Heroes of Lion Storm IC

[thegoldenfedora]

It was as if lightning were in the veins of all the people attending the celebration. New recruits day was one of the many celebrations held by Lion Storm and excitement filled the air. There were smiles everywhere, the streets were filled with the sounds of people greeting one another as if it had been years since their last rendezvous. Vendors in the food district have set up shop in all of the districts, their wares wafting pleasantly and combining into a singular smell leaves the tongues watering.

Lion Storm spared no expense in preparing for this event. Illusions of heroes fighting great creatures rush over the streets. Every now and then, a patch of indescribable darkness appears in the sky and everyone stops and points as a loud whistling follows, exploding in a burst of light in the center of the dark blotch in the sky. Amplified by magic, music plays across the street, but as one goes from one street to another, the music changes to a different performerr, each street having it's own musical performance. All across the streets, decorations have been set, streamers span from one side of the street to the other. The Lion Storm guild symbol, a lion head looking stoically out with a mane made up of a series of lightning bolts curling around it, is plastered everywhere, on the walls, the doors, people even are wearing clothes with it stamped on. Children run around, dressed as their favorite guild members, having mock battles with each other or chasing after the epic illusions.

Having finished some last minute paperwork, Ratike and M'raji stroll down the government district's main street. The uncle wears a white robe with the guild symbol centered on the back, and Despite the adventurer politician having his hood drawn over his face, the people immediately recognize the famous guild member and rush towards him, full of questions and exclamations many even taking notice of his new protégé. ”Markus Sevine, Rivertimes, can I get a statement from you?” a reporter asks M'raji, ”How does it feel to be joining one of the most famous guilds?”

Gaius and Zaiho watch the two mages walk by. Gaius takes a large bite of his kraken stick, a gnomish food that only appears during festivities. Despite wearing a similar white cloak, people don’t pay Gaius any attention like they do for Ratike. ”Ha, look at those two, they take two steps out of the building and already they are caught in a crowd.” Ratike notices Gaius waves to the man and gives a slight helpless shrug, Gaius waves back and goes back to his fair food. ”everywhere he goes he be turnin' heads. Might as well be him though, sure as Caiden bein drunk, I don’t want to deal with that kind of attention. What about you furball? What does joining Lion Storm mean for you? You gonna get famous?”

Rex watches Hurn yell joyously his massive arm pumping furiously in the air as he wins yet another arm wrestling competition. The large man wears a white with the guild symbol centered on the back and the sleeves ripped off to make room for his arms. He sits at one of several tables with two pegs to hold onto as the competition goes on. A long line of men and women extends for those who hope to best the mighty man. The loser, a logger who came into town for the festivities, rises from the table and another man with burly arms takes his place. “Hello! We wrestle his deep voice practically vibrates the table. The new man nods and Hurn holds up his large gauntleted hand. The challenger lasts all of five seconds before he falls to the strength of Hurn and his gauntlet, Sadana. He stops the next challenger waving over Rex. “Come Rex! Your turn!” he grabs Rex and sets him down in front of the next challenger.

[warper]

Wrexial stood next to the table with his arms folded, a broad smile on his face. Even being going to the city for training he'd never seen such a lively party. He kept his coinpouch in his pack so to make stealing difficult and couldn't help but mentally note easy targets: he'd survived on such behavior. Rex didn't mind crowds, but he didn't particularly like them either. He put on the smile anyway since it was supposed to be a jolly occasion. Rex didn't participate in any drinking either, he knew that around that big oaf Hurn he could be pulled into something foolish at any time.

All of a sudden the giant threw him into a chair like some sort of toy. After reorienting himself and ignoring his now bruised arm where it hit the chair, Rex clears his throat. "I'm quite happy to observe, besides Hurn, this man challenged you. It doesn't seem like you to hide behind such a petite man as myself. Personally, I think either you or Sadana should wrestle him." Rex's eyes flicker as he stabs the word "Or", still smiling pleasantly.

[InstantOatmeal]

Zaiho arched an eyebrow, "You of all people should know I'm not after fame, Gaius." His eyes followed the catfolk as the crowd pulled them away, "you people stand for good, at least from what I've seen," he grins, 'though I'm not sure how the Guild can be this successful if they all land like you, I'm still amazed you didn't break your neck, only ten feet down was it?"

[thegoldenfedora]

Having a real bed for the first time in years, Veridotus had a tumultuous sleep during her first night in her old city. A sudden loud bang brought her from her uneasy slumber and it was only then that she realized how late she was. She rushes about her room trying to get herself ready for the big day when suddenly a large black and purple dragon flies by her window. The creature pays her no mind, focusing more on the man hanging off of it's leg with a grappling hook. She rushes out of her room at the inn and practically falls down the wooden spiral staircase. When she reaches the bottom she notices that of the few patrons there, none had given any acknowledgement to the acid spewing behemoth that had just flown by. Before Veridotus could say a word however, Auliverious calls her over to his seat at a table in the corner of the room with windows wrapping across the two walls. ”I thought you might like some food and a moment to center yourself for the celebration. It's not everyday that you get to come back to civilization to a lavish party being held for you." he gestures to the warm bowl of hearty soup sitting at the empty place at the table. The window offers a wide view of the streets and Veridotus' place takes full advantage of it. It had been a long time since she had seen so many people. They were laughing and playing and now Veridotus could see the dragon flying straight into the air, the man now climbing along the creatures back.

Silas stumbles past another group of onlookers who had stopped in the middle of the street to point up to a strange display of a man climbing a great dragon in the air. He was quite lost, knowing only that he was to meet Gaius and another recruit named Zaiho in the government district at the "No place like Gnome: eatery". A whistle screams overhead followed by an explosion of sound and color. Many people stop to look at the display and Silas uses the opportunity to get out of the crowd and over to the edge of the street. An old woman wearing a white robe and sitting on a bench nearby beckons him over. The bench faces the street and several birds had flocked over to the woman as she began to feed them. ”Ah one of the Kor-Atma, her voice is strong despite her age, ”What brings a child of the Duke of Thunder from your mountain?”

Hurn nods at Wrexial's words. ”You’re right! You should not fight for me! You fight next to me” Wrexial immediately realized that he had obviously spoken too much to the man and that only the first part of his response. Hurn grabs an empty table, lifting it with one arm and seeing it down next to Wrexial’s, ”Face Hurn and his ehrm, uhm, apprentice.” Wrexial raises an eyebrow at the brute actually being able to say a monosyllabic word. There man sitting across from him moves to Hurn's table and a boy no older than 16 takes his place, a smirk on his face. ”My name is Pal the Brave and one day I'm going to be in Lion Storm too, I'll show you Hurn that I have what it takes!” the redheaded boy speaks with fire in his eyes and was definitely one the few Wrexial registered as being an easy mark. He notices that again Hurn had only followed the first part of Pal's speech.

Gaius gives a laugh "That's only cause you pushed me ya know! I'll have you know I've jumped from the tops a castles and rocs afore I met you. Upstarty furball." he scans the crowd and sighs. "We were supposed to meet someone else here, he seems to have gotten himself lost though." he finishes off his kraken leg and starts walking towards the city center. "Well, I guess we are stuck here for a while feel up to a challenge? he gives done directions to the gnome for when Silas arrives and brings Zaiho down the street to where a set of planks had been set up. The planks were some 10 feet in the air with a net underneath and ladders going up to either side. Two people wielding batons were standing on one set of planks, trying to knock the other off. "Unless acourse you're scared of falling ten feet"

[Playking57]

Silas turned as he heard the name of his people. He was simultaneously wary (as he had never been in such a densely populated area with potential danger around every corner) and grateful to have somebody familiar to speak with... even if the familiarity was one-sided.

Hello! he said with a smile, trying to disguise his discomfort. Uh... forgive me, I wasn't expecting anybody to recognize my people so far from home; Tal-valis ma'am - Fair Winds. I am actually here at the request of one of your 'Lion Storm,' a warrior named Gaius, and a friend of his named Zaiho, somewhere out in the "Government District..." at the "No Place Like Gnome" restaurant? I seem to have gotten a bit turned around in all the festivities. Any possibility of you showing me the way?

[lougerstle]

Still recovering from a night of unrest, realization of quite untimely entrance, and the startling image of a magic she has never before Veridotus was quite thankful for the opportunity to retreat to a corner of even a sparsely populated room. Being among so many people for the first time in over three decades has brough out many more sensations and energies than she has been accustomed too. In addition with company of strangers, the generous portion of soup created with meats and spices she had never experienced before, and joining a new acquaintance for conservation she was feeling slightly overwhelmed. Determined not to let her uncomfortably overcome her desire to pursuit to understand what had brought her premonitions from her childhood and when approached by Auliverious. Trying to process all of these nearly overwhelming experiences, she begins with what might be most obvious. Is this a typical experience for everyone in Riverstone? I would imagine we would have been much more worried about such large dragons flying about so close to town.

[Jenlikesbacon]

Upon being approached by the reporter, M'raji went silent. He couldn't believe he was finally here. He immediately thought to himself "Say something you idiot, someone is actually trying to talk to you for once." But before he could reply, Ratike had stolen the attention of the reporters, saving M'raji from the pressure to respond. He could see the other recruits eying his uncle, and immediately felt himself blushing. For the first time, people were admiring him, even before he accomplished anything great! The attention was unexpected but thrilling, and for the first time, M'raji felt like he belonged.
M'raji eventually wiggled out of the mass of people and looked around and the people who hadn't thrown themselves at him immediately. They appeared uninterested and assumed they were his fellow recruits with their vouchers. M'raji watched one of them point fingers at him while taking a bite out of what only looked like a tentacle on a stick to him. "There's no way that can actually taste good, but if that's what heroes eat..." he thought, and turned around before he began to feel sick. "Really man? is this how you're going to be during every adventure? Get yourself together and go talk to the others! Look, there's some humans over there, start with them first." M'raji took a deep breath, and gathered up all the courage he could muster, and strolled towards the human with the tentacle in an attempt to make conversation.

[thegoldenfedora]

The woman chuckles at Silas' dilemma. ”New to Lion Storm eh? That would explain why your so far from, Atma Vir. I remember the last time your people joined our ranks, that was some 50 years ago though.” she sighs and stands slowly, her head a full foot lower than Silas'. The birds pay no heed to the motion. She offers her arm for Silas to help her walk, when he does so he is surprised by the muscles he can feel within her arm, realizing that she wasn’t relying on his support very much at all. ”Come child, let’s go see and Zaiho.” She leads the way to an intersection and turns. Silas can see that the next street is very wide and has an easy flowing river traveling alongside it. Decorated bridges span the water and boats of all kinds traverse the stream. The old woman notices one boat street and and calls to the man pushing it along with a very long pole that has a hook on the top. ”Jolm, would you be so kind as to take this young man and myself to the government district please? Wherever the Garski brothers have set up shop if you happen to know.” the garundi man smiles happily at the two ”Granny Lo! he yells with excitement, he lifts his pole out of the water and clips the hook onto one of several rings that line the water, pulling the boat up to the two. ”Hop in, we will be there afore you know it.” Silas and the old woman take a seat facing each and Jolm casts off.

Auliverious laughs at Veridotus’question, ”Forgive me, new friend, I do not mean to be rude. No real dragons flying over town would be quite terrifying, I mean it happened once: a kobold cult had been living in the sewers beneath the city, they were stealing food and living essentially off of garbage, I'm not quite sure how they got down there in the first place, Verint seems to think that the eggs had been mistaken for regular eggs that were then thought to have gone bad because of their black coloring and then were tossed out, but Im pretty sure-“ Veridotus realized the man had yet to take a breath as he continued his history lesson. ”-Well this particular Kobold went off to Korkros' cave and nicked himself quite a bit of loot, he had stolen a bag of holding from us while we were out celebrating after defeating Gormash the cyclops, he had been harassing a village North of here and despite how many times I told him he didn't have to-“ Veridotus hasn't known the man very long, but she was beginning to realize that the man was capable of rambling for quite some time ”So Korkros swoops in taking a bit of the rode with him and there’s Glad hanging off with the biggest grin on his face, I don't even think he was trying to fight the dragon, I think he just figured it was a fun ride-“ finally Veridotus stops the man, reminding him of the initial question. ”Oh, those are illusions.” he replied happily, utterly forgetting his previous history lesson. Noticing that Veridotus' meal was now finished, Aluverious rises ”Are you ready to meet the world? Because they are pretty excited to meet you.” he brings Veridotus to the doorstep reminding the halfling to breathe. The door opens and Veridotus’ is greeted by sounds of laughter and cheering fill the smells of all of the foods being prepared, the amazing displays of illusions and fireworks erupting in the sky. ”Welcome to the residential district!” Auverious says behind her.

By the time M'raji makes it out of the crowd, the two standing at the kiosk had disappeared, the gnome looks at him expectantly assuming he had decided to order some food. A hand lands on M'raji's shoulder and he spins around, unused to the touch. The same reporter had followed him through the crowd, ”Not good with crowds huh? I get that, and I'm sorry to force myself in like this, but I'm doing a piece about the new recruits, introducing them to the town and such, Lion Storm is such an important part of our community and the people want to know about all of the members. I'm actually new to Riverstone, I was a reporter at Korvosa, but thought I could make more of a name for myself following one of the most famous guilds. So I’m trying to make a good impression at the Rivertimes, and if you could tell me a little about yourself for the piece it would be really helpful.” M'raji looks back to Ratike who gives an encouraging thumbs up to his nephew before turning back to the crowd that had swarmed him.

[Jenlikesbacon]

M'raji, having never been approached by anyone other than his uncle and the gaggle of reporters, found himself at another loss for words. "Well... I'm M'raji...I'm not from here either? I came here to become a hero for the people. I...I'm sorry, I don't talk to people very often. My uncle is a mage for the guild and he vouched for me. I didn't know how popular he actually was..." His voice trailed off. At this point in a conversation, Ratike would usually interrupt him with another lesson on spells or proper crossbow usage. Was he really supposed to continue talking for this long? "...so yeaaah. I mean is there anything else you really want to know about me?" He had no idea what else to say, nobody usually found any interest in him, even if it was just for a news article. His eyes slowly drifted down to his feet and he began rocking back and forth on his heels. He mentally debated whether to tell the reporter about his life in his parents' basement or not, thinking it would give him a creepy and unfavorable image. After all, that was how he spent most of his life, but did the press really need to know about that?

[lougerstle]

Standing in the doorway another great illusion soars past ascending up into the sky and exploding into a beautiful and vibrant display of colors and shapes that are as incredible and stunning to Veridotus as the festivities on the streets. Looking around at everyone up and down the street, it seemed completely filled with the powerful energy, excitement and wonder of the festival. It was like nothing she had ever experienced since childhood and brought back the memories of when she was a child, going through these same streets. The new recruit festival was one of the only activities that bonded her family. They would go through the streets enjoying what seemed like endless entertainment, trying all of the different treats that she was only allowed during this marvelous event. Because there was so much brouhaha her father allowed her to be out and act as herself, allowing her a rare opportunity to play. This was another sign that she had met her mentor and returned home at a time that seemed destined by fortune, to pursue what has always been in her and she never understood. Reflecting on Auverious's words, she was finally ready to meet the world and after a breath she said I am ready.

[Playking57]

Silas' brow furrowed as he held out his hand to help the old woman into the boat; neither his father nor his uncle had told him about any Atma joining with Lion Storm, let alone any other Atma-Vir. This sounds like something that he should have heard about during his training... unless perhaps, there was a reason this information was never given to him.

"Thank you so much for letting me take up your time... Granny Lo, was it?" Silas said as they begin to drift down the canal. "It is greatly appreciated. I'm not too used to having to wander around on foot to find what I am looking for; my companion usually makes short work of things like that... How can anybody find there way around in a city? All the streets look the same!" He chuckled a little at his apparent uselessness, mainly to try and set a light-hearted mood with Granny Lo as his Uncle had instructed he do for new potential allies, but also to clear the lump forming in his throat when he thought of how much he missed Sahir. He shook his head, and brought his attention back to the smiling woman in front of him

"If you don't mind me asking a couple of questions... Is this festival really all just for new recruits? I can't imagine how much this must have cost to set up," he said as one of the illusory dragons flew past some distance down a nearby street, "Is it worth it to have such a grand display for people who could all fail the recruitment process? Seems like everybody is counting their chicks before they're hatched..."

"Also, I would be very interested in hearing about this other Atma-Vir recruit you had mentioned before we got on. My uncle made it sound like I was the first of my people to come to this city to join with Lion Storm; are there others somewhere in town I could meet with?"

[InstantOatmeal]

As the previous contestant rolled out of the net, Zaiho clambered up the ladder. As he stepped out onto the plank, Gaiuss took his place on the opposite one. "Loser buys the first round, Gaius!," he said, holding his baton at the ready.

[warper]

Alright young lad, let's do this. Don't go easy on me."[/color] Rex says with a wink to the burly man. He holds out his arm and grabs the peg. Knowing he could very well lose, Rex decides to act a little for onlookers. Maybe I should lose on purpose!


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[thegoldenfedora]

The reporter smiles warmly at M'raji, ”Well here, let's make this easy. If you give me these three things, I think we can call it good.” he buys a kraken tail from the vendor and passes it to M’raji, ”Try it, it's good” M'raji looks at the tail in disgust, but tries to hide it and politely takes a bite, realizing that it was simply a breaded stick with butter on one side and powdered sugar on the rest. ”What you do, what your good at, and why you do it. Those three things and we will be all done. I'll go first. I'm a newest reporter for the Rivertimes. I was formerly a reporter for the Korzette. I'm relentless when it comes to a story, I once exploited a drug ring where some thugs had gotten their hand on an old drug that was thought eradicated, but has recently resurfaced by going undercover. I do this because I feel that my work brings people together, the more people know about others, the more they can empathize with them. It's easy to hate or ignore a stranger, but everyone will go out of their way to help a friend, I'm trying to help create more of those friendships.” he sits back and orders his own kraken tail. And gestures for M’raji to give it a go.


Auliverious pats Veridotus on the shoulder and leans down to the halflings ear ”Welcome to the biggest adventure of your life.” He steps out into the street turning right and motioning for Veridotus to follow. ”But only if you’re brave enough to take the first step my new friend,” before Veridotus can respond, Auliverious notices someone and heads down the street without stopping to see if Veridotus would follow. Taking a brave step into the sea a celebrators, a feat further heightened by her own lack of height, Veridotus follows the absent minded man. As she gets closer she can see that Auliverious was heading towards a man and woman in gray and blue city guard uniforms. The man was obviously important with extra ornamentation, while the woman wielded a glave and was unassuming. ”Oh Auliverious, how nice to see you, have you any dark premonitions recently” the man says.
”Good day Jutro, no nothing so tragic as that one time when I saw a bit of island shot with flames, turned out to be-all”
”Yes, yes, that was quite the ordeal.” Jutro cuts him off before he can begin another rant. ”Who is this that you have with you? Another cub?”
”Ah yes, Veridotus may I introduce you to Jutro Orpheus captain of the city guard, this is my new apprentice Veridotus Jarre-“ but again the man is cut off, this time by the captains companion.
”Veri!? Is that really you?” everyone turns to the sudden outburst from the woman, none so surprised as the captain. ”It’s me Kalisha Mervin!” With the name added to the face, Veridotus is able to recognize her childhood friend and memories of their time together comes rushing back. ”Where have you been?!?”
the captain, while obviously formal and cordial with Auliverious has an undertone of distaste.


The old woman responds well to Silas’ humor ”Yes the sky certainly does offer a different perspective to the world. Fear not young one, these streets will become easy to navigate, especially once you have seen them from above.” ”And if not, Jolm will be tere to bring to destination.” the boatman calls from behind Silas. Granny Lo waves at a few people who recognize her, turning back to Silas’ next question, Jolm steers the boat around a corner and pushes on.
”Gaius must not have been very clear, Lion Storm is built on family and community. There is intrinsic trust between every member. I’d imagine every guild member has had to fight alongside every other one at least a few times. Even the members who don't fight have had there share of adventures with the others. You see, Lion Storm isn't going to score and rate your success and decide whether or not you get in. No, Lion Storm believes in it's members and if Gaius says that you would be good for the guild then that is all there is to it.” The old lady laughs out loud a contagious sparkle in her eye and Jolm joins her. ”Congratulations my friend, you ave ulready passed recruitment process!” he says joyously. The boat rounds another corner, circling around a small peddle boat with several barrels of ale and a dwarf traveling from boat to boat offering his wares. ”Granny Lo! When can I expect ye to come by, I’ve got a brand new stout ye gotta try. “ the dwarf says waving a half empty tankard as he peddles around. ”Soon Torlof, I promise.” she calls back before returning to her conversation with Silas. But before she can begin, Jolm announces their arrival and pulls the boat up to the street. He points to a kiosk with delicious fried smells and a gnome selling his wares. A catfolk with a severe wound on his face is talking with another man in front of the kiosk. ”A shame I wasnt able to answer all of your questions young Atma Vir. But the story is not suitable for a celebration anyways.”
She calls to the gnome at the kiosk. ”Oh Mister Gorski! Where has Gaius gone off to? He hasn't gotten himself in trouble again has he?” The gnome passes along the directions Gaius gave while also offering the woman some food.


Zaiho climbs the ladder and calls to his friend, but when Gaius shouts back, the reply comes not from where he expected it to be. ”Better yet, I'll buy you a round for every bloke you knock down from there.” Zaiho looks forward to see a woman on the other end of the plank looking quite unsteady. The game master, a vanara wearing a tall cap and leaping from all of the beams without hesitation calls the match to begin. Zaiho's opponent laughs and looks down at her friends who cheer her on and she edges closer to Zaiho. The kitsune gives an encouraging nod and a bow, but as she gets within range, his baton whips out and clips her leg knocking her over immediately. The woman's friends cheer and she climbs out of the net a bit embarrassed. ”That's one! But you'd have to do better to knock me down!” Gaius calls up. Zaiho watches his next opponent climb up, possibly his previous foes girlfriend, apparently they had a dare between the four to give it a try.


Wrexial clasps hands with the young boy at the same time Hurn grapples his opponent. The four begin to try and pin their opponents, each man grunting with the strain. Hurn is the first to pin his opponent. He turns to Wrexial cheering his protégé on. Feeling his arm begin to give Wrexial decides that the time for performance was now and he shouts out in mock pain. Bemoaning his situation his arm reaches further and further towards the table. He can see his performance working on everyone, the crowd watching, laughing and smiling at the spectacle while Pal was exuberant for his upcoming victory. Just before he was lose Wrexial makes one last push yelling that he wouldn't go down so easily, but at the last instant, his hand hits the table and he cheers for the boy, along with everyone else, even Hurn. Pal skips off and another man takes a seat across from Hurn to challenge him. Fortunately no one else wanted a crack at Wrexial and he was able to sit at the table to rest his aching arm in peace. That was until the next challenger appeared. The half orc cut past everyone, but no one seemed to mind. He wore a deep blue cape, underneath was pristine black and silver armor. He had to be the most charming looking half orc Wrexial had every seen. What surprised Wrexial even more was Hurn’s reaction, gone was the boisterous man, his jovialty replaced with wariness as he prepared for the upcoming competition. As the two bring their hands up, Wrexial could feel the tension, everyone around was betting on the victor, this apparently was a very important match. As the two clasp hands Wrexial could almost feel a shockwave emanate from the two powerful men. Hurn's arms explode with muscle as the two strain against each other. Despite both men obviously using all of their night, neither of the two's hands moved an inch.
”Those two will be at it for a while” an elf said from behind Wrexial, she too wore a white robe like Hurn’s.
”You might as well find something to entertain yourself for a while.” the elf was bald and had a blue tattoo splitting her face down the middle and continuing underneath her flowing clothes. She gestures towards other games of lizard racing, greased hog catching, archery, bean bag toss and drinking. ”Or even just head for the center of town for the ceremony.” the elf gestures in the opposite direction. ”Those two just don’t know when to quit”


a boat being pushed by a man with two passengers, an old woman wearing a white robe similar to Ratike’s and a young man with tattoos around his eyes, pulls up. You will hear the woman call to the gnome, but they won't arrive until after you have finished answering Markus

oh man I can't wait for everyone to be back together so I don't have to write so much, I'm pretty sure that's why it is so dangerous to split the party, it's to dissuade players from making the GM do extra work.https://media.giphy.com/media/bAplZhiLAsNnG/giphy.gif

[warper]

Wrexial slaps Pal on the back and tells him that one day he can very well join if he puts his mind to it. As Hurn and the half-orc start, Wrexial is amazed that anyone could stand up to Hurn. This was the first time he'd actually seen Hurn so serious. This is my chance to see what Hurn is really made of.

"No, I want to see this." Rex watches their faces, looking at the struggle, determination, and everything in between.

[Jenlikesbacon]

M'raji was pleasantly surprised by the sweetness of the kraken tail. He thought it was the most delicious snack he'd ever had, and fought the urge to swallow it in one bite. He attempted to answer Markus's questions without spitting crumbs everywhere. "Um...well I haven't done anything yet, really. I'm trying to become a mage like my uncle, I've been training with him ever since I can remember, but this is my first time being away from Kopovia, for the most part." He licked the stick that held his kraken tail clean. "Hey, that's as pretty good! How much are these? I think I might get another one." he reaches for his money, but suddenly remembers his ongoing conversation "Sorry, sorry, anyway I got this neat little crossbow from my uncle once I got old enough, and he's been teaching me to shoot with it. You could say I'm pretty good at it I guess." M'raji immediately felt he needed to prove his skill by shooting something. His eyes scanned the area, looking for something to shoot at that wasn't alive.

[Playking57]

Silas was taken aback. His father had ensured that nothing was ever easy for him while he was growing up: he made him hunt his own food, his training sessions went for hours without rest, and he had climbed all the way to the bottom of the ravine in his village to retrieve Sahir's egg just to try to impress him. The fact that Silas had already passed the initiation process made him smile; despite his father's short comings as a parent, he had still managed to provide his son with the skills he needed to succeed. He wished he was here to see this. He might even have been proud.

Silas disembarked from the boat, and turned back to Granny Lo. "Don't worry ma'am. You have been far more helpful than you needed to be already. Thank you for your guidance and your companionship today." Silas bowed to her, allowing himself to frown for the first time during their conversation. While he hadn't heard her story, his suspicions had been confirmed: something bad had happened with an Atma-Vir in Lion Storm before, and it had been disgraceful enough to have been kept hidden from him. Silas knew needed to hear this story at some point if he had any hope of forging alliances with the city; if Granny Lo knew of this stain on the Atma people, how many others did? Perhaps he already had enemies waiting for him here thanks to this Atma-Vir's legacy.

He smiled as a thought crossed his mind, a way to hopefully ensure he would see her again. He placed 5 Gold into Granny Lo's hand, and said with a smile "Here, for your trouble today, and for one last favor: Your dwarf friend who spoke to us earlier, he is selling liqueurs, yes? If that sample of stout he has for you is any good, buy me a bottle, would you? You clearly know your way about Riverstone, I'm sure you will know where to find me wherever these Lion Storm take me. I can share the bottle with you, and perhaps you can share the rest of your story with me. After all," he said while raising his hands in mock triumph, "We should be celebrating my initiation!" He took a step back from the canal. "Again, thank you for your help today. Tal-valis."

He took a deep breath, and turned back towards the unfamiliar city, and the two unfamiliar people before him. Hopefully everyone in this city would be as kind as Granny Lo.

[InstantOatmeal]

"One round on you, Gaius!" Zaiho called, grinning, "and I'll hold you to that!". As his next opponent stepped out onto the plank, he readied his baton.




Initiative: [roll0]

CM: +3 from weapon finesse
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]

Acrobatics:
[roll4]
[roll5]
[roll6]





Initiative: [roll7]

CM: +3 from weapon finesse
[roll8]
[roll9]
[roll10]

Acrobatics:
[roll11]
[roll12]
[roll13]





Initiative: [roll14]

CM: +3 from weapon finesse
[roll15]
[roll16]
[roll17]

Acrobatics:
[roll18]
[roll19]
[roll20]

[lougerstle]

As another unexpected turn of events presented itself, almost as if fate itself were toying with Veridotus, she now comes across her childhood friend. SO much time has past since she has been in her childhood home, but she would never forget the one kind soul that was apart of her unfortunate upbringing. Kalisha Mervin was the daughter of the undertaker of Riverstone. When Veridotus would venture out of her home she quickly learned that it was not only unwise but not fruitful to approach just anyone with the tragic tale of her mother and the idea that she could help others with the inexplicable feelings, energies, and visions that have always come to her. Thus she became more guarded to avoid unwanted attentions, allowing her to remain free for longer and seek after people who gave off an open and more receptive energy. Adults would rarely fall into this category because they would immediately see a child who should be with their parents/caretaker, and most children would find her to be strange and feel uncomfortable with how she could almost see through them read what could be one of the most difficult aspects of their lives causing them to runaway or find someone to take her back home. But Kalisha was different. She also had problems of acceptance from other children because her father was the undertaker and took care of the diseased. She was a smart and sensitive young girl, putting her ahead of most of her peers, and this lead a majority of the children to ridicule her for any number of childish reasons. For these reasons she often would play by herself in her family's garden in the market district, which is also the home of the Riverstone's dead room and the adjacent cemetery. They would spend afternoons together enacting the lives of those who had past, imagining whatever would bring joy to their lives and creating a happier scenario than whatever brought them to their demise. Veridotus would arrange dolls and other toys to create a scenes of peoples lives that Kalisha would paint and then give to Veridotus as a way to stay connected to their afternoons of play, and also helped Veridotus stay connected what she sensed by being near the people whose story they recreated and tired to improve.
Kalisha was amongst the few happy associations that Veridotus had of her childhood and of Riverstone and too see her again after just returning could only be seen as a sign that she returned at a time that was not just coincidence. Unsure how to respond with all of the current company Veridotus tries to reply as tactfully as possible because she was unsure of Kalisha's companion and how he may react if he heard an unfiltered truth to what had happened in her past. So Veridotus answered It was a very difficult for my me and my father after my mother passed, and it was no easy decision but I went to live in the country side to make things easier him and myself. After some time I found it to be quite suiting and chose to remain there, until just recently where I met Auliverious Moro. He is a member of Lion Storm and my mentor to the guild, I am to be a new recruit. It seems you have faired well over the years. You both seem to be quite impressive representatives of Riverstone. What bring you and Sir Jutro Orpheaus together for such a festive occasion?

[roll0]

[thegoldenfedora]

Wrexial
Minutes go by as the two men strain against each other, neither gaining an inch of ground. Beads of sweat pearl up and fall down their brows. Gamblers rush forward and wipe the sweat from the men hoping to ensure that nothing gets in the way of this epic dual of strength. It was then that Wrexial noticed how neither man had blinked the entire time. He wondered what reason there could be to combine a test of drying eyes with a test of strength when, without warning, the half orc gains a burst of strength, his eyes glowing blue and seemed to have wisps of flames coming off of them. An instant later Sadana glows green and Hurn's already massive muscles grow. The crowd cheers at the swift and near perfectly timed counter of power. It all happened in an instant but that split second difference had brought Hurn three inches closer to defeat. Hurn’s face showed no sign of defeat however and he continued pressing against his foe. A loud crack is heard through the air as the table begins to break under the power of the two men. The elf who had spoken to Wrexial rushes forawrd her hands weaving a spell she then slaps on the table and the creaking subsides. The crowd cheers again at the quick save.

M'raji
M'raji scans the area, looking high to avoid the crowd around him. He spots a tree and decides to use one of the knots in the branch as a makeshift bullseye. He pulls out his crossbow, takes aim, breathes deep and fires. The grease on his hands gets in the way of his aim and as soon as he let’s the bolt fly he can tell that it is off course. The bolt travels fast and sticks into the tree, several feet away from the intended target. ”Well there you go, trying to follow in your uncle's footsteps is an impressive undertaking.” the reporter says glossing over M'raji’s less than spectacular shot.
”Keep practicing young Kitanni!” an old woman calls from a departing boat that had just dropped off a young man with brown hair and tattoos around his eyes.

Silas
The old woman smiles at Silas’ gesture, taking his gold without protest, ”Oh you'll be seeing me plenty young man." Just then the catfolk next to the ”No place like Gnome” kiosk fires a crossbow bolt into a nearby tree. ”I do believe that cat person is one of your new guild mates, he has a remarkable resemblance to Ratike. Hmm I don't think I have made the acquaintence of her companion, he must be rather new to Riverstone. Oh well, that will have to be for another time. Jolm, I think I would like to see what Mr. Thallas has made for his candy store today.” Jolm gives a goodbye nod to Silas’ and pushes the boat off from the street. ”Keep practicing young Kitanni! She calls to the catfolk, waving as Jolm steers the boat further into town.

Zaiho
The next challenger approaches Zaiho, he looks stronger than the last challenger, but still struggles to advance across the beam. Zaiho advances forward cautiously, each foot inching forward as he sizes up his new opponent. The man brings his baton high for a powerful swing, one that was sure to knock Zaiho from his perch. Seeing no other option, Zaiho lunges forward, and quickly hits the man in his knee, forcing him to buckle and fall.
The group cheers for Zaiho and his fallen opponent's friends laugh and tease for how quickly he fell. The other boyfriend looks up, finally brave enough to give it a go. He climbs up, moving more nimble than the last and grabs a baton from the Vanara who quickly leaps out of the way. Zaiho prepares for his next bout, when suddenly the man runs across the beam, the crowd gasps at the sudden maneuver. Zaiho sees the attack coming and parries it, circling his baton around the others and quickly shoving him off balance. He falls, and pretends to die for his friends, pleading with his fake dying breath for his girlfriend to avenge him.
His girlfriend climbs the ladder next. Zaiho notices some strong muscles in her legs thinking she might be a runner. She reaches the top and takes her stance. The two edge closer and she takes the first swing at his leg. Zaiho leans back and lifts his leg over the attack before countering. She parries the attack over her head and swings again. The attack connects with Zaiho's leg and he begins to fall. At the last second he swings his flailing leg and spins in place, combining an attack with his rebalancing maneuver. His baton swings true and the girl plummets to the net. The crowd cheers for Zaiho’s fourth victory in a row.

Veridotus
Kalisha looks a little taken aback by Veridotus’ more callous response ”I've been a member of the city guard for a while now, Captain Orpheaus and I are just patrolling. But I’ll be done work tonight-“ ”Mervin you are relieved of duty for the day, Lopart will be joining me for the rest of the festivities” the captain barks. Both Auliverious and Kalisha look at the captain with incredulity. ” you are also relieved of work tomorrow.” the captain walks off before Kalisha can even form a response. ”Well okay then, I guess I am free now.” Auliverious looks at the two, a happy bewilderment on his face. ”I'm going to go check on some things for the celebration, I’ll leave you two to catch up and find you before the ceremony. We still have a little time.” Kalisha watches him go, before turning back to her old friend ”So you're really joining Lion Storm? Did you ever think that would happen back when we were kids?”

[Jenlikesbacon]

M'raji turned his head toward the voice that called out to him and caught sight of the old lady and the man. He gave them a smile and a nod, then turned back to Markus. "I guess I haven't practiced as much as I should." He briefly thought about scaling the tree to retrieve the arrow, but decided against it. "But that's pretty much all I know. I haven't done much else with my life...but that's why I came here, you know? To do something more, to help people and make a real difference! If I could help just one person..." He looked at Markus and smiled. "But in sure you hear that all the time. Is there anything else you need?"

[Playking57]

Silas walked towards the Catfolk that Granny Lo had shouted to, who also appeared to be waiting at his pre-determined meeting location.

Silas slowed a little as he approached, and his hand drifted towards the bow slung over his shoulder. This Catfolk clearly had some sort of disease or curse upon him; he was simply covered in vicious scars and bruises that were only barely disguised by the gray fur covering his body. His black teeth jut from his lower jaw menacingly like tusks, and as his blood-red eyes met his own, Silas felt a slight shiver run down his spine. This was a the kind of creature that the Atma-Vir had been trained to identify and slay with most efficiency: Undead, one of the few kinds of creatures of this world who were virtually all Evil.

Silas' training overtook him as his eyes began to dart around the area, trying to find lines-of-sight through the crowd to take shots, and areas of cover where he could hide and steadily approach so he could engage in single combat and eliminate the risk to any civilians. He took a deep breath to center himself, and prepared to veer off into a nearby alley... when his eyes caught a second older, but similarly maimed Catfolk in the crowd.

He cursed under his breath, starting to panic and wishing more than ever that Sahir was here to help him... until he saw that the second Catfolk was not just in the crowd, but surrounded by it. And this crowd was not the angry lynch mob that Silas would expect to form around an undead creature, but one of adoration. They were clamoring to shake his hand, asking for autographs and interviews, treating him like a hero. Silas remained skeptical (as he had heard of several varieties of undead that are able to control the minds of those around them), until he saw that this older Catfolk was dressed in the same white robes Granny Lo wore.

Silas was taken aback; clearly, this man had either dominated the minds of the entire city, including Granny Lo, in some convoluted master plan... or he had earned the trust of the city, and held a similar rank in whatever organization Ms. Lo was in. Since every person that Granny Lo interacted with during their brief time together seemed like the kindest kind of people, clearly this Catfolk wasn't as Evil as he looked.

Taking a second look at the black-fanged, younger Catfolk, Silas could see that the glisten in his blood-red eyes was not one of hunger, as he had expected, but one of pride; he looked at the older Catfolk-in-white with tremendous adoration, and looked back to the man next to him with a smile behind his blackened teeth that painted a picture that this might have been the first time he had *really* spoken to someone in quite some time.

This second glance also revealed one final clue, which made Silas exhale with a slight smile as he let go of the bow on his back: the gray fur around this young man's mouth had a light sheen of oils, combined with a gentile dusting of white powder on his chin, and held a licked-clean stick in one hand. Considering that the gnome in the tent next to them was selling what appeared to be fried pastries on a stick covered in butter and powdered sugar, Silas felt quite confident that this was the source of the mess on his face.

In all of Silas' studies, Undead hungered for blood, flesh, brain matter, even souls... but he had never heard of any Undead hungering for pastries. Plus, by the way the Catfolk's nose was twitching as he shot glances towards the food tent, it looked like he hungered for them with a passion. Silas decided that any creature who loved sugar that much couldn't be all bad.

So he completed his short journey from the canal to the No Place Like Gnome Eatery, putting on his best smile. "Hello, everybody! Are we all waiting here for Gaius?"

[lougerstle]

Veridotus realized that Kalisha had noticed her less than cordial response, but did not want her to know that it was because she was unsure of not only the Captain because of his superior affectations, but she was also suspicious of Kalisha who must have heard of the circumstances surround her mother's murder and of her dear friend vanishing from the city. Given what has happened with my Father I never would have imagined returning to the very town where we used to spend afternoons out in the garden imagining what could have been. And now to return after such a long time and to almost immediately find the company of who I can say has been my only friend from when we young girls, it is all very surreal. My apologizes for being a bit short a moment ago, I have very recently made some substantial changes to my life and I am not accustomed to being in such an active place with so many people, it can be a bit overwhelming for me at times. I certianly hope I did not cause any problems for you with Captain Orpheaus.

Veridotus asked, How have you been all of these years? Have you been with the city guard long?, as a subtle attempt to understand such a coincidence of her coming back to her home city after so many years and then almost nearly instantly finding her sole friend from her early life. She didn't distrust Kalisha but wanted to understand how her her life from so long ago seemed to be colliding directly with this new adventure she has just only begun.

[warper]

Rex continued to watch with interest. He'd only seen Sadana bother with that magic once before so he knew that this challenger was no joke. Who is that guy? Rex couldn't help but wonder. At the rate they were going, one of their arms would snap before either gave in. Wrexial almost stops them from wiping the sweat, considering it part of the challenge. Without taking his eyes away, Rex grabs a drink from his water skin, not wanting to miss the epic climax that had to happen at some point.

[thegoldenfedora]

Team Shootstuff
Markus shakes his head ”No this is great thank you!” He turns as Silas approaches. ”Gaius as in Gaius Torvan? You were just speaking with Allystra Lo too, does that make you a new recruit to Lion Storm as well?” he sticks out his hand ”Markus Savine, Rivertimes, could I get a few words for the paper?”

Kalisha looks at Veridotus trying to form words, her glaive falls to the group no d and suddenly Veridotus is in a tight embrace from her old friend. The size difference between the two was much more prominent than had been when they were children and Kalisha had to get in her knees to pull Veridotus to her.
”I missed you so much Veri! I can't believe your really back. I never thought I'd see you again.” After a few moments of just holding her, Kalisha finally let’s go stands as she wipes a few stray tears from her eyes. ”Ha I'm a mess,” she sheepishly picks up her glaive, ”Umm haha, yeah I've been with the city guard for almost fifteen years now. I'm head of training and Jotus' second in command.” The two start walking. ”So tell me everything, what was it like living out in the wilderness? How did you not get eaten?”

Wrexial
The two men continue to press on, the challenger's eyes glowing blue with wisps of flames flickering. Times goes by and Wrexial notices that the crowd has grown and that there were vendors weaving through the crowd selling various refreshments. After what feels like ages, whatever spell the elf had cast gives out to the competition above and the table explodes in shards of wood and splinters. The crowd cheers at the sight of the two men who wouldn’t let such a thing stop them. Even without the table their hands were still clasped and still struggling to pin the other.
”Well what do we do now Hurn?” the halforc asks, his voice gritted but calm.
”Same thing we did in Den Kulohdr” the giant man replies.
”Oh crap” the elf cried, ”Everyone get back!” The two contestants disengage and leap back from each other. The half orc raises his right hand outwards ””Come!””. Hurn too raises his right hand and the two men charge each other. ”Huuuuuuurn!” their hands slap and clash against each other when suddenly Hurn is lifted from the ground and slammed back into it. The crowd erupts in noise as the half orc is declared victor. The half orc grabs Hurn’s hand and hauls him to his feet, the two begin to laugh and cheer for the crowd. Wrexial notices that where Hurn had landed, the cobblestone streets was completed decimated. He looks back in awe at the half orc when the wind picks up and the half orc’s blue robe flutters revealing the Lion Storm symbol in silver over his breast.

[Jenlikesbacon]

M'raji was taken aback, for this was the second time today he was approached by a stranger willingly. He assumed this man wanted to meet his uncle- after all, everyone else did. He turned to the new face. "Oh, I don't know anybody named Gaius. I just came here with my uncle Ratike, he's the one mobbed by the crowd. Are you here to be initiated too?"

[Playking57]

Silas makes eye contact with Markus, sizing him up. " 'As well?' So I take it that means this one you are speaking to is an initiate as well?" Silas extends a hand toward the scarred Catfolk with a slight bow. "Yes, I am here to meet with Lion Storm too. Tal-valis, friend. I am Shiridas Kor-Bal..." At the pronunciation of his name, the syllables are somehow guttural and breathy all at once, creating sounds that seem nigh unrepeatable, with an almost otherworldly quality. "Silas, for you," he says with a half-smile.

"So you have questions for me?" he says, turning back to Markus. "Sure, I will answer some. But to be honest, I am quite anxious to meet with Gaius. The gnome gave us directions, yes? I say we follow them. Walk with us if you'd like." Here, he turns to the gnome running the stand. "Thank you for the guidance, sir. Two Kraken-Sticks, please." Silas hands over two silver, and hands one of the pastries to the fellow Lion Storm initiate who seemed to love them so much, and starts to lead the way to the location the Gnome mentioned... before he remembers that he has no idea where he is going.

He smiles sheepishly, and gestures politely for Markus, the Riverstone native, to lead the way instead.

[lougerstle]

Kalisha's caring embrace was the first real affection Veridotus had felt since she lost her mother and she too was overcome with emotion and wept with her friend. Its alright I"m a mess too. she said as she dried her eyes with her sleeve. I only survived because I had to. Being so abruptly introduced into the wild at such a young age I had no concept of how to survive, I was terrified and certain that I would be eaten by any of the forests many predators. So I used every advantage I had, using my size I would either find a tiny opening between rocks, fallen tress, or any opening in the brush that could only accommodate a small person that made an inconvenient or unaccessbile shelter for myself at night. And without any idea or direction of what I could sustain my self on, I foraged everywhere I could go and eat things that smelled familiar and seemed safe. It was quite a lot of trial and error, I had many days and nights where I was doubled over in pain or hallucinating quite powerfully when I made a poor choice of what might be alight to eat.

As the years went by I learned from my mistakes and found there was plenty to thrive on. I made many "unique attempts" to build a permanent shelter and after many failures I built my home. I addition form what I found through the forest, I kept a garden for fruits and vegetables, I began to make traps to catch small game for meat, and pretty much taught myself everything I needed to know out of necessity to survive. But above all else I always relied on the instincts that I have always have trusted, the same ones that showed me that I could find a true friend in you. It wasn't easy but I managed to get along alright. She concluded with a smile, And now those same instincts have brought me back home and brought us together again.

But that's plenty about me..How have you been? How are you finding the city guard? Is it difficult to manage the safety of the city and train those responsible for its safety?

[warper]

Rex was disappointed. Not with the spectacle, but with Hurn. Hurn lost, his one thing going for him is his meaty arms but it wasn't enough. The half orc used some sort of magic, so he couldn't be stupid, and proved to be stronger than Hurn as well. Who is that guy? was what Wrexial wanted to know. But he put a smile on in case anybody sees and quietly slips away, free to check out what this place has to offer.

[thegoldenfedora]

Team Shootstuff
As the two new recruits clasp hands, Markus pulls out a small redish cube and holds it up to his eye. He whispers a word and then tucks the cube away. ”That will be great!” the group begins to head towards the city center. Still surrounded by his fans, Ratike waves at M’raji as they pass by. Markus continues his interview. ”Really I’m just trying to get to know all of the new recruits, so whatever you can tell me about yourself would be fantastic! Things like what you bring to the guild and why you are joining, you know, think of it like you were introducing yourself to the city.” Even though the reporter was engaging Silas with the interview, Markus kept pace with M’raji so that the young feline would stay involved.

Veridotus
”City defense is generally pretty easy. I mean when you are home to one of the greatest adventuring guilds, it takes some pretty dumb bandits to try and raid you. No our work mainly comes from keeping the peace and containing the Lion Storm antics.” Kalisha turns down another street and crosses a bridge that spans one of the many water roads. At the height of the bridge, Veridotus can see the park district ahead, the home to one of the cities great gardens. ”As for the training, sometimes we lose our trainees to Lion Storm, I mean most people don't come to Riverstone to be city guard, they are hoping for the chance to impress a guild member. But other than that the training goes well. In fact later today you will get to see first hand some of the initial training.” The two enter the park district where the celebrations are not as boisterous as they are in the rest of the town. Groups of families have set up blankets to watch the festivities from afar while occasional merchants walk around, quietly selling their wares. Mistaking Veridotus for a child due to her size, a group of children rush the halfling with play weapons brandished. Many have the Lion Storm symbol painted acroos their face and they challenge each other pretending to be Hurn the Mighty, Glad the Fearless, Zen the Sharp, or Allystra the Swift. One calls out that he is Thurfalcon and immediately the others berate him saying that wasn't fair. Kalisha calls to them ”You know children, you may soon be wishing to be a new hero, how about Veridotus the Pipsqueak!” she challenges laughingly. The children straighten up at the sight of the city guard, but their curiosity at the latest guild member got the better and soon they were clamoring to see Veridotus.

Wrexial
Wrexial begins to weave through the crowd, feeling unsatisfied with his mentor. He overhears people say the name Hurn and Thurfalcon and something about the number 57, but he can’t make out any specifics. He watches money exchange hands as the gamblers take their winnings. He notices the elf woman talking with a female nagaji. The nagaji has a wicked barbed shield strapped to her back and a shortsword at her waist. Noticing Wrexial the nagaji pauses her conversation with the elf and walks towards him.
”Greetingss, fellow recruit, I am pleased to make your aquaintansse. I am Thetassku, Kayleesssa is my mentor. I misssed the lasst recruitment day by only a few monthss. I am curiouss how it iss that Hurn recruited you, from what I undersstand, Hurn hass never recruited anyone at all.” The nagaji wears light armor that exposes her lean but strong looking arms. Her pale blue scales shine in the sunlight. She sizes up Wrexial. ”If it pleasses you there are many gamess to be played. Would you do me the honor of a challenge?”
There are several games nearby, lizard racing, hog catching, archery, arm wrestling , a climbing tower, an obstacle course, a trivia contest, an egg race and a ring where duelists engage in swordplay.

Zaiho
Zaiho begins to climb down from his perch. On his way, the Vanara swings up and over, landing face down on the same ladder, his face annoyingly close to Zaiho's. ”Congratulations on your victory kind sir. Please take this for your time rehehehe.” the Vanara pulls out a small coin purse, then grins wildly ”Unless of course you'd like to win more rehehehe.” the Vanara’s voice travels a full range of octaves starting first low and then going high before dropping low again and he constantly laughs as if everything he does is funny. ”You could challenge someone, or be challenged, I'll keep adding money until your feet hit the ground one way or another rehehehe!”

[warper]

Rex is surprised that the nagaji knew he was Hurn's apprentice but supposed it wasn't that hard to figure out. "I am Wrexial Wint..." Rex stops himself before saying his last name. He doesn't look like the same person and foolish claims as nobles might get him in trouble later. Especially with a guild that probably has been everywhere. "...Just Wrexial." He says with a tight lipped smile. "Hurn saw potential I guess, would he accept otherwise?"

Rex checks the nagaji over, noting his armor allowed lots of breathing space. "Perhaps an obstacle course would be acceptable? We both seem a fair skill to the other." Wrexial checks his chain shirt, thinking how it might look like a disadvantage, but he wore it as easily as others wore hide and leather.

[lougerstle]

Kalisha's jest with the children was a playful banter that reminded Veridotus of their play as children and brought up a feeling of warmth and happiness that she almost forgotten. It was a cheeky exchange between trusted friends which was something Veridotus has not experienced in all the years that had past since she was taken to the woods, it was fun! Continuing with the lighthearted jeers Veridotus glanced up at Kalisha with a sly grin and said Now I am forever indebted to you, for now my name shalle be know across the the land those who challenge me will tremble before 'Veridotus the Pipsqueak.' After a small laugh she continued. Though it was nice to see the children treating the city guard with the respect that it deserves, and I could imagine none finer than you be tasked with the noble task of training these young recruits thus ultimately protecting this elegantly refined providence. I am excited to see what feats of training we will privy to witness later.

As they cross the bridge, Veridotus stops for a moment to remark This is a truly beautiful beautiful, especially here, I could only dream of having such a magnificent garden lush with a cornucopia of fruits, vegetables and spices in the forest. Veridotus stops for moment with an inquisitive look to her friend. May I as one question about a remark you made earlier. You mentioned that as a member of the guard you sometimes have to contain the antics of the guild, is this anything that I should be concerned with being that I am prospective member? I only ask because I am curious to understand the whole of everything I am about to embark on, and as you know I have no reference from over the last 30 years. I have always trusted my instincts, they are what allowed me to survive in the wild and what have brought me to Lion Storm, but now returning to my home and having my only friend again at me side I would like to know your opinion of such matters.

[Playking57]

"Well..." Silas tried to decide just how much he wanted to reveal to the whole city. Apparently, his people had a bad reputation in town thanks to this mystery Atma-Vir, and he didn't want to put a target on his head before he had even settled in with Lion Storm. So he decided to tell *most* of the truth. "As to why I am here, my tribe is in danger. We have enemies that are powerful and wicked, so my chief decided that we should start becoming allies with nearby kingdoms like Riverstone. I have been chosen by my people to be... an envoy, I suppose? What is a safiirka in your tongue... an ambassador! An ambassador between your people and mine.

"And as to what I bring to the guild: I bring nearly 20 years of martial training. My father, the leader of my people's armed forces, taught me ways to fight and kill with a bow ever since I was 2. Now, it is the only weapon I need, whether it be a fire fight or up close and personal. Many of my people are born skilled in the arts of magic. I was not afforded this luxury; I had to keep pace with my magical peers with my raw skill in battle.

"Of course, there is always more to learn..." Here, Silas gestures to the raw-looking scars that spider-web across his scalp and neck, and peak out from the edges of his armor. "These are from my first large-scale battle. My closest friend and I barely escaped with our lives... but you should see the other guys," he said with a wink. "Actually, that is where I met Gaius. He lead a group of solders through the battlefield to rescue us after we got surrounded. I guess the couple dozen dead raiders we prepared for his arrival impressed him!" Silas added a little grandeur here, to let Markus have something to impress his readers with.

"I bring nearly 20 years of experience in the wilderness as well. I can hunt, track, hide, whatever one would need to survive on one's own beyond the walls of your city. You'd be surprised what one person who is good in the wild can do for an entire army of men army that aren't.

"Is that what you were looking for?" he asked Markus, hoping that he had given just enough details to keep him satisfied without giving away anything too essential. It was going to be hard to keep a low profile once this article was published, regardless.

[Jenlikesbacon]

M'raji walked along with Markus and the other recruit, unsure of what to do. Most people wouldn't dare to approach him so callously, but Silas seemed pretty nice. He gnawed at his kraken tail while Markus and Silas talked. He was a little jealous that Silas stole the attention of the reporter, but the envy dispersed as he continued eating his snack. M'raji noticed Ratike waving at him, and smiled back, his fur and teeth covered in powdered sugar. He turned back to the group just in time to notice Markus holding a tiny cube. While he thought it was a little strange, he didn't question it.
M'raji heard the name Gaius being thrown around frequently, and decided to get informed. "I don't mean to interrupt, but who is the Gaius everyone keeps mentioning?"

[thegoldenfedora]

Wrexial
Thatassku nods at Wrexial's suggestion.

”Yess that would be agreeable. I wass almost worried you would choose a game of chansse.” She hands her weapons and shield to her mentor who watches the event curiously.

”I do believe those two over there are the only ones with more competitive spirit than Thatassku, be careful, you might just get a rival.” The elf says to Wrexial. Her stuff unloaded, the nagaji and Wrexial approach the game host, a happy looking dwarf be with glasses, and the nagaji pays 10 silver for both her and Wrexial.

”We are two recruitss to Lion Sstorm and wissh to compete with your game.” The dwarf takes the money before calling out to the crowd.

”Hoho, well now, looks like we have a competition folks!” he calls to the crowd. ”Anyone want to take bets on this epic showdown.” The crowd takes to the competition and suddenly Wrexial is on display for everyone. Hurn and the other notice the commotion and approach to watch.

”Good Rex, show spirit, fight, win!” Hurn calls to Wrexial while the half orc takes a moment sizing up Wrexial and Thatassku.

”Shall we join on the action Hurn? We can make it 57.” Hurn laughs, agrees and the two begin betting on the game. Ignoring them, Wrexial overlooks the game. It was simple enough, it began with an inclined balance beam and then a 15 foot wall with pegs to climb over. Once at the top of the wall there was a door. The door had 15 panels in a 4X4 grid and could be slid about to create the lion Storm symbol. Once the panels were in place, the door would open. From there, the challenger would have to leap from block to block in order to descend and then return to the ground. Waiting for them was a wall of taught chains making small holes for a person to try and wiggle through. At the end of it all was a maze.

Thatassku goes first, handling each stage relatively well, the only thing that particularly slowed her down was the door puzzle. When she finally exits the maze the dwarf announces her time.

Hohoho! 86 seconds, as expected of a Lion Storm recruit she beat the average time! Now let's see what her opponent can bring to the table!”

the height of the wall looks as if it would afford a decent view of the maze you think you may be able to figure out how to navigate it from that view. A dc16 perception check will give a +4 bonus on whatever check you use while in the maze.

Balance beam: time 12 seconds acrobatics dc 10
Climbing wall: time 15 seconds climb dc=13
Puzzle door: time 20 seconds disable device dc=15
Block jumps: time 10 seconds acrobatics dc=15
Chain wall: time 12 seconds escape artist dc=13
Maze: time 20 seconds survival dc=15 or intelligence dc=12
Total 89 seconds
Record 73 seconds

Veridotus
”Geez I can't imagine being so out of touch to not know what a mess Lion Storm makes. Whether it is Gorald on a drunken walk home singing at 3 in the morning, another of Hurn and Thurfalcon's challenges, Diedra terrifying the town with her illusion practice or any number of the evil mischief wrought by their enemies, Lion Storm is destructive, no doubt about it . They are good natured people, but sometimes they seem more like children with overwhelming power than reasonable adults with overwhelming power.” She stops and smells one of the flowers and smiles. ”It's a job I'm happy to do, Lion Storm is integral to this city and what they bring far outweighs their destructive playfulness.” She picks a small purple and orange flower and puts it into Veridotus' hair, ”You should be proud to join them. They are the just the right kind of crazy for Veridotus the Fearsome Pipsqueak from the Woods.”
If you want to ask more questions feel free, when you are done Auliverious will be showing up.
The two continue to explore the garden for some time before Auliverious shows up.

”Ah, I thought I might find you here. Did you get a chance to catch up?” he says, an easy grin on his face. ”Ahhh, I do love these gardens, you know they were planted shortly after Riverstone became a city, the prince at the time loved flowers quite a lot, he was a young man and the sole heritor to the kingdom, he actually ended up having a sister who popped up almost entirely out of nowhere, a priest claiming she was of royal blood had been taking care of her, the protest was actually one of those Norgerber worshipers and he was running a very small temple in the city underneath the local inn, that inn actually still exists now, obviously the temple doesn't exist in the basement anymore since they have a full scale temple in the temple district, but I believe the name of that inn was 'Masked tankards’ a little on the nose, but they have become a bit if a local legend, kind of like how that one man said he once met a friendly little goblin here in town who would worship Sarenrae because of how much he liked the holy fire, little fellow was known as Gipplong and the families would use him as a fairy tai tale to-“ He continues on and on.

Team Shootstuff
Markus nods emphatically to Silas and then turns to M’raji, as he pulls out his notes,

”If I'm not mistaken Gaius is the one who recruited Silas to Lion Storm. Let's see, he is known to be quite the master of disguise and infiltration while at the same time having a fair proficiency with daggers.” He pour’s over his notes, ”For the longest time no one even knew what his skills were, he was that good at hiding and staying in the background, but once his cover was blown rescuing a priestess from a cult he has been a little more open about his skills.” the group spies several pillars ahead with beams running across and people trying to knock each other off with batons up ahead. Gaius notices them first, appearing suddenly out of the crowd.

”Silas! There ya are, I've been waitin' fer ya! Who do ya have we with ya, he gives M'raji and Markus a quick glance ”your Ratike's whelp, I saw ya two earlier, chumming it up with the reporters, and you must be one a those same reporters” A kitsune approaches the group a small coin purse in his hand. ”Ah lemme introduce you to your colleague, meet my other vouchee Zaiho the defender of an eight foot hunk of wood.”

Zaiho
Zaiho declines the Vanara’s offer and takes the coin purse before finishing his descent. Once he reaches the earth he spies Gaius speaking to a catfolk with a horrible scar on his face, he recognizes him as the one he and Gaius we're watching earlier, a man with tattoos around his eyes and another unassuming man. Gaius waves him over and as Zaiho nears, Gaius introduces him to the three strangers.

”Ah lemme introduce you to your colleague, meet my other vouchee Zaiho forgot-his-name, the defender of an eight foot hunk of wood.”

you are now the proud owner of 2 pieces of gold!https://media.giphy.com/media/n59dQcO9yaaaY/giphy.gif

[warper]

Wrexial raises an eyebrow at her and smiles, thinking how she didn't realize that a game of "chance" was literally why he was here. "Perhaps a chance for you." Rex leaves it at that, leaving the mystery of what he means hanging. When they go up to the dwarf, Rex refuses to let her pay. "I can pay my way. Thank you though."

Wrexial watches her go first with interest. "Good luck."He was fine with having the advantage of watching someone else go first and after she starts was happy to have the advantage. She had skills. The climb worries Rex most of all, but even one slip could be disastrous in any one section. So though he felt confident that he had the ability to do the tasks, how fast could he go? All of a sudden Wrexial was aware of all the eyes on him. He kind of liked it, not the attention, but the anticipation. Wrexial cracked his first real smile since getting here. Possibly since the deaths. Don't worry about the challenge. Just have fun.

The storm inside collided with the calm outside of him as he waited for the go in silence. As soon as he could he sprints to the first challenge. Using his momentum, Rex just walks across it quickly. It was a lot like balancing on a mark's house. Next was the climbing piece. Wrexial took his time, sacrificing precious seconds to make sure he got it right. The climb was relatively easy though and he thought he could speed up and be fine. He stayed at his pace though, reminding himself not to get over eager.

The puzzle was next... should be simple enough. Wexial pushed piece by piece until the last one. Right as he thought the last one was going in place, it snapped out and the whole puzzle reset! **** Wrexial thought. Before he froze though, Rex refocused and did it all again. This time putting the last pieces in the right spots.

After the puzzle, the jumping blocks seemed easy. Or maybe they actually were, Rex practically jumped over the whole challenge laughing as he sailed through the air. The chain wall took time but Wrexial didn't fail like at the puzzle. Knowing he had lost a vast amount of time from that failure, Wrexial sprinted around the maze. No matter how fast he went he didn't seem to gain distance as twists and turns threatened to overwhelm him. Finally he emerged, but he knew he hadn't shaved any time on the maze.

At the end Wrexial stood, awaiting his time as the smile slowly peeled away into his regular blank stare. He purposefully looked at no one in particular as his heavy breathing turned to more controlled breathes.

[lougerstle]

Kalisha's comments about the guild again sparked another connection of what felt like destined fate for Veridotus, looking at how her friendship with Kalisha was quite like how the Lion Storm exists within the city. As children they would play recreating lives of those who lived no longer and if their relatively morbid capers were compared to the antics of these well know heroes there would be more similarities than differences. Admittedly it is not as sophisticated as the practices of advanced illusions or as disruptive as a drunken song filled walks or the challenges of great warriors; but they were all good natured practices that, when discovered, caused a bit of a disturbance to the citizens of Riverstone. Veridotus takes the wise words of her friend to heart, reaches up to take hold of Kalisha's forearm looking at her with the most sincere gratitude to say Thank you Kali, you are not only my oldest friend but one of the wisest people I have encountered through my relatively sheltered life. Its sounds foolish to consider, but I now believe that ever since we played as children I have been destined to join Lion Storm. My life has not been easy but I have not doubted the energies I have felt or even the connections to the paintings you had made for me when we were so young, and its that trust and commitment the those instincts that have brought me back here to Lion Storm and have found you again. I am honored for the opportunity to be apart of such camaraderie to help anyone who is in need. I will commit to my heart to pursue this and hold true that we have both found our truest calling to help. I feel this from our childhood play where we could only imagine such actions, to now where you give the skills to protect those from loss, and for myself only just beginning to find my place within this great guild to prevent some potential damage from ever occurring. So you have my sincerest thanks and know you shall always have a friend with Veridotus the Fearsome Pipsqueak. With her final words Veridotus smiles at her friend for a moment, then continues to walk through the grandeur of the gardern district.

[InstantOatmeal]

"A pleasure to meet you all," Zaiho said, striding forward and offering a hand to each in turn, "Gaius seems to know so many people, though almost all of them don't know his official title:'The Rogue who Lands on His Rear." Zaiho threw an arm around the grumbling man's shoulder, "come, Gaius, you know I jest. Now do we have more to do or can we go to the tavern? I seem to remember a promise of ale?"

[Jenlikesbacon]

M'raji stuck out a hand to the group in greeting. "It's finally nice to meet you all! I'm M'raji, it's an honor to be inducted today." M'raji looked down at his hand and saw powdered sugar matting down his fur. He blushed and quickly withdrew his hand and wiped it on his robes. He turned toward Gaius. "I know my uncle speaks of your accomplishments all the time. I'd love to hear more about your time in the guild."

[thegoldenfedora]

Wrexial
Wrexial looks to the dwarf who had a bit of a dumbfounded look on. His thumb clicks down on a stopwatch and he inspects it. He pauses, building up anticipation.

”The second challengers time is… 88 seconds! Two seconds behind the Nagaji! But did you see how that boy flew down from that wall? He was like a leaf on the wind! Everybody give it up for the Nagaji and the Falling Leaf Hero!” Wrexial returns to his group, Thatassku goes to see him, but Hurn pushes past.

”Do not fret! Do not let loss be loss! Fight more, show strength, then win!”

”It is getting close enough now Hurn we should head to the Rose Petal Plaza. Wrexial recognizes this new voice as Sadana, the gauntlet forever attached to Hurn's hand, her voice is clear and precise. Hurn nods and the group of Lion Storm members, Hurn the Mighty, Sadanna the gauntlet, Kaleesa the elf, Thurfalcon the half orc, Thatassku the Nagaji, and then Wrexial the Risen. It was quite a group to be so suddenly a part of. ”You did well Wrexial of the falling leaf.” Sadana gives an airy laugh. ”But use this as a learning moment. See what you did well, and what you can do better for the future.”

”Blocks look hard.” Hurn chimes in, his deep voice rumbling.

’”Yes, but with those, he knew what he was doing, you could see how close he got before their timer reset. No I was thinking more about the climbing wall, it was the only moment that our Wrexial seemed to hesitate and forcefully slow his momentum in that entire run.” Wrexial can see it plain as day how hard Hurn was concentrating on Sadana’s words. Longer than the behemoth ever focused on anything anyone else said.

Thatassku steps up to Wrexial. ”That wass impresssive, if not for the puzzle, you would have surely won our contesst. Thank you for agreeing to my requesst. I feel that we musst have more of ssuch challenges.”

The group continues on until finally they reach the Rose Petal Plaza.


Veridotus
Looking helplessly at Veridotus, Kalisha interrupts Auliverious. ”Don't you think it is time we head to the ceremony?” Auliverious stops mid sentence, talking about some frog that was trying to reclaim a kingdom.

”Ah yes, I suppose we should. Well Veridotus, it is now time to meet your family.” Auliverious forges forward and at the sight of the white robed man heading to the town center, families begin to pack their things and follow to the ceremony. The trio exits the garden and heads up the street. Auliverious leads the way and shortly after leaving the garden, Veridotus can see the Rose Petal Plaza.


Zaiho and Team Shootstuff
Silas introduces himself to Zaiho, leaving out his origin with the reporter still being present. As soon as he gets a chance, Markus begins to interview the kitsune. ”Hello Markus Savine: Rivertimes, What brings you to Lion Storm? What skills do you have and what do you hope to accomplish here?”

’Walk an talk boys. We got a ceremony ta do!” Gaius calls, already several yards away. ”M'raji ya better get ya face cleaned up, robes could use a bit a that magic cleanin as well. Look sharp Silas it’s not every day you get a party thrown fer ya!” Gaius strides forward through the crowd, he begins singing whatever comes to him ”Make way, Make way, for the oddest group you'll see, two furballs and, a tattooed man, and a regular bloke that's me!”

Gaius continues to lead the way and after one last turn he sings ”Make way, make way, for the greatest sight you'll see, a giant tree, a fair for… thee, and a regular bloke that's meeeeeeee!” he gestures and as the rest round the corner they can see the Rose Petal Plaza.


The Rose Petal Plaza
As each new hero rounds a corner, they can finally see the Rose Petal Plaza. The first thing that anyone notices is the massive elven ruby tree. It reached 30 feet into the air and had long strong branches that were all covered in pink red cherry blossoms. What was most incredible about this tree however was that it was slowly moving. As the adventurers get closer, they pass another of the magical sound barriers that were monitoring each streets music and they were suddenly able to hear a deep female voice singing slowly and joyfully. The tree spins and turns slowly, revealing two legs, arms and a face. The creature had branches and cherry blossoms sprouting all about it and it was revealed that it was the source of the melodic singing. Every now and then the creature would wave and it even once caught an escaping cloud clump that had freed itself from the hands of a child.

The creature stood in the center of the square on a large patch of gardened grass. Around this grass was a moat that would occasionally fire water in arcing streams that would create rainbows in the sun. Seven bridges cross the moat, each one lining up with the streets that lead into the square, and each water road connects at the moat. The streets are filled with people who are taking up position to watch the ceremony. Boats moor themselves in, creating more seating areas. All in all the plaza had to span 200 feet and was the most festive looking place so far. Banners crossed the sky, streamers dangled from the buildings, the ground was painted with lively scenes of action, heroes fighting ogres, riding phoenixes, climbing mountains and of course carrying loot. Different colored cloud clumps were floating along everywhere.

At the beginning of the Gray Quarter is the Lion Storm guild hall, The Skies Pride. The building is shaped like a wide horseshoe and reaches 4 stories tall. It is built of white gold marble. Pillars with yellow and blue stripes span across the front and each one proudly displays a banner with the guild symbol on it. Large arches wrapping around beautiful windows form the entire front of the building and two great oak doors sit directly in the center of the building.

5 statues stand gallantly outside the building facing out into the world. The first is a man with a wide grin and a mask over his eyes, he holds a whip and a longsword. The second is an old man with a wild smile on his face and a tall gnarled staff in his hands. From the other side is a half orc with horns sticking out of his forehead. He has several scars and holds a wicked looking glaive at the ready. The next is an unassuming person with a plague doctors mask on and a wide brimmed hat. The center statue is a tall woman in heavy armor with a battle axe strapped to her back. A single scar crosses her cheek, and she holds a flag with the Lion Storm symbol embedded into it.

This section of the city is by far the busiest, it seems as if the entire city has congregated to this plaza. Humans, elves, dwarves, half breeds, gnomes, halflings, catfolk, kitsune, Vanara, gippli, the five djinn races, tengu and ratfolk, all can be seen interacting with each other and functioning in harmony. Every now and then another figure in a white robe with the Lion Storm insignia would pop up and wave at the mentors who happily waved back. Stalls were set up on the outer room of the plaza and were selling wares ranging from food, dolls of Lion Storm members, pendants, cloud clumps, scarves, seats and outdoor toys. Everything could be found if one looked hard enough and everything had Lion Storm stamped on it somewhere.

The three groups bring their inductees to the moat, Markus bids his farewell and joins the crowd saying he would find them later, and crosses the bridge to where a giant platform had been set up underneath the tree creature. The platform had banners hanging all around it and a few others were waiting nearby. Four were in white robes, an ifrit, an android, a half elf and Ratike who waved when he saw M'raji. Next to them were a tiefling, an undine, and a dwarf. The tiefling had red stripes like a tiger running along his body and dark black skin. He wears no weapon, but carries himself with confidence and poise. The dwarf was wearing leather armor, a pair of dark goggles and a wide brimmed hat. He had several blue, black and red beads braided into his pure white beard that reached his waist, and his skin looked particularly pale. The undine had long braided black hair with bits of blue running through it. Her armor leaves her shoulders bare and on her left shoulder, attached to her skin, is a black rock with a fissure timing through it, a warm rising from within.

”Ahh so this is everyone then?” the ifrit calls to the approaching groups.
Whoo that was a lot, great job everyone, the posting has been really good! Everyone take 200 xp for doing well at games and because I’ve liked what we have done so far. Keep it up! Sorry for the spelling mistakes, most of this was done at 2 am
The creature is singing in the Sylvan tongue, her song tells the tale of Jayce Charon the Bold, a famous Lion Storm adventurer who wanted to explore the entire world. While the song is about his death climbing the Stormspear mountains, it is sung joyously and celebrates the idea to strive for your dream for as hard and as long as you can because even if it should end in death, it will have been a life with living and a life with singing about.
imagine a cross between a balloon and cotton candy, they are created by minor magic and then colored with prestidigitation
The creature in the square is a Treant, a creature known to be as old as, and the guardian of, a forest. They are slow and methodical, but can be terrifying when angry. They are especially good at tearing down man made structures.
This creature is Elora the singing treant, she has been living inside this city for as long as anyone can remember, she has always been pleasant and will offer seeds from her body for people to grow.

This creature is Elora, she lived here before the city was built and has resided in this square ever since. No one knows why she is part of the city, but some historians suspect, like most things within this city, that it had to do with Lion Storm in some way

The statues represent the founders of Lion Storm, Allessiter the highwayman turned adventurer who slew the Sandpoint demon, Flintsmear the wizard who never quite learned his age, Slate, a man who never showed his face but could assume the identity of anyone, Thurfalcon the Third a vigilante singlehandedly erradicated the creation and distribution of the addictive drug known as shivers and Saleena, the one who brought them together and was the first guild master of Lion Storm

[lougerstle]

As they continue down the street, just after exiting the garden, the immense ruby tree standing prominently in the center of the plaza is quite evident even to such a person of small stature. Veridotus struggles to for a clear view with all of the townspeople gathering, but comes to clearing in the crowd and is stunned by the pure spectacle that is unfolding. The seemingly impossible feats of a beautifully blossomed tree, with sentient life, that can aide children to recapture their precious treats while a river magically spouts up water to create a exquisite scene framed with rainbows! This causes Veridotus to stop for a moment, taking in the grandeur of everything that is happening. During her childhood she would come to visit this mystical place, but it has never been this magnificent, she cannot even begin to fathom what the will actually happen when the new recruit ceremony begins.

Pressing forward they approach the Gray Quarter and The Skies Pride, home to her mentor and where she will begin what she expects to be an even larger challenge than what she has already overcome. The level or ornamentation is more than she could imagine. The structure itself seems to emanate pride and honor, which is only further accentuated by the decoration done in preparation for the arrival of the new recruits. This is a kind of honor she never would have thought possible to apart of and happen to her. [roll0]She notices the five statues, recalling from her child hood they represent the founders of Lion Storm. The sculptures were quite an impressive display of the potentially most significant adventures in Riverstone that, at least to Veridotus, a deserving tribute and reminder of what is possible to achieve when bestowed the privilege and opportunity to become apart of Lion Storm.

With such a plenitude of all kinds of people bustling about in absolutely every direction, Veridotus has to keep focused on keeping pace with Kalisha and Auliverious so as not to become lost in the masses passing everywhere. Keeping as quick and agile of a step that she can, she makes sure never to be more than a a few short steps from either of her companions until finally reaching a rather sizable stage where four esteemed members of Lion Storm stood wearing white robes with that had insignia of the guild proudly displayed on it.

[Jenlikesbacon]

As the group passed the ruby tree, M'raji could feel the excitement building up inside of himself. There were so many beautiful sights, it was hard to keep up with the group while admiring his surroundings. M'raji attempted to lick the powdered sugar off his fingers and dust off his robe when he caught sight of the statues. He had no clue who they were depicting, but felt inspired by the woman with the scar on her face. He gently touched his own scars and thought about how he would be treated once he was officially in the guild. Could he one day have a statue of himself here too? Would the people be proud of his efforts?
Realizing that he didn't quite lick off all of the sugar, he ripped his hand away from his face and continued shaking out his robe. M'raji looked up and caught sight of Ratike waving at him from a platform, surrounded by others in white robes. M'raji sheepishly waved back. He leaned over towards the group "This is a little embarrassing, but those statues? Who are those people being portrayed?"

[warper]

Wrexial takes the advice and cheer without a word. He suppresses a chuckle as Hurn struggles to understand Sadana. Rex nods to the nagaji. "I look forward to it."

Wrexial is amazed by the tree. Look at all that color! Wrexial wants to stop and inspect the moving tree but follows the group, not wanting to fall behind and figuring that there would be time later. That doesn't stop him from looking while at the moat though.

[thegoldenfedora]

”Aye, lemme introduce Zaiho and Silas. Boys meet Jake the Torch, D-AIT. the Mighty Tusk, and Glad the Fearless” Gaius says gesturing turn from the ifrit, the android and the half elf as he wraps an arm around each of his vouchees.

”This one is known as Lenora.” the D-AIT says motioning to the undine.

”Hello newcomers I am Ratike and this is my protégé M'raji.” Ratike stands behind M'raji a paw on either of the boys shoulders.

”Good to meet you, this is Tikrack” Jake says, nodding at the tiefling.

”This Rex” Hurn says, resting his meaty hand on Wrexial's shoulder.

”Welcome to our new friends, I am Kaleessa, allow me to introduce Thatassku.” the elf woman with the blue stripe says standing next to the nagaji.

”Hello everyone, I am Auliverious and this is Veridotus.” Auliverious says gesturing to Veridotus. ”And I'm sure you know our lieutenant of the city watch and Veridotus' childhood friend Kalisha. This stage sure looks better than last time, the Carpenters guild had gotten a batch of-“

”Sorry Auly but I gotta introduce Dragar first.” The half elf jumps in.

”Excellent, well know that everyone has been properly introduced shall we begin? the half orc asks.

”Not everyone has, it's about time that you give up your mystery act don't you think?” Sadana chides at him.

”Oh very well Sadana,” the half orc stands proudly his armor shining in the sun and just as he speaks, the wind picks up slightly and his cape blows in the wind. ”I am the Thurfalcon the 8th, the sixth guild master of Lion Storm.” He gives a strong smile and then looks to Ratike ”Would you do the honors friend?” Ratike nods, points his arm upwards and yells, his voice loud enough to be heard throughout the entire plaza.

”Let the ceremony begin!” the crowd cheers and even the tree creature in the center lets out a mighty bellow. Thurfalcon takes the stage. At the sight of the impressive half orc, the crowd cheers again. The Lion Storm guild members follow, each mentor bringing their voucher. Waiting at the top of the platform was an old bare chested man, his body was covered in wonderful tattoos from head to toe. He nods gruffly at the new recruits. The recruits look around, realizing that the tree creature was blocking the view of half the plaza.

”Elora if you would please.” Thurfalcon calls to the creature. She smiles, and bends down, her gnarled leafy hands reaching underneath the platform. A second after the realization of what was going to happen hits them, the tree creature lifts the platform slowly into the air and raises it over her head. The recruits each stagger at the sudden move, but the platform never tips and becomes easy to regain their footing. ”Thank you tree mother.” Thurfalcon grins at the recruits before turning to face the crowd and pumping his first in the air.

”Riverstone!!” the crowd roars with excitement in response. ”Thank you for joining us on such an exciting day! It truly is a wonderful moment when we get to add new members to our family! Each person here was recommended by one of our own, their skills, character, resolve and potential have all been deemed excellent enough to merit joining our guild. These nine people have decided to become…

This.
Cities.
Newest.
PROTECTORS!!”
The crowd goes wild with cheers so much you could hear winds rushing by your ears at the sound. Thurfalcon begins to speak again when the noise begins to dwindle. ”Lion Storm! he yells at the top of his lungs ”Present your pride.” Thurfalcon removes his gauntlet and raises his fist, showing the Lion Storm guild symbol tattooed im blue on the back of his hand. Each guild member both on the platform and down below follows suit. Hurn raises Sadana in the air, brandishing her purple symbol on the back of the gauntlet, he flexes his other arm revealing the same symbol on his tricep in green. Ratike raises his hand showing a light blue symbol in his palm. Auliverious slips his robe down revealing his brown symbol on his shoulder. Gaius spins around and shows his red symbol on the back of his neck. Every other guild member does the same revealing all colors and all positions of the symbol.

”Without further wait, let's make these recruits into Lion Storm!”

Glad pushes Dragar forward and follows him over to Thurfalcon. The tattooed old man rises and approaches the dwarf. He pulls a tattooing kit from his bag and whispers to the dwarf and begins to work on a black tattoo on the dwarfs fist.

"I am Dragar son of Throgar, Glad recruited me while visiting my village of Northholme, we were attacked by duegar and the two of us, along with the local militia protected the village until daybreak, thank you for having me."

"Welcome Dragar!" the crowd cheers at the first of the new recruits. The old man quickly finishes the tattoo, faster than anyone had completed a tattoo before. He chants and places his palm on the emblem. It glows for a second then returns to normal and the death and half elf return to the line.

Jake and Tikrack go next. "Yo, I'm Tikrack, Jake found me in a bar fight." Jake laughs a little, "Don't be modest, Purple Sun started the bar fight with me and Tikrack here spent the entire time defending the inn keepers daughter who had gotten caught in the middle of it." Jake comes in, crowds praise.

"Welcome Tikrack!" Thurfalcon yells, the crowd joining in. The old man finishes a silver tattoo on the tiefling's shoulder and again chants and places his palm on the tattoo.

Lenora and D-AIT follow after. "Greetings I am Lenora of the Olono tribe, D-AIT saved me from a savage sea creature that had attacked my village, after the encounter, some of its blood melded with mine and I developed fire magic."

"Welcome Lenora!" Her tattoo is placed in the center of her back between her shoulder blades.

Thatassku and Kaleessa go next, "The next recruit needs no introduction, you already know Thatassku who became a recruit last year. Despite not having membership status, she has still gone on jobs with Kaleessa and we are now very happy to welcome her to Lion Storm!" the old man puts a light blue tattoo in the center of her chest on her collar bone. Despite her scales, the old man has no problem applying the tattoo.


okay, please let me know IC or OOC where you would like your tattoo and what color, the tattoos have magic ingrained into them and will grant you the ability to also choose 1 0-level spell from any spell list to be able to cast once per day with a caster level equal to your level.
The effects of the spell were obvious enough, but you recognize the spell as Clarion Call, a spell that also allows you to mimic the sound of a trumpet.
The dwarf, Dragar, looks at you oddly with a mix of confusion and possibly rage.

[Playking57]

Silas had been standing open-mouthed, trying to take in the entire scene, when he was prodded forward by Gaius towards the stage. He had never seen a creature like this tree in the center of the Plaza, but he was shocked that a creature that seemed so attuned-to-nature and plant-like could exist in harmony in such an industrial place.

Looking at the statues beside the Lion Storm Guild Hall, Silas was reminded of his father and uncle back at home; these figures were clearly heroes to their people, just like his family was back home in Kor-Atma. Just like he was expected to become himself. He hoped that he would be able to live up to their expectations.

Silas was also intrigued by the cotton-like toys floating on strings that the children seemed to be so excited over. He began forming some ideas with just how useful these could be in the future, and was thinking of making a purchase when he was nudged towards the old man with the tattooing needle. He had been tattooed before, and he briefly considered adding the Lion Storm tattoo to his face like the others. After all, being inducted into such a society was certainly an accomplishment that was worthy of remembrance. But noticing that the tattoos were all about palm-sized at a minimum, he decided against it; as tough as Silas tried to be, there was no denying that facial tattoos hurt like hell, and he needed to save real estate for his future accomplishments.

As he started to approach the man on the platform, Silas held his thumb to his throat and pointed his little finger toward the tattoo artist, and began to speak to him through the crowd, so as to not detract from his introduction by seeming unprofessional and leaning into the artist before taking his place; he wanted to make a good impression with the city after all.

"Behind my right ear, please. And can you try to match the color with the rest of my tattoos?"

This is my Wind-Carried Voices ability

Silas takes his place and takes a deep breath to center himself. "Hello everyone. My name is Shiridas Kor-Bal. My friends call me Silas, as I hope you all will too." He smiles warmly, barely wincing as the needle stabs into his scalp. He gazes around the crowd, making sure to include as many people as possible, trying to plant the seeds in everyone's minds to one day gain their full trust and aid. "Gaius and my people fought in the same battle to defend your city from a band of raiders. While we succeeded and slew many, my companion Sahir and I were mortally wounded. Gaius came to our rescue, and saved our lives. I hope to one day repay the debt I owe him to each and every one of the People of Riverstone."

[lougerstle]

The platform being lifted and supported by this incredible ruby living tree reveals to Veridotus a full view of the immense ceremony that is happening. This is the most people she has ever seen in her entire life, and it is quite an overwhelming sight with an enormous amount if energy that seems to be electrifying the entire plaza. Focusing not to stumble she walks forward onto the platform, gazes out of the warmly welcoming sight of the vast crowd and the statues of the founders of Lion Storm, with a living relation present to witness her indoctrination. It was quite the intimidating scene, but she was filled with such a sense of pride she wanted to waste no time so with a quick breath she address the crowd

I am Veridotus Jarre, a native to this magnificent city. I was only fortunate enough to spend the very early years of my life here, but it has always been apart of me and for the time I spent here I always wanted and tired to good for anyone I could. I left when I lost my family, but was found by Auliverious Moro who has reclaimed me from the wood and brought me back to my home. Now I have returned to again help the people of this great land, except I have the honor to do so as a Lion Storm and I will do all that is within me to bring honor to this mighty guild and keep this city great. I shall commit all that I am now and focus on becoming as great as possible so that I may pay proper homage to Lion Storm, the mighty adventurers who began this powerful order, and to all of you.

Never having been tattooed, Veridotus was quite unsure of what to expect or even where to have it placed, until she approached the beautifully decorated artist. Then she knew that it would be red and placed on the front side of left shoulder, similar to the mentor who brought her here, and as a reminder to always help those who need it or else they will may have the same painful loss as she did. She leaned in to the skilled artisan, he executed with such skill and speed that it was over before she was really aware that it had began. Placing her hand over it, she felt as if it had always belonged there and she was now more complete. She smiled warmly feeling comfortable amongst everyone there, something she was unsure she had ever experienced.

[warper]

Wrexial stands stunned when Thurfalcon reveals his identity as leader. Hurn had lost... but to the guild head? Suddenly his loss didn't seem so bad. The half-orc with his cape billowing in the wind was it seemed the perfect blend of strength and cunning. Able to best the strongest and yet also smart and charismatic as enough to lead. Wrexial wondered if there was a secret to his success, or if he even needed one. Wrexial looked at Hurn and wondered if it was possible to "graduate" from one mentor to another. Wrexial knew that to be the best, he'd have to be better than all three.

Wrexial was torn from his thoughts though as Elora lifted them into the air. The dwarf gave him a look that spoke of recognition. Me? The shade! Wait, he knows? But before Rex can contemplate any longer the ceremony begins and people start introducing themselves. Oh ****! How was he supposed to say that he cheated Hurn? That unlike the rest of the people here he didn't do anything heroic? And the tattoo, Rex had never had any tattoos. Too young at home and on the street having specific associations could be problematic. Wrexial slides off his chain shirt with relative ease and waits for his turn before removing his shirt.

When his turn comes, Wrexial keeps it brief. "My name is Wrexial Wint-... Wrexial, I outsmarted Hurn and Sadana in a bet..." Rex puts on a smile as if it's a joke for the people watching but does not elaborate. He removes his shirt and points to his heart while hoping the oaf doesn't make things worse. Rex does his best not to flinch while receiving his tattoo. I've been through worse. He thinks to himself.

[thegoldenfedora]

The crowd cheers at Silas’ mention of fighting bandits. They cheer again at Veridotus' resolve. At Wrexial's mention of outsmarting Hurn, the crowd seems a little confused and doesn't immediately cheer. Wrexial hears Sadana whisper ”Say how great he is!” to Hurn who immediately shouts ”Rex beat me at cards and drink, just like guild master! He is made of strong stuff! Bahaha!” Hurn cheers and at the sight of the large joly man the crowd cheers along.

Gaius pushes Zaiho forward, ”Talson! put his right in the center of his face, might help him ta be a bit more attractive, this is Zaiho, I worked with him to uncover a slave ring”

Ratike brings M'raji forward next, ”Meet my shy nephew M'raji, please take care of him”

”Welcome to Lion Storm. These tattoos represent your pride in your guild. Wear them with honor and know that when you are alone, when you are sad, when you are afraid, lost, confused, beaten, defeated, Lion Storm will always be there with you!” he puts his hand in the air brandishing his Lion Storm tattoo. ”When you are excited, triumphant, happy, ecstatic, in love, Lion Storm is with you!” his Lion Storm symbol begind to glow with bright light, ”This symbol has the Pride of every Lion Storm member to have ever worn this symbol embedded into it. Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, never forget


YOU
ARE
LION STORM!!!
The light from Thurfalcon's hand strengthens until it seems like a second sun. Everyone can feel a warmth coming from it. The crowd roars louder than ever, the noise becomes deafening and it lasts for what seems like forever. The mentors nod with pride, looking out over the crowd of people they have served.

”Now you may all remember that we have a little special event that we like to do for new recruit day. Something that we like to do to thank all of you for your help and contribution to making our guild great! As you know, anyone can bring a job to our guild. It doesn't matter how small or how dangerous, we will ensure that it is taken care of. Normally we have someone who negotiates a price, but today, as our way of saying thanks, all jobs are free! It's a tradition that we are all too happy to uphold. And our newest members will work tirelessly to take care of your jobs.

It does seem to be a bit crowded here though,” the crowd laughs knowingly ”Hmm, let’s put the job call board oveeeeeeeeer THERE! Thurfalcon thrusts his glowing hand forward, the light travels off into the distance to the East side of the river. ”You better hurry new members, we will be watching your progress and we will be deciding on who is Best Cub!”

The tree creature began to lower the platform, the crowd cheering one last time for the new members. As the platform begins to descend, before it is anywhere close to being safe, Tikrack takes a running leap off of the platform, his arms spread eagled as he plummets to the ground. His hands weave arcane magic and his descent slows as he nears the ground. He flips forward and lands on his feet, taking off over the bridge acacross the moat. He disappears into the crowd, trying to break though.
”Way to go Tikrack, no hesitation!” Jake yells after him.

Okay here we go, it is a race to the job board which is on the other side of the river. The main Street to get to the river is through the road dividing the Temple and food district. The street has a main section that is in the center. With a water road on either side, many boats are moored in the water roads. And a slightly smaller road beyond each water road. Every here and there bridges gap these water roads. Buildings span either side of those roads, to the north the temple district buildings to the South the food district buildings.

This is a race, you are trying to reach where the light has traveled to before everyone else. There are many ways to get there and it is possible to find alternate routes to get there. The streets are crowded with people and it will require you to move slower to get through. There are many ways to go from point A to B and many ways to do the same thing, for instance, if you are trying to get through a crowd blocking the way, you could slip through the crowd with an escape artist check, but you could also yell for the crowd to get out of the way and clear a path with an intimidate check, or if you are feeling adventurous you could try to run on people's heads and shoulders with an acrobatics check. Those are just a few options for getting through a crowd, you can also try and avoid the crowd entirely, hire a boat, roof jump, find an alternate route.

This is how I'm planning on running it, (pathfinder has rules for this but I'm not a huge fan)


Step 1: roll initiative
Step 2: I tell you your obstacle
Step 3: you tell me how you want to overcome or bypass your obstacle
Step 4: I decide the difficulty and skill check
Step 5: roll
Step 6: based on your solution and how well you roll you will change rankings from 1st to 9th

Okay here it is
Initiatives!
1st obstacle: you are on the descending platform, it is 30 feet in the air, this obstacle can be overcome by waiting, at the base is the moat with several bridges 1 to the main road, and 1 to each smaller road on the temple and food districts side of the water roads.

[Jenlikesbacon]

M'raji notices the gigantic tree lowering the platform to the ground. "If I can climb down that tree I won't have to wait on this platform forever."


Initiative:
[roll0]

I wanna climb down the tree that is lowering the platform down

Climb check
[roll1]

[Playking57]

Finally, some excitement!

Initiative = 7 (rolled in OoC thread)

Silas reached into his quiver and pulled out his only Grappling Arrow; a gift from his father, fletched with heavy, sturdy, dirty-looking grey feathers pulled from the hieracosphinx that he had been sent to slay on his first mission with the Atma-Vir decades ago. Making sure that his rope was still securely fastened to it, he quickly looped the free end around his wrist.

Silas unslung his bow, notched the arrow, turned his back to the edge of the platform, gave his fellow initiates a sarcastic half-salute, and jumped backwards into the open air, firing his arrow into the platform in the same moment.

Acrobatics Check = 10 (rolled in OoC thread)

Feeding just enough rope to get a good distance on his swing without colliding with the crowd or the stone below him, Silas managed to swing enough to land outside the crowd and not fall flat on his face.

After he recovered from his less-than-graceful dismount, he pulled the rope taught in his hands... Dexterity Check = 17 (rolled in OoC thread) ...and yanked his arrow free from it's anchor-point, and began to re-wrap the rope as he turned and ran into the Food District, hoping the crowds would be more condensed around the vendors in this area, allowing his space to run between without being slowed down.

[InstantOatmeal]

Zaiho leapt off the platform, grasping for one of the many flag lines that fluttered across the square.



Basically I'm trying to swing across the moat and land right near where the crowd stops.

Initiative: [roll0]

Acrobatics: [roll1], if my roll falls within 2 of the DC for the acrobatics check, I'll use inspiration and add a d6 roll: [roll2]

[warper]

Rex watches the others leap off the 30' platform with wide eyed astonishment. He surveys the seen and waits for the platform to lower enough the he can jump rather safely. Looking at the crowds of people makes him smile. He'd always imagined running on a crowd, now was his chance to really try and show off this leafy title he had earned. With a sprint that would allow no changing of minds, Rex kept into the air.

[roll]1d20+7

[lougerstle]

Due to her size and strength, Veridotus decided it would be best for her to wait for the platform to lower to a safe distance then jump down and head for the water road, hire a boat and hope for a lot of traffic, and a helpful current, on the water way she could use as the advantage to be the first to arrive. Patiently she waited as the mighty tree lowered the platform and she focused to create a heightened awareness of her senses. She would need every advantage she could being the smallest of stature, and she would have to use her dexterity to be as agile as possible to gain the edge to be the first to the job board. Focoisong on where the ray of light was aimed, she eagerly. Waited as the platform lowered until it was a sage jumping distance, then leaped down toward the waterway.

From first OoC roll: 15

[thegoldenfedora]

Tikrack's bold maneuver springs several of the recruits onto action. M’raj and Thatassku immediately begin leap from the platform to the tree creature and begin climbing down it's trunk. As they descend, M'raji finds an opening and overtakes Thatassku down the tree. Silas takes a moment to pull out his grappling arrow and leaps off of the platform, swinging down to the base right as M’raji gets off of the tree. Zaiho leaps over as well, grabbing hold of one of the ropes with streamers hanging off of it that fill the streets. The rest of the recruits bide their time, and when the platform reaches the ground, they take off for the streets. Dragar trails after Tikrack down the wider center road. While Veridotus and Lenora run for the water roads, boats have set up all along, some moored next to the street, others casually floating in the middle.

Thatassku takes the side street on the temple district side of the main road , Wrexial following behind. They cross the bridge and see the Theology Fellowship, with it's great nine steps. All kinds of people sit along the steps with blankets set up to watch the festivities. The top of the stairs is the actual building, pillars line the outside of it holding the roof up and creating a narrow alley along the sides of the building. The front door is open to all who wish to enter and carved into each pillar is one of the gods. The street next to the building is full of people, threatening to slow the two competitors down.

Silas and Zaiho take the side street on the food district side, M'raji tails behind them. As they cross the bridge, they can see the Gourmet society as the premier building of the food district. The larger building is less ostentatious than the Theology Fellowship and is built of brick. The front has a wall of glass double doors and through the glass there is a large empty patio with a garden and several tables set up a grand staircase circles the patio heading higher up the building. Next to the building, the street still has many people watching, some try to move out of the way, but their efforts are ineffective due to the number of people.




Current ranking,
1st Tikrack
2nd Zaiho, Silas
4th M'raji
5thThatassku
6th Rex, Veridotus, Lenora, dragar


Everyone is now moving down the same street, Wrexial and Thatassku on the North side, Tikrack and Dragar in the center, and Silas, Zaiho and M'raji on the south side. Veridotus and Lenora have run up to the moat that has two water roads splitting the main Street into three
Obstacles
Temple street (Wrexial) crowd
Food street (M'raji, Silas, zaiho) crowd
Moat(Veridotus): water

[Jenlikesbacon]

M'raji looked along the side of the road and notices the buildings. He decided the best way would be to attempt to climb to the rooftops and run above the crowd, rather than try to move through the crowd.

[Playking57]

Silas reaches into his quiver and draws out a long arrow, fletched in feathers that change color as they are turned on the light; another gift from his father, these are fletched with feathers from a powerful Tane from the First world, a Jubjub Bird that tore through a rift through the planes when his Uncle first took his position as Cheif and had terrorized a neighboring Atma tribe.

Silas drew the arrow back, and loosed it into the nearest overhead object his arrow would stick into safely. The shrieking that emit from the arrow left a slight ringing in his ears as it sailed away.

Now that he had hopefully grabbed the fighting crowd's attention, he shouted to the masses "Citizens! Members of Lion Storm need to pass! Step aside please!"

[lougerstle]

Seeing the advantage the others gained from getting a head start by jumping from the platform and using other routes, Veridotis had to think quickly. As she ran towards the water roads, Veridotus recalled the boats floating on the water roads and headed for the closest one. She thought "I can use the boats sitting on the water to get past crowd and take the advantage over the others. " and then leaped for the first boat in the hope to be the first to arrive at the job board.

1d20
or
1d20

[warper]

Wrexial had always been good at shifting through crowds, but he was already behind some of the others, so instead of pushing through the crowds he vaulted off a nearby crate and tried to run on top of the crowd. Just as he started a weird whistling sound was heard and everyone turned to look, making their shifting shoulders even harder to balance on. I just got to make it across...

[InstantOatmeal]

As he neared the crowd, Zaiho's form shrank, collapsed, and then finally resolved into a fox; darting between the legs of the passers by.


Shift to fox form (standard action) and roll escape artist check to pass the crowd with +4 as discussed with Bradley.

[roll0]

[thegoldenfedora]

With a hop skip and a jump, Wrexial vaults from a packaging crate into the air, aiming his feat for peoples shoulders and heads, without a care for who he was stepping on. The crowd yells at him in disbelief, but before any have a chance to detain him, he is too far gone. To his left, he notices similar yelling from within the building as Thatassku runs straight through the temple, vaulting or sliding under desks and spinning around the priests within.

Already tailing behind,* M’raji dashes into an alley hoping to find an opportunity to reach the rooftops. A set of stairs leading to a canopied porch bring the feline halfway, and he leaps from the porch to the canopy pulling himself up. He pauses a moment trying to see how to get any higher, losing precious seconds, but finally notices a gutter that will get him to a windowsill just under the roof. Once he pulls himself up to the top, he can see that he had made a good decision, the rooftops are flat and easy to run along.

Veridotus begins to jump from boat to boat, but she found she was forced to pause constantly to regain her balance. From behind she hears a splash, and catches a momentary glimpse of Lenora dashing past below her, doing the equivalent of underwater sprinting beneath the boats.

Silas’ arrow flies forward, screeching the whole way. It embeds itself into a hanging hunk of meat from one of the vendors, but the trick was successful, and he had the crowds attention. They redouble their efforts to move out of the way and Silas notices a fox dash past him, dashing between the crowds legs and disappearing from sight. Finally there is room and Silas makes a break for it.

The recruits break free of the crowds, Tikrack still within the lead after nimbly dodging through the crowd, but a vicious yell from Dragar had opened a path and he was steadily gaining on the tiefling. Ahead of them, an overturned cart lays on most of the road with food rolling away from it and a dwarf attempting to gain control on a panicked horse as several city guard talk with the dwarfs companion.

Wrexial flips over the last group of the crowds, barely noticing a young Pal who was staring at him wide eyed. He lands and quickly continues forward, but over the din of the cheering crowd, he begins to hear voices yelling Chaldria Zuzaristan. Small froups of perterped people walk away, occasionally looking over their shoulders at a group of halflings in blue robes.

From the throng of people, Silas bursts out next, the crowd waving and cheering him on. Ahead he begins to smell delectable smells of meats and wines, the source becoming clear as he spots a tent advertising half priced meals during events.

From behind Wrexial, the rear doors of the temple slam wide open and Thatassku comes running out, several beads and garlands draping over her. Further behind, Veridotus finally makes it past the crowds, having gotten a better feel for her boat leaping. Lenora, M’raji and Zaiho though, have disappeared.


*ha get it!

Okay now that we have gotten into things there are a couple of options that will become available to you.
1. You may take a -2 penalty on your roll to do an additional action, ie. Knock a basket of European coconuts over and force people behind you to deal with that.
2. You may take a -2 penalty on your roll to change which of the three streets you are running down. Taking alternate paths do not have this penalty but will require their own roll.
3. In the event there is an open lane (no obstacle), you may attempt a fortitude check to sprint
Wrexial 23
Thatassku (1d20+2)[22]
M'raji 21
Veridotus 15
Lenora (1d20+2)[14]
Tikrack (1d20+2)[13]
Dragar (1d20+1)[12]
Silas 7
Zaiho 6
1st tikrack
2nd zaiho
3rd dragar
4th wrexial
5th Lenora
6th silas
7th mraji
8th thatassku
9th veridotus

Temple street(wrexial and thatassku): having broken free from the crowd, you see a group of halfling proselytizers , waylaying all who come near.
Center street (tikrack and dragar):
Food street (silas, zaiho): a food tent spans half of the entire road, advertising half price meals while events are going on. a small crowd huddled in front blocks the other half of the road as they wait for food.
Rooftops (mraji): an alleyway separates the building you are on from the next building down the street
Water road (veridotus): now that you have broken free of the crowd, the boats have become more scarce

[InstantOatmeal]

Glancing to the side as he scampers along, Zaiho spies Tikrack across the canal. In an attempt to trip him up, he gives voice to the majestic cry of the red fox.

Intimidate roll to mess with Tikrack/ trip him up
[roll0] plus a use of inspiration [roll1]

And for reference: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zk1mAd77Hr4

[InstantOatmeal]

His cry echoing about the street, Zaiho bounds for a stack of boxes and barrels, attempting to make it over top of the food tent.

Acrobatics check to get on top of the tent [roll0] plus inspiration if I miss the check [roll1]

[Jenlikesbacon]

M'raji noticed how far he had fallen behind after getting to the top of the building. He saw the gap between rooftops getting closer and closer. He knew he had to take a chance and jump if he wanted to make up for lost time. M'raji took a deep breath, and with a running start, lept for the other side.


Acrobatics check for that sick jump: [roll0]

[Playking57]

Silas, frustrated with the small fox darting through the crowd, screaming bloody murder, and increasing its distance from him, decided that maybe this wasn't the time to play Mr. Nice-Atma, pulled out a pair of his normal combat arrows (fletched himself with mismatched chicken, turkey, and axebeak feathers he saved from the kitchens back home), and used them to slice his way through the canvas sides of the cooking tent.

Chefs cried out with indignation as he barreled past them, nearly tripping over a large soup kettle in the center, tearing his way out the other side as quickly as he could. "Sorry! I'll fix it laterrrrrr...!" Silas called out behind him as he continued towards the finish line.

[lougerstle]

Seeing that another of the recruits have passed her, Veridotus decided that she need to change her route in the race if she was going to catch any of the new inductees. Noticing a bridge down the water road spanning the gap and connecting to the main road, she aimed to jump from the closet boat onto he bridge then head for the main road.

Still struggling keep balance while jumping, she made quite an uneasy leap for the bridge. Barely cathing the edge she struggles but pulls her self up and makes for the main road there she finds the tipped over cart and goes for a vaulting leap. Now on solid ground she has a much more successful attempt, quickly climbs the top and uses top edge to vault her self over. With what fees like the first success for her in the race she gains back a bit more confidence and continues in towards the job board, hoping she will catch up to some of the others.

[warper]

Rex sees that though he's gained a bit of ground, others are still far ahead of him. He dashes and gets into an all out sprint at the crazy converters, pulling out a dagger and snarling. He hoped that would intimidate them enough to get out of the way.

Intimidate check if warranted [roll0]

Fortitude for sprint: [roll1]

If they don't get out of my way, acrobatics to get past: [roll2]

[thegoldenfedora]

Ahead of Wrexial, Dragar turns and dashes across one of the bridges to the temple district side of the road. He gives a hard look at the group of proselytizers and muscles his way past. Wrexials further threat of violence is enough to get several of the proselytizers out of the way for him to dash past. Breaking through their group before any have a chance to waylay him. Behind him, Thatassku doesn’t bother with the group and instead leaps up grabbing at the canopy of an alcove and swinging over the short heads of the halflings.

M’raji’s paws land safely on the next building and he resumes his mad dash. This building has a rooftop restaurant and the feline must zig and zag through the tables, waiters and patrons who were enjoying a fine elvish meal. Several onlookers exclaim at his dynamic entrance, the few who understood the situation cheered, while others were alarmed at M’raji’s frightful appearance.

Now on land, Veridotus is able to make up some ground. She sees Tikrack whistle and put a hand on the skittish horse. In the split second that the horse pauses from the sudden stimuli, Tikrack rolls between the beasts legs and continues past the cart. Not to be outdone, Veridotus leaps for one of the wheels of the overturned carriage and rolls up and over the cart.

The tent splits open to Silas’ attack, the chefs inside look up in astonishment and anger. They begin to yell as Silas moves through, dodging the hanging pots and furious chefs. At one point he even has to defend himself from an incoming butchers knife hurled at him with alarming accuracy. He cuts his way out of the tent and continues on down the street.

Zaiho lets out his fierce shriek and notices Tikrack stumble from the noise. He scampers up and over the tent, his light body able to travel along the fabric without issue. He leaps easily off of the tent, now in the lead.

Up ahead, two larger bridges span the two water roads. Small crowds of people line the bridges looking down the street towards the food district. Several food carts are set up amongst the people and there was even a brewer with a few barrels plying his wares. Just then, a man riding a horse gallops past at full tilt. The man wore a blue uniform with a number on the back and the crowd cheered as he went by. Moments later more riders come racing by. Each rider in a different color with a different number on.

the halfling proselytizers pickpocket several gold from Dragar, you move too fast for any to have a chance at your wallet.
1. You may take a -2 penalty on your roll to do an additional action, ie. Knock a basket of European coconuts over and force people behind you to deal with that.
2. You may take a -2 penalty on your roll to change which of the three streets you are running down. Taking alternate paths do not have this penalty but will require their own roll. Moving from the street to an adjacent water road or vice versa do not take this penalty
3. In the event there is an open lane ( I will say no obstacle), you may attempt a fortitude check to sprint
Wrexial 23
Thatassku (1d20+2)[22]
M'raji 21
Veridotus 15
Lenora (1d20+2)[14]
Tikrack (1d20+2)[13]
Dragar (1d20+1)[12]
Silas 7
Zaiho 6
1st Zaiho
2nd Tikrack
3rd Lenora
4th Wrexial
5th Mraji
6th Silas
7th Dragar
8th Veridotus
9th Thatassku


Temple street(wrexial thatassku and dragar): horses begin galloping by across the entire street

Center street (tikrack and veridotus): horses begin galloping by across the entire street

Food street (silas, zaiho): horses begin galloping by across the entire street

Rooftops (mraji): another alley separates you from the next building

[Jenlikesbacon]

As M'raji dashed between tables, he caught glimpses of fine looking meals. He could feel his mouth watering, and as he ran past the last table he noticed a long string of saliva had dropped down his robe. He swatted the drool away with his paw and continued dashing towards another alley. "Dammit, time to jump again!" As he sprang forward, he screamed, even though he was used to the gap by now "AAAAA!"



Acrobatics check for another sweet jump
[roll0]

[InstantOatmeal]

Throwing caution to the winds, Zaiho bounds through the street, trying to weave between the legs of the onrushing horses.

Escape artist check to get through the horse race. [roll0]

[lougerstle]

Just after gaining some ground Veridotus sees another opportunity to potentially gain much more.

Riding a horse will allow time to travel much more swiftly and I'll also be able to see more of what's happening. Wiith that thought Veridotus started to climb up a tent adjacent to where the horses were crossing, took a quick hop step and leaped oit towards the closest horse running past. Midair she though Either I'll catch a ride or get trampled by a parade of horses..let's she which!

I rolled for acrobatics and climb, but needed climb and ride. I'm note sure how to quote both but climb rolled 8 and ride 5

[Playking57]

Silas, seeing the stampede coming from a side street, took another one of his screaming arrows and aimed it towards the source of the stream of horses. Hopefully, the loud and unnatural noise would give them pause, and change their course enough that he could slip through the cracks relatively unscathed.

[thegoldenfedora]

Zaiho continues to use his small frame to his advantage and darts between the horses legs with ease, emerging from them without any trouble. He dashes ahead and continues to scamper along.

Ahead of Wrexial, Tikrack decides to go underneath the bridge and jumps down to one of the boats. The tiefling attempts to hops from one to the other, but the spacing of the boats was much more difficult than it had appeared. Seeing that that route wasn’t valid, Wrexial vaults the rail of the bridge and leaps up and over one of the incoming horses, landing, he tucks and rolls past another and comes out sprinting. After crossing he no longer sees Tikrack.

M’raji goes to leap again, but his footing slips and he doesn’t get the momentum that he needs. He slams painfully into the side of the next building, barely able to grab the side of the roof and hang on. He takes a moment to orientate himself, glancing towards the road with all of the racers. He sees Silas, Dragar, Thataasku and Veridotus all run past.

Silas fires another screaming arrows, and for a moment the other oncoming horses balk at the sudden sound. The riders all try to regain their horses and in that moment, Silas finds an easy path to take. Moments after he breaks through, the riders regain control and the stampede continues. Dragar finds a it very challenging to get by and has to wait for an opening to present itself.

As the dwarf stands there, Thatassku vaults over his shoulders and sidles herself perfectly in front of the jockey, grabbing the reigns in the same motion. She pulls hard and darts out of the crowd of racers and continues down the street. After she clears the race, she pushes the unfortunate rider straight off the back of the horse and gallops away. The rider chasing after and yelling uselessly.

Veridotus decides to follow Thatassku’s example and goes to steal a horse. She clambers up some crates and, in a combination of leaping and falling, jumps for the nearest horse. She lands awkwardly on the steed and has to use one of her hands to stay on while the other tries to pry the reigns from the jockey. The horse rocks and sways from the abuse, but Veridotus is able at least to get the beast from one side of the street to the other.

Finally M’raji is able to pull himself up onto the building, the patrons at the rooftop restaurant cheer the catfolk on. Moving unsteadly on the slanted rooftop he tries to regain speed and catch up to the other racers. Ahead of the Lion Storm, an intersecting water road crosses the way. The center street has one large bridge gapping the river, while the streets on either side turn the corners of the last buildings and continue north and south. Boats of all kinds travel lazily along or are moored at the street. Streamers and banners attached to the nearby rooftops, dangle above and across the water road and there were two floating docks that contestants were trying to push each other off of in a large game of last man standing.
At the beginning of this game I asked everyone for a post daily. I think that was too ambitious, so from now on I’m going to try to enforce a two day limit. Once I post, everyone has two days to respond before I post again and continue. I know life happens, and if it gets crazy for you, you can always let me know so that I can make accommodations. But it isn’t fun to have to wait a full week for everyone without any notice.

1. You may take a -2 penalty on your roll to do an additional action, ie. Knock a basket of European coconuts over and force people behind you to deal with that.
2. You may take a -2 penalty on your roll to change which of the three streets you are running down. Taking alternate paths do not have this penalty but will require their own roll. Moving from the street to an adjacent water road or vice versa do not take this penalty
3. In the event there is an open lane (no obstacle), you may attempt a fortitude check to sprint
Wrexial 23
Thatassku (1d20+2)[22]
M'raji 21
Veridotus 15
Lenora (1d20+2)[14]
Tikrack (1d20+2)[13]
Dragar (1d20+1)[12]
Silas 7
Zaiho 6
1st Zaiho
2nd Lenora
3rd Wrexial
4th silas
5th Thatassku and Tikrack
7th Dragar
8th Veridotus
9th M’raji


Temple street(wrexial thatassku and dragar): the water road, roughly 50 feet across, blocks your passage forward.
Center street (veridotus): no obstacle
Food street (silas, zaiho): the water road, roughly 50 feet across, blocks your passage forward.
Rooftops (mraji): A water road running parallel to the road you are running along, it is much too far of a jump to reach the other side.

[Jenlikesbacon]

M'raji watched four people run past him on the road below him and began to panic a little. He looked ahead and noticed that he was running out of rooftop to run on. At the last second he notices streamers hung across the river. He continued running towards the streamers with a new plan. M'raji often imagined what his adventures would contain, and he had fantasized about a situation like this, only with something more sturdy like rope. He really hoped the decoration would hold his weight, he really didn't want to fall again like his last attempt to cross a gap. He knew he had onlookers cheering for him and he REALLY didn't want to look even more stupid.

acrobatics check to swing across the water road on a streamer like Tarzan without the weird jungle call:

[roll0]

[warper]

Wrexial sees the lazy boats and the floating docks and chuckles. This could either end fantastically or horribly. Ok Rex, like a leaf on the wind. Rex takes a deep breath and leaps towards a boat, hoping to carry his momentum into the next jump and all the way across.

Wrexial jump: acrobatics [roll0]

If I land on the dock: balance acrobatics if warranted: [roll1]

If I fail, to swim across: [roll2]Edit: This character has some of the best rolling of my life

[Playking57]

Silas came to the canal, and immediately knew jumping wasn't an option in his weighty armor, and Swimming was equally out of the question. Again, he was seriously regretting not having Sahir at his side.

Looking around, Silas saw some planks of wood, the same kind that appeared to have been cut down to construct the rafts out in the water. Grabbing one of these, Silas set one side on the cobbled street at his feet, and allowed the other end to fall on the raft nearest him. Moving as quickly as he could across the makeshift bridge, Silas took a massive leap as he got near the raft, his feet slamming into the boards and driving the raft forward.

13 (rolled OoC)

As the raft moved due to his massive momentum (provided by his natural weight and his heafty armor), the board behind him fell away into the river, preventing people from gaining any advantage to leap from the raft.

[lougerstle]

Well that was closeShe thought as she landed safely on the other side of the stampeding horses. And with another stroke of luck Veridotus sees nothing hindering her progress and tries for an all out sprint to maintain the distance she has regained and hopefully gain even more.

[roll0]

[InstantOatmeal]

Recognizing that swimming was out of the question, and unwilling to risk a dash across the rafts and boats of the canal, Zaiho changes course and makes for the center path, attempting an all-out sprint across the canal bridge.

roll for fort. for a sprint with the -2 from changing paths. [roll0]

[thegoldenfedora]

Zaiho darts across the nearest bridge to the open lane. As he crosses the bridge, he makes out Lenora swimming below all of the ships, uninterrupted by any sort of obstacle. As he turns onto the main center street he glances over his left shoulder where he can see Wrexial springing from boat to boat zipping forward at an alarming pace. He lands on a raft with the contest going on and cuts through all of the contestants without interrupting the game, many don’t even notice the intruder.

Silas hucks a plank forward, bridging the gap from the nearby boat to the raft. He runs along the makeshift bridge and uses his momentum to push the raft forward, several of the contestants fall over from the sudden shift, but Silas continues on. To his left, he sees Thatassku riding a stolen horse at breakneck speeds dash past him. As Silas leaps from the cruising raft to the other side of the water road, M’raji swings in next to him. The feline lands from a makeshift swing and keeps pace with Silas, the two suddenly tied.

Veridotus picks up her pace and pushes her little legs as hard as she can. At one moment she notices Tikrack trying to barter passage from one of the boatmen to ferry him across the water road, but the ferrier was constantly increasing his price, noticing how desperate Tikrack seemed. She see’s Dragar run over a bridge to the center lane and begin to really push forward, sprinting just as hard as the halfling.

Up ahead, park benches are set up for people to relax and watch the water road. Several closed food kiosks line the food districts walls and the temple district has more statues of minor gods wrapping around the building at the streets corner. On the center street are two women wearing white robes stand slinging magic into the sky. They each bear the Lion Storm symbol on opposite cheeks. One holds a wand and with a gesture, a bit of pitch black appears in the sky and then the other, uses his wand to launch a firework into the darkness, causing a fun eruption that the people nearby ooh and ahh at. As one moves around to fire a new batch of darkness, she bumps into the other, and immediately the two begin to brawl, suddenly both of their wands go off, sending bits of magic into the streets. Dark blotches form on the temple district side, making sight forward impossible to see. On the food district side of the street, fire works pelt the street and buildings.
1. You may take a -2 penalty on your roll to do an additional action, ie. Knock a basket of European coconuts over and force people behind you to deal with that.
2. You may take a -2 penalty on your roll to change which of the three streets you are running down. Taking alternate paths do not have this penalty but will require their own roll. Moving from the street to an adjacent water road or vice versa do not take this penalty
3. In the event there is an open lane (no obstacle), you may attempt a fortitude check to sprint
Wrexial 23
Thatassku (1d20+2)[22]
M'raji 21
Veridotus 15
Lenora (1d20+2)[14]
Tikrack (1d20+2)[13]
Dragar (1d20+1)[12]
Silas 7
Zaiho 6

1st Zaiho
2nd Wrexial
3rd Lenora
4th Thatassku
5th Silas, Dragar, M’raji
8th Veridotus
9th Tikrack


Temple street(wrexial): Patches of darkness spring up ahead of you
Center street (zaiho, thatassku, dragar and veridotus): two women with wands wrestle, brawl and sling rays of light and darkness at each other making the entire lane treacherous.
Food street (silas, m’raji): Fire works come flying hitting the ground and walls around you, threatening to hit you and explode

[Jenlikesbacon]

M'raji found himself surrounded by loose fireworks, so in an attempt to shield himself, he ran to one of the food stands to find some sort of shield. He found a large tray with some skewered meat snacks and grabbed it, letting the food fall to the ground. He caught one in his paw, licked the stick clean, then tossed it to the ground. He continued through the field of magical fireworks, batting at each one that came his way.

Melee attack roll to hit the fireworks out of the way
[roll0]

[warper]

Wrexial sprinted forward, looking through a clear spot and trying to memorize the layout in case it disappeared. When he got close Rex dove over the bench into a roll across the other side and continued sprinting, trying not to break stride.

If the spot disappears Rex will jump when he thinks he needs to
Acrobatics: [roll0] +2if its through someone's square:p

[lougerstle]

Seeing the two wizards battling in the streets Veridotus, knowing her stature and clumsiness, it would not be wise to try to avoid the magic being thrown about the streets. Turning her attention to the wizard who bumped the other and initiated the brawl, focuses the psychic command and has her halt and remain for a moment. With the wizard who instigated the battle no longer participating, she hoped the other sorcerer would land a few hits that would lightly incapacitate the other, appease her and she would return to casting celebrations into the sky allowing Veridotus to pass freely and unscathed.

[Playking57]

For the first time during the race, Silas almost stopped as the inky blots and sparking explosives filled the streets. He was shocked at how reckless the pair of spellcasters were being, sending magic through crowds of people with no regard for their safety.

Silas pressed his thumb to his throat as he veered to the street where the pair wrestled, and directed his little finger towards the caster shooting the explosives, and sends his voice directly into her ear, hoping to distract her enough that her less-lethal opponent could slip in a blow to incapacitate her.

"Hey! Behind you!"

As the words were physically whisked out of his mouth by the wind, Silas drew his bow and aimed for the serpentine woman who had stolen a horse, and took a deep breath to center himself, calling upon the grace of the Duke of Thunder to guide his strike, to knock her from her ill-gotten steed without any lasting harm; she was still Lion Storm, after all.

1d20+3-4

[Playking57]

[roll0]

19 (rolled OoC) -2 for additional action = 17

[thegoldenfedora]

Zaiho darts forward between the combatants, his small frame allowing him easy access past the two wand wielders. To his left he sees Wrexial run straight through any patches of darkness, only barley losing momentum from the sudden loss of sight. On Zaiho’s right, he sees Lenora swimming forward, the lack of obstacles making her underwater travel easy.

Behind the three leaders, Silas, Dragar and M’raji run neck and neck, while to their left, Thatassku and her horse gallop on. Thatassku spurs on her horse and it leaps over the heads of the two Lion Storm, but the horse was unused to the maneuver, and when it landed, Thatassku had to lose precious moments to steady the beast. M’raji grabs a tray and begins batting away at fireworks. The second time he does so though, the magic blows through his weapon and he finds himself undefended and a rocket comes spiraling towards him. He stops in panic when suddenly Dragar, holding a park bench over his head as a makeshift shield, runs past. The firework bouncing harmlessly off of the wooden bench and fizzling on the ground. Silas’ voice travels well on the wind and the woman firing fireworks looks behind her, ”Where are you looking while I’m fighting you!” and the other Lion Storm winds up and punches her in the face, knocking her to the ground. Free from the onslaught of magic, Silas run’s past Dragar, who looks behind him to see that the two had ceased fighting. Silas’ fires an arrow, but Thatassku sees it coming, and with a command to the horse that ceases it’s struggle, takes off again dodging the attack.

Further behind, Tikrack and Veridotus suddenly have an open lane ahead of them. They each pump their legs as hard as they can to catch up. Veridotus widens the gap between her and Tikrack and the two gain on M’raji.

The main bridge gapping West town to East Town can be seen ahead, but before that, the sounds of children laughing bring your attention to the immediate tasks ahead. Sitting in the middle of the center street sits a group of children playing while a happy looking gnome watches over them. The children have bits of chalk that they were writing on the cobblestone road with and jumping from place to place.

The road before Silas and Wrexial was empty of any meaningful obstacles and they, as well as the racers behind them, were able to get a better view of the upcoming grand bridge. The three streets gradually slope up while and then widen to become one road that led to the bridge. The water roads go into tunnels that lead to the river. The bridge was very wide and was cobbled just like the streets were, stone pillars made torso high railings on either side of the bridge.

1. You may take a -2 penalty on your roll to do an additional action, ie. Knock a basket of European coconuts over and force people behind you to deal with that.
2. You may take a -2 penalty on your roll to change which of the three streets you are running down. Taking alternate paths do not have this penalty but will require their own roll. Moving from the street to an adjacent water road or vice versa do not take this penalty
3. In the event there is an open lane (no obstacle), you may attempt a fortitude check to sprint
Wrexial 23
Thatassku (1d20+2)[22]
M'raji 21
Veridotus 15
Lenora (1d20+2)[14]
Tikrack (1d20+2)[13]
Dragar (1d20+1)[12]
Silas 7
Zaiho 6
1st Zaiho
2nd Lenora
3rd Wrexial
4th Silas, Dragar
6th Thatassku
7th M’raji
8th Veridotus
9th Tikrack


Temple street(wrexial): no obstacle
Center street (zaiho, thatassku, and veridotus): children playing in the street.
Food street (silas, dragar and m’raji): no obstacle

[Jenlikesbacon]

M'raji stood in awe as a dwarf with a park bench blocked the last firework from exploding in his face. Once the Magic died down, M'raji noticed that there was nothing blocking is path, and decided to make a mad dash towards the job board. "Thank you for saving meeeeeeeee!" he called out to the dwarf as he began to run down the road.
fortitude check to make that sprint happen
[roll0]

[lougerstle]

Sprinting mightily forward as quickly as her small stride can carry her, Veridotus sees the children drawing and playing in the street. I can't let these small ones again confuse me for anther of their playmates. I need to find a way to distract them from me and open up the path ahead. Seeing that they have chalk and are already drawing, and that it is the new recruit ceremony, it seems likely they would know Thurfalcon. She shouts ahead to the children: Children! Whomever can draw the best picture of Thurfalcon on the wall will become an honorary little recruit for Lion Storm! Hurry over to the walls and get started!

I would think a bluff or diplomacy roll (I think) roll the same.
[roll0]

[warper]

Wrexial sees the convergence ahead and feels a sense of urgency, knowing they must be close. He pumps his legs hard, trying to overtake Zaiho. Like a leaf on the god damned wind. Rex thinks between breaths.

[thegoldenfedora]

Unperturbed by the group of children, Zaiho darts in and around the playing kids. They turn at the animal who was suddenly within their midst and several shriek while the braver ones try to grab onto Zaiho’s fluffy tail.
”Leave that poor fox alone!’ The gnome woman calls after them but they don’t listen, and the few who had tried to grab hold chase after Zaiho down the steet. Wrexial sees all of this and pushes past the ache in his legs from his athletics.

A splash of water erupts from the water road, in the center is Lenora who lands on the road and charges forward. Several children stop and gawk at the undine. Who was now running as hard as she could in her heavier armor, trying to regain the ground she had lost moving from the water road to the food district road.

Silas and Dragar continue their head to head sprint, but soon Dragar’s shorter legs give out and Silas takes the lead, he pulls another arrow and breaks the tip off with a hard hit to one of the mooring pedestals. Over his shoulder he see’s Thatassku veer the horse across another bridge to the temple district side of the road and begin to pick up speed. He knocks the blunted arrow and fires again at Thatassku, this time his arrow finding its mark. The arrow lands square into her center and before she can react, she is pushed off of the back of the horse. She lands in a run and draws her shield. Dragar grunts in approval.

The remaining children scramble at Veridotus’ challenge trying to find a wall to start drawing on. The maneuver succeeds and the way is open for Veridotus and Tikrack to continue forward. M’raji continues to run as hard as he can, maybe it was all of the kraken tails, but he was moving decidedly more lethargic than before, and despite his best efforts, Veridotus and Tikrack overcome him.

Ahead the three roads begin to slant upwards and converge together into one large road. The water roads go underneath into tunnels that then open on the river. People mill about on the bridge, some are crossing, others lean against the rail of the bridge fishing. Some people are stopping at the one of the two tengu vendors who have set up shop across from each other at the center of the bridge. The vendor on the north has all sorts of miscellaneous things set up to be sold. Her wares range from kitchen goods, to walking sticks to clothing, to toys, to books and all sorts of other things. The one on the south side has a similar spread, but his look to be of higher quality and there seems to be a little less available. The two vendors occasionally heckle the other, a tirade that generally has people falling with laughter. The bridge is 40 feet wide and is cobbled the same as the streets, every 10 feet their rises a pillar that would light up during the night, but for now banners were strung up between them celebrating the new members of Lion Storm.


1. You may take a -2 penalty on your roll to do an additional action, ie. Knock a basket of European coconuts over and force people behind you to deal with that.
2. You may take a -2 penalty on your roll to change which of the three streets you are running down. Taking alternate paths do not have this penalty but will require their own roll. Moving from the street to an adjacent water road or vice versa do not take this penalty
3. In the event there is an open lane (no obstacle), you may attempt a fortitude check to sprint
Wrexial 23
Thatassku (1d20+2)[22]
M'raji 21
Veridotus 15
Lenora (1d20+2)[14]
Tikrack (1d20+2)[13]
Dragar (1d20+1)[12]
Silas 7
Zaiho 6
1st Zaiho
12’
2nd Wrexial
5’
3rd Lenora
11’
4th Silas
7’
5th Dragar
4’
6th Thatassku
11’
7th Veridotus
2’
8th Tikrack
2’
9th m’raji


Bridge: no obstacle (just each other:smallamused:)

[Jenlikesbacon]

M'raji watched as two of his fellow inductees ran past him. He knew he shouldn't have eaten so much before the ceremony, and he felt his stomach churn as he struggled to keep up with Tickrack. Panicking, he picked up a small stone from the side of the street and hurled it at Tickrack's feet, hoping he would trip and fall.

combat maneuver to trip up Tickrack so I can stop being in last place god dammit
[roll0]

[lougerstle]

Noticing that all the roads are converging down to one bringing all of the racers together, it feels like the race is close to the end. With two recruits close behind she didn't want to slow down now, she keeps going with all the might she has. She does she an opportunity ahead to overtake the next racer ahead of her, with the banners overhead spanning every ten feet and Thatassku another foot beyond them, she grabs a kitchen knife from the north tengu vendor, waits a moment for her to be in the opportune position then throws the knife at rope holding up one side of the banner, hoping to cut it and have it swing down and tangle Thatassku and gain another position in the rankings.


Rolled to cut down the banner 3

Rolled for sprint 13

[Playking57]

Silas, growing fatigued from sprinting through the city in his heavy armor, and hoping that the end was nearly in sight, went for another all out sprint across the bridge.

[roll0]

[warper]

Wrexial looks around at anything that could stop that damn fox. He needed to win. He needed that money, he'd lied and cheated this far to get paid for more honest work and he wasn't going to let that shifter ruin his first opportunity. He swipes an empty crate from some guy transferring fruit and hucks it at the fox, wondering what the chances would be of boxing the little guy.

Watch out for brown spots, my dog **** in that box like 5 minutes ago:smallamused:
#Thefoxgetboxed

[roll0]

Sprint-2 [roll1]

[thegoldenfedora]

As the roads converge, the fighting breaks out. Zaiho sprints ahead, but suddenly he is lifted up as a box slides over him from behind. He sees the world spin in front of him and then it goes dark as the box flips over him. He hears two other contestants get disturbingly close.

M’raji grabs onto the back of Tikrack and pulls him to the ground. Tikrack yells in surprise and takes a moment to stand back up. He grins maliciously and chases M’raji down with a powerful sprint.

Veridotus tries to throw the dagger, but despite connecting, her weak arms cant put enough power behind the throw to cut the rope and it remains hanging with a small notch cut out of it. Thatassku grabs the first thing she can find and with a jump hucks it over Dragars head at Silas. Silas hears a thud to his left and sees a barbell hit the ground next to him.

The light can be seen just ahead down the next street. Several onlookers jump and point at the road to take, cheering for the racers.
warper I added an improvised weapon penalty to your attack roll

1. You may take a -2 penalty on your roll to do an additional action, ie. Knock a basket of European coconuts over and force people behind you to deal with that.
2. You may take a -2 penalty on your roll to change which of the three streets you are running down. Taking alternate paths do not have this penalty but will require their own roll. Moving from the street to an adjacent water road or vice versa do not take this penalty
3. In the event there is an open lane (no obstacle), you may attempt a fortitude check to sprint
Wrexial 23
Thatassku (1d20+2)[22]
M'raji 21
Veridotus 15
Lenora (1d20+2)[14]
Tikrack (1d20+2)[13]
Dragar (1d20+1)[12]
Silas 7
Zaiho 6
1st Zaiho, Wrexial
11’
3rd Lenora
1’
4th Silas
19’
5th Dragar
2’
6th Thatassku
3’
7th Veridotus
10’
8th Tikrack, m’raji


Turning down a street on the left: no obstacle

[lougerstle]

Thatassku attempt to gain an advantage by using the barbell off the tengu vendor may have been a double edged attempt. Now even closer Veridotus grabbed the barbell and rolled it towards the recruit trying again to trip them up and gain another place in the ranking. Hopefully this will have a bit more umph, she thought as she swung her little arm forward and release the weight.

[Jenlikesbacon]

M'raji realized that tripping Tickrack once wasn't enough, and he might have to fight dirty if he wanted to get out of last place. He pushed Tickrack to the side in hopes that he could surge ahead.

combat maneuver to push Tickrack to the ground because this last place nonsense is getting out of hand
[roll0]

[InstantOatmeal]

Shifting back to his humanoid form as fast as he could, Zaiho threw the box behind him and lowered his head, charging for the end.

shift to humanoid fox and fort save to sprint with a -2 [roll0] and I'm burning my last two inspiration uses to add to the save [roll1]

[warper]

Wrexial sprints with all his might, knowing that any slip up might cost him the race. Speaking of slip ups, Rex pulls out a dagger from his hip and hooks it on the now shifting fox's leg, attempting to trip him up and gain some distance.

[roll0]

Sprint [roll1]

[thegoldenfedora]

As the world goes dark over Zaiho, he transforms again retaking his usual fox hybrid form and dashes as hard as he can. Wrexial tries to catch him off guard, but Zaiho was ready this time and nimbly dodged the attack. The man and kitsune sprint ahead neck and neck, neither gaining any ground on the other.

The combat breaks out further behind as Silas, Thatassku, Veridotus and M’raji each attack the ones ahead of them. Silas grabs Lenora by the shoulders and used all of his armors weight to pull her backwards, she falls to the ground with a heavy thud and tries to stand back up. Thatassku bashes Dragar with her shield, the white bearded dwarf only having moments to defend himself from the sudden attack. He gets knocked off balance and tumbles forward. Veridotus tries to roll the barbell forward to trip Thatassku, but again her weak arms are unable to manipulate the weight well enough to actually make it dangerous for the Nagaji and the weight rolls off to the side, between two pillars where it falls off the bridge with a pop into the water. M'raji shoulder checks Tikrack into the wall, and the tiefling crumples to the ground.

As the racers round the corner, they can at least see the job board with the bright light hovering above it. Many people have gathered here to watch and cheer them on. Some more informed people even had face paint to look like foxes, cats or to add blue tattoos to their faces. The board itself was set up in the middle of a square, it was a large wooden board that stood on two posts and it was obviously well made with metal inlay wrapping around it. Standing next to the board was Ratike.


1. You may take a -2 penalty on your roll to do an additional action, ie. Knock a basket of European coconuts over and force people behind you to deal with that.
2. In the event there is an open lane (no obstacle), you may attempt a fortitude check to sprint
Wrexial 23
Thatassku (1d20+2)[22]
M'raji 21
Veridotus 15
Lenora (1d20+2)[14]
Tikrack (1d20+2)[13]
Dragar (1d20+1)[12]
Silas 7
Zaiho 6

1st Zaiho, Wrexial
12’
3rd silas
23’
4th thatassku
6’
5th lenora
4’
6th Veridotus
6’
7th Dragar
4’
8th M’raji
22’
9th Tikrack


No obstacle: the end is in sight, this is the last round!

[Jenlikesbacon]

M'raji looked up and saw his uncle smiling at him next to the job board. He knew he needed to give one last push forward, he was far enough behind already. M'raji could see Dragar not too far ahead, and decided to use this final leg to knock one last opponent out of his way. He really hoped Ratike was watching, he wanted his uncle to see his impressive maneuvers.

combat maneuver to trip up Dragar and apparently all I know how to do is trip people
[roll0]

[InstantOatmeal]

The finish in his sights, Zaiho puts on a final burst of speed, keeping one eye trained on Wrexial, ready to counter anything the rogue might try.

Acrobatics roll to dodge anything tried, a fort check to sprint.
Acrobatics: [roll0]
Fortitude for sprint: [roll1]

[lougerstle]

After another failed attempt to try to gain an advantage over Thatassku, the ensuing battle between her and the dwarf gave her the opportunity she was fighting for by chance. Now with Dragar just behind her she again chose to focus to use heightened awareness to look out for any foul play form the dwarf who is just behind her and sprint as quickly as her small stride would carry.


I'll use heightened awareness
and for roll for sprint [roll0]

[warper]

Wrexial was panting hard and his legs burning. He could see the end but it felt so far away. It felt like his legs would just give out at any moment. And to top off, the fox man was just too nimble for his trip. Wrexial saw no choice but to try and outrun him. Being wary of Zaiho counter attacking, Rex tried to be ready for anything that might happen and put everything he had into one last sprint.

Acrobatics[roll0]

Sprint [roll1]

[Playking57]

Silas ran towards the finishline, wishing that he had some way to get the two nimble racers ahead of him to trip up somehow, but now wanting to *actually* shoot them and harm his fellow initiates.

Just as he was thinking about a way to stop them, a bunch of cloud clumps held by a nearby vendor caught his eye. As he looked at them, and thought about how perfect they could be as a distraction if *only* the wind were on his side to blow in their faces, he felt a tingle from his brand new tattoo, and felt the wind instantly switch to the direction he had wanted.

Silas stumbled slightly in shock, having no clue what had just occured. As his concentration faltered from the cloud clumps, the wind scattered them, with a majority of them drifting wide of their mark. Shaken by this strange occurence, Silas redoubled his efforts and tried to finish the race as strongly as he could.

[thegoldenfedora]

Ratike waves his arms and from out of nowhere an illusionary banner screening as a finish line appears before the job board, artificially floating in the wind. Wrexial and Zaiho sprint for the newly created finish line, each trying to out pace the other just a little so that they can take first place. Sweat flies off of them into the air as their feet pound on the ground and their shoulders bump into each other.

The vendor gasps in surprise at the sudden breeze that takes the cloud clumps right out of his loose grip to float in front of the front runners. Both were prepared for the mischief and the two simultaneously rolled forward on the ground underneath the colorful blockade. Zaiho comes up quicker, finally gaining some ground over Wrexial.

Thatassku chases after Silas as hard as she can. Her speed was incredible and the distance between her and Silas began to shrink. Seeing the Nagaji getting away, Lenora puts on one extra burst of speed to keep up. Despite her efforts, she's is unable to gain any distance on the speeding Thatassku at all.

Dragar tries to catch up to Veridotus, but falls forward from the tricky maneuver of M'raji. Having moved up a place the catfolk jogs on, feeling quite safe with the distance between himself and those behind him.

Seeing Zaiho ahead of him, Wrexial continues his mad dash to the finish line. The gap between the two closes slowly, almost too slowly, until just feet before the finish, he breaks past and through the illusionary finish line. Zaiho quickly follows and moments later Silas breaks through as well. The crowd erupts with cheering for the winners. Thatassku and Lenora come next, the crowd cheers again for the two. As they break through, they finally slow their pace, Thatassku hunching over in fatigue, Lenora falling to the ground panting. Veridotus comes in next, her short legs working hard to bring her to the finish line. The crowd cheers for the small person’s efforts. Shortly after, M'raji crosses, followed by Dragar who takes a seat in the ground in a huff. Taking the rear was Tikrack, his robe soaked with sweat, stumbling from the exertion. The crowd cheers again and he puts on a brave face and a little more effort to jog to the finish line where he promptly falls to the ground.

As the racers try to regain catch their breath and the cheering dies down, Ratike congratulates them as he claps his hands lightly.
”Congratulations Lion Storm, very impressive work from all of you.” he waves his hand and the banner disappears. ”You all gave it your best and overcame whatever was in your way in creative ways. To be honest that's one of my favorite parts of Lion Storm.” he laughs a little and the crowd smirks knowingly. ”Well either way, here is the job board. On it are all of the jobs that Lion Storm has been tasked with. When a job comes in, Lion Storm hashes out the pay, assesses the risk and then determines the odds and ends of it all. If ever a job comes in that does not work with Lion Storm’s morals, such as assassination, we will refuse the job.” He pauses a moment to let all of the information sink in. ”Let's see what else… oh yes, each job will show who requested the job as well as a way to get a hold of them if you need to get information. Generally the Lion Storm members find smaller groups that they work particularly well with and start doing jobs alongside those others, but for now take whatever job you feel like, just be ready for further festivities tonight at 10.” He gestures to Wrexial ”Since Wrexial won first place, he may choose a job first.”

I will need everyone to make a fortitude save with a DC=10+(the number of times that you sprinted) to avoid fatigue for the next hour. Double check for me, but I believe it is DC 15 for Veridotus, 14 for Silas, Zaiho and Wrexial and 12 for M'raji.

1st Wrexial
2nd Zaiho
3rd Silas
4th thatassku
5th Lenora
6th veridotus
7th M’raji
8th Dragar
9th Tikrack
For coming in 7th place, M'raji earned everyone 10 XP
For coming in 6th veridotus earned everyone 15 XP
For coming in 3rd Silas earned everyone 30 XP
For coming in second Zaiho earned everyone 40 XP
For coming in first Wrexial earned everyone 50 XP
Total: 145 XP
I did not like how I decided to run this race, so as thanks to everyone for bearing with it and giving it a good solid try I am giving everyone an additional 100 XP
Total 245XP (that's per person)

There are a large number of jobs on the board. There is a brewer asking for someone to try some new brews, a person asking for someone to deliver mail, a shop keeper requesting some help tidying, and even a child asking for someone to play tag with. Three jobs stand out in particular though because they ask for multiple Lion Storm to perform: A Smith would like some help advertising his wares. He asks for two people to use his weapons and armor outside of his store in a mock fight.
Someone named Figless is moving and desires help carrying everything. He asks for 5 Lion Storm to complete the task.
The last request on the board tells about a young girl who has idolized heroes and so much that she has begun to skip school and attempt to adventure on her own. Her parents have written a request for two Lion Storm to talk to the girl and try to dissuade her.

[warper]

Wrexial stands with his hands on his thighs panting while everyone finishes, desperately trying to steady his breathing. He could tell his ashen colored back was glistening with sweat in the sun and now that he'd stopped for a minute, the sweat was making the wind chill him. He didn't care though, he could see the job board and Ratike gave them a second to breath with his talking. When Ratike finished, Wrexial inspected the options quickly, not wanting to keep everyone waiting. At first the tasting job sounded fun, Rex was quite thirsty too.

But the very last job caught his eye particularly. He remembered feeling the same way growing up and when he'd been sent off to the city had come to discover how rough it can be. Especially for a kid so young. Rex chose that one, taking note of the parents contact information and ripping off his ticket so he knew where to start. Afterwards he moved out of the way for Zaiho to pick his prize job.

As Zaiho moves up, Wrexial takes a good look at him and wonders if he'll be a threat, angry about Rex foiling his win, or perhaps an ally through eventual shared work. Rex wanted to know sooner rather than later, offering a handshake once Zaiho picked his job and went to the side. "Impressive run."

[InstantOatmeal]

Zaiho returned the handshake, "a fine run yourself, and an excellent finish. Eyeing the job board, his eyes lingered on the final listing. Reaching to grab a tab, he turned to the rogue, "might I join you? I'm sure my experiences would help in discouraging the young one, at least until she can decide for herself."

[Playking57]

Silas stepped up, breathing heavily and still a little offput by the tingle he had felt from his tattoo. He would have to ask someone higher up in Lion Storm what had happened.

Silas saw the request for someone to demonstrate weapons, and smiled. He was a disciplined, well trained warrior, after all, and was trained in the use of many varieties. He reached out and took a ticket, thinking this a perfect opportunity to show off his talents.

He turned back to the group, holding up the job offer. "Anyone care to join me?"

[thegoldenfedora]

Thatassku nods and stands straight to Silas' challenge.
"I sshall take that honor." She strides forward, her green scales shining in the sun, and takes the second tag hanging from underneath the job request.

Lenora slowly works herself up to get feet and slowly moves to the job board. Without looking too hard at the jobs, she grabs one of the tags attached to the job to move and then sits down to lean against the job board.

Ratike looks to Veridotus now. "Your turn my small friend."

[lougerstle]

Breathing heavy from the race, Veridotus looks over the jobs posted on the board. After finishing in the bottom third of the race Veridotus looks for a job that people would not assume she would excel at, so she decides to help the man named carry items. I would be happy to help the man names Figless carry his items where he needs them. She thinks this could be a great challenge for someone her size but is glad for the opportunity to serve the guild and make a better impression with the other new recruits and the higher standing members.

[Jenlikesbacon]

M'raji took a step forward, embarrassed at his low placement. He figured his uncle expected him to do better, and anticipated his disappointment.
One job on the board stood out to M'raji: the job to play tag with a child. He thought about his friendless childhood, and felt a twinge of sadness approaching. He understood what it was like to feel lonely; as many people were intimidated by his appearance. He grabbed the lone ticket for the job and began to search the crowd for a lonely chid.

[thegoldenfedora]

"You'll note that each ticket shows the primary contact for the job as well as how to get a hold of them. You should each start your respective jobs by seeking out that person to gain whatever additional information you may need for the job." Ratike raises his arms for the crowds attention. "Citizens! Lion Storm's newest members have now begun their service to you! Lion Storm! Be sure to be grateful to these people for the work they provide you!"

Zaiho and Wrexial see that their contact is the mother, a Mrs. Hesprous, and that her house was not far from here and resided within the residential district. For Silas and Thatassku, the shop keeper, Jetweska, was set up in the merchant district at a place called "For Arms." M'raji's task would bring him to Jezebel who, as the ticket said, "Undre te big tre." Lenora, Dragar, Veridotus and Tikrack's ticket showed that Figless also resided in the residential district. Ratike approaches this last group to talk with them about something private.

"Be wary with this task, I am not one to share another's secrets, but Figless is a name chosen by himself, and he has a deep history with Lion Storm fraught with rage and despair. Undoubtedly you will see glimpses of it and I beseech that you find ways to make that history no more painful than it already is." After finishing his talk with the group Ratike goes to clasp a hand on M'raji's shoulder. "Good show nephew. You remind me of my time running this race, dead last, so you've got that going for you." the Uncle gives three solid singular laughs. "Remember each person has strengths and weaknesses, you are no exception to this. You can train your strengths, and you can train your weaknesses, but you will find, I think, that such endeavors will reveal new strengths and weaknesses. One of the great things about adventuring guilds is that there are others who have separate strengths and weaknesses than you. Use them to make your own better just as you will make them better. Good luck on your first job nephew."

Thatassku looks at her ticket and grins slyly at Silas. "How would you feel about rassing there?" After a moment she laughs "I joke, no let uss find this Jetwesska and ssee how her waress fare. I look forward to sseing how a persson ssuch as yoursself performss when your opponentss are ready for your attack." She speaks easily without malice, despite the obvious insinuation within her words.

Having finished his aside with M'raji, Ratike speaks again to the group. "You are now Lion Storm, performing the one thing each adventuring guilds is tasked with doing. Even though today's jobs are done freely take them on with all of the determination that we have seen in you that had brought you to this guild. Never forget your Pride."

[Playking57]

Silas smiled, unintimidated by the friendly yet vaguely threatening words of the nagaji. As they started on their way to For Arms, Silas decided to trash talk a little as well.

"Yes, I've had quite enough running for today, thanks. It might surprise you, but it's pretty hard to sprint through a crowded city wearing steel armor."

"Well, perhaps you would have been better prepared if your hands weren't so preoccupied throwing civilians to the streets from horseback." he said with a pointed look, to hopefully drive the point across that endangering innocent people was not going to be a continuing theme. Then, he extended a hand in apology towards Thatassku, "Nothing personal. If the halfling had stayed on that other horse, I'd have taken a few shots at her as well. I didn't hurt you, I hope? I wasn't shooting to kill, I promise!"

"I must admit, I am rather excited for the chance to spar again." Silas indeed had a spring in his step, in spite of the lactic acids building up in his tired legs. "It has been far too long since I've been in a good fight, and this will be my first chance to use weapons made by someone outside my tribe. It's a very special occasion, so lets try not to disappoint each other, shall we?" Silas have her a gentle push and a chuckle, not unnerved by her thick scaled skin; even if he had never met a nagaji before, his tribe had a few draconic races amongst their number, so most of her features were not too strange in his eyes.

... Although, speaking of eyes, the fact that Thatassku seemed to lack eyelids entirely and never blinked was a *tad* creepy.

"You seem like a capable warrior, even if your skills are being used on church-goers and horse jockeys. Nimble as well, quite a few impressive stunts. And you must feel fairly confident in your skills to take up a weapon demonstration job; I bet most of the other recruits would likely have shied away from a task like this. Where did you learn to fight?"

[Jenlikesbacon]

M'raji looked at his ticket, and he couldn't help but smile at the spelling. He knew the little girl meant to write "under the big tree" and he remembered the big ruby tree that sang from the ceremony. He clutched his ticket at started walking towards the tree. M'raji was excited- he hadn't played a game of tag in years. It reminded him of his sister and he games they would play as children. He felt himself longing to see her again.

[warper]

"Of course. It appears we have to find this mother for more details. I'm not too familiar with this place myself so a little guidance there would certainly not hurt."

Wrexial overhears Silas talking to Thatassku and can't help but make a comment. "Oh yes, She actually beat me in the obstacle course earlier... very slippery that one. Better make sure you bring your best to that skirmish!" Rex says to Silas. He winks to Thatassku, turns to Zaiho, and says "Come on, let's get this over with."

[lougerstle]

Veridotus was surprised by what Ritake had said the the recruits. Thinking back about what her father had done, she hoped that it was just unfortunate circumstances that occurred and not anything deliberate, and trust could be a problem for the task they where about to undergo. She thought it may be at lest two scenarios, a trap set for them or someone who is desperate but unwilling to reveal the entire nature/intent of the task they are doing. Addressing the others It seems we have already found an curious task. What are your thoughts about what this may be? Having an insight to what happened to could give us an idea of how to approach the job we have an them appropiatly. I have not been to Riverstone for a very long time. Does anyone know of Figless or heard any of their story?

[thegoldenfedora]

Team Shootstuff
M’raji, Silas, and Thatassku make their way back to East Town. Thatassku continues the conversation with Silas but looks to M'raji occasionally so that all were engaged in the story.

“When it comess to fighting, my background iss that of a budding gladiator.” She pauses as they approach the bridge where the vendors had regained their possessions and were back in business heckling each other from across the bridge. Also on the bridge was the horse Silas had knocked Thatassku from, an angry jockey reigning the beast in. He looks up and notices them.

”Well if it isn't horse thievin Thatassku. Come to gloat at takin me chances at the cup. Well I hope it was worth it!” the man yells. He was of average build with dark tousled hair. He was still in his jockey uniform but now without the excitement of the race it was clear that the outfit was an older one worn by a previous generation, the number 52 was tacked over an order number 13 that was sewn in.

”It lookss like we both misssed our chansse at coming in firsst, Loric”

”Good! I'm glad! When I said that nothin could stop me from racin I meant my naggin Mother gettin on my case for takin one of the field horses. Not that I’d get 200 pounds of Lion Storm thrown at me!”

”It sseemss to me that sshe found a way.” Loric looks at Thatassku in surprise, a realization coming over him.

Veridotus
”I have not heard of such a person, I admit, I have only been in Riverstone for a short while.” Lenora says with a smooth soothing voice that sounds almost as if it came from underwater.

”Nor I” Dragar speaks up. By contrast the goggled dwarfs voice was gravelly and gruff.

”Well I am from here and I've met him. A gnome who keeps to himself on the rare occasion he goes out to the bar. One time a mate decided to mess with him and got a sucker pinch to the knee. That was something funny. I've seen sucker punches, but never one to the knee. My mate straight flipped over from the hit. After that, I never particularly cared to know more about him and I don't much feel an inclination to start either. Just cause we got to move some old gnome for free doesn’t mean we have to get all up in his life. If he got beef with Lion Storm from the past, why is he hiring us to move him out?” Tikrack speaks lazily, though still a bit winded from their race. Without looking at the tickets, Ratike gives them directions to the soon to no longer be Figless’ house and the group heads off to find it.

Wrexial and Zaiho
After Ratike gives directions to the larger group, he inspects the ticket held by Zaiho and then gives directions for the two. ”You'll have to learn the city to keep up with the job requests that spring up here, but for now I'll lend a hand.” he says happily as he points the way. ”This type of thing happens often. Lion Storm tries to stay such a positive place and we are so near to the people that it is easy for them to get caught up and envious of our adventures.” Ratike notices the name on the ticket and thinks to himself for a moment before speaking again. ”Hmm, I think I remember seeing a Mrs. Hesprous at the city hall on occasion, I can't for the life of me remember what for though, it must not be something that comes to the governor often.”

[InstantOatmeal]

Zaiho turned to Wrexial, "I suppose we'd best be going then? I feel we should wait until we know more about the girl and her situation before we make a concrete plan, but I'm thinking we can try to convince her to wait on a decision until she comes of age." Almost unconsciously, his hand strays to his right shoulder, "If she's stubborn, I'm sure we can explain to her, gently of course, that the life of an adventurer isn't all fame and riches, even if many make it out to be."

He shook his head, starting off along the road, glancing back and motioning Wrex to follow him, "let us be off, hopefully she'll give our words some thought."

[thegoldenfedora]

Team Shootstuff
”Me mother hired you!?! Loric exclaimed.

”Let that be a lessson to what a worried mother will do for her sson.” Thatasskun a smiles and winks at Silas and M'raji before leaving a speechless Loric behind with his horse. When they had finished crossing the bridge and we're out of earshot Thatassku laughs. ”Hiss mother never hired me! But I couldn't let a chansse like that passs and his mother makess the besst piess! I'll have to let her know and get one as payment” The trio continue, passing the children who chases them for a little until the gnome regained order. As they come to where the horse race was they could see that it had finished, the vendors had packed up and the onlookers moved on. ”Let uss turn here to head to the merchant disstrict. Bessidess I imagine you would rather not crosss pathss with thosse chefss so ssoon.”

Veridotus
The group follows Ratike's directions to a rather large house. It stood two stories tall and had a wooden fence surrounding it that prevent anyone from seeing in. Once this house would have looked exquisite, but now, the windows were all boarded up and the house looked fairly run down. The front gate of the fence was open and a path of stones with grass growing over them ran to the front door of the house. Sitting on the porch to the front door was a basket with all sorts of food inside.

Standing in front of the gate, there group looks the house over, their expectations falling a little at the dilapidated state of the house.

”Welp, who's goin first?” Tikrack asks.

Wrexial and Zaiho
The two head in the direction Ratike gave them and eventually found the house. A quick confirmation by a passerby revealed that it was in fact house Hesprous.

The house was quaint, it had a porch looking out at the street with several chairs set up on it. The windows were open and pleasant cooking smells wafted out. The building itself was only one story tall while outside it stood a short but thick tree with a swing hanging and a dog leash attached. There was no dog, but the front door was open save the screen door in front of it.

[lougerstle]

I can go first. If he does feel slighted by Lion Storm I won't appear as any sort of threat and hopefully he will respond cordially. I'll let him know we are here to help him with the job we posted, then we can get this done!

Veridotus never could have imagined that this would be her introduction the her new life in Lion Storm, but her interest was peaked and she was finding it all very exciting. Taking a moment to inspect whatever she can see about the house and whats on the porch and in the yard. Ready to walk towards the house she thought "Well here we go!" and begins walking the path with a cautious confidence, hoping to look unworried, but still scanning all around her for anything that may look strange/out of place.

[thegoldenfedora]

Team Shootstuff
The trio splits and heads off to do their jobs, Silas and Thatassku to showcase the work of a smithy, M’raji to play tag.

Silas and Thatassku turn South and follow the ring of streets around the city. They pass through the food district, full of amazing smells and vendors advertising their cuisines. From the food district they enter the residential district where posh houses line the roads. Children play in the streets while their parents, babysitters or nannys watch over them. They cross then into the government district, a place that is unusually empty due to the festivities. Finally they make it to the market district. Thatassku walked casually, evidently knowing where this smithy resided. She nods and smiles at the people who recognize her, mentioning how she has been a recruit for just under a year, giving her plenty of time to get to know the city and it's people.

Thatassku leads Silas down a street and stops in front of a building named “For Arms.” ”Try not to sstare, she disslikess that,” Thatassku advises before stepping in. Inside, the walls are lined with weapons of all kinds; daggers, hammers, axes and swords. Longer weapons hang from the ceiling making makeshift aisles out of great swords, halberds, spears and lances. A loud ringing of hammer on metal echoes through the room in bursts of two.

”Jetweska? It's Thatassku!”

”Ahh, Thatassku, welcome.” A voice calls from the back. Her voice sounds strange with an accent Silas can't place. As the two Lion Storm proceed further, Silas is finally able to see the forge. Standing in front of it was a creature he had never seen before. Only through context could Silas tell it was a woman as it lacked the normal anatomy of it's gender. She stood at seven feet tall and had gray skin and black eyes but no nose to speak of. Her forehead swooped back to behind her neck and was wrapped in a bandanna. All of this was strange, but the thing about her that was most obvious were here appendages. She had four arms.


M'raji walks through the impromptu race course. He passes Bridges and streets where not long ago he and the others had been running full tilt. Now he was about to take in the sights a little more. The two Lion Storm we're back to launching fireworks and darkness, though they stood a little farther from each other. An upset food vendor was stitching up the side of his tent. It looked as if the dwarf with the overturned cart had gotten things sorted out and was on his way. After a while, M'raji sees the great tree creature again and approaches the Rose Petal Plaza. It wasn't nearly as busy as it had been before. He continues on to the creatures get where he sees a family with a little girl standing next to them. The farther in the family was in a wheelchair.

Veridotus
Veridotus inspects the yard and house as she approaches. Noting the general disregard for upkeep that goes with owning a home. There was no trash, but the grass had grown over and weeds had taken root. As she walks up the first step out creaks loudly and the front door swings open. A wrinkled gnome stood in the doorway, a sour grimace on his face.

”Ehh, it’s about time you showed up,” his voice was low for a gnome, but still had that usual squeek inherent to the race. ”I asked fer five of you!” he doesn't even give a chance to respond. ”Well get in here. I’ve been waiting for five months for free job day to get this all moved out.” The gnome wore a blue robe that looked in need of washing. The gnome himself seemed in similar dissaray, having a disheveled gray beard and hair. As Veridotus looked at him though, she feels her old power start up and a vision clouds her eyes.
The gnome stands in a field of battle. He looks to be younger than when Veridotus had seen him just now, revealing that this was a vision of the past. He is armored in resplendent blood covered plate mail with a symbol of a silver dragon in the center. A blue cape hangs from his back. He looks powerful and impressive, but tears run freely down his face. At his feet lies a corpse, the broken end of a quarterstaff sticking out from it's throat. Veridotus couldn't see anything more of the body than that. A light opens up over Figless and he looks up in supplication. A loud snap echoes and he looks down to see a grim crack running down his plate mail straight through the dragon. The light fades and he looks just a little bit weaker.
As she comes to from the vision, Veridotus can see that everyone else has already entered the house and the gnome looked at her with tired anger.

”Are you coming?”

Wrexial and Zaiho
Wrexial and Zaiho approach the screen door and nock. A woman's voice calls out from inside, ”Just a moment!” after a few seconds, an woman comes to the door. She wore a yellow apron and her hands were covered with flour. ”Hello there. You must be Lion Storm,” she says, inviting them in before she had even learned their names. Inside the house, a hall way ran forward and then branched to the left and right. On the walls hung pictures of a family, the woman they had just met, a professional looking man in glasses, and two girls, one of whom was in her 20’s while the other was in her mid teens. There were also framed essays, report cards and other achievements of excellence. The woman gestured to a place for the two to take off their shoes. Then she let then to a pleasant living room.


Hey all, I'm having trouble writing this game due to the lack of feedback and response. If I wanted to play with myself I'll use a lot more lube.
https://media.giphy.com/media/ASbpkVNMmbxba/giphy.gif
I understand things are getting busier, but I want everyone to understand that if you can not post within the 48 hours that I've given you just let me know. There will be no bad feelings, no punishment, it just makes my end of it easier. I also understand that there has been some issue with not knowing what to post and in that case, I encourage you to talk amongst yourselves or to write a post where you do nothing that advances the plot, but still engages your character in the story without being engaged in the action. I'll post some examples of you would like me to.
https://media.giphy.com/media/YvPGvrcFm1m80/giphy.gif
I want this game to be fun for everyone. However when we go 48 hours and there is only one reply, it makes writing this game a chore more than a game.
https://media.tenor.com/images/b7957d24a0fb1ddf98a4fb5876e1e76b/tenor.gif
I'm going to pull back a lot on getting everyone to post. I haven't liked pestering people and hounding them to post. However, if this lack of posting continues to happen, I am going to seriously consider the future of this game. Sorry to be hard handed about it, but like I said this game is meant to be fun for everyone and that includes myself. Thank you for reading and please message me if you have any questions.
https://media.giphy.com/media/JDnaQ8qn0Myuk/200.gif

[lougerstle]

Feeling like she was just snapping awake. Quickly she responded. Yes of course! Sorry I'm not exactly sure what happened there. So where can we start? Following after the others, she was still focused on what she had just experienced. It was similar to what she had felt when she was a child and when met Auliverious, but with every experience, there is something indescribable unique. Like she has felt an emotional imprint that can reveal any variety of emotions and impressions. It has never before been a choice for her, they come and she has never known what to do. But now after being drawn to Lion Storm and beginning as a new recruit she wonders if they will continue to come more often what she can do to understand and utilize this mystery she has struggled with since childhood.

[Jenlikesbacon]

M'raji smiled at the little girl, walked over to her and knelt down to her height. "Are you Jezebel? My name's M'raji, I'm here to play some tag with you if you don't mind." He noticed the father and stood up to greet him as well. "Hello sir, it's a pleasure to meet you and your family. I hear your daughter might need a friend to play with."

[Playking57]

Silas agreed with Thatassku, deciding to pay the chefs back for teh damages to their tent after their duties as Lion Storm recruits were met.

As the pair entered For Arms, Silas decided to tail behind slightly; last time someone had warned him not to stare, he had almost started a brawl with an orc chief in Belkzen by making eye contact for a moment too long. Silas doubted something like that would happen in such a civilized city, but... there was no harm in taking precautions.

Upon seeing the massive woman with no nose, black eyes, and four arms, Silas' mouth hung slightly open. In all his travels between the quite diverse Atma tribes, and all the races that composed them, he had never seen a creature like this. She was thoroughly intimidating, and moved all her limbs in tandem with a strange, almost alien grace.

After a few moments, Silas slowly smiled, and gave an audible chuckle.

"Ahhhaaa, I get it. For Arms. That's clever."

Silas held out his hand, but hesitated slightly, unsure of which of her arms to extend his hand toward. Heeding the nagaji's advice, he just decided to hold it out and let her decide.

"Tal-valis, Ms. Jetweska. I am Silas Kor-Bal. Thatassku and I saw your request on the board, and are here to help demonstrate your weaponry. I must admit, I am rather excited at the chance to test your... uh... arms..." Silas caught his gaze drifting from her dark eyes to her extra limbs again, and turned his head towards Thatassku to disguise his staring.

"You two know each other already?"

[warper]

Rex smiles warmly at the woman. "Yes, that's us. What can we do to help?" Rex says after she leads them in. His feet felt funny after having his shoes on for so long. He really wanted to itch them.

[thegoldenfedora]

M'raji
As M'raji approaches the family, the parents share a quick look to each . When M'raji introduced himself, the father speaks up. ”Well,” the man says, looking for the right words to say. ”I appreciate you coming here, but I believe we may have overextended ourselves timing wise. Please accept my apologies, but it is time for us to get some dinner.” The little girl looks up at her father but before she can say anything, the mother places a hand on her shoulder.

”We are very sorry to make you come out this way and then leave due to our bad planning.”

When the father speaks of dinner, the mother looks surprised got just a moment but recovers quickly when she reaffirms her husband's words. Despite their efforts to remain polite, the parents seem uneasy when they look at M’raji’s face.


Silas
Jetweska notices Silas’ uncertainty sets down her two hammers. She holds out the bottom two of her four arms with her palms facing up, gesturing for him to do the same with his palms down. Then she clasps of his wrists inviting him to do the same and speaks ”Vitayu.” Her hands are rough from the forge work and while Silas could feel the muscles in her forearm, she did not grip hard when holding his wrist. ”The greeter always has palm up for showing that they hide nothing.” She says matter of factly. "Thank you for coming." She let's go and goes about the room looking through her weapons.

Thatassku nods at Silas’ observation. ”Yess, I've been in this ssity for just under a year, and bessidess Lion Sstorm'ss own ssmith, Jetwesska bringss ssome of the finesst weaponss to bear.”

”Poleera’s work does not even compare to mine.” Jetweska says, ”I would have won that smithdown if my contestant hadn't been so inept" she guffaws. Seeing some confusion, Thatassku explains to Silas.

”Another of the many sselebrationss held in this ssity is the annual ssmithdown where ssmithies hire a contesstant to fight in an arena using their waress. Lasst year I was one of Jetwesska’ss contesstantss which iss how we met to begin with.”


Veridotus
Still shaken from her vision, Veridotus enters the house. Inside was a mess, clutter lied strown about with half filled boxes lying everywhere. It was obvious that Figless was not prepared for this move despite having over three months to do it like he had said. The other Lion Storm had already spread out to undergo the arduous task. Lenora and Dragar were to the right in the living room packing up knick knacks of all sorts while Tikrack was in the kitchen packing up utensils and throwing out old food. None had gone upstairs yet.

”Well, get to it, carriage is here in half an hour.”

Wrexial and Zaiho
Once Wrexial and Zaiho had been seated and she was sure they were comfortable the woman introduces herself as Karen Hesprous. ”And I am afraid that our daughter has begun to skip school so that she may train to become an adventurer.” She pulls out a photo that she must have set aside for the occasion and shows it to the two. The little girl had to be ten years old, and had long brown hair like her mother. In the picture she wore a blue dress which was obvious even through the photo that she was unimpressed by it. ”When I was at the school for a meeting, I learned that Holly had begin skipping class. When I asked her why that night, she told me that adventurers do not need to go to school. I've tried to convince her away from such an obviously dangerous path but she refuses to listen and has been running around town getting into fights.” Her emotions rise up for a moment and she takes that time to steady herself. ”Which is why I have turned to you for help. It being free job day, I was thinking that maybe if it came from new adventurers she would be more inclined to listen”

You notice Karen’s tone become more somber when she talks about how dangerous it is to adventure. You realize that her words come from more than just speculation.

[lougerstle]

With only a half hour to prep then entire house, Veridotus was worried about time. She thought dividing up to get anything ready. She decided she would head up stairs, this would give her time to process what she had seen in the vision and hopefully find the armor or something that would reveal more about what she saw. She replied to Figless With only a half hour we better get going. I'll start up stairs. She headed for the stairs trying to regain all her wits and focus to heighten her senses and hopefully be drawn to something that would provide an clearer understanding while she sorted and packed up what was strewn about upstairs.

[warper]

"Rest assured, we'll talk to her. I myself can relate to her, so I think I can explain to her the importance of school. Perhaps I can frame it as training itself."

Wrexial stares at the photo, all too reminded of his sister. But he pushes those thoughts out of his mind. "May we keep this photo to better recognize her? Where should we look?"

[Playking57]

Silas bowed his head slightly, giving the four armed woman as much respect as he could, while trying not to seem like too much of a kiss up. If her weapons were as impressive as herself, Silas knew that she could one day prove a powerful ally, and decided he would be staying on her good side as much as possible.

"Vitayu. A smithing competition? Is that what we are here to participate I'm? Because I won't lie... that sounds fantastic." Silas tried to suppress his grin as much as he could, and he was surprised by how excited he was to fight. Without Sahir around for him to worry about getting injured, Silas felt a sense of liberation. Without having to worry about his friend, Silas realized that for the first time in all of his training, Silas wouldn't have to hold back, any more than to not kill his fellow compecompetitors. It was a thrilling prospect, especially if the combat were to happen in a gladitorial setting like this smithsmithing competition seemed to be.

[thegoldenfedora]

M'raji
M’raji nods and the family walks away, the mother pushing the father along while the father held the daughters hand. She looked back at M'raji with a sad look in her eye. Defeated by his first job, M'raji heads back to the job board.

Silas
”That competition issn't for sseveral more monthss.” Thatassku says. Jetweska continues to move around the room grabbing varies weapons.

”Yes what I would like you two to do is use some of my weapons and showcase what they can do. I have been working on an upgraded line of items.” She lays several weapons down on the table with her lower arms, while the upper ones grab others from around the room. She sets down a dagger whose blade is split lengthwise into 5 pieces, each one hinged, but as long as they stayed put it looked like a normal dagger. ”These are similar to their normal counterparts, however they require extra training to use.” Next she puts down a morning star, but instead of the normal spikes, the head is covered in serrated blades. ”You'll find that your run if the mill soldier will have no problem with the simplest of these weapons, however,” she says a she puts down a great club that has metal wrapped around the end and builds up the weapon to be much heavier. “Most people do not want to undergo the training necessary to master these weapons. That is what I want you to show, is that these weapons can be mastered. If that can't be demonstrated, then I will have to remove this product line.” She sets down several other weapons that look just as interesting as the others. Before looking to the two Lion Storm. ”I can train you temporarily to use these if you do not feel comfortable with them”

These are weapons that have been modified. Each has some extra feature applied to them. However they require one level higher if proficiency. A simple modified weapon requires martial weapon proficiency. A martial requires exotic.

There is a dagger, a morning star, great club, rapier, a longsword with a hook on the end, and a gauntlet with hooks on the back of the hand.

Veridotus
Veridotus heads up the stairs, the banister was nicely carved and was one quite stunning. At the top, a balcony spans leading to two rooms. On the right was a bedroom, a large bed sat centered on the opposite wall. Dirty clothes, books, dishes, bottles of half drank beers and other clutter lied strown about everywhere. A closet was set on the wall opposite the large covered window. There was little light on the room.

The room in the other side though was quite different. It was the same size as the bedroom, however it was immaculate and the window was wide open allowing for the sun to reach all corners of the room. In the center was a pedestal and standing on top of it was a small statue of a dragon. It’s winds were spread out and it stood proudly high. Despite it's imposing nature, the dragon seemed somehow kind. As if anyone who stood behind it would be forever safe.

Wrexial and Zaiho
Karen shakes her head at Wrexial’s thoughts of school ”Please, I appreciate what you two do, however adventuring is not for our family.” She has to take a moment to steady herself. ”It is too dangerous for her or anyone else. The women of Hesprous are not adventurers.” She passes Wrexial the photo, ”Please take the picture. Holly ran away from us today, I'm sure to see the festivities and all of the new adventurers. So maybe she followed your race? If not I'm sure she would have stayed to listen to the guild master some more.”

[warper]

Wrexial felt like he was the worst person to talk to this girl all of a sudden. He'd felt the exact same way growing up, but instead of avoiding it he'd rushed headlong into it.

Rex sighs inwardly, thinking that maybe this would be tougher than he thought. "Alright ma'am, we'll see what we can do."

Not one to wait around, Wrexial gets up to leave and heads back towards the crowds at the finish line, saying goodbye by to the mother.

[lougerstle]

As she climbed the stairs, she was not surprised to see the condition of the bedroom. It quite matched the rest of the conditions of the rest of the house, but the the room adjacent was quite the opposite and this was quite intriguing. Not only avoiding the mess of the bedroom she wanted to explore this maintained space in hopes that she would find some more insight into what her vision was telling her about Figless and what happened on that battlefield.

Her curiosity grew more as she entered the room and saw the statue featured in the middle of the room. She thought it had to be the same dragon that was on his armor from the vision and she began to speculate that it was some source of magical power, or maybe even granted from a deity, that may have gave him the power of a great warrior or commander in battle. She further thought that on the day of that vision he may have disgraced the source of power or god, unintentionally or by his own action. He may have been facing a Dragon Storm and believed he had no other choice and has been bitter because of the power lost due to the guild she was now apart of. Unsure of any of this she ventured in approaching the statue first, hoping to reveal something that would give her a greater understanding to what happened to this disgruntled gnome. With luck she could not only move Figless to his new home but possibly grant him a release from what has plagued him for so long, and maybe give him a live that could be much happier...and hopefully cleaner.

[Spore]

A child-sized scholar with a bunch of oversized scrolls and notes stands in front of the job board. Considering his size and general unassuming appearance it is only natural that you must've overlooked him constantly. You might have even pushed him around in the crowds. Now, how did she put it? If I put the pre-scribed ritual circle here... the halfling thinks aloud while laying out a big parchment on the floor with a summoning circle. I should then put my hands here and find my most idyllic thought...HEY WATCH IT! he groans after someone almost stumbles over the cowering halfling. After a bit of fiddling with the paper, unwrinkling it and redrawing a few missing lines, a human-sized portal appears amidst the building and out jumps a humanoid lion. Most people back away from it for a bit before they see that the halfling commands this hulking beast with ease. Here, wear that. We don't want people to run away screaming ALL the time. Corrin then proceeds to climb onto the beast's back. Ah, much better. Now, what do you think, which job should we take...

I still have no idea where the character is right now but I just sort of started. I am imagining a crowd of people and adventurers in a busy hall or hallway near the job board. I summoned my Eidolon to get attention to possibly get the other adventurers closer to me.

[dascarletm]

Sliding up next to the halfling and the imposing beast on which he rides, Gerrard moves up to the job board. He shouldn't have tried to get his horse for the race, and realized that running would have got him there much sooner. "Hello sir," he says with a half-smile to Corrin. "Mock fight for the weaponsmith?" he says as he notices that particular job request. Gerard quickly snatches the flier, and yells out to all members around him, "Hey! Who wants to fight me in front of the weapon shop?" He smiles looking out towards everyone, and to Corrin who is right next to him. "I don't suppose you know your way with a blade do you?"

[Spore]

I do not, my good man. And Byakko here works with a few more ... primal tools. Corrin says as the Lion shows its teeth and extends its claws. The halfling offers a handshake. I am Corrin Rav...Swiftstrider. I am pretty new around here. Care to explain how the job board works exactly? Is there a limit on how many people can work on a single job? Why would I fight you for it? Competitive spirit and cockiness aside, Corrin would not understand why anyone would fight for a job. For fun, yes. But most job's pay should limit the amount of people applying for it. But this seems to work off of a fame system as much as pay.

[dascarletm]

Oh! No, the job is to fight out front of the blacksmith, see? Gerard shows the flier to Corrin. They want a demonstration out front. I'm Gerard by-the-way. I'd sit and chat, but I am really behind on getting jobs, so, uh... seeyoulater! Gerard starts moving around frantically to find a suitable guild-member to join him for the job.

[Spore]

Join an adventurer's guild they said. You'll get famous in no time they said. Corrin scoffed. A weapon's demonstration? It's possibly better to injure this big fella instead of someone real I think. Corrin slaps the neck of the eidolon and the lion starts to follow the young man. A mock fight you can have. HEY MISTER! Wait up.

[dascarletm]

"Hey you! Let's-" Gerard stops and turns back around towards Corrin. "Great!" He extends a hand to shake Corrin's and says, "Partners it is then. The shop I think is this way."

Assuming I know where it is. Otherwise I can ask around.

[thegoldenfedora]

As Byakko steps out of the portal, the crowd gasps, some push away, and one even runs to grab a man in a hooded white robe. When Byakko scoops up the Halfling though, the panic quickly subsides and they all cheer for the sudden powerful looking creature.

The white robed man turns and approaches the two adventurers, a tail swinging back and forth from under his robe in time with his steps. He sizes them up before smiling wisely at the two as he begins to explain the job board.

"Greetings, I am Ratike Kitanni, one of your seniors and the mentor for one of your contemporaries, M'raji. As you have picked up on, Corrin, these jobs do have a limit to the number of adventurers for each. I do believe that some of your colleagues have already undertaken these tasks. Mister Gerard, if you are interested in the weapons smith's displays, I invite you to head into the market district and meet Thatassku who has also taken on the task. Mister Corrin, Wrexial has headed further into the residential area of East town to help a family whose child has been neglecting school work in order to train to become an adventurer. If that isn't to your liking, then the other four recruits have gone to help a gnome known as Figless move."

From under his hood, the two adventurers can see a wicked gash across the catfolks face, spreading from his left temple down to his right jaw. Despite how fresh it looked, it did not seem to bother the catfolk at all. It was clear that he was well respected in this area as he would periodically wave to passerby who called to him.

Riverstone is a city that gaps a river, splitting it into East Town and West Town. You are currently in East town which is primarily a residential district. All around you are streets with regular houses lining them. It is not impoverished, the road is dirt, and the houses are a little close to each other but still have yards with decent enough space. The job board was set up here specifically to incite the race and normally will be found at the Lion Storms guildhall, the Skies Pride. The other adventurers have each left already to complete the jobs that they have taken.

[dascarletm]

"Oh" Gerard says as he re-reads the job posting, "Thanks Ratike!" He quickly turns to Corrin as he jogs away backwards, "Seems like they only need one more on this one, we can team up another time!" He raises his voice as he falls away into a sprint towards the blacksmith. It is quite obvious for anyone who is observing him that he seems completely taken with the event, showing clear signs of excitement. This was his first job after-all, something he had been wanting since he could remember.

[Spore]

I feel seeing a 7 foot tall outsider from Nirvana is not dissuading a child from becoming an adventurer. I expected the usual cellar full of giant rats to start off my career but moving it is then. I guess tedious busywork comes before epic tales of grandeur. The summoner almost pities his eidolon being abused for such menial tasks but what should he do otherwise? He knows the gates of Nirvana only open once per day for him so if he wants the company of Byakko for longer he has to keep him along. And the lion never complains. Maybe it is part of the state of Nirvana to be always helpful and content but Corrin wished for a bit more excitement. Still, he hides that feeling pretty well and hurries along.

Normally you could say the summoner is off easy by making his celestial ally do all the work. But concentrating on the link between worlds is easy but still work. The glowing mark on Corrin's forehead is symbol enough for that. And after all, the halfling can help sort the items that are moved.

[Aethyr]

Beryl slips out of the alleyway's shadows near the job board. Even though it would highly be unlikely for one of the city's residents to be working for a bad guy, still, it would be better if his face wasn't easily recognizable. Competing and running wild through the streets wouldn't do him any favors either. So he took his time strolling through the busy streets to finally get to the job board. Looking over the postings, he sees the final ticket still attached to a posting. He reads over the job slowly, trying to commit it to memory. Looking around for someone not currently engaged, asks for directions to the Hesprous household.

[thegoldenfedora]

Gerard
Gerard takes off down the street and turns towards the bridge. He crosses over leaving East Town for West Town, noticing to street vendors peddling their wares and heckling each other from time to time. He enters West Town where the road diverges into three pale brown brick roads separated by two water roads. The center road was larger than the North and South ones and had a group of children playing while a gnome watched over them. The water roads had boats of various sizes ferrying people further into the city. Along the North road was the temple district, where one could find a temple to just about anything god. To the South was the food district which was full of delicious smells.

He continues on towards the city center until he reaches one of the main ring roads where he turns North and follows that to the market district. From there it was not difficult to find the smithy "For Arms." He knocks and enters, greeted by a wide array of weapons hanging on the walls and from the ceiling. At the counter was the Nagaji he had raced against and behind the counter, explaining these strange weapons stood a person with four arms.

"I was curiouss who elsse would be taking thiss job. Greetingss, we we're introduced earlier by our mentors but allow me to ssay again: I am Thatasssku, Kaleesssa is my mentor. Thiss is Jetwesska, sshe is the kassatha who hired us." Now that her gender was specified, Gerard was able to pick out the subtle differences easier.

Thatassku wore leather armor that left her green scales arms exposed and had a shield strapped to her back. Her muscles were lean and bellied speed and strength. Jetweska wore a smithing apron and trousers, allowing her extra arms full mobility. Her skin was gray and her eyes were black. Her voice was smooth as she spoke to Gerard "Vitayu, Lion Storm"

Corrin
Corrin follows Ratike's directions further South into East Town. The roads were laid plain enough and following directions was easy. The streets were not too crowded as most of the festivities took place in West Town, however every now and then there were groups of people take advantage of the holiday to spend time with each other rather than watching all the excitement. As Corrin made the next turn ahead he saw a larger house amidst the others with several of the other Lion Storm setting down boxes outside within the fenced in area. The house was to stories tall and looked like it might have once been a very pleasant place. Now though, it was rundown with most of the windows boarded up. Grass grew over there cobblestone walkway as Corrin and byakka approached. A tiefling with leopard stripes on his skin was just seeing down another box when he noticed the lion man nearing.

"Balls on an anvil!" he exclaims reaching instinctively for a pouch strapped to his side. Just as he is about to unleash magical powers on the summoner's eidolon, an undine wearing steel armor comes rushing out and puts a hand on his.

"Peace Tikrack, that is a Leonel, and with him is our ally Corrin!"

Beryl
Beryl approaches his mentor Ratike who claps a hand on his hand on his protege's shoulder.

"Well here we are, it's your first job with Lion Storm. Don't let the lack of orcs fool you, when your doing a job as Lion Storm, you need to put forward the same effort as if the job was as a prestigious as a meeting a long, as dangerous as facing a dragon, but most importantly, as fun as flying on the back of a hippogriff." the scarred catfolk gives Beryl directions to House Hesprous and wishes him good luck before turning again to discuss politics with the crowd of people.

Beryl follows his mentors directions and heads further into East Town. He walks the graveled roads, some passerby even notice his new Lion Storm tattoo and wish him luck. The streets were not busy at all and Beryl eventually is able to find a house, confirmed by a neighbor to belong to the Hesprous family. It was a pleasant house, one story tall with a small yard out front. One large tree stood in the yard, a swing hung from it while a dog leash was wrapped around, the dog nowhere to be seen.

Beryl approaches and steps into the open porch of the house and knocks on the front door. Moments later a woman answers. She wore a yellow apron and she smelled pleasantly of baking.

"Oh hello there?" behind her stood a man who Beryl recognized as one of the other new recruits, Wrexial.

Wrexial
Having a picture of Holly in hand, Wrexial rises to leave when a knocking at the door interrupts his departure. Karen excuses herself to go to the door and see who was there. Wrexial follows behind and recognizes one of the other recruits of Lion Storm.

Veridotus
Veridotus edges further into the mysterious room. It was strangely empty save for the pedestal in the middle. She inspects the pedestal further, noting the to lines carved into the front

I shall then be Apsu,
for I am the first.
As she rounds the pedestal she notices another engraving on the back.

And I shall end death.

Her investigations are disturbed however by Tikrack yelling outside. She rushes to the window, one of the only one not boarded up, and sees a man with the body of a human and the head of a lion approach.

[dascarletm]

"Vit-ayu, Jet-weska" Gerard attempted to mimic back to Jetweska assuming it was a greeting. He smiles for a second and turns to Thatassku, shifting to a more playfully-devious smile, "Thatasska. Vic told me a lot of great things about Kaleessa, if she vouched for you, then this will be a good fight." He pauses for a second and corrects himself, "Err, uh, fake fight. Gerard looks around at the weapons at the shop to see what types were on display. "So, uh, which do you want us to use?"

[Spore]

"Allied against the hordes of boxes and cabinets it seems?" Corrin exclaims happily. He jumps down from Byakko's back and offers his hand to the Undine and the Gnome. "If you dispel my dimensional anchor here you have to carry all that stuff yourself, you know?" the Halfling prompts, showing the glowing summoner sign on his forehead and pointing at the Leonal's identical sign on his chest. "He is glad to help but don't mistreat him. We will honor our contract but Byakko here is no servant but a friend of mine."

Normally Corrin would not be so brazen in front of a customer but this gnome seems to know how to unravel the ties that hold his ally in this world, and he is entirely unwilling to do any of this work alone. "Now, shall we begin? I feel it is best you instruct us carefully so that we avoid any unnecessary work."

[lougerstle]

Turning from the window and heading back for the door to head outside to see what’s happening, she glances back at the pedestal and thought Well this will have to wait. Though she was still intrigued how it all connected to what she saw, but continued outside to see what the lion headed person approaching needed. Still she thought Never a dull moment!

[Aethyr]

Good afternoon Mrs Hesprous. I am Beryl, here to serve. I believe your daughter could use some encouragement on staying in school, and perhaps some guidance on becoming an adventurer. As he notices Wrexial approach from inside: Hi Wrexial. Looks like we are together on this job. What's your thoughts?

[thegoldenfedora]

Gerard
Jetweska grins a little at Gerard’s pronunciation ”Dobre, keep practicing.” The alien creature gestures to the weapons laid out on the table. While they look like normal weapons for the most part, each one has some unique aspect to them that stands out. ”I have made many weapons using my own modifications. They are more difficult to wield than their counterparts,.” She picks up a dagger that is split into several strips lengthwise down the blade. With a sudden flourish she flicks the blade around and the strips spread and fan out. As Jetweska continues to maneuver the blade, spinning it quickly in the air, Gerard find himself having a hard time keeping up with their motions until suddenly the blade stops directly in front of Thatassku’s neck. ”but it makes them better.”

She sets the dagger back down and gestures for the two adventurers to take their pick. There was the dagger she had just used, a morning star with serrated barbs, great club reinforced with metal and looking incredibly heavy, a longsword with a hook on the end, and a gauntlet with barbs on the back of the hand. ”I can train you to use one if you desire.” Thatassku inspects the weapons, picking them up and feeling how they work before finally choosing the morning star.

If you have read the adventurers armory 2 book, then we are just using the weapon mods from it. If you haven’t the gist is that a simple weapon is treated as a martial, a martial as an exotic and an exotic requires a special feat to use properly.
Corrin and Veridotus
Tikrack settles down at Corrin’s light jab. Lenora chuckles and approaches Corrin. ”Hello, I am Lenora of the Olono tribe, why don’t you lend Veridotus a hand, I’m afraid she has been stuck with the upstairs, with the three of you I imagine you will finish close to when we finish.” Just as the undine finishes, another halfling comes down the stairs. ”Ah speaking of Veridotus.”

As Veridotus comes down the stairs she sees the source of the commotion, a seven foot tall man with the head of a lion. Standing next to him was the other halfling recruit. He had a symbol on his forehead, Veridotus vaguely remembers one of the mentors introducing the halfling as Corrin.

Beryl
Mrs. Hesprous smiles nicely at Beryl and invites him in. ”Ah welcome, thank you for coming. Well, Mr. Wrexial and I were just finishing up, but I’m happy to go over everything with you as well.” She brings the group back inside down a hallway that leads to a living room.

The walls have pictures of the family and other trophies of excellence such as grade reports and essays. The photos showed a family of four, Karen Hesprous, her husband, and two daughters. Mrs. Hesprous sets them back down in the living room and goes over the request with Beryl. ”It is failrly simple, my daughter Holly has begun to skip school so that she may train to become an adventurer, as I as saying to Mr. Wrexial, the women of Hesprous can not be adventurers and I would like for you to dissuade her from it and have her return to her school work.”

[Aethyr]

Beryl stares at Mrs. Hesprous, with his head tilted slightly in confusion. I'm sorry Mrs. Hesprous, I don't quite follow. Women can make excellent adventures, and we have many in our guild? Skipping school I'm sure we can do something about, especially if we can frame it as training for being an adventurer, but if her heart is set on being an adventurer, then there is little we can do about it.

[dascarletm]

Gerard picks up the longsword, and attempting to use it as he would his katana he looks fairly clumsy. Attempting to get used to the design he neglects the hook as it catches his sleeve, ripping it slightly, "Gah! Not quite the one for me." He grabs the knife and seems to want to ask Jetweska for help, but his pride gets the better of him. "This will be fine." He spins it clumsily.

[Spore]

Hello there. I am Corrin. I am pleased to meet you. This big fella is Byakko - or at least I call him that. This is the first thing I have learned about the planes, a true name gives you much power over other creatures. Corrin grins and stretches his hand out to greet Veridotus. You must be Veridotus. Or at least called that way. We might never know our true names but maybe it is best that way.

Corrin is friendly and helpful but not exactly glad to start with the work. Instead of immediately helping he dabbles a bit with the boxes, working up a conversation. Connections give you jobs. A well made moving job just offers you more asinine work like that.

[lougerstle]

Excited to see Corrin, Veridotus meets his hand eagerly and greets him with a warmly and enthusiasticly. Hello! It’s a pleasure to meet you both, and thank you for coming out to help us. Figless seems quite eager to have us move quickly, Ten leaning in closer to them so not to be over heard, Though he has not made a lot of preparations for us to accomplish the work quickly. and returning to a normal speaking stance and volume But that’s alright, it gives us more of a chance to get to know him and each other!

[Spore]

Veridotus sees the short face of disappointment between two seemingly sincere smiles. Is everything alright, Corrin? I felt a wave of regret in your emotions. Corrin's companion thunders in a deep bass almost akin to a lion roar. Raising one eyebrow towards Byakko tells the eidolon to start working. Well, that and the telepathic link the two share. "I get why we were accepted for moving a gnome's belongings instead of a ogre. But why is Lion's Storm accepting such" Corrin pauses briefly to think for a more charming alternative than he had thought of. basic tasks for their jobs? Do you have to keep that many new recruits busy?

[warper]

Rex looks the man over and is instantly appreciative of his outfit. Well, parts of it at least. If the armor padding could be removed, it looked quite silent and comfortable. The man had a look in his eye though that made Rex a little nervous and he wasn't sure why... instead of focusing on him though, Rex had a job to do.

Of course, it was then that Beryl told the woman that they wouldn't be able to convince the girl. Wrexial's head snaps from the women to Beryl and then back to her.

"Uh, don't worry, I have a plan to get her back. But understand what he says is partially true. She is young and will come back to this fancy without further convincing in the future if you're not careful."

Rex gives the man a look that says, Just go with it.

Sorry I'm late. Lost my phone... and all my contacts. Been really busy. But it's exciting to meet you guys!

[thegoldenfedora]

Gerrard
Jetweska takes the knife and begins to show Gerrard the tricks to operating the knife so that as it swings, it fans out. As the two work together, Gerrard is able to move it faster and faster until the blade becomes a dizzying flash of metal. ”Dobre, This will be a good show indeed.” Two of her arms reach underneath around the counter and pull up two potions. ”Now then, obviously I do not care who wins, I want my weapons to be demonstrated and for people to see how useful they can be once they put In the work to learn how to use them. So don’t kill each other!” She hands off each of the potions, ”This is in case you get carried away. ” She goes to a back room and returns in a few moments with a new set of clothes, a silky green tunic with the sleeves removed for her extra appendages. The three go outside where she begins to announce the competition.

”Vitayu! Come see two members of Lion Storm try out my customized weapons. Here we have Thatassku, the year long recruit. She is wielding a Morningstar that has been altered to draw blood with every strike. On the other side we have Gerrard, the upcoming. In his hands is a dagger designed to confuse and confound any foe who tries to follow his blade.” A crowd begins to circle around the two contestants. ”Give me a good show you two. Jetweska whispers.

Corrin and Veridotus
The group heads upstairs where Corrin can see the two rooms. To the right was the bedroom, a filthy room filled with clutter. The windows were all covered and little light made it in. To the left was a near empty room that was immaculate. The only thing within was a pedestal with a dragon statue. The room was well lit by the sun coming in through the large windows. It didn’t make sense how someone could have the capacity to have both rooms exist in their home.

Sitting in the corner of the empty room was an old disheveled gnome. His gray hair was unkempt and he wore an old faded blue robe. ”Ehhh, so there is another one, with a leonel no less, that will make short work.” He stands up and shuffles past the three and heads back down the stairs. ”leave the pedestal, I do not need it anymore.”
As Figless leaves, you notice that his eyes are red and watered, as if from crying.

Beryl and Wrexial
Karen gives a faint sad smile when Beryl explains about women adventurers. ”I wish that it were so easy as just a misguided view of gender roles, however this is nothing so antiquated. You see every woman in my family is a hemophiliac.” She pauses to let that sink in. ”Our blood doesn’t clot like normal so that whenever we are injured we run the risk of bleeding out. I’m sure you understand how such a dangerous life is unsuited for someone with her condition.”

[dascarletm]

"Magia deprehendere" and a flick of his wrist, Gerard begins to examine the potion. He uncorks the top, and swirling gently he smells the odors in which it gives off. As he walks out of the store he dips his little-finger into the potion and tries but a taste before corking it and storing it on his person. Seeing the crowd being beckoned by Jetweska, he sets his backpack to the side and stretches.

"Thank you for the help" he replies in a whisper to Jetweska before the two begin.

"Alright Thatassku, don't hold back!" Gerard says as he flicks the dagger utilizing the motions Jetweska showed him and sinking low into a fighting stance.

Gerard casts Detect Magic and attempts to identify the potion, he assumes it is a cure potion, but he wants to be sure as well as test his skills.
Spellcraft Check to Identify:
1d20+7 EDIT: Seems I made the mistake of hitting preview post, I'll roll in the OOC thread...

Another question, what is the modification that the dagger has?

Initiative if needed:
1d20+3

[Spore]

Corrin and Byakko look at each other, then at Veridotus, then shrug simultaneously as if choreographed. Corrin starts to check out the dragon statuette while Byakko starts to unclutter the other room.

[warper]

Wrexial holds back the surprise at this new information. "Very well then. Is there anything else we should know?" Wrexial will look at her pointedly. If she has nothing then Rex will say his goodbye and be off towards the finish line.

[Aethyr]

Beryl shrugs then nods at Wrexial, willing to take his lead.

[lougerstle]

Interested to see what Corrin's response to the pedestal, Veridotus follows him into the more kept and interesting of the rooms. She asks him, Have you ever seen anything like this? What do you think it could be?

[thegoldenfedora]

Gerrard
Gerrard gets ready for the fight, as he sinks down for the attack, Thatasssku instead raises her mace up high. She gives Gerrard a wink before she bellows in a loud dominating voice.
”Ladies and gentlemen! I am Thatasssku, hero of Lion Sstorm and champion of the ensslaved!” she unslings her shield and sets it on the ground. ”I have no need of my sshield when armed with Jetwesska's flanged masse. Itss unique barbss allow me to rip my foes sskin to sshreds. I will win thiss match, and then my foe, Gerrard will be forced to buy me drinkss tonight!” An older Halfling woman in the crowd yells out, ”I've got 5 gold on the Nagaji!”
When you are ready to fight, you may roll initiative
Corrin and Veridotus
Byakko does as bid and goes try to make sense of the bedroom. Veridotus and Corrin inspect the statue and the engravings on it.

I shall then be Apsu,
for I am the first.
And I shall end death.
Apsu is a good aligned dragon god.
After a few moments of inspection, Byakko steps into the room brandishing a small suit of heavy armor with a similar silver dragon painted on the front. He points out where the other parts are lying about in the closet along with a longsword and cape. All of the gear looks badly out of shape and in need of repair. Lying about in the closet are other items of interest to an adventurer. As the three begin to pack them away into boxes, Corrin stumbles onto an old picture of the gnome, Figless, and a younger one riding his shoulders. The picture is somewhat crumbled but on the back it reads Varin and his son Stoph it is dated several decades ago.

Wrexial and Beryl
Karen pauses before summoning up the courage to respond.
”Well, I suppose you should know about my elder daughter, Lilly. She too wanted to become an adventurer. She too went out to become an adventurer, she joined the Blue Drakewings.” She pauses again, stifling another tear, ”She too was a hemophiliac, and she never returned to us. One day a Blue Drakewing came and told us she died.”

[Spore]

Seeing an instant reason not to work, Corrin picks up the picture and practically flies towards Figless and starts questioning him. You want this picture reframed and restored, don't you? I think I know a guy. Who is that? Your grandpapi? Was he an adventurer? *gasp* Where YOU an adventurer? Corrin's eyes practically beam with excitement. And you fought dragons as well! I saw your armor. How cool is that?

The halfling pours his whole optimism into this conversation - and him being a Halfling, that is a lot of optimism. He noticed the stuff was packed away but not that Figless was crying so he thinks it's just an old tired adventurer trying to be humble.

Ain't got not Know (Religion). But here is Diplomacy to brighten the mood and Sense Motive to see how Figless reacts to me revealing the picture.
Diplomacy: [roll0]
Sense Motive: [roll1]

[dascarletm]

"Oh really? Is that so, Thatasssku?" Gerard belts out to the audience following her lead. "This dagger," he says twirling and flourishing it, "will have you confounded so thoroughly that I'll hardly have to break a sweat. I, Gerard, Initiate of the Lion's Storm Guild, will surely be receiving the free drinks tonight, armed with Jetwesska's fine dagger here."


I had rolled initiative in the OOC thread recently, but if you want I can roll it again.:smallbiggrin: It was a 7.

[lougerstle]

Curiously Veridotus asked,Do the symbols on this armor and pedestal have a particular meaning to you? Crossing towards Corrin to look at the photo Or anyone in this photo? Who is the young one in the picture here?


knowledge roll religion
[roll0]

[warper]

Wrexial nods to acknowledge the information. "Perhaps that is exactly why she wishes to try. Does she know? Exactly how much is known of her passing?" Rex says. He was already concocting a theory, and perhaps a solution to the problem. Perhaps Rex might play a bit of detective work. Glancing over, he sees Beryl, as if he'd already forgotten. Oh, and Beryl, of course!

[Aethyr]

I don't know much about healing, but perhaps we can look into any cures or palliatives for hemophilia while we are at it. Even if we convince her to stay home, a cure could save her life. Bleeding out from a vegetable peeler incident could be as likely as getting attacked by monsters.

[thegoldenfedora]

Gerrard
Some people in the crowd explain with surprise as Gerrard flips his dagger around. A young man calls out “I'll take that bet!” A vanara seemingly pops up out of nowhere wearing a yeah hat and grinning from ear to ear, he begins to take the bets. Gerrard returns his attention to Thatasssku as she get into a fighting stance. She held her morning star with one hand and at her side as if blatantly saying that she was unguarded. Suddenly she springs forward, the weapon traveling towards Gerrard’s chin. He looks up to the sky as he leans back and the morning star whistles by without finding is mark.

Veridotus
Figless’ face goes through a ranger of emotion, from confusion to hurt to unbridled anger and then finally resettling into a resigned huff. ”I don't, that's my son, I was, and there is nothing cool about it. He turns to Veridotus [color=blueviolet]”That is Apsu, if you want to know about him go to church.” he was beginning to get louder and there either adventures were beginning to take notice. ”Now if you are done pestering me with your questions, I want out of this house now!”

He storms off muttering to himself, Lenora watches him go and heads up the stairs to Veridotus. ”Why don't I lend you a hand. I feel that Figless is at the end of a very short rope, we had best keep our heads down and finish this task as quickly as possible.”

Wrexial and Beryl
Karen regains her composure. ”Holly knows all about her condition, we feel out was important to not hide anything so that if our little girl was hurt she knew what to tell those who would help her if we weren't there.” She takes another photo down to show the elder sister. She had a brave face and looked uncomfortable in her dress.

” When we were informed of Lilly's death, we told Holly what happened without going into the details, that Lilly had died while adventuring. We explained how dangerous it was for people with our condition. We thought she understood, but she received a posthumous package from Lilly and has ever since stopped going to school.” she turns to Beryl to answer his questions. ”It's true life is a little more perilous for us.” She rolls up her sleeves to show several bruises, ”This is from just bumping into someone at the market. We have yet to find any sort of cure.”

[dascarletm]

Moving with grace, and seemingly as one with the air, Gerard steps around Thatasssku as she misses with the morningstar. He flourishes his dagger once more, faking to the left, but striking to the right catching her in the upper-arm. He looks at her from behind the knife as he holds it up to his face. "This is fun," he says lowly just to Thatasssku with a kind smile.

[Spore]

With that very notion, Corrin snaps his fingers. Shortly after, the symbol on his forehead vanishes. Sorry to bother you. Don't worry to pay me. I'll leave immediately. And just with that, how quickly Corrin appeared, similarly quickly he leaves. You see the pile of stuff Byakko carried just moments ago neatly piled up outside. The Leonal is gone.

[lougerstle]

I do agree, we should finish this up before we completely wear out our welcome. Lets finish up upstairs and get going. I'd hate to get throw out on my first job. Veridotus headed back towards the stairs to finish packing up.

[warper]

"Interesting." Wrexial says thoughtfully. "I think we have enough to go on then. Thank you, this is good information to know. We'll get right on it miss." Rex will head out, as long as no more information is produced. He wanted to finish this job quickly and hopefully without to many knots.

[Aethyr]

Beryl nods his head and follows Wrexial out the door.

[thegoldenfedora]

Gerrard
Gerrard’s dagger connects with Thatassku’s side, sliding in between her scales, she hisses and the crowd cheers. ”Yess, the more we get the crowd into it the better” She whispers back. She cries out ”First blood to you Gerrard!” She lunges forward at him yelling ”But it will not be the last!

Veridotus
Veridotus and Lenora continue the work of packing until finally everything is finished up and loaded into the cart. Figless comes out, nods wordlessly and hops up alongside the driver who wrinkles his nose at the invasive smell. The adventurers hop up as well into the back of the wagon and set off for the new home.

Figless directs the driver and the caravan heads further east. Tikrack makes mild conversation, but the dour presence of Figless keeps the conversation muted and reserved. As the wagon travels through East Town, the houses become slightly less maintained. The yards were slightly less upkept and the paint was starting to thin. As the deterioration became more noticeable, the driver began to look worried. Veridotus had never been in this neighborhood before, but Tikrack seemed to recognize it. ”Woah now, You’re moving into Chalice territory? Are you going to be alright old timer?” Figless silently shrugs.


Wrexial and Beyrl
Karen walks the two out of the house and thanks them profusely for their time. ”Please help our little girl, I don’t know what we would do without our baby.” The two head for the bridge for West Town to return to the Rose Petal Plaza, where Thurfalcon the 8th had inductged them into the Lion Storm, and was hopefully where they would find Holly Hesprous.
If you want to chat it up, nows a good time to get to know each other, Otherwise I’ll post for your arrival.

[Aethyr]

So, how would you like to get young Holly to get back into school and possibly address the hemophilia Wrexial? queries Beryl.

[warper]

Wrexial shrugs. "I don't know about the hemophilia, that is a long term solution that we don't really have time for. Besides, they live next to Lion's Storm and haven't found an answer yet." Rex felt good about that excuse. What he wanted to say was Not my problem but he didn't really know Beryl.

"As far as convincing her to go home... I suspect we need to ask her what was in the box her sister gave her. Perhaps we will have to tell her we'll look into what happened to her sister or some such." Again Wrexial shrugs, as if it doesn't really matter to him. "Or perhaps I'll just let her know about my education and how with it I have made it in. Hell, I won the race, gotta count for something right?

After a pause in the conversation Rex realizes he hadn't thought to ask Beryl his view. He mentally chided himself before asking: "What about you? Any ideas?"

[Aethyr]

"It might be worth stopping in and seeing if the Lion's Storm healers have any idea about the hemophilia. Not sure that they are aware of the problem. The easier issue of getting her back into school should just be a matter of letting her know that knowledge is a very important part of being a successful adventurer." replies Beryl.

[dascarletm]

Gerrard ducks under Thatassku's strike, and jumps back half a pace. Yelling out to the crowd, "I don't doubt it will be the last. You have plenty more where that came from![/I]" He lunges forward awkwardly as he loses his footing slightly, and unintentionally telegraphing his attack fails to strike true with the dagger. He quickly attempts to regain his footing and ready for Thatassku's counter-strike.

If a 13 was a hit I can edit the post. I assume it wasn't.

[lougerstle]

Curiously Veridotus inquired Chalice Territory? I'm not familiar, are we heading towards a dangerous place?

[thegoldenfedora]

Gerrard
The crowd cheers at Gerrard's banter. Thatassku spins away from his attack, using the momentum to continue seamlessly into an attack towards Gerrard's side as he tries to regain his footing. ”Your quick witted, letss see if your feet can match!”
Attack [roll0]
Damage [roll1] +1 point of bleed

Veridotus
”Course you haven’t, only the people unlucky enough to be on the wrong side of em not know who the Chalices are. They are a gang that went and set themselves up in town. The soldiers never threw em out cause they threaten anyone from squeeling on em. Most families in the area have had a kid 'inducted.’”

Wrexial and Beryl
After a short journey Wrexial and Beryl retrace their steps to where the finish line had been. Ratike was still there, talking amiably amongst the crowd. A man was telling him the importance of creating a curfew, to which the catfolk was smiling along without making any sort of commitment to the conversation.

The to continue past and follow the race course back to the center of West Town. When they arrive they see the large tree creature had again raised the platform from which Thurfalcon spoke. Crowds of people were gathered around to hear him talk about stories from the past year. Currently he was telling how auliverious defeated a goblin caravan without any pants on.

If you wanted to talk to Ratike again feel free to and I'll edit accordingly

[dascarletm]

Thatassku's strike hits Gerard square in the abdomen, his shirt torn and red from the extra deadly mace. Staggered by the blow Gerard stumbles for a second his eyes determined and partially glossed over. With blurred vision, he knows he should stop and forfeit the fight, but his pride and determination get the better of him. Holding his wound he lashes out for one last strike before collapsing to the ground, unconscious. "I... I won't... lose." he manages to say weakly as he falls to the cold street.


Being at 0 HP Gerard is disabled, and performing a strenuous action will bring him to -1, which he does.
Attack:[roll0] (Forgot to add, +1 if the dagger is MWK)
Damage: [roll1]
Critical Confirmation: [roll2]
Critical Damage: [roll3]

[lougerstle]

Hesitant to asked What do you mean 'inducted'? Continuing with everyone Veridotus hoped that Figless was on the right side and they wouldn't have to worry about any kind of induction.