RP, investigation, and travel between locations.
An Interlude will last until: A) You all uncover/decide where to go with the main plot, B) You all take too long doing nothing and I end up throwing a plot hook, or C) You take up too many posting pages in the thread and I am forced to start another.
In the event an Interlude is coming to an end, I will give forewarning before hand, in case there is anything else that needs to be wrapped up. As always, if you have questions or need clarifications, let me know. Have fun! ^_^)
Interlude: Loose Ends
The afternoon sun sets slowly in the distance, casting its reddening glow over the town of Oakdale. Four exhausted adventurers, two kobolds, and an eagle make their way back through the Silverleaf Forest nearby; a peaceable calm previously absent amongst the chaos now pervading the darkening wood. As they reach the outskirts of town, the group gains a glimpse into the state of the recovering townsfolk following the events of last evening. The Academy has essentially been shut down indefinitely, the gate to the campus firmly locked, barred, and guarded by a contingent of town guardsmen at all times. In the distance, the pulsating Rift where the Wizard's Tower once stood has settled down to ground level, still shining with its coruscating light. Several figures in robes can be seen just beyond the walls of the Wizarding School, working what magicks they can to keep as much of the Rift's influence contained. Occasionally, purple scintillating streams of energy escape the mages' control, flowing momentarily high into the sky to far off distances as they break free from the Rift.
In the town proper, some semblance of normalcy has been established. People go to and fro as they attempt business as usual, though the damage to the buildings and surroundings still make the nightmare unforgettable. The town market is completely silent, the vendors from the outlying fields suspiciously absent instead of hawking their wares. Indeed, only few shops remain currently open despite the current circumstances. The only shops that even seem to be open are located around the center of town, in close proximity to the Dragon's Claw. Nearby, Rin's Odds n' Ends seems to be open, the sign for the shop crudely fixed back to a post outside of its door. Next door lies a ramshackle house, with an ancient sign proclaiming 'Spells and Brews, Magickal Supply Shoppe;' puffs of smoke can be seen coming from the chimney of the store, the smoke occasionally changing color or shooting off sparks suddenly without notice. Further down the road, a stone building with heavily curtained windows and a sign that reads 'Fletcher's Shop' seems to be seeing an increase in patronage; with numerous cloaked figures entering and exiting the store at all hours of the day. Across the street, however, a smithy sits ominously quiet; the forge cold and unlit, as a sign swings in the breeze, reading 'Strongarm's Swords and Shields.'
Finally, of course, the Dragon's Claw now exhibits signs of recent refurbishment; with all windows now completely intact, as well as several doors on the ground level replaced where they were broken down the previous night. A number of townsfolk come and go from the inn, surely seeking some comfort in the food and spirits provided by the establishment in light of the recent events. Across town, the Temple of Mysteries is bustling with activity. Guards come and go, carrying stretchers of transformed townsfolk into the Temple; sometimes carrying out unlucky, lifeless ones for burial as well. Numerous acolytes can be seen around the Temple grounds, either with shovels for graves or setting up tents to make more room for the steady influx of arriving patients.
The scene is now set in the recovering town of Oakdale. What fate or impossible trials await the newly burgeoning heroes of this tale? The future remains uncertain, their exploits still unsung; but for now let us see what lies in store for our adventurers under this setting sun....
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Post by zeferin on Sept 27, 2012 16:35:05 GMT -4
As Trazish walked into what remained of the town, she cursed her new sense of smell and had to stop breathing out of her nostrils from the scent of death she smelled in the air. Down the streets blood mixed with dirt, a bent shield and broken sword layer scattered down a few, and Trazish even saw a dismembered hand. If ever hell would spawn on this plane, this is what the town bordering it would look like.
After walking for a bit, Trazish turned to the group and said, "I know we need to get to that damned Archmage, but I would like to be a little more recognizable to him." At that, she pulled out the curse breaking scroll.
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Post by Naerwen on Sept 29, 2012 12:41:29 GMT -4
Naerwen was slightly surprised and shaken from her thoughts as Trazish spoke out during their solemn walk through town. It took her a brief moment to shift her focus of attention to the angry Kobold. Tiriel ruffled her feathers and let out a soft screech at the demanding little creature before them. Naerwen gave a brief glance toward Ayame wondering how she would react to the comment in regards to her mentor. Amidst all of this her stomach rumbled reminding her that she hadn't eaten since the morning.
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Post by blackhawk on Sept 30, 2012 11:21:05 GMT -4
Vulgrim clanks into town with the rest of the group, hitching up his pack back into its appropriate place.
The thing he most notes, other than the death and sadness of course, as he walks through is the empty forge.
Have to go look into that later...
As Trazish grumbles about his lack of appropriate form, Vulgrim chuckles. "Worry not yer head over it. We'll see aboot taking care of ye before we find the Arch Mage. We ought to see about getting things in order first though. Pers'nally, I ought to make sure my forge is in one piece, as well as take care of some other errands so as to be ready for whatever /other/ misfortune manages to fall upon us."
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Post by zeferin on Sept 30, 2012 23:53:38 GMT -4
OOC: Complete redo of this post. I shouldn't post RP before going to bed. Be back in a minute with this post.
OOC 2: FIXED
Gripping the scroll firmly in her claws, Trazish stuffed it back into her pack and turned back to the group. "Fine. If you all would like to have a bit of food and to check on your ware, then I'll just stand around, twiddling my thumbs. Oh wait, Deekin," turning to the Kobold and held out her inner claw, "do these even count as thumbs anymore? I don't think you all realize how angry I am right now. You don't realize how much pride I had in being a half-elf. I had to take pride in it or else I would have lost my entire family for nothing! Now that I lost that, what can I take pride in?! But no, I guess you all need an apple or two and you probably should check in to make sure all your tools are still on the wall." With that she stormed off, yelling, "Tee tahl-bay Orkh!" back at them before heading off to where her rented room hopefully still stood.
Getting back to the small shack she called home, Trazish was glad to see that, ignoring the blown-out windows, all was just as she had left it. Setting her pack down, Trazish took off her cloak, her armor, and pulled out her alter. Taking a chunk dried meat from the pantry, Trazish quickly scarfed it down and turned back to the altar, placing a circle of candles around her and drawing her Lady’s mark into the dirt floor. Sitting cross legged, she lite an incense and began meditating. So much had happened in the last few days and Trazish finally had time to think about it all. She thought about all that had happened to her in the past few days. She thought about why her goddess would send her to Oakdale only to have all this happen. She thought about the meaning behind her anger and thought about her companions.
She had come back to the place that her father had spent the last of his days, working in the same office and carrying out the same day to day routines that he did. She did her best to slip into the background and learn what she could about any threats that the Lady had foresaw. For the last few months, Trazish waited patiently, but nothing like the usual necromancer or lich showed its face. Then, it felt like everything happened at once, from the archmage’s spell, to the creature’s destructive rampage, to the curses on her own body. It was enough to madden anyone, and Trazish was on the edge. Koil had tried to teach her to control her emotions. He said that one must always keep a balance over one’s emotion and let them loose only to fuel our wrath against our enemies. Trazish, though, never had as much control as her master liked.
Trazish had done her best not to let her rage consume her, but, wasn’t this just the fuel that her master had told her to harness? She knew inquisitors that had gone too far and had committed heresy in the name of their gods, but how far was she willing to go to serve her Lady? These were drastic times, after all.
That’s when something Koil had told her many years ago about how to gain from others came to her, almost as if he was whispering it right behind her. He had said, "Think of why I made you my student. My knowledge and my duty must be carried on after my death just as my master's knowledge and duties were passed on to me. You agreed to be my student because you were without family, food, and shelter. We each took advantage of the situation for personal gain. Now, don’t confuse personal gain with personal greed. Never take more than you need or else you will eventually find a dagger to your throat. If you can gain something and someones can as well, let them gain with you. If you do so, you can gain more later from them. And remember, you can always gain something from another." It had been a saying that Trazish had taken away from many times. Once again, she chewed over these words and thought about her current situation. She knew that what Koil saw as a personal gain was more like connections and sources of information rather than momentary and situational benefits, but that didn't change the fact that she hadn't been really using her own gains. She had an alliance with a dwarven cleric that could man a forge, an elven druid that could tell Trazish more of her elven background than anyone else on the mainland, a halfling that could brew half a dozen explosives, a witch that, though a necromancer, had direct connections with the archmage, and a kobold bard, which any friendly kobold was a rare site to be seen. And what had she done? Curse them and stormed off like a child. Koil would have had her hide if had he known what a waste of an opportunity that his student might have blown.
Sighing, Trazish snuffed out the incense, packed up the altar and redressed before heading back out. She would find her allies and make peace in some hopes of regaining her own "personal gains".
"First off, though," she thought, "I might as well see what is left in the shops and if any of it is worth buying."
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Post by irishmagician on Oct 2, 2012 16:14:02 GMT -4
(OOC: Making some presumptions on what people are intending to do, so as to keep things moving. Also, if you wish to buy things, you will have to RP that too...muhaha.)
As Trazish heads off towards his apartment, the rest of the group is left standing in various modes of discussion amidst the streets of Oakdale.
As thoughts of his forge comes to Vulgrim's mind and after taking a brief moment to orient himself in terms of location, the dwarf thinks that it probably take him about twenty minutes or so of walking to get to his smithy if he so chooses.
In response to her sudden bout of hunger, Naerwen finds that the pretty much all the food vendors in the market are pretty much non-existent. The only nearby source of food that can be found is the aroma of cooking coming from the Dragon's Claw Inn.
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Post by myinsanemind on Oct 2, 2012 20:08:39 GMT -4
(ooc: will reply tomorrow. Forgot laptop battery at school and I have homework to do on it)
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Post by blackhawk on Oct 3, 2012 1:11:43 GMT -4
Vulgrim hitches his pack, which mysteriously keeps falling down for RP reasons, back into place. He looks to the group as they begin to split off. "Meet ye back at the Inn soonish. Need te check on some things."
He heads to his forge through the route he remembers.
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Post by myinsanemind on Oct 3, 2012 11:41:14 GMT -4
Ayame watched as Zeferin stormed off after cursing them all. The hair on the back of her neck rose in both anger and a bit of fear as she glared at the back of the angry kobald. She was far too disgruntled with how the last days had gone to do anything more about it, however. Leaning over to snuggle against Dumble’s prickly neck, she let out a groan.
“I need a serious pick me up…” she muttered.
She glanced at everyone leaving and tried to figure out if there was anyone worth following. Vulgrim was probably going to go and “check on his tools” as Zeferin had said, Ayame was far to annoyed at the female Kobald to even bother, and Naerwen seemed to be on the hunt for food. Grumple and Deekin still didn’t seem to have plans, and she was getting tired of waiting around.
“Well, I am going. If any of you want to tag along or find me, I am going to the graveyards for the night.”
Without turning back around to see if anyone followed, Ayame and Dumbledore headed to find the graveyards where all the bodies must have been buried.
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Post by irishmagician on Oct 5, 2012 19:12:54 GMT -4
Vulgrim heads off from the remaining members of the group back towards the Academy, and hence to his forge back in the Strategist's Square. After a good ten minutes walk, he comes to the cordon of guards around the gate to the Academy. Captain Oakton of the Guard is still present at the barricade at the gates, occasionally barking orders at the occasional guard who lapses in their patrols or those with straying attentions. He turns from his tirade to notice the dwarf approaching, an lifted eyebrow visible behind his helm.
"Oh, it is you again. I see you managed to survive the chaos that ensued last evening," the Captain says with a mild tone of surprise. Seeing Vulgrim's intent to pass, he shrugs unconcernedly. "Normally I would not allow anyone to pass without permission from the Governor; but I am sure that you can take care of yourself, given previous events. I make no guarantees for your safety beyond the gates; things are still out of control despite the effort of those blasted...mages..." he says, spitting once to the side at his disgust of spellcasters.
He motions once to the group of guards nearest to the gates, who then open them slightly to allow the dwarf to pass if he so desires. Beyond, the rolling greensward of the campus rests serenely, with a thin veil of mist obscuring the landscape slightly. The Wizarding School can be seen through the fog in the distance, with the occasional burst of magick energy illuminating the grounds in a cascade of colors.
.............................
Dumbledore the goat trots along the streets of Oakdale, carrying Ayame along on his back. After a meandering travail through the town, with occasional grazing stops on random tufts of grass poking through the cobblestone streets, Dumbles eventually ends up at the graveyards behind the Temple of Mysteries. Almost endless rows of tombstombs, mausoleums, and other buildings/sculptures fill this necropolis of sorts; the cemetery interring the remains of the town's citizens and nobility for endless generations into the past. Numerous acolytes can be seen digging a rather large number of new graves, for the unfortunate townsfolk that did not survive the chaos that engulfed Oakdale last night. There are little living people here beyond the acolytes, many townsfolk possibly delaying their mourning at the graveside in fear of further potential disasters occurring in the near future.
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Deekin trots off towards the Dragon's Claw to check in with Flog and Sarna, most likely to regale them with his various exploits and tales during his trip with the group. Grumple and Naerwen are left in their contemplation, the slight traffic of the town moving slowly through the streets amidst the diminished daily activities that remain to be accomplished before nightfall.
(OOC: Updated for spelling and grammar.)
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Post by Naerwen on Oct 5, 2012 23:38:09 GMT -4
When Trazish storms off Naerwen massages her temples with a slender index finger and thumb, which is followed by a sigh.
Naerwen watched the dwarf hitch up his pack as he prepared to leave. She absentmindedly nodded as he mentioned meeting at the Inn "soonish". The idle thought of wondering what his version of "soonish" was drifted through her mind briefly. Her attention shifted to Ayame's mutterings with her eyes slightly widening at the thought of her being left alone in a graveyard where there were bound to be several dead bodies for her to 'play' with. As Ayame walked away Naerwen shook her head as she wiped her face with the palm of her hand.
Finally she glanced down at Grumple. "So .... should we go try to track down Trazish or ... where are you heading off to?" As she waited for his response she fished out some of the dried venison she had packed that morning. The thought of attempting to fetch the seed crossed her mind, but she figured with her social ineptitude it would be best if the group went along or at least stayed close. Even though she didn't generally favor the company of others she didn't particularly want to be alone at the moment.
Survival: [dice=20] +5(normal bonus)[rand=9417233477271655493897343365256465923554783372739225130019306]
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mith
Junior Member
Posts: 90
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Post by mith on Oct 7, 2012 23:59:38 GMT -4
Grumplestilskin lagged behind the group on the return to Oakdale, sorting through his depleted stash of reagents, making small talk with Deekin, and struggling to come to terms with the events of the past 24 hours. (Oh, and also finding and leading the donkey laden with packs of his heavier belongings, which he had conveniently left just out of sight of the battle in the druid grove.) Even by the adventuresome standards of his life so far, nothing compared to the mass devastation and terror of the otherworldly being's attack.
"Good thing it was so focused on that druid's grove," he told Deekin, "or that thing might have just torn apart the entire town! And whoever heard of a warrior oak tree?" He shook his head in amazement and looked to the kobold. "I swear I must have been smoking serabin root extract again... guess if I wake up with a splitting headache tomorrow I'll know it was all a dream."
As they approached the town, he caught up with the party just in time to hear Trazish shouting in frustration as Vulgrim walked away. "Hmm, looks we have a problem of different priorities," he says to Deekin, Naerwin, or whoever was nearby.
When Trazish and Ayame take off without so much as a glance back, he continues to Deekin, "why don't you check back at your Inn and wait for things to blow over. It sounds like today's been rough on everyone's patience. I'll find ya before going off to do anything fun."
As Deekin wanders off, Grumple turns to Naerwin as she asks her question. Suddenly distracted by sight of her venison, he looses track of his thoughts as his hands drift unconsciously to his pack. "Oh, umm, let me think..." he mumbles as he roots through his bag for a piece of salted pork and an apple.
Munching distractedly as he watches the party disperse towards the town, Grumple turns back to Naerwin. "Much better. Now, what was that? Ah right, the young half-elf kobold fellow. Mmm. Well, I suppose it would be good to get him.... her? him set right as soon as we can. Though I'm not one with such skills as would be useful. Ayame and the dwarf have wandered off, and I can't say as I feel like running all over town at the moment. Short legs, y'know."
Crunching down loudly on the apple, he leans back against his donkey, its lead wrapped around an arm. "I'd say I have a room to move back in to, but I'm not so confident yet that things are going to remain normal around here. Might not want to stay put for classes at a university with big purple monsters taking out headmasters, y'know."
"Suppose we should stick around long enough to meet up with the others, though. We seem to be the only competent ones not tied down." He chuckles, "and I wouldn't mind sticking around with that Trazish fellow, he takes more than his share of the misfortune! Anyway, I'd like to get some work done, if I can find a laboratory. In the meantime, let's see if there's some decent food about. If you'd like to stick together, we can wait up at the Inn for the Dwarf before going to find Ayame at the graveyard for taking care of that scroll thing."
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Post by Naerwen on Oct 8, 2012 0:57:25 GMT -4
Naerwen peers at Grumple as he digs through his pack and she seems slightly distracted for about a minute. If Grumple notices he might wonder if she's staring at him, through him, or if she's just generally zoned out from being tired. Finally, her attention shifts and she shrugs her shoulders with a slight nod of agreement to one of his various statements. Taking a glance back at the academy she mumbles, "It doesn't look like I'll be getting in to the Druid's quarters any time soon, so ..." She gestured toward the marketplace with a sweeping motion of her hand. "Lead the way, and I'll follow." With that she takes another bite of her dried venison and feeds a small piece of it to Tiriel.
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Post by myinsanemind on Oct 8, 2012 14:43:57 GMT -4
Ayame hoped off of Dumbles and walked around the many graves, reading all of the names on the gravestones. Finding one grave she particularly liked, she sat down and folded her legs. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath in. The smell of moist earth, worms, and decay filled her nose, helping her relax as she breathed back out.
Dumbles let out a soft bleat as he settle down next to Ayame's side. Aya continued her breathing exercise until she was able to release all of her frustrations. She opened her eyes and looked to the setting sun.
"New life, Dumbles. Out of all of these beautiful dead, new life will grow. It is only too bad I cannot let them have their last dance on this earth..."
Ayame continued her mutterings as she leaned over onto her familiar's side to rest. It was not long before the pair had drifted off to sleep on top of the grave of Brom of Brynway.
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Post by blackhawk on Oct 8, 2012 15:08:36 GMT -4
Vulgrim steps through the gate, nodding to the guards.
"I'll be back after a while. Setting some things to rights before I don't have the chance to make sure its done."
Vulgrim, at the ready, heads across the campus to reach his forge.
He mumbles to himself as he goes. "Ought te have taken care of this before I left... didnae do more than a lockup before I left... don't want people stealin' me gear."
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