Kingdom of Alwen Res: Sword of Power Campaign

[DungeonMaster]

*This game is not accepting any further adventurers! Sorry! *

Hail Mercenaries and Heroes of the purge of Atherstone!

I've set up this thread so that everyone from my regular gaming group that can't play over the summer can converse in character to flesh out their backstories and I will add game tidbits of course!
This is simpler, more elegant PBP than by email in my opinion.
Proper roleplay, interesting interactions is worth in game XP! Don't write your life story in one post, the point is to discover the character bit by bit.

To try and start a conversation just remember a situation and post it as such:

On the smouldering ruins of the barracks Shenk looks over the wholesale slaughter of soldiers he was a part of and says out loud: ...

Or:

Togenheim feels torn by the brutal slaying of his halfling comrade by another. He decides to confront Shenk before parting with him and following Stryker Dale...

Any game situation from any time point can be brought up as conversation, even as far back as when you were throwing gnomes into sand cave walls. As long as it remains entirely consistent with the actions and events that have occured!

(I'm incidentally working on the full write up of the campaign but you likely remember most situations)

 

[Kinger]

Kicking things off...

Bison Run Thunderous withdraws his blade of fire from the now-still soldier's corpse. The magical fire hisses and crackles as the blood burns away. The druid's eyes flick cautiously over the mounds of bodies, seeking movement. Seeing none, he dismisses the flaming sword, which promptly disappears in a small puff.

"I be tinkan we did it, mon," the half-orc says to Shenk beside him, rolling his wide shoulders to rearrange the masses of pelts and hides that make his large frame appear even larger. "Good ting, too. I don't be likan dis 'reprogramman' dat skinny one mentioned. Now, where be our paladin companions?"

Spying the two tortured holy men, Bison Run Thunderous makes his way through the slain towards them. "Hey mon," he says to one. "Hey mon," to the other. "I be glad we found chu. Chu guys look like death now, so who knows what chu could look like if we be late?"

 

[Bif the Understudy]

The battle lust begins to recede from Galieths mind as the last soldier drops to the ground. He walks over and begins to clean the gore off his spiked chain with the tabard of the nearest soldier. A slight nod is given to the foaming barbarian standing next to him, Galieth scans the battlements warily looking for more danger, his heightened battle senses detecting none. "I think its time we secured this fort".

 

[ThaDoc]

"Well... so much for that one." As the soldier in black armour falls to the ground, finally vanquished. "I would have killed him earlier if it weren't for this incredibly clunky axe. I could barely swing worrying about hitting someone else on the back-swing", as Shenk drummed up a rancorous laughter over the wails of the injured and dying. "QUIT YER BELLYACHIN'!" He yelled, shushing most of the pleas for help.

Letting the axe fall to his side, Shenk approached the third of his kin to join the party, the flying terror from above.

"You there, how is it that you're able to jump twice your height off the ground!?! I've heard of magics that can do this, but you don't come across as the brand of person to use them...."

 

[Kinger]

Referencing earlier events...

*Slipping back in time to when we left Atherstone... the second time. Go-go ripple-dissolve flashback effect! Diddlidoo diddlidoo diddlidoo diddlidoo...*

Bison-Run-Thunderous gave the barest hint of a smile as he led his new comrades into the wild. His herd was growing, finally. The bison was a fine companion, but it helped when one's companions could understand you without magical aid.

As if reading his thoughts, the large buffalo next to him gave a loud snort and shook its massive, shaggy head. The druid could read the distrust and suspicion his animal companion felt towards the latest additions to the herd, and reached a hand out to stroke the beast's hairy neck. "Easy mon," he murmered in orcish. "Dese be friends now. Friends."

Hearing the words he'd been trained to understand, the animal calmed slightly.

"Dat's right, mon. Dat's right."

The half-orc couldn't help but recall he and his companion's similarities. He and the bison were survivors of hardships that stripped away their respective herds. They lived through each day with the knowledge that if they were strong, it would not be the last. Granted, it would be a struggle, but they had endured up until now, and would continue to do so.

Still, these new companions offered curiosities, if nothing else.

Bison-Run-Thunderous slowed his pace to let a horse take the lead. "Just keep going dis way, mon," he said to the steel-clad rider, waving a hand off towards the horizon. "Dat be North, which be da way you wanna go, right?"

As his new herd passed by him, the half-orc studied them intently, trying to judge which ones would require the most aid in survival. The small one in the black cloak, and thin one in the robes, and especially the old one...

He snorted. They were in his pack now, so he needed to support them, no matter how little support he needed himself.

The armour-clad figure bringing up the rear had caught his attention initially. Though wrapped in steel like the paladins up front, this figure had a hint of savagry about him, much like his own. To top it all off, this figure, Shenk, was a half-orc too.

Bison-Run-Thunderous got back into pace beside the other half-orc. "So Shenk, mon, where'd chu come from? I don't see many orckin in da wilds much anymore. What chu be doin' wandering, like me?"

 

[ThaDoc]

Letting out a humph, and focusing on the "path" ahead, Shenk paused at length. It was unlear whether he was lost in thought, or deliberately forcing silence over the point of conversation. Just before Bison, deterred by his silence, was about to start off back to the front of the column, Shenk finally spoke up.

"...well...I was birthed into a tribe hostile to our kind. My mother tried to keep me safe, but the others were... not as enthused..."
A pained look came over Shenk's face

"One day in my tenth year I was playing with myself as was accustomed to years of being an outcast, when a group of the other children from the tribe approached me, intent to do a bit of their own brand of playing."
The pained look lingered for only a moment more before melting into a furrowed brow filled with anger.

"I was different from them. It was a fact reminded to me only too often."
"My mother scolded me whenever I fought back. It angered me more when I was scolded in front of the others. Always they started a confrontation, and I Was Scolded"
Shenk gripped the hilt of his mighty sword as tight as if battle was upon him.

"That day was the day I would fight back. The avalanche of stones thrown at me before that day had lain across my back, weighing down upon me. That day I would throw Them ALL Back!"

"And throw them back I did."

Shenk paused to study a small field rodent, gnawing on whatever berry it had collected for itself...just before it was snatched up by a roaming bird of prey.

"...one of the lads stepped forward and slung a stone at me. The damned thing struck me square in the head. I knew it had opened up a wound. Blood was all about my face. What happened next was...difficult to forget."

Shenk lessened the grip on his sword and rubbed at a scar over his brow.

"A fury began to well up within me, burning my very soul. My vision slowly clouded over and before my mother's scoldings could take root the rage boiled over... into my fists... into that boy."

"From that, it wasn't hard to imagine the repercussions from that savage display. The tribe elders gave my mother an ultimatum. Either I was to leave for good, and take with me my tainted heritage... or they were going to end it with their own devices... more stones most probably"

"So I was sent away. What else was my mother to do? Let them kill me?"

Shenk paused to take a sip of water and offered some to Bison...though he wasn't quite sure *why* Bison would need any. =P

"...I survived for two years on my own...some inate skill came over me. Taught me how to hunt, how to sleep wide awake, how to co-habitate with nature. That brings us closer to what stands before you today.
I came across a hermit as I made my way north for the hot season. This old man had strange powers. He communed with himself, to a being above all things we know. His resolve gave him power, a power he shared with me... right after I tried to steal a fresh hock of venison..."

Shenk chuckled heartily as he remembered his run-in with his old master.

"I was fond of that old man...it was a sad day when he went. Before he left though, he showed me how to fight, how to carry myself with more dignity than was afforded our kind, and most importantly how to wield the power awarded to the questors of a long-lost god."

Studying the twisted face of his audience, Shenk realized he had gone on much too long.

"So my friend, are you satisfied with my response?"

A nod from Bison just before he carried on back to the front of the party left Shenk to return to managing his difficult trudge in such heavy personal fortifications. Only this time his thoughts weren't wholly upon when the next enemy encounter were to occur. They were fixed upon the bloody, mangled body of that boy from not so long ago. The boy's life extinguished because fate chose him to incur Shenk's pent-up wrath that day.

As the group made its way over the next hill, Shenk reflected on everything that made him who he was today. He knew now that his mother's scoldings were never from her disdain for the colour of his skin. She loved enough to send him away and he was still alive because of her.

"Someday..." Shenk muttered under his breath, "someday I will return and show them what this abomination has become..." His hand had made its way into his belt pouch unwittingly; pawing at a stone the size of a child's clenched fist; the dried blood covering it from what seemed another life.

Courtesy of Shenk Bloodrock

 

[Kinger]

OOC: I had a great reply all written up last night, but wouldnchaknowit, before I could post it, the forum ate it, or IE ate it, or something, so now it's gone. Bugger. Oh well, starting anew...
********

Bison-Run-Thunderous blinked in stunned surprise behind his fur mask, then split his face in an amused, tooth-baring grin. "You know mon," he says, accent unplaceable and occasionally incomprehensible, "If you had said 'mah tribe kicked me out,' dat woulda been enough. Dat was my plan." The druid pauses to scratch the back of his neck with the long, thick fingernails of one hand. "But, since you didn't, I be tinkan I'll return da gesture."

The half-orc gathered his thoughts for a moment. It wasn't often he related personal history to anyone. Animals didn't care, even when they could understand, and these were the first intelligent creatures he'd run across for a long time. The last ones were content to attack without provocation, too.

"Mah tribe lived out in da Wilderness. Mah fawda was a strong orc, a good provida. Mah mudda was orckin, like us, but dat weren't held against us. If we could survive and contribute to da tribe, dat was enough. Problem was, mon, I was da runt of my generation, and somewhat of a disappointment to mah stronger fawda, bruddas, and sistas."

The "runt" flashes a brief, tusked grin to Shenk, attempting to hide the ever-so-slightly pained expression beneath his mask. Bison was still a very tall and wide half-orc, but it is obvious to Shenk that, through the layers of hide and pelt, the druid is not nearly as muscular as he. He also seemed occasionally clumsy.

"'Disappointment,' bah!" he continues. "Da only one who didn't see me as such was da old druid who lived in our territory, Storm-Shrouded-By-Night. But, I had only met him once, and tought he was a bit crazy, if you catch mah drift." He grins again, now taking on a particularly self-satisfied tone. "When da famines came, and da pestilence came, dat, mon, was when da truly strong were revealed. My bruddas, sistas, and fawda withered and died, while I lived on. I endured. I survived." He smacks himself in the chest with his shield arm with satisfied finality. "And because of dat, I was resented by da rest of my tribe. 'Da runt lives on.' Bah! Dey ran me off. Dey didn't want me around, reminding dem dat deir fawdas, bruddas, and children were weaker dan da runt."

The druid sighs. "I wandered alone for da winter, den da spring, summer, and autumn. I learned how terrible solitude can be. It can drive one crazy, mon, just like dat druid. And, by lucky chance, dat be just who I ran into again."

He smiles. "I be tinkan we were both sick of being alone. Storm-Shrouded-By-Night taught be about da world, tings I'd never dreamed of. He taught me about da Eart-Mudda, and how we are all how children. He taught me about da Sun-Fawda, Moon-Brudda, and Star-Sistas. He taught me how reverence for da Great Family can make one dat much stronga. He taught me dat wit da Great Family, I be never truly alone in da wilds. Most importantly, witout mentionan it at all, he taught me how being part of a tribe, a pack, a herd, can drive away da depression, da craze, and leave happiness and satisfaction in its wake.

"Don't dat be right?" the druid says to the shaggy bison trundling beside him, patting the beast's flank.

The bison snorts, not really understanding what is said, but responding to the affection in kind regardless.

"Now," continues Bison to Shenk, "I am a druid like Storm-Shrouded-By-Night. I be among da Eart-Mudda's enlightened children, and favoured of da Great Family. I have cast aside mah old name to take up mah own, true name, in reverence for dat which truly humbles me, like mah mentor before me, and his before him.

"And now," he says, grinning again and looking suddenly very bestial with his tusks and furs, "My herd may be growan, if you be down wit dat."

 

[ThaDoc]

What happens when you don't read all the rules...

Don't write your life story in one post, the point is to discover the character bit by bit.

I guess we blew that rule out of the water, eh Kinger?

 

[Kinger]

Oops. *cough*


To be fair, there's a lot of time I didn't talk about. Lots of adventures not mentioned. Plenty more to reveal. Yup. Uh-huh.

Stop staring at me.

LOOK OVER THERE!!! *bolts*

 

[DungeonMaster]

No you're doing fine! And giving me ideas for September!

as Shenk drummed up a rancorous laughter over the wails of the injured and dying. "QUIT YER BELLYACHIN'!" He yelled, shushing most of the pleas for help.

An injured soldier, holding his entrails in his helmet, looks up from his crouched position amid the flaming carnage and defiantly attempts to scream but manages only a shrill wheeze:
"You're exactly as they told us you would be.... Savages!... Savages!... No parlance, no rules of engagement. I expected no mercy but... but... You kill men as though they were orc!... My spirit will linger over the crucifix they will nail you to... I will watch your life rot away and torment it as a ghost... The symbol of eternal torment will be carved into your flesh by my children and you will be damned to the Abyss.