The Proedros Staff: Interviews (Asmund)

[fyleisch]

This isn't the real game, this is just a diversion while recruiting progresses. It's also a more fun way (for me :smallbiggrin:) to ask questions about the character.

Feel free to roll wherever you feel appropriate. I don't expect you to have a character worked out yet, so just roll whatever plausible values you feel like for this part.
You don't remember exactly where you got the poster. They'd been stuck up all around the city; each one showing a very clear image of money being given to a warrior, a concession no doubt to those citizens of Diarkis who are unable to read, and now you hold one in your hand. You followed the map on the papyrus sheet to a warehouse at the edge of town, stark and a little dirty. Mud wells up between the damp grass, and the bones of a small animal lie nearby, picked clean by scavenging birds. From somewhere ahead comes the muted sound of a barking dog. One of the building's doors has a sign on it, but you see that the warehouse's main doors are standing ajar, and so you enter.

Inside, you see a woman walking through the warehouse stacks, ticking something off on a slate board with chalk.

"Oh, hello! You're here for one of the construction project positions? You... you don't mind if we have the interview in here do you? I'm swamped with all this inventory."

As she speaks the barking resumes, much louder, and the source becomes clear - a row of three wooden cage-kennels sits against one wall, each one holding a dog. Two of the dogs are lying sedately on straw bedding, but the third, a one-eyed beast with a fire-scarred hide, is barking and snarling, it's mouth flecked with froth.

"Sorry about the dog!" the woman shouts, then waits for it to quieten before continuing.
"I asked for friendly guard dogs, but that one's a monster! He tried to bite me when I fed them this morning. I'm Ionnia, what do they call you?", she gives Asmund an appraising stare. "And what do you do?"

[LordotTrinkets]

Asmund looks about the scene with squinted eyes and then looks at his map once again. He traces the path that he took on the map to make sure that this is the right place. It's moments like this that have made Asmund consider learning the written form of his new country, knowing the names of places on the map would help do away with the feeling that he's just guessing that he's headed in the right direction. To be fair though, he's never had to deal with little symbols before either, only poetry and other oral traditions.

Best as he can tell though, it would seem that this is the right place. As such, he enters the building, making sure to stay as far away from the remains and holding his breath a little bit as to avoid any lingering stench.

He does feel slightly off taken when he is inside though when he sees the place in use. "Yes I am, and I would not have a problem doing it here." Asmund jumps when the dog bares its teeth at him, but steadies himself as he takes a seat."My name is Asmund, I am working as a farmer now, but understand very many weapons. Most with the halberd and spear?" he says the last sentence with the lilt of a question, mostly out of fear that some of the words in it are incomprehensible or worse, that he accidentally mispronounced a word and it turned into an insult of some kind.

[fyleisch]

If the woman has any trouble understanding Asmund's accent, she doesn't show it.

"A farmer? Do you have much experience of combat? Specifically - protecting others? Most of the laborers we send North will be untrained commoners, they would be relying on you to protect them."

At the edge of the warehouse, the disturbed dog begins growling and biting at the thin wooden struts of its cage.

[LordotTrinkets]

Asmund rubs his inch of beard as he considers his answer. "I'd better give her just my experience here."

"I have defended some of my animals against big meat-eaters and killed some too. Is that good?" As the sound of wood being gnawed on starts up, Asmund looks over at the cage. "That dog is getting more mad. Is it me?"

[fyleisch]

"No, I think it's me."

Ionnia peers around Asmund to get a look at the disturbed animal.

"He was whining this morning, but gradually got angrier and angrier! I did send for the trainer, but he's busy. The earliest he'll get here is tomorrow. I might just ask for a replacement, there definitely seems to be something wrong with this one, a sickness, or just an ill temper."

The dog certainly seems to be intent gnawing on the wooden struts. Suddenly and without warning, it pulls its jaws away and launches itself at the cage door. The flimsy wooden sticks snap, and the animals squirms through the hole it made before launching itself towards Ionnia. The woman pulls back with a cry of alarm, and the dog races towards her, snarling, spraying spittle across the floor as it comes - though it seems to be moving unusually slowly, favoring it's front leg.

The situation looks like this:

http://i.imgur.com/QhZArUv.png

If you want to make any rolls, feel free to do so using whatever bonuses you like at this point.

[LordotTrinkets]

Asmund's most immediate response is to jump out of his chair at the crunch of wood. He looks over at the dog with a small amount of fright, but as he looks at it, it starts to appear like less of a threat. It has what looks like a heavy limp, this plus the scorch marks would seem to mean that the dog is wounded.

Whether that's true or not doesn't really matter though, what does is the fact that that dog is going to have some trouble turning around. "Careful, I will help." he whispers to Ionnia just before he starts shuffling to the dog's left (counter-clockwise) until he gets around it. If the dog notices him, he slows down a little more and tries to speak in a calming voice.

Asmund will move over to L-6
Spot check to see if the dog has any fresh wounds: [roll0]
Handle Animal if necessary: [roll1]

[fyleisch]

The dog's burns seem like old wounds - the evidence of a past accident, or perhaps even abuse. The animal is clearly favoring its front right paw, but Asmund is unable to see why from where he's standing. As Asmund moves around the dog, it shifts its focus from the woman and turns on Asmund instead, growling, and launching itself forward to snap at him.

The dog tries to bite Asmund!
Attack (bite): [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]

The dog seems to be hostile, and is apparently in no mood to follow even the commands of anyone.

http://i.imgur.com/soOJoVo.png

[LordotTrinkets]

As the dog nips at him, Asmund tucks his fingers close to his torso, steps back, and shouts "Back! Back!" in his native tongue. He spares a small bit of his attention to look at Ionnia, but he's still focused mostly on the dog. "Is there something to make him calm?" He asks, trying not to let the panic get into his voice.

Asmund stops for a moment, trying to gather his courage to get near to the dog and pin it to the ground. With a quick grunt, he lunges forward, trying to forget the jaws that are likely awaiting him.

Touch attack for grapple: [roll0]
Opposed grapple if success: [roll1]

[fyleisch]

Asmund almost effortlessly tackles the dog to the ground. As the man begins to apply gentle pressure to the beast, it seems to still, and goes limp. It's eyes reveal the animal to be alive, but it seems subdued, perhaps afraid.

"Oh, you caught it, are you alright?"

Now that the dog is off its feet, Asmund can see that its right front paw is swollen and red, and and the pad of the paw looks like it has some kind of glass lodged in it.

[LordotTrinkets]

Asmund once again tries to soften his breathing, maybe it would help to tell it that he means no harm. "Yes I am, but he isn't." shifting around a little bit to try and keep the dog held by his legs, Asmund gingerly lifts the wounded leg so Ionnia can see. "Glass." he says as he looks over at the cage, looking to see if there is any other debris.

Handle Animal: [roll0]
Spot: [roll1]

[fyleisch]

"Oh, oh dear." Ionnia rushes over to where Asmund holds the dog.
"Yes, I think I saw some glass around here, a broken bottle or something... I thought I caught all the pieces."

She digs in a belt pouch for a moment, and pulls out a pair of small metal pincers, delicate, perhaps designed for some cosmetic use. She uses the implement to grip the green shard and slowly pulls it out. The dog whimpers and jerks slightly, but remains still. As it slips out, the fragment looks more like a shard of green stone than any kind of glass.

Ionnia carries the shard with her tweezers back to her desk, where she drops it into a metal lockbox. She gives a brief high pitched laugh, then turns back to Asmund.

"I'm sorry, that was just a bit of a shock. I honestly don't know how that got on the floor." She shakes her head.
"Do you mind carrying him back to his cage? I'll push one of these crates up against the front in case he gets agitated again."