vietmyke

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Odran Stormweaver

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Odran gave each of the others a gruff, but approving nod as they introduced themselves. It was a motley little crew they all were- diverse in background as well as race. To be honest, they were not exactly the first group Odran would turn to to fight a dragon- not that he had ever fought any dragons either, they were typically rather friendly folk. He would have much rather had been backed by the Ironborn- ranks and ranks of heavy crossbow fire backed by ballista was Odran's typical go-to. Good old steel and stone as opposed to magical mumbojumbo. Still, he supposed they were all here for some reason or another.

The large human man Calit described himself as former royal special forces, how one simply left that life unscathed Odran wasn't entirely sure, but it certainly put the man on the 'don't cross him' list for Odran. Though, from the way the man spoke, perhaps he didn't leave the life completely unscathed. All in all, it just added to how motley a crew they were.

Odran looked to Vivian as she spoke to him, and offered her a hearty chuckle in return. "Aye, I get that a lot now. I chock it up to a wee bit o' giants blood oan mah marm's side." He hand waved her away as she flattered his people. While flattery would get you everywhere when it came to dwarves, Odran at least had to put up a show of humility.

Any further small talk was ceased as Lalei appeared, and presented to them the present situation. It was grimmer than Odran had expected. In just the two days it had taken them to get here, Vaeros had already destroyed Polis and much of the human settlements. To say Odran was shocked was a bit of an understatement. He had never considered the armies of Polis to be particularly noteworthy, but he hadn't expected them to be defeated so easily either. While most of them fell behind the average Ironborn dwarf in terms of experience and equipment, the armies of Polis were among the most numerous in Valeroma. Now more than ever, Odran yearned to have his fellow dwarves with him, and ready to fight.

"We must at least be sendin' word tae other major cities." Odran spoke up, "Ah dinnae know about a prophecy, but the others at least need time to prepare a defense!"

A few of the others expressed confusion about why they had been chosen and what could a few of them do that cities could not. Fair questions to be asked. Perhaps they were the only ones that could unlock legendary weapons or perhaps the due to the prophecy they were the only ones whose weapons would pierce the dragon's hide- magic did weird things like that, which is why Odran didn't like it. Odran merely shook his head asked if he had any questions- he wanted them to get moving as fast as possible, and the more time they spent talking, the less time they spent walking.

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I'm good, I'll have something up tomorrow, but it'll mostly be everyone kind of waiting for Lalei to tell us what to do next.

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What Moonshadow said. Take care.

In other news, I made a small Kassandra.

@Mistress Dizzy

Aww I like this a lot! Too bad there's no dwarf option 😅

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Typically, roleplaying etiquette implies you only control your own characters actions, and not the actions of others, unless you're the GM. In smaller or more familiar groups- or when explicitly allowed, some degree of actions can be assumed for other members of the group. But in general, just like in real life, you cannot control what others say, think or do. That usually takes away the sense of agency for others, and may interfere with what their plans were for their character. Just some stuff to keep in mind for the future.

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How does Zav use a bow if he has a metal hand?

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Yeah the dark grey is a little hard for me to read without highlighting the text myself. I've gotten a post up as well, seems Odran's not a morning person lol

If my scottish typing for Odran starts to get too much, I can start including translated transcripts at the bottom of my posts btw.

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Odran Stormweaver

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"Oi, so much noise so early in tha mornin'." Odran grumbled to himself, as the rest of chosen began filtering into the glade. The conversing also began at this point- a few of them louder and more animated than others. "I must be getting old." Odran muttered to himself, almost surprised in himself that he was complaining about noise. Granted, it was still a few minutes before sunrise, so he could forgive himself for having a shorter temper today.

The group had finally all arrived, so Odran now had the chance to get a look at them all. There was of course the elf in the middle of the glade, a woman who introduced herself as Vivian. She looked young, but of course all elves at any age looked younger than any dwarf, so she could've been twice his age for all he knew. His eyes narrowed when she mentioned that she had flown here. It seemed there was more than met the eye with this one- though that could be said of anyone here. There was a second elf with her horse- she appeared to be perhaps a ranger of sort, armed with a sword and bow and only lightly armored. Odran had noticed her scorched hands, but they were as of yet strangers, and it wouldn't do well for him to be so nosy so soon after meeting. There was a large man on a large horse- to compare Odran to the man would be almost comical. Normal humans were already head and shoulders taller than Odran, this man was head and shoulders taller than most humans. There was a plain looking woman with a staff. She seemed unassuming, which meant she was probably anything but. And of course, there was the ever energetic man bouncing in and out of the glade. He claimed to be a wolf shifter apparently, though with the way he bounced in and out of the glade and how quickly he spoke and changed topics, Odran wouldn't have been surprised if he was actually a bunny shifter- or perhaps a rooster.

Perhaps it was the early morning and lack of sleep, but something about the arrogance brushed Odran's beard the wrong way. To exude confidence was one thing, but as of yet, the pup was unproven in Odran's eyes. As far as Odran was concerned, the pup was just cocky and arrogant. To be fair, the pup reminded Odran of new recruits in the Ironborn Free Company, but new recruits were for the most part hammered and forged into shape by their seniors- or they died quickly on the field. But a young dwarf this was pup not. Back with the Ironborn, Odran didn't have to put his life in the hands of cocky young dwarves. Unfortunately here, Odran might not have that luxury, and the thought of putting his life in the hands of some cocky welp who had just actively told them that he'd choose himself first if push came to shove put him on edge.

"Oi, yer a cocky one naren ye? Greatest warrior here eh?" Odran said with a mirthless chuckle, "Yew can go kill the dragon all by your lonesome canne? Well go on then, go and kill Vaeros and the rest of us will be waitin' for ye right here." Odran said sarcastically, holding up his drinking horn in a fake toast before taking another swig of his drink.

"Nae, I'll give ye some advice, yer greatship," Odran continued, his tone getting slightly less sarcastic, and more serious, "If you're looking to inspire confidence in yeself, dinnae tell folk you're going ta let em die."

Turning the rest of the group, Odran stood up to his full height- that being at least a head shorter than everyone else in the glade, and introduced himself, nodding to each of them as he did. "Odran of clan Stormweaver, Captain of the Ironborn's Corps of Engineers, at yer service. If ye break somming, I'll fix it."

With that, he plopped back down on his seat by his mule, and emptied his drinking horn. Wiping his face with his sleeve, he began pulling armor plates out of his mule's pack and began fitting them onto himself. Now that everyone was here, it was only right that he started getting himself ready as well.

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It'd be funny if Odrans trainer was the dwarf he was talking to before he left lol

"ah Odran, made it to thar Glade on time now 'Ave weh? Was only foolin aboot ya head that thar in front of ole Henler"

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@Moonshadow I agree, battle strategies and tactics would probably develop naturally over time as the characters learn to deal with one another. I imagine their first few fights will be more likely everyone getting in each other's ways as they have little idea how the others fight. Discussions of it would also probably something that would happen during some in character pow wow as well.

As far as Siege engines go- they're big and heavy, expensive, time consuming to build and probably require a full crew to use- so probably a bit beyond the scale of this adventure for Odran. He might try to build things for characters, if they get along well enough and he has access to the right materials... but its more likely than not Odran's tools are mainly going to be there for maintaining equipment, most likely his own, maybe some others' too.

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I feel that