MelonHead

Enduwin: Act 1 - The Dark Awaits

With a grunt the heavy oak door swung open before a large bear-like man, though the huge knotted arms indicated the paltry act had taken little effort. His was the visage of one that tended to draw a certain wary attention, though the Venar were not unheard of this far south it was rare to see them free, often an early sign that trouble was soon to come. The fur-wearing Northman looked bleary eyed, as if he had been up all night drinking and the morning light pained him. Stomping through the bare inn his tired eyes swept the room, fangs protruding anti-socially as his reclusive nature fought against the current situation. He realised that he could not spot who he was looking for at first sight, nor could he properly pronounce his name.

Catching the barman returning from a table he gave the man a start as he noticed his appearance for the first time. However, before he could get words out or prepare to defend himself the heavy-set Ventus struggled through a question in the common tongue.

“I look for Eee-oo-ll-as.” He asserted, mispronouncing his potential employer’s name and failing to actually frame his remark as a question. Still, considering his terrible grasp of the language, it was a fair effort. His voice rumbled deeply, with an abysmal accent that gave the barkeep pause. However, using the skills such a man assembled over a life-time of speaking with all sorts, he pieced together his old friend’s mysterious behaviour and the barbarian’s presence. Taking in his obvious weapons and meaty demeanour he worried anew for his old friend, wondering just what business he’d got himself into. Nodding at the Venar, he pointed to the table.

“Eolas is over there, can I get you something to drink?”

“Ale.” The Venar struggled for a moment. “My thanks.” He walked off, giving the barkeep a brief and uncertain nod before his great stride carried him to the table where Eolas sat. He looked at the old Ventus for a moment, taking in his fair height with approval and sitting down without waiting to be told. He spread his weight evenly on the chair and instinctively pulled it away from the table to allow himself room to move quickly if necessary. Fixing the Ventus with hunter’s eyes, albeit slightly unfocused due to his hangover, the North-man’s look spoke a thousand words, if his time had been wasted blood would be shed.

“I am Bakk.”

Arena Chat Thread

This is a fight between all of Arena and Xenom. This is a decloration of war. We will consume all of you. I will consume all of you.

I have laid out a very basic character sheet for you lot to glance at. I will not be bringing my God's in. I do not think my Dimensional Beasts will be required for this war. You will fear my conquest.

@Seed

RPGuild Ranking Headquarters!

@Skallagrim
@Rilla
@Melonhead
@LeeRoy

Hey fellas, I need an opinion on a tournament idea I had.

Recently I'd been playing League of Legends, specifically the All Random All Mid or ARAM game mode, which is essentially a 5 vs 5 on one lane, with random heroes. The arena is this hugeass bridge over an extremely deep chasm, down in a snowy mountain range.

What I was thinking was that we could do a similar concept but simpler? Like, instead of a 5 vs 5, a simple 1 vs 1 for each bracket, and on the same arena every time. No arena gimmicks, no special rules? Victory decided either by combatant death, forfeit, or being knocked off the bridge.

And maybe, when you enter, based on how many arena characters you have, you are assigned a number and whatever character that lands on, you have to use that character for the tourney?

Not so sure, but I thought that a 1v1 on a bridge over a chasm for a tourney setting would be pretty cool.

@DJAtomika

Depends, if you want to set up a tournament that is balanced to be more about individual skill rather than character match-ups and terrain advantages then it's a good idea, but go into it expecting some people to have a major advantage regardless. Bridges don't tend to have ambush-spots and obstructions to protect the melee orientated from projectiles.

Aegis Faces the Man-Eater

The young hunter approached cautiously, ever aware of the danger of tackling a large monster in the open. It did not seem like luck was to favour him in the coming confrontation, as knowledge served that the beast was heading towards town. Obviously it was retracing the steps of the merchants, perhaps seeking out larger sources of food as it seemed insatiable from what Alexandros had seen thus far. Though the town it approached was not the one he had been hired by, he still owed the people better than to allow a ravenous monster to happen upon them. He doubted he could forgive himself if anyone died due to his inaction. Resolute, he hastened his step, edging towards speed over stealth as he ran in a crouch towards his prey. Circling it slightly, coming round to its left flank, though it was still a goodly distance off, his stance shifted as he raised out of his crouch, spear firmly in hand half-way down the shaft, shield poised to protect him from projectile or fang.

The creature was certainly an odd one, now he was in a better position to observe it. It had very dark hide-like skin and was about a foot shorter than him, though far longer. It sort of resembled pictures he’d seen of large beasts from Afrika, though it was clearly a monster rather than an animal, its excessive feeding was proof of that. Alexandros approached it with a purposeful walk, uncaring if it noticed him now as he committed to the fight, he thought about how he would kill the beast. Each step was made with immense care, as he mentally pictured his surroundings with precise detail, it would have been impossible for him to stumble on some concealed pot-hole. However, it was not just to avoid ordinary mishap that he utilized his gift, but so that he could be aware of whatever threat may come from the great beast before him, and to perhaps gain some advantage from the terrain for himself.

Alexandros would approach the beast as quickly as he could without outright running after it, keenly alert for any sign that it had noticed him. After reaching a distance of around one hundred feet from the beast, he could make his move.

End of a Dreamer

Energy manipulation of this level is beyond me, it's awesome to read, but to write it is beyond my area of expertise. I'm glad I'm subscribed to this thread.

@LeeRoy

It's definitely an interesting conflict, Skallagrim has finesse and Fury has more primal powers, in theory the Dreamer should have Fury beat, but this is one fight Fury refuses to lose. (And consequentially you get to see him at his best, using whatever tricks he has to in order to make up for the skill gap in regards to his energy manipulation abilities.)

Also I'm glad you're enjoying it. One feature I miss from the Old Guild was the 'amount viewed' counter next to threads, I always liked it when my fights reached pretty high numbers, it felt like I was actually creating something people were interested in seeing. Kind of why I do Arena fighting really.

End of a Dreamer

No rush, I'll be travelling sunday.

End of a Dreamer

The energy contained within the mesh was extraordinary. Had it been an inanimate shield, built to keep the Fireen in place through merit of its immense density, Fury would have struggled with it for hours. However, it had been designed to not only capture but utterly crush its prey, and to do so vast quantities of gravitational potential energy had been brought to bear. As the Fireen’s hands came into close contact with the mesh, ripping it asunder with all his strength, the Void’s abilities took hold. Vast quantities of energy flushed through Fury’s system, unwanted as his energy requirements were more than met by the Machine on his back. Almost as if it were a release valve, his body naturally forced itself into its Unbridled state, where excess power poured from his every pore. One of the consequences of energy resistance was that no matter how vast the store of power Fury tapped into, he was capable of draining it at the same rate. What he had tapped into with the Mesh could only be described as the largest energy source he had ever experienced direct contact with, and with every passing second he devoured it.

At first, the mesh had cut and torn at his armour and face, lacerating the skin almost as fast as the vast quantities of incoming energy could regenerate it. However, as the energy built up in his Unbridled form the shimmering blue skin that formed his shield grew more and more visible to the naked eye. Vaguely, Fury was aware of his spear landing upon Skallagrim and knocking him clear, but at that point it was the most he could do to grit his teeth and weather the immense forces running through his body. With every passing second his hands somehow broadened the tear before him, as his power pulsed outwards forming a wedge with which to overcome the extreme tensile strength of the net.

It should have been impossible, but with one last gargantuan effort the Fireen thrust himself forward and blasted outwards with the force of his energy displacement, the Mesh collapsing behind him. He shot forward fifty metres and splattered into the lake floor, muck coating his burning form. The damage to his body was limited, deep bleeding wounds criss-crossing his face and severe bruising across his legs was all he got for the trouble of overcoming perhaps the single greatest threat he had ever faced. However the damage to his equipment was far more problematic, his armour had been sheared and shattered, leaving great cracks across the torso and lower legs that caved into his flesh painfully. His gloves had burned away under the extreme force of tearing open the Mesh, and worst of all the World Machine wrapped throughout his armour had suffered severe damage, working at perhaps half the efficiency of before.

He pulled himself from the mud in preparation to chase down the Dreamer, the Unbridled energy pulsing from his body numbing any sense of pain as he saw in pure energy his vicinity. The damage to the planet their confrontation had caused was becoming unsustainable, but not for a moment did he consider the hypocrisy of continuing to seek his vengeance at the expense of the rock he stood upon. Slowly, with blood and muddy water dripping off his battered form, Fury rose into the air and sought out his foe.

Enduwin: Act 1 - The Dark Awaits

@MelonHead

Will look over it in a tick!

Would you like to just verbalise any issues you have with the setting and I'll do my best to answer and accommodate!

@Darkmatter

Well, I was always planning on creating a 'wild-man' esque character from a northern mountainous region, I didn't want the region to be too far from Vrent either. Also, after seeing what the Ventus are like today I realised they were going to have a lot in common (appearance wise) with what I was planning to make, so it makes sense if they had a common ancestry somewhere along the line and then went different ways.

However I don't really know if there is anything north of Vrent, as the northern-most town is a port.

Enduwin: Act 1 - The Dark Awaits

Got the basic gist, though a few things need working on and naming as I'm still sort of floundering round the setting.

WIP

Name: Bakk

Race: Venar

Gender: Male

Age: 30

Appearance: Broad shouldered with rough brown hide-like skin, Bakk stands at six foot three and would be considered ‘stocky’ by his race’s standards. His large form is predominantly muscular rather than fatty due to his unusual diet. His body seems relatively human, though large in every sense as his hands and forearms proclaim powerful dense bones. His body hair grows thick and course brown and covers his chest back arms and legs almost to the point of making him look animalistic. His face is large with a pronounced jawline and brow, and his unnaturally sharp and large canines jut upwards from his bottom lip.

Clothing: Bakk dons himself in a fur and leather skirt somewhat similar to the lower half of a leather hauberk but with protection over the groin. It offers very little in the way of defence but also weighs him down and restricts him far less than any armour.

Bakk usually wears a fur vest, which actually only constitutes his under-clothes when roaming his home ranges, but his ability to acclimatize to cold requires little else in more temperate climes.

He wears simple fur boots sewn together to repair consistent damage, though his skin is tough enough to do without them cold would still likely cause frostbite and the loss of toes in the more extreme seasons.

Equipment: Bakk travels incredibly light, with a number of survivalist skills under his belt he requires little more than a pouch of essentials and a leather water-skin. Within the pouches are flint and tinder, twine and smoked meat. He also carries a six inch wood cutting knife in a leather sheath.

Weapons: Bakk’s weapons are multi-purpose in that he hunts and fights with the same equipment. He carries one iron war-axe and three to four sharpened stone throwing axes.

Skills: Bakk is a nomad and a hunter from the extreme northern mountain ranges, his skills as such are suited to survival in such an extreme clime.

Survivalist: Bakk can survive in harsh conditions and hunt for food, though his skill at hunting animals doesn’t translate outside of the wilds, he could reliably stalk even intelligent prey if given suitable conditions. A dependency on his throwing skills to maintain his life and the age at which he has reached are both signs that his axe throwing is impeccable for such an imprecise art.

Tribal: Bakk has a ferocious strength born from his primitive roots, though the Venar have come into contact with civilisation more often in recent times they are slow to adapt new ways, and compensate with their natural strengths.

Beast: The Venar have an affinity with carnivorous animals that borders on the super-natural, and their fighting mimics these creatures. Though Bakk has no formal axe training he can overcome better equipped opponents by merit of his strength and ferocity more often than not. However, the tendency to beserk can be a double-edged sword, and quick intelligent foes with better equipment would be sure to undo him eventually.

One with the Wilds: The Venar are closely attached to the natural world, and most exhibit incredibly acute senses, they can hear and smell extremely well and can see in low-light conditions, though the down-side is that they rarely maintain above average human intelligence, and many fall below.

Misc: Bakk prefers meat raw, and only smokes a small portion of his kill for lean times.

Bakk has a poor grasp of the common tongue, which makes him seem particularly unintelligent, though not a genius by any stretch Bakk is smart enough for his race, but this only comes out when conversing in his own tongue.

Bakk has a short temper in certain circumstances, and a disdain for outside races which makes him remarkably anti-social. However, the language barrier tends to make him out as a mysterious savage rather than an ill-tempered recluse.

Bakk has a poor tolerance for heat and grows incredibly ill-tempered and uncomfortable in warmer climes.
Bakk is often startled by sudden loud noises, and would be alarmed by the sound of a gunshot.

Background: Bakk had lived a turbulent and mobile life, even for a Venar. He left his mother tribe at fifteen years of age after his brother ascended to tribe chief, and wandered the wilds alone for five years, as was custom for his people. Eventually he made contact with a new tribe and made a home for himself amongst them. Venar tribes are incredibly tight nit and small by necessity, with only twenty to thirty people in the largest. They often skirmish among themselves and with slavers from the south east, and Bakk had it no different. Distinguished as a warrior and a hunter, as one would expect of a prospective tribe chief who had been taught little else as a child, he quickly ascended the ranks in his new tribe, to the point where he was eligible for the chief’s daughter. Surprisingly, considering the nature of his society, his growing relationship with his promised wife, Elera, was actually a mutual one, and Bakk lived happily for eight years in the tribe.

However, there was discontent to be found, which came to a head when the wise old Chief died, leaving behind him a son and daughter. The son ascended the tribe and perceived Bakk as a threat, though little seemed to come of this hostility. However, one year prior to the present day the tribe was caught up in a vicious slaver raid that saw horrific circumstances befall them. Bakk challenged the Chief to a duel in the following days and when refused killed him in cold blood, accepting exile.

Becoming an Outlaw was not a particularly unusual experience for a Venar, but Bakk was haunted and driven in equal measure by whatever happened on those fateful days. He began to seek out contact with low-landers and southerners, desperate for information. He found out a hard truth, nothing came for free. However, he was put into contact with someone who had the means to give him answers he sought, and jumped at the chance. Luckily his skills as a warrior and a hunter would serve him once more.

Venar Fluff

Venar: Beast-Men of the Ferendis Range

The Venar are in many ways similar to the Ventus and many have claimed that they must share some common ancestry. However, culturally they could be no more different, the Venar are a nomadic tribal people who are roughly 90% carnivorous. They have an affinity for cold and the wilds and their social structure is one of small secluded tribes of roughly 20-30 people with a Chief and ruling family. To describe the Venar as pack hunters would not be too harsh a description, they have created no great works of art and have rarely strayed from outside their range. However, it has been said that even if they had anything worth taking few would try, the Venar are an extreme threat to large forces in their own territory, and many a passing army has suffered severe attrition from Venar hunters. Only some of the hardiest and most skilled slaver bands from Vrent and further south venture into their ranges with hostile intent, and many pay with their lives.

However, the Venar are prized specimens, many reaching seven foot in height with powerful bear-like builds and appearances. Their women are more slender and usually a good few inches shorter than the men, with comparatively softer features. However, both sexes are natural fighters and hunters. With the exclusion of these two main past-times the Venar’s affinity with the wilds also serves as the foundation of their spiritualism. They worship nature itself, specifically referring to something known as the ‘Roots of the Great Tree’ and believe only in one’s place in the cycle of life. Each tribe enforces its own rules and the rule of the strongest tends to hold the most weight. Those gifted with magic are known as Shamans and incredibly rare, though there is a surprisingly high amount of magic within most Venar, it tends to exhibit itself in physical ways. Particularly, most Venar are gifted with a supernatural control over carnivores, and can avoid fighting most predators using this innate ability. This fairly common trait is sometimes found in extremes among the Venar, and those afflicted are known as ‘Bear-Kin’ not unlike Beserkers in Norse mythology. Their affinity to Beasts causes them to adopt the traits of animals in extreme circumstances. It’s the Bear-Kin which predominantly account for the Venar’s ferocity in battle.

Classifications

Species: Mammal, Humanoid

Homeland: Ferendis Mountain Range in the north, some may be found in adjacent ranges and further south as slaves or explorers, though most die soon after leaving the northern mountains.

Appearance: Bear-Like men, large boned, tall with brown hide-like skin, sharp teeth and shrewd eyes. Not unlike Neanderthals. Women are smaller with slighter softer features, but still comparatively animalistic compared to ordinary humans.

Lifespan: 60-70 years

Society: Nomadic Tribes, 20-30 people, low tech/tribal

Diet: 90% Carnivore, 10% Vegetation, Bark and Seasoning, most prefer meat raw

Intelligence: Average human and below intelligence.

Main traits/professions: Animalistic physicality, powerful bodies and dense bones make them natural fighters, acute senses make them exceptional hunters.

Enduwin: Act 1 - The Dark Awaits

Want to give us a quick run-down of the alternate names? Or is it first person to play one gets to name it?