Masters of Eothia 1-20

(Haha thanks man. Lots of stuff in my head about her - was in the mood to write.)

(Yeah, take a point of inspiration!)

Bobo’s fantastic adventures away from the group: 

Deception: Unable to parse dice roll. (It says unable to parse on my screen so I’ll just narrate a positive resault, I’ll redo if it was actually bad)

The slums of a slum city may be more dangerous then any dungeon, dragon cave, or enemy battle camp in the entire world. Living in constant fear of a likely grisly death, bleeding out in an alley for the few coins that you were able to scrounge up from a job that could make one dream about trying their luck as a desert hermit, isn’t feasible. After an amount of time, the lowest subpopulation of a town made up of the already most downtrodden town, just learn to kill their souls and live life through dreaming. The people who don’t move robotically are the ones who hiding something, the ones scurrying around in fear are the ones who have a reason to scurry, and easy prey for those looking out. 

Bobo should know, in another life, one more orc-y, they were a bounty hunter who made their living looking for and squashing any scurrying rats in a sea of zombified civilians. 

Now, under the guise of Ruxio, aspiring Wizard extrodindere, Bobo had to go against all their own instincts and wonder into the worst part of the slums looking like a terrified man venturing for the first time from the safety of the academy. He wanders to an particularly dingy looking bar, known watering hole for one of the cities most notorious info brokers, Stanky Nek, coincidentally, the info broker that sold Bobo’s previous persona, Garlic Skull Crusher, out. 

Oh! Cool, thanks!!

Yasei proudly walks around with her new dragon friend sitting on her shoulder.  She can be heard gabbing away with it (Yasei doing all the talking, and the dragon somehow telepathically respond back).  She's proud to tell the dragon all sorts of Bushido sayings and stories her father taught her growing up.  Such as "A student said to his master: 'You teach me fighting, but you talk about peace. How do you reconcile the two?' The master replied: 'It is better to be a warrior in a garden than to be a gardener in a war.'" and "Fighting isn't all there is to the Art of War. The men who think that way, and are satisfied to have food to eat and a place to sleep, are mere vagabonds. A serious student is much more concerned with training his mind and disciplining his spirit than with developing martial skills."

The dragon finds all of Yasei's ramblings quite interesting, and rather enjoys her ramblings.  The others in the group, on the other hand...

Cora whispered very quietly to herself as Yasei spoke it to the baby dragon, "...more concerned with training his mind and disciplining his spirit than with developing martial skills." as if she had memorized the line long ago.

With mouth agape she will point at the dragon perched on Yasei's shoulder "What do you feed that thing? Is it going to get big? Is it nice? Does it snore? How high can it fly?" once Rosli gets over the fact there's a dragon she will slouch a bit and the excitement in her voice will die down "You have a master too? Where does your master live?"

After learning of your mission upon The Dune, Barry the Lasher leads you out of Sledge's room and back to your own where you have these conversations.

"The Dune departs tomorrow afternoon. Be ready." He simply says before trudging off.

It's become clear what your real purpose is here, why Barry has recruited you. To ride The Dune. A dangerous journey to deliver a package- sending expendables who aren't insane.

As you're having this conversation, the dragon (you gonna name it?) Picks up and starts playing with a piece of parchment on the floor. Yasei reads it and it's a message from Kha'zix. "The water must not reach it's destination. Without civil war, we cannot return."

This raises an interesting dilemma for you to decide on as the time ticks down: Do you deliver the water as a peace offering to Sledges brother Krum to potentially save thousands of innocents by holding off civil war?

Or do you sabotage the delivery in order to help Kha'zix and it's people return to the surface?

Danica frowned. On the one hand she wanted to help Kha'zix and his people, but to deny people water in this harsh climate was tantamount to a death sentence.

[c'mon, sherif ;) ]

"People and the water!" Cora blurted out, loudly.

You guys ponder rhese things as you take a long rest. You have a day before you need to head out on The Dune.

We can skip right ahead, or you can go about things in the city. Things you can look in to:

•  Does Rosli know who this “Kha’zix” person is? Are introductions in order? What even is Rosli’s story?
• Who was it that broke into the scrapyard where Suzie was working which ended up with metal in her leg?
• How is Sally going with her crutches construction?
• Does Kha’zix offer any advice for your current situation?
• Has anyone else heard of this ‘beast hunter’s guild’?
• Do you want to work on gaining proficiency in another skill? Is there someone who can help with that?
• What the hell was with that crazy bookstick Ruxio had?
• Does anyone else know abiut ‘the weave’ and magic?

- “The Dune”

Yasei spends the afternoon in their room playing with their dragon.  The thin veneer of poise and grace obviously fell away with the coming of their new pet..****y it wasn't a pet, was it?  Yasei could sense the growing power within the little dragon, and was impressed with its ability to communicate telepathically.  Rosli came over and played with the dragon for a while too, asking Yasei her thousands of questions.  Yasei struggled to get in answers of "I don't know!" and "Let's ask her!" edgewise amongst Rosli's barrage of questions, giggling the entire time, like the young girl that she was.  That is, until Rosli asked about Yasei's master.  Like an iron gate crashing down, Yasei's demeanor suddenly changed 180 degrees.  Her smile and giggle rapidly disappeared, replaced with the sadness and facade of sternness that normally dominated her personality.

After an agonizingly long moment of silence, Yasei finally looks up, directly into Rosli's eyes and deadpans "Only when you constantly live as though already a corpse (jōjū shinimi) will you be able to find freedom in the martial Way, and fulfill your duties without fault throughout your life."

-Cut away to Bobo-

Donning a different guise was a smart move, you figure. The Wizard route, hrmm, we’ll see. Wizards are stuff of legend and myth around these parts, but that may work to your advantage...

You push in to a old, run down, dark shack in the shady part of town. Here, the locals are all scum, working under Stanky Nek and him under his boss- Nine Toes. Alcahol is actually accessible here, which is very, very rare given the water shortage in the city. Working with Stanky Nek, he never gave any info out about how Nine Toes was able to produce this, but he is using it to gather a strong following of bruisers and thugs in the city. Perhaps Stanky never trusted Garlic, who knows what information you may be able to swindle under a new persona.

As an unknown face enters the bar, the murmering stops. Eyes fixate on the odd gnome who just walked in and sinister glares follow your every move. Stanky is nowhere to be seen- probably playing bomes with his men out the back.

What does Bobo do?

Deception: 20

”Ruxio”, who is currently sweating visibly from all the sudden attention he is getting from the inhabitants of the bar calls out to no one in particular-

“He-Hello! My compatriots sent me here to represent the mages guild from the far sea coast in a proposition directed towards the leader of this fine establishment. I would appreciate a drink and a meeting place post haste!”

”Ruxio” then reaches slowly and non threatingly into his robe pockets to bring out coins for said drink, conviently also dropping some of the magic glitter that the dragon butterfly thing dropped in the cave, making the air around him shimmer momentarily. 

Not knowing at all what Yasei is talking about Rosli's tail will go straight as a board, her face will give off a startled expression and her jaw will drop a little "OH UH... I forgot to practice today." Walking off she will stay within eye shot watching the interactions with the dragon while practicing her form, stretching and when she thinks nobody is watching practicing her drunken movements.

18 Stealth to hide her drunken performances

22 Perception to keep an eye out on anyone watching

While she practices she will think to herself  "That lady is weird, I just wanted to know what kind of master she hand and I think she just told me she was a zombie. She has a dragon though... and that's so cool."

OOC: Rosli is going to work on her performance so if you need a roll let me know.

(posting shortly!)

Cora listened to Yasei as she spoke, but didn't understand anything she was saying. Her eyes looked on curiously at her and the dragon, and the cat girl. She startled a bit as Rosli's tail went rigid, not expecting that to happen, and let out a bark of a giggle as she walked away to "practice for today". Such a curious creature. 

Cora felt a bit strange, out of place, and wanted to do something to distract her mind. Her body was trying to tell her something and she felt sluggish, like something in her daily routine was missing. Unsure if they wanted to join her, she told Dani and Yasei she would be outside for a bit, and walked around to try and find various metal bars and objects she could carry or hold. She then found a corner that was unoccupied and tested the weights of the various objects, and when she was satisfied, did a routine of basic exercises that involved lifting, pushing, pulling, squatting, and running.

She felt better almost right away, as if her brain released chemicals she needed, and was used to. After about an hour, she walked back to where everyone else was, and cleaned up best she could with what supplies this world had. High from the exercise, she found Yasei and Dani again, and started talking to them.

"Hey, guys." She said, "Tell me something about you both. I guess if we're going to be spending time together, maybe..we should get to know something about each other?"

Dani nodded. "Wise. Hmmmm... Let's see. Well, you've surely noticed that I tend to fight with my fists and feet when I'm not using ranged attacks.

I am from an order of Monks and Druids called the Hands of the Coming Green based in the Citadel of the Moon and Stars, a complex carved into the side of one of the mountains east of here. Our ultimate goal is to reclaim this desert and turn it back into fertile grasslands. I was born in the Citadel and raised as a Lawbringer, a wandering monk who's job it is to bring peace and justice to the land while the druids work to save it. I haven't yet decided how best to do that here in this city, but I will find a way sooner or later."

"I did notice that!" Cora smiled, sitting down. "You hit really hard and you have nice arms!" She listened to Dani as she spoke, as she did, inside Cora felt empty. Not because of what Dani was saying, but because Cora herself had no purpose. "That sounds like a very noble cause. Maybe we could figure out a way together. I could help you." her face then wrinkled. "Or..at least try, I suppose. I don't remember anything before a few days ago but waking up in the desert. I laid there. It was hot, and I should have burned to death from the sun and the sand, but..I didn't. I wasn't even thirsty. I was dressed strangely in clothes and what I was wearing was tattered and weathered. When I got up, I had things in my pockets..things I didn't recognize, with little blinking lights and very thin. I didn't recognize the material, nor I had no idea what they were for. I tossed them aside in the sand and walked this way."

She then looked at Dani, smiled bright and shrugged.

"Maybe one day i'll figure out my past? I have headaches ever since I woke up. Sometimes I don't feel like myself. It's kind scary actually, but I feel better with people around."