As a quick recap for those in the previous game and a short summary for those just joining; In the city of Neverwinter, a dwarf named Gundren Rockseeker hired you you to bring a wagon load of provisions to the rough-and-tumble settlement of Phandalin, a couple of days' travel southeast of the city. Gundren was clearly excited and more than a little secretive about his reasons for the trip, saying only that he and his brothers had found "something big," and that he'd pay you ten gold pieces each for escorting his supplies safely to Barthen's Provisions, a trading post in Phandalin. Despite his secrecy, however, with the rumors of Wave Echo Cave being found you have your suspicions as to why he’s so excited. Gundren then set out ahead of you on horse, along with a warrior escort named Sildar Haliwinter, claiming he needed to arrive early to "take care of business." You’ve been traveling for a few days with a few other adventurers and two humans, named Jon and Arto, also hired by Gundren to deliver supplies. About a day out from Phandalin, however, you came across the scene of an ambush, seeing two fallen horses before you, recognizing them as Gundren and Sildar’s mounts. Shortly after, a group of goblins ambushed you and seriously injured Arto. Jon and Arto continued onward towards Phandalin, being in no shape to fight, as the group began to follow a trail of goblin tracks and what seemed to be the tracks of two bodies dragged through the ground. After a couple of hours along the trail, night falls and the group sets up camp. (Feel free to introduce yourselves and get acquainted, finally having a break from the strenuous day)
Serwa Omen is a human female in her early 20s. She wears chain mail armor over her common clothes, and a holy symbol of Kelemvor, god of death. The chain mail and holy symbol are the only thing that add color to her outfit. Her common clothes consist of a black blouse and black dress, tan tights, and black shoes with a small heel, as if she were dressed for a funeral and went there armed.
She has pale skin that burns, rather than tans, very dark brown eyes that look black in most lighting, and long straight black hair. She is pretty in a way that is uniquely indistinct, as if an artist was told to paint a “pretty girl” and felt no inspiration that day. No feature stands out above any other, no flaws add character, but by the standards of most regions, she is an attractive young woman.
She carries no shield, but bears heavy weapons on her back, a halberd and a maul, and also several javelins, all within easy access. Her backpack contains the rest of her traveling supplies.
Thus far on the trip she has displayed signs of eccentricity, making bleak jokes about death, and singing sad and morbid songs, or engaging in strange interpretive dances around the campfire. She says nightly prayers to Kelemvor, and has performed the last rites on any of the dead they have encountered. She seems to enjoy playing games of skill to pass the time, and has likely invited others to play cards or Dragon Chess, if anyone has a chess set. She hates games of chance, and has refused to partake in dice games.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
"Gundrin, the man who hired us for this expedition, is probably dead now, and Sildar as well," Serwa says flatly to the others, after setting up camp and settling down by the fire. The firelight makes her eyes lighten up a bit, from black to a shade of brown. "I mean, most likely, anyway. I suppose we will find out when we close with the goblins. But, probably dead."
She toys with her hair, and sings in a low voice, half audible lyrics about death and an unfulfilled life, and how wealth is worthless in the grave.
18 - Perform Check
"No one has a Dragon Chess set? They didn't have one in either of their saddlebags, did they? I doubt the goblins would want a chess set, although I suppose they might have recognized it as valuable. We could play cards again. Anyone up for cards?"
Aster bell is a man in his early 30s. with 6.5ft he is on the taller end of humans. He wears a long brown coat with a small fur trim at the hood. It has seen some wear and tear and is patched at some places. On his chest he wears some sort of component pouch in a fannypack-fashion over his coat. He carries a spear with him, not to be used as weapon but more as improvised walking stick.
Aster used to live in phandalin and worked as medicinal practitioner. Because of his great skill he was recruted by the military to tend to the wounded sodiers. First he managed to get on with the gruesomnes at first but then was more and more fall into madness. He fled and turned to prayer and was heard by illmater, who giftet him with magic for the promise of not giving up on the living ever again. Serwa (if she served in the military, i think she did) would recognice the spear he carries as one of a standart spearman of the army. On the trip during an evenings rest, he would take one of his bandage, take it appart and knot the thin rags into a rudamentary cord. He would then cut his left index finger and use the cord to soak up the blood, let it dry for a moment and then wrap it around the shaft of the spear, just below the metal tip, and fixes it on by sewing with black medicinal string, usually used to close wounds.
After Serwa finishes her song Aster says: "You have a beautifull voice." He stares into the flames for a few minutes. "I find it quite curious, your past and mine. You tried to enjoy life, but death kept comming. And me, trying to block his path. If we'd just met earlier, you'd might have a life with less sadness."He stares into the flames for another minute or two and then beginns to humm the melody of Serwa's song.
"Well, we can hope for the best for Gundren, though I reckon you maybe right..." Tomora says in a rough country accent "...It ain't right, though! Decent folks gettin' attacked on the roads and all! And he did seem like a decent fellow...and them poor horse, too..." Tomora's voice trails off while shaking her head and looking sad.
Tomora is a young dwarf, at just past 65 years old, with brown hair and eyes and a tanned complexion. After meeting her, it is pretty apparent she comes from rustic background. Her mannerisms are as rough as her leather and fur cloths, which often put her at odds with people from the city. She talks straight and does not mince words and expects the same from others. But the concepts of subtlety and social cues seem to be lost on her for the most part.
"Well, ain't you a lovely signer, Serwa! But my, that song is awfully glum! I do agree with that whole bit about wealth bein' worthless and all. But if you ask me, it's about worthless most of the time...too much of it anyhow."
"Thank you, but I think I'll pass on playing cards. I never much saw the sense in Gamblin' and all." Tomora says as she sits next to the fire and begins to carve on a piece of wood.
OOC: Would you like to say that Aster and Serwa have some familiarity with each other from military service, beforehand? You're correct, her background was as a soldier, and after a I life surrounded by death she joined the clergy of Kelemvor as one of the few Paladins of the neutral death god.
With her usual deadpan humor, Serwa says to Tomora, "Was it glum? I didn't realize. I'll try to think of a more cheerful song." She pauses for a long while, staring vacantly into the sky, and then shakes her head. "Sorry, that one was the most cheerful that came to mind. The rest are a lot more depressing." She makes no outward sign of jest, but those who have traveled with her for a while have come to recognize her peculiar sense of humor.
"Gambling isn't the fun part. It's the strategy. There's only so many cards in the deck. Only so many hands can be better or worse than the one you hold. You can try to read others' behavior and betting choices to try to predict if a bet is a good one or an unsafe one. Of course, I am far too easy to read. I get far too excited when I get a good hand, I'm sure everyone can read in on my face," she says flatly, her face completely expressionless. No one has ever seen her get excited while playing cards.
"To be honest, you lost me when you said strategy...oh, sounds like it would hurt my brain too much! But you...easy to read? I have trouble reading most folks, but darlin, I'm not even sure I've even seen you smile! I reckon you must be a master card player."
OCC: I'm open to making connections, too if anyone has any ideas.
To Aster, Serwa says, “We would have had to meet really, really early for you to take all the death out of my life, Aster, a lot earlier than our time crossing paths in the military. I was born from a corpse. That’s a bad omen. I never knew my mother or why she was killed, they just found her on the road. That’s why I took on the surname, Omen. It’s all been about the same since then. You shouldn’t feel bad. Or maybe you need to, Ilmatter and pain and all. Just don’t feel bad on my account. You’ve saved a lot of people. Maybe you’ll save us.”
To Tamora, Serwa says, “I must be getting better at cards, then. I wouldn’t want to smile too much, I hear you could pull a muscle that way. Maybe I’ll smile when we take vengeance on the goblins for killing our associates. I mean, assuming they’ve killed them.”
I have saved lifes, yes. But there are countless i could not turn from death's path. And those i have forsaken. I wish to never meet this evil again." says aster to Serwa. he then adds: "And dont play cards against a dwarf. They are hard to read, all their emotions look equally gruff." To Tamora he goes: "if you kill me in my sleep now, i can understand that."
Serwa looks to Aster, a long quiet moment of contemplation of the stars, before answering. "Your god lets you save others from pain and death, Aster. Mine is Death. All I can do is try to balance the scales. I accepted a long time ago that I was born in death and death would follow me wherever I went. Now I'm friends with Death. I talk to Death in my prayers to Kelemvor. I'm happier now. You can save lives, Aster, and you'll probably save ours before this is over. I just answer death with death, to try to balance the scales, and make sure justice is served."
She turns the cards over one at a time, staring at the results of her shuffle as if looking for some meaning in it. "Don't kill him in his sleep, Tamora. After what he just said, everyone would know you did it."
Serwa approaches the elf Monk, who has not yet joined the conversation. "You've been quiet. You have a Dragon Chess set, and you're holding out on me, aren't you? Or maybe you want to play cards?" Her tone remains as flat and emotionless as ever, but those with insight know she seems to value the presence of comrades, she just has a peculiar way of expressing herself, or rather, not expressing much at all.
Tomora looks at Aster abashed "Well I would never...you sir just earned yourself a card game with a dwarf! deal me some of those cards, Serwa! How much are we bettin?"
OCC: INT(Investigation) check I would assume, but I could also see INT(Deception or Performance) too. Plus any tool proficiency
OOC: It's really more of a character thing, Serwa isn't actually interested in winning or losin,g money, just in passing the time with friends enjoyably. I would imagine it varies based on the game. Some games have their own proficiency, Serwa is proficient in Dragon Chess, but it was not an option in her starting equipment so she doesn't have a set. Other games, like cards, could just be handled as opposed Deception - Insight checks. It might be up to the GM's discretion.
"Three of us playing, good. Tamora and Aster are in, now if you don't play it will be weird," she says to Xianon. "Feel the crushing weight of social pressures you are helpless to resist. Your will is not your own." Serwa pantomimes hypnotic gestures in Xianon's direction, her tone remaining as flat as ever, and her expression as neutral and composed.
She deals out cards to the human sorcerer and the dwarven druid, and gives the elf monk an intense stare. "This is an important team building exercise, now. You can't say no."
To Tamora, Serwa answers, "Itdoesn't really matter to me. After that cheerful song I sang about money weighing you down in the grave, I'd rather not think about coins. We would top out the pot at one gold piece and play for coppers, and split our money when we get to a town. Or we could play for sticks and rocks."
"Well, hell, I prefer sticks and rocks over coin any day!" She says with her head cocked to one side as she awkwardly tries to arrange her cards and make sense of them. "Oh my...I think these are good ones...Come on Mr. Elf!"
As a quick recap for those in the previous game and a short summary for those just joining; In the city of Neverwinter, a dwarf named Gundren Rockseeker hired you you to bring a wagon load of provisions to the rough-and-tumble settlement of Phandalin, a couple of days' travel southeast of the city. Gundren was clearly excited and more than a little secretive about his reasons for the trip, saying only that he and his brothers had found "something big," and that he'd pay you ten gold pieces each for escorting his supplies safely to Barthen's Provisions, a trading post in Phandalin. Despite his secrecy, however, with the rumors of Wave Echo Cave being found you have your suspicions as to why he’s so excited. Gundren then set out ahead of you on horse, along with a warrior escort named Sildar Haliwinter, claiming he needed to arrive early to "take care of business." You’ve been traveling for a few days with a few other adventurers and two humans, named Jon and Arto, also hired by Gundren to deliver supplies. About a day out from Phandalin, however, you came across the scene of an ambush, seeing two fallen horses before you, recognizing them as Gundren and Sildar’s mounts. Shortly after, a group of goblins ambushed you and seriously injured Arto. Jon and Arto continued onward towards Phandalin, being in no shape to fight, as the group began to follow a trail of goblin tracks and what seemed to be the tracks of two bodies dragged through the ground. After a couple of hours along the trail, night falls and the group sets up camp. (Feel free to introduce yourselves and get acquainted, finally having a break from the strenuous day)
Serwa Omen is a human female in her early 20s. She wears chain mail armor over her common clothes, and a holy symbol of Kelemvor, god of death. The chain mail and holy symbol are the only thing that add color to her outfit. Her common clothes consist of a black blouse and black dress, tan tights, and black shoes with a small heel, as if she were dressed for a funeral and went there armed.
She has pale skin that burns, rather than tans, very dark brown eyes that look black in most lighting, and long straight black hair. She is pretty in a way that is uniquely indistinct, as if an artist was told to paint a “pretty girl” and felt no inspiration that day. No feature stands out above any other, no flaws add character, but by the standards of most regions, she is an attractive young woman.
She carries no shield, but bears heavy weapons on her back, a halberd and a maul, and also several javelins, all within easy access. Her backpack contains the rest of her traveling supplies.
Thus far on the trip she has displayed signs of eccentricity, making bleak jokes about death, and singing sad and morbid songs, or engaging in strange interpretive dances around the campfire. She says nightly prayers to Kelemvor, and has performed the last rites on any of the dead they have encountered. She seems to enjoy playing games of skill to pass the time, and has likely invited others to play cards or Dragon Chess, if anyone has a chess set. She hates games of chance, and has refused to partake in dice games.
"Gundrin, the man who hired us for this expedition, is probably dead now, and Sildar as well," Serwa says flatly to the others, after setting up camp and settling down by the fire. The firelight makes her eyes lighten up a bit, from black to a shade of brown. "I mean, most likely, anyway. I suppose we will find out when we close with the goblins. But, probably dead."
She toys with her hair, and sings in a low voice, half audible lyrics about death and an unfulfilled life, and how wealth is worthless in the grave.
18 - Perform Check
"No one has a Dragon Chess set? They didn't have one in either of their saddlebags, did they? I doubt the goblins would want a chess set, although I suppose they might have recognized it as valuable. We could play cards again. Anyone up for cards?"
Aster bell is a man in his early 30s. with 6.5ft he is on the taller end of humans. He wears a long brown coat with a small fur trim at the hood. It has seen some wear and tear and is patched at some places. On his chest he wears some sort of component pouch in a fannypack-fashion over his coat. He carries a spear with him, not to be used as weapon but more as improvised walking stick.
Aster used to live in phandalin and worked as medicinal practitioner. Because of his great skill he was recruted by the military to tend to the wounded sodiers. First he managed to get on with the gruesomnes at first but then was more and more fall into madness. He fled and turned to prayer and was heard by illmater, who giftet him with magic for the promise of not giving up on the living ever again. Serwa (if she served in the military, i think she did) would recognice the spear he carries as one of a standart spearman of the army. On the trip during an evenings rest, he would take one of his bandage, take it appart and knot the thin rags into a rudamentary cord. He would then cut his left index finger and use the cord to soak up the blood, let it dry for a moment and then wrap it around the shaft of the spear, just below the metal tip, and fixes it on by sewing with black medicinal string, usually used to close wounds.
After Serwa finishes her song Aster says: "You have a beautifull voice." He stares into the flames for a few minutes. "I find it quite curious, your past and mine. You tried to enjoy life, but death kept comming. And me, trying to block his path. If we'd just met earlier, you'd might have a life with less sadness." He stares into the flames for another minute or two and then beginns to humm the melody of Serwa's song.
Olloray Dim - Limbo's Pit
Gunther Korroden - Nightmares in the Mist
"Well, we can hope for the best for Gundren, though I reckon you maybe right..." Tomora says in a rough country accent "...It ain't right, though! Decent folks gettin' attacked on the roads and all! And he did seem like a decent fellow...and them poor horse, too..." Tomora's voice trails off while shaking her head and looking sad.
Tomora is a young dwarf, at just past 65 years old, with brown hair and eyes and a tanned complexion. After meeting her, it is pretty apparent she comes from rustic background. Her mannerisms are as rough as her leather and fur cloths, which often put her at odds with people from the city. She talks straight and does not mince words and expects the same from others. But the concepts of subtlety and social cues seem to be lost on her for the most part.
"Well, ain't you a lovely signer, Serwa! But my, that song is awfully glum! I do agree with that whole bit about wealth bein' worthless and all. But if you ask me, it's about worthless most of the time...too much of it anyhow."
"Thank you, but I think I'll pass on playing cards. I never much saw the sense in Gamblin' and all." Tomora says as she sits next to the fire and begins to carve on a piece of wood.
OOC: Would you like to say that Aster and Serwa have some familiarity with each other from military service, beforehand? You're correct, her background was as a soldier, and after a I life surrounded by death she joined the clergy of Kelemvor as one of the few Paladins of the neutral death god.
With her usual deadpan humor, Serwa says to Tomora, "Was it glum? I didn't realize. I'll try to think of a more cheerful song." She pauses for a long while, staring vacantly into the sky, and then shakes her head. "Sorry, that one was the most cheerful that came to mind. The rest are a lot more depressing." She makes no outward sign of jest, but those who have traveled with her for a while have come to recognize her peculiar sense of humor.
"Gambling isn't the fun part. It's the strategy. There's only so many cards in the deck. Only so many hands can be better or worse than the one you hold. You can try to read others' behavior and betting choices to try to predict if a bet is a good one or an unsafe one. Of course, I am far too easy to read. I get far too excited when I get a good hand, I'm sure everyone can read in on my face," she says flatly, her face completely expressionless. No one has ever seen her get excited while playing cards.
"To be honest, you lost me when you said strategy...oh, sounds like it would hurt my brain too much! But you...easy to read? I have trouble reading most folks, but darlin, I'm not even sure I've even seen you smile! I reckon you must be a master card player."
OCC: I'm open to making connections, too if anyone has any ideas.
To Aster, Serwa says, “We would have had to meet really, really early for you to take all the death out of my life, Aster, a lot earlier than our time crossing paths in the military. I was born from a corpse. That’s a bad omen. I never knew my mother or why she was killed, they just found her on the road. That’s why I took on the surname, Omen. It’s all been about the same since then. You shouldn’t feel bad. Or maybe you need to, Ilmatter and pain and all. Just don’t feel bad on my account. You’ve saved a lot of people. Maybe you’ll save us.”
To Tamora, Serwa says, “I must be getting better at cards, then. I wouldn’t want to smile too much, I hear you could pull a muscle that way. Maybe I’ll smile when we take vengeance on the goblins for killing our associates. I mean, assuming they’ve killed them.”
OOC: I purchased the PHB through D&D Beyond to I updated her character sheet to properly reflect her Feat.
“They’ve probably killed them,” Serwa reiterates, then she goes about shuffling her playing cards and staring at the stars.
(You wanna introduce your character, Zarquon?)
I have saved lifes, yes. But there are countless i could not turn from death's path. And those i have forsaken. I wish to never meet this evil again." says aster to Serwa. he then adds: "And dont play cards against a dwarf. They are hard to read, all their emotions look equally gruff." To Tamora he goes: "if you kill me in my sleep now, i can understand that."
Olloray Dim - Limbo's Pit
Gunther Korroden - Nightmares in the Mist
Serwa looks to Aster, a long quiet moment of contemplation of the stars, before answering. "Your god lets you save others from pain and death, Aster. Mine is Death. All I can do is try to balance the scales. I accepted a long time ago that I was born in death and death would follow me wherever I went. Now I'm friends with Death. I talk to Death in my prayers to Kelemvor. I'm happier now. You can save lives, Aster, and you'll probably save ours before this is over. I just answer death with death, to try to balance the scales, and make sure justice is served."
She turns the cards over one at a time, staring at the results of her shuffle as if looking for some meaning in it. "Don't kill him in his sleep, Tamora. After what he just said, everyone would know you did it."
Serwa approaches the elf Monk, who has not yet joined the conversation. "You've been quiet. You have a Dragon Chess set, and you're holding out on me, aren't you? Or maybe you want to play cards?" Her tone remains as flat and emotionless as ever, but those with insight know she seems to value the presence of comrades, she just has a peculiar way of expressing herself, or rather, not expressing much at all.
"Well start dealing already. We can grief later just as well as now. But have mercy on me, a cant keep a straight face for the life of me!"
ooc: how do gaming sets work? do you want to roll some d20s?
Olloray Dim - Limbo's Pit
Gunther Korroden - Nightmares in the Mist
Tomora looks at Aster abashed "Well I would never...you sir just earned yourself a card game with a dwarf! deal me some of those cards, Serwa! How much are we bettin?"
OCC: INT(Investigation) check I would assume, but I could also see INT(Deception or Performance) too. Plus any tool proficiency
OOC: It's really more of a character thing, Serwa isn't actually interested in winning or losin,g money, just in passing the time with friends enjoyably. I would imagine it varies based on the game. Some games have their own proficiency, Serwa is proficient in Dragon Chess, but it was not an option in her starting equipment so she doesn't have a set. Other games, like cards, could just be handled as opposed Deception - Insight checks. It might be up to the GM's discretion.
"Three of us playing, good. Tamora and Aster are in, now if you don't play it will be weird," she says to Xianon. "Feel the crushing weight of social pressures you are helpless to resist. Your will is not your own." Serwa pantomimes hypnotic gestures in Xianon's direction, her tone remaining as flat as ever, and her expression as neutral and composed.
She deals out cards to the human sorcerer and the dwarven druid, and gives the elf monk an intense stare. "This is an important team building exercise, now. You can't say no."
To Tamora, Serwa answers, "It doesn't really matter to me. After that cheerful song I sang about money weighing you down in the grave, I'd rather not think about coins. We would top out the pot at one gold piece and play for coppers, and split our money when we get to a town. Or we could play for sticks and rocks."
"Well, hell, I prefer sticks and rocks over coin any day!" She says with her head cocked to one side as she awkwardly tries to arrange her cards and make sense of them. "Oh my...I think these are good ones...Come on Mr. Elf!"
"Stick and stone may brake my bone, butin some cases might be more usefull than coin. Count me in on that"
ooc: FYI Aster is a sorcerer, not a cleric
Olloray Dim - Limbo's Pit
Gunther Korroden - Nightmares in the Mist