The Hills of Morokha (IC)

[Zincorium]

Spring comes slowly to the mountains at the southern border of Morkokha, and snow covers the peaks nearly year round. Business as usual has begun again over the last few months, caravans bringing supplies, the local guard unit drilling in the square, and as always sentries posted on the towers that flank the gate.

You all number among the wanderers and odd natives of throathold, independent and unique in stark contrast to the by-the-numbers guards. However, you are also employees of the crown, albiet in a more mercenary and temporary fashion. No one expects you to stand duty, and some wouldn't trust you to.

With the winter gales keeping everyone indoors, there has been little chance to earn coin, and even less to seek out adventure and fame among the ravines and caverns of the southern badlands that lie just past the gate. Instead, you've whiled away time with games or hobbies, collecting often in the main hall of the guardhouse for warmth and a familiar face.

(Somewhat new to PbP dming, so I'm gonna give you all the option of having previously been around or be newcomers, for the latter not all of the above will apply. Just wanted to avoid starting in a tavern with some old man walking up to you, y'know?)

[BooNL]

Breathing in the fresh spring air, Tan welcomes the light breeze blowing in his face. The air carries the smell of fresh fruit coming from the merchant's wagons.

A fine day this is, Tan thinks. He's spent the past weeks tending to the sick and wounded. Never in his life has Tan seen so many cases of frostbite, he was glad his father thaught him an efficient cure for this.

As Tan is reflecting his travels a loud bark breaks his concentration.

Easy there girl, I guess you're hungry right?. A large black dog looks up at him expectantly. Allara has been traveling with him ever since he found her beaten and starved near a small village nearly a year ago.

Alright, let's see if we can find something for you.

Tan walks over towards the merchants to see if they have some meat for sale.

[LightWraith]

Daveak stands in the training yard of the guard house. He spends a lot of time here, honing the skills to keep himself alive in the wilderness. He alternates between taking practice shots with his bow and taking swings with his sword. He'll spar with a guard if any are so willing.

A bit cold out here isn't it.. the guide business is rough when people don't want to go outside..

He doesn't seem to really be talking to anyone, just sort of thinking out loud.

[NoDot]

Eg del Wonk

Eg walks out onto the guard house's training yard.

It's good to get out of that stuffy room, even if it is cold out. At least the university had the kindness to give me a large room for my own. These fools don't realize how valuable space-

Eg, lost in thought, almost bumps into Daveak. With his hand hovering over his rapier's hilt, portlier Eg narrows his eyes and asks the taller man, "Who are you?", using Infernal, as that language allows a person to ask such a simple question in one word.

[LightWraith]

Daveak Pegason

Daveak lowers his sword as the other man enters the training yard, eyes darting quickly to the man's hand near his blade, one eyebrow raises at the strange sound the other man makes.
Ah, hail good sir... I'm afraid I don't understand whatever language that is. I only speak Common myself.

Daveak bows:

I am called Daveak Pegason. I work as a guide for those in Throathold that need to go out into the wilderness. I don't think I've seen you around before. What brings you to the Keep?

[NoDot]

Eg del Wonk

Still in Infernal, "You are a fool among fools!" Then in Common, "You give your information freely, Pegason. Those with the Wisdom, Intelligence, and malicious intent could rip you apart with such information. Guard your words with more care. Have you not heard of those whose words alone reshape the world around them. 'Truenamers,' I believe they call themselves." (Are they in this campaign? If not, strike those last two sentences.) "One wrong word, and your life could be lost!"

As he speak, Eg gestures randomly with one of his hands and starts circling around Daveak, stopping half-way around. Using the other hand, he draws his rapier, although he doesn't bring it up to attack.

"That said, I am Eg del Wonk. They called me here to help catalog some artifacts they found. I was out getting some fresh air and stretch my legs from that cramped room." Bringing his rapier up, "Perhaps a match? Not to the death, of course, but a test of skill..." (How are we going to do this? Non-lethal damage? "Play-act" it?)

[LightWraith]

Daveak Pegason

Still facing away from Eg, I hear and understand your warning, friend, but I have told you nothing that is not common knowledge in Throathold, any of the guards could have told you my name just as readily. In the wild, there are many things that will take one's life without a chance for a word. Trust that I know how quickly that can happen. Facing the other way, you cannot see the quick flash of pain across his face.

Turning to face the other man, Daveak brings his longsword up into a two handed grip. A match would be welcome my knowledgeable friend. Striking straw targets is only so useful.

((That's a good question... I think running it as normal but with non-lethal damage would probably be the most "realistic", but we'll have to see what Zincorium says.))

[NoDot]

Eg del Wonk

Eg responds, "So you have seen deaths by the wild, deaths that take days, weeks, or months. I have seen social deaths, deaths that take weeks, months, or years. Neither is pretty, but which would you prefer, slow or fast? I'd take the quick one, but our match will begin or your answer..."

(While we wait on Zincorium, I hope I calculated this correctly....)
Initiative - (1d20+1)[8]

[LightWraith]

Daveak Pegason

You have my agreement there my new friend, a quick death is the better... cleaner... if only everyone was so lucky.

Daveak touches his blade to his forehead, then drops back into a combat stance.

Initiative - (1d20+2)[22]

[NoDot]

Eg del Wonk

Quick is better, indeed. I have seen too many slow social deaths to feel differently. This match should help me stretch these battle muscles that might help me live to see more. Shame killing would be a bad idea, but subduing an enemy is a talent worth practicing, Eg thinks, as his opponent begins their match.

[LightWraith]

Daveak Pegason

Daveak flows towards Eg, taking a measured swing toward his armored chest, taking a measure of his reflexes rather than trying to maim. This is a friendly match after all.

Longsword NonLethal - (1d20-1)[12]
Nonlethal Damage TwoHanded - (1d8+3)[6]

[NoDot]

Eg del Wonk

Daveak's movement forward seemed almost reckless to Eg, as he aimed a shot at the approaching foe. ("Not quite hero material yet, I see.") After the approacher's swing just barely missing, glassing Eg's amour, Eg takes another stab at his foe before darting past and moving out of range. A foe that was easy to catch was easy to kill, as the hunter should know...

AoO:
Attack - (1d20-3)[-1]
Damage - (1d6+1)[4]

Attack:
Attack - (1d20-3)[1]
Damage - (1d6+1)[3]

(Eg was supposed to be at 10 ft. at the battle's start. As courtesy, take an AoO yourself from Eg's movement. I'd like a shifting battlefield so we can attract the other PCs.)

[LightWraith]

Daveak Pegason

Dodging smoothly around both attacks, Daveak turned and takes a swipe as his sparring partner passes.
This could get interesting...

Risking Eg's blade again, Daveak smoothly closes once again with the other man and takes an upward swing when he gets close enough.

AoO Attack - (1d20-1)[9]
AoO Damage - (1d8+3)[9]

Melee Attack - (1d20-1)[11]
Melee Damage - (1d8+3)[9]

((And attract them we shall!))

[Zincorium]

(interjected just prior to Daveak's second action)

Turning on his heel, Daveak makes a startling lunge towards the verbally jousting bard, longsword wavering as the flat of the blade forces it's way through the cold air. Although caught slightly off-guard, Wonk quickly ripostes the attack and shifts position to escape the onslaught of his stronger opponent's heavier blade. Although both are skilled, the caution of using deadly weapons to fend off instead of kill prevents any contact.

[NoDot]

Eg del Wonk

Eg deftly dodges Daveak's strikes ("Did mooks teach you to fight?"), and makes a quick jab with his rapier before taking off again, twirling along the way. His sense of dramatics was taking over...

Attack - (1d20-3)[16]
Damage - (1d6+1)[5]

[BooNL]

Tan

As Tan makes his way to the merchant stalls, his attention shifts to the duel that has broken out on the nearby training yard.

He stops and takes a moment to spectate.

Look at this Allara, a clash of skills between these two warriors

While he is watching the duel he can't help but compare the two to young bucks around a deer, fighting over social dominance in the group.

[NoDot]

Eg del Wonk

Now, unless I'm mistaken about criticals...

[roll=Attack (Crit.)]1d20-3[/roll]
[roll=Damage (Crit.)]1d6+1[/roll]

---

* post roll count doesn't match database

[NoDot]

Eg del Wonk

(*sigh*, one more time...)

"Crit Attack" - (1d20-3)[4]
"Crit Damage" - (1d6+1)[5]

[LightWraith]

Daveak Pegason

Daveak shakes his head quickly to try to clear his vision after the close encounter of the blade kind.

Still ignoring Eg's verbal jabs, Daveak takes yet another swing towards the other man's armor.

Attack - (1d20-1)[8]
Damage - (1d8+3)[8]

Not taking his eyes off of Wonk, Good day Captain, just a friendly sparring match here. I am starting the think that blades might have been a bad choice though.

[Zincorium]

Continuing to circle and jab at each other, Wonk finally manages to get in a blow of a sort, his rapier, whipping back and forth, striking Daveak across the eye. Although you can still see, the impact causes your vision to fuzz a bit and you immediately start tearing up.

A voice calls out from the stables as the fight continues. "HEY, you two, who the hell taught you both how to fight?! Either you're terrible at trying to kill one another or you haven't figured out that you're not supposed to practice with real blades."

Captain Drelan strides out of the stable yard with an exasperated look on his hands and carrying a hauk in each hand. He tosses them beside the fighting pair.

"Don't make Tan here work more than he has to."

[Icewalker]

A tall handsome human lounges against a nearby fence, watching the duel. He seems to be observing all his surroundings, clearly interested in the goings on of the keep.

(1d20+3)[23] (Listen check)

After having listened intently to the conversation between Eg and Daveak, as well as the interruption by captain Drelan, Risch Acamit watches the actual fight only partially, as he deems that the only good information to come from it is who is a better duelist, more easily determined by the aftermath instead of the proceedings.

[BooNL]

Tan

Tan is slightly amused by the comment the captain of the guard makes and walks over toward him.

"Good day Captain, eh..." Tan looks a bit unconfortable and makes a quick salute. He has never spent so much time around military men he has no idea how to react tot them.

"It is good to see these duelists are keeping their muscles warm during the aftermath of this harsh winter."

Jesting, he adds "I guess not everone is as wise as they are", winking at the captain.

[NoDot]

Eg del Wonk

Giving the captain a snarl, Eg responds, "What good are light, wooden slabs for practice when we have heavy, metal blades to use?" He speaks in Common, but he punctures his speech with a thick (read: nigh indecipherable) Infernal accent.

(I'll assume that was your AoO, LightWraith, but Eg moved away again.)

[LightWraith]

Daveak Pegason

((Oh, right, missed the twirling bit. Here's the rest of my action))

Daveak sheathes his longsword before sliding his foot under one of the hauks and kicking it into the air. He catches it in one hand as he continues the running duel with Wonk.

When he gets within range, he raises the hauk for a first strike. Instead of swinging, however, he instead lowers it to his side.

"I believe I have had enough practice for the time being. Thank you Eg del Wonk for the match. Perhaps we will have another chance someday. In any case we seem to have attracted an audience."

Bowing to Eg, Daveak returns his hauk to the nearest rack and goes to address the Captain.

"Any news of interest lately Captain?"

[BooNL]

Tan

Seeing the ranger coming towards Tan and the captain, Tan turns to face Daveak Pegason.

"A fine duel, but without a clear victory.", Tan turns back to the captain, saying "I have a feeling these two are not finished yet."


"Now,", says Tan, "Let me have a look at that wound there."

Without waiting for a response, Tan lightly graps Daveak's head with both hands and lowers it towards his.

"Hmmz, it does not look that bad, you will have a black eye for the next few days, but no permanent damage." Tan releases his grip and stands back.

"You're Pegason, the guide, correct?" Tan does another clumsy salute. "My name is Tan, pleased to meet you."

[LightWraith]

Daveak Pegason

Daveak tenses up slightly when Tan grabs his head, but relaxes when he sees that his intentions are noble.

Smiling kindly, he says,"Aye, well met Tan, I am Daveak Pegason. I do both guide and scout work for Throathold when asked, which is not often in the winter." Daveak bows, "And I have seen you around, Tan. You work in the infirmary right? Much more useful work than my own, I must say."

Pegason takes a quick glance over his shoulder to ensure that his rapier wielding friend has in fact agreed to stop their duel.

[Zincorium]

Captain Drelan waits politely for the druid to finish his examination before stepping in to answer the ranger's question.

"A bit of, well, somewhat private business I'd like to talk to you all about- and yes, Risch, I'm talking to you as well. Naturally, I'd prefer to do so inside, but if you're still in the mood to beat each other, I'm willing to wait until you're finished. More or less it concerns an old friend of mine who passed away a few days ago, and the things he left unfinished. There's also a wizard I wrote to, but I'm not sure if he'll arrive in town before you leave. If he doesn't I'll send him along to meet you."

The captain turns and begins to walk away before remembering something and turning back to face Wonk.

"Heavy, metal blades as you put it tend to kill people. If you kill people, you'll face justice. So use the sticks, if you don't mind."

[Icewalker]

At the sound of his name Risch's eyes slide quickly away from a slight quarrel erupting between a half-elf and another human nearby and over to Drelan. One eyebrow goes up as he continues to explain the news. A few moments after the captain begins to leave, Risch follows nonchalantly.

[BooNL]

Tan

"My work would have been light the past months if people would just remember to dress up warm.".

Tan turns to walk in step with the captain. "Or cast some protective magic every once in a while", he adds to Allara.

[LightWraith]

Daveak Pegason

Falling into makeshift formation behind Captain Drelan and Tan, Daveak says, "I'll be of whatever help I can Captain."