Dervish

Mass Effect: Borealis

<Snipped quote by Zombiedude101>

No problem, give me a day or two unless someone else wants to start that. Than I would be grateful.

@Fallenreaper

Ready whenever you guys are :)

The Elder Scrolls: Fruits of Contention - Chapter 1 (Completed)

EDIT: Situation resolved, simply missed editing on my part.

Whee.

The Elder Scrolls: Fruits of Contention - Chapter 1 (Completed)

Gahdamnit!

But hey, at least I get some action (;

@MacabreFox

I are sorry, but I must obey my master, Darth Diceroll. He is cold maaan.

The Elder Scrolls: Fruits of Contention - Chapter 1 (Completed)

MISSION START: FIRE WATCH

“I admire your enthusiasm, Keegan.” Daelin said flatly. For those who weren’t acquainted with the bosmer, his disposition could be either interpreted as dry sarcasm or indifference, but the reality was quite a bit different. The memories of the retreat from Windhelm still weighed heavily on Daelin, the memories of the terrified flight from the Kamal cavalry and the screams of the dying, many of which were his men. It had shaken him to his very core, and for the last few days, he made himself scarce, not able to face the survivors for his failure to lead his men safely, for their untimely fate. He was alive and they were not; it was shameful. He could have done so much more, but instead focused entirely on saving his own worthless hide. And now, Ashav was forcing him to lead a new team. He would do his duty as diligently as always, and he would put on a brave face, but it was going to be hard to look at even the new recruits and not see the faces of those he’d failed. As the company departed for the night, Daelin remained behind nursing a clay mug of rotmeth, forcing himself to come to terms with the simple fact that the company needed their lead scout back. There’d been enough time to mourn; they needed Daelin if any were to survive the upcoming assignment. Pounding back the fermented meat, the bosmer vowed he’d do better. For all of their sakes.

~~~

Sunrise, 20th Sun’s Height, Outskirts of Dawnstar

“Alright, listen up.” The bosmer called, standing tall on a large rock on the periphery of Dawnstar where his team would be volunteering. “Red-Bear, Keegan, Marcel, Rhasha’Dar, Daixanos, Huntress, gather around.” As the mercenaries gathered from the loosely assembled company that were preparing to depart for their next assignment, Daelin was quietly congratulating himself on his foresight to commit his group to memory, as well as the five minutes or so it took to actually pronounce the argonian’s name. It was so much nicer when they called themselves something simple like “I-Eat-Rocks”, or “Cover-With-Butter”, or “Don’t-Skin-Me”.

Looking at the assembled faces, some eager, some looking already like this was the last thing they wanted to be a part of, the bosmer continued, “I trust you all have your affairs in order. This is a scouting mission, we will only engage if we find imminent threat to ourselves or citizens of the Pale, and if it’s a battle we can win without risking unacceptable losses. Like Ashav said the night prior, there’s been a number of reports of pissed off Spriggans… well, more so than they usually are, anyway.” He said with the slight upturn of his lips. “Leading theory is that someone or something’s been causing quite a few rather unnatural fires, we’re going to see if we can’t figure out who that is, so in a way this might turn into a bounty hunting operation. Huntress,” Daelin said, turning to Sevine, regarding the fiery haired Nord with professional admiration. “I trust this will be familiar ground for you. It’s why I personally requested you for this assignment. We may have to look for signs and clues of the culprit, and your reputation precedes you.

“Likewise Daixanos, first off I’d like to welcome you to the company. Ashav speaks highly of your skills, and we all saw how you handle yourself in a fight.” He said, his tone still light and accepting, as if the events surrounding Farid’s death were either unimportant or never happened. “Ashav assures me you have skill with tracking, and your physical prowess will be handy if we run into Spriggans. Likewise, Red-Bear, you will be our vanguard if things get rough, along with Daixanos. We need Marcel’s detect life spells and spell absorbsion abilities to both detect our Spriggans and anyone of interest, including potentially any responsible parties for the fires here. Marcel,” Daelin continued, eyes fixed on the Breton, “If you haven’t stocked up on magicka potions, get some before we depart. We can’t depend on you absorbing hostile magic just to make use of your talents.”

Reaching the end of his briefing, he at last focused on Rhasha and Keegan. “Rhasha’Dar, I need you to be quick on your feet and support our fighters with healing spells, and in our rests, to work on potions as you see fit. The forest is bountiful with ingredients as I’m sure you know, but if you see a target of opportunity, I expect you’ll strike true with that spear of yours. And finally, our volunteer, Keegan.” He said with some finality. “I’m guessing you’re sick of ships after what occurred heading back from the College? Heard you vomited anything that went into you the whole time.” He said, grinning teasingly at the altmer. “You’re handy with quite a few schools of magic. I’m sure you’ll have a better idea than I what spells will work for whatever situation we come across.”

Clapping his hands together and rubbing them with somewhat forced enthusiasm, for he did dread the prospect of reliving the hell that was the retreat from Windhelm once more, Daelin shared his final thoughts. “Right. We’re projected to be gone perhaps two days, three at most, and as such we’ll carry four days’ worth of rations to be on the safe side. Red-Bear, I’m counting on you to keep an eye on the party when I’m taking point and scouting ahead with the Huntress and Daixanos. The three scouts will go forward two at a time, and periodically one will return to the party and report their findings and the next one will go forward in rotation. This makes sure we don’t lose anyone, information is constantly coming in, and it shares the burden evenly. Well, that about covers it; say goodbye to Dawnstar, and hello to the great unknown.”

The group set off in pairs with Daelin walking slightly ahead of the formation as Dax and Sevine were sent ahead to scout the terrain. One would report back in an hour, and Daelin would head out to take their place charting a course. It was the beginnings of an assignment that Daelin found most pleasurable, the escape into the wilderness and the hustle of the company dynamics. He liked people, sure, but a part of him still yearned for the simpler time in Skyrim’s wilds with his clan, where the biggest concern was hunting and keeping your people safe. In a way, it wasn’t so different from what he was doing now; as far as Daelin was concerned, those he marched alongside with the moss and flower hewn fields of the Pale were his other clan, and he owed them a responsibility to lead them well.

The hours passed and the sun crested over the sky, giving brilliant illumination to the mountainous passes and dense forests that made up the Pale. The weather was finally returning to more seasonal Summer-like temperatures, which to most who did not call Skyrim home would feel it were almost like early Spring temperatures elsewhere, where one could make do with or without sleeves and be comfortable. The weather, along with the progressive bird song and buzz of insects made it a rather pleasant day, all considered. Deer were spotted from time to time, either alone or in small groups up to four, and in a couple notable instances, a pack of wolves crossed up ahead, paying only token notice to the group of travellers, and a bear was plodding along aloofly with a pair of cubs close in tow. All in all, it was an uneventful journey, and even when the group stopped for lunch, spirits seemed high and a few of the more comical members of the party earned a chorus of laughs from tall tales and jokes, often at the expense of someone else in the company, bringing up happier memories that seemed long forgotten. The fire was extinguished and the food scraps were left behind for scavengers; the rule of the forest that nothing went to waste.

Nearing late afternoon, a haze was beginning to fill the air, and Daelin knew that it should have been possible to see Whiterun even from this distance, far to the South, but the air was simply too thick to see more than a few kilometers at most. The distinct smell of burnt forest permeated the air, and the bosmer knew they were quite close to their objective. Soon, Daelin crested a ridge and looked down into the desolation below. He had seen forest fires before, and really, who hadn’t, but how through this was definitely leant the region an unsettling air for how complete it felt, as if the flames had taken the time to completely remove all traces of wood and underbrush in an increasing radius, where the still smouldering husks of trunks remained. Daelin felt his throat clench as he took it in; this was not a natural fire. Without turning to look at his companion, Daelin ordered Sevine back to fetch the rest of the party. Their work would start now.

Around ten minutes later, the rest of the group caught up with Daelin and they began to move into the scorched lands, many covering their mouths with whatever free cloth was available to keep from breathing in the fumes. Daelin did the same, tying a brown scarf around his mouth and nose as his feet pressed through the ground below, the deadfall crunching beneath his feet. It became clear the closer they reached that the central area, where this particular blaze started from, had a thick layer of ash and not much else. “Marcel,” Daelin said, turning to the Breton, “Start looking around, see if anything lives in this waste. Sevine, Daixanos, spread out, look for tracks, remains, anything that might give us a-“

”GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME!”

The shout came from a only semi-scorched group of trees to the Southwest as an older Nord man, who looked to be in his late 40s or early 50s with a great braided beard and receding hairline of dark hair crashed out into the beginnings of the clearing, wearing a simple cotton shirt with a rope closure about the chest, that might have been white, but was long stained from the soot, and a brown leather apron fell onto this back, screaming as bees began to overcome him. Letting out a torrent of flame from his palm, the man freed himself of his assailants before he noticed the group standing on the ridge, waving wildly with one hand and holding a wood cutting axe in the other. “HEY, HEY!” he shouted, trying to close the distance. It didn’t take long to see what his issue was; a group of 5 Spriggans cleared the brush, including one of the orange matrons, and a rather thin, mangy and crazed looking group of four wolves alongside them, growling menacingly at the man. The matron raised a branch-like arm towards the man, condemning him. Suddenly the wolves burst forth, closing the distance.

The group was only about 120 meters away, and Daelin knew they had to do something. “Move in to intercept!” Daelin shouted, readying his Nord-crafted bow with a steel-headed arrow as he loosed it towards the closest wolf that was closing in on the fleeing man. The arrow hit true, burying itself in the wolf’s neck and causing it to collapse. He was in the process of notching another as the man swung his axe into the next wolf’s skull, his powerful arms crunching through bone with ease. The other two wolves, having to move to avoid the collapsed leaders, took notice of the oncoming party and moved in to engage.

The Elder Scrolls: Fruits of Contention - Chapter 1 (Completed)

FIRE WATCH MISSION NOTIFICATION

Going forward, combat will be decided by a simple 10-sided dice roll that the GMs will determine to add some much-needed stakes to combat.

1-2 is a failure, your character will be injured and brought down, where a second roll of the dice will determine if the enemy will continue to focus on this character to finish the job or take on another target (less than 5, continue the attack, 5 and up, move on unless there’s no other characters to fight). Depending on the circumstances, GMs will decide if the situation will be fatal. Close characters may elect to intervene, where if a player says they wish to intercept, will have to do another combat roll to see if they both make it to the character in time and receive injury in the process

3-6 is a success, but with minor injury. Your character receives a minor wound that will have to be treated and will hinder their ability to fight somewhat, but it won’t take them out of the fight. Each subsequent roll with an injury will have a -1 penalty on the roll, and each injury added increases the penalty.

7-10 is a success where the best possible outcome for that engagement occurs.

Jorwin - 8 Success, no injury
Keegan - 2, save roll 10; enemies will move on to other targets
Marcel - 9 Success, no injury
Rhasha’Dar - 4 Success, minor injury
Daixanos - 3 Success, minor injury
Sevine - 2, save roll 8; enemies will move on to other targets

Rolls

The Elder Scrolls: Fruits of Contention - Chapter 1 (Completed)

So much for being the secondary side mission. Everyone wants to not go on the boat!

I'll just wait and see if cold assigns people or caps the number before continuing.

The Elder Scrolls: Fruits of Contention - Chapter 1 (Completed)

Just quickly checking for my little mission arc, what characters are going with Daelin to investigate the fires?

What is your opinion on "school/academy" RPs?

I'm like 90% sure the vast majority of people who do school RPs had unsatisfactory or otherwise totally shit experiences in school in real life so this is pretty much escapism to live out a fantasy of what they wanted school to be.

Can't speak from experience because I roll my eyes every time I see some variation of "Angsty Teenager Academy- With a Twist!", but I'm pretty sure the majority of those RPs don't capture thr tedium of sitting through 50 minutes of chemistry class and staring at the clock while enduring the high stakes adventure of writing notes without developing a cramp.

Considering they're a dime a dozen for roleplays, and most don't last long before folding, I assume most are made without any direction or plot. With few exceptions, that doesn't lead to a good lifespan for a game. You kind of need more than a basic premise to keep players invested.

Mass Effect: Borealis

Back on the Borealis

A collab between Fallen, Zombie, and I

Vellios' head was pinned against the floor and eyes peered into the darkness underneath the console, his sight trying to find the creature that he knew scampered there. It was difficult purely because the gap was so narrow compared to his head. So any chance of him fitting through to have a closer look was impossible unless he managed to break his skull into pieces and squish it through. Not something pleasant in the least for his thoughts.

Finding little success in his current attempt, Velios lifted upright on his knees then looked at Tanya and Iosif. "Any luck yet? I think I got one cornered but it's dark as hell and I can't be sure."

"Whatever you do, just be cautious." Iosif said as he made his own search of the ship, kneeling down to take a peek under the shuttle before going on to make yet another check of the cockpit's interior. Nothing. "No idea what we're dealing with, but they're not pyjaks." He said, then followed it up with a discontented grunt.

From Tanya's wrist emitted an omni-blade, surging with electrical sparks. "I am not shooting holes in my fuckin' hanger," Tanya growled, eyes darting back and forth, looking for the shape of the lizard-bird things that had infiltrated the Borealis. She was without armour, and the portable shielding she wore on her fatigues was meant to stop small arms fire; it would be rubbish against something as slow moving and ridiculous as an animal bite. "If either you wankers puts holes in my work space, there won't be anywhere in this galaxy that will spare you from a very pissed off Terra Novan."

Vellios chuckled then lifted upright briefly, showing her the razor sharp blade in his talons. He seemed to be purring almost when he spoke. "Don't get your suit in a knot or someone will have to untwist them. I got a knife and if Iosif needs another, he can use the other one I got stowed away on my leg."

His eyes caught something dart across behind Tanya as it disappeared into another shadow. He twitched, almost tossing his blade when he realized the chances of hitting the engineer were to high. He hissed under his breath then mumbled. "Though, I might just make a pair of gloves out of them..."

He had just risen to his feet when a sound broke out.

Suddenly, sharp claws dug into Tanya's back and she shouted in surprise, pissed off at the sudden pain and the audacity of the fucking thing that should have been packaged nicely at the grocer. Reaching back with her right hand, Tanya grabbed at the thing, finding a wing and pulling it off, tearing holes in the fabric on her back. "Fuckin' cunt!" she bellowed, slamming the bird-thing into the hanger deck and driving her blade through its back. Two more caught her eye from the side, cautiously circling around the group. She put her back towards the others, gritting her teeth aggressively and wanting to personally skin every one of the little shits alive.

Vellios was right at her side in moments and observing the damage. His figure twisted at his side and his talon touched where the bird like creature had actually torn through her fabric, creating six little bloody markings into the skin. It was only skin deep but the scent of blood already made his stomach turn, not liking the scent ever sense he was young. Vellios jerked one of his blades off his thigh then jerked it up into throwing position between his thumb and talon.

Meanwhile, Iosif had already made a hasty retreat to the confines of the shuttle again and was seen rummaging through the cockpit when a low chirp caught him off-guard. As the slavic pilot tilted his head to see what the hell was going on, he grunted and brought up his forearm to shield himself from the avian creature's barbed tail's swipe before it started scratching at his arm.

By sheer luck it was his cybernetic prosthetic which bore the brunt of the blow, but the avian's onslaught made a god-awful screeching noise as the claws scraped against the artificial material. In desperation, Iosif grabbed for the welding tool he'd retrieved during his search of the cockpit, hit the trigger and drove the point of it into the creature's mass in a blinding array of blue sparks. It let off a screech as the heat seared and barbecued its flesh, frantically flapped its wings as best as it could and desperately pulled away, retreating into one of the dim corners of the hangar.

"Tools, use them on these things!" Iosif called out to the others as he climbed free of the cockpit, the odor of burning alien meat permeating the air.

Vellios' turian head jerked to the direction, noting the struggle between the two. The smell of cooked flesh rose in his nose causing him to smell what humans described to be chicken. It wasn't bad to him causing him to chuckle a bit at the creature's misfortune because it messed with the co-pilot and lost.

"Like bloody hell I'm using my goddamn tools on these things! Shit's expensive!" Tanya snarled back, swinging her blade to deter another one of the creatures that was creeping up on her flank.

"Personally, I don't care how we kill them... just that they die before they start nesting in the wiring!" Vellios said just when his talon shoved Tanya's head down when a steel panel came crashing down, nearly missing her as one of the beasties were tangled in the wires and hovered just inches from biting his face.

When her head was forced down, Tanya's first instinct was that one of the creatures had leaped on her head, but the crashing of steel and Vellios' voice immediately reassured her that it was only him moving her out of the line of fire. The gnashing fangs close to the turian's face were too close to comfort, and she reacted, shoving her blade forward into the beast's abdomen. It soon fell silent and twitched one final time as she withdrew the orange weapon from its molted green body.

"People wanted to colonize this planet, why?" she demanded irritably, holding her omni-blade outwards and working her fingers in a sequence. A moment later, Shithead materialized, the combat drone floating in the dark hanger like an ominous demonic eye. It soon set to work chasing down the creatures, forcing them into hiding out of its line of sight, although some that broke cover were quickly dosed in a torrent of flame.

"Be thankful there's no wildlife protester among our group or we'll never hear the end of it." Vellios joked when a sharp pain latched onto his leg causing him to feel something wet along his calf. His mandibles gritted then his knife went down and sliced through something, one of the creatures yelped in pain. A small trail of blood was left in its wake as it darted toward Iosif's direction. "Iosif, watch your flank! Incoming wounded bastard on your rear!"

The Slav circled around to catch the sight of one of the avians desperately darted at him, flapping its wings in an aggressive gesture that knocked him off his feet and caused him to drop his welding torch.

Before he had a chance to regain his bearings, the creature was on him, flapping its wings and scratching away at him until, without thinking on it, Iosif backhanded it as hard as he could with his cybernetic hand, hard enough that the creature hit the deck of the hangar with an awkward organic-metallic thunk.

The beast landed, his neck at an awkward angle and clearly dead. Vellios smirked then commented Iosif on his job well done. "Nice kill there, Iosif.Though anyone got an idea of how to round these fuckers up and roast their asses? At this rate, our spring cleaning could take days."

His eyes examined his leg noting the deep chunk it took out of the surface. He was bleeding well, but not enough to be in any danger since it was a flesh wound.

"Oh, we can just leave them around. Tonka's a walking rubbish disposal for shit like this." Tanya chimed in, keeping her stance nimble and not focusing on a single threat at a time. They liked to rush when your back was turned, she found.

The animals seemed to have altered tactics as attacking one of the Borealis' crew one at a time wasn't working.

Three male Tauvav darted toward Vellios and Tanya, their wings rustled the air and their flapping gave them way in their approach. It seemed they were as fast in the air as they were on the ground when the first one dove at Tanya's face. Vellios, still being back to back with her, strike out his blade to the beast's side. The reptilian fluttered back and narrowly missed the hit. Another darted into at Tanya from the other side where it had flew to, then repeated the prior's actions. They seemed to be teasing and taunting the pair with attacks barely dodged to prevent themselves from becoming killed. Any scratches they scored were only skin deep, leaving tiny little lacerations without any serious damage.

Vellios found this odd while he sliced his blade toward the first male attacking, his attack making it back off almost instantly. While they were distracted, on the ground creeping closer was another female. She darted her head as she moved from one hiding spot to the next, trying not to be spotted.

It didn't stay hidden for long. When Tanya managed to catch one of the little shit's by its tail with her boot, pinning it to the deck, she stuck down to finish the job, burning a hole through the creature. It was enough of an opening for the female Tauvav darted in with one of the males, which managed to bite the back of Tanya's calf, causing her to cry out in pain from the sudden laceration and the female drove her tail barb into the wound, injecting Tanya with its toxin. The effects didn't take long to be felt, and Tanya was forced to take a knee, reaching back, she pried the male beast free, likely tearing more flesh in the process and grabbed it around the neck. She cursed at it with venom to match that which was starting to work its way through her bloodstream as she snapped the creature's neck in her hands, tossing it away from her with less effort than she felt she could have mustered. Her eyes felt somewhat heavy and her skin tingled with numbness. She knew that she'd been poisoned, but she found herself caring less than she should have.

Another of the bird-creatures jumped at her arm, but was swatted away, disemboweling it with the tip of her blade as it couldn't change momentum in the air. "I'm... uh..." she managed, not quite realizing she trailed off what she wanted to say. Why was she trying to talk again? Did she? Her head was swimming, and when her finger came back from her calf with blood, she giggled. "Oh, that's... weird."

The high-pitched electrical buzz and the sudden aroma of charred meat gave the others a signal that Iosif had managed another kill in their pest control exercise; this time with the welding tool, which gave off a dull, blue glow in the wake of its owner forcing it into the chest cavity of one of the Tauvavs. It was only when the Slavic pilot turned towards Tanya and picked up on her rather... erratic behaviour and slurring of words that he realized something was wrong. Very wrong. It prompted him to jog across the hangar to where she had knelt when he realized she'd taken a share of wounds from the avian creatures.

Vellios caught Tanya's bizarre behavior as he stepped closer. His free arm reached out, his ribs numb thanks to the drugs, then wrapped about the Engineer's thin waist to help her balance. His crested head looked to spot Iosif rushing toward them, then passed her off to the man.

"Tanya?" He asked with a straight face as he knelt beside her, keeping up that calm and collected demeanor of his. "What happened?" Iosif was quick to check her for any signs of major bleeding, just in case one of them had caught too deep, but things seemed fine in that respect. It certainly wasn't blood loss and he doubted that it was head trauma, either. The only possible cause that came to mind was....

Shit, Iosif thought.

"One of the fuckers clipped her on the calf." Vellios stated as he noticed the expression on Tanya's face. He frowned at her causing him to study her and realized she reminded him of an over dosed druggie he might find on Omega. "I think she's a bit...high?'

Before either of them could consider the result, another female erupted from the rafters above then attempted to tear into Iosif's neck. Another two males went for Vellios' right calf and his neck as well, hoping to distract him. On impulse, the turian whipped his blade about then let it fly. It pinned the first male against the ship's far wall where it struggled to get free, ripping its wing into pieces in the process. The other managed to rip into his calf only to be skewered on the end of Vellios' other blade. The blood oozing out of the small, crumbling corpse.

As those two distractions were dealt with, the turian caught sight of Iosif still wrestling with the same female, claw marks gouged into his shoulder from where she'd tried to tear out his throat, but this time the Slavic pilot had barely managed to get the upper hand and was seen roughly shoving the avian creature's mass to the ground with a firm blow from his prosthetic hand, before spearing it with the other. Yet another sizzling crack resonated throughout the hangar as the point of the welder made contact with her central mass and the shock of the injury was enough to incapacitate the creature, if not outright killing her.

Things were getting harder to focus on as Tanya struggled to her feet, her limbs numb, like she'd fallen asleep on them and the blood was forced out. "Tox...in. I think... yeah." she replied to someone. Who was it? Right, the accent. Iosif. Flames erupted to their right as Shithead engaged a group of three that tried to skirt towards them, catching one of the females and males in a hellish torrent of flame and the other skirted off, avoiding death. Knowing she didn't have the strength to use her blade, she pulled the Predator pistol from her leg and took aim at the retreating creature. The crosshairs simply bounced too much to be of use. Stumbling back, her back hit a wall and her legs started to collapse, making her slide back down against the wall with a thunk. "Tell th..ese things to fuck... off. I'm... tired." she slurred with a yawn, trying to stay awake but finding less and less of a reason to fight it.

Muttering a few curses beneath his breath, Iosif had come to nurse his superficial wounds and was rubbing at his neck with a free hand, when he turned his sights back towards where he'd last seen Tanya, only to realize she was now slumped against the wall, her drone having already made short work of a group of the avian bastards. But the woman herself looked like some tourist on Omega who'd downed a shot of ryncol, which was enough cause for alarm that he hastily moved in on her position. "How many left?!" He shouted back to the turian as he surveyed his surroundings, wary of just how many of the bastards were nesting in the ship.

"One, but I think the little bugger escaped back into the jungle." Vellios stated as he drew closer, noting the eerie quiet in the avian's wake.

The cockpit area looked like a bloody massacre or some ill suited butcher shop, his eyes looked from corpse to the next before settling on Tanya's fallen image. His hand replaced his first blade back into its sheath then dislodge his one that pinned a currently dead male to the wall. It took a moment or two to free the point as he caught the corpse in his talons. His head noted a nearby female and bent down, collecting it next. "Iosif, can you bring her to the medical bay? We'll get the toxin from one of these things examined then determine if we have an antivenom in our stock."

When Iosif picked up Tanya, Vellios turned on his heel and headed toward their makeshift clinic. He didn't waste much time tearing and literally gutting the bodies while holding them along the way.

The Elder Scrolls: Fruits of Contention - Chapter 1 (Completed)

DK is convinced the gods are trying to sacrifice him to Cthulhu. There's no other explanation of why he is being forced onto another godless ship.