Lucius Cypher

I, the Demon King, Will Summon My Own Damned Heroes!

Orchid supposed that she's been too lucky so far. She had been so focused on looking for threats, she didn't bother to watch her step. First she felt a slight falling sensation as she tried to catch herself. Next she felt something prick her foot. It wasn't a deep cut, but it surprised her nonetheless. When Orchid looked down she could see the maw of spikes and other nasty things beneath her. She had no idea what it was, but likely had to do with the dungeon's new changes. Either way, it was time to go. First thing Orchid did was stab her spiked club behind her, to give her a bit of leverage to escape whatever pit she was about to fall into. Next she braced her shield beneath her, in case she would fail and and fall anyways. Her shield could help protect her.

As she got a grip due to her club, Orchid would do her best to fling herself back and away from this new, unknown danger. Whatever just stabbed her was likely hostile and has to do with the cave's new environment. If she had to guess, it was likely a skeleton or zombie that just bit her foot. She wasn't sure, but she didn't intend to find out by letting it eat her leg. "Ash!" Orchid called out as she was trying to escape. "Be careful! Something over here!" If Orchid could get away she'd try to get back on her feet and get into a defensive stance, ready for whatever might be in front of her. Hopefully it was just a natural hazard and not an enemy. Orchid has been conserving her strength as best as she could, but she hasn't rested since she camped with Ash.

Stats/Inventory

Health - Mostly Full
Magic - Full
Stamina - Mostly Full

Skills -
Use Light Equipment (--)
Pacify Animal I (1.1)
Stronger I (1.4)
Crafting IV (4.1)
Material Analysis I (1.6)
Monster Analysis I (1.25)
Smash I (1.2)
Charisma I (1.05)
Taboo (1.0)
Fireball (0.5)

Inventory -
Raw Dire Rat Hide (Equipped)
Loincloth (Equipped)
Stone Spiked Club (Good) (Stored)
Wicker Shield (Well Made) (Equipped)
Torch (Equipped)
Plant Fiber Sling (Loaded) (Equipped)
Rawhide Bag (8/12) (Equipped)

• Hard Stones x2
• Antidote Fern
• Fiber Cordage (Average)
• Bloody Garrote

Leaf Sling Bag (1/3) (Equipped to Rawhide Bag)

• Sling Stones x4

Ruins of Norn: Walking Apocalypse

@Tangletail

Depends on the culture. Minstrels are generally assumed to just be men and women who sing and play instruments for a living i.e. regular musicians. Bards on the other hand are a cut above them, typically employed within courts for their magical ability for entertainment, however bards also have a slight reputation of being spies and diplomats also thanks to their magical abilities. Basically, bards are like secret agents. And the fact that most people don't know the difference between a bard and a common minstrel feeds into that perception.

Also of course in other civilizations, bards play a more cultural importance, such as skalds or lore keepers. Churches and other religions would also employ bards as priests to give rousing sermons, as well as help guide and teach the common folk through tales and magic. Even in military bards have a purpose for long range communication through instruments like drums or horns, as they are the only type of soldiers who could play them well, as well as use them in battle (via spell focuses for their magic).

Ruins of Norn: Walking Apocalypse

@Searat

From your perception check you can tell that this body not only has red hair, but also insanely pale skin. This body is of a female wearing some sort of dark armor, albeit it looks like she's missing most of it. Likely lost most of it during the storm that washed her up. Aside from her attire you don't see anything else visible on her, neither weapons or supplies. Again, likely lost.

Your investigation check will let you know that she is indeed alive, though whether she's concision or not is unknown until you investigate further. A cursory check will reveal she does have many bruises and cuts on her body, though you'll need a closer look to see how bad they are. Your investigation check also yields that this woman is not human, though she may be an elf or something. Again you'll need to get a closer look.

Ruins of Norn: Walking Apocalypse

@Duthguy

Well Eldritch Knights are fighters with a few wizard spells, so fort he most part they're your common warrior who has also been educated and training in magic. That's the basic idea of them, but as you might imagine, a lot of people who aren't so educated think EK's are more like warlocks who have undergone some sort of ritual sacrifice to gain their powers, and some EK have, but it's not fair to say all EK's do. And of course compared to other fighters, some people might dismiss EK as being subpar fighters as well as subpar casters compared to say, a Battlemaster or a Champion who is more specialized and thus better at their intended rolls.

Ruins of Norn: Walking Apocalypse

@Tangletail

Yeah that’s pretty much how it’ll go.

Ruins of Norn: Walking Apocalypse

@Tangletail

Nah it's fine, it's not as if 2nd level casters are "rare" per say. I imagine they're much like doctors of the modern era; there are a lot of them, but becoming one is difficult and requires a lot of training and patience. Some take it to more easily than others. This is especially true since most casters tend to be clerics since healing magic is seen as much more important than say, combat or illusions.

In a world perspective, the average level of humanoid people is 1. A military person might be level 2 or 3, as many of you are. Characters from heroic tales or legends are generally around level 5, possibly 10 depending on the person telling the story. Magic is considered too niche and poorly understood to see mass employment in high risk sectors such as warfare, but have much more prominence in areas such as medicine or science. That's not to say a sufficiently powerful and wealthy nation won't have wizards and such for battle, but those types tend to be super old since magic isn't something casually picked up. Now sorcerers on the other hand, those born with magic, could be expected to be younger, but have a worse stigma; these types of spellcasters tend to be taken away from their family as soon as their magic manifests precisely because they could easily tune into magic compared to wizards who need years of study and attunement.

Bards as somewhat akin to clerics in that they receive their powers from another source, albeit the sources are more "primal" in a sense. For example a cleric would pray to their god for healing magic or to throw out a guiding bolt, and sufficiently enlighten clerics would easily gain their god's approval and the spell happens. In other words, the gods can sense their cleric's wisdom (which manifests as a sort of willpower via their faith) and will assist them accordingly. But a bardic magic need to appeal to these same forces, or at least the manifestation of those forces, in order to use magic. Hence why they use charisma; they need to fast talk magic into serving them.

Ruins of Norn: Walking Apocalypse

The sun would slowly begin to creep over the horizon, showering the coast with a dim orange glow. Were it not for the macabre feeling that haunted the realm of Brighthaven, the sight of the morning sun might've been beautiful. The rain had stopped though enough water had been built up around the ruined buildings that the run off still dripped from above. The ground was covered in a thin layer of sea water, with most of the blood from the previous battle washed away. Curiously enough, the corpses were gone too. Even the large sea creature that had been washed up has been suspiciously missing, with no sighs of it being dragged away. Sure the storm was heavy last night, but it was no hurricane. Simply heavy darkening rain.

Either way it was early morning. Aside from the sound of the waves and the water from the ruined rooftops there were no signs of the trogs or other creatures that might've been here. At least nothing immediately noticeable. The wraith never once showed up even as there was some slight hostilities within the chapel, but there was no indication that it had left either. Perhaps it simply found no reason to manifest itself. If there was anything worth interest to investigate, there appears to be some poor soul who had been washed up from the sea, their crumpled body slump against a broken building. It was hard to determine their figure from the entrance of the chapel but it was clear enough that it was some red-haired person who was either dead, alive, or dying. Whether or not the party would choose to investigate or leave the unknown danger would be up to them.

Ruins of Norn: Walking Apocalypse

@Tangletail

As far as the tales go, here's what you might've heard in general:

The Ruins of Norn were once a great empire known as Nornum. Not much is known about it beyond what has managed to reach the mainlands, nothing about it's history, people, origins, or so forth. What is known, however, is the vast amount of magical artifacts found there. Magc in general is rare and nearly impossible to learn; it is considered the domain of the gods or god like beings such as great dragons, demon lords, or archfey. And even among them their magic is tied to their very existence, and not something easily given or learned. (To put it in mechanical perspective, being able to cast 3rd level spells is considered heroic among the vast populace, and those capable of casting at second level are thought to be extremely talented) And so the fact that the ruins seem to have so many powerful magic artifacts has made everyone from treasure hunters, desperate thieves, learned scholars, and even powerful kings set their sights on Norn. However due to the combination of multiple parties fighting one another for treasure, the natural threats within Norn, and the unknown monsters that reside there, only a small handful have ever managed to escape Norn with anything worthwhile, and those few people have long since died by the time the story begins, their names lost to history.

Indeed, it's not as if the Ruins of Norn has been discovered recently; it's at least known that a thousand years ago the place that the ruins now inhabit was once a civilization of some sort. But how it fell, how it became so dangerous, and how it still has so many treasures and artifacts, is unknown even to this day, after thousands of come and died there. So most of the world has simply written off Norn as a enigma not worth the adventure or capital to investigate, at least not until they can develop stronger warriors, weapons, and knowledge to brave it's mysteries. And even then, there is still a world beyond the ruins that exist and continue without Norn's influence. Counties at war, countries at peace, and so forth. Chasing mysteries just isn't something most of the world is worried about.

And that's all for general history one could get if they've done some research into Norn. If you want anything more specific related to Norn or those that might've explored it, I would need a history check.

I, the Demon King, Will Summon My Own Damned Heroes!

The sun was starting to come into the cave, indicating that it was now nearly morning. It had been quite an eventful night, and frankly Orchid just wanted to put it all behind her. Fortunately Ash felt the same. Orchid had doubts that she could convince all of the goblins to come with her. Hell, now that she thought about it, she wasn't even sure about the goblins she has on her side would be willing to join her. With any luck perhaps Ash might be the needed influence to get them on her side. They'd have to move quickly; it sounded like the fighting has died down which meant one side had managed to gain some sort of upperhand. Not to mention Orchid felt something... Strange... Happening in the cave. She wasn't sure what it was. But it wasn't going to be good.

"Agreed. After everything that's happened, I wouldn't be too surprised if things only get worse from here. Weather the storm."

Just as Orchid was getting ready to go a voice speak to them. Her first instinct was to get her shield up and get ready for another fight. It was then she noticed it was another fanged lizard and Orchid slightly relaxed. It would make sense that Orchid managed to gather others like her. But now wasn't the time for pleasantries. "Ash, I'll leave it to you to fill him in. I need to go. Be careful." Orchid left the two behind in the cave to head back to the bonfire. She remained on guard in case something did follow her and was lying in ambush; just because the sun was coming up doesn't mean this place was safe just yet.

She knew that Rattleskull would be dead by now. Even if she had bothered to actually fight for the goblins, she knew that he would have been overwhelmed and anyone who was helping him would have also died. If he was smart he would've listened to Orchid and chosen to weaken the monsters first with the only advantage the goblins had; fire and wood. Despite what Crispy had said about these holes that would provide ventilation, the smoke would've driven the other monsters out of the cave or better, towards the goblin's defenses, where they could have picked them off at their leisure. The same way Orchid would have taken out a hornet nest back at the farm; instead of going there with a stick, burn them out with fire. Even if these monsters were smarter than bees, that just meant it would take a bit more participation. Hopefully with Rattleskull dead the goblins would realize that strength alone will not be able to save them, and they would look to Orchid for guidance... Or they'll just brand her a coward who ran from a fight. That was a very real possibility too. She did, at least scream very loudly not too long ago, just as she had told the goblins when she first left. If they didn't follow her command, it can't be said it was because she didn't follow through on her end.

Already Orchid was making up a few lies and misdirections to trick the goblins. It was easy enough; she's done this plenty of times with her own family just to get them off her back. While she wasn't a trickster by nature, that didn't mean she didn't know how to weave a decent white lie. In any case right now Orchid needed to examine the area and figure out what the hell was going on. Something was happening in this cave and she intended to find out what it was before it finds her.

Stats/Inventory

Health - Mostly Full
Magic - Full
Stamina - Mostly Full

Skills -
Use Light Equipment (--)
Pacify Animal I (1.0)
Stronger I (1.4)
Crafting IV (4)
Material Analysis I (1.15)
Monster Analysis I (1.0)
Smash I (1.0)

Inventory -
Raw Dire Rat Hide (Equipped)
Loincloth (Equipped)
Stone Spiked Club (Good) (Stored)
Wicker Shield (Well Made) (Equipped)
Torch (Equipped)
Plant Fiber Sling (Loaded) (Equipped)
Rawhide Bag (8/12) (Equipped)

• Hard Stones x2
• Antidote Fern
• Fiber Cordage (Average)
• Bloody Garrote

Leaf Sling Bag (1/3) (Equipped to Rawhide Bag)

• Sling Stones x4

Ruins of Norn: Walking Apocalypse

@Tangletail

Sorry I might’ve missed it. What were you looking for with your knowledge check?