Parallel Lines

Eluvan

First Post
Okay, let's get this show on the road!

Spoiler text will be used
on occassion
. I trust you not to read other people's - it really is more fun if you don't.

Speech in 'inverted commas' and, if you like, in colour.

Thoughts in italics.

OOC infomation (such as rolls) should be ((enclosed in double brackets)).

Rolls should look like: ((Disable Device = [X] + Y = Z)) where X = the roll, Y = the modifier, and Z = the total. I trust you to roll your own dice. Again, it's more fun if you actually do so. If your rolls start to look dodgy, I'll start rolling them instead.

And that's the boring stuff out of the way. I'm leaving the opening post fairly open in terms of how your characters have come to this point. In your first post, please give a brief description of your character (just copy-paste from your sheet, if you prefer), and a brief summary (which can be whatever you want, within reason of course) of how you have come to Fairhaven, and how you were recruited for the job on which you are now embarking. The financial incentive was 800gp each.

***

The city of Fairhaven. The capital of Aundair, one of the five nations that once comprised the great and mighty realm of Galifar. Yet, in truth, a city whose history dates back even past that nigh-legendary realm, to the days when the fledgling nation of Aundair was still in formation, its borders being defined through constant expansion and retreat and its character being slowly created in the great forge of history. In those heady days when all of Eberron was a new frontier for the human settlers from across the sea, the first stones of this city were laid. Who, in those days, could have looked forward and foreseen the great metropolis that it would one day become?

Now it positively hums, teeming with activity and life. In the Royal Court of Fairhold, that monolithic creation that dominates the skyline of the city with its towering bulk, eighteen stories high, the wheels that keep the city running are turning constantly. Clerks pore through sheafs of paper, marking pertinent passages and scribbling notes. Archivists scurry through the great hall of records, carrying this and that file here and there, for all the world like fieldmice scurrying busily around collecting nesting materials. A great advocate stands in one of the public courts and delivers the speech that will save or damn the man who sits beside him, head hanging and mind reeling at the gravity of the situation he finds himself in. A diplomat from some exotic land bows low before the King of Aundair, profferring up a cushion on which lies a beautifully wrought crown studded with some kind of strange and beautiful gems.

On the streets, too, activity is everywhere. A merchant, lean and well dressed with a cruel look in his eyes, stands behind his stand and shouts confidently out into the crowd, enticing them to come and sample his wares. A wasted street urchin skulks silently through the crowd, stopping here and there to cut the strings of an unguarded purse, and in an unlucky moment is sighted and pursued by one of the City Guard, clanking after him in his unwieldy plate armour. The boy turns a corner and uses his instant of respite to use his natural racial ability to make himself appear as a small girl, a number of years younger than he had been, and then walks nonchalantly past the lumbering guard.

All of this and far more goes on across the city, yet none of it concerns us. We shall focus, instead, on the mammoth construction of the mortal races that now hovers a foot from the ground in a great paved courtyard on the outskirts of the city. Utilising magical force effects a stairway leads from the ground up to the flank of this thing, crafted from wood and metal and containing bound within itself the raw power of elemental air and fire and hanging now in the air like some kind of vast whale that swims through the skies. Climbing up this stairway now is a motley group, with little in common save that each of them seems somewhat more competent than the average man on the street.

An elf, a dwarf, a half-elf, one of the warforged, and a human with a somewhat odd look to him. Such the group is composed of. As they enter the airship, they find themselves in a rather luxurious interior. The ship is held and operated by a privateer, and clearly he has spent rather more time and effort on its aesthetics than House Lyrandar are wont to do on those they operate. Most of the interior is crafted beautifully of some kind of dark, hard wood and even the smallest details are carved into ornate patterns. Along the sides of the vessel long windows run, the panes made of expensive clear glass. Clearly the owner has quite some impressive funds at his disposal, as has already been shown by the fact that he was able to sub-contract House Deneith to hire adventurers as guards for the vessel.

To your left, stairs run up to a door that is currently closed tight. It seems that the workings of the ship are in that direction. To your right, there are a number of tables built into the ship with padded benches. Three people are already seated at these tables. One looks to be a wizard, as she is decked out in full robes and bears a staff carved with ornate runes. Another is a young half-elven man who lounges easily, propping up his head with one arm that is braced against the table, looking about ready to go to sleep. The final perosn is a human woman, about thirty by appearance, dressed very finely and looking around with a satisfied, proprietary air. As you come into the ship she stands, beaming at you. 'Aha!' she cries, 'that's everybody. Rather a small crowd, but there it is. This is, after all, primarily a cargo ship and I believe most of the passangers we have are only here to look after the cargo, no? Anyway, do make yourselves at home, we have rather a long trip out to Lorghalan. I must be away, to get us airborne.' With that she strides past you and through the door, with a manner that seems to suggest that any further questions you have should be worked out between yourselves.

((If I haven't made anything clear that you feel I should have, let me know and I'll try to fill you in. You are pretty much supposed to be in the dark, however. You were hired, through house Deneith, to protect the cargo of this ship that is headed to Lorghalan in the Lhazaar Principalities, and that is all you know.))
 

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DEFCON 1

Legend
Supporter
This had better be worth it...

...thinks the rather sullen-looking dwarf as he strides across the airship's seating area and plops himself down at the table that had been vacated by the human woman. Massif Dardungren... warrior, guard, defender... was used to this sort of "hurry up and wait" lifestyle ever since he was plucked from his clan's holdings in the Mror Holds eight months ago. He had arrived in Fairhaven not more than two days ago, having accompanied an entire wagon train of halfling refugees here following the destruction of their nomadic camp in Talenta at the hands of a Valenar warband. Unfortunately for him, once he arrived and was discharged from his caravan duty, he immediately got assigned to get on an airship and travel all the back across Khorvaire once more. No chance at all for him to get a good night's rest, let alone do a bit of sight-seeing (this being his first time this far west).

As he tries his best to get comfortable on the poofy chair while his dull scalemail armor clanks against the wooden back, Massif shoots a quick look around at the other four guards he had come aboard with. He had not been at all pleased when he was told by his superiors that he was to be the only official member of House Deneith assigned to this detail... the other members of the guard unit being freelancers and mercenaries. Thus he knew that his superiors would naturally assume that he would take on the role of House Representative in any proceedings that needed House intervention, despite the fact that the dwarf would rather shove a red-hot kukri under ths toenails than get stuck talking to anyone about anything whatsoever. So as the others begin to find places on the airship, Massif tries his best to figure out who can be their mouthpiece so he won't have to.

Hmm... that odd-looking human seems to hold himself highly. Maybe he'll take on the position of blabbermouth. Most of the stuck-ups all do. Very nice armor though. I gotta get me some of that stuff. If I can ever get paid enough myself that is.

Look at that elf in the funny mask. Huh. Must be one of those Valenars that the Bugby family was talking about on the ride over here. Said that the elves that attacked them all wore those strange masks - supposed to be special or something. Wonder what he looks like underneath it, cause it sure doesn't add to his looks at all.

That khoravar doesn't look the mouth-running type. Looks like a monk with all those robes he's wearing. Sovereign Host too from the looks of things. Dunno how he got stuck on guard duty... but oh well. Not my place to judge how you waste your life.

And a warforged too. Yeesh. Bit odd look about him as well. It IS a 'him', right? Right. I think. Can hardly tell these days. Looks strong though, which'll help. By the gods, what an odd bunch. Maybe I will get stuck speaking for all these blokes? Certainly hope not, regardless of what the House tells me to do. 16 months. That's all. 16 more months then I'm going home, I don't care what they say.

Ugh. This's my lot in life, I guess... whipping boy for the House. Thanks a lot, father, this was a brilliant idea. I certainly hope you're making the most of the Thrones the House is giving you for my efforts...


He looks down at the raggedy state of his tunic, pants and boots, plus the poor quality of both the scale and the waraxe at his side.

...because I bloody well aren't seeing so much as a Crown.
 

ShaggySpellsword

First Post
...comfortable? What kind of guard duty is this?

Systar, after taking in everything the human woman says, looks around the room rather uncomfotably. He finds an unoccupied chair and lays the stave of his bow across it.

I suppose if anything were to happen to the cargo, it would happen in the air then? If this is our one chance to be at ease until danger strikes, then I may as well take it. After all, it is an opportunity to see if anyone here could help me find my father's murderer....or have a connection to him.

The tall elf first removes the backpack from his disproportionately well-muscled shoulders and sets it next to the chair he has claimed. He then, while chanting a verse of the Ley of Kelaerys, proceeds to unwind his bright red head-wrap and remove his ancestor-mask. After Systar stows these treasured belongings into his bag, he turns his good-looking face toward the rest of the cabin's inhabitents and throws his long black hair over his shoulders.

Trying to ease into his chair, with his bowstave across his lap, Systar speaks up 'With all of the preparations for our journey, I don't believe any of us have been properly introduced. My name is Systar os Caer Cyjyl, former archer of the Taelus Ral and novitiate Keeper of the Past. Among my people, a gathering of warriors like this requires introductions first, followed by the telling of tales! I have begun the introductions, who shall continue?' ((Trying to be charming and engaging. Diplomacy=[18]+6=24))

None of my fellow guards seem to have any ties to Thuranni...but the Shadow Network employs all kinds. If they aren't behind the murder of my father, they can help me find out who is. Well, onto the Pirate Isles...and perhaps the belly of the beast.
 

Zweischneid

First Post
I cannot believe it! Abbess Sapienta allowed me to go. No, no, she choose me to go! Send me on my first offical mission. Yeah! Me from all the other initates. I still cannot believe it. Simply fantastic.

All but stumbling over the gangway the young acolyte scrambles onto the deck of the magnificent Airship, just barely managing to regain his balance with a quick skip of his step.
Hardly noting the slip himself, his sky-blue eyes take in the deck and rigging, the busy crew and the blazing elemental ring.

'It has been too long since I have been on a ship. And never one so.. so magnificent.'

With an expression of genuine awe and an impossibly wide smile, he turns to face the rest of the assembled group at the tables.

Lithe and lissom, the Half-Elf seems to run closer to his elven than to his human heritage (though some elfs may disagree). His short build, the impish smile and the freshly shaved, monasterial tonsur make him appear even younger and boyish than he truly is.
Besides his half-empty backpack, the young priest doesn't seem to own much. He's dressed in simple and wide-cut, white robes and wears a few simple cords around his neck that hold a wooden holy symbol as well as a few polished luck-charm-seashells. Protruding from the backpack you notice the hilt of a wooden practice sword, again enforcing the youthful, almost childish appearance of the half elf.

Noting the Dwarfs dour face the half-elf frowns and turns again for the ship, looking like he'd be off and inspecting every nook and cranny before he even bothered to introduce himself.

Trying to ease into his chair, with his bowstave across his lap, Systar speaks up 'With all of the preparations for our journey, I don't believe any of us have been properly introduced. My name is Systar os Caer Cyjyl, former archer of the Taelus Ral and novitiate Keeper of the Past. Among my people, a gathering of warriors like this requires introductions first, followed by the telling of tales! I have begun the introductions, who shall continue?'

Winceing, as if Abbess Sapienta had scowled him personally just now for his lapse of etiquette, the young priest turns again and speeds over to the tables to introduce himself with a low and formal bow.

"Pleased to meet you Sir Systar. I am called Celebren and not much else. Born on the seas I pledged my life to the Souvereign Host, protecting and guarding the honest and freedomloving folk of Khorvaire in the name of Dol Dorn."

Glancing at the martial outfits of the people present, he adds
"And on this voyage we will share this duty I suppose. Bringing this vessel save and well to Lorghalan, I mean?"

A truly strange gathering of mercenaries here. Oh well, it promises to be a most interesting trip I guess, maybe less so with that sulky dwarf.
 
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Badger

First Post
And so it begins...

Digger entered into the room last and looked at the chairs in front of him with a look of curiousity. Towering over the others, both in height and weight, he doubted the chair would hold support his weight and opted to stand behind them.

It would not do well for me to destroy the property of those I work for. It would not do well at all.

As the two elfs introduced themselves, Digger wondered what he was supposed to say. He had no long title to give, nor could he recall ever pledging his life to a cause or a distant god.

Speak simply and true. It is the best way...

"I am Digger. I am here to help where I can."
 

Sorren

First Post
Sorren stood with his back to the rest of the party. Long silvery white hair partially obscured the bastard sword secured to his back. His bluish silver chainmail rasped as he shifted his weight.

He had already scanned the minds of everyone in the room, probing them for malicious intent [Detect Evil]. He had detected none. If any of them were agents of the Dark, they had hidden it well. I mustn’t let my guard down now… especially now. I’ve been fooled before…

The kalashtar peered out one of the windows, taking note of the workers arranging cargo in preparation for last minute loading and unloading. Did he trust these people? No. He couldn’t afford to. Trust is what got him where he was today, and lucky to be alive at that.

Little more than a month ago, he had met a seemingly wonderful young lady at the Silver Goblet, an upscale tavern in Upper City Sharn. He had immediately fallen for her, which he recognized now as a subtle telepathic manipulation. He had gotten to know Jena over a couple of weeks, and things seemed to be going well. Sorren had often wondered since he left home why she didn’t strike immediately, but he guessed she wanted to get as much information from him as possible, or to simply wait until she could get both he and his uncle together. It didn’t matter. The result was the same. He had brought her home one evening for dinner, something would have never done….with anyone. Again, he attributed this recklessness to some telepathic seed she had no doubt planted deep in his psyche.

They had just sat down to eat when she commented, seemingly as if it was nothing, that she knew who they were, and that neither would survive this encounter. Sorren was stunned. He certainly hadn’t seen it coming. Nor did he have time to prepare for the wave of agony that crashed over his mind and body. However, his uncle was a far more experienced psion, and the assassin hadn’t counted on his counter attack.

The battle was fierce. Sorren recovered from the attack, only to discover the two locked in frenzied psychic warfare. His uncle was not only a good swordsman, but a talented kineticist as well. The room roared with the energies he commanded, but he was already heavily wounded from the assassin’s psychic barrage. In the end, his uncle fell. Blood flowing from his nose and ears. The assassin, though victorious, was severely weakened. Her mental energies were spent, and her body was badly wounded. It was at that point, as he had been told is common in times of great emotional stress, his mind surged as new psionic gateways were triggered. In his fear, hatred, anger, and excitement, he had been enlightened. He reached out to her mind, like he had done to others dozens of times in the past, but this time, without restraint, or finesse, or caution. With his Will, he crushed the assassin’s mind. Her body collapsed like a marionette, her strings severed, her psyche utterly destroyed.

For the third time, his Path was altered. His father dead before his birth, his mother dead as they fled, now his uncle lay dead at his feet. It was time to move on, and quickly. He gathered what gold and supplies they had, and left Sharn for a new life. He was running again, and each step filled him with bitter hatred of the Inspired and their agents. Was anywhere safe?

He decided it would be best if he kept moving for a while. He soon met up with some people that got him in contact with House Deneith. They offered him work, and he took it. It would offer him a bit of coin, which he was sorely lacking, and a chance to hone his mind. “Nothing sharpens the Will like conflict”, his uncle had told him. The Light illumine him, he was right.

"I am Digger. I am here to help where I can."

The words snapped him out of his reverie, and he turned from the window to face the other guardsmen assigned to this job. He was better than this. He wasn’t a guard. But it was a start. The first step taken on a long road. My first Great Step down the Path of Light…

”So what do you dig”, he asked simply as he turned to face the creature of metal, stone and wood. He looked the warforged over carefully, peering at it with piercing eyes the color of steel, weighing its usefulness.
 
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Verbatim

Explorer
”So what do you dig?”

Digger turned to face the one who addressed him and pondered once more how to answer the question. While he knew that many warforged were seen as nothing more than machines whose only purpose was labor, he had hoped that those who had hired him, as well as those he would now travel with, were beyond such simple minded thoughts.

Speak simply and true...

"I have dug the graves of over three hundred men, women, and children in my yesterdays. However, House Deneith did not hire me for my skills with the spade, but for my knowledge as a builder of things."

Looking down at the smaller warm blood, Digger saw the familiar look in its eyes and knew that it would be weighing everything he said, seeking any falsehood where there was none.

I have spoken simple and true, but will they hear and see the truth in my words?
 
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Badger

First Post
ooc:Sorry about the confusion on this...in RL Verbatim is my roommate and he left the PC logged on..I will be more careful in the future.
 

Sorren

First Post
Badger said:
"I have dug the graves of over three hundred men, women, and children in my yesterdays. However, House Deneith did not hire me for my skills with the spade, but for my knowledge as a builder of things."

Sorren stared at the warforged a moment longer, then nodded solemnly. He suddenly wished he had been more respectful in his initial addressing of this, Digger. His anger toward the Inspired shouldn't be a stumbling block along the Path. He would need to meditate on this.

"Let us hope that your skill with a spade is unneeded in this endeavor, Digger." He turned to face everyone. I am Sorren Khadiir, a.... mercenary like yourselves. The lie was plain. It was clear that he wasn't a simple mercenary, but he suspected the same held true for them as well.
 

Eluvan

First Post
The human woman who you take to be a wizard looks up distractedly, rather as if she has been interrupted in something, as she sees that introductions are in order. It is hard to guess her age, but you would place her somewhere in her late thirties at a guess. Her hair is a coal black, and is pinned and tied into some intricate arrangement that must surely have required the extended ministrations of a handmaid. Curled up under her feet, you notice, is a small, purple-red dragon like creature about the size of a cat. The wizard surveys the group briefly, an inscrutable expression on her face, and then announces 'I am called Samea. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintances.' Her accent is rather odd - none of you recognise it - and the air of the exotic this lends to her is reinforced by her slightly odd phraseology which you find it hard to fault, but seems rather forced as if learned from a book or an uninspiring tutor. With that, she reaches down to her bag, resting next to the dragon-like thing, and pulls out a large and obscure-looking book which she begins to read.

The half-elf, by contrast, seems eminently interested in the new arrivals. He sits up as you come in and leans across the table, propping his head on his hands with both elbows braced against the table. From this apparently rather difficult position he speaks up. 'I'm Vel,' he says with an engaging smile, 'and I'm very glad to finally have some company. The mage over there hasn't exactly been riveting.'

Samea doesn't even seem to notice the comment. At about that moment, the airship slowly starts to rise, smoothly but quite swiftly, with a slight swaying motion not at all unlike a ship at sea. Vel looks briefly out the window as the ship leaves, and then turns back smiling again. 'Beautiful, huh? The view, I mean. There's nothing like the feeling you get as you start a journey, I reckon. That's everything worth living life for, summed up right there.'

((A pre-emptive piece of advice: feel free to respond to each other, and each seperate NPC. Don't feel like the last comment made overrides all the others - but if you're going to, make sure that replies to everything you're going to reply to are in the same post, and that the post ends with a reply or at least an acknowledgement of the last post before yours.))
 
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