Adventures in Draconium

[planswalker]

The worlds as they are known encompass an infinite variety of variations, each one complete unto itself with its own history and culture, with trends and variety without count present everywhere. However, all worlds can be traced back to one: the Primus Primal, the first world. From it extends (to a lesser or greater extent) the outline that all other worlds follow. It is a composite of all, while at the same time unique unto itself. Those wishing to alter the very fabric of the universe find that doing so here is more possible than anywhere else. It is believed that any drastic changes to this world will be reflected in all others.
On this world, there exists 6 populated continents. Two of them are ancient, tracing their cultures and lineages back to before the first word was written down. From these two continents, expeditions were sent out to find other, new lands to explore. One expedition found a new land, one steeped in the magical and strange. They found the opportunity for untold feats of great power, both magical and mundane. The colonies thrived, and quickly became resentful of being ruled by a distant empire. This freedom would be contest for nearly a half-century, but the burgeoning Holy Colonial Empire would win out, throwing off its oversees masters. Throughout the last 1500 years, this empire has grown, shrank, been attack by powers both internal and external, and gone through countless dynasties. However, no one has ever taken the the empire's Capital City, the stronghold of its power, save once, by a horde of fiends from planes beyond the edge of the Worlds of the Universe. Their reign of terror was put to an end by the prophesied Savior of Light, who re-established the Capital, the site where they fearsome Tarrasque was slain. It has been 78 years since the Savior of Light has ascended on to a higher plane.
These are times of peace and rebuilding, as the world is left in the care of 12 immortal guardians, caretakers of the peace and arbiters of justice. The Nexus, the point on this world which connects it with all other worlds has been re-opened, allowing the brave and the foolish alike to venture forth into other worlds both familiar and bizzare.
One recently discovered nearby world is one in which dragons, some of the mightiest creatures in existence, rule in countless numbers and varieties. The Explorers of Amin, a mage-guild specializing in extraplanar exploration, has sent out the call for adventurers to explore this strange new land. You are part of a band of chosen elite individuals who shall go forth as the trailblazers into this land to befriend, conquer, trade with, learn from, explore and understand the inhabitants of this daringly new place.

[planswalker]

The town is called Primal Point, after the man-sized pair of one-way portals located at the center of town. About 40 one- and two-story buildings sprawl out around this point, mostly cheaply built wooden structures. A pair of enormous dragons the sizes of small keeps doze in the sunlight just outside, with twin copper hides. Among the various dwellings, several buildings stand out of note. Directly across from the portal leading to Draconium is a one-story barracks, with a sign out front stating: NEW ENTRIES REPORT HERE. There are 2 temples located here, each to the good god. On one edge of town is a building made of stone that has a steep roof with a sunburst banner displayed on a long pole. The other is on the opposite side of town, made of marble, and features the icons of 10 lesser dragons surrounding a carving of an enormous dragon in flight. A smithy can be seen, with the noises of the forge ringing and clanging constantly. One of the largest structures in the town, located directly north of the portals, has a sign outside naming it "Dragon's breath Tavern. The only other building which does not appear to be merely a temporary dwelling is large stable with a corral outside it. Within the fence are a host of creatures with features that are uncannily draconic: tiny winged creatures carrying on a racket like magpies with tiny jets of flame spewing periodically, large catlike predators with bronze scales, and, most prominently displayed, a creature whose shoulders are beyond the top of a man's head with a serpentine neck, a long, barbed tail, and pair of magnificent wings. His triangular face has a white stripe running down the nose on a beast that is otherwise completely black. Although the usual makeup of humanoids can be seen walking these crowded streets, there is a strong presence of bipeds whose skins flash and shimmer in the noonday sun. Beyond the outskirts of this unwalled village is sprawling hill country. Seven individuals are present here today, seven who will shape the fate of two worlds, but there is one thing keeping them from their path: they have never seen each other before today. Where are they, and how will their paths entertwine until one day every member of this world shall know their names with either hope or dread? only the good god can see. Who are they, where are they, and what are they doing on this, the first day of the road to glory?

[Sarom]

Mordin stretches his back, amazed of the new world and intimidated by the dragons. One can easily tell that he's an outlander. A catfolk with the signs of a powerful Warlock as magical runes can be seen on his robes and armour.

He looks at the tiny winged creatues in ammusement, only to shudder when they spewed out small jets of fire. He looks around, taking in the scenery before walking to the barracks.

[Cadian 9th]

Gladehart crouches low, drawing a clawed hand through the dirt, raking up a small gibbet of earth. Dust streams through the gaps between his fingers, as the noble looking humanoid rises, inhaling the fine dust. His features are human looking, just much, much harder and more predatory looking. His brows are particularly pronounced, though his eyes, Bright Green, convey a draconic ancestry.

He moves, muscles rippling through his loose shirt which covers his rare mithral chain coat - with agility and precision. A bright shine reveals the hilts of two rapiers, sheathed upon his leather belt, which is embossed with a swirling symbol. It looks of elven Make...

He looks around, one with the earth, before sighting another and loping over, leaving clawed footprints in the dry earth.

" Cat-Kin? By my eyes... I am... Wonder..." He hesitates, trying to get his point across. He gestures, pointing.

Gladehart

[planswalker]

Mordin stretches his back, amazed of the new world and intimidated by the dragons. One can easily tell that he's an outlander. A catfolk with the signs of a powerful Warlock as magical runes can be seen on his robes and armour.

He looks at the tiny winged creatues in ammusement, only to shudder when they spewed out small jets of fire. He looks around, taking in the scenery before walking to the barracks.

Upon entering the barracks, he notices a large pair of bipedal, silver dragons. They are standing on either side of the entrance, each with a sword over 12 feet long. The large wings spreading from their backs are adorned with various sigils along the ridge of each wing. After a moment, it registers why they seem so familiar. They are the same shape as ogres, but are even more heavily built. A dwarf without any discernable draconic features sits behind a desk just beyond. He notices the catfolk and says. "State your name and purpose for coming to draconium." He seems rather unimpressed with what he sees.

[Sarom]

"My name is Mordin, dwarf. I come here in answer to a call of assistance from a Mage-Guild, called the 'Explorers of Amin'. I was told by them to explore this new land of the dragons."
Mordin takes a quick glance at the two guards.
"As you can see I'm a catfolk but, my powers lie on the line of a warlock."

(OOC: I'm going to stop posting unless necessary, to allow the others to post and do something.)

[planswalker]

"Another adventurer, eh? well, here are your papers. Sign here and be sure to state the name of the guild that sponsored you. If you think security seems lax, take a gander at the 2 dragons outside the village. They are our security system. You had to go through customs just to walk through that portal. Besides, Brutus and Julius here can wrestle a dire bear into submission. Feel free to wander about town, but you will want to find a local to help you avoid the wildlife here if you leave the village. They can be quite territorial. The dragons tolerate us here, but don't push it." The dwarf passes you a sheet of paper requesting your basic information and with a line at the bottom to sign and place your seal (if applicable).
After you sign the papers and give them back, he dismisses you. As you walk outside the barracks, a rather draconic-looking human with a thick, muscular tail points at you and stammers, " Cat-Kin? By my eyes... I am... Wonder..."

[aivanther]

Darus enters the town and looks about. So this is what the outlanders do here. That was uncharitable, this was an outpost, who knew what they did. Outposts were by their definition small and shanty, at least at first. Suddenly he feels the need to pray. He pauses as he heads towards the marble building. He's here for them, perhaps he should see how they see and worship God.

Making his decision Darus enters the stone temple with the sunburst. He will look around for an altar, or prayer room and enter there to pray for a while.

[Talore]

Silvrhanar steps from the alleyway made by two shelters, breathing the semi-fresh air. Seeing the confusion in the muscle-bound humanoid's eyes and speech, Sil steps closer. "He is indeed a Catfolk, renowned for their agility."

[Demons_eye]

A shadow rises from the south as a man following a small dragon appears. The man had arrived hours before but wanted to get a good look at the place before heading to the barracks. As he left the dragon afford to come with him as, apparently, the life on this world was more dangerous then on others he had been on.

The man is hard to see not only from the distance but the shadow that seems to engulf him as he walks. If someone were to peer into the shadow and some how look upon him they would see his face covered with cloth as, too, most of his skin is. He enters the town for the second time and thanks the dragon in draconic. He did not know the language but had picked up some of the greetings and customs here.

He enters the barracks he uses his scythe as walking stick as siting with it was a pain to him. He is slightly surprised to find a few people here waiting to be recorded. He stands some what in the back as he shadows get darker. Soon he is in total darkness and a disk appears in his hand. He pockets it as he takes off some of the wrappings he has on and curses his paranoia. After cooling off a bit he re wraps himself and the shadows disappears as fast as they came leaving only the man there.

He looks up as he listens to conversations but waiting for his turn withe the dwarf.

[planswalker]

Darus enters the town and looks about. So this is what the outlanders do here. That was uncharitable, this was an outpost, who knew what they did. Outposts were by their definition small and shanty, at least at first. Suddenly he feels the need to pray. He pauses as he heads towards the marble building. He's here for them, perhaps he should see how they see and worship God.

Making his decision Darus enters the stone temple with the sunburst. He will look around for an altar, or prayer room and enter there to pray for a while.

Upon entering, he sees two long rows of wooden benches, angled slightly to focus on the altar at the far end of the room. Two doors are located just behind the altar, with labels printed in celestial stating them to be "Prayer Room" and "Confessions To God". A slim-looking female elf in a brown robe approaches and says in celestial "Greetings. How may we help you today in this, the house of God?"

(i reserve the gold color for npc's speaking in celestial. Black is common)

[aivanther]

Darus replies back in Celestial, "I am an itinerant priest come to pray to God." He surveys the church surreptitiously comparing and contrasting decor, holy symbols and the like.

[planswalker]

She says, "I do not recognize what order you are from. Are you a native of this plane? After the priest of Bahamut talked with us and proved that we had the same God, none of the dragon priests have had anything to do with us. Feel free to make use of this place. IF you wish to talk with Father Ulik, he is in the confessional."

[Lyndworm]

Near the stable stands a man who dwarfs everything around him. Even the great winged beast seems much smaller. The man seems to just be watching the creatures, a small, crooked smile on his face.

He carries no obvious weaponry, but he appears to be wearing some sort of exotic leather armor. On his back is a pack stuffed nearly to the brim and a brown-black shield.

[planswalker]

The stable master walks over to you and says, "Magnificent, aren't they? You seem to be the type who knows a lot about adventures. Would you perhaps be looking for a job?"

[Lyndworm]

The enormous man turns around, revealing himself to be an orc with draconic ancestry of some sort. He has gray-brown skin and golden-brown scales on his forearms, and his hair is long, dark gray, and pulled back into a bun/tail combination. His eyes are as black as coal, and shine with an uncommon intelligence.

With a strange, but thin, accent, he says "You could say that, yes. I'm here with the Explorers of Amin, but to be honest I'm not exactly clear on what that entails."

[planswalker]

"Well, from what i understand about such things, they basically call for adventurers to go forth and explore the lands in whatever way they see fit, basically get them to risk their necks for free to do what you have to pay guild members for. And less likely to reduce membership within the guild. I have a little errand I need someone to run for me. Nothing illegal or anything, just merely somewhat dangerous. I'm sure as a fellow offworlder you understand. And with your looks, you could pass for a native if you had to. Would you be interested in helping out my business? The pay is a lot better than the magi's nothing."

[Lyndworm]

"I'll admit it; you've caught my interest. What is this errand of which you speak?"

[planswalker]

"You see this beast here?" Gesturing to the large winged creature. "It's called a Drakkensteed. Highly sought after as mounts. Problem is, they are fast, real fast. And don't care too much for humanoids, run from yeh as soon as you get close. However, it is legal to try to tame wild ones, assuming you get a permit like this." he flashes a piece of paper in front of you real quick. You see that there was indeed some sort of official-looking insignia on it. "I have been authorized to hire people to bring them to me. I will pay 1500 gold per beast brought in, 3000 for a foal. After training them and transporting them back to primus, i can sell them for 10 times that much, easily. I assume as an adventurer apparent that you have a couple of buddies who could help you out with this? The reward is per creature brought in, but no one besides a true dragon themselves could bring one in all by itself, and they deem such work beneath them. I assume, of course that you are registered at the barracks as an offworld visitor?" (if you arrived in town before today, feel free to have already done so)

[Lyndworm]

"Indeed I have... I'll see about gathering a few Explorers to complete this task. It sounds simple enough. Not easy, but simple." The massive orc seems to think to himself for a moment. "Would that be all? If so, I'll go speak with the others."

[planswalker]

"Just be sure they aren't dead or too badly injured. Dead stock is useless to me."

[Lyndworm]

A small grin spreads across the orcs face. "Of course not. Have a good day then, sir. I'll be heading out shortly." With a curt nod to the stable master, Riliwodoi turns and heads for the barracks.

[planswalker]

Upon arriving at the barracks,the orc saw a strange sight: A catfolk and a draconic-looking human are standing outside. The humans sports a reptillian tail and is pointing at the catfolk, saying, " Cat-Kin? By my eyes... I am... Wonder...". As the orc is wondering how the catfolk shall respond to such a rude remark, another draconic human steps out of the nearby alleyway, this one with silver wings. He says, "He is indeed a Catfolk, renowned for their agility." About this time, he notices another human, this one looking completely not draconic and somehow is wrapped in shadows at high noon. He seems to be rather impatiently waiting for the crowd to clear.

[Cadian 9th]

"Hmm. I have not seen that... before..." he says, slightly more confident.

Gladehart looks confused as to why they are hunting dragon-kin.

" I will go with the others... I... I don't understand... I seek my heritage. I'll go. " Gladehart speaks clearly but seems to have alot of trouble getting his point across.

Gladehart

[Sarom]

Mordin raises an eyebrow, his mouth twitching from anticipation and from intimidation. Upon leaving the barracks, being stared at and pointed at so sudenly from the beings shocked him.

Composing himself, he walks to the group giving a quizzical look.
"Yes, I'm a catfolk. I can't see why it is amazing. You look like outlanders yourself in this new land. You'd all better sign up in the barracks behind me. No doubt you were the others sent by the magic-guild to investigage this new land.

My name is Mordin, a pleasure to meet you all. As we all have the same objective, supposedly; no doubt we can help eachother."

[Lyndworm]

The immense draconic orc nods his head. "I agree entirely. We are all allies here. Following that line of thought, it's been brought to my attention that there are wild drakkensteed about. Additionally, the gentleman tending the animals in that pen there," he gestures in the direction from whence he came "Is willing to pay rather handsomely for healthy drakkensteed, especially foals. Are any of you interested?" The orc looks at each of you in turn.

[aivanther]

Darus nods and says, "Yes, I am from here. I'm a scholar and a priest, and my order follows after the teachings of Zeris the Gold, but I all I have heard does tell me you worship God as we. I was somewhat curious to see how, if any, differences there might be between the practices of our worlds. I may speak to your Father Ulik after I pray. Good day, and God Bless You."

Darus enters the prayer room and kneels, praying for a good 30 minutes for blessing and guidance in learning about the people from another world and in making a positive relationship with them.

After he is done Darus steps out and enters the confessional. He says in Celestial, "Greetings, I was told you were Father Ulik. I am Darus, a Cleric, though of an order from this world. I was hoping to discuss our common worship, and perhaps our contrasting methods."

[Sarom]

Hunting hmm? I thought we were sent here to investigate and wipe any evil from the lands but I will help if need be. It sounds fun yet I have little time to tarry away from my path to redemption.

[planswalker]

Darus nods and says, "Yes, I am from here. I'm a scholar and a priest, and my order follows after the teachings of Zeris the Gold, but I all I have heard does tell me you worship God as we. I was somewhat curious to see how, if any, differences there might be between the practices of our worlds. I may speak to your Father Ulik after I pray. Good day, and God Bless You."

Darus enters the prayer room and kneels, praying for a good 30 minutes for blessing and guidance in learning about the people from another world and in making a positive relationship with them.

After he is done Darus steps out and enters the confessional. He says in Celestial, "Greetings, I was told you were Father Ulik. I am Darus, a Cleric, though of an order from this world. I was hoping to discuss our common worship, and perhaps our contrasting methods."

A voice tells you, "Come forward. You will find a door in the back of the confessional. come on through. It's not locked. I was hoping to get a chance to talk theology with a brother from this world. After you go through that door, take the one on your right. To the left is my personal chamber."
After following his directions, you come face-to-face with an elf, ancient and shriveled but with an air of grace about him. He is sitting on a stool next to the wall common with the confessional, which can be seen to be slightly porous, so as to allow sound to pass through without sight from either party.
"Do forgive me if i drop into the common tongue, but i find the angel's speech rather formal. I'm sorry i cannot offer you a seat as well, but the floor is clean and dry, or you can remain standing if you so wish. I assume that your particular order has a name for him with a mixture of celestial and draconic vocabulary, just like all the others. Now tell me, i hear that in this realm you follow the teachings of ancient dragons in addition to the Good God. Could you be more specific as to that? To my way of thinking, that would be mixing in the worship of powerful beings like demon cultists with the worship of the One True God. I doubt so, since the Good God would never grant spells to someone who committed such blasphemy." (feel free to get creative with your answers, but consider the guidelines i pm'd to you.) This last question was phrased with grandfatherly kindness, not condemnation. He seems to be curious and looks forward to hearing from you.

[Talore]

"No, I trust my own wings better, thanks," Sil affirms. He stretches the silvery appendages, they never got much use on the other plane. "I guess we should register then...?" Sil raises his eyebrow, and motions for the others to follow him.

Silvrhanar steps inside.