Noncivilized World: Message in a Dream IC

[CWater]

It begins no different than any other dream. Perhaps a hunt, or a peaceful stroll in the woods, in any case, very ordinary. But suddenly it's interrupted, as you notice something strange. A strong violet light that just reaches the corner of your eye. You turn, and see a moon glowing with this unnatural colour. And it is approaching, growing bigger and the glow changing into a blaze, darkening first to purple, then red.

Perhaps you'd like to run away now. But the moon is fast and you pass right through it when it hits. For a moment, everything is red, until you smell...smoke. Looking up, you see flames decorating trees. The forest is on fire. But before you have even time to fear, a strong wind blows, and the landscape changes. You are in a village, but it is empty, abandoned. You look, but find no one. Then you sense the wind again and the scene changes to another village, and this time it is not empty. Or, of the living it is. You walk to one of the corpses that carry multiple wounds. Under your gaze, it blackens and crumbles to ash. Now you stand on a gray field. You can notice signs that it was maybe once cultivated, but now the ground is cracked and dry. The scene changes again and you see more sites with similiar fates. Burned. Empty. Dead. Barren.*

Finally, it stops and you are standing on the field again. This time, there is also a woman. She stares at you with eyes big, head tilted on one side. Her black hair is messy and her long robe reaches the ash on the ground. ”This will happen”, she says in a hoarse voice that somehow still thunders through the field, ”It should... not happen.”

And at this, you wake up. Looking around you can feel relieved, that however real it felt, it was just a dream. Troublesome as it was, perhaps you discuss it with someone, or maybe you prefer to keep it to yourself. But on the following night, the dream returns.

”This really... should not happen”, the woman says at the end, before everything fades to black. This time however you don't wake up straight away. After a confusing moment in nothingness, you hear another voice. This one is not so overwhelming, but it speaks more clearly.
”Didn't like the sight of that, did you? A warning has been given and it would be best to heed it. I'll show you the way.”

You stumble out of the darkness into what seems to be your own tribe's current settlement. No calamity has taken place, but everything is still and silent, as if the time had stopped. ”Now pay attention”, you hear the previous voice say and you get a glimpse of a shadowy figure. And then, you are suddenly dragged through the landscape. Fast, but not so much that you couldn't notice the landmarks, the voice even pointing out a few of them. Finally you arrive at a clearing, where grows a crooked tree accompanied by a strangely formed rock.
”If those dreams upset you as much as they did me, which was a lot, come here on the day before the largest moon** is full. There will be others too, try not to stab them at first sight. I'll send a guide to lead you the rest of the way.”

----
This happened a fortnight ago. The past few days you have spent travelling to the place shown in the dream. The exact amount of days varies, Kanok has made the longest journey, over a week. But now, you all approach the site and tonight, Tietra will be full.

*You may choose yourself what it looked like when you passed through the image of your character's village.
**This world has three moons, the largest of them is commonly known as Tietra. The other two are the slightly red Lieska, and Mjoler, which has a very short cycle. Clans may have their own names for them too.

Spoiler

Show

And now, I will stop dictating what your characters have done, from now on their actions are up to you. Please describe your arrival and perhaps some first impressions. You are also free to chat.

[Etherion]

Spoiler: dream/tribe stuff

Show

During the dream, Aidan cries out in anguish as he sees his tribe, his family, burned and butchered.
He wakes up, screaming. He tells one of the elders of his dream, and they appear to be worried, afraid it could be prophetic, as such things are known to happen.

And then it happens again the next night. But this one is different. He is told to go somewhere, and decides that, for the good of his tribe, he must go.
He talks to the same elder as before, who agrees with the decision. However, the elder also decides that, to help Aidan on his way, the local spell caster would enchant his armour and bow. The tribe, as a whole, could not allow Aidan to fail, for their own lives depended on him.

Spoiler: journey stuff

Show

Aidan begins the long journey to the location the mysterious voice spoke of. He makes his way there, finding his food and water along the way.

The first to arrive, Aidan sets up a campsite, and an improvised shelter, and waits for the full moon.

Spoiler

Show

Want me to make survival check rolls for setting up shelter?

[Athedia]

Asha had been preparing for her aging journey when the dreams arrived. She brushed the first off as nerves, her tribe was strong and the ancestors would protect them. She continued her preparations and prayed on the old burial tombs but paid the dream no heed.

The second night was another story. Seeing her mother frozen in the process of drawing a circle. Seeing the children mid toss of a pebble as they chased off the little hens that nested near the village. Seeing all those she loved and wished to protect frozen in their life, she was scared.

She had needed a place to start her journey, the tree would be no better or worse than any other place. The morning after the dream she gathered up her final items. Her father's spear was the most important. Called Giant's Fear it had passed down through the generations tribal lore saying it had brought down the giant who demanded tribute from them. The other items were smaller, but still rare, trinkets of use that were given to her only because of the nature of her journey.

She visited the burial mounds one last time with her family. Climbing the worn path up the side she pulled out the chalk from her pouch and drew the complicated pattern she had grown familiar with. "Hello Malphas." The flutter of wings signaled his arrival. "My journey starts today, I think your doves will be useful."

Spoiler

Show

Binding Check vs DC 15
(1d20+5)[7]

EDIT: Going shopping will post when I get back. I guess I will fall in love with EVERYONE today

"I thought you would." Malphas never spoke much, his voice raspy. Asha didn't understand why he was covered with feathers but the story went that he had fallen in love with a goddess in the form of a dove and this was her husbands punishment upon him. The gods were dead now, though some lesser tribes were rumored to still worship them.

Still it was worrisome that he knew she was going to call on his help today. He always had a little more control when he could prepare. And he did indeed. While she could usually prevent the marks from appearing this day she saw her mothers pointed look at her teeth.

Only one more person would see her today. She knelt in from of the leader of the tribe as he applied the paste that marked her as a child undergoing a trial. A line across the face covering the eyes and three fingers of paste over her lips, the tallest of the fingers reaching under her nose. These would allow the ancestors to guild her eyes to the right sites and would let her pleas for help reach their ears away from her people. The paste stained her skin and she felt a slight burning as it worked its way in. The marks would remain until she returned and was recognized as an adult.

Bowing her head she left silently, weapons and supplies strapped to her back. The dove that was her eyes flew ahead of her finding the tree she had been told to go to. It was only a two day journey by foot.

Spoiler

Show

She is keeping Malphas bound, but I will reroll on the OoC to see if he still has influence.

She kept her connection with Malphas, eventually managing to overcome his will and regain full control of her reactions. And not too soon, she still remembered the time she had fallen head over heels for the newest hunter after he gave her spear throwing lessons when Malphas had been bound. His wife had been unhappy to say the least.

Spotting the tree in the distance she snuck closer, turning invisible as she neared. There was a man there, still a child it appeared or one unable to become an adult. She gripped Fear in her in hand, keeping it at the smallest size. Appearing behind the man she held the spear to his throat. "Are you the one that sent that dream?"

[Etherion]

While Aidan is sitting down, enjoying his meal, he hears a twig snap behind him.

Without turning around, he addresses the newcomer
Hello, take a seat if you'd like. There's some roast venison on the spit, help yourself. If you wish me harm, leave now while you can.

Spoiler

Show

In case more people show up, let's see how many people he can feed today:
(1d20+10)[15]

[Athedia]

"Did you send it?" She lowered the spear slightly but kept it pointed at him. She wouldn't eat his food, Malphas had granted her some knowledge of the plants that could be used to kill and according to him food was an easy way to do that.

Circling around she faced him, carefully lowering her items with one hand and sitting on her heels across the fire from him. Her free hand deftly reached in the pouch that had feed Ratim across three winters until he had found his stolen horse.

[Etherion]

I did not.

Aidan takes another bite, apparently at complete ease. However, he shifts in his seat a little, moving his larger axe into a more easily accessible position.

You'll likely need to wait another ten or so to to find out who did. In the meantime, you might want to put your stick away. Assuming, of course, that you don't want a fight.

[Athedia]

Asha kept her hand on the spear, but the point was now toward the sky instead of aimed at Aidan. "Name is Asha." A dove fluttered down from the nearby tree and landed on her shoulder as she spoke. She decided to gauge this man's reaction as she let Malphas display the bond. Her teeth and tongue turned as dark as the night as she spoke. "So you had the dream as well?"

[Etherion]

Aidan.

When he sees the odd colour of her mouth, he arches an eyebrow, but otherwise doesn't react.

I did. Although I think I saw more than you. I do recall something about not stabbing those you meet here.

After a moment he asks
The bird yours?

[Athedia]

"Mine and not mine. I see through his eyes, hear through his ears but he will be gone tomorrow and the day after." She stroked the birds feathers and felt Malphas relish in the feeling. He always loved it when she felt things, he lacked the ability now. 'It said not to stab at first sight. I had seen you long before arriving, or don't you watch the skys?"

[Etherion]

I generally don't consider seemingly ordinary birds noteworthy.

[Athedia]

"A lone dove in an open sky? It is a foolish bird that travels so."

[Etherion]

And why do you care so much if I saw your bird?

[Athedia]

"You asked about him. What is that by the way?" Asha gestured to the meat cooking over the fire.

[Etherion]

As I said earlier, venison. Feel free to try some.

[Seharvepernfan]

Kanok withstood his dreams with typical stoicism. He cared more that the forests were burning than anything, and was curious why he was receiving these dreams. After the second dream, he consulted his tribe's shaman, who advised Kanok to do as the dream-speaker wished, and so he did.

His journey south took him outside of the taiga within a couple days; he had never gone so far in one direction before. The last night he slept in the forest, the dream showed him the Dragon Clan's current camp; a circular area of hide tents outside of a cave at the base of a small cliff; which was deserted. There were only torn tents and scattered bones, and not the bones of animals. He woke up that day at dawn, as usual, with his wolfhound Fang curled up beside him. He did not want that fiery moon to take away all that he knew.

When he first came to the edge of the great forest and looked out over the grasslands, which extended all the way to where the sky fell, he felt fear. He knew that his people had once gone outside the forest in order to hunt, but that was long ago; many generations according to the speakers. He was sure they were speaking big words about the size of this open area, but they were not. How could one avoid the sky dragons with nowhere to hide? He saw large beasts ambling through the grass far in the distance, shaggy beasts with wide curving horns and humped backs; which he had seen drawn on the cave walls of his home, but had never seen with his own eyes. He took his first steps out of the forest and knew that his journey was going to be great, but also dangerous. He grinned.

XxXxX

A week passed that seemed like a year. Seeing many things that he never had before, it was the greatest week of his life, though he missed the forest. He never knew the sky was so big, nor that the mountains were so far away; he could walk towards them all day and they would not move. He had tasted many new meats, and seen herds of beasts in such great number they blocked out sight of the land for miles; he had walked in their path in the opposite direction, as the grass they trampled was now flat and broken.

Now, he stood on a hill and saw the tree and rock that the dreams had led him to. Two figures stood there, on opposite sides of a fire. They looked strange to him; they were thin, but tall, and had little fur. The dream-speaker said that they were not to be harmed, but Kanok kept his shield and spear ready, as always, just in case.

He instinctively approached the camp from the other side of the rock and tree. He was not ready to meet strangers, but it had to be done. Fang was interested in these new ones, he had already picked up their scent and was focused in their direction, head raised and ears perked. Kanok was amused.

A few moments later, he walked around the tree, not sure of what was to come.

[MrE]

Taesha prepared herself to leave quickly, and told only her family of her mission before she stepped out into the cold night air and left the Dhakan tribe. They would not miss her, not in their hearts, and she knew now that she had a duty. Something was coming.

The journey gave her time to think, and strangely, memories of her mother surfaced, memories long since suppressed. If she had still been with the tribe she would most likely have been called. But she had betrayed them, and now was gone.

Taesha slept in a cave that first night, and when she woke in the morning she spent an hour listening to the trees and connecting with the land. Then, when she was ready, she drew upon first the power of the animals and shaped sharp boots onto her feet that caused her fingers to elongate into claws. Then she called upon the fickle air and bound a translucent blue shirt over her arm. Finally she called upon the strength of her family and her ancestors, and a small blue wisp hovered around her shoulders, its light feeding her strength slowly.

Spoiler

Show

Shape Soulmelds: Landshark boots (Chakra bind - Totem), Blink Shirt, and Totem Avatar

As she approached the tree, she fed a little of her power to her shirt, whilst holding the rest in her claws so that glowed faintly. She would be ready to flash away or fight if necessary. But nearing the meeting place, she heard voices, low but intense and saw another warrior rounding a large rock into the clearing.

She stepped forward, and then used her shirt to carry her the last 10 feet into the clearing, vanishing from one point and reappearing with a flicker amongst the others. She crouched wearily, appraising her new companions.

[CWater]

As Kanok walks around the tree, he hears a small squeal followed by a thump.
"A-aah..."
On the ground lies a halfling girl on her back, staring at the huge warrior with wide eyes. Apparently she had been hiding behind said tree, her strange cloak masking her presence. But she had been listening to the humans' conversation so intently, that she hadn't notice the neanderthal at all, before he was right next to her. Now she is visible to all.

Spoiler

Show

Meet Stiira, the hopefully-not-going-to-annoy-the-hell-out-of-you DMPC. (Her item list is not entirely finished yet.)

[Seharvepernfan]

Surprised, Kanok peers down at the ...very small person on the ground in front of him. How had he missed her? Fang sniffs her with obvious confusion, while Kanok reaches down and lifts her up to her feet. Ah, her cloak looks like the grass under their feet, and ....changes? Kanok stares at it for a moment, inquisitively. Then, he looks to her with a face devoid of compassion, "Are you hurt?"

[CWater]

Stiira gasps and tries to back away when the huge man reaches an arm towards her, but he only lifts her up. She looks at him with confusion on her face, shaking a little. "..N-no", she stutters and throws a worried look at Fang. The girl looks like she'd want to run away, but is afraid the dog might charge after her.

[Athedia]

Asha bolted upright at the arrival of the new people, Fear growing longer in her hand. As she saw they looked as tired as the man across the fire she relaxed a little. Still she kept up her guard, these were odd looking beasts, not human not anything that had lived with her tribe before.

When the little girl fell out from behind the tree she dropped her guard completely. Children had gotten lost during tribal journey's she knew that. If this was one it was her duty to find its home, the ancestors would want no less. Crouching in front of the girl she made her teeth appear normal, though the trial markings on her face remained. "Girl, where is your tribe? Did you lose them?" Though her tribe must be on good ground for a child to be carrying these items, maybe her tribe could move to such grounds.

Spoiler

Show

She hasn't seen a halfling before, she thinks you are a child from a tribe who got lost.

[Etherion]

Spoiler

Show

So, I'm not sure why Aidan looks tired after nearly a week of hunting a little, but mostly relaxing.
Also, since it's a new day, more food arrives!
(1d20)[2] (Since he has a +10 bonus to the roll, divide the d20 roll by two and that's how many people can be fed)

Well, I guess he only found enough for Asha.

Hello. Sadly, I do not have enough food for you, but you are welcome to rest by the fire. So long as you mean no harm.

You looks at the one who seemed to just appear next to them, then mutters to himself
Why can no one simply approach me from the front? Always the sneaking...

[CWater]

Stiira takes a few steps back when Asha moves closer, but seems to relax a little when she crouches down to her level. She takes a few breaths, to gather her courage. "No, I... came here because a dream summoned", she looks around, from person to person, "...Did you... also see the horrible dreams?"

Spoiler

Show

And I bet it doesn't help that she is actually quite young too, a 20 year old halfling is like human who's 15 years old. Though in this world, a person with that age can often be considered adult.

[Athedia]

"I got the dreams too, but why would a tribe send a young child?"

Spoiler

Show

Asha considers everyone here children technically. She is the only one with trial markings after all and those only mark her as taking the journey to become an adult. No-one has adult markings. Though she doesn't exactly know what Taesha would count as.

[CWater]

This comment gets a different reaction from the girl. "I-I am no child!", she shouts with an adolescent's fury, "I've seen my two tens of winters! I... am an adult now."

[Athedia]

Asha looked at the girl in surprise. This little childlike person was a winter older than her? But she held no markings of an adult. "Have you not undergone your trial? For that, have none of you?" She looked at the others gathered around the fire. She saw no markings of adulthood on any of them. "Without the trial you are still a child."

[Etherion]

I think it's a safe guess to think everyone here had the dreams.

And what are you talking about? What trial?

[Seharvepernfan]

"He will not hurt you."

Kanok looks back and forth between those present, listening to each in turn. Twenty winters? Nineteen? Was he the youngest here? How can girls so small be of age? They all have such high voices... Trial markings?

With a soft snort, Kanok ignores the (to him) inanity of the scene before him. He moves over to the fire and crouches down, removing a small dead animal that he had killed a while ago, and begins to cook it. He has other food as well, and it is normal for him to find enough in one day to feed seven people.
Without turning around, he speaks,"I have slain many beasts, tusked warriors, and a two-headed giant with help from other hunters. I am a man." He thumps his fist against the Dragonskin. "A dream-speaker has guided me to this place."

[MrE]

Spoiler: Markings & Appearance

Show

Taesha obviously doesn't have these adult-marking, but does have a number of symbols tattooed on her body, charting her life.

Also, the only difference between her and a normal human are her glowing blue eyes.

Also, I have no idea why my character sheet said Taesha was 64: she'd probably be dead by that age. She is 24.

Taesha watches the humans and halfling wearily. "I too came here because of the dream," she stated, with a hint of warmth. She had not known what to expect: some sage perhaps, or maybe her mother... But not a bunch of youths from other tribes.

[CWater]

Stiira looks at Asha. "Not all tribes mark their members.", she whispers, then continues with a little more confidence, "Among my people, one that has seen two tens of winters is always an adult. But I've heard, that in other tribes..." Her voice fades away again and she shifts her feet.

[Athedia]

He claimed to be an adult? Odd. But all of these people were. "So none of you sent the dreams? Interesting."

She looked up at the sky and without a word sent the dove flying up. "As for the trial. For the ancestors to recognize an adult you must perform a service for the tribe. They watch and guide your footsteps and judge if you are worthy. My marks tell I am on this, I can not return to my tribe until my journey is complete."

She looked down at the girl again. "We have adults of 14 winters and children of 30. But I some other tribes must be desperate for adults, I understand that."