OOC: Scouting the Spires

[Greybar]

This is the OOC thread for Scouting the Spires

Current characters:
Albus Causarian: Monk1/Pale4
Celarus (KAY-lah-rus): Rogue 4/Monk 1
Locutus: Psion(telepath) 5
Fera: Psionic Warrior 5

We'll be starting at half-way through 5th level just for the fun of having the possibility of levelling up during the adventure.

Sidebar:
The Pale is a psionic healer designed by DragonTurtle and described here.
Thanks DragonTurtle!

 

[daedalus@theworld.co]

Description of Brother Albus Causarius

Apologies for the self-indulgent length of this. These sorts of descriptions help me nail down his personality.

Like the other monks, Albus dresses simply. He wears a grey robe over plain white slacks and a rough white shirt. At least, their colors were once grey and white. He keeps his garments clean - he is often found naked in the lake attempting to wash out the latest stains. But years of blood have given them a permanent brownish tint. He, of course, has access to the stores of fresh clothes available to all monks, but he has always quietly and gratefully declined all such offers. He carries a weathered backpack from which he pulls unguents and bandages for use on the wounds of others. Only his boots appear to be clean and new. He also wears an ornate ring on his arthritic left hand, and a simple amulet around his neck.

FBI Special Agent Dammers once said "My body is a roadmap of pain". He could have been speaking of Brother Causarius. Albus is gaunt, always appears to be barely recovering from a debilitating illness, and usually walks with that careful gait adopted by someone suffering a back injury. He is covered in scars, some old and puckered, others so fresh they still ooze. His fingernails are blackened and ragged from chewing. He is either drenched in fever-sweat, or trembling from cold. The insides of his forearms are covered by short, straight little scars - Brother Causarius is apparently a cutter.

His face is disturbing, even to the monks who train with him. His jaw is clenched permanently in pain. His nose is crooked and broken. The creases in his brow are like a knife cut. His eyes are sunken and bloodshot. Those who brave the task of meeting his gaze claim that they can see every wound he has ever suffered. When first he joined the monastery, his gaze also contained a sense of triumph, of pride. But that died quickly, and now it shows only a vast acceptance.


Basically, imagine the sickest person you've ever known, and hit them in the face with a sack of oranges. That's what Brother Causarius looks like on a good day.

 

[Samus_the_Lucky]

Description of Celarus

(Please pardon my indulgence in some anachronism)

[A documentarist interviewing Monks in the training yard of the monastery...]
Monk1: Celarus? I've heard of him... but couldn't really point him out to you... [looks sheepish]
Monk2: Isn't he in the room next to yours?
Monk1: Well, yeah, i guess... but i never hear anything over there, maybe he's not here anymore?
[Camera pans slightly just barely catching cloaked figure that could be seen in the medium distance over the monk's shoulders, pans back as Monk1 speaks again]
Monk1: So, yeah, he is a monk here, but I can't help you find him, maybe someone else can, sorry.
[Monks walk off, as they leave a whispered voice is heard immediately behind the cameraman]
Voice: I would rather you didn't ask about me
Cameraman: HUH?! wha-!
[Camera spins around trying to capture image of this new person, goes in and out of focus trying to catch the image. The figure is a little short, cloak boots & gloves seem much better make than the plain monks clothes the figure is wearing. Two sais and two kamas are tucked into the belt. The face is in shadows but seems plain, non-descript]
Voice: Please, no pictures [lightly shoves camera to the side, when the cameraman swings it back, the figure is gone]
Cameramn: where... where did he go? [cameraman spins around, no sign of the cloaked figure]

-------

You'd be hard pressed to pick Celarus out of the rest of the monks, he doesn't stand out, he keeps to himself and is very quiet. Sometimes he seems to be always just around the corner, othertimes no where to be found. One never hears him arrive in a room but he will just appear there. He is ordinary; that might be the one thing that makes him stand out the most.

 

[ericpat]

Description of Locutus

There is something about Locutus. People just like him. While sociable, his dedication to the order's purpose is never in question.

He is smallish, but neither frail nor sickly. Like most monks, he has no hair, probably due to shaving his head. His features are sharp, his face accipitrine. He wears simple robes of brown homespun, much like any other monk. For travel, he has a walking stick that he leans on. His cloak is a bit fancier than is the norm, but nothing extravagant. He wears a simple gold circlet about his forehead, and several tattoos can be seen on his exposed skin.

 

[Daphna_Llassa]

Fera is one of the women monks. When hanging out at the monastery she wears very simple clothing, with few decorations. She has mousie brown hair that is kept cropped pretty short. She tends to keep to herself, unless she is sparring.

Her face is what will get your attention. Occasionally you may look at her and see something primal...

 

[Daphna_Llassa]

I didn't notice how to do this in the faq, how do we do "private" character to character interations? (For example, just to one character and not the whole party.) Is it posted in the main thread or is it done in email?

 

[Greybar]

I'd say do it in the main IC thread. If you want it to be more secret, you can put it behind a spoiler block (the sblock tag)

for instance:
Fera whispers to Locutus:
[sblock]
I don't trust this fisherman. I could gut him right here before he calls for help.
[/sblock]

That way the overall flow of the scene is complete and readable.

Some people like to use italics for internal thoughts or telepathic communication and colored text for out-loud speech, but as long as things are clear I don't want to place a rule about that.

 

[Greybar]

Albus will be on vaca for a week, so he'll just be quiet in the conversation for a while. Carry on!

 

[Samus_the_Lucky]

[tumbleweeds]

Celarus doesn't really have anything to add... i was wondering if we could 'look around the table' as it were and decide to just jump to the next scene or something...

hmmm maybe i'll post a 'Celarus doesn't have anything to add' post in character later...

 

[Greybar]

Yeah, the lack of nonverbal/nonposted cues is something we'll have to learn.

I guess when in doubt I'll try to push things along and we can always recoil a bit if needed.