[OOC] Dick Blackman, The Moose

[Dragoknighte]

@Afina Here's what I've thought up for the setting. Got any input?

The world has been consumed by the forest. Few know that there was even a world where one could leave the forest, and fewer still remember what that world was like. The forest in dark, merciless and perpetually hungry, consuming the foolish who do not know its ways. Pockets of humans survive in small communities, hiding from the beasts of the wild in great underground caves left behind by the ancients or in the few glades of relative safety found within. Of these humans, two specific groups have arisen in power, not before thought capable, the witches and the druids.

The druids, one with nature have learned the ways of the forest and seek to protect the world from further damage. Each druid has aligned themselves with a wild animal and can shift between the form of man or beast at will. There are 8 known druids, 1 for each of the following animals: deer, fox, wolf, moose, squirrel, owl, rabbit and bear. The druids sequester themselves away from the world, isolated from even each other so they can see that nature is properly attended to.

The witches were rediscovered when the forest took over. Rare, unaging individuals with the ability to alter the fabric of reality through the concoction of potions and brews, the witches have an agenda of their own, but nobody can be quite sure of what exactly theirs is. It is known that the witches travel through the woods on foot, and it is theorized that they have a single place in which they congregate, but such a place has been a tightly kept secret.

Legend tells of the three greatest sources of power in the forest, hidden from even the eyes of the witches. Great pools of condensed magic, each corresponding to a portion of a man, body, mind and soul. Tale goes that once a man was able to drink from all three of these pools and become a god among men who ruled for a millenia, and the druids and witches have a tiny portion of his blood in them, granting them their amazing powers. But as far as the common folk can tell, is just a tale. And, clever as they are, these pools have been dubbed the Three Great Soups.

[Afina]

I like it, now are we going for a Druid and a Witch pairing I this or are we going full mundane? (And by that I mean not even skills like we find in dnd like bard songs or grease spells)

[Dragoknighte]

The original short stor-

The plot generator had druid and witch, but I'm fine with any combination of character types.

[Afina]

I can pull a witch, have a few worked up already, different setting mind you but can rework them. Actually think I will go with a fresh one, I have a few ideas. With the title are we wanting to go more comical with this or serious?

[Dragoknighte]

Well I already put in the effort to take what I was given and make an actual setting from it, let's try to keep things mostly serious.

[Afina]

Will do, that I can work with. Will start on a cs, anything you are looking for in particular spell wise, potion abilities. Such as limitations and the like or have a specific type of cs you want for this?

[Dragoknighte]

Well, the way I have things in my head, the potions aren't really all that good for combat or anything. Like, a potion you carry on you can do relatively minor, but potentially powerful things like making things slippery, giving something bad luck, shaking something vigorously, etc. To pull off something really powerful requires mixing a lot of crazy ingredients in a big cauldron Macbeth-style. More prep-time=bigger pay-off. Assuming your character isn't a greenhorn, you should carry enough ingredients on you at any time to make at least a couple batches of some of their "staple" potions, which could take maybe a couple hours to put together. Ingredients for "common" potions are not too hard to come by if you know where to look. Also, add in some potion miscibility from 1st edition D&D, where ingesting/applying two potions in too short a time leads to weird effects since the magics interact in unpredictable ways.

I don't care about the format of the CS as long as I can read it.

[Afina]

Hrm, okay. Yeah not going novice but not a master potion maker. Was thinking of her starting in an old cabin in the woods, cauldron included. There is an old song by a woman called Gypsy that is named "Two Witches" - was inspired to make a character based off the witch by the sea in the song.

[Dragoknighte]

That should be fine, but perhaps instead of being in a cabin, she lives a not silver, miniscule bungalow filled with ginger eyebrows?

[Afina]

Lmao, okay, can work with something along that. Brainstorming the cs.

[Dragoknighte]

Just to be completely clear, you totally don't have to go with the bungalow if you don't want to.

[Afina]

I know, I have it as a base for size. Have an alternate idea. Think it will play out well, will have it in the cs.

[Dragoknighte]

Hider

Name: Dick Blackman
Gender: Male
Age, Apparent: 25
Age, Actual: 38
Occupation: Druid (Moose)
Appearance: Compared to most people in the current times, Dick is taller, healthier looking and more muscular than the majority of people. By today's standards, he's not really taller than average, standing at the respectable 5' 11" and weighing 205 lbs in his human form. His skin is thick, most notably the callouses covering the bottom of his palms and soles of his feet. He has some kind of scraggly facial hair from not shaving, but not really enough to call it a "beard." His hair is poofy, nappy and not easily restrained or soaked through.
Personality: Dick is a lot less grim than one would expect a druid to be. When most people hear "druid" they tend to think of grim, brooding old men who sit around doing nothing all day. Well, nature doesn't sit still. It's doing things all the time. Even though a mountain never "moves" it's constantly changing its face, eroding, becoming a different being. And it's not so much that he's more in-tune with his surroundings than anyone else, it's just that the world is beautiful, and he can appreciate that wherever he sees it. His ability to retain a constant sense of wonder is what lets him do what he does. Well, that's how Dick sees it. The others have their own philosophies, but this is neither the place nor time. All things said, Dick is a friendly, jovial guy in a dark, spooky forest.
Skills: Dick has mastered the ability to shapeshift into a moose, able to do so with a thought and maintain either form near-indefinitely. And he is able to selectively shapeshift limbs, giving his human form moose antlers for example. On top of this he has access to the following skills: Survival, Direction Sense, Herbalism, Healing, Animal Handling
Possessions: Dick owns almost nothing, he lives off the land and uses what he can find in the area to fix his problems. His only really possessions he has are some hide pants and coat he wears in his human form and a walking stick made out of dense, dark wood.
History: Xavier spent most of his early life in the dark. His parents lived in one of the human settlements in one of the sets of Precursor Tunnel Systems found in the world. It was always dimly lit and rectangular. Great thorny roots flowed through the tunnel at ocassional intervals, but other than that, it was mostly secure environment from outside threats. There was one rule given to people growing up, do not leave the tunnels. The adult men would sometimes leave the tunnel to go up into the outside world to hunt for food. Usually everyone would come back, but it was deemed far too dangerous for children to venture out.

Despite these rules, Dick felt constantly drawn to whatever was outside the tunnels. Whatever was tugging at him evidently did not appreciate having to wait, because at the ripe age of 12, the movement of many great roots caused the ceiling to shift and cleave the human settlement in twain, each half of the village losing vast numbers of people under the rubble, Dick being one of them. Buried in dirt and thinking himself doomed, 12 year old Dick struggled and squirmed to survive until his hand latched onto something wet. It was mud?

With a newfound sense of direction, Dick found that he had managed to pull himself out of the rubble and into some odd place he had never seen before. There was so many colors, and there was so much above him in the skies, with so many tiny flames in the sky. He recalled them being called "stars." This moment had a damper put on by the fact that the wet thing he felt had been the fecal matter of some moose that were standing in the same area Dick was. Alive, but hopelessly lost from his hometown, Dick learned the ways of the forest surviving through a combination of wits, cunning, hard experiences and dumb luck. These first hard years in the wild are when he found his true calling as a druid and learned the craft of shape shifting through instinct and odd flashes of inspiration.

Since then, Dick has discovered that there were more people period, other people like him, odd women who carried around weird concoctions, and managed to actually meet all of his fellow druids.

[Afina]

My Hider

Name: Kira Steros

Age: 27

Race: Human

Class: Witch

Height: 5’6”

Weight: 127lbs

Alignment: Chaotic Good

Appearance:

Eyes: Brown

Hair: Brown

Skin: Olive

Voice: Hollow Alto

Familiar: Raven (Legratha)

Skills: Dagger, Quarter Staff, Witchcraft, Survival, Foraging, Runes, Recipe Book, Researching Recipes, Salves, Apply Salves, Incense, Burn Incense, Witchglyphs, Component Types, Nature Sense, Erect Cauldron, Animal Companion, Wild Empathy, Erect Tripod, Wand, Craft Wand, Craft Staff, Alchemy, Potions, climbing, tree running, vine useage, fire starting

Potions: Salve Of Slippeirness, Stone Salve, Cure Light wounds, Endure Elements, Jump, Poison, Cure Poison, Inflict Light wounds, Magic Circle Against Evil, Purify Water

Armor: None Currently

Weapons: Sacrificial dagger

Possessions: Clothing on back, water skin, handful of dried rations, clothing, water skin, rope, large black leather piece, bottles, corks, pouch of runes, salve of slipperiness, cure light wounds, endure elements, cure poison, pack, twigs, spell book, ink, ink well, quills, flint and steel

Residence Lives in the hollow of a large tree that resides against a hill, it opens up to a larger area but only about 15x15 feet at the most. Small pile of furs for a bed, piece of canvas on the ground as a work area with a slab of wood as a table top resting on it. Various bottles, books, ink, feathers, herbs that are dried hanging, components for potions and salves, incense, animal bones, fire pit in the center

Personality: A bit stand offish of people but quick to warn up to people. Tends to stay away from humans because they tend not to take well to witches. She stays to herself in her little hovel and is friendly with the local wildlife but knows better than to get to close. When all else fails, she runs and climbs.

History: Kira has been on her own since the tender age of ten, daughter of a witch and a human. Her father ran off after finding out what her mother was. Her mother raised her in the forest and taught her all she knew before she was slaughtered by humans. Kira hid in the trees to keep out of sight and after her mothers death she gathered what she could and ran off into the forest as deep as she could. Over the years she learned the woods and found a hovel to reside in away from the prying eyes of others.

[Dragoknighte]

@Afina Alright, I only have a few nitpicks with your Character Sheet, although it's probably more on me than you because these are things I've only alluded to rather than explicitly state and a lot of things are just vague details in my head that I haven't properly communicated. The only known magic in this setting is the shapeshifting of druids and the potions of the witches. In theory, it could be possible harness magic in another form, but if so, it hasn't been figured out. The brewing of the potions is essentially a way to stabilize magic in a form that it could actually be put to use. It's a bit like how we can synthesize anti-matter, but it's almost immediately canceled out after creation since it touches matter. Nobody actually knows how druid shape-shifting works because the druids themselves don't really care, nor will they let the witches study it. So as it is, there are no conventional D&D spells and there aren't magical items. Kira could still know how to make wands and staffs, but they wouldn't be magical in nature. However, only those who know the secrets of magic (other witches) know this. Most people get the hell out of dodge if they see a witch pull a wand out of her sleeve because they don't want to be turned into a newt.

This is more of a semantics things, but all druids and witches are human. Like 1 in 200 girls will be born a witch, and a child born by a witch is most likely also going to be a witch, but otherwise bloodline doesn't really affect latent magical ability. I know you were probably using it as an easy way to differentiate the magical from the non-magic, but I feel like I had to bring it up.

[Afina]

Okay, can remove spells easily enough. Other than that from what I am reading the rest is okay. (And staves and wands was just widdling, not magically atoning, so they would just be pretty sticks as it were)

[Dragoknighte]

I forgot to mention, potions here are a bit more flexible than they would be in a game of D&D. You can ingest it or rub it into something to apply the effects on an item as per usual, but they can also function like grenade weapons. Like if you threw a salve of slipperiness onto the ground, it would function like the grease spell. Or if you threw a potion of Inflict Wounds onto a cliff side covered with vines, they would snap and send anybody or anything climbing on them hurtling towards the ground. Contact with the solution is enough to transfuse the magic into it.

[Afina]

That sounds very useful, will keep that in mind.

[Dragoknighte]

Now I actually have to get off my butt and come up with a coherent plot.