The Undiscovered Frontier (Finished!)

Deuce Traveler · Sep 19, 2011

You awaken in pain, coughing fluids out of your lungs while writhing on the damp, wet floor of a cave, naked and cold. You blink painfully in the little light that penetrates the cave from the outside. Your squinting eyes and straining ears detect other coughing and naked bodies around you, in the same vulnerable and frightened state that you are in. You stand on wobbling legs, wondering why you feel so weak and why it takes you a moment to get used to feeling your muscles once more. The cave has several standing containers, and you count the other humanoids among you and realize that all of you must have fallen out of the vessels. As a group you stumble towards the cave entrance, partly for the sun's warmth and partly to find out where you are. As the gaggle of you walk out, a horrific scene greets you. The sand-covered land you stand upon and the humid air you breath are painfully hot, and yet you see no sun in the bright, mist-covered sky. All around you is blasted wasteland, with the broken bodies of two destroyed and dead armies laying in front of you. The bodies near the cave you walked out of are predominantly human, while the opposing force was a strange combination of anthromorphic monstrosities ranging from werewolves to serpent men. It is evident that the outnumbered humans died protecting you, unleashing cataclysmic magic that wiped out both forces. But you also realize that you are lost in confusion. Except for a first and last name that comes unbidden to your lips and the knowledge of martial skills and powerful magic, you have no idea who you or the dead around you are.

The corpses rest on a sand-covered wasteland, with a handful of dead, barren trees. The sand itself is burned to black in a number of places where scorch marks made a permanent imprint onto the grains. As you face the battlefield, you notice that you are on a small peninsula, with a sulfuric-smelling pale sea behind you and to your sides. Something about the colorization and smell of the water warns you away. The mists that are in the sky hang low, perhaps only twenty feet or so above you. You do see some signs of vegetation a couple of miles ahead of your position, though the mists block out enough of your view to remove the possibility of greater detail.

GlassEye · Sep 20, 2011

The small, hairless man with skin like sandstone coughs up a mass of viscous liquid and wrenches himself up into a seated position to better clear his lungs. Once he can finally breathe with ease he scrapes the gum away from his eyes and opens them to reveal eyes like fire.

He stands on wobbly legs not fully understanding his weakness but feeling like he has just suffered through a long illness. He looks around and sees several others in the same state that he is in: weak, naked and confused. His nudity doesn't seem to bother him but he looks around clearly unsure of his surroundings. In a brief moment of panic he can't even remember his name but suddenly it comes to him.

"Ar.. Arkos. Arkos Stoneborn. I am Arkos Stoneborn."

His voice is rough from lack of use and he has to clear it several times before it sounds normal. Since the others are in various states of collecting themselves Arkos stumbles towards the light at the cave entrace. He halts squinting out at the blasted land and shades his eyes with his hand to stare at the horror of the dessicated armies. Moisture quickly evaporates from his skin as he stares.

"What happened here?"

[sblock=MiniStats]Coming soon![/sblock]

Voda Vosa · Sep 22, 2011

A rather hairy, rather big, rather bulky rather... Wait is that a hobgoblin or a bear? The not small at all hobgoblin on a corner grunts and growls as he tries to step up. He is massive, and seems like an avatar of his race. His eyes looks from one side to the other, as if awaken from a bad dream. He growls again, rubbing his legs, that just now stopped wobbling.

As the Mephling declares what his name is, Sarpot sends a darting look at him. "Why would I care what your name is...?" his phrase is cut short, as something seems to hurt in the hobgoblin's head, he shuts his eyes and grabs his head. Slowly, he reopens his eyes to find that the creature had wandered off, towards the entrance of the cave.
Sarpot stumbles behind him, and puts a hand on the edge of the cave's entrance, dumbstruck by the terrible landscape. He stands there, looking at the scene. "Crap... Oh well...Move a side midget, I need to pass." the hulking hobgoblin says, as he makes his way past Arkos, jumping down to the sand. It's hot, so the hobo starts to move quickly, giving the occasional jump, until he appears to spot something. Quickly, he moves to a group of bodies and unceremoniously starts to loot them. He takes a blanket, unfolds it, looks at it, tilts his head to the right, and then puts it on his head, as a manner of cloak, to block some of the scorching sunrays.

GlassEye · Sep 22, 2011

Apparently acting in a daze Arkos was barely aware when the hobgoblin first addressed him. He blinks while trying to formulate a reply but the hobgoblin has pushed past onto the hot sand.

"Because I care what your name is," he mutters.

He watches as the hobgoblin picks through the bodies and finds skin covering. It is clearly a good idea to take what they need; these unfortunates won't need it any longer, but the mystery of the cave still pulls at him and Arkos turns back to see how the others sprawled in the cave are faring.

[sblock=Mini Stats]Arkos Stoneborn
Initiative: +1
AC: 12 (11 flat-footed, 12 Touch)
AC: (Predator) 16 (15 flat-footed, 12 Touch)
AC: (Aerial) 14 (13 flat-footed, 12 Touch)
HP: 47 Current: 47
Fort: +7 Reflex: +2 Reflex: (Aerial) +4 Will: +8
Speed: 30 ft., burrow 10 ft.
Speed: (Predator) 50 ft.
Speed: (Aerial) fly 40 ft. (good)

Current Weapon in Hand:
Current Conditions in Effect:

Lightning Arc: 6/6 Remaining Channel Energy: 4/4 remaining
Agile Feet: 6/6 remaining
Spells Remaining: 1st Level 3/3
Spells Prepared:
1st level: bless, divine favor, longstrider (D)
0-level: guidance, light, stabilize

NOTE: copied a statblock from another character. Updated bits are orange; old stuff is purple.[/sblock]

Voda Vosa · Sep 22, 2011

"Sarpot The Big, you can call me Sarpot." Says distractedly the hobo, as he picks more stuff up. This time, clothing, bloodstained half burnt, Hobgoblin style. He puts it on quickly, looking quite funny as his furry skill pumps the clothing, making him look chubby. "Uuuu fancy that..." he mutters as he runs to pick up the next piece of equipment from the dead grip of a decapitated woman.

Shayuri · Sep 22, 2011

Mellisande awakes as if from a long sleep. There's crust in her eyes and something in her mouth. She tries to breathe, and suddenly finds herself coughing hard enough to spasm and clench as fluid gushes from her lungs up her throat and out her mouth.

"Puah!" she puahs, and wipes her arm over her mouth. "Why does it taste like..." She smacks her lips and grimaces cutely. "Caterpillars? Dipped in strawberry lard? Huh."

With effort she sits up and takes stock. Tubes. Cave full of unconscious naked people who, until recently it seemed, she was one of. The cloying antiseptic smell of whatever that fluid was. No memory.

"That must've been some party. It's always the good ones you forget. It seems kind of unfair somehow."

Then the silhouette that's blocking part of the white oval of light at the front of the cave becomes clear to her, and Mellisande calls, shading her eyes, "Excuse me? You there, have you seen my clothes? They'd be a lot like your clothes, I think...only much, much smaller, and for a girl."

She looks down at herself and with a sigh to preserve modesty, speaks a few words in a trilling language that's as much song as speaking. Colorful garments swirl into being around her, waving gently in a wind that can't be felt.

Thus girded, Mellisande gets up and stretches, then pads to the cave opening as well, her bare feet making little 'splap' noises as she goes.

Though the hobgoblin had called Arkos 'midget,' this girl truly earned the description. Small enough to be mistaken for a human child of nine or ten years perhaps, but clearly full grown even with the colorful gown she'd conjured to cover her, Mellisande was pretty...even beautiful if one could get past the size difference. Her hair, even slimy and wet, seemed to twinkle oddly in the sunlight that spilled onto her through the cave entrance.

Gazing out at the destroyed army, her large green eyes widened and she pursed her lips to whistle.

"Looks like that really WAS a good party."

Voda Vosa · Sep 22, 2011

Sarpot was scavenging a particular pile of corpses when he turned to the cave entrance as he heard the high pitched whistle. "I be damned, another tick." he mutters, wondering if he was the only thing big enough to replace a burnt torch. Not that there were any in need of replacement really though.
"Hey ye, what's yer name? It seems that the other bean with legs has established the very first basement for a rule system for the 'Naked Cavesman clan'; and that is telling someone's name, because he cares. And where did ye get the fancy outfit eh?" the hobo points a rotten arm at the gnome, then continues taking rings and other objects from it, before disposing it, by throwing it over his head. "Oh niiice..." The attention of the hobo is taken elsewhere as he spots something in the corpse of a lizardman. He walks towards it, chuckling to himslef, now wearing a pair of cloth shoes that protect his feet from the hot sand. "Sarpot, ye ol' bugger, ye have an eagle's sight." He kneels next to the lizardman, trying to get it out of his leather armor. HIS leather armor.

Fenris · Sep 23, 2011

Another cough from the cave. One of a pair of exquisite beings stirs and rises slowly. He stands, tall, strong and beautiful as he gazes at the cave and the others. A look a recollection flits across his face as he looks at the woman who was lying next to him. As he stands and staggers to the cave entrance he blanches as he see the destruction. Turning to the others he asks "What has happened? Where are we?"

Shayuri · Sep 23, 2011

"I am Mellisande," the tiny woman replied primly, with a curtsy...though her hand passed through the hem of her dress without moving it. "The intrepid and daring, who's name brings woe to the wicked, and weal to...people she likes. I like. And my dress is made of moonbeams and dreams, because I can't seem to find my actual clothes."

She glances at the newcomer and giggles. "Hey, uh...you're still naked you know."

Fenris · Sep 23, 2011

Shayuri said:
"I am Mellisande," the tiny woman replied primly, with a curtsy...though her hand passed through the hem of her dress without moving it. "The intrepid and daring, who's name brings woe to the wicked, and weal to...people she likes. I like. And my dress is made of moonbeams and dreams, because I can't seem to find my actual clothes."

She glances at the newcomer and giggles. "Hey, uh...you're still naked you know."

The tall muscular man looks at Mellisande. "I am aware of that fact Mellisande. I can clothe myself if it bothers you, but I find no shame in my state. But thank you for bringing it to my attention. I am Nerin Kordsarm." as he says his name, a confusion comes across his face, a fleeting memory.