Somewhere in the Dark (Fantasy) [RETIRED]

[Zarkenis Ultima]

Gotta say, I love how Tilian regards what is pretty much the capital of the whole archipelago as a "little town"

[Nations United for Conquest]

Gotta say, I love how Tilian regards what is pretty much the capital of the whole archipelago as a "little town"

Instead of admitting that I grossly misinterpreted where the party was, I'm just going to chalk that up to Tilian's charm.

[Bentus]

Howdy folks. Am thinking of tossing up a character but am torn on whether to go for more of a cleric or a paladin. In either case they'd be capable of filling something of a healer role, just not sure which would be more interesting to add to the existing parties!

[Galnius]

Howdy folks. Am thinking of tossing up a character but am torn on whether to go for more of a cleric or a paladin. In either case they'd be capable of filling something of a healer role, just not sure which would be more interesting to add to the existing parties!

A bentis app?!

The fall Guy seems like it could use a magic user like a cleric, if that helps

[Nations United for Conquest]

Howdy folks. Am thinking of tossing up a character but am torn on whether to go for more of a cleric or a paladin. In either case they'd be capable of filling something of a healer role, just not sure which would be more interesting to add to the existing parties!

Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle. Bentus! Now there's a name I've not seen in some time.

I don't recall The Great Monster Hunt having anything in a way of a healer type either. But I could be mistaken on that front seeing as we do have a few magic-users along with us

[Bentus]

Howdy folks. Am thinking of tossing up a character but am torn on whether to go for more of a cleric or a paladin. In either case they'd be capable of filling something of a healer role, just not sure which would be more interesting to add to the existing parties!

Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle. Bentus! Now there's a name I've not seen in some time.

I don't recall The Great Monster Hunt having anything in a way of a healer type either. But I could be mistaken on that front seeing as we do have a few magic-users along with us

Hey, long time no see! Saw that you'd thrown an app up for this. Solid posting as always.

Definitely want to roll with a healer. But I'm uncertain whether a full-on support character would really work all that well, or if having a bit of a damage tank + healer in the form of a paladin makes more sense.

[Nations United for Conquest]

Hey, long time no see! Saw that you'd thrown an app up for this. Solid posting as always.

Definitely want to roll with a healer. But I'm uncertain whether a full-on support character would really work all that well, or if having a bit of a damage tank + healer in the form of a paladin makes more sense.

Well there's never anything wrong with extra healing for any party. While seemingly lacking a dedicated healer the Great Monster Hunt does have a support character able to use buff like abilities. Can't say for the other stories tho how their support and healing compositions are.

That being said, playing a Paladin type could be fun. From what I've seen a lot of characters are either dedicated physical or magic types and the few that contain both are feel more offensively based. So it sounds like a unique character to bring along. Naturally it's your choice and I haven't read every character yet, so this is just my two cents.

[Zarkenis Ultima]

Aaand posted. The blade crew's ship encounter is now go A note to Ayaka, we can still continue the conversation between Aleish and Klelane if you want, I made it so that some time had already passed after the start of that before shit hit the fan.

I'll try to get posts up for the other quests soon-ish.

[Galnius]

Posted for The Great Monster Hunt. Puck will come later.

[Indo-pasif archipelago]

Oh no, a boss battle for the Blade crew...

Will try to post something for this weekends. Things are going on that gave me little time for posts at the moment, but I will try to keep posting and not dipping out of this one.

Wonder how good a deer-man with some melee weapons can fare against a giant sea monster though

[Galnius]

Oh no, a boss battle for the Blade crew...

Will try to post something for this weekends. Things are going on that gave me little time for posts at the moment, but I will try to keep posting and not dipping out of this one.

Wonder how good a deer-man with some melee weapons can fare against a giant sea monster though

Throw the shortest pay member at it. That always works.

[Zarkenis Ultima]

Oh no, a boss battle for the Blade crew...

Will try to post something for this weekends. Things are going on that gave me little time for posts at the moment, but I will try to keep posting and not dipping out of this one.

Wonder how good a deer-man with some melee weapons can fare against a giant sea monster though

Can always help with the whole prevent the ship from getting wrecked

[Bentus]

The Traveling Cleric

---

Allow me to tell you a tale of starcrossed lovers, of a Queen and her loyal King. They were not benevolent rulers. Selfish and greedy, they were motivated by a mutual lust for wealth and power, and together they went to great lengths to achieve it. Strong individually, together they were unassailable. Their rule was unending, and their dominance was unquestioned, until an assassin’s blade finally found its way into the King’s side.

The Queen was distraught. As poison worked its way through her love, she could only watch as he suffered through agony. Seeing him in such pain drove her to the brink of insanity, and she railed against the gods that sought to tear them apart. Driven by desperation, she pleaded for the gods to come to her aid and made tearful promises of amends and redemption. The Queen was met by an uncaring silence from above, and so her pleas turned into hate-filled curses. She screamed and yelled until her voice was hoarse, so consumed by her rage that it took her a moment to notice the whispers from somewhere in the dark.

They offered her salvation. They offered her power beyond anything that she could have imagined. They offered to teach her how to bring him back to her side from the clutches of those uncaring gods. It would all come at a cost, they warned her. But it was a cost that she was more than willing to pay, in exchange for an eternity with her love.

She made the streets run red with blood, they say. Enough to water the fields and poison the wells for years to come. The Queen unleashed terror and slaughter throughout her lands, razing her kingdom so that it remained only in the terrified memories of those who escaped with their lives. All that pain and fear was greedily consumed, feeding the hunger of whatever had whispered from somewhere in the dark, and in turn it granted the Queen her wish.

Her wretched rule would have been eternal if heroes hadn’t risen to oppose her and her undying King. Noble warriors and selfless guardians of justice gathered together to rid the world of her necromancy. Far too many of them to never return. And yet they emerged victorious, slaying the wicked beasts despite their own losses. The Queen never renounced her ways, screaming her curses at us even as we banished the soul from her unnatural form. Our return was celebrated, hailed as a triumph of good over evil. If only such simplicity could remain past the naivety of youth.

I found her somewhere in the dark, long after the Queen had been slain. A crying babe all alone, left amidst a scene of such destruction that I couldn’t imagine how she might’ve survived. I took her back to the temple where she was welcomed into our family. I never had a child of my own, and goddess knows I took a liking to the girl. Nyx grew into a breathtaking young woman: selfless, talented, and brave. I’ve lived a long and fulfilling life, but I’d never felt such pride as when she earned her robes. As a cleric of the order, she displayed a natural aptitude with the goddess’ magic and an eagerness to use it to help others. But there was also a wanderlust about her. I lost count of the number of times she was reprimanded as a child for sneaking outside the temple walls, or for staying late in the library with her head buried in a book. It was no surprise that she begged for the chance to travel further afield as a cleric. And with her record of exceptional performance, it was impossible to deny her request forever.

Saying goodbye was harder than I expected. I had to keep reminding myself that this was what she wanted: to travel and experience the world. I suppose she might have gotten a bit of that from me. From what I’ve heard, she’s already started to make a name for herself as a wandering cleric. No paladins to guard her: simply a solitary traveler looking to do good however she can. She continues to write to me about her travels and adventures, and occasionally one of my own missives manages to find its way to her.

And yet, I can’t help but stay up some nights. Looking out to the horizon, I can only hope that I taught her well. The world can be a cruel and dangerous place beyond our temple’s walls. I still see her as the abandoned child that I found somewhere in the dark, and who I raised in these latter years of my life. I did my best teaching her how to hide her curse. From her earliest years, I explained why she had to keep it a secret, lest people misjudge who she is.

Oh Goddess, this is something that I intend to take with me to the grave. Great good can emerge from evil, I am certain of it. She is strong, but I pray for you to watch over her all the same.

[Zarkenis Ultima]

Accepte-doo.

Any thoughts on which adventure you'd like to go on yet?

[Bentus]

Accepte-doo.

Any thoughts on which adventure you'd like to go on yet?

None whatsoever. Anyone in particular need of a caster/support character and/or think there might be some nifty interactions afoot?

[Tomia]

Post up for Blade! Will add in Great Hunt soon

[Tomia]

Edit complete!

[Nations United for Conquest]

Had Tilian kinda dip because my post schedule can be a bit hectic, as some may have noticed, and wanted to avoid gumming up the works. That being said I'll be able to post this weekend, so if any from The Great Monster Hunt want to interact with Tilian, whether on their own or at the behest of Baddrock/Shetal, then you're more than welcome too! And I'll likely get back to you in some capacity in a reasonable fashion

[Zarkenis Ultima]

Finally posted for the Great Monster Hunt and the Fall Guy. Depending on whether I get more posts for the Blade of Amaranth I might try to get another post up for that in the week to respond to Anlolar and Klelane's efforts.

Ayaka, did you want Aleish and Klelane to continue talking before the monster attack, or did you want to end it there?

[Kamisato Ayaka Nation]

Ayaka, did you want Aleish and Klelane to continue talking before the monster attack, or did you want to end it there?

Maybe one last back-and-forth should be about it. I don't want it to drag for too long.

[Zarkenis Ultima]

Ayaka, did you want Aleish and Klelane to continue talking before the monster attack, or did you want to end it there?

Maybe one last back-and-forth should be about it. I don't want it to drag for too long.

Alright, sounds reasonable

[Zarkenis Ultima]

So after some discussion with my Co-OP, decided to throw up a discord server since we seem to have a more or less stable core of players now. Feel free to join here.

[Absolon-7]

got a short post up

[Audunia]

The Blade of the Bear

In the lands of the Marden, particularly those that are presided ove by the more tribal and savage folk, a legend flows as easily from mouth to mouth as mead from a tankard. It speaks of the Ice Bear, the vile spirit of a great beast that once haunted the frozen lands of the Marden, reborn with a human host. Gifted with ferocious strength and berserkerous rage, the Ice Bear Reborn, or the Ursek Otso, is said to be destined to kill his brother and father, plunging their lands into chaos hereto unknown to them, the child with icy blue eyes and who cries at the third howl of the wolf being the way to identify this unboundable evil.

It was with this story that a young child, Karhu Isaz, was exposed somewhere in the dark to the fatal cold of Tregal. His father, King Bodulfr, could not risk being ousted from a throne had had only taken so recently, choosing to simply announce that the boy had been born deformed and had perished not long after, the body disposed of so as not to cause an affront to the eyes of his people. All was not lost, as his twin brother, Böðvarr, had survived and the kingdom was filled with celebration and mourning. Fate, however, does not enjoy being tampered with by the petty fears of men and would have it so that scavangers from his neighbouring kingdom had chosen that night to trespass so deep into the woods and found the child, nestled in the lap of a mother bear.

Shocked at this sight, they slew the bear and named the boy Karhu, the word for bear. Returning quickly to their kingdom, they presented the child to the Queen and begged she take the boy, for they lacked the means to raise him so. Having known the legend of the Ursek Otso, she hesitated but eventually agreed to raise the boy as neither brother nor father could be located. That is not to say his early upbringing was not rough, many a boy and man looked upon the blue-eyed child with fear. Boys feared he was a lost brother that would bring them an early death, men feared he was an abandoned child of theirs that would one day come to spell their end. Truly, it was the childless and the fatherless that did not fear the boy, and it was in their company he was raised.

The myth, however, was withheld from him, fearing it might cause the boy to set out in search of his family and bring an end to their kingdom without preparation. He learned the basics of Marden life, the war songs and the rituals, his ability to fight was seemingly innate in his being and would not be denied, his strength outclassing his peers even as he reached his 15th harvest. At his 17th, when he was deemed a man after a blooding war against the Vilden, was he given the gift of his bonded weapon, a simple blade with an intricate pommel depicting a bear's head and crossguard showing a bear and wolf in combat. The audience was shocked, as this was not the blade that had been chosen and yet it showed the story of the Ursek Otso and his destiny. Realising this his presence here was becoming increasingly unwelcome, he deemed it time to leave, declaring that he would not return until he was the greatest hero ever shaped by Marden. Before he departed, his adoptive mother presented him a gift, the pelt of the bear from which he was given his name, to be worn as a cloak and a warning to his foes.

Now at his 23rd harvest, he has become an accomplished hero yet far from the heights he set himself before his return, yet he feels something sturring within him. Somewhere in the dark of his soul, he can feel a growing cold. Had he been raised with the full knowledge of who he was, he would know it was the Ice Bear waking within him. But he does not, all he knows is his temper is shortening and his icy blue eyes, the unknown harbinger of doom for the realm of his father, become brighter and brighter with ever waking hour of the Ice Bear.

Somewhere in the dark his father wakes in a cold sweat, knowing the end of his days are coming closer.

[Zarkenis Ultima]

This fella here seems like he has his own thing going on. Did you plan on him going on adventures with other characters and the like?