Wheel of Time: The kingdom of Shadows

[Arxheon89]

Suddenly wondering what he had got himself into when he decided to play hero, Mas lets out a large breath and exclaims "A Trolloc horn, does that means there are more of them?"
Oh by the light I hope I survive.
"You, Kireyn, An Accepted like yourself would not be alone. Where is the Aes Sedai you were travelling with?"


OOC: sorry for the absense, bout to start uni exams, really busy.

[Ruik]

Ishigari Narshima

Ishigari stands paralyzed with shock as the blast of the horn flows over him, a dread sound he never expected to hear so far south of the blight.

Trollocs!

Born to a life where fear if unchecked can get you killed, he seizes control of himself and reaches over his shoulder half drawing his blade, but winces almost immediately as Noel begins to bellow at the night.

He gives Kireyn a worried glance before looking at the houses beside them and finally drawing the blade over his right shoulder.

"I’m not sure how many of these people we will be able to save, let alone find your mistress Kireyn... unless you have some way to find her that we do not."

Ishigari turns briefly as Daran moves to the houses and Jianna speaks, and then begins glancing at the surrounding streets methodically, eyes searching the night as he responds.

"If this is a full Trolloc raid we cannot stay here in the streets – we are too exposed. We need to find a more defensible position or forsake Swallowtail altogether, however running blind will only get us killed. Whatever happens we must stay calm and stay together."

Embrace death.

The thought barely has time to form when Mas confronts Kireyn. Ishigari stops looking at the streets and twists his head to look at the two, the thought of an Aes Sedi to stand with suddenly more appealing than fighting Trolloc’s and trying to heard civilians to saftey on their own.

[Ruik]

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Just bumping the thread - I'll take this post down when the game gets moving again...

[The_Snark]

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I think we're waiting on Arxheon to check the OOC thread, and either edit out the part about somehow knowing what an Accepted is and that Kireyn is one, or explain how he knows about that. The OOC thread was moved a little while back, so he might not have realized that yet. Arx?

[Ifni]

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I'm still here It would be good to get the thread moving again, but the Snark has it right - whether or not Mas actually said that might have a fairly significant impact on events going forward. Kireyn was being quite careful about flashing her ring around: she showed it to Ishigari and Noal because she trusted that an Arafellin and an Ogier would respect the Tower, and consequently be discreet about her identity.

[fireinthedust]

((Hey all. Sorry I was taking so long myself; personal issues, one of which was writer's block regarding my pbp games.

If Mas and the others don't know about the OOC thread, perhaps they don't know how to subscribe to a thread?

Since we've got a couple PCs who hadn't been posting, what's say the group scatters at the bell; you guys who're still here post where you're going to go as a group. Everyone else can fade to the background.))

[Kuma Da]

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I'm still here. Also, I think Arx has exams, but I have no idea how long those could go on for, so having him fade into the background for a bit might not be a bad idea.

[fireinthedust]

Would it be reasonable to assume that the group a) attacks the trollocs, b) retreats to the Inn, or c) the nearest house and barracades themselves in, or d) runs to the edge of town?

[Yawielas]

Jianna won't go attacking any trollocs alone, but will stay close to the others. So if they decide to fight, she will to. If not, she opts for running to the edge of town.

[Kuma Da]

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Daran will certainly try to lead everyone towards the edge of town, gathering up as many townsfolk as possible on the way.

[Unkabear]

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Daran will certainly try to lead everyone towards the edge of town, gathering up as many townsfolk as possible on the way.

I am still here, I would voice gather people on our way toward the edge of town. If the inn and a quick raid of rooms were on the way I wouldn't mind.

[bahamut920]

"None of our options are looking to good at the moment, are they?" Jak mutters. "Here's the situation as I see it," he speaks aloud for the group as a whole to hear. "Attacking the Trollocs without banding the villagers together is suicide. We don't have the numbers or force to pull it off. Even with the others, we still don't have good odds. Most of us aren't trained warriors, and this isn't the Borderlands; I'd wager that I could count the number of us who have seen a live Trolloc before tonight on one hand, and half of those people are here." He lets out a heavy sigh and continues, "And barricading ourselves in a wooden building is no good, either; we might be able to keep the Trollocs out, but if their commander has any brains at all, he'll just set the place on fire. Our best bet might be to make a dash for the edge of town, and try to lose them in whatever terrain we find ourselves in; but that relies on the hope that their force is too small to have encircled the town." He looks in the direction he thinks is the shortest path to the edge of town.

After a moment, he turns to Kireyn and asks, "Is there an..." a sudden lump develops in his throat, and he has to swallow before he can speak again, "Aes Sedai traveling with you? If so, can either you or she do something with the One Power to get us out of this mess?" Blood and ashes, now I'm asking for their help. What's next, walking into Tar Valon and turning myself in?

[Ifni]

Kireyn shakes her head as everyone talks at once. Blood and ashes! She nods at Jak and Ishigari as they speak and quickly interjects,"Did anyone see a river on the way into town? Shadowspawn dislike crossing running water. If there's a ford or bridge, that might be our best chance."

At Jak's last question, she swallows. "I can... I can protect a small area against Shadowspawn, so they can't enter. If we can find a stone building to hole up in, I can probably ward the entrance, or I could ward a bridge, if it wasn't too wide. I can block small openings with shaped and hardened Air, as well, and weave light to dazzle Trollocs, or throw boulders at them - but I can't evacuate the town, or summon fog to cover our retreat, much less kill a fist of Trollocs on my own. I don't have that kind of power." Yet.

She hesitates before answering the last part of the question, trying to remember what Vera had said about her business in Swallowtail. Something about a stone? Now which side of town was it on...

[Yawielas]

Jianna nods to both Jak and Kireyn. "Aye, I'm all for getting out of town." She continues nodding, nervously, as she glances towards the sound of the blaring trolloc horns, expecting to see the monsters from the stories burst out of the shadows any moment. Her grip on her quarterstaff is so tense all her knuckles are white, and she starts moving backwards, away from where the noise is coming from, not wanting to turn her back on whatever is coming.

[bahamut920]

"Evacuating the town in one large group is asking to be chased down and slaughtered..." Jak states. "Smaller groups are harder to track, and more mobile. If we can get the villagers to break up into smaller groups and split up, we stand a much better chance."

[Ruik]

Ishigari Narshima

Feeling the situation threatening to overwhelm the small group, Ishigari looks worriedly in the direction of the smoke and screams as Jak speaks. He focus back on Kireyn as the subject of an Aes Sedi comes up once more, a faint hope in a night rapidly descending into chaos.

"The caravan I was guarding did not enter the town across water. If it is a full fist, and one of the eyeless, I’m not sure we should be relying on running water alone. If we make our way to the edge of town and make for somewhere there are not people screaming, we might stand a chance."

As Jak brings up the subject of other villagers once more, Ishigari’s expression becomes more guarded.

"The simple truth is the more of these people we try to save; the more likely it is that the Trollocs will focus their attention on us. The more people we have try to escape this town the same way we do, the more likely it is that they will find us. I will try and help them if that is our decision, but there are those among us who are not warriors, and they should be aware of the risks."

I should be earning my pay, but if I cannot, then at least I might help my new friends...

Ishigari takes a deep breath before continuing.

"Whatever we choose, we must move now if we are going to have any hope of escaping."

[Yawielas]

(It's been a month. Is this game doomed as well?)

[Kuma Da]

(I'd hope not. It was fun. Who're we waiting on to post? Mas or the DM?)

[The_Snark]

(If we're all still around and interested, we could certainly try to revitalize it. I think we got a little stuck on what to do.)

[Kuma Da]

(alright. I'm up for that.)

[Ruik]

I'm still around, but it felt like it was slipping away a bit. I'd be willing to give it another go

[Ifni]

(I'm still around also, and would like to keep going with this if possible - especially as I just got a major exam and fellowship application out of the way. If the rest of you are still interested, I guess the biggest question is whether our GM is still up for it.)

[The_Snark]

((Well, we have enough characters left to form a good group; I suppose the GM question is all that's left. Should we PM her, do you think?))

[Yawielas]

Yes, we should PM her. I'm still interested in playing as well.

[Ruik]

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We don't seem to be having much luck attracting everyone back, but as before, just posting to say I'm still keeping tabs on the thread.

I will be away from Dec 22nd till the 16th of January - without any real chance to access the net, so doen't take my silence during that period to say I've stopped showing interest!

[fireinthedust]

ooc: Well, since there are still interested players (and I've snuck back into the world from a hiatus) I think we can keep going.

I'm going to jump ahead to an exciting point in the action.

[Kuma Da]

OOC: that works for me.

[Yawielas]

Yay :) I'm ready to roll. Or role, rather.

[fireinthedust]

The pages of the book were scattered and the lights went out. Ruik swore and the clatter of dice scattering and falling under the table was followed by the scrape of chairs and hands fumbling in the dark. The GM's screen was heard falling over, as was that tall glass filled with cold tea, and Fireinthedust using profanity and a towel to sop off months worth of notes. Never mind! Snark, get you lighter over here. No, this way. Thanks. and after a few tries and orange light filled the basement before diminishing into the wick of the candle. Soon only the GM's face, tinted with orange and madness, could be seen. Everyone put away your character sheets and roll up that battle mat. Let's begin.

The battle of Swallowtail

The surge of Trollocs was fierce and deadly, like a massive wave washing over a sand castle leaving only the towers propped up with twigs behind.

The companions had gathered to themselves what few villagers and merchants they could, and held themselves up in the Inn. For a time they had held them off in the doorway, through the night, but soon the troop of beastmen broke through on all sides. The dawn had begun to rise above the horizon, but smoke and death made the light seem hopeless.
Noal was like a pillar of strength before the wave, women and children huddling behind him as he batted at the foes with his tree-trunk staff. Ishigari and Daran stood side-by side, and managed between the both of them to lay several of the stinking carcasses to rot, but the larger trollocs battered them back with great sweeps of their swords. Kireyn drew upon the power, but soon her reserves were running low; Jak found his powers worked best helping the wounded and staying out of the way.

Past the hoarde and before the surge they saw pale figures in dark cloaks. Jak was the first to "see" them, warned a moment before they came into view by a horrible sensation of fear and a sense of their direction.
One of them had two swords, and a wicked scar across his eyeless face. While the horde battered the doors of the Inn he spun through the blademaster forms. He was the one from Jak's visions!
Another was larger than the first, with a massive two-handed blade on his back; other than his size and sword, only the demonic skulls on large shoulder blades differentiated him from other eyeless.
A third, strangely, was a woman-eyeless with form-fitting armor of black metal scales and plates with red tips and blood-red tracery on the bracers of her armor; her hair was long with blood-red streaks, unlike any other eyeless known, and as she walked towards the house she would stop periodically and point a hand towards a window or down an alleyway: Lightning wound surge forth from her hand and send someone screaming into their next life. Kireyn saw her and sensed... Saidar?!

ooc: ok, so there's a surge going on; several coming through one door, others climbing in through the windows, and behind them you see three eyeless coming from three directions.

What do you do?

[Yawielas]

Jianna turns ashen faced at the sight of the three fades, and the wave of trollocs pouring in. "Upstairs, we need to get upstairs," she wails and darts for the stairs, looking over her shoulder to see if her comrades in arms are coming.