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NOW LIVE! Into the Woods--new character species, eerie monsters, and haunting villains to populate the woodlands of your D&D games.
(Casual D&D) A Game of Trust
- Thread starter Guilt Puppy
- Start date
Guilt Puppy
First Post
Xiao: Hiritus is of course thoroughly responsive to any interest in his beliefs... He tells you how Pelor defends the weak, heals the sick, provides for the hungry, and how it is his sworn duty to do the same. It is clear that Pelor is no abstract ideal for him, but a major part of how he understands himself. His devotion and discipline are clear, and it is also apparent that these extend to the party, as well.
(OOC: Same opinion as Festy on the crossbow. Having it loaded for a few minutes at a time won't hurt it, and you can probably keep it safely aimed away from people, but anything longer than that gets iffy.)
The ride downriver goes quietly, for the most part, even as night falls... As you travel South, the halfling houses become even more ornate in their character, and larger houseboats dock in little crannies of the river, sometimes lit and active, mostly quiet. There are a handful of human-sized houses, as well, hidden up in the hills... And, around midnight, you come to a river crossing where sits a human-sized "houseboat" of sorts, although it is only the size of a small shack, and clearly in disrepair.
On its grey-wooden side azure paint outlines the crude shape of an eye, with the word "Foretunes" scrawled across the top.
(OOC: I just noticed, as of yesterday, this game turned a year old! Woo! Just twenty more years til it can buy booze!
Anyway, hope you all had a nice holiday season. Hopefully the pace should pick back up shortly.)
(OOC: Same opinion as Festy on the crossbow. Having it loaded for a few minutes at a time won't hurt it, and you can probably keep it safely aimed away from people, but anything longer than that gets iffy.)
The ride downriver goes quietly, for the most part, even as night falls... As you travel South, the halfling houses become even more ornate in their character, and larger houseboats dock in little crannies of the river, sometimes lit and active, mostly quiet. There are a handful of human-sized houses, as well, hidden up in the hills... And, around midnight, you come to a river crossing where sits a human-sized "houseboat" of sorts, although it is only the size of a small shack, and clearly in disrepair.
On its grey-wooden side azure paint outlines the crude shape of an eye, with the word "Foretunes" scrawled across the top.
(OOC: I just noticed, as of yesterday, this game turned a year old! Woo! Just twenty more years til it can buy booze!
Anyway, hope you all had a nice holiday season. Hopefully the pace should pick back up shortly.)
dpdx
Explorer
Fendric watches carefully as they travel down the river, only pausing to check periodically on Nurthk's health with Shavah. As they pass the communities, Fendric looks for any obvious signs of Temples, where they might find someone who can cure Nurthk. If he sees one, he'll inform the others.
At the "Foretunes" building, Fendric looks with curiosity. Perhaps they can scry Father Premule...
At the "Foretunes" building, Fendric looks with curiosity. Perhaps they can scry Father Premule...
doghead
thotd
Xiao chats away quietly with Hiritus as they travel down river. Their lives have not been so different. The disciplining of mind and body. The putting of others first. Xiao wonders if the followers of Pelor had as much trouble living the ideals they taught as his own teachers did at times.
All the while he keeps a wary eye on the river and banks ahead. He finds himself eagerly peering around bends to see what awaits, and realises that he is impatient to learn what is in store for them. He grins in the darkness. His teacher had had many occasions to tell him to focus on the now.
As the small houseboat comes into view and the signage becomes ledgible, Xiao asks Hiritus, "Fore tunes. What does that mean? Is it some kind of temple?"
All the while he keeps a wary eye on the river and banks ahead. He finds himself eagerly peering around bends to see what awaits, and realises that he is impatient to learn what is in store for them. He grins in the darkness. His teacher had had many occasions to tell him to focus on the now.
As the small houseboat comes into view and the signage becomes ledgible, Xiao asks Hiritus, "Fore tunes. What does that mean? Is it some kind of temple?"
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Guilt Puppy
First Post
As you approach the Foretunes boat, a brief stirring rattle can be heard inside -- and then a latch pops, and a side-window swings open, exposing some more of that blue paint, here too worn to read in the darkness... And immediately emerging from the window, a face, dry and hollow-looking, with a grin that seems to give Hiritus at least a bit of a start, no doubt recalling a memory of the undead faces surrounding Bethel and hiding behind heavy doors... His movements, though, seem lively enough, as does his voice, as it echoes across the river:
"Travelers? Travelers! Ho! Spare some copper for a fortune? Just a few ole and denty coppers for an ole an' denty seer?"
His eyes, moist and glassy in the moonlight, seem eager and hopeful beneath the falling grey wisps of hair which shred across his face. His gulping throat bobs in knots and ridges, and the fingers which pin a rotten old grey blanket -- one which began life as a colorful rug, from the look of it -- to his shoulders seem narrow as darts.
"Travelers? Travelers! Ho! Spare some copper for a fortune? Just a few ole and denty coppers for an ole an' denty seer?"
His eyes, moist and glassy in the moonlight, seem eager and hopeful beneath the falling grey wisps of hair which shred across his face. His gulping throat bobs in knots and ridges, and the fingers which pin a rotten old grey blanket -- one which began life as a colorful rug, from the look of it -- to his shoulders seem narrow as darts.
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doghead
thotd
Xiao smiles. The old man reminds him of some of the old fortune tellers that cluster around the dusty courtyards of the temples back home. A fortune teller doesn't get fat telling the truth.
His description of himself is worth at least a copper. He is fumbling in his clothes for something better than a copper before Niccolo beats him to it. The glint of the coin in the moonlight clearly reveals it to be more than copper. It pleases him somehow, that the people he has fallen in with can be generous. And perhaps share the same apprieciation of a little self-depreciation.
His description of himself is worth at least a copper. He is fumbling in his clothes for something better than a copper before Niccolo beats him to it. The glint of the coin in the moonlight clearly reveals it to be more than copper. It pleases him somehow, that the people he has fallen in with can be generous. And perhaps share the same apprieciation of a little self-depreciation.
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Guilt Puppy
First Post
The man catches the coin -- fumblingly, and for a second his eyes hang with despair as it seems ready to slip down into the river -- and sits for a moment, admiring it.
"Generous folk, generous gnome you are! This deserves the special treatment..."
He ducks away for a moment, and you hear the rustling of objects in the boat, until he returns with two small bags... The first he opens to reveal what looks like incense, which he piles into a small tower to set alight.
"Good folk... Small folk, of heavy burdens..." His voice shudders with a mix of age and excitement. "Folk of sleepless nights... Restless days... Weary folk..."
His eyelids begin to relax, not quite closing, but leaving only a sliver of that shining wetness to sight... His hands loosen the string around the second bag, and he pours out his contents into the cup of his palm... Things small and white, maybe bits of marble, maybe teeth, scarred by dark carvings, seen for too short a time to make out as he quickly clasps the hand around them, and begins rattling them rhythmically, and vigorously: You can hear two distinct patterns of clacking: The pieces against each other, and the pieces against the bone.
"You shall encounter great uncertainty, and your wills shall all be tested true... So too shall your endurance be tested, trying to keep pace toward your goals..." He sighs heavily, then continues. "You are like sea turtles trying to escape the tide, knowing that a moment stopped for breath will leave you to be swept away... Your short legs will not seem to carry you fast enough, trying to outrun the strides of giants. But you will continue..."
His brow purses for a moment, concerned.
"You are on a quest which is not your quest..." He stammers a little at this, seeming to fumble for the right words. "Or, you pursue a part at the expense of the whole." He places a certain firmness on this, a definite emphasis. "It distracts you -- it leads you down a path to... to... all oblivion."
He breathes deeply, then the rattling slows, although his eyes remain in whatever trance they've found. His tongue appears to give a stabbing moistening of the lips, and his body relaxes noticably.
In a voice of much less intensity: "What more do you ask to know?"
(OOC - Anyone with ranks in Knowledge (Nature), make a check.)
"Generous folk, generous gnome you are! This deserves the special treatment..."
He ducks away for a moment, and you hear the rustling of objects in the boat, until he returns with two small bags... The first he opens to reveal what looks like incense, which he piles into a small tower to set alight.
"Good folk... Small folk, of heavy burdens..." His voice shudders with a mix of age and excitement. "Folk of sleepless nights... Restless days... Weary folk..."
His eyelids begin to relax, not quite closing, but leaving only a sliver of that shining wetness to sight... His hands loosen the string around the second bag, and he pours out his contents into the cup of his palm... Things small and white, maybe bits of marble, maybe teeth, scarred by dark carvings, seen for too short a time to make out as he quickly clasps the hand around them, and begins rattling them rhythmically, and vigorously: You can hear two distinct patterns of clacking: The pieces against each other, and the pieces against the bone.
"You shall encounter great uncertainty, and your wills shall all be tested true... So too shall your endurance be tested, trying to keep pace toward your goals..." He sighs heavily, then continues. "You are like sea turtles trying to escape the tide, knowing that a moment stopped for breath will leave you to be swept away... Your short legs will not seem to carry you fast enough, trying to outrun the strides of giants. But you will continue..."
His brow purses for a moment, concerned.
"You are on a quest which is not your quest..." He stammers a little at this, seeming to fumble for the right words. "Or, you pursue a part at the expense of the whole." He places a certain firmness on this, a definite emphasis. "It distracts you -- it leads you down a path to... to... all oblivion."
He breathes deeply, then the rattling slows, although his eyes remain in whatever trance they've found. His tongue appears to give a stabbing moistening of the lips, and his body relaxes noticably.
In a voice of much less intensity: "What more do you ask to know?"
(OOC - Anyone with ranks in Knowledge (Nature), make a check.)
