To a party of seasoned adventurers such as yourselves, what you see is but another dull tavern in another dull town in some nameless province. It is but another span of time between the challenges of true adventuring.
Outside the tavern, a fog lies over the town this evening. The damp, cobbled pavement glistens as the lights of street lanterns dance across the slick stones. The fog chills the bones and shivers the soul of anyone outside.
Yet inside these tavern walls the food is hearty, and the ale is warm and frothy. A fire blazes in the hearth, and the tavern is alive with the tumbling voices of country folk.
Suddenly, the tavern door swings open, and a hush falls over the room. Framed by the lamp-lit fog, a form strides through the doorway. His heavy, booted footfalls and the jingle of his coins shatter the silence. His brightly colored clothes are draped in loose folds about him, and his hat hangs askew, hiding his eyes in shadows. Without hesitation, he walks up to your table and stands proudly in a wide stance with folded arms.
In an accented voice he says, “I have been sent to you to deliver this message. If you be creatures of honor, you will come to my master’s aid at first light. It is not advisable to travel the Svalich Woods at night!” He pulls from his tunic a sealed letter, addressed to all of you in beautiful flowing script. He drops the letter on the table. “Take the west road from here some five hours march down through the Svalich Woods. There you will find my master in Barovia.”
Amid the silent stares of the patronage, the ***** strides to the bar and says to the wary barkeep, “Fill the glasses, one and all. Their throats are obviously parched.” He drops a purse heavy with gold on the bar. With that, he leaves.
The babble of tavern voices resumes, although somewhat subdued. The letter is lying before you. The seal is in the shape of a crest you don’t recognize
Everyone can describe what their character looks like, give us a brief background on how your character ended up in this particular tavern, and introduce themselves to the rest of the party. Once everyone has done this, we can move on.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Xenophon: Topaz Dragonborn Fighter (ixi's Dragon of Icespire Peak)
"Er..." The armored cleric, Hadrian, tries to catch the *****'s attention before he walks out the door. Then he looks around the table, bemused. His eyes belie a keen mind, beneath a tough and weathered exterior. His furred cloak is about the same color as his hair, dark brown.
Hadrian strokes his short beard, smiles, and shrugs. "Thanks for the drink, I suppose. Now...Barovia, he said? What have we here?" He picks up the letter, examining the seal before opening it and reading aloud. His accent is obviously northern, with a soft, cultured edge—a stark contrast to his roughly-featured face, which sports its fair share of scars.
A male elf, with hair as white as snow and skin that's so light blue he look like he's suffering from hypothermia, hides in the shadowy corner of the tavern. Having, not so long ago, burst in from the cold wetness of outside he quickly dried off and quietly ordered room and food before slinking to this corner and began watching the tavern. Having not said a word to anyone else it is obvious that he is not from around here. Wearing dark leather armor and equipped with daggers, swords, and a bow he looks like he isn't the type to mess around with. As the gypse man arrives and calls for adventure Enialis kept his eyes on the man but shows no sign of wanting to accept the man on his offer. Once the man leaves Enialis's eyes drift back to the girl, who he arrived with, he has been watching and seems to wait for the inevitable statement to come out of her mouth.
Poking her brother, Faerynna grins. "It's an invitation! To somewhere new! I told you we'd see new things here! Maybe he's interested in the eg-thing! We're going, right?" The green-skinned eladrin bounces slightly in her seat, her golden eyes wide with excitement and a massive grin on her face. Her dark green hair is unbound, falling around her shoulders, and a pair of horns sweep up from the midst of her locks, which are adorned with flowers. "We better be going. This is even better than camping!"
Also sitting at the table is a humanoid figure in chain mail with a glaive slung over her back. Her hood is on and pulled down over her forehead, but a keen observer would notice two lumps trying to poke through the top. Every inch of her skin is covered with long sleeves tucked into black gloves, and leggings tucked into her boots. A plain black bandana-like mask is pulled up over her nose, with just enough room left for her eyes to poke out. It is not easy, but anyone who could catch a glance at her eyes would see bright yellow eyes with no pupils, which seem to have a quite confidence behind them despite the figure's reserved demeanor. For anyone with experience with her kind, this coupled with the lumps on the head would suggest she is a tiefling, but she has no tail. The only decoration she wears is a necklace in the shape of a burning shield which has the image of a burning sword on a deep red background.
At the bar leans a young aasimar having an excited conversation with the barkeep about absolutely nothing of import. Someone overhears the phrase "Oh, and another good psalm..."before he stands and scans the crowd and returns to the table of travelers he's been enjoying the company of for the last... three drinks or so.
*scene above happens*
"Oh, well if this doesn't call to me, I don't know what does. I'm here to do good works and someone's in need of aid." He says excitedly. He turns, smiling to Faerynna. "You're going, right? Do you mind if I tag along?"
Whichever one of you opens the letter first reads this:
Hail to thee of might and valor,
I, a lowly servant of Barovia, send honor to thee. We plead for thy so desperately needed assistance. The love of my life, Ireena Kolyana, has been afflicted with an evil so deadly that even the good people of this village cannot protect her. She languishes from this wound, and I would have her saved from this menace. There is much wealth in this community. I offer all that might be had to thee and thy fellows if thou shalt answer my desperate plea. Come quickly, for her time is at hand! All that I have shall be thine!
Kolyan Indirovich,
Burgomaster
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Xenophon: Topaz Dragonborn Fighter (ixi's Dragon of Icespire Peak)
Enialis eyes drift over to the young aasimar as he addresses his sister before going back to her. He doesn't fully look at her as he is sure she is already giving him that full on puppy dog pleading eyes that he can't ever seem to resist. Letting out a big sigh he responds to her, his voice kind of cold and harsh in response, "It looks like he's looking for adventures not tourists. But...if you can find enough people and that means more than just him." Eniali's adds, nodding to the aasimar, "Who are willing to put up with you for more than a few hours. Than we can go and be adventurers for a little bit. We also need the coin."
"Yeeees!" Faerynna's grin returns with full force as she nods excitedly at the aasimar. "You can totally come! It'll be great! Saving people is totally a good deed!" She turns her attention to the other people at the table. "You guys should come too! There'll probably be lots of new things, and helping people, and treasure! Something for everyone! You're coming, right?" She gives them wide, pleading eyes if they hesitate for more than half a second.
"I am wary of taking a job with so little information," she says, staring straight ahead. "Besides, I usually tend toward jobs that lead directly to me slaying beasts."
"Nope! But I bet there would be beasts in the woods and stuff! And the best way to find out what the evil is would totally be to come along and find out for yourself, right? So you should come either way!" Faerynna beams. "I'm Faerynna, by the way. But you can totally just call me Fae! Fae the fey, get it?" She laughs and sticks out her hand. "You shake hands here, right? That's how people introduce themselves?"
She just looks down at the extended hand for a moment but eventually shakes it. "I'm Elyse, pleased to meet you. I will say this talk of evil has intrigued me, so I will tag along for now."
“Hadrian,” says the armored man, reaching across the table to shake various hands by way of introduction.
“It can’t be happenstance that we, a group of adventures, are gathered here at the same time that this call for help against evil comes.” He looks around room, making eye contact. “This is a message from the gods themselves. We would be fools to ignore it.”
Hadrian nods, reading over the letter again. "Well, whatever this evil is that is afflicting this...Ireena...I suspect it won't go away with us just sitting here."
He downs his drink, stands, and checks his sword in its sheath. "And I've been in one place for too long, as it stands."
Seeing that it didn’t take long for Fae to find people he decided to introduce himself, “Enialis. Older brother.” He doesn’t offer his hand out to shake anyone instead watches as the human gets up and looks like he’s ready to leave right away. With another sigh he says, “Off to bed I hope Hadrian. I know like most humans you’re impatient but the employer said come at first light. Or did you not hear that part.” Enialis voice has that same even harsh cold tone as he address Hadrian. Not even budging as Fae attempts to pull him along.
Everyone can describe what their character looks like, give us a brief background on how your character ended up in this particular tavern, and introduce themselves to the rest of the party. Once everyone has done this, we can move on.
Xenophon: Topaz Dragonborn Fighter (ixi's Dragon of Icespire Peak)
More
"Er..." The armored cleric, Hadrian, tries to catch the *****'s attention before he walks out the door. Then he looks around the table, bemused. His eyes belie a keen mind, beneath a tough and weathered exterior. His furred cloak is about the same color as his hair, dark brown.
Hadrian strokes his short beard, smiles, and shrugs. "Thanks for the drink, I suppose. Now...Barovia, he said? What have we here?" He picks up the letter, examining the seal before opening it and reading aloud. His accent is obviously northern, with a soft, cultured edge—a stark contrast to his roughly-featured face, which sports its fair share of scars.
DM - Storm King's Thunder PbP | Yet Another Storm King's Thunder PbP
Current: Eogard Duramastar, Human Twilight Cleric/Star Druid | Eiren Lathrana, Shadar-Kai Eldritch Knight/Bladesinger | Arugula, Rabbitfolk Armorer
Survivor: CrispyDM's Saltmarsh as Syltra | SarcasticFury's Strahd as Hadrian Frozenspark | Forge of Fury as The DM
A male elf, with hair as white as snow and skin that's so light blue he look like he's suffering from hypothermia, hides in the shadowy corner of the tavern. Having, not so long ago, burst in from the cold wetness of outside he quickly dried off and quietly ordered room and food before slinking to this corner and began watching the tavern. Having not said a word to anyone else it is obvious that he is not from around here. Wearing dark leather armor and equipped with daggers, swords, and a bow he looks like he isn't the type to mess around with. As the gypse man arrives and calls for adventure Enialis kept his eyes on the man but shows no sign of wanting to accept the man on his offer. Once the man leaves Enialis's eyes drift back to the girl, who he arrived with, he has been watching and seems to wait for the inevitable statement to come out of her mouth.
Poking her brother, Faerynna grins. "It's an invitation! To somewhere new! I told you we'd see new things here! Maybe he's interested in the eg-thing! We're going, right?" The green-skinned eladrin bounces slightly in her seat, her golden eyes wide with excitement and a massive grin on her face. Her dark green hair is unbound, falling around her shoulders, and a pair of horns sweep up from the midst of her locks, which are adorned with flowers. "We better be going. This is even better than camping!"
Faerynna:
Stella Diamant, Human Rogue 17 (Swashbuckler), The Exploits of Misfit Company
Kat, Medtech, Cyberpunk: Red
Shi, Changeling Bard 4 (College of Spirits), Tyrant's Grasp
Dani, Human Artificer 9 (Armorer), Skulls and Starships
DM, Project Point (Teams Scimitar and Longsword)
Everything Else!
Also sitting at the table is a humanoid figure in chain mail with a glaive slung over her back. Her hood is on and pulled down over her forehead, but a keen observer would notice two lumps trying to poke through the top. Every inch of her skin is covered with long sleeves tucked into black gloves, and leggings tucked into her boots. A plain black bandana-like mask is pulled up over her nose, with just enough room left for her eyes to poke out. It is not easy, but anyone who could catch a glance at her eyes would see bright yellow eyes with no pupils, which seem to have a quite confidence behind them despite the figure's reserved demeanor. For anyone with experience with her kind, this coupled with the lumps on the head would suggest she is a tiefling, but she has no tail. The only decoration she wears is a necklace in the shape of a burning shield which has the image of a burning sword on a deep red background.
At the bar leans a young aasimar having an excited conversation with the barkeep about absolutely nothing of import. Someone overhears the phrase "Oh, and another good psalm..." before he stands and scans the crowd and returns to the table of travelers he's been enjoying the company of for the last... three drinks or so.
*scene above happens*
"Oh, well if this doesn't call to me, I don't know what does. I'm here to do good works and someone's in need of aid." He says excitedly. He turns, smiling to Faerynna. "You're going, right? Do you mind if I tag along?"
Whichever one of you opens the letter first reads this:
Xenophon: Topaz Dragonborn Fighter (ixi's Dragon of Icespire Peak)
More
Enialis eyes drift over to the young aasimar as he addresses his sister before going back to her. He doesn't fully look at her as he is sure she is already giving him that full on puppy dog pleading eyes that he can't ever seem to resist. Letting out a big sigh he responds to her, his voice kind of cold and harsh in response, "It looks like he's looking for adventures not tourists. But...if you can find enough people and that means more than just him." Eniali's adds, nodding to the aasimar, "Who are willing to put up with you for more than a few hours. Than we can go and be adventurers for a little bit. We also need the coin."
"Yeeees!" Faerynna's grin returns with full force as she nods excitedly at the aasimar. "You can totally come! It'll be great! Saving people is totally a good deed!" She turns her attention to the other people at the table. "You guys should come too! There'll probably be lots of new things, and helping people, and treasure! Something for everyone! You're coming, right?" She gives them wide, pleading eyes if they hesitate for more than half a second.
Stella Diamant, Human Rogue 17 (Swashbuckler), The Exploits of Misfit Company
Kat, Medtech, Cyberpunk: Red
Shi, Changeling Bard 4 (College of Spirits), Tyrant's Grasp
Dani, Human Artificer 9 (Armorer), Skulls and Starships
DM, Project Point (Teams Scimitar and Longsword)
Everything Else!
"I am wary of taking a job with so little information," she says, staring straight ahead. "Besides, I usually tend toward jobs that lead directly to me slaying beasts."
"Maybe something more your style will come up?" Phanuel says hopefully. "There are lots of monsters in the woods."
"A valid point. Do any of you have any idea what this deadly evil could be?"
"Nope! But I bet there would be beasts in the woods and stuff! And the best way to find out what the evil is would totally be to come along and find out for yourself, right? So you should come either way!" Faerynna beams. "I'm Faerynna, by the way. But you can totally just call me Fae! Fae the fey, get it?" She laughs and sticks out her hand. "You shake hands here, right? That's how people introduce themselves?"
Stella Diamant, Human Rogue 17 (Swashbuckler), The Exploits of Misfit Company
Kat, Medtech, Cyberpunk: Red
Shi, Changeling Bard 4 (College of Spirits), Tyrant's Grasp
Dani, Human Artificer 9 (Armorer), Skulls and Starships
DM, Project Point (Teams Scimitar and Longsword)
Everything Else!
She just looks down at the extended hand for a moment but eventually shakes it. "I'm Elyse, pleased to meet you. I will say this talk of evil has intrigued me, so I will tag along for now."
“Hadrian,” says the armored man, reaching across the table to shake various hands by way of introduction.
“It can’t be happenstance that we, a group of adventures, are gathered here at the same time that this call for help against evil comes.” He looks around room, making eye contact. “This is a message from the gods themselves. We would be fools to ignore it.”
DM - Storm King's Thunder PbP | Yet Another Storm King's Thunder PbP
Current: Eogard Duramastar, Human Twilight Cleric/Star Druid | Eiren Lathrana, Shadar-Kai Eldritch Knight/Bladesinger | Arugula, Rabbitfolk Armorer
Survivor: CrispyDM's Saltmarsh as Syltra | SarcasticFury's Strahd as Hadrian Frozenspark | Forge of Fury as The DM
"Exactly!" Fae agrees. "That." She grins at her brother. "See, Eni? I got people! So now we're going!"
Stella Diamant, Human Rogue 17 (Swashbuckler), The Exploits of Misfit Company
Kat, Medtech, Cyberpunk: Red
Shi, Changeling Bard 4 (College of Spirits), Tyrant's Grasp
Dani, Human Artificer 9 (Armorer), Skulls and Starships
DM, Project Point (Teams Scimitar and Longsword)
Everything Else!
"How rude of me. Phanuel." he introduces himself to the table, shaking any hands offered. "Clearly the fates meant for us all to be here."
Hadrian nods, reading over the letter again. "Well, whatever this evil is that is afflicting this...Ireena...I suspect it won't go away with us just sitting here."
He downs his drink, stands, and checks his sword in its sheath. "And I've been in one place for too long, as it stands."
DM - Storm King's Thunder PbP | Yet Another Storm King's Thunder PbP
Current: Eogard Duramastar, Human Twilight Cleric/Star Druid | Eiren Lathrana, Shadar-Kai Eldritch Knight/Bladesinger | Arugula, Rabbitfolk Armorer
Survivor: CrispyDM's Saltmarsh as Syltra | SarcasticFury's Strahd as Hadrian Frozenspark | Forge of Fury as The DM
Fae shoots to her feet. "Yessssss! I'm sure the forest can't be that dangerous at night! Let's go! Come on, Eni!" She tugs at her brother's arm.
Stella Diamant, Human Rogue 17 (Swashbuckler), The Exploits of Misfit Company
Kat, Medtech, Cyberpunk: Red
Shi, Changeling Bard 4 (College of Spirits), Tyrant's Grasp
Dani, Human Artificer 9 (Armorer), Skulls and Starships
DM, Project Point (Teams Scimitar and Longsword)
Everything Else!
Seeing that it didn’t take long for Fae to find people he decided to introduce himself, “Enialis. Older brother.” He doesn’t offer his hand out to shake anyone instead watches as the human gets up and looks like he’s ready to leave right away. With another sigh he says, “Off to bed I hope Hadrian. I know like most humans you’re impatient but the employer said come at first light. Or did you not hear that part.” Enialis voice has that same even harsh cold tone as he address Hadrian. Not even budging as Fae attempts to pull him along.