The Harbinger of Ferocity

D&D 5e - Hoard of the Dragon Queen

"Of course, it is just a request, I... well, we can talk more about it once you have rested. Let me quit bothering you for now, if your friends are here to meet you..."

"Then I take it you will find me soon enough again." Brannor's return came to the fellow stranger, seeing now the elderly Torus and far more youthful Shepard had arrived.

His watchful eyes noted them warily, knowing that even in the dim candlelight they could see well his inhuman silhouette and how it towered, even leaning as it was from its weakened state. Enough so was it, that as Waladra seemingly prepared to see himself out, the knight-aspirant moved what was between paw and hand clutching to his still bloodied chest. Dry as it was, the pale fur was stained and had done well with its flesh to turn a killing blow aside; in truth what spurred this was that it took everything for him to not let go and collapse to rest. The faint ache of subdued pain was more an anchor than much else he had at the moment in the realm physical.

"I am alive, priest."

His short, curt point was made before he looked away from them and to the stonework floor.

"Or..." The voice added after a pause, the beast looking to the three from the corner of its eyes, "You can speak with them... but not here and not now."

What was Brannor made its suggestions where it could, if only to distract from itself as it tightened is grip at the chest. All it sought to do was hide away and lick its wounds, which made it as much a struggle internally as it was externally to maintain this altered self. At some point, some day, the huntsman knew he would act with it - but not like this, even less like now. It was no simple tool to be exploited, not like those of men after all, not like that of the dragon's lightning either. There was no perfect way to maintain it in the shape and inexperience he had with his gift. His other talents were all far more mature by comparison, but they were minor to this; the blessing of the Pale Lady too great a grant for most.

"Go..." He snarled now, revealing his teeth in a clear menace and growling before looking away and leaving the tip of the length of his tail to move with visible irritation.

One was not wise to corner a wounded animal and if Brannor was anything at this point, he was not far from that.

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

D&D 5e - The Lost Lands

The Town

The Mystical Martin,
Currently

The protection of the Mystical Martin afforded the outsiders a much needed rest, a time to clear their thoughts and mend their wounds. Oddly enough, these seemed to go hand in hand; the more injury they sustained, the more their very character, their very person, seemed to weaken and fade. Even with the potential promise of rebirth at dawn, the stakes here were distinctly more weighty than ever before. After all, they might not even return in the first place - none of the missing townsfolk or their heroes had.

But the great ravens? That was another matter altogether as the entire tavern briefly rumbled at the first ray of light that hit the earth. A small concussion rocked the still morning air and immediately the squawking returned in a paired fury. This noise, if it were not the shuddering of the sturdy wood building itself, was almost assuredly enough to awaken the sleeping cadre of light-sworn paragons. It lasted not long, as a moment later the great beating of wings signalled the sizable fliers were off and away; likely back to their roost if they were anything like their smaller, less devious cousins.

Whatever number of shadows that were lurking just beyond throughout the night had almost certainly scurried away as well, but unquestionably never far. There some concerns were to be alleviated, if the purple wizard was to be believed at all. Speaking of the gnome, the arcanist was already awake and shuffling about his quarters, gathering his belongings and organizing the mess of parchment and paper he had strewn about.

Effects

The party has successfully taken a long rest without interruption, gaining the appropriate benefits associated. The time of day is early morning in this strange realm.

Score
Town

Map
???

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

Frokane's Mildly Politcal Hangout Thread

There are always going to be errors in reporting, but egregious and intentional ones that are sensationalist and drive a divide between the people of the country are harmful. If anything there should be some measure of accountability here, @Andreyich. I never participated much in the mainstream media and I am certainly glad I did not. The whole notion seemed absurd from the get, that the Russians somehow hacked the election sufficiently to merit such massive wins for the Trump administration or somehow hurt the Hillary campaign. It might just be too incredible that people would rather vote for Donald Trump than Hillary Clinton; if you had asked me years ago I would not have believed such an outcome, but from what I see, the pieces do fit and there's no need for the Russian hysteria.

More is coming forward with time and I truly do hope we see all the pieces put together then, other than on various wings of the internet and news pushing their conspiracies or agendas. That is a far fetched dream, but it would do wonders to put a fair amount of the constant battling to rest.

Frokane's Mildly Politcal Hangout Thread

When the news manages to go a few days without talking about "Russia" and leveling collusion on the President, I would say that the narrative is truly dead; they themselves have let it go. The only thing I can be sure of in the entire ordeal was that the Russian government did indeed prefer this outcome of the Trump administration than the Hillary campaign, whom they reasonably saw as a far worse threat; as you said, they offered funding to those who were "friendly" to their advance where they could. However, at this point we know that the hack on the DNC was not remote, it was inside from an inside device such as a specially modified flash drive and by someone who specifically had access, who many theorize to have been Seth Rich, and that it was not on behalf of another state based on how it was transferred. As far as voting and election warfare itself? Certainly not Russians - thus far the review is showing plenty of fraudulent votes, but not yet any from a foreign source. The sitting President is no "illegal President" by any metric.

It helps none that the people the Trump administration did meet with in the infamous "collaboration" were there by the opposing party's actions, no less special exceptions. There's some information to suggest it was intentional, but as the proof showed, they left when they realized there wasn't intelligence to be gathered; going so far as to text someone to receive a phone call so they could leave.

I believe the degree of failure in the narrative to be massive, @Andreyich. I mean they were caught red handed that it was a hoax for views and that there was no real evidence.

Frokane's Mildly Politcal Hangout Thread

The Russian collusion story they have kept pushing since post election, @Andreyich. It has had many factual holes put into it, but they had refused to let it die until just recently. There's also an investigation being opened into, what many are seeing now, Fusion GPS, the DNC, Awan, and so on. To me, the dropping of the narrative - which they admitted was fake and only for ratings - tells me they are either unable to gain the public's attention or something more important is coming, which a few like OANN an WikiLeaks are suggesting with some of the information coming across.

There's rumor that the Scaramucci excursion and the quote on military transgender policy were all a smoke screen to cover the launching of a Department of Justice investigation, which did indeed happen. No less, it earned approval and is in the works. It fell in about the same timeline as the healthcare issue which the media latched on to, albeit that was just McCain betraying his constituents and not so much part of what might be a distraction.

There's something going on and the only real reason I think it to be part of a larger picture is that the mainstream media has dropped the collusion propaganda.

Frokane's Mildly Politcal Hangout Thread

If we are settled with this, as we should have long been, has anyone noticed that the Russian narrative in the United States is dead? I have noticed a trend here that seems to coincide with a new investigation being opened and even talk again of Seth Rich, which some are now trying to push as a Fox News conspiracy narrative. As utterly phony as that is, the media appears to run out of steam to run on for the past week or so; hardly a surprise, that. I note it because there seems to be a calm before the storm, even with their shots at the military transgender issue or Scaramucci.

Weird Roleplay Ideas You're Afraid To Pitch?

I have always had the concept for a pre-human setting based in a world of magic and mythic fantasy where the main characters are beasts of various forms with many of the attributes people later granted to them in their primitive societies. Within this ancient story, much of what makes the characters unique is their personifications and extraordinary ability, contesting themselves against a wild, dangerous world where nothing is tamed or understood. More daringly for them, there exists tremendous powers of darkness that are dawning in the time to come, leading to a path that explains just how and why people give them these qualities, but in the current era there's no longer magic; more or less, a fantasy history setting that's primeval and tribal, if not at times grand, but leading to a time where nothing is really quite so supernatural or legendary anymore... which then becomes reality.

Another vein of this, which I have tried to some extent, was a post apocalypse setting in the same idea that after mankind fell away - still present but forever broken and little more than scavengers attempting to avoid death - the beasts of the earth inherited the world and the powers thereafter. Great, unnatural powers are wielded by some of these creatures, some of whom are vengeful that they were so destroyed for so long by men, whereas others still live to serve and preserve the crumbling pieces of the past. It makes the modern ancient and puts the focus on the characters, where they live in this dark yet twisted version of reality that's been born, really reborn, out of what we do know and off into fantasy rather than truth. There's grey skeletons of city ruins, populated by places of vibrant green life and pooling waters, overgrown here and there, but others are absolutely ash, nothing but twisted concrete, steel and ambiances of suffering.

Out of both, the idea is to simply play exceptional animals in a less lighthearted, more serious and somber note.

Looking for Artist on my character

This topic @JamesTheBastard, would be better off here. The "General Interest Checks" section is meant for roleplay topics that might apply across a few different categories, not for seeking out artists.

Frokane's Mildly Politcal Hangout Thread

For the first time in my life, I might actually consider reading such a thing. Perhaps I will better understand the mindset of Europeans when it comes to national and foreign policy. All of it seems a bit strange to me, yet that's come to be expected. At least Poland and the like seem more familiar in their own ways.

Hello

Perhaps there is more to the illusion than we are to know about @JamesTheBastard, @FreeElk. It would be no surprise that a newcomer to a foreign land might attempt to mingle through magic, mayhap something as humble as a shroud of Disguise Self.