Epic Cinematic IC

[Albedo]

"You look like you are angry. And rightfully so I would say, though misplaced it may be. You believe I have failed? I have done everything required of me. The events that have transpired are long since out of my hands. Don't look at me like that, I am not making excuses. And I have brought along the spirits influenced by those events to show you just that. I have always taken my job as a "Watcher" seriously. And this case is no different. It all began in a small, out of the way tavern, the gathering for this time around. This batch looked no different than the many that proceeded them, but I learned as I continued to watch them that there was something unique, something special about them..."

OOC: Alrighty, time to get this show on the road. I have revised how I want you guys to write your posts. Simply put, you will be writing from the point of view of spirits, dead beings wandering and watching the events that transpired. Though the character you use as your point of view can change as often as you'd like, and can actually be alive at the time. As I said in my origional post, try to keep dialogue to a minimun as if you were just outside hearing range for normal voices. As a side note, you point of view characters can have a connection with the characters you are writing about if you want them to, allowing them access to background info on your characters.

This world will be shaped by you guys. We have a few submissions for the world name. I want you all to vote on it whith your forst posts. The only rule you guys need to obey for now is you cannot leave the tavern. Other than that, go nuts.

 

[Jemal]

Loved and reveilled at the same time like no other, this man was. Such a combination of vile past, righteous present and hopeful future could be found in no other, yet here he was in my tavern. Sitting, waiting, and watching. I couldn't tell what for, but once it happened, I'd know... I'd know. Just like I knew who he was without having to ask his name. The disfigured arms, the shaved head, the pierced ear that once had held a powerful jewelled earing, oozing with magic capable of dropping grown men to their knees, and now was home to a simple carved pebble. Few new his name, but many would recognize his deeds.

He asked for nothing, just sitting there, his simple vest unable to hide the scars, the things grafted onto his body by the most depraved evils. Others probably thought he wore them openly, proudly, but they'd be wrong. The stories I've heard... well, those I believe, anyways... tell a far different tale. A tale of villainy, deception, and redemption, tales of the lowest depravities and the highest morals, all within a single entity.

[ooc world name vote]
Azhara

 

[Arabesu]

"There he is standing between that cove and that wench. Look, he is fat, the years have been too good to him, I see. Still he is alive, which is better than my lot."

"Oh hated enemy, how I wish I could touch thee, to spit in your face, and to watch it drip across you crooked smile, or smite you with my blade. Yes! That very blade, the one at your hip, the one you so cruelly stole from my dead body."

"I guess twas my Just Desserts for I had just slain your shipmate, plunging my steel right through his heart. You watched him slide off my blade and I saw your rage flair. And now I am ended. But oh how delightful it felt to feel his blood running across my fist!"

"How long has it been? Why am I here? I remember torment And pain. Lots of pain. Is this heaven? Have I been redeemed? Nay, for if I was, then he would be dead and I could crush his bones. Well if I am to be tormented in this newest fashion, then I will watch. Perhaps his time is near and I can take amusement in his demise."

"Ah, here is his misfortune now. See that wench, she takes his purse... oh wait he has re-picked it. She is unaware! What is he doing? He is flirting! I don't know how I know, but I know he is a married man. Many times over. And he flirts with this wench. Perhaps she will poison him? No she is too interested in his coin."

"Perhaps, this daemonic monk will do him in. He looks formidable. Perhaps he will slay my hated enemy, Yens Halfulfen. No. He seems too sated. Too calm. Is that the glow of sacrament? How blasphemous, for a fiend to be raised so high? Phah, someone else then."

 

[Vertexx69]

The old bartender shakes his head to himself as he casts a worried glance around at his livelyhood, and then to the fearsome gathering that had turned out on this dark and stormy night. The scene in the tavern was unsettling to all but the stoutest of heart, the long table along the whole northern side of the great hall was packed with sky pirates, the boisterous lot looked to be gathered from a dozen different races if not worlds.

The mountainous, crazy captain looked like the embodiment of chaos, with his rough angular features, massive claws and teeth, but draped in the strangely fine and ancient sailors garb. His sea turtle sized hands and feet are sheathed in nearly 2 inches of razor-spiked adamantine, yet his claws are all still bare. The bartender catches himself starring at the exotic gems that adorn the captains clothing and quickly looks away.

With boisterous shouts and cat-calls, the crew oggle the serving whenches that move quickly among them, refilling tankards and setting platters of steaming meat. The bartender reaches for a dagger as one of the sky-rats grabs one of the voluptous girls, swallowing hard as he doubts his skill against such a fiend. But before he is forced to test his mettle against the letch, the giant half-ogre appears behind his crewman and lifts him off the ground by the scruff of neck, as if he weighed no more than a kitten, with one hand. "This isn't a whorehouse ya mangy pup!" The rest of the crew start laughing histerically at the unfortunate whelp, dangling like a scolded puppy from the claw of their undisputed leader.

The captain takes a gentle hold of the frozen girls chin, and turns her head so she is looking up into his eyes. With his free hand he presses a coin into her hand and sends her on her way. "Back to your work child..." She snaps out of her stupor and scurries away. The bartender looks quite confused, but relieved as he eases his grip on his dagger.

Slamming the sailor back down hard into his seat and clapping a tankard down in front of him, the captain calmly moves back to his own seat at the head of the table. The laughter dies back down to its previous racious levels, and the captain resumes drinking heavily, as a song breaks out at the other end of the table.

Two more of the crew enter the tavern and move with purpose to the captain, handing him a large scroll and speaking low for a moment before departing. Setting his drink to the side he rolls out the large chart using several tankards to hold down the curling corners, and several of the crewmen lean in to see as the leader point to various points while talking in a voice that can't be heard over all the other conversations and stories being told around the tables farther reaches.

The bartender sees the crew intent on something other than the desruction of his tavern, and wearily goes back about his other duties. A moment later there is a crash of breaking wood, as a tankard is crushed over the head of one by another... the bartender shakes his head, "I'm gonna have to replace half my furniture tommorrow." He turns and walks back through the wall to the storeroom, as the son continues to tend his bar. The painting of the young bartender's long dead father on the wall behind him.

 

[Albedo]

"I wouldn't a noticed dose two if I wasn't trying to ignore dem noisy pirates, scurge o' the world that they are. And my eyes woulda been regretting et, I'll tell ya. Thems the hottest dames I been able to glance at in dis dreary neck o da woods in ages. Why theys gotta square demselves away in a dark corner oh da bar makes little sense ta me. Never approached them do. Had the look of dem Samurai. I know a Katana when I see one. Though on one, it was three. Crossed on her back like a y. Don't know what the other was fer. Maybe she just like the choice when she kills. But she was a fiery one I'll tell ya. Red hair, flaming eyes. If I wasn't so inclined to see da next day, I mighta gone over and declared my undying love ta her. Or at least my nightly love if'n ya get my drift."

 

[Jemal]

The rage played across his face, fire burning in his eyes as the waitress was so roughly treated. It promised a swift and painful death to whomever crosses his path, but as the Captain disciplined his men, the bald man seemed to reign in his fury, a few deep breaths and soon all seemed well with the world again. Anybody who hadn't been watching him would never have known from his current peaceful visage the wrath that had been there a moment before.

Peace and calm coming so easily to such a disfigured, fiendish being... A travesty some would say, Blasphemy others would shout. And yet there he sat. Waiting, patiently, his glance travelling around the room. No matter how high he may have risen out of the muck, his more base urges still showed occasionally, his gaze lingering on the two comely women at the bar a bit longer than would perhaps be polite before shifting back to the door, as though he were awaiting the next arrival, as though he knew something the others did not.

 

[Albedo]

"My days as a Watcher have ususally been boring. Many times have I seen potentially interesting folks waste their lives away. However this tavern was a seen of pure chaos. I spent the first hour watching a halfling approach the group of pirates, working her way in between the men wit hgreat stealth, plundering at will. It wasn't until an angry barbarian shouted at a waitress and ended up chucking a table at the exalted one...Bodin'al I later learned his name to be... that I turned my attention to the other patrons of the bar."

OOC: Vertexx, make a spot check DC 40 to spot the halfling. Your guys can't make the spot checks, so they won't be getting any.

 

[Jemal]

"And then the fiendish man caught the table in mid-air, 'e did! Wot a sight to see it was, just reached out with a clawed hand (Looked like it came from a pit fiend, OI think), an stuck a few'o them claws into the wood as it sailed'is way. then, 'e threw it back at th'bloody barbarian 'afore standing, jos waitin t'pick a fight, I reckon 'e was!"

[sblock=ooc] Exception Deflection/Reflect arrows (Table to hit vs Barbarian (1d20+55=71). Is this an NPC Barbarian throwing the table at Bodin? BTW, I don't intend to get into a fight unless the barbarian seems like he's going to hurt somebody.

Also, Bodin may see the halfling as well... Spot (1d20+56=57) ... Hmm, nat 1. What're your rules on that for skill checks, auto fail like an attack, or just take the roll?[/sblock]

 

[Shayuri]

"Greetings mortals and immortals, all you silent watchers and listeners that pass unheeded, unremarked, and unknown. Do not be alarmed. I am no ghost, no vengeful shade come to wring my eternal angst out of your body and soul. I've a body, though a subtle one and tiny compared to you folk. I've a mind, though simple. And as you can hear, I've a voice, though soft and piping as the wind through reeds and seeming as just a kiss of breeze to any save those I wish to hear it. I have seen much and I'd tell you now, because it is what we do and the tale is grand in the telling. I've long sat on the shoulder of a giant...well, a giant to me anyway, though she is short in stature to most, it seems. And as I see without eyes, only I can tell much of what she does, for like her kin she moves between rays of light, unseen by mortal eyes save when she chooses to be."

"I speak of course of the Tatterdemalion, and she is here though none here know it. Look up. You see there, how the great stuffed boar's head on the wall moves slightly to and fro? She is seated upon it in her torn tunic made by clever hands to seem like spring oak leaves, with her crimson hair streaming back from her head as if it were flame and her wide jade eyes behind a golden mummer's mask aglow with merriment at the madness; the chaos. Though she would stand even with a child of Men, she is no child. She is of the old folk, the fey, and though her kind have faded to spirits of wood and glade and lake, she has fought and learned and fought again; holding the avalanche of years at bay. She is the defender of her kind and all they hold dear; and when the need arises, the avenger."

"She was already enjoying the raucousness of the tavern, and seemed as if she might even descend from her taxidermed perch when a table flew across the room! Even the Tatterdemalion was startled, and I heard her blurt an eager giggle as she anticipated the room exploding into a brawl. But it was not to be! With one hand, the target of the table not only stopped it, but held it! It is a rare thing to see the Tatterdemalion look on something with surprise...she has lived long, and seen things few mortals can dream of...but now she is surprised. Surprised and delighted, for anything new is a joy to one immortal. Delighted and revolted, for the rare man who stopped the table is ugly; a sight to turn the stomach. Yet, I think, revolted and fascinated, from the gleam in her invisible eyes."

"Alone of any in the room, I saw the Tatterdemalion glide up off the boar's head. For a moment she moved too fast even for me to see, as the table sailed easily back through the air; back at the one who'd unwisely thrown it in the first place. But her eyes were on the thrower, not the thrown. What she intended to do on reaching him, I cannot say..."

[sblock=Notes]First off, I apologize for the delay. I do not anticipate one like it again. Circumstances offscreen conspired to limit my enworld time significantly until now. I snuck a few short posts in for other games, but this one required much more time and effort.

Now, to game!

If the spot check is DC 40, Tatter cannot actually fail the check. In addition she has Blindsense, which requires special circumstances to Hide from anyway. I'm proceeding under the assumption she's aware of the halfling...but isn't interested in the halfling, because the halfling is just part of the background fun of the tavern in general.

Though my voice doesn't know what she's going to do, my intent is to have her introduce herself to this unusually skilled mortal and see what he's about. Hopefully this won't violate the injunction on dialogue, since I think I would like to get to know the other characters at least a LITTLE here at the outset.

Let me know.[/sblock]

 

[Albedo]

[sblock=OOC]
K, just to let you guys know, the DC for the spot check was based off of the people the halfling is stealing from. Only Vertexx can make it. And btw, Shayuri, your pizie sadly cannot blindsense the halfling.
[/sblock]

"For an exalted being, Bodin has always been quick to violence. But then again, what do I know about the selected of the gods. What I do know is that ugly oaf chucking tables around does not know who he is dealing with. I've been tracking that fiendish/exalted bastard for years now, keeping out of his sight. I must wait for an opportune moment for my revenge. But this fool, now he is probably going to look very embarrased a she bashed the table chucked at him out of the air and stormed his way overto Bodin, not even stopping for tables or patrons at the bar. "You got something to say to me you disfigured FREAK!" His words echoed thru the bar, silencing everyone else, if only for a moment."