fabulist

What does he do next? Checking on the slide line, checking the grotto, or something else?

Francis watches as Merisiel puts away his letter with perceptible longing and doubt in his eyes. As the elf turns to the creature and asks for its name, it muses for a few seconds before answering her. "I am Friend. I'm Friend for Francis, you can call me that." It turns back to Francis and indicates the way up the ledge with one of its hands. "You were telling me the story about the girl in the forest with the ghosts. I'd like to hear what happens to her and her family."

"Well, if you are versed in arcane lore, you could have a look at the slide's starting line, people always whisper about witches and hags. If nothing else, it will make them feel safer, hmmm? Also, there's a grotto just a little further north of here, and folks say they've seen ... strange and scary people there. If you have the time, that is, but return to Breakstone if you have to."

Francis muses a little about what she says, then a puzzled little smile spreads over his face. "Well, ok, I guess." then he turns and climbs back up the ledge, and reappears after half a minute. He's got a moderately crumbled sheet of paper tucked into his pants, which he handles over to Merisiel. Dear Dad + Mom, I'm down here in the cave, with my friend and I really like it here. Come and talk to me, you gonna like it too. I love cherry pie. Francis OOC I'd still like a Perception DC 16 check 🙂  

The creature lets out small sounds of relief at Merisiel's talk to Francis, and the boy looks rather surprised. He opens his mouth several times but then says nothing before he can formulate an answer. "I ... like it here. My friend," -- he indicates the creature standing there -- "loves my stories and I like telling them. And she gets more interesting every time I tell one, you know. She keeps things what I tell and she looks different, like I was making her up. Or drawing her." His big smile looks really genuine at that. "Now, come on, Francis, I'm your friend, not everybody's. Remember what we talked about?" "Ok, sorry. ... I'd like to talk to mom and dad, here. Or, outside the cave. Can you bring them?" - he asks Merisiel.   OOC I'd like a Wis save vs. DC 16; and if you'd like to persuade Francis in any direction, a Cha check.  

Panna crouched down with the two in fever, but didn't dare to touch them. She was worried sick but she was apparently afraid of something. While Theo treated them, a smile spread on her face, and as soon as he was done, she sat down and took their hands without a word. The two hugged her and the three were lost in being together. Endrean left Theo to do his job, and went around to assist with the buildings. He returned a few minutes after Theo finished. "The folks told me you did what you could. Thank you for your aid. We don't have healers here, they mostly make a living in town. ... What's the situation in Breakstone? Who's in charge there? We have no idea what caused this landslide, there are so many possible reasons. The rain is one, but we haven't had anything this bad in living memory."

The creature's eyes suddenly change into feline eyes after it blinks, then its tail slowly morphs into that of fox. While the changes take place, it contemplates what Merisiel said. "The world is dangerous. It is dangerous to mortals, it has been since the invasion. The creatures of darkness don't want peace with mortals, you are just sustenance for them. This little human can't fight one and survive, like the one you defeated outside the shroud. ... Talk to him, if you want to." It looks up where it descended and calls out. "Francis, there's someone here, and elf if I say it properly, who wants to talk to you." After a few seconds, a boy appears at the top of the ledge. "Hello?"

Hi, I've had some rough hitches in my life, but things are smoothing out a little. I hope to get a game post on Sunday.

Hi, I've had some rough hitches in my life, but things are smoothing out a little. I hope to get a game post on Sunday. I think we should put me as a player on hold until I have more time and energy.

😞   Hello, guys. My life's turned upside down and I'm in too many games to handle right now. I considered things, and I'm very sorry for this, but I'm going to cancel this game. See you around, and hope to game with you in the future.

Hello, guys. My life's turned upside down and I'm in too many games to handle right now. I considered things and I'm going to withdraw from here. I like the game and the team, but this is going to go on without me as a player. I'll be peeking in from time to time to follow the story, if you keep me in the game, @yxanthymir.

It was a usual day in Earth-helm, the early summer came with an occasional rain of little black rocks that scraped but did broke anything. Crops were no worse than the years before, and the townsfolk felt secure behind the walls. The evening in the Hall of Roads was loud and heavy with the scent of roasting, frying and cooking, the minstrel currently in town was playing a rather sad tune. Outside, where the noise was much milder, several guides were discussing their experiences about different lands around Earth-helm. There were some worrying news from the north, about lightning striking from the ground without signs to warn of the danger, and crytalline creatures that were dangerous both physically and psionically. OOC Everyone can decide whether their characters are out talking business, or inside eating/drinking/relaxing in the beginning. Soon every PC will be called to talk about a job. I'm looking for a short warm up now with a few posts from everyone. You can make up non-world-shaking details about your earlier travels if you'd like to.  

I separated setting text and images. There's a little more on the setting, but since you're going to leave soon, it's just a sketch to give you a feel of the place.

I've just set a game Read Only, and sent invitations to accepted players. I'd like to check if I did it properly, but couldn't find anywhere to check to see a list of those I did invite. Is there a way to find that?

Yes, but not specifically psionics-based, rather setting-based: Fey (because a lot of the land is wilderness now), Orvian (not from the Darklands, but other worlds) and Aklo (a rarely spoken dialect of Orvian), and also the native languages of the psionic races. The bar scene is really funny 🙂 I'm working again after two weeks off, so I'm slower as you may have noticed, but more setting info and the opening scene is coming tomorrow for the four of you. I'll change access and invite you.

As her voice echoes in the cave, the previous soft speech stops and there is silence for a while. Then she hears movement to her right, sliding noises moving towards her. Something then visibly descends on the wall dropping from the ledge, and a creature stands in front of her, half a dozen meters from her. It is a mish-mash of known animals and supernatural creatures known to Merisiel. Generally humanoid, with a dragon's head, lynx's fluffy ear, long arms of an ape ending in webbed fingers, a tail ending in a stinger, and random pieces of armor here and there covering little spots on its body. "The boy wants nothing from you, mortal. He is happy here, and you shouldn't take that from him."

"Seven who can't really move, and three of them are in danger of dying. Farbal here," he pointed at a man, maybe old enough to be Theo's great-grandfather, who had crack dry sand all over his clothes, "was the only one caught inside, he wasn't fast enough. Hanya and Karol have the fever, that's why we brought them all outside to cool down." The latter two were a young woman and a middle-aged man with calloused, working hands. "They won't hold together long without skillful help." OOC Same mechanics as in Breakstone.  

Ok, I'll have a look around, but mostly along the line of mystic + bodyguard. The mystic will be either an occultist or a psion, both from KibblesTasty's, the warrior maybe a warlord, but maybe not. Do you have any preferences from among Viking, jungle tribal, Indian or Celtic/Britannica?

As she carefully proceeds inside of the the cave, Merisiel can already hear soft, quiet speaking coming from further inside. It's hard to tell its exact direction, the sound reverberates between the smooth stone walls, creating many echoes of anything audible. The slow dripping of water also adds to the noise, though it blends with the speech into a nice, musical tune. The elf can see little in the dark, aside from the cave's shape itself, because there isn't much to see. There's a ledge on the right (north wall, which runs into a chamber away from the entrance (west), a series of negative bubbles in the rock on the left (south wall), and slanting to the right but mostly inwards, the cave tapers into a narrow, horizontal crevice. OOC How mindful is she about being quiet / silent?  

Also, am I correct that @LDDragon, @BBK, and @CharmingSatyr have their characters ready to play? How about you @Thot?

For now, I set the game to be public to make communication easy. Once we have the team, I'll change the access status again.

Well, if we have three completed apps I'll kick the story off, but I don't know yet, we'll see.

Is this offer still standing?

After getting treatment from Theo, the girl was quite itchy, impatiently waiting for the healer to finish with the others. She walked up and down, sometimes sat down but almost immediately stood up, and tapped the ground with her feet. When Theo addressed her, she instantly set off to the north-east along the shore, chattering to him as she went. "Yes, yes, Porock. I'm Panna. You are very nice, mister, to help everyone. You can save everyone in our village, too, can't you?" The walk took only little time, especially at the pace Panna was hurrying, and when they arrived, Theo could see that village was about as bad as Breakstone. There were even fewer houses standing, but the ones not buried were in good shape, and sturdier. The wounded were lying in the shade of a large wooden hall, while the inside was buzzing with activity. Folks were pulling apart used building parts, while others were making new ones from the scraps. A man in his late fifties greeted the two, nodding to Theo. "Welcome, friend. My name's Endrean. I see Panna didn't waste time bringing help." - and he ruffled the girl's hair affectionately.

The scales on the snake are definitely metallic, though Merisiel can see that she either skins it and can take all at once, or may attempt to pry them one by one. The latter would take hours, if not a day or two. The spine has fine metallic threads in it, she can take a few for examination, but removing the threads is definitely beyond her abilities. * * * While poking around the moss, it turns out it can be bended a little, and moved with some effort. The moss actually covers a curtain of vines, not the rock face itself, and the cool air came from behind this curtain, where a dark cave is very efficiently hidden by nature.