The Harbinger of Ferocity

D&D 5e - Hoard of the Dragon Queen

@Hekazu, is the last man still within longbow range as he is fleeing? That is all that determines if there is a shot, if at all.

D&D 5e - The Lost Lands

The Vale

The Town,
Currently

The large man sat alone in the once lively and raucous Hall. He had repositioned one of the benches that ran along the central table to sit closer near the narrow windows of the Hall, the better to watch the shadowy beasts outside. The rest of the benches and tables had been repurposed to serve as barricades, set up as obstacles he hoped would slow down and funnel the dark creatures should they succeed at breaching the doors.

Across his lap sat his trusted Battleaxe, Hela. The old girl was tarnished and scarred from years of battle, but he kept her blade as sharp as the day she was forged. Beside him he kept a lantern, the small light flickering, sending shadows dancing across the walls. His hope was that, should any of the monsters outside enter the Hall, the little bit of light he had would make fighting them easier.

He could not see the fiends outside. It was much too dark for that. But he knew they were out there, crawling, slithering into positions. He didn’t know how many, and he was certain he would die this night, but the fear of death did not bother him. What bothered him was the anger and frustration. Knowing that even if he killed a handful of the shadows now, it would not put a dent in their forces. That they’d still continue to rampage across the land, turning this once perfect paradise into a broken world.

As he sat, looking out the window, a dim light grew in the distance. The sun was beginning to rise. The shadows had not been able to enter this mighty Hall during the night. That only meant they’d try harder to breach his defenses today. He gritted his teeth, closed his eyes, and said a little prayer to any god who’d listen. “Whoever watches over me from above,” he whispered under his breath, even though he was the only occupant of the room, “grant me strength, guide my axe, and enable me to take at least a dozen of the bastards with me.”

When he opened his eyes and looked out the window again, he noticed something new. Strangers, approaching from down the street. But with them was the little gnome wizard, Birbin. They were armed, but looked out of place. Were they here to battle the shadows? To help him liberate his town? He adjusted his helmet, and cinched down his armor straps. Gripping Hela tightly with both hands he got to his feet.

If there was any opportunity to turn the tide in this town, this was it. Valmjr stomped to the front door of the Hall, turned his head from shoulder-to-shoulder to crack his neck, and then kicked open the door.

“Champions!” he yelled, thrusting Hela in the air, above his head to get their attention, “to me!”

And then no sooner had the man thrown open the doors, startling the enemies before him a bolt caught one with deadly accuracy, followed by a brilliant swathe of light that reduced several of the dark beings to nothing. Three of the beasts defeated, the rest stood around in apparent shock. It was now revealed, in the dawn and fading light of the magical strike, that the most distinct of the enemies, in form and appearance, on the north most steps was draped in long, loose robes and sat upon its hip a pitch colored blade. A mage, or the shadow of one, looked to Valmjr, then to the marksman Theodore; its wordless lips mouthed and suddenly the enemy seemed to regain their recollection.

The time to act was short.

Effects

Because Valmjr suddenly kicks open the door to the Hall, he surprises the Shadows, Shadow Soldiers and the Night Fury who were expecting him to walk into their trap. Their disguise as mere shadows fails automatically, triggering the readied actions set by Theodore who attacks. Theodore's shot immediately disperses the struck target and the burst of radiance evaporates two others; the large, distinct Night Fury still stands, albeit apparently stunned by fear.

The rest of the party, Katia, Haemar, Thea, Birbin, and Cesar (in that order), have a surprise round and may act.

Score
A Fellow Hero

Map
Town

Initiative Order

• Katia (16)
• Theodore (16)
• Haemar (19) (Held)
• Thea (19) (Held)
• Birbin (13) (Held)
• Cesar (12)
• Shadows (10)
• Night Fury (10)
• Wick (5)
• Valmjr (4)

@Cu Chulainn, @Gordian Nought, @Hekazu, @JBRam2002, @Rig

Frokane's Mildly Politcal Hangout Thread

Sorry, it was getting too quiet and reasonable in here.

@catchamber

So you are saying this is unreasonable?

Frokane's Mildly Politcal Hangout Thread

"Extra points if you use a ton of unnecessary verbiage to pad out the argument."

Oh?

Were you expecting an apology from me about the way I speak, let alone type, or implying that should I change it? I wish you good luck in your hopes - try not to hold your breath in awaiting it to change. Many have, they've failed all the same. No less, I willingly choose to be excessively clear, to a purposeful fault. Thus if anyone walked away with the belief I assumed @Dynamo Frokane was or is a stereotypical Leftist, or another member, based on this past conversation then that is hilariously wrong. Yet... if you really want my opinion in bullet format, I will nail that down for you if all you do is ask, but rest assured it is bound to not make much sense.

Regardless, the assumptions I make on those present here, let alone anyone else, are based on a totality of what I know about them or the angle they are approaching with. In short, if you are one of those who has a habit of irritating me, yes, I will try even better to understand you so as to purposefully dismantle you and your argument; even more if I find you have no actual argument. I have admitted to this tactic when we were discussing some of our more problematic users in the past. But in general, until you get down to the very specifics and details, it is regularly hard to really ascertain and understand a person's opinion on anything; one word or phrase might mean many different things to others. For example, I certainly did not expect my phrase, "I immediately ignored it..." to go off in the angle it did with the rest of the conversation, let alone all of that about Allsup; that was a misunderstanding, which is fair and bound to happen inevitably. I am not frothing at the mouth that I kept rewording what I was saying.

As for losing points or not following ones you might value, that's usually accidental. The only time I do so intentionally is if I am pressed for time.

"Wouldn't it just be easier to write less?" Yes, yes it would, but compulsions, especially those subconscious, are difficult to break; I was not joking when I said many have tried to break me out of my peculiar methods in speech or writing. It only goes back to the earlier point that if I miss something, or you would just rather not read it, just request it of me. I am going to oblige how I can, even if I am not fond of you or your philosophy. I am not actively out to accuse anyone of any specific political policies and any of my opposition to opinion is not an attack on your person either, it is just a contrary, if that, point of view.

My apologies interrupting the sexual orientation robots. This is the internet after all, so I am aware just how important this might actually be.

Frokane's Mildly Politcal Hangout Thread

I am not sure what answer you are looking for then from me, @Dynamo Frokane. I can only continue to provide you the responses I have already provided as those are my opinions on the matter and exactly what I did and did not know, as well as where exactly I stood in it. I am still not speaking to the article because until recently, it was unknown to me; I cannot refer to it in that same light of past tense as to do so would be willful lying. In addition, the phrase of "I immediately ignored it..." is expressly referring to the image I saw, not the article. As far as I am aware, and because I have no reason to go searching further, the article holds its own just under its own merit.

Frokane's Mildly Politcal Hangout Thread

Pepe wouldn't even be seen as anything other than the shit tier meme that it is if it wasn't for Clinton's campaign taking the fucking dumb frog and /pol/ and a photoshop seriously. If Pepe is a symbol of white supremacy it got there because of the left.

@Fabricant451

There's no better way to say it. They made one of their own worst enemies, as they did in many other categories. Much of this was by the forcing of their hand or the implications that would follow. They did not and do not understand the new Right, especially the internet's incarnation.

Frokane's Mildly Politcal Hangout Thread

I was stating that because of the ongoing disorder and hysteria that has arisen around current events, I tend toward tuning out any of those accusations. That was the crying wolf I was speaking to. Not only did I not go pursuing anything about Allsup, I admitted I immediately ignored it at this rate because it was neither relevant nor did it appear to be anything out of the norm; there was no reason to expect this one time out of the one thousand others they were right. That is why I made the statements I did about what I did know of him, @Dynamo Frokane.

All I can say in whole about it is, is that I do not care about James Allsup. It is the same indifference I apply to people as a whole. I am not going to weight one man's complex of supposed supremacy on an entire movement against the Far Left. He will, as it seems he has, remove his relevance from the actual, important conflict.

On another note if we are going to apply the metric of things being made into symbols of the Alt-Right, it should be forewarned that the collective Right, at least the internet incarnation of it, would take devious joy in making everything out to be "racist" if it meant getting back at their opposition by humiliating them in addition to debasing their credibility. The same reason the multiple apostrophes or parenthesis became a mainstream thing, Pepe himself, the "OK" sign, and so on. I do not care who really adopts them; these are largely insane claims to say, "Milk is racist, because a few white supremacists use milk as a symbol." Should we all stop drinking milk? No, we should act like adults and cease labeling everything as "hate speech", "bigotry", "microaggression", "tribalism" and whatever word of the day and topic is chosen.

Bloody Roar [Fighting Game-Style RP - Always Accepting!]

Location: Courier Route 6, outside Checkpoint India, Kyoto, Japan
Tag: @Holy Soldier

---

"... which is the exact reason I said, 'Forget it, Japan is safer.'"

"Next thing you know, you're on courier duty escorting some truck across Kyoto for NACOM Biosystems."

"No kidding, traded one god damned curse for another."

The idling of the engine, the only other sound that accompanied the rest of the conversation, spun down until the truck itself rolled to a halt with a slight sagging of its springs, burdened by its concealed armor. The four men crammed into the vehicle were certainly foreigners, as much as the truck they were driving; standouts in Japan, especially on these narrow lanes. The real oddity of it all was that the locals paid it no mind - it wasn't the first time they had seen one of the vehicles, certainly not the last. They were busy instead with the morning, opening shop, commuting to wherever it was they had work, preparing for school, not with outsiders.

A second larger truck, some unholy cross between a van and armored car, slowed behind the first. Unlike the urban vehicle in front of it, some plain white thing, this one featured a proudly displayed corporate blazon, not one unfamiliar to the people either. At least with it the driver and passenger looked the part, no less an arm of a now familiar company; after the collapse of the Tylon Corporation and the "great reveal", start up offspring of major corporations became a common sight. Contract after contract saw the rise and fall of many, but Neo Corp proved to rule the roost, at least for now. Competition, such as here in Japan was fierce. Maybe more fierce than the zoanthropes the public regularly feared.

"You know what I really hate?" The first man started again, taking the pause at the light amidst the urgency of the morning rush to look out one of the dark windows.

"Narrow roads?" The driver responded, looking up into the mirror to the back, almost taunting his captive company.

"Narrow roads and stoplights."

"Hey, they've all got places to be. At least they're in a hurry, not like back home." The passenger responded from the other front seat, now too glancing out the windows and watching the people starting to clear the intersection.

"Still. The damn zees don't care. They'd be coming out of the woodwork if it wasn't for all the firepower we keep packing. You remember Stall's story - only held off a group of them on Kilo because out here they barely have guns. They didn't expect 'ma putting out the hate."

"Yeah, but the sun's out." The fourth voice finally chimed in from across the backseat, a collapsed rifle seated between his feet.

Like the rest of the men, he wore grey pocked pants and a black vest over a lighter toned shirt. The tail ends of rifle magazines peaked through the velcro pouches and a number of other fixtures on the vest suggested they were almost military, if not quite a bit less formal. They were contractors, through and through, bearing only the Independent Security Agency name in bold white across the backs of their armor. Yet, unlike the rest in the truck, he might have passed for Asian at a distance, certainly not one of the resident Japanese though.

"Right, that makes it so much better, Mark. Thanks, wiseass."

"Hey, you're the one worried. The locals don't seem worried." The man continued, pointing a finger toward the last few bodies to cross the street.

"Yeah, usually the worst we get is some protesters giving us the eye. Can't understand what half of it is they are saying, but they're mostly harmless. You're just neurotic from being on midshift forever. We haven't had an issue in like... what, two weeks, Gardner?" The forward passenger asked of the driver who simply nodded, then set the truck again rolling.

"Whatever man, we just feel light rolling out here with four trucks and nothing big."

The pair of vehicles, two out of a larger five, continued on their route for a ways, stopped time and time again by the excitement and activity that came with dawn. Light after light, people and cars would cross, all under the watchful eyes of the four men. Until they neared one of the last few checkpoints they had to their destination. All seemed well at first, but then with the dispersing crowds, a single figure stayed still. The men, initially, did not see him among the coming and going, but it was not long before Mark's uncanny vision caught him still in a sea of motion.

"What is that guy doing?" Theron leaned toward the center of the truck, across the console and motioned almost directly in front of them.

As if fate decided then, the man was almost by himself now in the street, holding but a crude sign in front of him. A backpack upon his back, he stared at the truck and its barely visible occupants in front of him. Not a single emotion on his face played out, just calm determination. The occupants inside watched for a moment, looking him over for any sign of threat or distraction; Mark delved further than that, mouthing the characters into words.

We are all still humans.

That was all the simple sign said in a near mesmerizing fashion. Mark would have thought more on it, but Gardner already had moved his hand to the horn, giving a pronounced honk from it. The man, apparently dressed for a day in the office, did not seem to react. His one man protest, now holding up the traffic that had almost begun again en route, had the eyes of everyone. As strangely as he had come, he simply lowered the sign and held it in one hand by his side, and walked off into the crowd on the sidewalk, disappearing with no further interruption.

All company present immediately looked around, not to each other, but in an odd reaction of disbelief. This had all the trappings of an ambush, maybe not by the Zoanthrope Liberation Front, but perhaps some other threat. Yet, nothing. Certain now as their eyes moved from building to building to the now moving cars on the road, they rolled forward; several hands firmly set on the grips of their rifles, another's on a radio.

Today was just starting.

D&D 5e - The Lost Lands

@Rig, if you are still interested, please let us know as soon as possible. We have had two players that needed to leave, so there are indeed openings. Please contact me via private message when you can.

Frokane's Mildly Politcal Hangout Thread

@mdk, when I saw those claims that somehow acts of nature are now "racist", I found myself hardly surprised. We have fallen to the point where people, publicly, are spewing such idiocy that a herd of willing heads nod in return. I remember when I first heard that "Milk was racist." and that somehow whites were drinking it to show their superior. I laughed then at such an absurd comment, but I do not laugh now. There's no apparent limit to the lows people will stoop to.

These are the same people no less who were criticizing some of the boats flying Confederate flags during the initial Harvey relief. Who cares who is providing the aid? They certainly are not being discriminatory about it.