Fantasy RP

[Bannanachair]

(20 pages! We did it, guys! Also, the RP's still open to new joiners, as always.)

@ Alfred: "Aye, captain, I'll do that," Gerhard said in response to your order.

"Cap'n, you motioned for me?" Garry asked you after you motioned for him.

@ Verous: The main hall was largely similar to how it was when you first entered, if slightly more crowded. Outside the castle you noticed a group of three men, one badly injured, approaching. "We found another survivor!" One of the three said, his injured companion between the other two, arms around their shoulders so that he could walk. As you walked down the hill, you saw more scenes of destitute poverty, injury and starvation, though things would be even worse as you approached the outskirts of the town.

@ Kainer: As Blyane poured some stew from his pot into two wooden bowls, you and Sir Trihem took seats at the bar.

"So, Kainer," Trihem began, "How long do you plan to stay in Calbourne?" He then took a sip of the delicious-looking stew, which had rabbits but also looked like it had onions and radishes and carrots as well.

[Duck14]

Alfred

“Yes, I did. You wished to come along to deliver the letter to Matt’s family. I’m ready to go now if you are.” I took the letter out of my pocket as I spoke. It was better that we delivered it now than leave them unaware.

————
Verous

“Awful,” I muttered under my breath. “A whole town wasted by a storm.” If this was the result of a foreign army we know who to react against. But you couldn’t fight clouds or wind or rain. And if you did it wouldn’t do anything. I walked on in search of those not restrained by lack of food or water. Those who had taken advantage of everyone else’s plight.

[Tikobe]

Kainer

"Well, not sure. I came here cause I was told I needed to be a famous knight for the Autumn Court, so when the King, if the King makes me a knight, I guess I need to try to find something to make me famous. Still working out a plan, I think. It's probably just gonna wind up to me winging things."

[Bannanachair]

@ Alfred: "Aye, we ought to get it over with," Garry said. The two of you exit the duke's palace and begin traversing the winding streets of Estermere. Matt's family wasn't rich, but he managed to pay to get his mother out of the worst slums in the city. His mother's house, when you arrived at it, was a small two-room building, the front room serving as a storefront for weaved goods like baskets and the back likely serving as a bedroom.

"Captain Melling," She says as you walk in. "Thank God you're alright. I prayed every day that your ship would escape the storm. Where's my son gone off to?" She then noticed your somber expressions. "Is Matt okay?"

@ Verous: "They'll rebuild, or try to," Perrin said. "Not every disaster turns a once-grand city into ruins, like Friwynn or Cormere or old Dorthol and its green tower, the capital of ancient Tarthel. Andomery was sacked six times before it was finally abandoned." His grasp of history was tenuous at best, and his geography was worse, and he managed to conflate folklore with truth, but his point still stood.

As you and Perrin walk, you find a place that looks like one of the places you were told of. In the past it might have been an inn frequented by wealthier members of the working class or poorer merchants and artisans, but right now, compared to all around it, it looked incredibly luxurious. There were guards posted outside of the building, burly men with makeshift cudgels, scaring away anyone trying to get in who couldn't pay. The sign on the front called it the Singing Steeds, though you heard no music coming from within.

@ Kainer: "So you're off in search of adventure, is the gist that I'm getting?" Blyane said.

(I wanted to write more for Kainer but couldn't think of anything beyond that question that won't negate the question being asked.)

[Tikobe]

Kainer

"Huh, that's an easy way to put it."

I wasn't unfamiliar with the term adventure, but I rarely have heard or even used it before so I wasn't exactly familiar.

"Well, anyways, yeah. Going on an adventure as a knight and all. That's the idea. Though it'll be a fun experience trying to figure out where to go. If I'm being honest, I almost got lost on the way to Calbourne several different times, and I still honestly don't know where everything else is."

I turn to Sir Trihem.

"Got any ideas where I should go, Sir Trihem?"

[Duck14]

Alfred

I shook my head and grabbed the letter from my pocket. “I’m afraid not, ma’am. Unfortunately Matt was swept overboard during the storm. We were unable to recover his body.” I hated doing this. It was the worst part about being a captain. I could deal with the day to day troubles onboard but this was different. I placed the letter on a counter. “If you need anything my crew and I will help you out. We owe a lot to Matt and miss him dearly.”

————
Verous

I marched over to the guards guarding the inn. It angered me that we were wasting manpower to protect this place when we could have them posted in a more useful position. “Can I get through?”

[Bannanachair]

@ Kainer: "I've got more ideas of where you should go for that than where you shouldn't. Ultimately, it depends on whether the faeries taught you how to fight properly or not."

@ Alfred: She broke down into tears when you told her the news of her son. "Get out!" She shouted at you through sobs, though the other patrons of her shop, clearly seeing that now wasn't the best time to buy a basket, also began to leave.

@ Verous: The man's response was as simple as your question: "Can you pay?"

[Tikobe]

Kainer

"Oh? And are you trying to imply that they didn't?" I smile daringly.

After all, it would not be an inaccuracy to say that the elves trained me so thoroughly that I could stand toe-to-toe with some of their best.

Well, mostly toe-to-toe.

Either way, I'm skilled enough to take down most foes!

[Duck14]

Alfred

I gave a curt nod, laid a hand on her shoulder, and then left the shop. “We’re here if you need anything.” That was the bit I hated about seeing their families. I gave them work but I also had a duty of care to all of my men. If they died it was my fault. I sent Matt above and he died. It was a risk that I probably shouldn’t have made.

————
Verous

I tapped my coat and shook my head. “I’m the Duke of Datha, I don’t need to pay. And nor does anyone else. You two should head to the townhall to make yourselves useful rather than guard this place.” My lip trembled and I stammered a little as I spoke. The men were after all taller and older than I. Would they really take orders from me?

[Bannanachair]

@ Kainer: "Nothing of the sort! Just that the fact that you're so much taller than the three-inch tall pixies and sprites might have given you a bit of an advantage!" Trihem said in friendly jest. "Anyway, you remember Percinet the Purple, right? He made a name for himself sailing the Oln and fighting cyclopes, and you could probably ask him for some advice on that if you're not seasick. There are lots of dragons, like the one that Llydan says he slew, though most keep to themselves."

"Blyane, this is absolutely delicious," Trihem interrupted himself. "I'm going to be attending a feast with the king later, so I know I shouldn't, but I simply have to ask for seconds."

"No problem," The jolly innkeeper said. "And lad, you'll probably want to just go around exploring the countryside. Villages plagued by witches and malicious hags abound, and the spiders sometimes encroach into Prugon - though not as much as they do in Eredal - and Tothen is plagued by cyclops raiding-parties just as much as by faeries."

"And that's not even mentioning bandits," the knight added. "Sure, the roads are safe, but that's because the king's knights always swiftly put an end to them. Though, I doubt you'll want much to do with that whole business - it tends to be dreadfully boring, full of waiting and strategising."

@ Duck14: (I've done all that I can think of for now for Alfred. I can try to devise another story to occupy him, but I want him on standby as well for if any other PCs need to travel along the Nubarb for anything. Naroth will be meeting Tikobe's third character, Arelia, rather shortly (and will likely be the catalyst for an Arelia-Alfred teamup), so I can't just jump into that storyline. Othan, Verous and Jonos all might soon have reasons to traverse the Nubarb, but they can't do that on Alfred's ship if he's busy with something else. Ultimately, I'm thinking that the thing to do would be to shelve him temporarily, wait for other storylines to advance further and then reintroduce him with a timeskip of a month or so, but I'm curious as to your thoughts on it. I can come up with a storyline for him if you want me to, but everything that I can think of is just filler.)

@ Verous: "As you command, your majesty," one of the thugs replied, his voice loaded with sarcasm and mockery. Then his fellow let out a laugh, and he did as well, but neither did as you commanded.

"You heard his majesty," Perrin said, relaxing his thumb in his belt right by where his sword is scabbarded. "I highly recommend you do as his majesty suggests, otherwise he might order me to make you."

[Tikobe]

Kainer

I look to the side. Yeah, bandits sound like they'd be a pain. Besides, I'm pretty sure there's someone taking out a large amount of their time from their schedule to deal with bandit issues of their own, at least they are somewhere if not here.

"Cyclops... I've never seen one," I shrug. "They certainly didn't swing by when I was staying with my benefactors, and neither did dragons. Although I did see a witch once, but she just came and went, and in the first place she probably just got lost in the woods one day and showed up where I lived by accident. Anyways, what are they like, these cyclops?"

I was almost done with my stew, but I didn't want more like Trihem. I have to be careful with my money, and like Trihem said we still had to meet the king. I also watched my words by not outright saying "Autumn Court". It seemed to have a caused some uproar with Trihem at the castle. It'd eventually come out, but for now I'd like to avoid repeating that incident here at the tavern.

[Duck14]

(I’m fine with that Tim. We can give Alfred a little rest. That said I’m never against filler stuff, it can certainly be fun.)

Verous

“Hold on Perrin. I don’t need your blade just yet. We gain nothing by teaching these two a lesson.” I voice still shook but I tried to act braver and taller than I was. “Move aside,” I said as firmly as I could.

[Bannanachair]

(I'm done waiting for Leggo's return. We'll go back to RPing at full speed, and I'll shelf my plans for Jonos until Leggo's back from being grounded. When Leggo's back, Jonos will continue his storyline and he might also post his second character. I want Othan to meet Nizeston by Christmas.)

@ Kainer: "Wait, where were you raised, exactly?" Blyane asked.

"He was raised by faeries, apparently," Trihem said.

Blyane chuckled, then noticed that Trihem wasn't laughing at that. "Wait, you were serious?" he asked.

"You didn't hear the jab at pixies teaching him to swordfight?"

"No, I heard it, but I just assumed... Nevermind. Does this mean that I need to give you a candle on the solstice to prevent you from stealing my children?" He was likely referencing some local superstition, though you have no idea where it could have come from.

"You don't even have children, Blyane."

@ Verous: The guard seemed about to object once more, but then someone opened the door. "I heard you lot bickering from inside. What the in the Hell's going on out there?" Asked a wiry man dressed like a lord, with a slightly gaunt face but still healthier-looking than most of the city that you've seen so far.

[Duck14]

Verous

The situation had begun to frustrate me. “I am Verous, Duke of Datha, these two have refused to acknowledge that authority. Perhaps you will. I have come to share your resources among the people. They need it as much, maybe more, than you do.” I trusted Perrin to protect me at this moment. He was more than a match for these. And if the man refused we would know what sort of people we were dealing with. Though I had already figured he would refuse.

[Tikobe]

(Was trying to avoid posting while I worked on Othan's response which is long over due, but then it occurred to me that we're trying to speed this up. I should post when I can and just strive to have Othan's post out as soon as I can)

Kainer

"Well, if you wanna start giving me free candles, I won't complain," I lightly jest. "But I don't think the fae would casually kidnap kids. I mean, even I was simply sold off through a deal of some sorts. Although then again, when I say it like that it sounds plenty shady on its own."

[Bannanachair]

@ Verous: "Ah, your majesty. Please, come in! Farryl, let the Duke and his retainer enter," The wiry man said.

@ Kainer: "Huh. my dad told me that on the summer and winter solstices, I needed to light candles on my doorstep or else some faeries will kidnap children. How'd that rhyme go again?" Blyane said "twas a short rhyme as well, I should have been able to remember it."

"I think I know the one you're thinking of," Trihem said.

"On the day with the shortest night,
And the night with the shortest day,
Keep your children close and tight
Or light a candle for the fay"

[Duck14]

Verous

I nod at the guard as I past him. “Thanks Farryl.” My nervousness had all but disappeared at that moment. Getting in was the best way of sorting this business out. Maybe these people were more reasonable than I had assumed.

[Tikobe]

Kainer

"Hmm... I'm not sure. Might be an Unseelie thing. At the very least the Court of Autumn never took in any human children other than myself for the time I stayed in there. Maybe this happened in the past? Eh, I don't really think it's important anyways," I shrug as I begin to finish off my stew.

[Bannanachair]

@ Verous: The guard, Farryl, glared at you but let you and Perrin past as his employer requested. The man who has been giving the orders led you towards an area in the back of the room, the most ornate area of an incredibly expensive-looking inn. Rather, it was a cheap-looking inn filled with expensive tapestries and gold ornaments - likely acquired from food that he sold at extortionate rates.

"So, your majesty," The man said after seating you down at a table (which he cleared of expensive crystals as he sat you down), "What can I do for you? What brings you to my humble abode?"

@ Tikobe: (Do you want Kainer to do anything before meeting the king, like checking out one of the places that Trihem showed you on your earlier tour, or do you want to timeskip to that feast? I don't think I can drag out this conversation much longer, as entertaining as it seems to be.)

[Tikobe]

@ Bannanachair : (Nah, we're good for a timeskip. I'm honestly surprised the conversation dragged on for as long as it did.)

[Duck14]

Verous

I looked around at all the expensive items; the crystals, the tapestries, the gold. Humble wasn’t exactly the right word for it, this man was flaunting his wealth. No wonder the guards were so loyal. “Well I’ve come to request your help. You see you’re one of the fortunate few not to lose your entire livelihood to the storm. Perhaps you could lend some neccesties to those that need it most.”

[Bannanachair]

@ Kainer: A fair amount of the early afternoon passes in a similar fashion, with you, Trihem and Blyane talking a bit about the faeries and a bit about various things you could do to make a name for yourself. After a couple hours of that, and at least four more verses of children's folk-poetry about the faeries each more inaccurate than the last, Trihem decides to resume your tour of the city.

He showed you a handful more neighbourhoods, including where merchants and tradesmen tend to live. Trihem also showed you the windmills where grain is made, though not after first trying to convince you that they were called giants. After that, and with maybe two hours before sunset, he showed you the hedge-maze that surrounds the castle and told a faerie-legend about that that was much more believable than anything that Blyane told. Then, just as the sun was going down, he led you into the castle.

"Who goes there at this time?" The guardsman asked. "Wait, Trihem, is that a new coat? I didn't recognise you there for a bit. And who's your friend and what's your business?"

"It is indeed I! And this is my new acquaintance, Sir Kainer, a knight trained by faeries. He and I were invited to attend the king's dinner banquet tonight."

The guard looked at a scroll of paper that he had and then spoke again. "Everything checks out but one thing. Where'd you get that coat?"

"I'll tell you later," Trihem said, "I don't want to be late to meet with the king."

@ Verous: "Everyone needs it most. You see all this finery around us? I pay my guards in bread, because that's what's most valuable right now. Most of the grain storage in Oakwell was right on the waterfront, you see, so now the richest people in the city are innkeepers like me and bakers. Would you give away your dukedom at my urging? If not, then why should I give away my new fortune, after I used to have to work so hard to even be able to pay the rent?"

[Tikobe]

(Things that are important for a gate keeper: Criminals, parties in the palace, the most attractive barmaid in the nearby tavern, but nothing, and I mean nothing, is more important that Trihem's new coat and where he got it.)

Kainer

Had Trihem not tried so hard, I'd have believed the windmills were giants.

In the first place, weren't tall buildings made out of giant corpses?

Well, I'll just smile at this guard and nod along with what Trihem's saying since I'm not really sure what to talk about here. Can't blame the guard for obsessing over Trihem's new coat, however. It's certainly fashionable and even as a gate guard myself I had once asked the witch who visited the court one time where she got her robe. It was a very well made robe.

[Duck14]

Verous

I shrug. What should I do here? Do I play the game or put Perrin on to this man who so greedily kept his stock from everyone? I’d play the game for now, I had seen father do it once or twice. He even taught me a little. His silver tongue was one of many reasons that he managed to keep the peace in Datha. I wasn’t the same, I’d test that theory. “Either way I need to take stock of potential sources of food. How much food do you have in your possession?”

[Bannanachair]

@ Kainer: After your encounter with the guard, Trihem led you through the castle. You passed through the main entrance hall, where you and Trihem talked briefly with another guard earlier, and then along several long hallways leading to the banquet hall. Many of the windows were stained glass, and the stone walls were adorned with beautiful and colourful tapestries depicting ancient battles and wars.

One particularly striking tapestry depicted Awitar Azil I, known as "Flamecrown", the first emperor of ancient Ghoril (though the faeries always kept trying to remind you that technically Ghorilik Awitari served different roles than emperors of other empires tended to) who overthrew the Lich King. Another of particular note was of King Elibon II, the last king of Prugon, leading an army against the awakened Arkhosian tyrant Tiadowcor, who ruled the region before his thousand-year slumber. Yet another was of the Elven prince Telpënér the Silver-Haired, fighting in the Battle of Thar Garum millennia upon millennia before any of the other events depicted in these tapestries. You suspect that that one was similarly gifted by a faerie diplomat.

Between two tapestries depicting battles against creatures you've never heard of (they stood like men, but had snouts like wolves, manes like lions and orange spotted skin) but that Trihem called "Hyena-men" or "Gnolls" stood a set of spideroak double-doors of some of the highest quality that you have ever seen. Unseelie faeries have long been an enemy of the kings of Argolon, so that didn't surprise you, but the density of the "spiderweb veins" visible in the wood was surprising - while normally some blue veins were visible in spiderwood, in these doors they were almost as common as the brownness of the wood and very clearly made spiderweb patterns.

Outside of those double-doors stood two guards, and beyond them was the king. "I am Sir Trihem, here by royal invitation, and this is Sir Kainer, similarly here by royal invitation and an ambassador of the Autumn Fae." The guards, much more serious about their jobs and much less casual with Trihem than the one outside, looked through their rolls and opened the doors for you.

The banquet hall beyond was just as majestic as any that you ate with the faeries in, and just as majestic as the halls leading into it. It was meticulously clean, with about a dozen entire animals, more types of fruits and spices than you could count and almost as many types of drinks being served. Three of the walls were adorned with tapestries and other finery nicer than any that you have ever seen before, though the crowds were too large for you to get a good glimpse of what was on the tapestries. The fourth wall was home to the largest stained glass window you have ever seen, with the sun setting right outside of it and making the room even more colourful.

It was hard to tell what the stories on the tapestries or windows were, however, over the ruckus of all the people. There were servers and what seemed like at least two hundred knights and ladies, including Sirs Percinet and Llydan who you remember from earlier, talking and going between the various small circular tables that seat twenty men apiece. Seated in the centre of the room, overlooking the sunset, was a blonde-haired man wearing the royal crown of Argolon and his golden-haired wife. You instinctively knew that these were the king and queen of Argolon.

@ Verous: "Not very much. Even with how much food is worth nowadays, it takes more than a few breadcrumbs to buy a gold chalice, and I now have twelve. I have enough to live off of healthily for twenty-four days, plus wages for my men for that time."

"That's a fortune compared to what the beggars outside have," Perrin accidentally let out. His face immediately went red, as he knew that he was a soldier and not a lord or a diplomat and didn't have permission to speak, though his words rang true.

"What do you expect me to do?" The innkeeper retorted, enraged. "Do you expect me to starve while strangers eat my food? Do you want me to stop paying my men and to get robbed of the only economic security I've ever had, probably by them out of spite for that? No, it will take much more than that for me to give you my food!"