Journey of the Mire ( OOC and Signups )

[Rina]

This looks interesting! If your original post is still accurate in which you're still open to new players, I'd be more than interested in joining.

 

[Heyitsjiwon]

Still have room for one more?

 

[BrattyCommissar]

Still accepting new players, that's for certain!

Sidenote: Excitement at interest RP is generating, however small, eeeeeeeeeeeeeee! :D

 

[Rina]

Woohoo! I'm quite excited about this!

I'll get to work on things once I get home.

 

[Hellis]

Duly noted.

 

[Jorick]

Mathilore the Crone

General Biography

• 
  
  Name: Mathilore Basnar
  Age: 61
  Sex: Female
  Race: Human
  Appearance: As in the image, minus the owl (for now). Image from CG-Warrior on deviantart.
  Homeland: Shadecreek
  
  Attributes
  
  • Guile: +1
    • Night Cloak: Some quite valuable healing herbs are found easiest at night, and when hunting for them it is a good idea to move quietly to avoid the notice of predatory creatures in the woods.
  • Nerve: 0
  • Savvy: -1
  • Trust: +1
    • Triage: One is bound to learn a few things after spending many years tending to the aches and pains of the villagers.
  
  
  
  Skills and Crafts
  
  • Herblore (+1): To know the difference between Widow's Bane and Moondrop is to know the difference between agonizing death and relief for loose bowels. Those who possess such knowledge can be quite handy, and crones are nothing if not handy.
  • Foraging (+1): Searching for medicinal herbs and searching for food are truly the same skill, just with a different goal in mind. A crone who cannot find the herbs she is looking for is no true crone at all, but she could find fruits or tubers instead if necessary.
  • Reading (+1): Those skilled in the art of reading tend to pass the knowledge along to their children. To a village wise woman an apprentice is like her child, thus the knowledge is passed through the generations from crone to crone, along with whatever books they might possess.
  • Cooking (+1): The lonesome life of a crone means cooking for herself and any ill persons she happens to be taking care of, which leads to a fair amount of experience. Brewing rudimentary potions from herbs is also cooking of a sort, and this is also a common event for a crone.
  • Storytelling (+1): Mathilore always did enjoy a good tale in the days of yore when she was a young girl, and that love never left her. She accumulated stories like an abandoned home accumulates dust, and she has gotten rather good at telling them over the years.
  
  Inventory:
  Clothing
  
  • Two robes - both old and worn, one blue, one brown
  • Five silver (in color, not material) bangles worn on the left wrist
  • Two plain rings worn on a twine necklace
  Large Pack
  
  • Book of Stories - old and ragged, contains fairy tales and fables with a few rough illustrations
  • Book of Herbs - decent condition, tells of plants from around the world and their medicinal uses, though lack of illustrations and poor descriptions makes identifying any unfamiliar and nameless plants nearly impossible
  • Book of Mysteries - an old but well preserved book that is written in some kind of angular marks that nobody in Shadecreek can identify or read, actual contents unknown
  • Small knife
  • Small metal pot
  • Flint (for use with knife to start fires)
  Satchel of Herbs
  
  • 5 treatments for fevers (?, prepared as tea)
  • 5 treatments for minor and moderate pain (?, muddled with water to make a paste, apply to injuries that aren't open wounds. Poisonous if ingested or enters the bloodstream through a wound, causing bad nausea and vomiting)
  • 5 treatments to induce sleep (?, prepared as tea)
  • 3 treatments for severe pain (?, can be eaten raw for its treatment, however causes light headedness)
  • 3 treatments to ease cramps (Twistroot, must be cooked over fire and recipient must eat something else with it)
  • 3 treatments for loose bowels (?, can be eaten raw for its treatment, however may cause constipation if its not burnt a little before eating)
  • 3 treatments for constipation (?, prepare as tea, but eat the leaves in addition to drinking the tea. Only drinking the tea will cure the constipation, but result in gassiness leading to pain and flatulence)
  • 2 treatments to induce vomiting (?, is a nut that must be slow roasted. Burning it or eating it raw will induce too dangerous amounts of vomiting)
  • 1 treatment to induce hallucinations (?, ground into a powder and smoked is the usual way of doing it. Over exposure causes a feeling of having a heavy body as well as dizziness.)
  • 10 treatments to soothe sore throats (Sweetstring, prepared as tea)
• Mathilore was born into a mostly normal Shadecreek family: a fisherman for a father, a mother who did the cooking and mending and general housekeeping duties, and two brothers. The oddity was that her grandmother on her mother's side, an ancient little woman named Lethyl, was the village crone. This was not a term that she knew the old woman by at first, as people usually referred to her as 'wise one' or 'honored elder' or whatever other respectful titles they chose to call her, and only now and then did they call her crone; some called her a witch, though those were generally the types Mathilore's parents told her to stay away from, so she never thought much of it. She grew up being groomed for the typical life of a wife in Shadecreek, learning to cook and clean and so forth.
  
  That changed when Lethyl came to visit one day and say that she had need of an apprentice, a girl to pass her knowledge to so that she might take over the duties of knowing the herblore and using it to help the sickly. Mathilore's mother was not entirely happy about this idea, but she consented nonetheless since it was a request from her own mother and Mathilore expressed interest in learning from the mysterious (to her, at least) old woman.
  
  Thus she became an apprentice to Lethyl, the Crone of Shadecreek, which was informal title that the crones handed down amongst themselves and never bothered to share with others. The term crone had come from the oldest book owned by Lethyl, a ragged old thing full of stories and with a few crude drawings inside. One such drawing showed an ugly old woman who was simply called the Crone, and she knew foul magic that she used to harm others until the hero of the story vanquished her. Why the old woman who started the tradition chose to name herself a crone based on that image is a fact lost to history, but the weight of tradition kept it in use through the years and it took on a new meaning for them, a meaning of wisdom and healing arts.
  
  Mathilore's training was easily the most difficult thing she had experienced up to that point in her life, largely due to the fact that Lethyl was a stern and unforgiving teacher. Learning to read was the hardest of all, but learning to find and identify the large variety of various herbs around Shadecreek and memorizing their uses and effects was not exactly easy either. She did enjoy creeping around the woods at night, seeking plants that glowed faintly in the darkness, and once in a while old Lethyl would tell her a story (once in a while it would even be one not from the old book), but those were fairly rare happy times amidst the grueling training that lasted eleven years. It got easier over time, certainly, but the old crone was not a pleasant person to live with even after Mathilore could read just as well as her and recite lists of herbal remedies backwards and forwards.
  
  Then Lethyl died and Mathilore became the new crone of Shadecreek. She was only nineteen years old at the time, but being an old woman was not actually a requirement for being a crone so nobody minded. They all tended to grow into the old age bit eventually, so it was only a matter of time until the natural order asserted itself and the crone would become a shriveled old woman. Such a fate befell Mathilore, of course, though she had a good many years as a fairly young crone before that happened.
  
  In those years she married a man named Arryk, a fitting match since he was a widower near twice her age and she was just on the cusp of being considered a spinster. Their marriage was fruitless and Arryk died two years after they wed, after having wandered too far away from the charms that protected Shadecreek and coming afoul of something with large teeth and claws. She married for the second and final time a year and a half later, to another widower who was closer to her own age; his wife had perished in childbirth nearly a year before, and the child had not survived either. His name was Eamon, and he was more blessed in potency and longevity than Mathilore's first husband. They had two sons who survived to adulthood, Corwyn and Rikard, and a daughter who was named Lethyl after the old crone, but she did not survive her first year of life.
  
  Time passed, Mathilore went out gathering herbs and used them to treat the sick, and life went on. Her sons grew up, and each in turn decided to leave Shadecreek to seek their fortunes in the wider world. Such had been quite rare in Mathilore's youth, but the decline of trade and fishing over the years made it more common. They never did return home, despite their promises to do so, and she could only hope that they found some more prosperous lands to call home and settled down with fertile wives and were getting on with the business of living and raising a family to their own contentment. Mathilore went on as she always had, becoming more stooped and wrinkled but otherwise much the same as always as far as the people of Shadecreek could tell.
  
  That changed when Eamon passed away very recently. It was a sudden sickness, just a worrisome fever that no herb could break one day, and the next he had been shaking uncontrollably and vomiting and ranting deliriously. Mathilore took it as a sign. There was nothing left for her in Shadecreek with her loving husband dead, and the village itself was slowly dying. She had heard talk of others wanting to leave and find some more hospitable place to live, and Mathilore decided she would go with them, partly in hopes of finding her sons alive and well and happy, and partly just to get away from her now empty home. She gathered up her few valuable belongings, prepared a satchel of herbs, and went to join those who were leaving Shadecreek behind.
  

[tabs][/tabs]

 

[Heyitsjiwon]

Character Sheet

Name: Lothar Wolff
Age: 27
Sex: Male
Race: Human
Appearance:

Homeland:
Shadecreek

Biography:

Lothar was born in Shadecreek, but is a bit of a special case. His father was a wandering merchant who ended up in Shadecreek and eventually settled down here after finding the special someone who would eventually become Lothar's mother. Lothar's parents, during more prosperous times, were the ones who dealt with the merchants on behalf of the town, but the merchant ships eventually stopped coming and the Wolff family. Still, Lothar was raised to become a merchant as well. Rather than learn how to make a makeshift lure, Lothar was taught how to appraise a good so that he would always know a fair price for items. Thus, Lothar came to realize that there wasn't much of a future in staying in Shadecreek, and jumped at this opportunity to leave on an adventure.



Attributes

• Guile: 0
  • :
• Nerve: -1
  • :
• Savvy: +1
  • : Basic Tactics
• Trust: +1
  • : Team Player
  
  Skills and Crafts
  • : Negotiations +1
  • : Merchantry +1
  • : Navigation +1
  • : Reading +1
  • : Mathematics +1
  
  Inventory
• An old sword (his father's from when he traveled)
• A small pouch of gold coins
• A rucksack
• A blanket
• A Compass
• Flint and Steel
• Dark Green Hooded Robe
• Dried Bread and Meat that's meant to last about 5 days

 

[Jaydee]

If there is no problem and there is extra space, I would love to join this RP and create a character of my own. This is an adventure that sounds really cool and I want to see the growth of a character of mine through it.

I would have to write this at home, though. Posting this to show interest, will try to have a profile set up later on. Out of curiosity, when would the RP itself begin?

 

[BrattyCommissar]

Still open and accepting, yup yup. As for when will the RP begin? Tuesday at the latest, I feel, but I'll probably close off new applicants before then so I have the group defined when I begin work on the IC. Monday is usually a busier day for me, so I'll probably cut off new people joining there abouts.

Well, new people joining for the first group. With time as the group travels to new places I'll be open to letting more people drift in.

 

[BrattyCommissar]

Reminder, today's the last real day you've got to finish characters if you wanna join up with this at start up!

 

[Jaydee]

I apologize for having taken too long for this. Had more problems than I should've had in finding a PB and in learning how to make tabs... Here is my character. Will probably have to correct the code anyway.

Character Sheet Attributes Played By

• Name: Ana Gestin
  Age: 17
  Sex: Female
  Race: Human
  Appearance: Ana Gestin is a 5'5'' girl, skinny, still young to the experiences of the world. She has a slight smell of herbs, and often tries to dress modestly. Her feet have tiny scars from the occasional thorn she had stepped on when she was a child. She wears a long cyan dress and sandals, and carries herself with a delicate, almost timid demeanor.
  
  Homeland: Shadecreek
  
  Biography: Ana Gestin was born to a wealthy peasant family that had prospered through generations of winebrewing, with stories of adventurers and pioneers seeking for farmland to settle in. Their product was one sold throughout the province, and while they were a far cry from the noble or rich families of the big cities, the Gestin family had worked to be a pillar of their community during the village's better days, making beverages from fruits, above all the herbs and swamp-plants that existed around Shadecreek.
  
  She was only four when her parents died to disease, from which she was saved by the prompt attention given to her. Ana was taken under the wing of her grandmother, Clara Gestin, who cared for her as if she had been her daughter, and taught her the ways of the art and business of winebrewing much like her mother and her father would have wanted to teach her. Ana had more permanent memories of her loving grandmother than of her parents, and would often ask her of stories about them.
  
  In the end, her grandmother died when Ana was fifteen to natural causes, leaving her to manage the business, but also feeling very alone. Due to this, Ana sought to meet new people, and maintain the the wealth and business to a moderate degree, wanting for a time a loving husband to raise a family with. However, as the people in the village turned fewer and fewer, and their finances began to fall, she realized there was little place for her in here.
  
  After much thought, and much staring at the furniture of her family's empty house when she realized she would be abandoning her family's home and lifestyle, the choice became clear between a calm home that would eventually lead to poverty... or going into the unknown, and find a better life for herself, and the family she would want to raise someday.
  
  Ana Gestin sold her property, let the wine barrels be taken by anyone who wanted them, and bought camping equipment and a sword she hoped she wouldn't have to use as they ventured through the roads. And knowing she would not see her home again, she lend her hopes on someday finding out a new one.
• Attributes
  
  • Guile: +1
    • City Soul: Due to her family's experience as wine-brewers and vendors, they ultimately learned how to handle large crowds and how to move about, thus easing most of the problems that would arrive when having to deal with many buyers.
  • Nerve: -1
  • Savvy: +1
    • Keen Eyes: Similarly, Ana was taught by her Grandmother to have a eye for detail, and notice when things are well or if they are out of place, be it in merchandise, or in other things.
  • Trust: +0
  
  
  Skills and Crafts
  
  • Wine-brewing: +1
  • Trading: +1
  • Accounting: +1
  • Farming: +1
  • Weather Measures: +1
  
  Inventory
  
  • Arming sword
  • Bedroll
  • Cooking and eating equipment
  • Canteen
  • Food herbs
  • Religious amulet from grandmother
• 
  
  
  
  .Fern's Flower. Art by Lady-Werewolf

 

[Rina]

Bio

• Name: Kendra Staunton
  Age: 24
  Sex: Female
  Race: Human
  Appearance: Standing at an inch about five feet and short blonde hair barely reaching past the height of her chin, Kendra's build and lack of a dress often would get her mixed up as a boy at a distant first glance. Although she does have a few scars and scratches none are large enough to be a distinguishable mark besides a faint one on her left cheek. She has hazel eyes.
  Homeland: Shadecreeek
  
  Biography: For as long as Kendra could remember, her life was always bustling around with activity. Whether it was due to romping around the town with her three older brothers (five, seven and eight years her senior) or helping her father run his business which has been passed down in the family for three generations before her father took over the town's tavern. In the past the Staunton's business thrived both with the village expanding as well as foreigners and merchants that visited and stayed in their spare room. However the stagnation that hit the village took a big toll on the Stauntons as visitors became rare and the wine brewers the supplied the tavern struggled with the cost of making alcohol. With just enough to keep the tavern afloat, the Stauntons kept the business running more for the sake of tradition rather than for profit.
  
  Along with helping out her parents the first part of her childhood was spent tagging along with her brothers and their friends, unwillingly on their part. To deter her from following along, the boys would often give her dares to complete in hopes that she would eventually lose interest or something would be too far out of her comfort zone and would give up. Instead, she took on every challenge which more often than not would often leave her returning home to mother's reprimanding gaze due to her being scratched up and caked with mud. It was during one of these dares in which she met Bryant. Although their first encounter ended up in a very heated argument which almost became a fist fight, the two became friends during the first month the boy moved into his aunt and uncle's hut. As years went by the two became very close friends and would spend time with each other when he wasn't fishing and Kendra was free. The two spent so much time with each other out and about that unconfirmed rumors started to spread that the two were actually more than just friends. However before the friendship could either become more than it was or the rumor proven to be false, Bryant received an injury while working one day. He did survive though and things were looking well but things took a turn for the worse as an infection started to set in which brought him to his death days later. With too many memories in and around town of Bryant, Kendra took the first chance to leave hoping that a fresh start might allow her to move on from her loss five months ago.
  

 

[BrattyCommissar]

Hellis; Accepted now

Sole; Accepted now

Jorick; Accepted

Heyitsjiwon; Accepted, with the caveat of making the father rather old

Jaydee; Accepted

Kirra; Very close to accepted, likely accepted after brief edits to history:

Shadecreek wouldn't really have been a prosperous village, even before the decline, to really have a facility dedicated to being an Inn and Tavern in recent generations. That would require more traffic than it got for that business to be viable. Perhaps a Bar with a spare room would work better? Also gets to set your character's family up as a rival of alcohol with the family of Jaydee's character. Or something else entirely. Also, I know what you meant, but the typo of 'date' instead of 'dare' made me giggle.

Also, just in general, for ease of things, I'll be keeping track of your rations as part of the Journey System, so you don't need to worry about that.

Will update OP to include links to characters shortly, if I don't pass out first, and will get the IC up tomorrow, probably.

 

[Jaydee]

It could go both ways, now that I think about it. ^^ I originally thought of making Ana's family one of winebrewers akin to the way english women would make their own beer in the aftermath of the black death, and becoming rather prosperous. However, I didn't think of Ana's family having been of inn-keepers or tavern-keepers, and more as sellers of the merchandise, so one possibility was that the Gestin family was a supplier of wines to the Saunton family, having an economic and friendly relationships.

That being said, I remember many Inns and Taverns often made their own batch of booze, so it would be reasonable that both families would still compete to sell their own products, in either friendly competition or a more heated one, but as Shadecreek lost notoriety and ways to sustain themselves, both families saw hard times. And with Ana leaving and permanently closing down her own family business, and Kendra leaving as well, perhaps they could start as pseudo-rivals, having only known eachother through the words of their families, but with the possibility of starting anew through the adventure.

I can do either, on them being rival families, neutral, or friendly to eachother, although glancing at Kendra's nerve score, it'd be kind of heartwarming to see eachother as mutually-caring sisters as they go through the adventure.

 

[BrattyCommissar]

Regardless of how you work it out, looking forward to starting this tomorrow. After consideration, we're going to start the first IC round of posts to be the first day of travelling without much focus put on the early onset and leaving town.

Get you guys accustomed to each other, and then we'll move on to getting you familiar with how things go; so a few scenes and then open the world up!

 

[Jorick]

Also, just in general, for ease of things, I'll be keeping track of your rations as part of the Journey System, so you don't need to worry about that.

Damn, I thought maybe I'd be at a slight advantage for thinking to list some food in my inventory. :P

 

[Rina]

Besides making a batch here or there for a special occasion I don't really see the Stauntons as a family that would make alcohol up until Ana closed up her business so the two families probably had a symbiotic relationship with each other. I've edited my character sheet to include these changes.

 

[BrattyCommissar]

IC is up, decided that I'd have you guys try to figure out how you work with each other WHILE trying to figure out which way to go.

That said, Kirra, you're good and I'll be updating the OP to include you as accepted.

Also also also, people need to let me know their preferred form of contact if I don't already have you down on Skype, so we can do the Investigation System smoothly.

 

[Heyitsjiwon]

Well, forgot to add food to my character... ahh well.

 

[Rina]

Skype would probably be the best method of contact. I'll pm you my Skype name so that you can add me.