The village of Prumen

[OCC The story will begin in Mornomas so only the two wizards and potentially the paladin of freedom will be involved at the begining, the story will then very quickly move to prumen, I will wait for the last player to post his character before starting] So it all began...

Today is the first sunny day since the cold season is over, Oculus and Jasper are taking advantage of it by spending some time reading outside. You are seated near the lake located at the center of the campus preparing for tonight course on astronomy. As both of you read about the 4 moon of Tooran, you anticipate that first night in the observatory. The old mage finally allowed you to spend one night to gaze at the star. You should also be able to see the twin planet in more detail.

Your dreams are interrupted by a flash of light, Uncle Joe just teleported a few meters from you. "Jasper, Oculus I knew I would find you here. Come over here. I ve got you an opportunity that you cannot refuse, trust me".

Not giving you a second to answer anything [OCC I assume just to start the game quicker]. he grabs you by the hand and drag you outside of the campus.

"I was at the governement center and during the lunch break I spoke with the Baron. He told me that 6 soldiers from the 82nd just stopped yesterday night asking for shelter. It seems they are on a secret exploration mission. Since the country is not at war the king doesn't know what to do with his elite soldier so he keeps them busy with small "secret" operations. I think he is scared of them so he rather have them far away from the capital, but that is another story. So I finally learned where they were sleeping and got a talk with the captain and ... I convinced him that you would be the perfect candidates to help him"

Uncle Joe seems so proud of himself, he has been waiting for so long to see you follow his footstep.

"So what do you think, don't answer right away let me introduce you that hero, this man fought at Brendenbak and Domus, with the 82nd, can you find a better mentor for your first exploration and adventure. Please, don't thank me now"

You continue walking down University street, still confused about what is happening and not knowing what to answer to uncle Joe. You finally reach the end of the street and turn left on 1st street toward the main gate of the city. Your uncle continue to tell you about what a great opportunity it will be. You reached the door and the two guard recognizing your uncle give him a small sign of the head. As you walk down toward the wooden palissade you 4 men and two women who seem to be wearing the army uniform but look much more like an adventuring party than soldier.

There is a light armored soldier with a two handed sword on his back and a bow, the man is wearing a metal band over his eyes, shaved black hair and a face full of scar. He has a long bow strapped on his horse and a very mean looking dog on his side. There is also a heavily tatooed women with black long hair not wearing any armor and having a small viper around the neck. In the back you notice a huge man (he must be around 6'8'' full of muscle) with a great axe on his back, short blond hair he really looked like one of those dreaded barbarian from the south, the other three are less noticable but they all look like hardened veterans.

Your uncle Joe quickly tell you that the captain is the guy with the metal band around the eyes.

As the captain notice your uncle "So these are the ressource that I cannot live without" He doesn't even look at you. "Yes, they don't have a lot of experience but they are very clever and most importantly willing to learn"

You also noticed that uncle Joe brought Greywind and another horse for Jasper.

Uncle Joe turning towards you "So I leave you in good hands" looking at Oculus he add "take great care of him" he then say a quick word and vanish from your sight. You know him to well the old man doesn't want to argue with you so he just vanishes.

You turn back at the captain, the man seems very annoyed by your presence.

"So everybody get ready we got a few days of travel ahead of us". He doesn't even dare look at you.

[OCC hope you don't mind the railroading I just want this thing to start

Jasper Conrad

"Um.. thanks for bringing us along." Jasper nervously tugs at the sleeve of his blue robe. "I'm ready to go." He'll glance at Oculus to see how he is taking this sudden turn of events, then look over the horse his uncle brought for him.

[OOC: I assume the horse he brought for me the one on my character sheet. I guess it should have a name... he can be Pontius. Did Joe put traveling supplies on the horse? Jasper doesn't have rations or anything like that.

Kangaxx said:

"Um.. thanks for bringing us along." Jasper nervously tugs at the sleeve of his blue robe. "I'm ready to go." He'll glance at Oculus to see how he is taking this sudden turn of events, then look over the horse his uncle brought for him.

[OOC: I assume the horse he brought for me the one on my character sheet. I guess it should have a name... he can be Pontius. Did Joe put traveling supplies on the horse? Jasper doesn't have rations or anything like that.

Click to expand...

[OCC sorry if you feel a bit rushed, I assumed that your uncle is the kind of guy you simply can't say no. Good idea for the horses, put any supplies you want in the horse saddle and deduct it from your gold]

Oculus looked at Jasper. He could tell his friend was nervous, and wished he could reassure him somehow. But Oculus was just as uncertain as his best friend was. Unlike Jasper, Oculas had always dreamed of travel. But he wanted to learn, not adventure! Suddenly, all his efforts, his long hours of poring over dusty tomes, seemed useless. How would having all the knowledge that he had so painstakingly studied and learned be of use in a combat situation? Because by the looks of this military squad, he would be seeing combat, often! No, all of his training and skills would be useless in combat. He did have some magic though, and those wands he and Jasper had purchased on a whim. Deep inside, he was a little reluctant to buy the wands, as he was saving up to eventually be able to build a personal library. It looked like those wands might turn out to be the best purchases they ever made!

Well, if these warriors were not even going to look at him, there was probably no point in really talking to them anyway. Oculus wasn’t worried about food. He could easily find food and water for himself along the way. He’d have to move slower, but on Greywind he’d still move as fast as these warriors on foot.

Oculus just nods. “I’m ready,” he says, mounting Greywind and reigning him in, patting him gently on the neck.

"Let's go."

[OCC The soldier are mounted too]
You quickly start your journey towards that mysterious destination, nobody dared telling you where you were going. The Captain, the barbarian, and the women seems to know each other pretty well and spend the first two hours talking about the weather and how nice the country side is around here. Spring in the central province is always beautiful, very colorfull from all these flowers.

They don't seem nervous at all, the roads inside Mergovie are usually quite safe, The other three soldier are in the front and you ride behind.

Jasper, You also overheard the captain laugh at your riding ability and wandering why he accepted the old man offer.

After a few hours of travel, the women slow down and starts riding at your side.

"Nobody introduced us, My name is Valeria, I am the arcanist in the unit, what are your name"

As she get closer you noticed that behind all her tatooe, the women is very attractive and have that you don't know what that makes you likes her very quickly.

Oculus sighs inwardly as the six warriors set off, talking amongst themselves, not even bothering to see of Jasper and he were following.

As they ride through the countryside, Oculus starts talking to Jasper about arcana. It was something they did all the time at the University. Magic was really such a fascinating subject, with such depth and complexities! Talking to Jasper about it was always rewarding. They had both studied it very deeply, and really enjoyed discussing the finer subtleties of it together, often sharing new information they discovered in old dusty tomes in the library together. It was one of the things he had in common with his best friend. Inside he was a little embarrassed to be talking about it amongst these hardened warriors, and felt that would only make him seem more bookish and weak to the soldiers, but he needed to talk about something!

Looking at the soldiers, Oculus began to realize he had other things in common with Jasper as well. Like how skinny their arms were. And how they really didn’t know how to ride. And how all the studying they did in the library really hurt their social skills. Well, on the social skills Oculus had been practicing quite a bit, talking to a pretty student they shared classes with. But still, Oculus knew any social graces he had were the result of practice and study, not natural charisma. He wondered if he would see Tania again, or if his rival Dravan would move in on her when he was gone.

Oculus was thinking about Tania when Valeria rode up and introduced herself.

“An arcanist? I didn’t realize… with all your tattoos I thought you might be a warrior monk or something…” Oculus smiles the most charming smile he can muster. “I am Oculus, and this is my friend Jasper. We are arcanists too. Jasper is a Diviner, and I am a Domain Wizard. Transmutation Domain, that is. What about you? A sorcerer, perhaps, maybe a battle sorcerer?”

Solomon just spent two days on a scouting mission and found absolutly nothing. It's been months since he last fought a few orcs. he is wondering what is happening, before there was always at least a few skirmish every months. Things are just too calm.

Just as you are heading home, you notice a few hundred feet away that the forest seems quite damaged like if a huge creature or an army column just pass by.

Solomon Kreel

Solomon generally prefers scouting at night. In the dark, he feels grateful for his orcen heritage, instead of his usual embarassment and awkwardness. Killing orcs is rewarding for him. Revenge against the surely cruel treatment of his mother, of himself, and his beloved. The lack of activity makes him restless.

Now what is this? This devistation? Solomon cautiously approaches, wanting to be able to report some details to his friend, and superior, Marcus. Perhaps the tracks will tell him what sort of creature passed. The damage to the trees might tell the direction.

Jasper Conrad

As Oculus starts discussing their studies, Jasper will visibly relax. For him it's a little bit of normalcy in what is possibly the strangest day of his life. When he hears the soldiers laughing about his riding ability, he just pretends he didn't.

As Valeria approaches, the nervousness returns. She seems nice enough, but the situation is too weird and he's not used to girls like her talking to him in the first place. He says 'Hi' after she introduces herself, then lets Oculus carry the conversation.