Primeval Stasis

Mayor Frardun seems momentarily taken aback at the elf's bluntness. Then he lowers his head. "My predecessor urged us to ignore him. After he passed and the threat became... tangible, I tried to speak to the wizard, but he turned me away. My hope was that an unfamiliar face might be able to reach him." The man gives a grim smile that might say he might agree - though not too openly after the elf's questions - but is also desperate.

Eabha On 5/6/2024 at 11:53 AM, another aka said: "I am sorry to have needed your help. It is my own fault for not being able to take out those bandits, or at least take their blows." "If every move we made went perfectly, there would be no need for me here," Eabha says to Xan, voice soft yet firm, "or for the Goddess to have granted my gifts." She accepts the woman's help to stand. "Thank you for keeping an eye on me in all the chaos." "Our coming is not exactly in secret," Eabha replies to Toktok as the heavy wagons plod ahead. "And for them to be out in the open, it is likely they mean us no harm. Let us approach together." Still, she sends Naihm running ahead to scout the surroundings and potentially pick up something from their conversation.

"Oh," the man's eyes widen as he steps forward and takes the outstretched letter, "I didn't think anyone would answer our call. Thank you for coming, our need is great. But first," he gestures to a woman standing among the crowd, "you must be hungry. Amile will show you to the tavern. We will prepare a couple of rooms, and a meal for you." At the Tavern I wanted to allow you guys time to RP resting if you want, or to ask more questions about the village and villagers, but I don't want to slow down the forward action either, so I opened a thread here: Feel free to post, or not. Questions you ask the villagers, or things you say to rally them, may help the end battle, but won't be essential. After you've been fed and shown your rooms, the man you met at the beginning collects you. "I'm the mayor, Thomas Frardun. Sorry for not introducing myself before. I'd been losing hope that anyone would come. And not everyone here believes in the threat, so it has been hard to get much done. Anything I can do to help you though, I will." He leads you into a house at the center of town. Just off the well-built - if somewhat spartan - entryway is a room stocked with some provisions, a few old weapons, and a central table with a map of the area. There, he lays out the options he has thought of. Preparation Here are a few threads you could follow up on. Pick 2-3 Fortify the town. An L shaped road is the main way in and out of the small town. There are only smaller alleyways off of that. The buildings are mostly wooden, and the tavern and mayor's house are the only two-story buildings. There is also a small church made of stone. Take the fight to them. A scout found a place in the woods where the beastmen are preparing for some sort of ritual. You might be able to catch them off-guard - knocking a number of them out of the fight early or buying you more time to prepare - but there's a chance it might just provoke them. Gather the farmhands. There are two large farms in the area who are refusing to help prepare for the attack. They don't believe it is real, and think it is a competitive ploy by the other to draw workers away from the harvest. Convincing them of the danger could bring more strong men into the fight, as well as whatever else they could be made to spare. Visit the wizard. There is an old man in the area who is said to have magic. He has been warning the town of the threat for a while, but they didn't listen to him at first. Move to safer grounds. In the woods nearby lie the ruins of an old border fortress. It would likely be easier to defend, but would require moving everybody, along with any supplies, and defending them along the way. Train the troops. There are already a number of villagers who are willing to help - along with whoever else you might convince. Giving them some basic training could save lives or even be the difference between winning and losing. Rally the veteran. An old veteran lives just outside town. He has so far refused to help, saying that his fighting days are behind him. He has a lot of experience and could help keep whatever militia you put together in line. ____. feel free to suggest anything else, the mayor seems pretty open. OOC I've been looking at this for the last week or so getting ready to get back into it. In classic RPG fashion my original plans were too complex, so I'm simplifying things to hopefully take a little of the pressure I put on myself off, and to help us get through it. Thanks for the last push to post.

The tavern seems to have once been a house, rather more well-furnished than you would have expected from the town. "Our founder," explains Emile, with a feint, melodic accent that sounds like it could be from the northern coast, "he passed, childless, and his will specified that his house should be used for travelers, to attract interest to the town." The building currently lies vacant, save for you and Emile. You enter a parlor filled with chairs and tables. "Have a seat," she says. "I will bring you some food in just a moment." As you wait, villagers start to filter in and sit nearby. Some watch you, almost suspiciously, while the younger ones ask about your adventures.

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Sorry all. Rough week. Hopefully I did what was needed.

Eabha An arrow flew out of the dark. The armor Otto gave her was enough to turn it, but the force of the thing still knocked her to the ground, taking the wind out of her and rattling her head around a bit. The next thing she hears is Otto calling out for help. The shock of it snaps her back to reality. In a moment, Jorrow is at her side. "They need you, kid." Though a believer, he still defaults to viewing her as a daughter. Eabha takes a brief second to steady herself and get her bearings now that the fighting is over, then rushes where Jorrow guides her. Sorrow takes her as she sees that it is Xan that has been badly wounded - she saw the young woman trying to defend her during the attack. Kneeling, she hovers her hands over the wounds. "Mother Airmed," she prays, "protect those who help your servant girl." A feint orange glow, almost indiscernible, passes between her hands and the woman. Anyone happening to notice Naihm as she trots up would see a light shimmer to her orange coat as well. OOC Healing Touch (2d6 + 1) on Xan Tireless vigor regenerates the 1 hp hit to Eabha.

Idk. I've had some tough family stuff in the last couple weeks, and so since you were the only one I heard back from and you were gonna be gone, I put this on the back burner. I'm open to get back to it if others are.

I should be able to post tomorrow during my commute.

I think leaving one alive could get hairy. Idk that Eabha would be down for an execution later. And like Tecumseh said I doubt we'll get much useful out of him.

Later than I hoped, but I just posted the basic rules: My original plan was to open up a poll about the various sections and give some time for back and forth, but in the interest of getting this moving I would say we skip that. Even if the rules aren't perfect, there is room for adjustments, additions, or balance changes later on. That said, I am open to hearing any major problems or gaps. Also note, I haven't defined the rules for how sharing the duties of GMing will go, these are just the basic mechanics. Assuming people are willing to try something close to what I posted, next steps will be wrapping up our nations to fit the adjusted stats and requirements, and then making any notes we want to about the relationships between our realms. Then we can start.

Eabha As the bandits rush forward, Eabha steps beside Otto to plug the gap, swinging her shield towards the closest attacker. The shield connects, jostling the man. She tries to combo it into a stab with her dagger, but the attack goes wide. Naihm darts around the back of the silt cart to try to distract the crossbowmen. OOC Round 1 Shield bash. Round 2 Dagger stab.

Ok, post finished. Let the battle begin!