compass

Person of Interest-- another cell of the Machine's agents!

one more hope 4 gl0ry

The Mystery of Castle Larendale

>>--Andry Laughwell--->

Come just after sundown, when the day's plowing, washing, and hammering was at its end, the weary workers of Kasdella would make their way to the local pub. They ambled inside, found seats, sipped at a pint that would slowly loosen their taut muscles and open their hearts to laughter again. And every evening, a foreign halfling named Andry Laughwell would be there to aid them in that endeavor.

Andry performed for the patrons as part of her boarding contract with the innkeeper, but really, free housing was just a bonus for the opportunity to perform, to bring alive the ghosts of legend, to make all those present bear witness to the glory and heartache of the past, which demands to be felt! Or so she would say. Andry was mortal like everyone else, and needed a safe place to stay. Especially these days.

It had grown harder and harder for her to stir up the souls of the patrons. The rumors about the nearby keep were circulating the town like pollen on the wind, taking hold in their hearts and saturating them with trepidation. At first, her usual songs about great heroes coming to rescue poor villages of hardworking folk were received with sadness and anxiety. Then she tried singing of the gods, and noticed that, instead of staring at her intently and swaying along with the undulations of her lute, the people were pressing their hands together and dipping their heads in prayer. So on the last night, Andry remained in the corner of the pub several minutes past her call time, wondering what she could do to restore some life to the people of Kasdella.

She made her way over to the window at the north end of the pub and looked out over the fields and hills, turning inky blue in the growing moonlight, to the solemn wood that encircled Castle Larendale like dark parapets. She couldn't well sing of the strengths of walls built by renowned imperial builders, nor could she serenade the valor and diligence of knights. The people of Kasdella had no one who they could expect to come to their aid, no local garrison, no feudal protectors. All they had were farmers, smithies, the occasional weaver, and whatever vagabonds might wander through the inn.

Andry turned her back to the window and made her way to the middle of the room. She cleared her throat and tapped her foot against the dull bustle of the pub. She fingered the strings of her lute and began to pluck a tune whose notes floated from her instrument as cautiously as a butterfly at first, and then with the composed desperation of songbird:

We sing a song of the brave,
Nay of knights, nor lords, nor knaves,
We sing a song of the brave,
And all the hope we have gave.

Come forth, ye brave, and sing!
Raise thy glinting sword and swing!

For we are your people,
And we are all kings,
And hope to this land we shall bring.

The patrons amused themselves by watching and listening to Andry the way a wise woman listens to a hollow promise or an elaborate lie. So she bit her lip at the end of the verse, fingers plucking dutifully at the strings of her lute while she tried to think of something else to sing to the unaffected crowd...

D&D (but no dice roll) small group campaign: The Mystery of Castle Larendale

We have one more spot open and are about to begin if anyone wants to join!

The Mystery of Castle Larendale

I am working on the intro for this now. Haven't had the time today like I was hoping. I will do my best to get it started tomorrow, but I cannot guarantee when it will be. If there is anyone else that is interested, I think we could still manage to bring people in until our characters finally start off toward the castle. @compass - what do you think about that?
The first few posts are intended for our characters to be arriving at the town and gathering information to help with the venture into the castle.

Also, here's my character.

Tia Nialo

image

--BASICS--
Name: Tivona “Tia” Nialo
Age: 115
Race: Elf
Class: Wizard, specializing in Evocation
Religion or Worshiped Deity: None, though she occasionally pays respects to the various gods of magic.
Height: 5’
Weight: 115

--SKILLS & EQUIPMENT--

Equipment: A bag enchanted to hold far more inside than outside (i.e. Bag of Holding, type 3), rapier, light crossbow, magical vestments (designed to hold many pockets to allow massive amounts of spell components to be held on person without ladening her with pouches), spell components (including a decent amount of pearls kept in her enchanted bag.) Has 3 large tomes (kept in enchanted bag) for her spells, and 2 more blank tomes for scribing more spells into.

Skills: Charismatic and quite in tune with detecting others intentions, she can adapt quite well in conversation to get the result she wants whether it means being diplomatic or intimidating. Quite inventive with spells, able to cast spells in a variety of ways. Decent with a rapier if necessary, but prefers light crossbow when out of spells as she is slightly more experienced with it. Extremely good at spotting magical items or individuals of magical persuasion, and estimating resell value of magical items. Decent Hearing and Sight. Capable of crafting potions, scrolls, and wands from spells she knows but is far better at crafting scrolls than anything else and better at potions than embedding wands with spells.

Class or Racial Features: Has a familiar, Low-Light Vision, Immune to magical sleep, increased resistance to enchantments, has an increased sense for hidden rooms and compartments

Languages: Common, Elvish, Draconic, Dwarven, Infernal, Celestial (can read languages associated with those alphabets as well.)

--BIOGRAPHY--

Ideals: Mastering magic to the point of creating it is paramount for her. Safety for those around the use of magic comes second, closely followed by general safety for herself and those around her. Sharing - knowledge, money, supplies, etc - is also important, but not at the risk of any of the other things. These are all things she learned from the elders in her home village, as well as the masters at the mage college where she studied.

Bonds: She is strongly connected to those of her village as equally as her family. There is no individual she is connected with stronger than any other in the village. The only individual she is strongly connected to, and occasionally does still write for advice, is Master Evoker Aramil Xiloscient who was her mentor and had been the one to suggest she follow the path of a wizard when she was still knee high.

Personality traits: Energetic with a short attention span, often charging into situations with very little planning ahead of time. Extremely confident, but avoids flaunting capabilities - though has very little problem attempting to verbally intimidate others when necessary and using cantrips to help sell it. At times, tends to be exceedingly curious about others, and has a habit of asking inappropriate personal questions to find out more about someone. Enjoys troubleshooting problems, coming up with creative solutions to obstacles.

Flaws: Will act without others if there is too much time discussing form of action. Can be intrusive/persistent to get answers. Cannot cast spells from Enchantment or Necromancy schools of magic. Often follows the philosophy of magic solves everything. Doesn’t like being up close in fights. Tends to touch and examine things without verifying it’s safe first, which also occasionally (often) leads to pocketing things. Obsessed with magic objects.

Background: Tivona is the youngest daughter of a farmer and a bard. Her mother taught her long ago to value the safety of others (both creatures and beings) and the sanctity of sharing with those around her. Her father taught her curiosity, pushing to get what she wants, and never giving up. While her mother worked the fields, she spent a lot of time with her father and the other educators in the village to learn all that they could teach. It was doing this that she met Master Aramil Xiloscient - an instructor from a mage college not far from the village - who had come on a journey to recruit young magically inclined individuals to join the college. She quickly persuaded her parents that was where she needed to be, and started attending the college by the age of 65 - still relatively considered a teenager.
She started off with learning everything she could, experimenting with various schools of magic and even experimenting as a divine magic caster for a while. This experimenting continued for just under three decades. It was after a deep conversation with Master Aramil - following her hundredth year celebration where she chose a new name to go by - that she finally figured out what she really enjoyed as a spellcaster. It was then that she focused on evocation, and specialized in it.
About a year ago, she set out from the college to experience the world abroad as well as learn magic beyond the confines of a structured setting. That was how she happened upon hearing the call for help for the small town and couldn’t resist the opportunity.

--MISC--

Other: Her familiar - Cele’bagar - is a pseudodragon. He is pretty average in size, roughly three feet long - though most of that is tail - with typical features aside from being a silvery red color. Cele is pretty mischievous, and loves shiny things almost as much as Tia enjoys magic things. He also enjoys preening and loves being complimented. When he feels like it, he can communicate with others via telepathy using Common - though this isn’t a very common occurrence until he gets to know them well. For the most part, he stays draped over Tia’s shoulders while napping or just to not have to do any moving on his own.

image

@Sanguine Rose

Sounds good, I'd be willing to still let people in as we begin the intro! And I'll add your character to the cast.

The Mystery of Castle Larendale

Booo. So it Looks like I'm gonna need to back out. 2nd floor my house flooded and I need to figure some stuff out. So sorry. Have fun.

@Fuzzybootz

Unfortunate :( But good luck with taking care of that flood.

The Mystery of Castle Larendale

I got side tracked by some RL stuff and could not complete my CS. Though I am working on a half-elf rogue whos got a Robin Hood complex. Hopefully Ill have it done tomorrow.

@Fuzzybootz

Sounds good. We won't be able to begin until Monday anyway

The Mystery of Castle Larendale

@Deft Dreamer I enjoyed your CS very much. Andry Laughwell's favorite colors are forest green and turquoise :P

The Mystery of Castle Larendale

Ok. Well I guess I have a few more questions before I commit.

How much of this do you have planned out? I ask because I am a fan of structure and find RPs without it tend to die quickly.

Is this basicly a dungeon dive? Im Just curious.

How do you feel about more mature content, like cursing, violence, and Romance? I tend to like things on the darker side of things and prefer to write with those that arnt squeamish.

@Fuzzybootz

Not super planned on my part, but Sanguine has run this as a campaign before, so the plot premise comes from them. They may have a clear idea about the direction of the story; I'll let them answer your question in more detail as I myself am pretty new to D&D and basically along for the ride.

And as for your second question, mature content is perfectly fine.

The Mystery of Castle Larendale

I sadly have to rescind my interest in joining not for lack of interest, but rather there's just too much on my plate at the moment.
Best of luck to all.

@FiroIV

Oh, thanks for letting us know. Good luck to you!

In other news, I've posted my character and added myself to the cast. We'll likely begin the story in earnest soon-- thank you all for demonstrating interest and being so patient :D

The Mystery of Castle Larendale

Here is my character, Andry Laughwell, the wandering storyteller-hunter:

Andry Laughwell

--BASICS--
Name: Andry Laughwell (F)
Age: 40
Race: Lightfoot Halfling
Class: Ranger
Religion or Worshiped Deity: Yondalla, Goddess of Halflings, and Pelor, God of Sun, Light, Strength, and Healing
Height: 4 ft
Weight: 40 lbs

--SKILLS & EQUIPMENT--
Equipment: She wears hide armor and carries two daggers. Her main weapon is her shortbow.

Skills: Andry is a deadly shot with a bow on account of having been trained as a hunter in her youth before spending several years traveling with a druidic circle. She has also picked up quite a mastery of survival skills; she remembers the layout of any land she's been to quite well and can find plenty of food or water in the wilds. That said, Andry's not entirely rough-and-tumble; she loves to play her lute and can often bring people to tears or utter joy with her stories.

Class or Racial Features: As a lightfoot halfling, Andry is stealthy, nimble, and charismatic. Her ranger training has made her accustomed to light and medium armor as well as weapons of the simple and martial kind.

Languages: Common, Halfling

--BIOGRAPHY--
Ideals: Andry idealizes hardworking communities, be they fisherpeople, farmers, or herders. She is grateful to the halfling village that raised her, and her fondest memories come from her childhood of playing in the fields, enjoying music and storytime around the fire after a hard day of work, and exploring the wilds around her home (much to her parents' dismay). Though she has begun to appreciate the liveliness and power of cities and the structure of other societies, she is still very much a wary tourist in these lands, and can't help but think most of these people live (even unbeknownst to them) in corruption and moral squalor.

Bonds: Andry loves her home village, though she had come to discover that she was not meant to live as a farmer her whole life. She has since set out on her own and is trying to find her true calling in this world. Whether she is meant to be a traveling storyteller, a village protector, or something else she cannot yet say.
Personality traits: Lighthearted, prone to dramatic flair, self-confident, gentle

Flaws: As a result of her ideals, Andry is wary of authority. She respects elder figures, but she has no trust of appointed officials or, worst of all, nobles and royalty. She thinks these people exist to exploit simple folk. She is entirely resistant to bowing her head at authority, in a literal and figurative sense, and this hot-headed righteousness has gotten her into many a quarrel during her travels, even leading her to flee (and swear never to return to) one city after badmouthing the watchmen.

Background: Andry was raised in a small halfling farming settlement. This was a peaceful pastoral village of hardworking people who taught Andry the basics of the trade, but there were two passions which ultimately pulled Andry away from the fields. The first was storytelling. Every night after working the fields, Andry's community would gather around the fires and listen to the performances of its people, whether these were musical recitals or epic adventure tales. Enchanted by these stores, Andry yearned to have her own adventures, and suddenly the beautiful pastoral simplicity of farming life became inadequate for her. Then, she was made to train with the hunters. They taught the teenage Andry how to shoot a bow, track animals, and find clean water to drink. She eventually came to live with a druidic circle whose religious and philosophical beliefs would influence the young and impressionable Andry, though she could not subscribe to their lifestyle. She set off for the unknown once more, unable to bring herself to return to her home village now that she has tasted freedom. She has spent the last two years wandering with various musicians and acting troupes, often opting to live off the land and make a coin or two off of some pelts as well. Now Andry grows restless again; she is searching for a higher calling then leisurely contemplation.