Hank

The Insidious Night [Fantasy - Mystery - Adventure]

_{In the canopy of the Dark Forest...}

So it's true. Orcs.
Yes, I see them. By the spirits, what foul-smelling cretins. What do we do?
Let them pass. Tell the elder.
Where do you think they're going?
South.
...
We should warn the humans.

_{In a farmhouse on the Bracken fields...}

Have you heard?
Heard what?
The elves. They say there are orcs in the woods.
What? You're full of it.
It's true. They say the orcs are moving south. They're coming this way, uncle.
What are orcs, papa?
You don't need to know that, sweetheart. Go find your mother.
...
Gods. As if the centaurs weren't enough trouble. What are the elves doing to stop them?
Hah, the elves? Nothing, uncle. They've done nothing.

_{In the underdark beneath the Tall Mountains...}

Can ye hear that?
Aye. I'm not bleedin' deaf, ye oaf. What do ye think it be?
I can't rightly tell, hones'ly. Sounds like somethin' be moving down there.
...
Drums. It... it be drums. Drums in the deep... go warn the others. Make haste, will ye!

---

A chill wind is blowing, like some great force gathering its breath. There are rumors going through the land of Brackenhorst. There's talk of orcs and goblins stalking the woods at night, something that the elves told the men in hushed whispers, huddled beneath the shade of the Dark Forest's edge. In turn, the men of the plains say they see lights on top of the old fortress, the Grim Spire, that cursed place in the foothills that was abandoned so long ago. Dwarves, masters of the Tall Mountains, have heard movement in the dark; shuffling and screeching, and drums in the deep. Even the centaurs are restless. Birdsong has left the air. Something is afoot.

One of the last remaining members of an order dedicated to the protection of the land has gathered a group of individuals to investigate this. People from all walks of life and different races have banded together, united in a common purpose, be they elves, dwarves or men. For their leader remembers the old tales and sees the warning signs that others have missed. Could it be that a terrible evil has returned? Or is there some other force driving these events, summoning dark servants out of hiding?

This unlikely band of heroes-to-be must journey far away from home, deep into the heart of darkness, to discover the truth and put an end to this menace before it can begin.

---

Hello there! Welcome to the Insidious Night, an old-fashioned fantasy mystery roleplay full of the familiar trappings and tropes we all know and love. The premise is simple, the setting straightforward and the plot uncomplicated. Evil may or may not have returned to the lands your character calls home and now is the time to investigate.

I am looking for a merry fellowship of five other players to join me. My selection process is based on merit, not the speed of your submission, so please don't pass this up just because you think one of the spots might be snatched away by someone else first.

Now I know the above isn't much to go on, which is why I want players who enjoy being kept in the dark. You'll have to fill in the gaps yourselves. I will provide more information about the world and the races that inhabit it so you can create a suitable character, of course, but let's not get ahead of ourselves: who's up for some adventure?

Mass Effect: Borealis

@Hellis and I are Europeans. I guess we're sort of in the wrong place for everybody.

Am I late for the party v&

Welcome, @Johann. It is a fantastic time-killer (and creative writing exercise) but be careful what you wish for. Some days I barely have any spare time left because I'm writing all the time.

Mass Effect: Borealis

Yeah, I have to agree that the breakneck pace that's been set is a little overwhelming. I suppose it's unavoidable with a group this big that's so eager, but I've noticed that I can't manage to get real quality posts out because it's about all I can do to keep up with everything and respond appropriately.

And we're also getting ahead of our GM, as we just saw when our plans were forcibly changed because we were messing with the plot. I'd like to advocate for a... well, not really a posting order, but a cooldown between posts.

Of course, that creates the conundrum of stifling natural conversation. Another RP I'm a part of uses collaborations for short exchanges between 2-5 posters so that conversations that don't involve the whole crew don't clog up the thread. Hit up the people that control the characters you want to chat with and make a Titanpad or something similar and try to fit the whole thing into a single post.

Thoughts?

Mass Effect: Borealis

Drono,Dex seems to be going for fuel, coolant nad possible armaments if Drono has anything to say about it.

Mirage is Mission Control.

@Hellis

Right, but we're going to kill/capture some slavers first. Tanya is going to the administration building so Mirage can hack the security systems and gather intel, but there are several other targets that @Dervish outlined in his post.

Mass Effect: Borealis

Mirage listened to the salarian's device with interest, using the crew's Omni-tools as an omnidirectional microphone to tap into their conversation. Looks like we have work. It would be expeditious to get this contract out of the way first so they actually had some credits to spend, and Mirage agreed when heard Valiss make the same argument.

His Omni-tool bleeped and he looked down to see a message from Serana. "Next time ask. I nearly sent a virus back to you." Amused, Mirage sent a quick message back: "Cute, but unwise. I'm just providing overwatch." He realized he should have anticipated something like this. They were all a bunch of paranoid mercenaries and Mirage hadn't actually hired them himself, so he grudgingly admitted it was reasonable they didn't like him rooting around in their personal devices. Well, tough, he thought.

As the meet-and-greet progressed and the various crewmembers introduced themselves, Mirage noted their respective skills into his Omni-tool and attached the information to the dots littering his holo-map with color-coded tags. The techies received orange tags, the biotics purple, the muscle red and Alex, the closest thing they had to a medic, blue. There was a relatively even distribution of skills among the crew and Mirage was glad there were several others who knew emergency first aid, but he anticipated that Alex would become a very valuable member of the crew very soon. For good measure, he added a big, golden tag with silver lining to himself and marked it 'Lord Commander'.

Eventually it was agreed; they'd head out in an hour and tackle the mission first. Mirage noticed a comms channel opening and heard the voice of the female human, Tanya, one of the techies. The one who insisted on calling him 'Wheelie'. Ridiculous. This thing doesn't even have wheels. “Hey, Wheelie, see what you can find for a ride we can beg, borrow, or steal, because it’s going to be a hell of a long walk. What else do you need me to take care of when the show starts?”

Begging or borrowing something on Omega was a hilariously naive notion. Stealing it is, he thought to himself. Omega was full of old mining vehicles; big, eight-wheeled contraptions that were easily converted to troop transports. Local gangs often used them to move around, but stealing from them wasn't necessarily the best idea. Instead, he pulled up O-Market, a local extranet hub for individuals to buy and sell unwanted goods, and scanned the list of vehicles for sale and their associated addresses. One caught his interest, parked relatively closeby in a streetside lockup. "There's a salarian selling an old eight-wheeler, converted for personnel transport, nearby. It's within the district, a 10 minute hike away from the docks. He's parked it in a lockup, but if you patch me into your Omni-tool and wave it in the general vicinity of the door it shouldn't be hard to open. I'll mark the location on your map. Word of advice: don't try to beg or borrow for anything while you're here. And just stay alive, will you? I'll need your Omni-tool to make a local connection to the security systems when you get into the admin building."

Opening his comms to the rest of the crew, Mirage continued: "I still want those squads figured out, children. Group up, hold hands, and tell your teacher, alright?"

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

<Snipped quote by Leidenschaft>

Come at me scrublord, I'm ripped

@Dervish

You're also half-dead, mate. What are you, some kind of kamecrazy Warboy?

Mass Effect: Borealis

Right on.

Mass Effect: Borealis

I'm a little confused now; is the crew directly going to the mines to kill and capture those slavers or are we still doing the supply run first?