Fetzen

The Curse of Strahd Von Zarovich - A statless take on a D&D classic(NO D&D Experience required!)

I’m not sure yet if I can join, but I’m hella interested

@Smike

Same over here!

The Witcher: Under the Shadow

That had gone less badly than anticipated, even though the mental resistance of some of the soldiers had been almost palpable with bare hands. He, the Aen Seidhe, had just made proud humans listen to his commands ? A fine surprise indeed, but whether the process could be repeated or not was an entirely different question. It probably would not be the last time for him to have and try to use authority and he wasn't sure if he should be looking forward to it or be afraid of it. Therefore the elf was rather glad about having been given the task of finding fresh water. It made sense, would allow him to get into contact with the nature surrounding the castle and, last but not least, would lead him away from a bunch of potentially disgruntled men at work.

Where to begin though ? It dawned upon Tyrvariél that the castle might very well have been built right onto the only source of fresh water around and that in that case there was hardly anything he could do about it until the scouting party would return. Otherwise though there were two directions to go: to the left of to the right. Without additional information it would be a decision of pure randomness, but putting some more thought into the problem revealed to him that it also was not worth bothering about: If the castle wasn't built onto the source of fresh water it was certainly built close to it so it would be wise to go around the castle in a circle anyway, rendering the initial direction pretty much irrelevant.

Tyrvariél left the camp to the east.

Staying close to the castle in a circle would also give him the opportunity to check what kind of damage time had done to the outer wall and where repairs were in order. Getting this place back into shape on the inside would be pretty pointless while its outer defenses were incapable of doing their job properly. As the Aen Seidhe ventured into the depths of the woods alone he tried not only to concentrate on what he saw, but also on his ears. Water could come in many forms: A deep well would be undetectable by sound, but a creek would be more easily be heard than seen. The same could hold true for a boar, or, even worse, a bear. Both were things he was not looking forward to, but this was a pretty much wild forest. The worst case of course would be any kind of real aberration that the conjuction of spheres had brought upon this world once, but even then the fact that he still wore his armor would hopefully but at least some time to make a run for it. He was not much of an experience fighter even though the morning star dangling from his belt did not betray this.

As Tyrvariél slowly began his turn there didn't seem much to be discovered at first. A few trees had been ripped out of the soil by some anonymous storm, their massive trunks and extensive networks of branches waiting to be harvested. He would have to notify the others about these sources of firewood as halfway dry timber could not just be fabricated in no time. That would require a lot of transportation effort and, given that this forest probably had not seen any human for quite a while, the usage of carts and horses would be difficult. At least the abscence of any beaten paths gave some confirmation to the premise that this castle was abandoned. It would have been quite unfortunate to clean up this place only for some pesky noble to show up afterwards and claim that he owned it.

The further he went away from the green plains in front of the castle, the more dense and thus dark the forest became...

The Five Senses

Týfurkh

By the time the sightless' tendrils once again had made their way below his armor, his trousers and even below his body's outer layer that was his skin in order to make him bleed at a rather important place, Týfurkh had mentally been ready to follow Nieffar's commands. There simply was no point in pretending any longer that he might still be in reach of control here. The guards did not seem to be all too impressed by his explaining efforts, so things were definitely lost for him. Maybe it was worth it as long as this would help make the others survive ?

Some weird looking being hit the bell, then flew nearby the sightless and himself before disappearing somewhere behind his back where he couldn't see. Wasn't that a familiar ? A familiar he already knew ? A spark of hope, and when suddenly he could hear the screams of first one, then a second man and the clashing of metal roaring up behind his back where the guards were it turned into a fire. Was the party indeed trying a rescue attempt ? Then why were they fighting the city guards ? That didn't make sense. So maybe one of the cultists could not hold back ? If that was the truth it probably was the one act of idiocy Týfurkh would remember for potentially having saved his life.

The giant had already retracted his feet closer to where he sat as the first step of getting up, but before he could continue the sightless threatening him started to face other issues than him. Ohhh that looked pretty nasty... that was... pretty enjoyable from his own perspective. Had he ever seen Lynx in that form before ? Definitely not, but it had that certain aspect of awesomeness as he found in that moment. Unfortunately it wasn't allowed to last long as Nieffar's furious and seemingly aimless attacks finally improved and hit the familiar hard.

Týfurkh could hear someone telling him to run. He certainly would have done that in a normal situation, but as he saw Lynx threatened to be crushed and Sil doing what she could in order to prevent that from happening that simply didn't feel right. It would likely mean leaving the familiar to his impending doom while saving his own life happily. Aside from this Týfurkh also was flat-out pissed off. It had not sufficed for Sightless Nieffar to just threaten him like ordinary people would have done. No, Sightless NIeffar had done it in a way only somewhat wicked people would do and tried to deprive him of his dignity on the spot!

When else would be a good opportunity to hit if not now with Mr. Tree-Skin's attention being divided between two additional attackers and his body's embedded tentacles being diverted towards freshly torn wounds ? Speaking of which... maybe damaging Nieffar's damage control was the first step towards make him stop healing and start suffering!

Týfurkh continued the process of getting up, but altered it from the slow and obedient execution of a given order to a buildup of forward momentum. He rammed himself into the sightless and tried to reach for the tentacles which were trying to plug up the newly gained wounds. His intention was to pull at them with all of his strength in order to rip them off. People said that once puss had started to flow by itself one should allow it to flow and preferably out of the body than back into it. The case was very clear here!

The Witcher: Under the Shadow

I honestly think we should keep collecting all those little things that would almost have made their way into our posts and then write an alternate version of the story in which they all actually take place.

The outcome could be quite fascinating.

Also... why the hell get my character names all the more complicated the longer I am here ? An-Hasst four years ago was so simple and now look at this... Tyrvariél has way too many accents at weird places so people are prone to forget them or they're just a pain in the ass to type down. I guess living so close to France comes not without some immunity. Apologies to our DM! :)

The Witcher: Under the Shadow

<Snipped quote by POOHEAD189>

But it is Wednesday here Poobear ^.^

@Stormflyx

But it's Thursday over here already!

The Witcher: Under the Shadow

The Witcher: Under the Shadow

You can eat everything. A few things even twice :)

A big fantasy adventure, but you don't know who the other players are!

I'm very intrigued by this if there's still a slot open :)

Fantasy would be my interest.

The Witcher: Under the Shadow

This was a typo I -- thankfully -- discovered before posting, but because I found it so amusing I'm unwilling to hide it from you:

"We are going to prepare everything necessary once the initial party returns, no matter what state they'll be in, and what we ourselves will need in order to have a sleep as good as we can out here. Then we will start exploding the surrounding area outside this wall in order to find the following things: a source of fresh water, firewood and, of course, stuff to eat. Be it plants or animals. Everyone understood me ?"

Now you know what Tyrvariél's real intentions are!

The Witcher: Under the Shadow

Tyrvariél had not expected to be part of any party venturing into the abandoned fortress initially, but still he couldn't deny the fact that being left outside felt a little disappointing. Yes, it would save him from what could very well be the most dangerous part of the whole endeavour, but also yes, every constructive achievement out here would most likely be a very temporary one. Once some areas inside the huge building were cleared up they'd probably move all in there, both for more comfort and for the sake of additional protection since, after all, they were still in Nilfgaard territory. Last but not least because of this, but also because of any wildlife that might happen to be in this area, it might be a good thing to set up a guard he thought. However it also seemed like this was being taken care of already.

Not being able to do anything that involved fire and metal felt like a part of his soul being frozen in time while the remainder had to go on somehow. That remainder now cared about the very ground its heavy body was standing on. Tyrvariél saw no point in setting up any kind of tent on soft, muddy terrain, neither for his workplace nor for his private space -- even though these would probably be the same thing for the time being. As a doctor one had to move very fast at times and injured individuals, even if they could still walk themselves, would be happy if they would not have to cross half a swamp in order to get some treatment first.

Speaking of treatment... how would the bastard's men start to treat him once he'd do anything that deviated from flat-out obedience ? Like the complete opposite, for example ? The Aen Seidhe thought about Balidvar's instructions, but while they had been pretty clear about what the fighting troops were supposed to do he found this clarity to be quite lacking in Stay here in the field and keep away from the trees. These were trained soldiers who certainly had set up large camps before many times, but soldiers were also trained for doing only what was being instructed, weren't they ? So... what would these men do while there were no clear instructions at all ? Tyrvariél was afraid of wasting time and certainly did not want to be responsible in case those witchers and soldiers would come out again, searching for some rest and maybe even being wounded, and would find out that everyone had been idling around in the high grass ?

Tyrvariél heaved himself onto a position where the ground was a few inches higher than everywhere around and swallowed. Maybe they would simply not listen at all, maybe they'd toss him off this place right away, but also maybe, just maybe, they'd recognize the wisdom he assumed to be in his words. "Alright people." his chesty voice started. "We are going to prepare everything necessary once the initial party returns, no matter what state they'll be in, and what we ourselves will need in order to have a sleep as good as we can out here. Then we will start exploring the surrounding area outside this wall in order to find the following things: a source of fresh water, firewood and, of course, stuff to eat. Be it plants or animals. Everyone understood me ?"

He hoped that nobody would see it over the upper rim of his breastplate, but his throat started to seize up. He had to force his legs to stand still instead of making an escape off the tiny hill for there were way too many people around this place that could start to associate him with whatever thing humans often associated elves with. Ten anonymous soldiers of Balidvar was a luxurious number for getting things done, but it certainly didn't feel luxurious for him now.