Gray Shade
First Post
Day Two
You travel another day. As you ride higher, the temperature drops and by the time you stop for a quick lunch, you’ve all got your cloaks or coats pulled tight and your breath is visible.
Mid-afternoon sets in and the sun settles into a reclined position, bathing everything in sepia tones. As high as you are on the mountain, you can see snowy patches here and there and the air is so crisp and dry that you can feel your lips and fingertips drying.
Overall, though, the day of riding is an easy one, until Grunt gives out a sudden and loud squeal. His eyes bulge and he runs in tight circles, snorting and tusking at the air around him. Quack, too, sounds off suddenly, raising its (his, her?) wings and batting them furiously while honking and waddling in place nervously on the flank of Dentmus’ horse. For a moment no one understands, then . . .
At the front of the party, Haakon points and works his jaw open and close a couple times, unsure what to say at first. Everyone else follows the direction of his fingertip and sees, about two-hundred yards up the mountain, shifting and shimmering specks of yellow and orange light, close to the ground, as far in either direction as you can see. Like millions of tiny, black pebbles reflecting the sunlight and rolling swiftly down the mountain, over rocks and around tree trunks—coming quickly toward the party. As they grow closer, you can hear a faint chaotic ticking noise.
The horses see this, too, and go rigid and tense, their nostrils flare huge and billows of panicked breath come from them.
* * *
You have two rounds until these things hit the party. Feel free to post what you will be doing with both rounds.
Also, I have two other things:
1. I hope I’m not pushing forward too quickly. If I am, please let me know, I’m just trying to get to the more interesting (read: INTERACTIVE) portions of the adventure ASAP. I’m trying not to dally on me just giving information and you saying, “okay.” If there’s something you want your character to do or say, and I move on without you getting a chance to do it, PLEASE just let me know and I’ll make sure we can get it in the “story.” If you ever think my pacing is not working well (too fast OR too slow), let me know.
2. See below for a simple map of White Mountain and the surrounding area. Now that I’ve figured out how to post pictures (yay!), you can look forward to similar simple maps and diagrams as the adventure continues. Click on the image to make it larger. And please forgive the odd direction of North (I'm not good thinking ahead about things like where the sun would create the dark side, and getting it to match the description I gave early in the adventure).
You travel another day. As you ride higher, the temperature drops and by the time you stop for a quick lunch, you’ve all got your cloaks or coats pulled tight and your breath is visible.
Mid-afternoon sets in and the sun settles into a reclined position, bathing everything in sepia tones. As high as you are on the mountain, you can see snowy patches here and there and the air is so crisp and dry that you can feel your lips and fingertips drying.
Overall, though, the day of riding is an easy one, until Grunt gives out a sudden and loud squeal. His eyes bulge and he runs in tight circles, snorting and tusking at the air around him. Quack, too, sounds off suddenly, raising its (his, her?) wings and batting them furiously while honking and waddling in place nervously on the flank of Dentmus’ horse. For a moment no one understands, then . . .
At the front of the party, Haakon points and works his jaw open and close a couple times, unsure what to say at first. Everyone else follows the direction of his fingertip and sees, about two-hundred yards up the mountain, shifting and shimmering specks of yellow and orange light, close to the ground, as far in either direction as you can see. Like millions of tiny, black pebbles reflecting the sunlight and rolling swiftly down the mountain, over rocks and around tree trunks—coming quickly toward the party. As they grow closer, you can hear a faint chaotic ticking noise.
The horses see this, too, and go rigid and tense, their nostrils flare huge and billows of panicked breath come from them.
* * *
You have two rounds until these things hit the party. Feel free to post what you will be doing with both rounds.
Also, I have two other things:
1. I hope I’m not pushing forward too quickly. If I am, please let me know, I’m just trying to get to the more interesting (read: INTERACTIVE) portions of the adventure ASAP. I’m trying not to dally on me just giving information and you saying, “okay.” If there’s something you want your character to do or say, and I move on without you getting a chance to do it, PLEASE just let me know and I’ll make sure we can get it in the “story.” If you ever think my pacing is not working well (too fast OR too slow), let me know.
2. See below for a simple map of White Mountain and the surrounding area. Now that I’ve figured out how to post pictures (yay!), you can look forward to similar simple maps and diagrams as the adventure continues. Click on the image to make it larger. And please forgive the odd direction of North (I'm not good thinking ahead about things like where the sun would create the dark side, and getting it to match the description I gave early in the adventure).
