The Adventure Begins
Subject The Adventure begins
The seven strangers stared at each other from across the room. There was one odd thing that Fal-Tor noticed, there was not a single human in the group. There was the huge half orc in breast plate with the symbol of the Order of the Silver Sword. The orc's black hair and dark skin seemed softened a bit by the thoughtful black eyes. Fal had never meet a half orc who was not a ravening lunatic, but this one seemed different. At least he knew how to use a spoon and fork. Next to the ? orc was a tall half elf. This ? elf seemed to know the ? orc as they were talking to each other quietly. This ? elf was dressed in a very fine suite of elven chain mail. He looked to be a bit over 5 ? feet tall, with jet black hair and piercing blue eyes. The fair skin of his face reflected a worried expression and Fal wondered what was bothering him.
Next Fal inspected the only true elf in the group. She was also dressed in elven chain mail and had a fancy longbow and a sword at her side. She seemed average height for an elf, just a few inches under 5 foot, with stunning auburn hair and blue-green eyes. She seemed to have a stronger build then most of her race, but carried it well. Talking to the young elf maid was the only other non-human. The halfling stood just a few inches over 3 feet, so even he had to look up to the elf girl to flirt with her. His dark skin showed that he had spent a lot of time outside in the weather, but his sparkling blue eyes showed the sense of mischief that he possessed. His thick mop of black hair looked like it had not been cut in months.
Off in the corner Fal looked at one of the other ? elves in the room. He would not have believed he was part elf from how tall he was. At 6', the young man in the leather armor would have passed as human if it were not for the ears. He also had the tanned skin of someone who spent most of his time out of doors. He had the blond hair and the green eyes of the Raf clan. He seemed to want to keep apart from the rest of the group, although he and the halfling seemed to know each other.
The last person in the room was his friend from school, Bel-Ril. He was short for a half-elf, at a few inches under 5'. Fal himself was 5' and his dark brown hair and gray eyes set him apart from the others in the Tor clan. His friend Bel had shown up at the wizards school in Ivo 6 months ago, looking for information on his sudden magical abilities. He and Bel had roomed together since then. It turned out that they had both known Quarion Smith. Smith had sent Bel to the school to find out more about his powers and to try and get some control over them. It remained to be seen if it has worked.
At that moment the main door to the room banged open and Quarion Smith walked in followed someone who was even bigger than the ? orc. This man was truly imposing at well over 6 ? feet tall and 300lbs, a shiny bald head and gold eyes. But that was not the most noticeable thing about him. The wings. The wings had to be the feature that caught everyones eye. He wore a suite of full plate armor, emblazoned with the symbol of the Order of the Silver Sword. This man was obviously a Paladin of the Order. When the winged man entered, the ? orc practically lept to attention. The large man moved to the head of the table and signaled for quiet. Quarion shut the door and moved next to the Paladin.
?I want to thank all of you for answering my request for you to be here today? Quarion started. ?There are important things happening in the world and I would like you to be a part of it. This? gesturing to the Paladin,? is Heronin Angelwing. He is a Knight/Captain of the Order of the Silver Sword, a group which I am sure you are all familiar with. Captain Angelwing has a couple of problems that he has asked my help with. However I am only a single person, so I thought I could help him out with one of his problems and you folks could help him out with the other. Captain?? With that Quarion motions for the Captain to step forward.
?I want to thank you all for being here. Quarion says you are some of the best he has trained and I hope it is true. What I am going to ask you to do is of a personal nature. I am to be married in a few weeks. My bride is on her way here now and we have received information that an attempt may be made on her life. She has an escort, but I would feel better if someone I knew and trusted were to help her get here. She is from Mnuhl and is taking the Mountain Road through Eld and Bhyo and should be fairly safe. However that road takes her close to the Pass of Undulant. If any attempt is going to be made on her and her escort, it will be there. Undulant would hate to see an alliance between Schon and Mnuhl. I would ask that your party go out along the Mountain Road and meet with her party and escort her here. We can not send the army as we are in the middle of some peace talks with Bhyo and any infiltration of our army would be seen as a sign of war. A small party thought should not be bothered. I am going to put my friend Ran-Ell? he motions to the half elf sitting next to the ? orc, ?in charge and Corporal Harp will be his second in command.? motioning to the ? orc. ?Quarion says that a couple of you are rangers?? At that the young elf girl raises her hand as does Fal's buddy Bel. ?Good, you can help keep the party from getting lost and finding her escort. You should also have some magical support. I know that Quarion asked the Wizard school for some help and the Druids of the Great North Woods.? Quarion steps forward and says ? Yes, the Wizard school sent my ?protegee Fal-Tor and Salix Wealward represents the Druids. And we have little Surin here to keep us all honest.? Surin laughs at that, knowing that his sense of honesty probably does not match up with that of the Paladins.
?Again I want to thank you all for your help.? With that Angelwing leaves the room. Quarion gets up and asks ?Any questions??
OODM: Ok guys this is the start. You can ask what questions you have of Quarion.
On a game note. If you want your character to use a skill or a feat, you need to tell me in your write up. For example if Cai wants to do rapid shot then she should say something like, ?Shooting as fast as she can she fires two arrows at the Orc.(Rapid Shot) or ?Surin tries to sneak around the guard(Move silently and or Hide.) If you do not specify which skill or feat you are using I might forget a bonus or something.
From: Kevin
Subject The Adventure Begins
Harp is excited to have been chosen by the Knight-Captian for this mission. Given his history of "adminstrative correction" (usually administer by the Knight Captain) he is suprised to have been entrusted with this mission. If he gets a chance, he will ask to speak with the Knight-Captain (and/or Ran-Ell) regarding anything special he thinks Harp will need to know about this journey.
OOC: Mark, I am unsure from the previous posts, what season is it now? This is something Harp would know and I am sure I would if I had and inelligence score above 10.
From: Mark
Subject Season
It is the first week of Spring and a half Orc's heart turns to drinkging. :)
From: Randy
Subject Leadership
Ran looks uncomfortable at being singled out as the leader of the mission. Despite his apparent discomfort he finds himself evaluating each of his new companions. He looks over the people in attendance and idly wonders if it is coincidence that there are no full blooded humans among them. He requests a briefing with Heronin, Harp, and Smith to discuss the situation and to state his concerns with the leadership.
Once in a more private environment Ran directs his words to Heronin, anger rising in his face.
"You said nothing about leadership! You said I would be your representative, not that I would have to direct others."
Ran is quite angry and his blue eyes are directed intently on Heronin, his brow furrowed in rage.
From: Derrell
Subject Elves
Fal-Tor wondered what Quarion had gotten him into. He was wary of the half orc, but curious because the orc's demeanor seemed so much different than other orcs he had encountered. Fal-Tor was nervous about the coming quest, but excited none the less.
Fal-Tor kept looking at the female elf, hoping she didn't notice for fear that he might end up on the wrong end of her sword. She was truly beautiful.
From: Mark
Subject Leadership
Heronin holds up his hands at Ran's outburst. "Ran, calm down. I just assumed that you knew that you would be in charge. You did agree to be my representative on this mission. That makes you the primary person. You have been trained in leadership, even if you do not want to use it. And this is not like a real military command. You can not court martial someone if they leave the group or turn tail and run. This is a group of people doing a favor for a friend. Even that type of mission needs a leader. This mission has no formal sanction. It is friends helping friends. Again, I ask you, will you help?"
From: Randy
Subject Leadership
Ran regains his composure and takes a few deep breaths. After a moment he speaks.
"I apologize for the outburst my friend. I am not feeling particularly competent as a leader right now. I am barely able to direct my own life. I appreciate your confidence and trust and I will of course do as you ask. As a friend, truer than any other I have known, I will do my utmost to bring your bride here in safety." Ran stops as if just realizing he was speaking in front of others. He looks to Master Smith and then to Harp and says:
"I apologize to the two of you as well for this. I should not be so out of control of my emotions. I hope that you will forgive this."
Ran's expression softens when he looks to Harp. He thinks to himself that he must be a better example to Harp so that his self-confidence can be improved.
"Harp, I am grateful to have you with me on this mission and I look forward to working with you and more importantly continuing to get to know you."
"Heronin and Master Smith, is there any information about the other members of the party that you think should be brought to our attention? Any personalities that may conflict? Any skills that I should be aware of in case of need? Is there any reason for keeping full humans out of this group?"
Ran awaits the response patiently.
From: Mark
Subject Leadership
The Knight/Captain motions for Quarion Smith to step forward. The 1/2 elven ranger does so and starts to talk. "The young elf maid,Cai-Ril, is a ranger that I have been mentoring. The halfing, Surin, is a young man who I have come to trust. He can seem to almost disappear and can move more quietly than a mouse. He might come in usefull. The value of Salix, the 1/2 elf druid, in the wild should be obvious. The other two half elves, Fal-Tor and Bel-Ril are young men who I have delt with and know can be trusted. Fal is versed in the ways of magic, which may prove usefull and Bel has some fighting skills, although he recently discovered some magical abilities that worry him. I would think that Salix and Surin would have the most trouble getting along, but they seemed to have come to an agreement on their journey to Gorn. Other than that I do not forsee any major problems amongst your members."
Quarion steps back.
From: Kevin
Subject Leadership
"Friend Ran, no need for apologies to me. I too have been learning, sometime unsuccessfully, to contol my conflicting selves. I had begun to despair that I would ever be able to succeed in the human world, much less within the Order. I feel honored that the Knight Captain would choose me to assist you in this task. He knows better than most the struggles I have had these past two years in the order, and the problems I had before that.
Come, let us bring his bride to him safely."
From: Jake
Subject The Adventure Begins
While Quarion is talking Surin produced a dagger and begings paring his nails, although his occasional glances up at Quarion and the others indicate that he is listening and taking stock of the people who will be his companions in this. When Quarion has finished speaking, Surin clears his throat. "So, what'll you be doing for our friend here while we're leading the bridal procession, if you don't mind my asking?"
He listens to Quarion's reply. When an opportune moment presents itself he addresses Quarion again. "I'm glad to give you a spot of help Quarion, but I don't quite see how you'll be needing me on this little trip? It isn't too common to see a halfling acting as a bodyguard, after all, and I'm better at avoiding a fight than I am in meeting one head on. Also, Salix said something about 'dark forces'? I don't reckon there are many as would hold that Undulant trying to stop this wedding would be a good thing, but I don't hardly think that that qualifies as 'dark forces'. Occurs to me there might be more to all of this than meets the eye, if you don't mind my saying."
From: Karl
Subject Questions
Salix takes in the group silently. At first he is shocked to see a half-Orc among them. He had never had dealings with Orcs that hadn't ended badly. Never met one that respected the forest either. Cut and burn, kill and devour. That was all Orcs knew, as far as he could see. He couldn't help but wonder what kind of human could bring himself to mix with their kind. It was all he could do to keep his astonishment at seeing the half-Orc in their group from showing on his face. But it - No, "he" - was there because he was a friend of Quarion and that, in Salix's experience, meant a great deal. Quarion wouldn't deal with anyone who had no redeeming qualities. Salix resolved to try and learn what those qualities might be in the case of this creature.
Why the others were in the group Salix could understand. The rangers would be invaluable on this trip, as would their new leader, the half-Elf fighter. Surin, well, while Salix had grown to like the Halfling during their journey to Gorn, he didn't quite understand why Quarion thought they'd need a pick-pocket on this trip. But with Quarion it was just as likely he thought the experience would be good for Surin if not so much the other way around.
That left the wizard. Well, Salix would have to wait and see about him. Salix had always viewed Wizards as almost a kind of heretic Druid, wielding the power of the unseen forces without respecting their nature. Wizard magic seemed to rend the natural world rather than tend it, using its life force with little regard for balance or replenishment, as if 'magic' - unlike all other resources - were inexhaustible. Still, there were many good wizards, just as there were good people everywhere cutting a life out of a world they didn't know how to respect. And there was no doubting a wizard could be useful in a fight. And here again, Quarion wouldn't have included him if he were a bad sort.
"Any question?" Quarion asked.
Salix simply shook his head "no". The assignment seemed straightforward enough. Head out and meet the Captain's bride and her entourage and escort them back. Could be easy, in fact, depending on how much Undulant is willing to risk just to disrupt the wedding. After all, it's not like the wedding couple are royalty. Or ---
"Actually, I do have a question," Salix says. "If you'll forgive my bluntness, is your bride a person of great importance? I mean other than to you personally?" He tries to formulate the question delicately and fears he is failing badly. (Diplomacy) "I mean do you think that Undulant would expend a great effort to disrupt your wedding? Or are you just being extra cautious?" He chances a glance at Quarion in case he thinks the question entirely out of line. "I'm at your service, regardless," he adds. "I'm just interested to know what kind of trouble you think we should expect."