The Manor (D&D campaign) (IC)

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Demmy

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OPEN SIGNUPS The Manor (D&D Campaign)(OOC)

After many days of travel with your fellow adventurers, you come across a small town sculpted into the cliff. It is not late but you have travelled far and decide to climb the steps, passing a blacksmith, alchemist and church before finally reaching the tavern. "Hidden Coin Tavern" the sign above the door says with cracking green paint on black stone. You enter and find yuorself in a large, stone room supported by thick wooden beams. There are small tables and chairs scattered around the room and a few larger ones by the walls. A short, wooden stage sits in the corner, opposite to the bar with doors to the left of it, leading out onto a stone balcony. To the right are the bathrooms and to the right of those, the stairs that lead to the inn above. The place is empty, save a couple human barmaids cleaning before the nightly rush and a half-elf barkeep, keeping herself busy. As she notices you enter, she smiles and waves. "How might I help?" Food. "Too easy." She replies, getting on the othe barmaids to seat you and take your order. As she hurries off, an elderly man sits at your table.

"Hello and welcome, traveller. I am Lord Fantriek, I am Lord of the town Tantrun and you look like capable warriors. I have a task for you. You see, bandits stole a priceless heirloom from the corpse of my daughter and I want it back. Do what you will to get it, I just want it back." The man appeared tired, smiling at the barmaid who bought the orders out, plus a drink for himself. "Unfortunately, I do not know much. The only information I can give you is that it takes the form of a silver locket and these bandits ran to the North. Please, feel free to stay at the inn as long as is needed, paid by me. And of course, a reward upon your return. What say you?"

An agreement is made and you spend the next couple days in town, preparing for the quest ahead. Now the day is here and you are meeting in the tavern to ensure everyone is ready to go.


@One Who Tames @Lykata @Applo

Please, introduce your characters to each other. Remember, you have been travelling together for 5 levels now, so include traits and such you believe would have been revealed by now.​
 
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Greetings. My character is Edon Wolf. He is a two-handed fighter with a maul, goes into battle in full plate and he is a noble from a minor house. He is strong willed person and is typically proud. Edon is also somewhat of a prick who sees himself above the "unwashed masses" and is quick to anger over perceived insults and threats. While he quests for power, he also holds himself to his own high standards as nobility. To that end, he is, as much as possible, always clean shaven and presentable. He maintains a strict training regiment and takes personal health and fitness seriously. Edon also is willing to keep his teammates fit, trained and classy so they can stand proudly by his side.

While he is a bit of a prick and he is seeking power, he is not specifically interested in being the one "in charge" of the group. He recognizes people who are experts in their fields and is happy to listen to advice before making a decision. Because of his noble sentiments and style, he makes a poor choice for sneaky situations and prefers instead to fight an opponent on even footing or at least face-to-face.

Edon is proud of his heritage but he views courtly duties as a necessary evil. He is not looking forward to being the figurehead of his family estate as so far as it means regularly attending those boring, petty affairs. He knows that carrying on the good name of his family is his duty and will never back down from that fate. Edon became an adventurer to gain experience, wealth, influence and raw power so he could better face these challenges.
 
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Who is Reva? Well, that is a question she would quite like to know the answer to herself. Her first memory is waking up several months ago on a beach, half drowned and tangled in a strange flag. In the purely bodily sense, she is a slightly built, medium height humanoid with auburn hair and green eyes that most people struggle to meet. Additionally her body is littered with scars. Most of these disfigurements seem to be old and minor wounds long since healed. However a pair of jagged red marks running over Reva’s shoulder blades seem to be from a more recent injury and still cause her enough pain that she habitually sleeps on her stomach.

Where she got these scars is knowledge lost to Reva. She does have a pretty good idea though. One of the first things she learned after waking up on that beach was that she knew how to fight. Armed or unarmed, acrobatically dodging an opponent's blows before returning with a flurry of her own comes naturally to Reva. She barely has to think about it. She frequently doesn’t. Violence or at least the threat of it is often the most straightforward solution and those are Reva’s preferred kind solutions. This isn’t to say she is a violent lunatic attacking anyone that looks at her funny; just that to standing being between Reva and her goal with no way for her to go around is a undesirable place to be.

When she has down time, Reva will most likely be found in the nearest ale house or drinking from a hip flask under a tree to pass the time. Sometimes she’ll even begin brewing more alcohol while drinking. Alcohol helps to fill the considerable voids in the woman’s soul as well as lessening the nightmares that torment her at night. As a result of this combination and the enormous amount fun open to the generously sloshed, an inebriated Reva isn’t an uncommon sight. Depending on her mood she can be an innkeeper's best friend or worst nightmare. When drunk, Reva has a habit of drumming out a rhythm on whatever she can use to create a beat and singing strange draconic chants. She may also sometimes mention how much she misses Tabbris. Who or what Tabbris is she has no idea, but it is a name that comes up repeatedly.

What motivates this auburn haired warrior is almost purely self-interest. Be it coin or information that pertains to her past, she typically needs some sort of reward to spur her into action. There are two general exceptions to this state of affairs. The first is curiosity. With only a handful of months of memory to call on, Reva is quite frequently drawn to things she hasn’t encountered yet. The second thing that can be relied upon to make Reva act out without the promise of a reward is bullies. Standing up to those she perceives to be a bully is something she undertakes almost gleefully. Something about it speaks to something deep in her soul and she often feels a little more certain of herself when she does. It almosts feels as if it is what she is meant to be doing.

How Reva feels about the rest of her traveling companions has changed over the time that they’ve been together. Initially the rest of the party were nothing but people helping her get to the next place where she might acquire information. Over time though she has grown fond of them, even if she won’t readily admit it. As with standing up to those who persecute others, something about traveling with a small group of companions feels very right to Reva. Additionally, after feeling so very very lost ever since she woke up, her compatriots are an anchor that makes her feel like she belongs somewhere. Her chief aim may be to find out who she was and what happened to her, but traveling with and defending the people she might even call friends is now a close second.
 
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Suthra Windran is a half-orc with browinsh green skin, red eyes, and dark hair that she loves to braid and to put trinkets on when she has the time. Suthra is intense, feeling and experiencing everything with open honesty, not bothering to hide what she is thinking. Lies do not sit well with her, and she herself is a terrible liar, choosing to remain quiet and letting others do the talk if the truth is not an option. Despite what some might think, Suthra is a friendly woman, ready to talk and listen, and it can be surprisingly easy to become friends with her.

Direct, both in actions and in words, it can be hard for her to follow intricate customs or conversations that rely on implicit and double meanings. She could learn, she only doesn't want to. Because of that, she can sometimes be seen as rude, but that's rarely her intention. Suthra can also be surprisingly patient, but there are some situations in which she can get extremely irritated for seemingly no reason. She'll never lash out on a friend, but strangers don't get this courtesy.

Suthra does not have a strong moral code. She will act however the situation may require, and many times without some kind of moral bond guiding her actions. Her friends, her people, are the 'thing' she will never compromise - she is extremely loyal to them, she never leaves a friend behind, and she'll always protect her own, to the full extent of her ability. Due to this, she might be convinced (sometimes pretty easily) to do something that she wouldn't normally do, but mostly, Suthra tends to simply ignore anything that doesn't hold her interest.

If there is something she absolutely loves - besides shiny trinkets and jewelry - is a good story. She seems to not care at all whether or not the events being told really happened, or to whom they happened. As long as she is entertained, she is happy. In fact, information about her past always come in forms of stories and tales, although it might be hard to identify what is true and what is not, as Suthra seems to retell tales she heard as things that happen to her, and sometimes even mix fact with fantasy. When questioned about this, she will simply answer that she never said those things did happen to her, and will often refuse to clarify what events did or did not happen, and with whom, as she feels this is irrelevant. For all her directness, Suthra is surprisingly closed off about details of her past.
 
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As the three of you meet up in front of the inn, ready to leave, a young boy rushes up to you, clearly short of breath. After a moment, he straightens out his clothes, stands straight and then bows. "Adventurers! My master has sent me to give this gift to you before you leave." As he says this, he holds out a small, open bag with six vials of red liquid inside. "They are potions of regeneration. Like a healing potion but work better over time."
 
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No sooner had Edon stepped outside than did he see a child running toward them. He crossed his arms over his chest and lifted his chin as the boy caught his breath. Then he relaxed once the kid bowed, satisfied with the show of respect.

Edon didn't seem moved by the gift as he plucked the bag from the child's hand and examined its contents. Regeneration potions?

That reminded him of their supply situation.

"Who is your master, child," Edon said while offering the bag to Suthra and Reva.
 
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Green eyes rolled as Reva noticed the features on Edon face soften when the child bowed to them. She liked the man. She wouldn’t have traveled with him for so long otherwise, but he was still a self-important oaf. How he got any satisfaction from having a child show submission to him was beyond Reva. It was ridiculous. Funny even. Later on she would tease him a little because of it.

“I’d bet his master is the same person that is paying us.” Taking the bag from Edon, Reva fished out two phials with one hand and held them up to the light, wincing slightly at the brightness of the day. At the same time she held the little sack out towards Suthra. “Who else would just hand us these sort of things?”

When she was done inspecting the potions, Reva stashed the phials she had taken in a small leather pouch at her side. When her hand came back out, they had been replaced with a small metal flask. Quickly unstoppering it, she took a couple of swigs of its acrid smelling content to help ease the pounding in her head before wordlessly offering the flask to her companions and the child.
 
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The time spent with humans, and, weirdly enough, especially the time she traveled alongside Edon, had helped Suthra grow a bit more used to all the bowing, but it still irked her a bit. There was absolutely no way she would ever bow to someone, and back at home, only slaves or prisoners ever lowered their heads to others. Regardless, this place was not home.

"Fantriek, wasn't it?" she half-stated, half-asked the kid, accepting the sack from Reva and holding on to it. "Anything else?" Suthra still wasn't exactly sure why they were even doing what that old man asked of them - retrieving a necklace hardly seemed like an interesting activity. But the other two had accepted, and she'd follow them, anyway.

Accepting the flask Reva handed her, Suthra took a deep gulp from it, without really bothering to check what it was, before waving it near Edon's face.
 
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"Indeed, my master is Lord Fantriek." The boy replied, smiling widely. "He has also asked me to wish you the best and to answer any more questions you may have."
 
Edon seemed annoyed as the flask was waved so close to his head. He glanced at it, then back at Suthra.

"No, thank you," he said to her. His tone was often assertive even with comrades. It came across to many as somewhat abrasive at times, even if he didn't mean it that way.

He did not seem to notice Reva's reaction to his sense of propriety- or if he did, he didn't comment on it.

As they were ready to go, Edon had already taken the time to don his armor. He had traced a map of the region on some parchment and kept it stored in his map case along with his other official documentation.

Edon's armor was of good quality but it was only plainly decorated. He wore a longsword on his hip and carried a great hammer (otherwise known as a maul) over his shoulder. His armor had been textured darkened to keep the shine down, however, that was a purely cosmetic choice and did nothing to make him less detectable. It was more of a matter of reducing the amount of lens flair his companions would have to endure when standing next to him.

His equipment was stored neatly in various sacks and pockets in his backpack and on his belt. He could drop his backpack if he needed to and fight without it.

In answer to Reva, he said, "You would be surprised what rich people will give away in order to curry favor with somebody. The simple act of accepting a gift sometimes can close doors for you if it is from the wrong person."

After that, he glanced to the other two and waited patiently for them. Stuffy as he might be, he saw no need to rush anybody.

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As soon as Edon bruskly declined the flask offered to him Reva delicately plucked it out of Suthra’s hand, upended it into her mouth, and quickly drained the rest of its content. As the cool metal left her lips, tears flooded Reva’s eyes and a fire burn in her throat. Slumping against the wall of the inn, the flame haired woman gulped for air and blinked furiously as she fought her bodies reaction. And then, as suddenly as the wave of discomfort had washed over her, it receded, leaving only a wet trail down Reva’s cheeks as evidence that it had even existed.

"You would be surprised what rich people will give away in order to curry favor with somebody. The simple act of accepting a gift sometimes can close doors for you if it is from the wrong person."

From her half leaning position against the inn wall Reva stared at her companion for a moment. “You know how stupid that sounds right.” After slowly pushing herself fully upright, Reva paced over to where her pack sat on the floor, opened the top and shoved the empty flask inside. When compared to Edon, Reva was a messy packer. She preferred the as long 'as it fits' system of packing. Everything that she might need in a hurry sat in a pouch on Reva’s hip. Anything else was crammed into the bag.

“If people are going to offer me gifts, I’m taking them. I don’t see why anybody would have a problem with that.” In one fluid graceful motion, Reva spun on the ball of one foot to face her half orc companion while at the same time scooping her pack onto her shoulders to indicate she was ready. “It what normal people do isn’t it Suthra?”
 
While it was true that the woman had some odd behaviors from time to time, there were also moments when the half-orc was sure Reva was in distress. As she slumped against the wall, this seemed to be one of those moments. Suthra gave her friend's shoulder a brief squeeze before turning away to give her some privacy. She grabbed two of the remaining regeneration potions from inside the sack she was holding.

"You round-tooths are far from normal, as far as I'm concerned." Suthra answered with a chuckle. There was a softness in her voice, though. As weird as they were, she cared about them. "But yes, I wouldn't refuse a gift, especially if it's something useful. It's weird that anyone would take offense at someone accepting a gift. It should be the other way around. In fact, entire wars have been started in my clan because someone refused a gift, but never because they accepted it."

Suthra was as ready as she was ever going to be. Adjusting her own bag on her shoulder, she offered the sack with the two remaining regeneration potions for Edon.

"I think it's safer to keep these with you. But I can carry them for you, if you want." She then turned to the kid. "The bandits went north, right? No more detailed information? What they were wearing, how they looked like, anything like this." She then addressed her companions once again. "Should we take the horses, or should we walk? I'm ready to go, anyway."
 
Edon didn't seem bothered by their open speculation over his words. He envied them sometimes.

"I doubt any of us would be considered 'normal' to the common folk," Edon said with a sardonic tone. "Just as much as I doubt either of you could live like one of them."

His dislike for the 'lower class' was not something he bothered to hide.

In answer to Suthra, Edon half turned to look at the pouch in her hand with the two remaining potions in it. "Yes, of course," he said in his brisk manner before taking the last two regeneration tonics. He placed them snugly into one of his potion pocket. "Thank you, Suthra."

He waved them on and began walking toward the edge of town.

"I suggest proceeding on foot. It is likely we will need to dismount to investigate some ruin or cave. Our numbers are too few as it is to leave one of us guarding horses."
 

“Walking is fine with me.” As she watched his slowly retreating back, Reva found herself glad that Edon’s presumptive nature seemed to have settled the matter. She was a natural pedestrian. She’d never bothered to investigate getting her own horse. Riding in the groups wagon made her slightly nauseous and walking alongside it was hard work compared to walking alongside her friends.

After mentally checking that she had everything one last time Reva set off after Edon. Her pace was much slower than her compatriots as she tried to bridge the gap between him and Suthra who was still talking to the child. When the half orc finally caught up Reva quickened her step turned to her. “I could live like a noble. How hard can it be? Spend a wagon load of gold and tell people what to do like an arsehole. I know I’d be great at at least one of those things.”

This statement was followed by a moments silence as slightly nasty thought occurred to the red head, a wicked little smile spreading across her face. “How long do you think he’d last living like a normal person? One week or two?”
 
"Walk it is, then." Suthra agreed with a nod. She waited for the kid to answer her questions before nodding, saying goodbye and giving the boy a pat on the head. She then quickened her pace until she was walking side by side with Reva, adjusting one last time the bag in her back.

The half-orc chuckled at her friend's words, looking at Edon's back. Nobility was a complicated concept, something that suggested those in this kind of position held some responsibility for what Edon seemed to call the 'common folk'. And yet, Suthra needed still to see this supposed responsibility. As far as she knew, nobles didn't do much more than what Reva was saying.

"Does not seem hard at all, but hardship is what makes us stronger. A life of sitting around, eating and telling people to do what you should be doing hardly seems a life worth living. I much prefer this." She said, tapping the battleaxe in her belt. A life on the road, especially when in good company, was exactly what Suthra had been searching for. Perhaps the beginning had been less than ideal, but she was satisfied.

She still chuckled again at Reva's jab at their companion. "Without complaining? A day, at most. I have faith he would learn to survive well enough, though."
 
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The boy answered simply. The bandits had not been seen by anybody but first on the scene could confirm they went North. Heading North you follow what you know as a the main road between this town and the next. It doesn't take you long, roughly three hours, before you come across something a little more than an animal path. It leads East.
 
If Edon heard either of them, he made no sign of it. They had fallen more than a step behind at that point. He would be silent during the walk unless spoken to. The man was not soft on his feet in his armor. He often held the great hammer of his over one shoulder or the other. The walk was mostly peaceful. Eventually, he came to a stop near the animal path. They had been traveling for a while and it was time to take a break anyway.

Edon drank from his water skin and surveyed the area while Suthra and Reva caught up.

"What do you think," he said, gesturing to the path once they were with him. Edon was no 'babe in the woods' when it came to this sort of thing but he valued their wisdom. He stood easily at the moment but both of them would be able to tell that he had his guard up.
 

After staring at the scant path that Edon had pointed out for a few moments Reva shrugged. “I dunno, could be something, could be nothing.” While she had learnt quite a few things traveling with Edon and Suthra, Reva was still very much a town person. Her prefered environment was the inside of a tavern. If Edon hadn’t stopped to point the path out, she probably wouldn’t have given it a second thought. Why did he think it was even worthy or note anyway?

“How do we know this ain't just some track made by some peasant? All we’ve been told is that the thieves went north. Why wouldn’t they just keep going to wherever is north of here instead and sell what they stole?” In the moments after she finished speaking Reva looked between the two faces of her companions and felt compelled to add, “I just don’t want our payday walking off while we piss about in woods is all.”
 
Suthra stopped by the path, looking at it while mimicking Edon and taking a gulp of her own waterskin. The fresh liquid was a nice comfort after three hours of walking. While she could keep going for longer if needed, walking with a heavy set of armor was never pleasant. She hoped they could've taken the horses, but she understood her companions' concerns, anyway.

"They could have just kept going, yes." The half-orc answered Reva's question. "But they could also as easily have taken a detour or they might have a camp." She kneeled down near the path, looking for any signs that could maybe identify who had walked through it. It didn't look like an animal path, but if only a person or two had walked down it, perhaps it wasn't the path they were looking for.
 
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Edon watched as Suthra worked over the path for herself. He had experience with survival situations and was generally an attentive person. He was also trained in animal handling; a luxury afforded to him by growing up on his father's estate.

As he watched her, he could not help but notice how she seemed distracted today. In fact, both of his companions seemed a bit distracted. He shifted on his feet as he considered what might be bothering them.

"I doubt somehow that they would carry a hostage to the next town," he said to Reva, sounding uncertain.

As he considered what might be drawing his companion's attention away from the job, he failed completely to notice any of the details that slipped past Suthra.

(( After the re-roll in OOC chat ))

After a moment, and with Suthra's help, he did notice the somewhat recent tracks.

"There," he said gently as he moved next to her. "They look fresh enough to match the abduction." Edon turned to look at Reva. "I think it is worth investigating."
 
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