I think you'll like what I have planned. I'm thinking we should play with the usual gender roles a little bit - we'll make Sofie the crack pilot, and Ed will be her tech geek. Additionally, for this mission, I played out a few scenarios in my head, and decided on a version with a cheerier plot than what I was initially going with. The person we're obtaining the Q-core from (we'll call him Krakticus Quinn), as you know, is a rather shady fellow, and one with which Richard Darcy has an unpleasant history. Mr. Quinn is a racing mogul, who makes his money off the fees, betting, and gambling over interstellar races. Crescent Q-Cores are exceptionally powerful drive units and make for nigh-unbeatable speedsters, making them highly sought-after in the racing community (or anywhere, really).
As for motivations and stuff, I think I've sorted it out. I'll start up a side-story about a few Terrans on planet Charon, who are living under increasingly perilous tyranny and hold out hope for someone to help them.
New post coming in the next couple days. I apologize again for the long wait. I'll try not to let that happen again. :)
The pineapple, it seemed, had struck a chord with Liliana. “This is DELIECIOUS! Thank you so much Goro!” she gushed. The woman wiped away her tears of joy and proceeded to bow most fervently to the orc. “Oh! How rude of me. I forgot to introduce myself. I am Liliana Rosenveldt of Starkstone. It is a pleasure to meet you both.”
Goro looked decidedly uncomfortable with all this praise. "Ah. Good to know. Nice to meet you, Lady uh... Lady Liliana."
Once Winter finished going over the details of her request, Nkosi took the opportunity to address longstanding contractual issues. “As long as the request for border walls is upheld and the other smaller agreements from my tribe kept, I’m at your service and at your disposal, if you so wish it. I also wonder if you will be gracious enough to supply us with better traveling gear and weapons for this mission of yours?"
While Nkosi was concerned with the logistical side of things, Goro's concerns were more about intel. "I'm honored that you're gonna let us greenhorns do something this important so quickly!" Goro declared. "Truth be told, was a mite worried that you're gonna make us sit in a dimly lit room for a couple months doing nothing but reading. I've always been more of a hands-on kind of orc myself anyways. So Lady Winter, what's at Bay'kin? I imagine that it ain't just some barren lands. Any sort of trouble you be expecting us to run into while we're doing our thing?"
Nkosi glanced at the orc and spoke first. "We are traveling into the unknown, dear friend. Hostility is to be expected and accepted as an ugly truth of life on the frontier.”
Goro retorted, "I expect danger; I ain't worried about that. But only a git calls their ignorance bravery, mate. I don't know what's at Bay'kin, and knowing what it is can help us prepare accordingly. No sense in going bushwhacking with only half a sack. In other words, be prepared."
Liliana agreed. “I guess we’re all on the same boat. Truth be told I don’t have a lot of experience fighting, but I won’t hesitate to eviscerate our enemies!”
"Let's not go lookin for enemies now," Goro warned with a chuckle. "Last thing we need is for people looking into magic like us get a rep for violence and such. Now I don't mind fighting if I gotta, and I ain't no stranger to war, but that don't mean every confrontation's gotta end in blood and guts. Remember that Lady Winter is sending us to research the magic stuff going on in Bay'kin, not slaying monsters or taking out a rival gang of lads."
Winter stared longingly at her plate of pineapple. If she took another bite, she wouldn't be sober enough to participate in the discussion. She symbolically pushed it away and took another sip of coffee instead. "So, allow me to reiterate everyone's respective concerns. Nkosi, you want to know about traveling gear, weapons, and supplies, as well as whether I will uphold my contractual agreements with your tribe. Goro, you want to know what challenges we will face on the way to our destination. Is that correct?"
She cleared the table of decorations and laid out a map over it.
"We are here, at Southaven Tower in the Kingdom of Man. The plains and grasslands are benign and easy to travel on. The roads are paved, well-maintained, and routinely patrolled, so there are few threats on our way out. Not that highwaymen don't try, though. To the west lies mostly mountains and deserts, where Westhaven Tower and the Necropolis of Stone are located. The Sky Nomads roam this side of the continent, and while they're a rowdy bunch, we need not worry about them, since our journey is more eastward. To the north, as you know, Goro, lies the tribes of Fellmore, and the Storm Eye nation in particular. It's mostly tundra, a barren ice-desert where life is hard and little grows. It's a miserable place, if you ask me, but the fishing is surprisingly good in the Ulayhan region, and the abundance of iron and gold make it strategically important. We won't be going that way either, but it's important for us because Bay'kin lies just southeast of the Fellmoran border and a stone's throw away from Storm Eye territory, so we'll need to keep our eyes peeled northward."
"The Waru Forest, where Mister Naswaru hails from, is where we will encounter our toughest challenges. I've been hearing wild stories of strange and deadly monsters appearing in the area, which we should be on our guard against. The xenophobic Waru tribe isn't known to take kindly to visitors, and they will either turn us away if we need help, or drive us out if we are weak. There are maybe...one or two sub-tribes that might give us the time of day, but they're not in our path, unfortunately, so resupplying is out of the question until we reach Easthaven Tower. From there, it's a straight shot to Diamont, the fortress city, and its suburb Bay'kin."
"From here to Easthaven Tower is about 700 miles, roughly a fortnight's journey. The rations I've prepared will only last us a week if we make the entire journey on foot, which, if I have a say in the matter, we will not. I paid the stablemaster at Edmond's Inn well in advance to let us use four of his horses, and there's an inn at Diamont that will take us. If all goes well, we should arrive in five to six days, seven if we encounter trouble."
Then Winter withdrew a parchment listing their supplies.
4 lengths of rope 4 matchboxes 1 box of iodine tablets (for water purification) 1 lidded cast-iron pot 1 cooking stand 4 sets of utensils 4 bowls enough pemmican to last a week
"As for weapons and armor, I expect you to bring your own. We should use magic to fill any defensive gaps, since it will serve our research purposes admirably."
Winter sat back down and ate another slice of pineapple. "Ohmmm so good..." she moaned. She closed her eyes for a few heartbeats to savor the moment. "Anyway, are there any further questions or concerns? Nkosi, you may rest assured I have not forgotten my contract with your people, and development is proceeding on schedule. I'll complete the deal once we pass through your village."
@Nightknight There's no need to write a half-dozen large paragraphs if you don't want to. A couple sentences is fine. Don't feel pressured to write more than you're comfortable with. :-)
New Quest Proposed: Investigate Magic? Options: A) Accept the quest B) Decline the quest, GM will make another for you C) Request a change to the quest terms D) Delay answering
New Items Acquired: * 3 blank tomes * 2 mugs of coffee * 1 mug of tea (currently Brewing)
New Quests Started: * Lonely Widow Seeking Young Orc - Goro has inadvertently caught Winter's romantic interest. Free the slaves in Ulayh to win her hand in marriage.
"It would be an honor, Your Grace," Leliana said, and opened her hands to receive the coffee. Winter handed it to her with a warm smile. "The work you do is amazing, Leliana. It is my honor to receive you into my home."
Once Goro received his cup of coffee and had tasted a sip of it, he began his spiel. "Ah... Yer Grace, Lady Winter, my name's Goro. Me family calls me Apple though, 'cause I love apples. Heh. Eh, I would've offered ye some, but unfortunately I ate most of 'em during me travels see, what with me affinity for apples." Winter chuckled behind her mug. "But!" he continued, "I do got something else that's arguable even better, saving just for you. From the town of Ulayh even."
When he set it down on the table, Winter put dowm her mug and gasped. "Oh. My. Stars!" she squealed. "Is that what I think it is? Oh my- wow!..." She started fanning her face. "In me homelands," Goro explained, "this is called the Ocean's Bounty. Said to come from the Heart of the Storm, an island guarded by roaring winds that can lift a man hundreds of feet in the air, where the waters can rise up to the skies and crush ships like twigs. For me, I call it a pineapple, 'cause it's like a pine cone, one of them prickly looking things from the trees I passed while I was coming here. And it's an apple 'cause I hear it's a tasty fruit, an apples are tasty, so... Yeah."
Winter gingerly picked it up to admire it, still making squealing sounds in her throat and smiling from ear to ear. "Oh Goro, you shouldn't have! Do you know how long I've been wanting one of these? I haven't had pineapple in...goodness, half a millennium, maybe? Holy heavens, you do me a great honor, Sir Goro. We simply must taste it."
She hummed to herself as she set it on a cutting board and carefully carved off the shell. Then she diced it up, removed the seeds, and scooped it onto several plates just as the third newcomer knocked on the door.
"It's open!" Winter called out. Nkosi Naswaru stepped through the doorway. He nodded at Winter and said, “It is a pleasure to meet all of you. I am Nkosi Naswaru. The mother guided me here and kept my travels safe and uneventful.” Winter passed everyone a plate of pineapple slices. "And I am very grateful she did. Coffee?" She offered him a mug. "I prefer tea, thank you." "Sure! I'll brew you some." Winter set a kettle boiling on the stove and picked out some tea leaves from the cabinet.
She dropped into the chair and leaned on her elbows. "So! Down to business. I summoned you here because the world has changed, and I need boots on the ground to figure out what's going on. My sources say that a huge chasm opened in Bay'kin, and I believe it's related. If you are willing, I'd like you to document thoroughly the origin of these changes, their extent, and most importantly their nature. I acquired a set of codices-" Winter reached back and brought out a stack of leatherbound codex volumes, which she set on the table with a thump. "-that you may use to make your records. Normally I wouldn't offer any notebooks this extravagant, but...something tells me these will come in handy."
Many ages ago, back when the world was still young, the Ancients constructed five towers: one in the center of the continent, and one for each of the four corners of the land. Each tower rose so high, they were thought to have touched the clouds. Beneath their impossibly smooth, adamantine surface lies the power of a star, and in times of crisis, each tower can defend the continent with a vast, impenetrable shield and weapons of unimaginable destructive power. No one knows what the towers were constructed to fight against, and they have never been used since their creation.
Hidden deep within a dormant volcano near Westhaven Tower, there lies a legendary sword rumored to be sharp enough to cut through diamond as if it were butter, yet utterly unbreakable with an edge that never dulls. Many have perished climbing up the treacherous mountain slopes, and those who survive perish still when the volcano makes her periodic eruptions. Hence, to date, no one has ever succeeded in obtaining the blade.
Some say it was placed there to serve as a test for prospective heroes who would dare wield its power, but a few sages believe it's more likely a sick joke by the gods to taunt gullible men into pointless deaths. With the advent of magic, it may now be possible for men to acquire the weapon. The only question is...should they?
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