Ryonara

The War of the Three

Can my prize be stuff from the shadow list I sent to you?

The War of the Three

Hmm. If the Machinas can still reach Hohenheim, could I post something for Shizuka and Hibiki? I won't ask for a prize just a little scene between the two sisters.

The Chronicles of Dosei: Sands of Blood, A Dungeons and Dragons Roleplay. (Reboot)(Full)

Catarina La'Spada

"Don't mind if I do!" Catarina eagerly took the pipe and took a long drag from it. Perhaps it was a bit greedy, but it's been years since she had any good pipeweed. Everything else had either been second hand or low-quality contraband. Literally poison. While this pipeweed tasted different than the one she was used too, it was genuine. She was tempted to keep it but handed the pipe back to Elleonora. "That's good stuff. Been too long since I've had something like this. In my earlier years, pipeweed kept me sane after a battle. All the gore and bodies... You get used to the killing after a while, but the smell..." Catarina's body shook. Even now it unnerved her a bit. Even for a harden mercenary she can be shocked at an after-battle scene. It wasn't as if it was new to her or anything. And after being without pipeweed for so long, but still being a mercenary, she was actually quite use to taking in the smell of dead bodies. But if she had the choice, she'd prefer the scent of burning herbs.

Parum joined them followed by Vivian. Seemed like their elf friend was having a hard time sleeping, and needed a drink. Catarina certainly wouldn't mind a cold one. Fortunately for her, they had some generous friends come through: A gnome and a dwarf. Dwarves were fairly common back at Sapphire, but not one like this. She dressed almost like Elleonora with her heavy plate and mail armor, and carried an axe as broad as her body. The gnome was definitely a foreigner: Catarina would remember a hairstyle like hers. The dwarf, Shayle as the gnome called her, came over and ordered everyone an ale. The dwarf was definitely new here too: the ale here wasn't all that great. Pretty good all things considered, but their ale was too fruity. Lacked the punch of truth alcohol. Still Catarina appreciated the gesture and accepted an ale from the dwarf.

"Don't know if you're after my gold or my heart, but you're taking a step in the right direction. Name's Catarina La'Spada, perhaps you've heard of me." Things were going pretty well so far. Sure things got a bit dramatic on the way here, but that was part of the adventuring life. Vivian turns out to be a drow and there's assassins or something after her. Gnolls are active around this area and the mercenary suspects she'll be seeing a lot more of them. But they had alcohol, Veridis was playing a tune, and all things considered this was good company. Catarina didn't have any complaints.

---

Parum

"Yup yup! I'll admit I keep a personal stock of pipeweed that I could smoke every night, but if I did that it wouldn't be nearly as savoring. But I think I'll make tonight and exception." Joining the others around the table Parum took a few puffs from her pipe as she listened to Catarina be nostalgic. Pipeweed was often used by soldiers during war to mask the smell and grime of war. Parum's done business at many war camps and has looted from a battlefield before. As a youth she couldn't stomach it, but now she'd have no problems stealing the valuables off a warm body if there was no one to stop her. Parum wished she could say she was only doing it to survive, but at that point in her life she was already quite well established in the merchant's guild and could have turn to an honest life at any time. But the allure of filthy lucre was too great for this halfling.

As Parum settled down Vivian arrived. Seemed like today's events weighed heavily on her mind. As more guests showed up Parum went over to Vivian at the bar counter. Parum's mercantile eye noted that Vivian was drinking a very elven wine. It was vaguely familiar and Parum was certain she had traded some before, but she's traded a lot of things in the past. She wasn't sure of the make of this vintage, but Vivian obviously recognized it. Putting a few silver pieces on the counter Parum joined Vivian for a drink. "Make that for two. So Vivian, what's your thoughts on all of this? The job, the pay, the stakes. Part of me still thinks this is too good to be true."

Ten thousand gold was nearly a king's ransom. If not a king, at least a prince or an something. She's seen noble clans fight for that much. Truthfully if she didn't already have an idea of what sort of artifact they would be getting their hands on, Parum would have been more than willing to accept the job for the pay alone. Hence why she felt this all seemed too good to be true. Part of her did wonder if this job was actually sponsored by the drow who are after Vivian. But what were the chances of that? "Makes ya wonder what's really at stake, eh?"

D&D 5e - Hoard of the Dragon Queen

The blue-haired halfling didn't respond to the man's comments. She was still having a hard time accepting this situation. She was scared, none of this mad sense, and she desperately wanted to have a solution to this problem. She wiped the bile off her lips, stepping away from the stares to just take deep breaths. Soon Brannor came over to check up on Parum, and she felt a bit embarrassed letting him see her like this. "Hello Brannor. I'm sorry, I just... I just need some time alone." As she said that, the governor arrived flanked by two guards. He seemed to have a new task for her and the others, plus the cleric Kyra. Parum was starting to have second thoughts about accepting their request now, but she didn't say anything about it. Her mind was just a tornado of thoughts, concerns, and doubts. Without much else to say Parum headed up towards the top of the tower.

The War of the Three

I don't mind a break but Shizuka and Hibiki would most likely use the downtime to train and upgrade their equipment.

Deep Ground Online (Hiatus)

SMITTEN KITTEN

Darting through the ruins Smitten Kitten continued to watch the battle rage on from a safe distance. She thought she was reasonably well hidden until she heard the revving of an engine grow louder, followed by bullets. Before Kitten could react, two bullets ripped through her body. Her health went from 100% down to 20%. Followed by familiar, shrill screeching. ”Corpse Collector…”

Kitten wasted no time evading CC. She jumped from the rubble and ran through the alleyways, making sure to take narrow passages too thin or with turns too sharp for a normal motorcycle to take. However while doing so Kitten quickly got lost in the veritable maze of alleys, and eventually she ended up at a dead end. The buildings were too tall for her her to jump and there weren’t any handholds for her to use. She’d had to turn back, but before she could get the chance she heard the sound of CC’s motorcycle. ”Crap.”

There wasn’t much time left. Kitten didn’t know these streets well enough to turn back and run now, and Corpse Collector was only a few seconds away. She had to think fast when she remembered that Itsuko had given Kitten some gifts before they parted. Because Kitten lacked a strong attack, she needed extra equipment to do big damage. And what she had left was some bombs. These bombs exploded when Kitten pulled the trigger, but they could be disabled by simply attacking them. But if she could hide them around here, then maybe she could lead Corpse Collector into a trap. So quickly Kitten laid all three of her bombs around the wall behind her, hiding them underneath some garbage and debris. As the revving got closer Smitten Kitten turned around and readied herself.

@TheWindel

D&D 5e - Hoard of the Dragon Queen

I'm feeling a bit drained tonight so I apologize if there's some spelling errors in my post.

As for this inspiration debate I'm on the side of "We don't need it" because like Norschtalen and Hezaku is saying, I'd rather not have to be the judge of our character's actions. Like right now I think Parum is doing exactly the opposite of what sort of heroic thing you'd expect to get inspiration, but it is within her character. She's cowardly and naive. She doesn't want to face this dragon nor does she want to die, and she can't handle this level of mayhem right off the bat. She's basically a college girl who just left to see the world beyond the books and computer screen, and she can smell the blood and gore, see the death and destruction, and it's nothing like what she learned at all. It's so much worse.

D&D 5e - Hoard of the Dragon Queen

Parum could hardly believe what her ears were hearing. Was Kyra really suggesting they go after this dragon? What part of "We can't defeat it" do these people not understand? She commends their bravery but this just wasn't a good idea. "What? No! Don't be an idiot! We can't take on that dragon ourselves! We need to evacuate the people of Greenest away from here. This dragon is obviously raiding the village for treasure, and no one's life is worth risking over some gold and a few swords. I understand that you want vengeance, but you're only going to get yourself and others killed!"

As Parum walked by something grabbed her feet. She hopped away just to see one of the solders. Or rather, his top half of him. His entire body was vaporized from the waist down and somehow he was alive. He tried to crawl towards Parum, but then he fell onto his face, dead. Soon Parum started seeing even more bodies moving around in various states of mutilation. It seemed like the dragon's lightning didn't kill all the soldiers. But it only made the survivors even more horrific. It was too much for Parum. The death, the fighting, the blood, the gore. This was nothing like the stories. It was just too much. She had to run back to the tower, running past Brannor and Orchid where she vomited in a corner.

"There's no way, there's just no way... No way at all!" Parum cried as she leaned up against a wall. She was scared. This was just too much for her right now. When she left home on this adventure she thought she'd be ready for death. She's seen an execution before. She's killed a man once. She thought she'd be ready for it. But this? This wasn't anything like it. She doesn't understand how people could witness a dragon lay waste to an entire fortress full of soldiers and still think they stand a chance. "What have I gotten myself into? I can't do this! This isn't right, this isn't fair! I'm not ready for something like this!" The halfling continued to sob quietly. She knew she was being a coward. But sometimes fear was the right responds. These people wanted to kill a dragon and she doubts any of them even possess a magic sword. She didn't want to resign her fate to a pointless death for the sake of heroics.

The Chronicles of Dosei: Sands of Blood, A Dungeons and Dragons Roleplay. (Reboot)(Full)

Catarina La’Spada

By the time everyone reached the village Catarina was feeling a lot better. While her wound was numb, the rest of her body felt healthy. A clean bandage and a good night’s rest and she should be all better. Inside the village everything seemed normal at least for Catarina. She was already familiar with their militia and their tactics. Hell, she trained them. Though back then they only had shields and spears. Either things have been getting better and the militia can afford better equipment, or worse and they need these new arms and armor.

At the inn Catarina was quick to buy herself a room and get out of her armor. While it was comfortable enough to wear while travelling, she wasn’t going to keep it on as she slept. Getting out of her armor by herself was a long and tedious process, but soon enough she striped down to her undergarments. Changing out from her sweaty, battle worn clothing, she changed into a fresh pair and into a simple cotton robe. It was locally made and had some embroidery, but Catarina brought it for it’s durability. Always a tight with her money, Catarina preferred to invest in quality goods than to get by with cheap ones.

Eventually the warrior woman would arrive to the common area. The others may not even recognize her outside of her armor; while her onion-like full plate gave her the impression of being a heavy-set woman, Catarina had a more athletic build leaning towards a sharper figure. She couldn’t pass herself off as any pepite noblewoman or scholar, but Catarina wasn’t nearly as husky as her armor would have implied.

Alexander and Elleonora was here too. Alexander was talking about his scars, but Catarina simply crossed her arms and smiled at him. Her arms, strong and chiseled, were covered in scars. As a youth she had mixed feelings about scars, thinking them as true marks of a warrior. She also thought that anyone who got cut was a fool who got themselves hurt. But as a seasoned warrior she knew that getting a few nicks or even grievous wounds would be inevitable in her line of work, and a scar shows that she survived the worse of it. If she didn’t, then she wouldn’t be around to show them off.

What did interest Catarina more though was Elleonora smoking from her pipe. Her choice of herb was different from what Catarina was used too, and the cherry incense was odd too, but Catarina once shared a similar habit. Only she stopped due to the rising prices of cannabis. Something about orcish raids destroying farms or some such. A real shame. Mouth watering, Cataraina nearly asked Elleonora for a hit but instead got herself a meal instead. Some cheese and bread with a side of fruit and juices. Sitting with her party members Catarina just couldn’t resist asking.

”Smells nice. Where’d you get it?”

---

Parum

As everyone went inside the inn, Parum took care of the horses. She bartered with the innkeeper, trading some of the things they found from the gnolls to pay for the stables and her own room. They didn’t take everything like their armor, but Parum made sure to take the weapons at least. Plus whatever else was hidden in their pockets. Once she had the room and stable situation dealt with Parum went to her room, hauling her huge bag with her. It was almost comical seeing the little halfling trying to fit the massive back through the halls, but she managed somehow.

Once inside she took off her robe and changed to reveal her casual outfit. Parum may not be as tall and exotic as a drow, but she knew how to use seduction for her ends too. But there was a time and place for Parum to show off her assets and that time was now. If she wanted to get “closer” to her would be partners, she’d need to act vulnerable and trusting with them. Getting out of her robes would be step one, and the next step would be sharing a meal and drink with them. Still, Parum wasn’t a complete fool. Even if she doesn’t expect trouble from her party, there was still the threat of those gnolls and drow chasing Vivian. Thus Parum kept a slender dagger hidden on her person. Despite her form-fitting outfit, there was still plenty of places for this little thief to hide a weapon.

After getting ready Parum skipped down to the common area where everyone else seemed to be at. The first thing she noticed was the combined scent of pipeweed and cherry. Parum was quite familiar with both: Halflings practically have a monopoly on pipeweed, and cherries were very popular summer fruits. In fact, cherries grew quite well in regions like this.

”Ah, smells like home. Nothing like a few puffs to end the night with, eh chums?” Parum took out her own pipe, lighting up the fine handling pipeweed within. She took a seat near the others and ordered everyone a round of whatever ale was on tap. ”What a day, what a day. we got ourselves an adventure and then some.”

D&D 5e - Hoard of the Dragon Queen

I like having Inspiration myself. It rewards players for going out of their way to put more effort into their writing then usual. Of course it can be subjective and some people might try to do stupid or suicidal things just to get Inspiration. Though to be fair last game I played, you can get multiple counts of Inspiration, but you can only use them in that session. And we don't really have sessions for a play-by-post rpg.