fellsing

Fall of Faerieland

Happy New Year, everyone!

Fall of Faerieland

Again, Eloween found herself smiling despite her nervousness as she watched Arma's excitement over his surroundings. This was probably a new situation for him as well, but unlike her, he seemed without fear or concern. She wished she could be more like that, welcoming the unfamiliar instead of being afraid of it.

As she began to dig into her food, Arma introduced himself properly to the rest of the group in a way that was fairly short and to the point. Eloween opened her mouth to respond when Ferrin spoke up, launching into his own, much lengthier introduction. A few things the Scorchio said stood out to her: he was from Meridell, something she'd gathered from the way he was dressed. He apparently had also been a knight, formerly in the service of King Skarl, which explained why he seemed less awestruck by their current surroundings than she and Arma were. The 'former' part made her raise an eyebrow though. He seemed too young to have simply retired, and the way he spoke about his former employer, referring to those under the king's command as his 'lackeys' seemed odd. Definitely not the way one imagined a noble knight to speak about his duties. Was he disgraced in some way? He didn't seem shady or dishonourable, just outspoken and perhaps a little full of himself. She didn't voice any of this of course, it really wasn't any of her business and she didn't want to offend someone she was going to have to work alongside. Still, none of this had done anything to set her at ease with the red scorchio.

She was partway through a mouthful of food when Ferrin suddenly addressed her, asking her name. She held up one hand to tell them to wait a moment while using her other hand to cover her mouth as she swallowed. It was at this point she realised the hood of her cloak was still up and she quickly pulled that down, revealing the shock of short orange hair, contrasting with her soft purple fur. "I'm, err, Eloween Pengelly," she said, nervously shifting in her seat. "I'm from Bogshot." Her eyes darted to Arma then back at Ferrin. She'd guessed from Arma reaction to Wyler that he wasn't local, so the name of her village likely was unfamiliar to him. Ferrin, however, was more likely to have heard of it, and she could already imagine the kind of conclusions he might be drawing about her from this single bit of information. "I'm, err, pretty good with a bow, I guess." She gestured to her back, where her quiver of arrows was attached. "My parents taught me how to track, what plants are useful and which are poisonous, how to handle wild animals... just things you'd need to survive in, err, more wild areas." She tried to think of what else she could possibly say about herself that wouldn't lower her companions' opinion of her any more. "Oh, and I know a little magic!" she said, before quickly adding, "N-nothing too flashy though. Just, err, I can heal wounds, and a couple of other small things. Don't expect me to be able to cast a fireball or something." She gave a nervous laugh, before quickly looking back down at her plate again.

Fall of Faerieland

That being said, the category of food our characters are most likely to be eating right now - medieval food - doesn't look that appealing either. For example, just searching through, I found something simply titled 'Bowl of Yuck'.

Burning Bright (D&D 5e)

Am I the one who's meant to post next? I'm not sure.

Fall of Faerieland

Despite her usual timidness around strangers, Eloween managed a genuine smile at Arma. She guessed he must be new to the area if he didn't know what a gallion was, as they were not uncommon to the lands surrounding Meridell and Brightvale. "This is Wyler," she said, gesturing to the still-wary petpet. "She's a gallion. You see them a lot around Meridell." Wyler's gaze was still fixed on Arma, though her fierce glare had dimmed to a look of caution.

Eloween was so focused on keeping Wyler - as well as herself - calm she wasn't really paying attention to what the draik and scorchio were talking about until a fourth neopet approached them, this time a kyrii. Wyler noticed the stranger first, turning her head towards them. It was nowhere near as dramatic a reaction as the one moments prior, but it was clear she was alert. Eloween stood up and finally turned back to face the Draik as he told them to head into the castle. Apparently, some sort of meal had been prepared for them, which they were allowed to partake in before getting to the job at hand. She would admit, her breakfast at the local inn had been less than satisfying, and she knew everyone would be likely to work better on a full stomach than an empty one. Without saying anything, she followed after the rest of the group. Wyler, somewhat reluctantly, trotted alongside her, and Eloween kept a hand gently on the Gallion's tail as they walked so as not to lose track of her.

It was a good thing she did too, as the interior of the castle proved to be even more overwhelming than the outside. Eloween tried to keep her eye on where she was going, doing her best not to lose track of the rest of the group, but every so often she'd catch a glimpse of something so unfamiliar and she'd have to pause just to gawk at it. How long had this castle taken to construct? How much had it cost? How much effort was it to maintain? As someone who had grown up in a small wooden hut in the middle of a swamp, usually having to hunt and forage for dinner, she realised she couldn't answer that.

She suddenly felt like she really, really shouldn't be here, and grasped Wyler's tail tighter. The gallion glanced over to her ranger, lightly headbutting her leg before continuing to lead her along after the rest of the group. These feelings didn't dissapate when they entered the dining room. In fact, they seemed to get worse as Eloween took in the feast that had been prepared for them. When the draik had mentioned food, she had assumed they'd be given a decently-sized meal that they'd eat in the kitchen or a smaller room. She hadn't expected they'd get to eat in such a grand hall, nor that there would be such a large selection of food to choose from. This seemed like a lot of fuss over some hired help, and while she knew that Hagan could probably afford to spend his wealth on total strangers, she couldn't help but feel very uncomfortable. Anyone looking in her direction might notice her concern, her face seeming slightly paler than it had been before, but she didn't say anything, not wanting to draw attention to herself.

She sat herself down on one of the chairs, a little away from Ferrin, and motioned for Arma to sit next to her, preferably between them. It wasn't that she disliked the Scorchio - she'd only known for for a few minutes - but of the two companions, she found Arma the least intimidating and the least likely to do anything that might provoke Wyler.

Fall of Faerieland

Happy holidays, everyone! Hope ya'll are having a good day.

Fall of Faerieland

@XxFellsingxX I'll go Sorcerer then, probably Draconic or Storm.

@Dark Cloud

Interesting. How would you go about handling a Draconic Sorcerer in a setting like Neopets?

Fall of Faerieland

On the other hand I'm also content to play a Cleric or a Sorcerer (I'm more in favor of Sorcerer)

@Dark Cloud

I am planning on multiclassing as a Cleric at some point, but either would a good addition. Honestly, just having another caster in general sounds great. Especially if Olive doesn't return, as having the only caster in the party being a ranger sounds like it might be tricky xD

Fall of Faerieland

I'm gonna defer to the people who are more experienced with 5e for this one. Though I'll admit, even I am aware of the reputation D&D Wiki has for unbalanced homebrew.

Fall of Faerieland

The moment Ferrin attempted to engage with Wyler, the Gallion dropped her proud posture and immediately became tense. Her pupils narrowed into her slits, her mane and tail tuft fluffed up, and she bared her teeth as the Scorchio approached. Fortunately, the new arrival - a brown bori - halted Ferrin's attempts to pet her, but it did nothing for the petpet's nerves as she suddenly turned towards Arma instead, a low snarl started to build in her throat.

Eloween must have noticed because she bent down slightly to stroke the Gallion's mane. "It's okay, it's okay," she said softly. This seemed to calm Wyler somewhat as she immediately stopped snarling. She remained tense, however, backing away so she was closer to Eloween and wrapping her tail around her ixi's legs.

Eloween sighed, half with exsperation, half with relief. She glanced at the Scorchio, then over to the Bori with an apologetic stare. "Sorry, she's... not great with strangers," she said to them, continuing to stroke the Gallion's head even as she spoke.