Kayla Fiddles Before Caro Burns?, Meet Elotai
Subject: Re: Caro 3; Split Party
Kayla stands in a simple temple, looking around her. She is amused at the rambling nature of the young boy, and watches him continue to polish the chimes. "An impressive collection," she thinks to herself, quickly counting the chimes and guessing at their incredible value. "Course t'd be a shame to e'er melt down that silver. Wonder who gave 'em the chimes..."
She notes the unadorned altar and smiles in agreement. "Tha' unadorned block reminds us that music's from within, no amounta eternal beauty'll change skill," she recalls Old Luke, her teacher from Marakea.
"Heyya, I noticed it looks like the acoustics are fit perfect fer playin. D'you mind if I take out my fiddle and play a bit?" she asks the young man.
From: Erik
Subject: Split up.
(OOC: cool subplot with the bard temple. Too bad that bad stuff is going down where we don't know about it....
Yet....)
From: Jake
Subject: Re: Split up.
OOC--What's going on with the Bardic temple? I must have missed some emails. I saw the description of the temple, and saw the results of Kayla's talking to the easily startled acolyte, but I must be missing something.
From: Mike
Subject: Re: The Inn at the End of the World
Telwyn frowns and looks down at Liwanu, laying a reassuring hand on the wolf's head. When Holn moves to take a seat, Telwyn seems to follow him, but he doesn't stop at Holn's table. Instead, he walks directly over to the elf, Liwanu padding mistrustfully behind, and speaks to him in the elven language that his father taught him.
"I noticed you noticing my friend here." He pats Liwanu. "I'm Telwyn. What brings you to these parts? Not many elves come this way."
From: Raja
Subject: Re: The Inn at the End of the World
The elf mutters something to himself as Telwyn approaches. He can't make it out clearly, but it sounds something like "spider eyes." The elf looks up at Telwyn. "I am Elotai," he says simply. "I come from the west, but I am bound eastward." Telwyn notices that Elotai's elvish accent differs significantly from his own, but not so much as to make the elf's words incomprehensible. "Animal companions are almost as uncommon as elves in these parts," he adds wryly.
From: Erik
Subject: The Inn at the End of the World
(OOC: Oooh! Something new has been added. Welcome Elotai!)
Holn wonders where his ale is. He casts about the room to observe the other denizens.
(OOC: Holn would wish he was outside with the guards and Buchek, if he knew raiders were about to attack...)
From: Mike
Subject: Re: The Inn at the End of the World
Telwyn nods. "I suppose they are. We're also headed east." He cocks an eyebrow. "Would you mind telling me why you were checking us out?"
From: Raja
Subject: Re: The Inn at the End of the World
Elotai seems a little taken aback by Telwyn's directness. "You matched... Descriptions... I mean, I had heard of a group venturing east, and you matched the descriptions I was given." He looks at Liwanu. "Though it was the animals, mostly."
From: Matt
Subject: Re: The Inn at the End of the World
(ODM: Just waiting on a reply from Ty to send out the next turn.
As an aside - For the most part, I'll try to run gameplay with some reference to your stats. For instance, Kayla's got a high Charisma and Gather Information scores, so if she attempts to ply a strapping young male for information on a specific topic, he's likely to be chatty. However, Buchek's low Charisma is cause for more standoffishness, brusqueness, and less openness or acceptance.
That said, if you do want me to apply a roll to a certain situation, please make a reference to it, in case I'm dense and don't realize that's what you're doing (as I missed Buchek's intent to intimidate, sorry). Here's the way I'd prefer it...
Preferred way:
"Bilbo runs his fingers along the edges of the chest, looking for any sort of hidden compartment or irregularity in the construction (Search check)."
Not preferred way:
The above /without/ the parenthetical statement, or "Bilbo uses Search to see if there's anything strange about the chest."
Preferred way:
"Aragorn raises his voice to a commanding tone, glaring intensely at the young squire - 'You will tell me what you know now, or you will fall with my blade in your throat!' (Intimidation check)"
Wrong way:
Again, the above /without/ the parenthetical, or "Aragorn uses Intimidation to pressure the squire into answering his questions"
...
Now, most of you are fine with this, but I wanted to do a little modeling to be clear... so as to prevent any confusion later on down the line. Also, if you are wondering whether a certain skill would apply, or not, or just want extra information about your situation/setting that I haven't given, please email me separate side questions before you send your turn (again, most know this, but it's always good to say it in general). This is what is going on with the temple to Fharlanghan - extra info Clara requested, and a small side-plot happening cuz the group is split up.
So, yeah. Waiting on Ty. :p )
From: Erik
Subject: The Inn at the End of the World
Holn wonders when his ale will arrive. Fa hops onto his lap. Holn wishes he knew elvish.
From: Ty
Subject: Re: The Inn at the End of the World
OOC: I feel like I've missed something.
Where is Erk right now? Are you waiting on a specific response to a post I missed? OR just a general check in?
I'm lost!
From: Raja
Subject: Re: The Inn at the End of the World
Psst, Ty....
_________________________
Erk finishes unloading the animals and follows Bermid into the inn through aside door. They arrive at the end of a long hallway, with rooms on eitherside. At the end of the hallway is what Erk guesses is a common room,judging by the jokes and laughing of many voices. The stableboy runs offahead to announce the visitors.
Erk arrives at the common room to see Telwyn and Holn standing in the centerof the room, staring at the gray haired elf in the back corner.
_________________________
;)
That's from Matt's Turn 3 update.
From: Ty
Subject: Re: The Inn at the End of the World
OOC: Gracias
IC:
Erk understands not a word of Elven, and so walks over to the bar to order a pint of ale while keeping an eye on his fellow party members in the room.
If Holn is nearby, he will say, "What news of our grayhaired friend?"
From: Matt
Subject: Caro 4; Bitter Words and Bitter Ale
"It's no trick, but I warn you--strike me and you'll regret it. Better men than you have tried to kill me, vegetable eater, and found themselves fed to the crows for their trouble." [Intimidate (roll 9 - Cha mod 1 = 8) vs. resist (roll 20 + char level 2 + Wis mod 1 = 23), failed by more than 5].
The guard draws close to Buchek's face, within inches, with the two bowman drawing their strings taught behind him to either side. Buchek can feel the point of a longsword press against his back.
"You would be wise to hold your tongue, whelp. If a raid does come, I would hate to have to tell your... friends... that you were killed trying to escape to the barbarian marauders..." He pauses for a moment, sneering. "Bring him inside and lock him in the cell - I don't care what's still in it. If raiders are coming, I don't want this one loose at our backs."
(One guard has run off already to the wall, but has not yet returned)
...
The barmaid brings the ales to the table in the back, carefully skirting wide of Liwanu. She smiles shyly at Holn, blushing a bit as she hands him his ale, then rushes off back toward the bar, glancing once back over her shoulder. A definite change in attitude from the flirtatious, outspoken barmaids at the Singing Anvil.
Not engaged in the conversation in elvish, Holn watches the shapely woman walk back to the bar, catching an exaggeration to her walk that wasn't there before. As she rounds the side of the bar, his eyes fall on Erk, whose raised eyebrow makes him realize he had been staring.
...
"Heyya, I noticed it looks like the acoustics are fit perfect fer playin. D'you mind if I take out my fiddle and play a bit?" she asks the young man.
He brightens at her words, and nods vigorously. "Oh, yes! The temple was crafted with acoustics in mind - it was especially built for my master's chimes. The size of the room, shape of the altar and materials used were all hand selected - the wood of the walls was carried from the far west and is normally used for instruments."
Kayla unpacks her fiddle and sits on the altar, plucking the strings lightly to make sure the instrument is still tuned properly.
"We had a bard here who played fiddle... until the settlement left. He would sit just as you are sitting and play for hours at a time. My master, the high priest Bilfin Merriman, would sometimes accompany him with the chimes. It is a shame he chose to leave..."
Valni trails off into his thoughts.
From: Ty
Subject: Re: Caro 4; Bitter Words and Bitter Ale
Erk will take his beer over to Holn?s table.
"It seems our pointy eared dog owner has found a new friend. Did you learn anything about him? Possibly you were distracted by other things?? he raises one eyebrow and nods his head toward the shapely barmaid.
"It matters little, I suppose. I am just anxious to be underway. What do you think the guards did with our barbarian??
From: Matt
Subject: Pic of Inn
Here's a picture of the Inn. I know Jake hasn't been getting my pictures to come through, but he's not involved here, so it shouldn't be a big deal.
The X's are you guys. The O's are the guards drinking happily. There's a firepit in the center, the door out is at the bottom, the door to the left is to the rooms. The bar is lower left.
From: Erik
Subject: Re: Caro 4 Bitter Ale and Bitter Words
"Is Kayla with Buchek?" Holn asks Erk. He looks over at the guards. "Perhaps we should ask them?" He raises his pint to the stout Dwarf, "To the road, Master Erk." He tosses back half the flagon and smiles at the waitress.
From: Clara
Subject: Kayla at the temple
Kayla smiles in thanks to the young man and thinks to herself, "Bilfin Meriman... have I heard that name before? Oh, now I'm curious, but I can't start a conversation up now!" She decides to play a song before pursuing this interesting tidbit.
She glances around and notes that there aren't very many places to sit. Fortunately, the temple looks so well maintained that she doesn't see a speck of dust on the floor. Contented to rest on the ground, she situates herself directly across from the man against the opposing wall. She begins with "The Darling Lute," a quick piece about a dancing lute that falls in love with a babbling brook.
Once Kayla's piece ends, with the brook whisking the lute away, she looks up to the young man and asks, "Bilfin Merriman? I heard him speak in Segreda only days ago. Why did he leave?"
From: Clara
Subject: Kayla at the temple
OOC: s/days/hours/
(Swap in place of "days," "hours." It's a regex matching syntax command...)
(If that totally confused you, then for you, the line reads "I heard him speak in Segreda only hours ago.")
=)
-Clara