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Choose your path to greatness, obscurity or death. A multiple choice LP

CappenVarra

phase-based phantasmist
Patron
Joined
Mar 14, 2011
Messages
2,912
Location
Ardamai
A1
 

Vernydar

Learned
Joined
May 6, 2012
Messages
579
Location
Italy
Very well, 12 votes for B, 4 for A. So, explore in detail that is. As for the question about the calendar, the vast majority of you prefer that I keep using a narrative style. I'm still keeping track of the date of course so we can always switch to 3) later.

11 – On the riverbank

You decide to explore carefully these small ruins. You came here, might as well do it. For the next three days you go from house to house, trying to search for anything that might be interesting, useful of valuable.

In a small cellar under a house you find an axe. It's not in particularly good conditions, but it can be used, and it's a weapon anyway. At the very least you can probably sell it. You put it in your backpack. Also, in a chest in a corner of a ruined house you find 3 silver pieces. You put them in your pouch. Frankly you were hoping for something more, but hey you can't really complain. It's not like you are rich, everything helps.
(You have gained items: average quality axe, 3 silver pieces)

As for why this hamlet is in ruins, you conclude that this hamlet was abandoned in an ordered, planned fashion. The villagers obviously did not flee, but calmly removed almost all their possessions. It was most likely abandoned due to non violent causes then.

Satisfied that you found everything of interest in this place, you set off southwest towards the river. It takes you about one day to reach the Volay river. It's a clean, wide river, but the water level is still relatively low. However you have a problem. In the last 30 minutes or so, while you were reaching the riverbanks, you have started to feel unsettled. A sensation in the back on your mind tells you there's something wrong. As you reach the riverbank, you feel somehow.... followed. Hunted even maybe. And you think you just saw a shadow darting from one bush to another....

You consider your situation. You are on the river Volay, southwest of the ruins (refer to the map if needed). Your plan was to cross it and then move to the other ruins . But... now you are almost sure something is following you.

The river here where you are is not very wide, but you think it's rather deep. Most likely you can cross it on foot, but you're not 100% sure, and you do not know how to swim... The forest behind you is very thick, and seem very dark now that you're out of it. Upriver, maybe 500 meters from here, you see various rocks in the middle of the river. They should facilitate the crossing... Or maybe you could go downriver, you see in the distance that the river is wider there, so the water is surely shallow. But it's about a km from here... Or maybe... confront this shadow?

What are you going to do? This is an open choice, you're free to pick whatever idea you want.
 

Monty

Arcane
Joined
Mar 24, 2012
Messages
1,582
Location
Grognardia
I say go upriver and attempt to cross at the rocks. This is closer than the 1km downriver, and time is of the essence if we're being hunted. Then we will be able to hide on the other side of the river and see if anything follows us, so we'll know what we're getting into if we decide to confront it.
 

Curufinwe

Learned
Joined
Apr 7, 2012
Messages
271
Location
Italy
I endorse Monty's plan. I wonder if the hunter is human, beast or monster.
Searching the village was not an utter waste of time, thankfully. At the worst, we have a backup woodaxe.
 

Zwist

Learned
Joined
Jun 6, 2012
Messages
236
Monty's plan sounds good, let us just hope that whatever follows us wont use us as target practice while we cross the river.
Time being of essence is however not that much of a factor; if we notice being stalked, whatever stalks us is near already and probably just waits for the right moment.
Might be the hunter, maybe he was not that forgiving after all.
 

Hoodoo

Arcane
Joined
Jun 5, 2009
Messages
7,139
montys plan, but defecate before we cross the rocks so if the shadow follows us he will have to follow us through our poop
 

ScubaV

Prophet
Joined
Feb 20, 2011
Messages
1,022
I suspect our stalker could be attracted to the mystery dark metal we're carrying. We may need to use it as bait at some point.
 

Vernydar

Learned
Joined
May 6, 2012
Messages
579
Location
Italy
Well it seems that it's Monty for president day today :P Though we did get a couple of... interesting posts o.o

12 – A crossing, a walk, and...

You decide to try your luck with crossing near the rocks upriver. You start to walk nonchalantly and close to the water, trying to hide the fact you have seen your follower and keeping your hand close to your sword's hilt. As you make your way closer to the rocks you see once again a shadow dart from one bush to another with the corner of your eye. Then you see another.... You steel your nerves and keep moving at the same pace. Closer... closer... closer

You reach the closest rock, and suddenly you dart across it and then into the shallow water to the next rock. You hear growls behind you, and more than one beast running. You wade quickly to the rock, and then you climb up. You turn around and draw your sword, the water should give you an advantage slowing down whatever is following you.

You see them on the rock behind you. Four very large wolves, growling at you. They are visibly thin, the terrible winter must have been hard on them. Usually wolves avoid humans, except when they're desperate. Last winter was the harshest the village elders remembered after all..

You consider your options in orders to stop them once they try to cross, but you immediately notice that something is wrong. The wolves are pacing the big rock back and forth, looking at you, growling at you. But they're making no move to cross. In fact, they're giving the water a wide berth. One of them gets a bit closer to it, sniffs it, then recoils suddenly. They seem to be afraid of it...

You decide to encourage them to leave. You start picking up rocks and throwing at them. Your aim is not very good, and they are quick enough to dodge, but they clearly do not like it. After about ten rocks, they retreat, look at you one last time, and then go back to the forest. You are very happy with the outcome, you are unarmored and not very good with weapons yet, a fight with four wolves at once would have not been pretty. Knowing how to use the bow would have been very useful here, maybe you should plan to learn it.

It seems that the wolves were somehow afraid of the river's water. You do not particularly like this information, usually animals are sharp. But at least you can be rather sure they're not going to follow you. After a quick pause to reorient yourself, you start journeying southwest, knowing you should reach the other ruin after 2-3 days.

You go back to an easy pace across the forest, traveling, procuring some food, and generally enjoying the journey and learning something more of the world around you. The weather is still nice, the temperature is starting to get a bit more comfortable, and the days a bit longer. For a couple of days you travel, always going southwest. You're not entirely sure you're following the right direction, after all you're still not very good at this. But at the end of the second day you find a small hill, and climb up to confirm where you are. You manage to see in the distance to the southwest what seems to be the ruins of a small watchtower. That should be the village ruins!

In the morning, you set your course to that watchtower, walking at a brisk pace. The forest is a bit sparser here, so traveling is easier. But as you get closer, you notice that the forest is going quiet. Very quiet in fact. You keep advancing, but hesitate a bit. The vegetation is a bit duller here, not as vibrant as before.

Finally you see a couple of walls in the distance under the trees. You have reached the borders of the village. The forest is completely quiet, and the vegetation appears to be somewhat... diseased. The deep greens from before have been replaced by a lighter, sicker green. The trees have some dead, rotting branches here and there... and, what is this smell of decay? It's horrible!

You are at the western smaller ruins, just a few days north of Qoor.

What are you going to do? (semi-open choice)
A) Enter the village and investigate.
B) Circle the village, but do not enter. Then head south towards Qoor.
C) Head south towards Qoor immediately.
D) Other. Make your proposal and put a letter on it.
 

Curufinwe

Learned
Joined
Apr 7, 2012
Messages
271
Location
Italy
A, most definitely. I hope it's not an ancient curse, but we need to find out what's going on in those ruins. They're supposed to be another hamlet abandoned not long ago, shouldn't be anything TOO deadly inside.

Of course avoid eating or drinking anything we find inside, but investigating it is a priority.
 

Omicron

Scholar
Joined
Dec 24, 2011
Messages
207
B. Those ruins may have been the result of a plague outbreak, and thus abandoned in hurry, where people cared more about fleeing with their lives than with their valuables. While looting it could turn out to be profitable, we only have a basic understanding of herbs. I think it would be a good choice to travel to Qoor, to refill our water and learn about what happened to this particular village. If it is indeed caused by a plague (or some sort of poisoning, as the water seems to suggest) we can travel back equipped with the proper knowledge and herbs.
 

Monty

Arcane
Joined
Mar 24, 2012
Messages
1,582
Location
Grognardia
B Omicron makes sense, we can always come back. Qoor is not too far, better to learn a bit more before risking it.
 

TOME

Cuckmaster General
Joined
May 25, 2012
Messages
1,820
D. Enter the village and investigate. Collect a few plants and roots to see if they can later be used as poisons.
 

m4davis

Scholar
Joined
Jan 20, 2012
Messages
557
A TOME what evers wrong with them could be spread by touch
 

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