Chapter 1: A Gathering of One's Bearings

[Eborne1]

Day 1

Night...

A sudden crackle, followed by a loud hissing pop from the campfire pulls you from your reverie...

Your eyes are slow to adjust to the surrounding darkness as you draw your gaze from the flame.

You notice you are not alone...

Faces, you vaguely recognize from what feels like a dream peer back at you and at one another through the firelight. Each wears a similar look of dazed confusion.

Your mind reels as you try to recall your preceding moments......your preceding days...

A dusky owl swoops silently to one low-hanging branch of a nearby arid and sparsely-leaved tree. Its wide, yellow eyes glow brightly before the firelight. It looks down upon your group, curious about what you are and where you come from.

Surrounding tufts of dry grasses growing between and around rocky outcroppings are unbothered by any breeze. The night is calm and the air is cool.

Rising Galdeia dimly paints the whole eastern horizon; a great mound of a dull and hazy purplish hue. Silence dominates the vast and umbral landscape that surrounds you.

Slowly, you begin to find your bearings. But before you even recollect your own name; before comes the arising of any query that might dispel the fog that yet drapes heavily over your mind; before even the basic need to discern your very whereabouts, there is a singular and compelling thought that resounds through your mind like the relentless quaking of a warning bell.

“Stop the Doomsire..,” it clearly rings.
 

OOC

You are still completely without memory of your previous lives.
Your memory of the facility and your time spent there is fuzzy but not altogether gone. You recall your "nicknames" as you were called in the Facility and you vaguely recall the other people around the campfire and their names, but may need reminding. You don't know how you came to be where you are. You are as if awakening from a dream.

Besides the main party, there are among you: a boyish human named Oz, an elderly Half-Elf woman named Grace, and a stout, middle-aged Human man named Frood.

You are in the same, plain clothing you wore at the facility. Other than that, no one has any possessions.

 

Edited June 5, 2023 by Eborne1 (see edit history)

[Leonidas1789]

Jinx

She stared at the fire, unable to blink.

Where was she now? What had happened to her world?

A world where everything was easy - a world where she would be fed and taken care of...

And then there was the bell - had she forgotten its sound? Its sound, she remembered, was soothing to her ears, calmed down her mind and healed her soul...

And then there was the tea - had she forgotten its taste? The tea had such a delicate, fragrant taste.

And then there were the monks, under whose benevolent tutelage she would practice archery for days.

Across from her, beyond the flames, she thought she recognized a familiar face.

"Tannus... Tannus, is that you?" she finally asked in a low voice. "Do... do you know where we are?" 

Edited June 5, 2023 by Leonidas1789 (see edit history)

[Vedast]

 

"Tannus ... Tannus, is that you?"

 

Slowly ... the name penetrated the fog that was his sense of self; a fog pierced by the sonorous name of Doomsire.

Yes ... I was ... am ... Tannus, he thought.

Jeh ... Jinx? You are called Jinx, he stutteringly managed to say at last. Yes ... I know ... knew you.

Looking about to the others ... he thought he knew ... had known ... the ratfolk named Tik and the lad named Oz - something to do with a tea cup; the Aelfarian named Grace. The one with red hair, yes, but no name came to mind.

The shorter, but strongly built man he could not place nor the middle-aged man.

 

Doomsire

 

"Do... do you know where we are?" 

Tannus could barely answer who he was. He tried orienting himself ... this seemed natural, almost instinctual. Galdeia rising in the east. The stars saying ... something ... or should ... about the season. He struggled to remember.

He looked at the owl and a strong sense of comradeship came over him. He wanted to say Risha, but somehow, that wasn't right. He simply communed with the strigiform for a few moments.

 

Doomsire

 

Jinx? Did you hear the bell? Did you hear ... Doomsire?

 

OOC

GM ... was the sound of Doomsire the same (e.g. pitch and timbre) as that made by the bell in the Facility?

 

Edited June 5, 2023 by Vedast (see edit history)

[Harding]

The stocky, short man blinked, his eyes struggling to adjust to the abrupt shift in atmosphere. The crackle and hiss of the campfire surged, rudely yanking him from his reverie, demanding his attention. Gradually, the present moment enveloped him, but his mind remained ensnared in a dense web of confusion, the fragments of his recollection elusive and maddeningly out of reach. Like ghostly specters from a faded dream, memories—no, more like haunting whispers—teased the periphery of his consciousness, leaving behind an indescribable ache of guilt and sorrow that clung to his heart with an almost unbearable weight.

His gaze momentarily drifted toward his hands, weathered and marked with the unmistakable insignia of a seasoned fisherman. Instinct whispered to him, a silent guide in the absence of memory, affirming his familiarity with the motions and toils of a life once lived.

Questions swirled within the depths of his mind, their urgency palpable, threatening to incite panic. "What in the name of all that is sacred is happening? Where am I? How have I come to be here?" he wondered, his thoughts teetering on the precipice of hysteria. Yet, a primal instinct, deeply ingrained within his being, rose to the surface. It urged him to take control, to temper the tempest that threatened to consume him. With measured determination, he steadied his breath, corralling his unruly emotions, one by one, into a space of temporary exile. As his composure gradually resurfaced, he found himself able to refocus his thoughts, to regain a semblance of clarity in this tumultuous sea of uncertainty.

In the wake of this reclamation, his gaze traversed the enigmatic faces that encircled him, an assembly of disoriented souls grappling with their own elusive pasts. Their features bore a flicker of familiarity, vestiges of connections severed by time's cruel hand. But it was the dusky owl perched upon a nearby branch that captivated his attention, its luminous eyes shimmering with a curiosity that transcended the mere boundaries of its avian nature. In that moment, a profound sense of kinship stirred within him, an unspoken understanding that the avian observer, with its unblinking gaze, was witness to a gathering of extraordinary significance.

As his eyes turned skyward, the nocturnal expanse unfolded before him, a velvety tapestry adorned by the ascendant Galdeia, its subdued, purplish glow suffusing the eastern horizon. Silence draped the land, a serene cloak interlaced only by the mesmerizing cadence of crackling flames and the occasional whisper of parched grasses caressed by an unyielding, stagnant air. Beneath this façade of tranquility, an undercurrent of tension surged, propelling the singular thought that reverberated within his mind like an incessant tolling bell.

"Stop the Doomsire," the words resounded with an undeniable gravitas, intertwining with the rhythmic cadence of his heartbeat. In their urgency lay a summons, a clarion call to arms, imploring him to act as a harbinger of cataclysm loomed. Though his own name eluded him, as did the fragments of his past leading to this bewildering crossroad, the imperative of the task at hand eclipsed all else.

Silent and contemplative, he observed his companions, their visages awash with bewilderment—perhaps even more disoriented than he himself. Patience, a virtue he clung to amidst the uncertain terrain of their shared predicament, guided his every action. Each individual could represent a potential ally... or adversary.

[Pakk84]

Horas MacCoinnich

---

Horas woke up with a sole sentence ringing in his head. A sentence that didn't make any sense to the young man.

“Stop the Doomsire..,”

As soon as his eyes opened he started panicking. He did recognise anything around him, nothing that looked remotely similar to the familiar but now somehow fuzzy memory of the facility where he has been for... well, for as long as he could remember.

He looked around and found the darkness of the night at his back, and the campfire in front of him, with some figures gathered around it. He was about to start screaming when from the back of his head a memory came back, and he realised that he had a connection to the people around the campfire.

He concentrated for some seconds, but it was only when the woman mantioned the name that he could remember. When the man replied the woman's name came back as well.

"Jinx... Tannus... I know you."

He looked at the other people in the group and felt somehow compelled to keep talking.

"Oz, Grace, Frood... Ichiro? I also know all of you... Do you..."

Horas hold his head with both hands with frustration for the fact that the only name he couldn't recall was his own, and looked at the others helpless.

"Do you know me? I don't know where I am, I... I can't remember anything. Just some words that make no sense."

He searched in his clothes looking for anything that could help, but he found only empty pockets.

OOC

OOC stuff

 

[Luthiel]

Tik looks around wildly, eyes wide with fright, his ragged breath audible over the crackling of the fire. Run...hide... escape...! But... where...? Through the haze of confusion and fear, he seizes on the faces of the big folk huddled around the fire. Not a comforting sight, as such, but at least their appearances are something familiar, some small item that he can recognize when nothing else makes any sense. "Doomsire..." the little ratfolk whispers, echoing the word that keeps intruding into his jumbled thoughts like some sort of mantra.

The big folks' eyes turn to Tik as he speaks, and he flinches involuntarily. Picking a twig up from the ground, he fiddles with it nervously. "Where... where are we?" he asks. "I remember... there was a, a bell? A courtyard?" His fingers move without conscious direction, stripping the bark from the tiny branch in his trembling hands. "How did we..." the words catch in his throat, and he gestures to their surroundings helplessly before huddling into a little furry ball, resting his aching head on his knees. "I'm so confused..." Tik mumbles forlornly.

Edited June 8, 2023 by Luthiel (see edit history)

[Vedast]

Tannus

Tannus caught the names of the two he had not recalled as each of the others took notice of those recognizable to them. Ichiro ... the face seemed to come into better focus. Frood, though, was simply a blank. The red-haired man's name, Horas, also slowly arose, as out of a fog. The woman, Grace. He should remember something about her. Jinx, Tik, Ichiro, Horas, Oz, Grace ... and Frood. And Tannus.

The conditions: the dry air and soil, the rocky mounds and outcroppings; the night owl. Something about them gave him confidence. Turning from the fire to allow his eyes to adjust, he stood and took a few steps; tentative, yes, but he seemed to move unconsciously with a familiar sliding gate.

Doomsire ... it still resonated.

They had warmth. The sky was clear; the air not too cold, but dry air cooled at night. Water? He listened to the night.

Water, he said, turning back as the others also began to move and take stock. They each appeared to have nothing other than the clothes they wore. That they all wore the same clothing seemed oddly unsurprising.

Water, he repeated dumbly ... still caught in the brain fog of ... whatever. We shall need water.

Doomsire ...

He looked to see whether the Owl was still there.

Edited June 8, 2023 by Vedast (see edit history)

[Eborne1]

"Stop the Doomsire... Stop the Dooms-- Wh-what am I saying...? Where am... WHERE AM I?!!", sputtered Frood, rising quickly and staggering back from the fire with a look of growing panic in his eyes.

The man called Tannus looked up to the old tree only in time to see a shaking tree limb where once sat the owl. He heard only the whisper of sudden flight; doubtless caused by Frood's voice that was cast out widely into the otherwise quiet of the night.

"WH-WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE?!!" stammered Frood.

"Would you calm yourself, please" came a voice that was astoundingly calm by contrast.

The elder Halfaelfarian woman seemed to have gotten her wits about her more quickly than others around the fire, "Panic won't serve any of us," she added firmly.

---

The voice of the elder is enough to bring you back to some semblance of your senses. You recall more clearly the Facility and the names you used there as well as those of the people around you. You remember the elder woman's name to be "Grace" and you find yourself suddenly grateful for her presence.

Frood is slow to gather himself. Fear lingers in his eyes and he continues straining to peer into the darkened land around you as if something lay just beyond the fire's light in ambush.
 

---

"What's going on Grace?" asked the boy, Oz, in a sheepish voice. "Where are we?"

"I don't know," Grace replied curtly but not without sympathy for the boy. She gazed at each of those with whom she found herself around the fire, assessing what she could of everyone's character and thereby what hope there may be. She found herself feeling grateful for what she saw.

"Let us all gather our wits about us," the elder said. She muffled a brief cough into her shirt sleeve and spoke slowly and deliberately. "We have this fire," she said, "... and none of us appears injured. It is my opinion that our tidings could be worse. It is also my opinion that we abide here until first light, at which time we might better find our bearings and decide on a plan of action."

"I would be keen to hear the thoughts of any who wish to share."

---

OOC

In your posts, cast your vote on remaining where you are for the night or venturing out in search of help/provisions.

--> Everyone make perception checks.

Edited June 10, 2023 by Eborne1 (see edit history)

[Luthiel]

Tik glances around at the big folk. His eyes function just fine in the darkness, but he's fairly certain that they can't see nearly as well once the sun goes down. "I... I don't mind going out now," he offers hesitantly, "but if the rest of you want to wait, that's... I mean, I'll go when the rest of you want to go. I don't mind the dark, but..." He pauses, casting his gaze outside the circle of firelight. "I don't want to go out by myself." The very thought makes him shiver a little, and he huddles down into his robes nervously.

 

Edited June 9, 2023 by Luthiel (see edit history)

[Vedast]

Tannus

... and heard only a whisper of sudden flight

Tannus spun around, giving Frood a hard stare, annoyance clear on his features. Frood still was something of a mystery to him, even with his clearing memory regarding The Facility. He didn't recallThis IC lack of recognition is because I don't recall Frood being mentioned in the Facility thread. Tannus interacted with Oz; and Grace was introduced towards the last. the man at all.

He recollected practicing the bow with Jinx; questions posed by Horas; a game played with Oz and Tik. Ichiro too, though less specific. Grace, yes.

He felt a sense of loss at the owl's flight.

He listened to Grace's words with ambivalence: he acknowledged an innate deference to her age and she spoke with a quiet tone of authority; and, yet, something too spoke to him of the night being the time for the hunt and Galdeia was rising, albeit reflecting only a pale light. And water was a serious concern - every fiber in his body spoke to this.

He wanted to suggest that perhaps two of the group reconnoiter whilst remaining in sight of the fire, but he held his tongue to allow the others their say. He had spoken already of the need for water.

He looked at Tik fondly - the ratfolk had the courage to speak of his fears.

As he pondered all this, Tannus kept his back mostly to the fire to allow his eyes to continue their adjustment.

There was life out there. And that meant predators ... and prey.

... And who had created this fire and brought them to this place?

 

 

Edited June 10, 2023 by Vedast
clarify the OOC text (see edit history)

[Leonidas1789]

Jinx - Human Rogue (MW Character Sheet)

---

AC: 14 | HP: 10/10 | Speed: 30' | Initiative: +6 | Fortitude: +1 Reflex: +6 Will: -1  | Hero Points: 1/1

---

She didn't even try to listen as the others talked; she just stared at the fire. It, too, was soothing and calmed down her mind.

And it suddenly dawned on her that the fire, the bell and the tea all shared that property...

"Do you think... Do you think the monks prepared this fire? It is just as mesmerizing... and soothing... as the bell." she said, turning to Grace.

To her, the old woman's presence was a relief; she was also happy to see a few familiar faces.

"If so, why? What do they expect us to do? They probably do not wish us to return to... our home."

 

 

 

---

---

OOC

N/A

 

Edited June 11, 2023 by Leonidas1789 (see edit history)

[Eborne1]

"I - I - I don't think I can just go home," Oz shyly exclaims with a look of concern. "Is that what you all are thinking? To go home?!"

'Stop the Doomsire'

Oz puts his hands over his ears and squeezes his eyes shut for a moment as if he were going to muffle out the sound of his own thoughts. "I know you all hear it too. That bell..... Th-this thought..."

"I - I HAVE to know. I can't live like this. I HAVE to know what IT is. It's the only thing I can think about."

---

"It's Ok, Oz...," Grace says trying to calm the boy. "You're not alone. I think we all feel this way. I imagine Jinx's question was rhetorical, but she's right. I have no ideas about the monk's designs, except that they've gone to great lengths to achieve them. My mind is.......... still so very foggy, but I don't think it was a short extent that we were kept within those walls. And now, suddenly this... Are we supposed to be soldiers? Pawns? Mere subjects of an experiment? I can't say... It's easily enough to drive one to insanity. But I feel we mustn't dwell too heavily upon it just now. There will be time for that."

"I agree that the fire is calming, but fires do tend to be. I don't know if it is a trick, but just that it's warm and will keep many animals at bay. But I agree that we need provisions, water foremost among them. If the group chooses to go now, I will not contest. But then my vision, too, is less hampered in this deep twilight than the humans among us.

I have said my piece."

---

"You're all crazy if you think we should just go wandering around out there now!" Frood interjects barely daring to gaze out into the darkness to which he refers. "WE CAN'T SEE ANYTHING!!" the man cries out, hoping his show of anger will be enough to mask his fear.

"There's no telling WHAT might be out there. We don't even know WHERE WE ARE!! No! No no no no... We need to stay here and keep this fire going. That's what I say."

 

Edited June 11, 2023 by Eborne1 (see edit history)

[Luthiel]

 

  Tik - Ratfolk Rogue 1

---

AC (CMD): 15 (12) | HP: 10/10 | Init: +4 | Perception: + 8 | Fort: +2 | Ref: +6| Will: +2 | Speed: 20 |

---

Tik flinches as Frood starts yelling, casting anxious glances around the area. He's being too loud... going to draw attention to us!  The little ratfolk makes frantic "shushing" gestures to the agitated big folk, the too-large sleeves of his robe flapping wildly. "I don't see anything out there... yet!" he tells Frood in a low voice, darting another look out beyond the campfire, "but if we keep making all this noise...!" Tik's voice trails off, leaving the obvious implications unsaid.

The rest of the big folk turn to look at Tik, and he shrinks back shyly, ashamed at his boldness in speaking out in such a way. Looking down quickly, he tries to divert their attention to a different topic. "We need to... I mean, I think it would be better to keep quiet and avoid notice. There... there's some rocks further out," he points out into the gloom, "and some more trees, too. I, um, I think we might maybe be able to find something we can use there?" Tik pauses, briefly, before adding, "ahh, whenever we do go out, of course."

 

OOC

OOC commentary

 

 

Edited June 12, 2023 by Luthiel (see edit history)

[Vedast]

 

  Tannus - Human Ranger (Infiltrator) 1

---

AC (CMD): 14 (17) | HP: 12/12 | Init: +3 | Prcptn DC: 13 | Fort: +5 | Ref: +5 | Will: +1 | Speed: 30 |

---

Tannus was grateful for Tik's intervention and nodded approvingly. He was growing annoyedEntirely an IC perspective! at Frood's outbursts and might have said something harsher: and still, Tannus could not recall the man. Tannus relented after a few moments. He did not like this situation so far out of his control -- and was desperate to be doing something - anything - constructive.

Tik, Tannus said with suppositional tone, were I - and maybe another? - to accompany you carrying lit faggots of wood from the fire, do you think you could guide us to these stones and trees?

To the group at large, he continued: we could at least arm ourselves with some rocks and, possibly, find a few with sufficiently sharp edges to allow us to cut some branches suitable for a short spear of sorts. If we find a stream come daylight, we might be able to use them to spear a few fish.

What Tannus did not voice was his growing sense that they were being tested or even toyed with. Even as his memory of the Facility emerged from the fog of this latest ... transition ... but this situation was necessarily contrived. But by whom and for what purpose? He remembered a question that he had asked himself once in the Facility ... had the orderlies once been inmates?
 

OOC

OOC commentary / combat actions

 

 

Edited June 12, 2023 by Vedast (see edit history)

[Harding]

As the conversations unfolded around him, the man maintained a keen attentiveness, his ears attuned to every word uttered. Memories continued to elude him, save for a faint glimmer of déjà vu that permeated his being, fostering a sense of trust in this enigmatic gathering. A deep empathy stirred within him as he observed the timid rat creature, its anxious demeanor hinting at trepidation about venturing alone into the surrounding woods. Inhaling a measured breath, he made a resolute decision.

"I will accompany you," he spoke with a gentle conviction. With a nod of deference towards Tik, he continued, "I am willing to venture into the darkness by your side, gathering the wood we need. I assure you, I am more than capable of protecting both of us."

Rising to his feet, he extended a helping hand towards Tik, a gesture of camaraderie and mutual support. Fear had no place within him as he prepared to tread through the obscurity, driven by an unexplainable confidence that he possessed the ability to defend himself without the aid of conventional weapons.

He awaited Tik's response, ready to embark on this joint endeavor without hesitation or apprehension. The bond of trust forged in the depths of their shared journey through the night would serve as an anchor, guiding them through the unknown with resilience and unity.