The Harbinger of Ferocity

D&D 5e - Hoard of the Dragon Queen

Before he saw her, the humble priest of this small town, he heard her approach, one he assumed was to find them all after their ordeal with the dragon cultist; her departure then was for the better at least in that moment, as her newfound rage could have overwhelmed what seemed outwardly to be a demure and unassuming spirit, ruining their efforts. Not that Brannor disapproved of this awakening he knew only in part based on what he witnessed of her tonight, but at that very moment it would not have been timely. Not as timely as this arrival at least after he had given it some thought.

"Brannor. Anything important that the prisoner had spoken about?"

"Perhaps, depending upon what you consider important." Brannor stood to his full height, rather than stooping forward and into the blocked stone of the crenellations as he had been. "The woman went on some rant about a 'queen of dragons' and that the 'wealth' of your town needs feed its hoard. As you can imagine, simpleminded fools flocked to such a rumored power and have since created marauding bands of scaled thieves and other mortal servants."

He addressed her thereafter in person, peering down to her like a wall of mismatched, worn, warped armor, "But all I took from it, of actual importance, was that they have a lair somewhere in the region with dragon eggs."

There came a lull in the nighttime conversation between the two, the words allowed to settle in and soak with meaning. She received the exact thoughts the huntsman had in mind, nothing more and nothing less. All of the finer details were irrelevant, unimportant and largely the ravings of an insane woman beyond apparent redemption. Fitting she died such a swift, easy death as her smaller draconic friends; doubtful what they would get in return if the circumstances were reversed. Brannor had no intent of being captured, as being caged or confined was as good as death - only a few things stood to change that. One of which he plotted within mind at the moment now, revealing it to the young Chauntean cleric.

"I intend to track and kill their number tomorrow, as well as however long it takes thereafter." He said.

The words were as cold as any hunter setting out to do his deed. They were plain, as though he was indifferent to the notion of having to kill man and woman to do so. Granted these people were addled by some monster's power, enchanted and enthralled by its allure, but the indifference was almost monstrous on its own.

@Norschtalen

"You Are Your Avatar"

The great cat found itself at a pause for a moment, seeing that for now the threats - from every angle prior - had fled in their own varied ways, be them physical or metaphysical. With a low, rumbling sigh, it shook its head and surveyed the damage to the area. It appeared little worse than it was already, still some grey, forsaken place that was once a city and still caked with ashen dust. No matter the case, the inky demon and the reaper had returned to conversing and Jane was off rummaging through the tattered and abandoned racks of clothing.

"I suppose before it escapes us completely, just what was a 'Lord of Lies'?"

Frokane's Mildly Politcal Hangout Thread

A nation without any sense of patriotism hardly makes for a nation. There is no pride, no vim and vigor, no willingness to defend the identity that all under it share and whatever goals or identities it assumes for itself. A patriot supports their country and stands for it, even when there are times of disagreement within it. They are those willing to defend it and obey the lawful directives of those appointed over them. They believe in their country above others and a sense of pride in its history as well as a point of purpose. Patriotism is not blind loyalty either, instead focusing upon hitting the notes and values of what makes a country itself in perception.

There is nothing wrong with patriotism and I find myself of the opinion that those who are not patriotic or loyal to their nation are disrespectful and in some cases, even ungrateful. For a point of reference, I would not obviously sing the Russian anthem if it were played at an event, but I would be respectful enough to stand and keep quiet until their presentation was complete out of respect for them even if I view them with suspicion. The ungrateful element comes from the usual tradition of the United States to honor and give reverence to those who served it; I am exceedingly disappointed to see things such as protests of deceased service members take place as an example or that the education system does not enforce the Pledge of Allegiance or the playing of the anthem anymore, let alone allow American flags to be flown in the most extreme cases.

The positive effects of patriotism should be obvious and overt to anyone. You can collectively take a great number of differing individual, personal opinions and unite them under one general identity. It might be evident that I would not fall well into the Alt Right camp, and only qualify as "Alt Right" in the modern era because it has been made out to be a pejorative label, but I am fairly confident that if you gathered them altogether then asked them, "Do you love your country and care about it?" I reason you would see ninety percent or more say yes no matter how you worded it. Granted they might all be at each other's metaphorical throats over the details, but you could at least mobilize them as you have seen in recent times under one more broad banner. They are willing, even if begrudgingly, to work together to some extent whereas before they were unlikely to have been.

To those who are not patriotic, I find myself asking in contrast why not?

D&D 5e - The Lost Lands

The Vale

The Town,
Currently

The gnome adjusted his tremendous hat and wiped his brow after the last shadow was felled, the being returned to the nothingness from where it presumably came. Looking thereafter to the group of strangers who rescued him, the small fellow's hand then fell upon his chin in thought. After a moment of overt pondering, he removed his hand snapped his fingers, outstretching his arms over his head then down to his sides in an elaborate gesture. It was as though his flair for the theatrical got the better of him often, because when he finished muttering to himself - thinking aloud - he had a thought of thoughts, bringing himself back on topic.

"Right! How the shadows came to chase Birbin! I nearly forgot." The man dusted himself off and walked into the midst of his new company, looking to each of them.

"Well... to be completely honest, that's news to me to. They're sort of... new here, kinda' like you all are."

The gnome stopped to look up at the feline Katia, "The town was full of people before, then more and more shadows. They came out only at night and attacked the townsfolk. So our resident heroes went to go fight them off, night after night. Eventually they went to find the source..." Birbin nervously wrung his hands together and looked back in the direction of the hall and to the rest of all those present, "But they never came back. Just more shadows every night still."

"Now it is just me and the Green Man..." Birbin's optimistic voice trailed off with notes of sadness as his hat started to sink down over his eyes, only for the gnome to explode in a burst of energetic talking as he was blindsided by recollection.

"Right, right!" Again he adjusted the brim and took off running away from the party, only to stop mid haste down the street, "We can't stay out here! They can sense you and will just keep coming! Quick, follow Birbin!"

He gestured frantically, pleading for them to not delay anymore and perhaps with supreme reason. It was no secret to them the last time this happened - that shadows swarmed and erupted from every dark place in a town. It was almost as though history were to repeat itself here, wherever here exactly was, but the Kingdom of Darkness seemed relentless in its pursuit, going so far as to claim other lands just as it had stolen away their own. Granted the wizardly gnome knew nothing of this, but his concern was well placed. Then again, why wasn't this "green man" with him if he were so afraid?

The gnome was eccentric and odd, unlikely to be suicidal however. Things could not be so bad that the two seeming survivors of an entire town had to split up to handle the shadows, could they?

Effects

Rewards
The battle has ended and the party has defeated the Shadow Soldiers. They receive 800 Experience Points.

Score
Town

Map
???

@Big Dread, @Cu Chulainn, @Gordian Nought, @Hekazu, @JBRam2002, @Zverda

D&D 5e - Hoard of the Dragon Queen

"Take your leave when you can," The huntsman mentioned in what one could assume was casual for him in both gesture and tone, removing a hand from the stonework and motioning to the side leading back down to the keep's stairs, "I will think nothing less of your doing so."

It replaced itself thereafter, leaving the unusual, towering paladin back where he was to begin with. The words, like anything else about him, were as forthcoming and as direct as they could be; conjured from a place of honesty, even if it were blunt and with relative if not absolute disregard for station. He was an outsider to Greenest, even if he were one of its "saviors", but more than anything a man well outside the line of the realm and its dominion. Not that he was evading them with some criminal purpose, instead it was born of his very person and relation to the world around him. It was a simple matter of necessity to be as far from these things as possible. This gave great weight of reason to those times when Brannor was called to places such as this city, even if he knew no conscious reason. Wanderer or not by blood, he had not the opportunity or drive to delve into the finer intricacies that came with civilized folk and their magnitudes of authority.

The times like this, where real danger was afoot - or at least had been earlier on in the night, particularly with the blue scaled fiend - there was no time to care as to who was who; only what was what mattered. If man or woman needed rest, they took it. If they took it at the cost of others and added peril, there was none to blame but them for that. Undoubtedly if Governor Nighthill, as battered as he was still, took his rest someone would step in for him if not his armed and armored liaison who joined them here out in the night air.

"I doubt many would argue at this hour as it were..." The whisper spoken beneath breath still was throatily rumbled by Brannor thereafter, looking over the town.

The druid, or some form of naturalistic wizard as he too might have been, the savage only wondering now truly what the man was or did, offered his elaborations in the meantime, capturing the present audience in his characteristically bizarre and esoteric speech. Torus was an odd man, even among men, while Parum and Orchid were both familiar - the same for Longwater and Nighthill. He was the tipping, perhaps slightly addled wisdom to the naïve intellect and personable persistence of the halfling. Orchid and himself? They were, for lack of better words, violent spirits by nature - the half blood seemed to thrill for battle, but posed a sort of practicality and insightfulness not known or expected among orcs. Brannor was his own animal, something intense and focused, inherently otherworldly.

Kyra? The young priestess was their outlier in her own way. She like the other two more naturally inclined fellows clearly had some relation to the Silver Lady's will, some all too familiar. Perhaps when they rested and set out on what would surely be a long walk there would be time to discern just what this all meant, but now? Now the question came to mind where the other two wandered off to. Not that they were departing as of yet, such an effort would have been suicidal from fatigue alone, rather that they needed to be aware of just what was being said here.

@Hekazu@Ryonara@Lucius Cypher@Gordian Nought@Norschtalen

D&D 5e - The Lost Lands

The Vale

The Town,
Currently

The first blast of eldritch energy falling aside harmless, turned by one of the shadows' shields, the only thing it walked into then from the opening was the point of Cesar's blade - Wick, by accident, had helped facilitate the graceful stroke and allowed the swordsman's gleaming weapon to strike as true as ever. As the slash ended, the dark fiend disappearing into a plume of inky, fading smoke, more chaos continued as the remains dark defenders avoided wizard and paladin alike. Swiftly, upon their narrow feet, they dodged and weaved almost as quick as their lesser counterparts who, thankfully one might add, were not harrying the rest of the heroes and their gnomish assistant. Avoiding Thea, Haemar, and too a much lesser extent Katia, they maneuvered in and about for their actual attack.

Not impressed with the taunting, one of the remaining two circled around the young aasimar and brought out its weapon in the chaos that seemed to follow them; in a startling maneuver, under her guard, one of the shadow soldiers slipped a strike against Thea's armor and wounded her - an attack that would have regularly glanced off of plate stung now as though it were much more direct. Fortunately, the pain was brief and icy, rather than searing and bloody. Whatever this place was and its strange, discomforting qualities, they were good for something.

Haemar, in the midst of his sweep where the parried blow of lightning charged sword was turned aside, found an attack endured all on his own; in the wake of his defensive sweep, the point of the enemy's sword in all its blackness grazed him. Of course there was a violent flash of radiant light that leapt from the elven wizard's form outward and lashed violently at the shadow, stunning it for a moment as though it were uncertain if it were destroyed or whole still, but the point drove home. Unlike their lesser enemies, these creatures of the dark truly were soldiers or echoes of them; they knew enough of combat to prove they weren't totally mindless, just easily distracted as with any undisciplined guard.

Until it too was finished off by the gnome in a crackling burst of silver that followed the brilliant gold illumination. The small man, fingers arced out before him, seemed to be doing his best to mitigate the suffering the unexpected heroes were enduring, not quite aware that by any standard they were in far better condition than they appeared at this current moment. The positive news was, the overdressed smallfolk apparently had no awareness of this poor show - too busy hurling barrages of sizzling arcane magic.

"Don't worry friends, Birbin's magic will help you put out these no good shadows!"

The gnome then seemed to ready another spell only for it to immediately fizzle out in a cloud of argent dust and bits of crystalline light.

"Uh... on second thought, maybe Birbin is all out of magic."

Effects

The north most Shadow Soldier attacks and hits Thea for 7 piercing damage, having rolled unusually well on both its rolls. The other shadow attacks Haemar, succeeding in striking him as well for 4 piercing damage but suffering 10 radiant damage for its troubles - it remains standing despite the outburst of light.

The gnome casts another spell of silvery bolts, finishing off the shadow that was beside Haemar and presumably injuring the one Thea was skirmishing with using the other two flickering shots. He appears to be out of spells and instead hurries to help distract the last shadow.

Score
Countdown

Map
Town

@Big Dread, @Cu Chulainn, @Gordian Nought, @Hekazu, @JBRam2002, @Zverda

Frokane's Mildly Politcal Hangout Thread

@Penny

You almost seem to say that as if it were a bad thing. I would much rather an administration that does as it wants and as it should by and large in accordance to its voters than one that attempts to appease everyone in the system itself or pander to minority sectors. One has the power to undo itself and all its work in a few poor choices, the other is a machine that will keep running no matter how corrupt or out of touch it might be.

I am far more partial to letting the Trump administration succeed or fail, to which we will see in time, than I am allowing more of the same we already endured for eight years. Either he will continue to hit the notes a large number of Americans desire or he will miss his mark and go out with the next election. Almost as though it were designed that way in part.

As for the Sanders comment, I see no reasonable way one can view his reaction and those of his party, with regards to being cheated, as reflecting anyone who should be put into a place of leadership or command. I had respect for Sanders before, because he was so adamant about his message wrong as I think it might be, but he lost any shred of respect other than station to me when he surrendered without reprisal or retribution.

Frokane's Mildly Politcal Hangout Thread

Hillary is no one's first choice, but at least she has experience and, even if you might think she's the anti-christ, she has people who she wishes to please, and good candidates that vouche for her like Obama, Sanders, and her Husband (though that's a given).

@POOHEAD189

This comes extremely late and should be no surprise to anyone, but "experience" in the field of politics is not always a positive. A major selling point the public adored, close to if not at least half of all voters, was that the Trump administration was a complete outsider to the arena and had no alliegences to anyone or anything. It said and did whatever it wanted, no less in character with a man who was constantly on record for saying whatever struck the chord of urge. The promise of same-old, same-old had lost most its momentum; a notable number of Americans stopped believing in that "hope and chamge" so to speak.

The Sanders' thrust lost its point and credibility when it was not only cheated out by its own party, but also pushed a strong socialist agenda. It helped none that it did not bite back against the Hillary campaign and took a beating laying down instead.

"You Are Your Avatar"

"Flee to the content of your flighty heart, but I..." The great cat rumbled in tone as it shifted between real and unreal again, paying momentary pause to note the strange, almost twisted new company of a black being, "I will lie in wait."

"As for you, if I need contend with you as well, I shall."

The beast turned to confront it's more startling company, at least in comparison to say, Major Stryker. Not to say either were expected, but a man in a flight suit was a more readily accepted fact than some sort of apparent black demon; it was all too familiar to the other dark things the aspect had confronted, but whatever it was, it seemed to be its own.

"Whoever or whatever it is, assume nothing of its appearance." The Harbinger of Ferocity said plainly, brow narrowed and golden eyes focused.

It was going to make no assumptions on this day as to who was who or who what.

@BrokenPromise@UnknownScarlet4

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Question 13 Explained
The short answer is no. All players are allowed to participate in an "Open" topic so long as they have been approved by the Expanding Horizons Staff. "Closed" topics are the only circumstance where the thread's owner, its Game Master in effect, or the Staff where characters can be declined for any reason decided by those persons. The only exception one can foresee is where the Staff intervene and overrule the topic owner or its Game Master if need be.

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Answer: The United Federation of Planets is the largest superpower in the galaxy. Within its territory it has the capability to readily monitor the inhabited worlds under its control and loses that strength only in part the further out one goes to its limits. Its military power is exceptional and capable of efficient and destructive galactic warfare. Because it is a non-player faction operated by the Staff and generally keeps to peacekeeping operations in its space, it is not prone to offensive warring, but has a history of retaliating with overwhelming response.
- @The Harbinger of Ferocity

@Arawak