Fetzen

Blades of the Blood Coast

I meant just away from the group :) Your post gave the impression to me that you assumed he'd be in listening range to the others, or is it me who's mistaken ?

Blades of the Blood Coast

Lorcan let go of an internal sigh. So exactly what part about them had put them above the threshold from which on the guards of this place considered an individual to be a potential 'ruffian' ? The Skayleigh darted a quick glance over towards those of their party that had been allowed to enter without harm and a spontaneous suspicion came into mind:

"Erm... excuse me, but is it a mere coincidence that we four clearly represent the more muscular part of our group ? Is that the criterion for you to decide who's to pay the tax and who isn't ?"

He had been a bard long enough to have some training in spontaneous talking, even though this time it was not so much meant for entertainment but for an actual conversation with some degree of sincerity.

"As someone who clearly is on the less agile side of things I can tell you that small people have their own methods for causing turmoil that are on equal terms with what 'ruffians' can do: A foul word here, a dagger there, a well placed spit in one's face or maybe even some scheming and you have people go after each other just as well. Of course you are not the city council, but I want to be honest and express my doubt about the validity of the chosen method. I do not believe it brings more security, but on the contrary..."

When referencing to 'foul words', Lorcan had a bit of a hard time not to look at a certain Burrahob. He did not want to cast anybody in a negative light here, but maybe for the others it was already obvious enough whom he was talking about.

"You are depriving the city of able bodied men and women since not everyone of them might be willing or able to pay the tax others do not have to pay in the first place. Yet at the same time you do not look at anybody's mental state or personality which, in my opinion, is the very first thing to check if you want to scan for potential troublemakers."

Lorcan took a deep breath before he continued.

"So, how long do you think will the city's economy be able to feed off such an imbalanced, greatly biased workforce ? And how long do you think will it take until the city council realizes that the current tax system does hardly improve security at all ?"

There were a few other things in Lorcan's mind still. That they could just wait for the next shift and make another attempt, speculating on none of the new guards having been told about their ugly faces, for example. Or that maybe he'd be able to convince Raddek and Reyvadin to carry him into the city in a plant tub in order to save 2 silver lordlings. Or did potentially malicious plants have to pay taxes in this place as well ?

Rolls

Persuasion: 1

Does anybody know how frustrating it is to have to try and wrap such bad rolls into posts that make sense somehow ?

Blades of the Blood Coast

Now that has thoroughly derailed for me... I hoped that writing 'but it dawned upon him that he'd have to recite it far away from the others' would be enough of a hint that Lorcan would not be so stupid to blast it out in front of everyone right away, but merely think of it or at least wait until he'd be out of immediate acoustic range.

Now see what has happened. He's absolutely screwed now

The Prince's Royal Guard

Manald Halung

Down in the dungeons ?

It took a mere moment for the lycanthrope to understand that this could only mean that not everything had gone according to plan this night. There simply was no reason the beastman could imagine that would make any of the persons mentioned spend his or her good night's sleep in the dungeons instead of some more comfortable place, unless something serious had happened. His own departure from the dormatory had only been caused by special circumstances as well after all.

What could that special reason be ? Another open attack at night would have resulted in general alarm, but such was nowhere to be heard. Also any issues in the city not related to any attackers would probably be delegated towards the mayor and his subordinates instead of bothering the military presence here. So all that was left to think of were more assassins. It would make sense to gather in the dungeon then, a more controllable position than being spread thin throughout the entire building. A development he might have missed in the meantime!

Manald hurried down the stone staircases, the claws on his feet preventing him from slipping more than once as he paid little attention to the placement of his huge feet on the steps. If the whole affair had been a big waterslide instead of a staircase... he'd have used it happily anyway. Unfortunately 'dungeons' only gave a rough indication that his destination had to be somewhere 'downstairs', but the exact path to the Captain remained unclear until he started asking the guards. Those however did not seem to be very fond of his appearance and it took a rather annoying number of presentations of his insignia to get some definite information. At least that meant that security was working here, or was it ? What if assassins had indeed managed to enter the castle as well ?

Manald could not spot any more dubious persons with suspicious demeanor, clothes or behavior down there however, albeit he spared himself from looking into each and every cell. He walked through as many hallways as he could before coming to the firm belief that he had seen everything at least once. The overall situation seemed calm enough to Manald that he deemed his further presence down here unncessary. Also the whole affair had taken so long that entirely continuing on his own would have been quite inefficient. Maybe others already had more of a general idea what was going on, or at least they would be able to tell him that they had no clue so he'd be able to tell them to be careful!

Also... would turning into full wolf have made the whole process a lot faster ? Just releasing an infernal howl straight from hell and scare off any intruders even if they're two levels above because they don't know that there's a 'friendly' lycanthrope around ? And many others would have gathered to investigate, so he'd have had an easy time getting an initial head count! The idea sounded tempting, but the imagination of just how disgruntled many of the castle's legitimate inhabitants could be after such a course of action did not.

So, an uncomforting bunch of both minutes and guards later, Manald found himself in the spymaster's quarters on a mere two feet, as usual. Firmly believing that more had happened than just himself encountering two assassins on the open street, the beastman addressed the other person:

"I want a full report! Have 'my' two assassins been the only ones ?"

Blades of the Blood Coast

We have a kind of druid who can probably talk to trees so why stop at human characters?

@Penny

Which character do you mean ?

Blades of the Blood Coast

My favorite thing about Lorcan is that he just comes up with diss tracks for everyone he doesn't like, seemingly regularly.

@DrRtron

Well I'm glad there's somebody who likes them :)

I hope the party won't get any bigger, it's already quite time consuming to come up with a track for everyone

Forsaken

Mardyn

So this was the town people called 'Forsaken' ?

What a weird and out-of-the-norm name considering that people tended to whitewash downsides and exaggerate the positives about the things they, for some reason, called their property. This settlement indeed appeared to be rather forsaken to Mardyn. God-forsaken to be precise, simply because god probably would never allow the existence of a place so dusty and littered with the remains of everybody's business which, of course, seemed more focused on profit and speed than on sustainability.

Or was this opinion and first impression just heavily biased towards the negative ? Maybe because the inhabitants of Forsaken so far had done very little to give Mardyn a warm welcome ? Maybe the first bunch of people that had still turned their heads long after he had passed them had rendered him a bit paranoid, but there only seemed to come more and more of them! With their greedy eyes they stopped dead in their tracks and inadvertently formed temporary, human roadblocks that required evasive action more often than not. And had he just heard someone saying 'Look! He doesn't even have a gun!' ?

The good thing was that this Mr. Garrick had to be rich, even extremely rich to be able to spend no less than 15,000 gold coins on a mere escort job. Mardyn considered the odds of this being a fraud to be low given that even a rich man might cease to sleep well if an entire bunch of mercenaries was out there waiting to release their anger against him. So... whereever the estate Mardyn was looking for was... it had to be big and eexquisite. This inevitably meant that it was way easier to find than your average building -- a big plus considering the overall situation.

Half an hour later or so, the goliath found himself in front of a pair of gold-plated gates. Weren't those excessively impractical ? Gold was soft and easy to break through so the defensive value was dubious. Also some poor soul probably had to clean them every other day in order to maintain exactly the same shiny appearance that had such great potential to burn an innocent visitor's eyes out right away if the sun came in from the right angle. The walls looked way better though, solid and well built. Just how unfathomably deep had the pockets of Mr. Garrick to be in order to afford and maintain all of this ? The idea of switching business briefly streaked across Mardyn's mental horizon like a shooting star, just long enough to be noticed before intuition kicked in and reminded him that his duties were at complete discord with this thought.

Mardyn had been standing at the golden gates for less than five minutes before the latter were opened from inside and a finely dressed man with pointy ears approached him, craning his neck to inspect the newcomer.

"Sir, maybe I ask for your appointment ?" came it out of the butler's mouth with quite blatant training in terms of politeness.

Oh, yes! Gray hands larger than plates started patting down the clothes on Mardyn's skin until they finally caused the characteristic rustle of paper. From the inner pocket of his shirt, Mardyn presented the letter he had received from Mr. Garrick. The half-elf's facial expression switched from curiosity to sincerity as he started reading, only to suffer from a brief glitch of disappointment seconds later before returning to normal. Damn, this big guy was not part of the demolition team that was scheduled to finally tear down that abandoned building nearby!

"You may enter. I'll guide you to the study where the others have assembled."

The place was a palace... Never before had Mardyn seen anything that had come even close to the superb craftsmanship and artistic value so openly visible. He couldn't help but feel admiration, while at the same time he was disgusted. No mortal person could do so much work with her very own hands to earn all of this! Or, in other words and according to Mardyn's logic, many others had been given less than they had worked for. This was not exactly a bonus for his sympathy for this ominous Mr. Garrick.

The goliath entered the study using a duck-and-sideways technique for the doorframe was sufficient neither for his height nor for the broadness of his shoulders. He knew himself that this had potential for causing laughter, but saw little choice to do otherwise. Some others were already there and Mardyn dared to dart a quick glance towards everyone of them, silently nodding as a form of greeting at the same time.

The first thing to strike his mind was the presence of the large tiefling. This Mr. Garrick clearly wasn't picky in the traditional sense of most people, otherwise he might not have chosen one of the devilish kind. Mardyn did not exactly share this common prejudice, but he also wan't oblivious to its rather ubiquitous existence. The man clearly gave the impression of an able bodied fighter, just like what was to be expected.

Then there was the.... Genasi ? Mardyn had always had a little trouble with distinguishing them from some of the other races, but she just had to be a Fire Genasi he tried to reassure himself. Fragile and looking as if capable of being blown away by a gust of wind just like a mere tumbleweed, the goliath had to remind himself not to underestimate this individual to begin with. There were firearms, there was magic and there was speed. He expected not to be surprised when she'd display all three of them one day.

The Orc called Rokkit was hard to overlook. Couldn't the greenskin just have been a little more respectful to take of this massive armor before stepping in ? He certainly wouldn't need that in here, would he ? And Mr. Garrick probably wouldn't be fond of some scratches on his expensive floor caused by unnecessary heavy boots either. Needless to say that the couch looked as if nobody else could dare to sit down there as well even if there was enough room left. On the plus side the Orc's bulk underneath was hard to overlook. It would most likely need a lot more than one humble revolver shot to get this one down, except maybe for a quite exceptional marksman.

The tabaxi appeared like another bulwark of a man, but Mardyn deemed Drops of Rain to be much more unfortunate than the Orc once he spotted the prosthetic. He felt pity, but didn't express it openly at this point. If he had understood things correctly, everyone here had been more or less hand picked by their employer, so either Mr. Garrick was an ignorant fool or the individual in front of Mardyn's eyes was still capable of proving himself.

And another cat! Mardyn started to like Thunder's fur already even if, in his opinion, the number of different browns spread across Thunder's clothes didn't undo the utter mismatch of color. More bare black instead of brown and one ridiculous hat with openings for special ears less would have been better!

Just as Mardyn's view turned away in order to find a place to sit down for himself he saw something else. The subtle sight instantly cast a gentle smirk on his face which he did not hesitate to show towards the half-elf butler who still stood behind him. The goliath's right hand reached for the top of a large bookshelf and swept across it: dust! Some of the house's servants hadn't dared to take a little shortcut because this Mr. Garrick probably couldn't see this without a ladder anyway, had they ?

Then Mardyn sat down on the bare floor, not trusting any of the furniture present to suit him well.

Forsaken

Mardyn

---

---

Mardyn

---

---

ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕣𝕒𝕔𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝕊𝕦𝕞𝕞𝕒𝕣𝕪

ℕ𝕒𝕞𝕖: Mardyn
𝔸𝕝𝕚𝕒𝕤𝕖𝕤: None so far. He'll likely get a worthy name from his tribe once his trial is complete.
𝔸𝕘𝕖: 22
𝕊𝕡𝕖𝕔𝕚𝕖𝕤: Goliath
𝔾𝕖𝕟𝕕𝕖𝕣: Male
𝕆𝕔𝕔𝕦𝕡𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟: Sellsword
𝔸𝕝𝕚𝕘𝕟𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕥: Neutral good

---

---

𝔸𝕡𝕡𝕖𝕒𝕣𝕒𝕟𝕔𝕖

ℍ𝕖𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥: 8'7
𝔹𝕦𝕚𝕝𝕕: He's a thick boned pillar of an individual with a lot of refined muscle.
𝔼𝕪𝕖𝕤: Light blue and quite ordinary.
ℍ𝕒𝕚𝕣: His hair is long, almost black and neatly arranged to a pony tail that reaches well past his shoulders.
𝕊𝕜𝕚𝕟 𝕋𝕠𝕟𝕖: A relatively bright gray.
𝕋𝕒𝕥𝕥𝕠𝕠𝕤/𝕊𝕔𝕒𝕣𝕤/ℙ𝕚𝕖𝕣𝕔𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕤: There are some smaller scars along his belly region, but they are not visible most of the time due to his clothes. Otherwise he's littered with finely drawn tattoos and some naturally occurring, much darker patches of skin.
ℙ𝕖𝕣𝕤𝕠𝕟𝕒𝕝 𝕊𝕥𝕪𝕝𝕖: It has to be simple and sturdy. Mardyn has not so much tolerance for tight clothing, but prefers baggy trousers and thick linen shirts instead. He loves fur whenever it's a little more cold in the night and is not hesitant to expose his bare skin if things become hot.

---

---

ℙ𝕖𝕣𝕤𝕠𝕟𝕒𝕝𝕚𝕥𝕪:

Proud * Honest * Feroceous * Introvert * Zealot * Intelligent

ℝ𝕖𝕝𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟𝕤𝕙𝕚𝕡 𝕊𝕥𝕒𝕥𝕦𝕤: Unmarried
ℚ𝕦𝕖𝕤𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟𝕟𝕒𝕚𝕣𝕖:

What first impression do you make?
Most of the times I can see fear in the eyes of those who encounter me for the first time. They think I'd trample them and break their things if they provoke me or even accidentally. They are rather hesitant to let me enter their houses or even just to shake hands, but take one or two steps backwards instead. Others see my size as an opportunity to mock me, thinking they're fast and I'm slow and just waiting for me to bang my head somewhere. I've to admit that it's not like they'd actually be wrong with that sort of expectations, but still... Those who can both see that I have eyes in my head and come without any kind of either long lived or spontaneous prejudice are relatively rare and it makes me unhappy.

What are you like in a high stress situation?
That depends on the cause of the stress. Is it about life and death ? Then clearly it is my purpose to live up to my tribe's expectations and to prove that I'm worthy both to myself and to anyone around me. Backing off and giving up is an option, but it's clearly the least preferable one and I'd feel undignified unless the odds really were absolutely uneven. I'm not a reckless man enjoying the rush of adrenaline, but it's the way that has been imprinted on me from my very birth high up in the mountains.

If it's not about life and death, like, for example, sitting at a game of cards and being about to lose a lot of coin, I can get quite a bit short tempered. Yes, I sweat and maybe I'm not even good at maintaining a poker face, but I'm still able to think and weigh my options. I've seen others who already started turning violent at that point.

What are your best and worst qualities?
I'd consider myself to be fiercly loyal to those who have proven themselves, yet at the same time this kind of loyality is not a one-way road as everyone proving himself to me once is bound to be sucked into a torrent of expectations. Said person will have to do it again once the opportunity arises. My tether with other people can snap and just like with any rope or chain under high tension there can be considerable backlash. Oh... and there's another thing: I am indeed prone to suffer from rather unusual circumstances in this environment down here. All those things around me are built for people not even reaching to my breast! Good thing that I'm strong and can fix many things quicker than others!

What is something about yourself that you would never admit to anyone?
I'm afraid of failing and I'm afraid of nothing happening. What is life if there aren't any challenges, even if they're just small ones ? Consider it to be an inherited disease if you like. The weird thing is that I suspect many people to already expect this kind of behavior from me, but I'm too hesitant and introvert to just openly address it. Maybe that's a thing even worse to admit ? And, already seeing the next item of your questionnaire, may I just refer to that for another thing I don't want to say in public ?

What are your dreams?
I know it's quite childish, but what if there was a way to slow down or even stop the process of aging ? I don't want to end up crippled by the tooth of time, yet at the same time I don't want to end my life prematurely just in order to prevent that. That is, however, what my tribe might expect from me one way or the other. It's needless to add that such an invention might greatly help all tribes in general.

If you're looking for something more mundane, then maybe that I dream to become my tribe's leader. Who doesn't want to be in control, to rest at the summit of achievement and to be revered by others ?

How do you want to be seen by others?
Believe it or not, but how about 'normal' ? I mean sometimes it really would be a great step forward if the majority of people would not extrapolate from physical extremes to other aspects of one's entire being. Well respected would be a big bonus on top of that for sure though.

How do you see yourself?
I'd say my life has not been very out of the ordinary so far. I consider myself to be rather average for my kind. I'm strong, loyal and capable overall, but saying I'm the pinnacle of a skilled warrior would be very daring indeed. Time and experience will have to make their judgement about that. Sociability ? Not my forte, but I'm convinced it more often that not doesn't work out because of them and not because of me.

Do you tend to make snap judgements, or stop and think about things?
It's always good to have some sort of plan in advance, but you also need to know when the overall circumstances no longer match your plan's assumptions and predictions. When a plan reaches that kind of situation, then abandon it! I can follow both paper and intuition. Whether it's always right what I'm doing when under a certain regime is an entirely different matter though I'd say.

What haunts you?
What if I come back to my tribe and have nothing to say ? Or what if they don't believe me ? Or what if they simply deem my performance unworthy ? The many gold coins are a good thing to have, but they are no guarantee I'll also get the one thing that has been the main reason for me to embark on this whole endeavour in the first place.

What is your philosophy on life?
No matter what you think about any concepts of the afterlife, any gods or anything around them: According to everyone's very own perception you only got one life and you only live in the present. So make the best out of it, do not purposefully try to prevent others from doing the same, but also do not allow yourself to be hampered by all those many, more pesky individuals.

ℍ𝕒𝕓𝕚𝕥𝕤:

• Mardyn is used to being stared at, so sometimes he just stares back at people until they give up.
• Sometimes he keeps chewing on some long blade of grass or even a small piece of soft bark.

ℍ𝕠𝕓𝕓𝕚𝕖𝕤:

• He has a small collection of minerals. It's not like he'd be carrying it around with him, but in calm moments he might search for unusual rocks and shiny crystals no matter if they're actually very valuable or not.
• Working out. It's not specifically for any kind of fight, but to keep and grow his muscle.

𝔽𝕖𝕒𝕣𝕤:

• Rendering himself ridiculous with some kind of action. There are people who can laugh at such occasions and just shrug it off, but he can't so well.
• Coming back home and realizing that everything was in vain or even worse.
• Growing too old and staying in the state of slow bodily decay for too long.
• Being robbed.

𝕃𝕚𝕜𝕖𝕤:

• Eating and drinking, sometimes in amounts obscene even for his kind.
• Dwarven engineering. They are just the best at it, even if some encounters with it have been rather dangerous.
• Being respected. That by itself probably is quite common among people and thus not really worth mentioning, but in his case it's borderline to being a little overly eager. That is not to be confused with the dishonest kind of a self-promoter however.
• Cold environments, chill air and maybe even some snow on top of it.
• Tattoos. It doesn't have to be fancy warpaint, but decorating one's skin with some harmless colors can just so improve one's appearance!
• Cleverness.
• Music, even though these out-of-tune pianos can degenerate into a lousy background noise at times.

𝔻𝕚𝕤𝕝𝕚𝕜𝕖𝕤:

• Money. No, not the idea of being wealthy, but the idea of exchanging items which by themselves are completely worthless and basing everything on the mere belief that everybody will be willing to give you something of actual value for it. It's an unstable system and whenever there's instability, people with money are either screwed or gain riches they never worked for. Those 15,000 gold coins ? He'll most likely try to spend them on things as soon as possible.
• Cheating in general, not only being cheated.
• Heat. He comes from high in the mountains where there's plenty of sun, but also plenty of cold air and chill winds.
• Hectic individuals.
• Dirty places. It's not like his hut back in his tribe's territory would be a sterile place, but honestly... If you're running a saloon, then please try to dispose of all the vomit on the floor and the dried remains of booze on the tables more than once every other hour. How about... immediately ?
• Being unable to finish his sleep.

---

---

𝕀𝕟𝕗𝕠𝕣𝕞𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟:

𝔾𝕖𝕟𝕖𝕣𝕒𝕝 𝕊𝕜𝕚𝕝𝕝𝕤:

• Strength - Even without all his training he'd be enormous, but the way he actually is Mardyn can lift with one hand what others couldn't even with both their legs easily. It does clearly come at the cost of some overall speed though.
• Survivalist - Crops don't grow all too well at altitudes where even trees have ceased to be around, so it has been beneficial for him to know what kind of plant or fungus can be eaten more than once in a lifetime. Disemboweling animals and making fresh food out of them has been an activity for him since his early youth.
• Intimidation - Using one's sheer appearance is good, but adding some war cries and howls to it is even better! Actively demoralizing enemies does work, at least sometimes. Those who have him on their side however might even feel a bit more confident than before.
• Acrobatics - He excels at jumping, climbing and activities closely related to these two. What else to expect from a mountain folk guy ?
• Axe throwing - Hurling small metal pieces propelled by chemical compounds is good, but what happens once you've run out of ammunition or there's the need not to cause such an awful noise ? The old ways aren't entirely outdated for a thrown axe can be picked up again in most cases. Mardyn can throw with precision and power and usually keeps a few of those handy weapons around just in case.
• Hardened skin - It does not only look a bit like stone, it also behaves a bit like stone.

𝕄𝕒𝕘𝕚𝕔𝕒𝕝/𝕊𝕡𝕖𝕔𝕚𝕒𝕝𝕥𝕪 𝕊𝕜𝕚𝕝𝕝𝕤:

• Medicine - There's a thin line between snake oil salesmen and people who know about herbs and other applications that really help. Mardyn can proudly count himself to the latter faction, adding some magic to it as well. He can't do miracles such as re-attaching a torn off limb or bringing back people from the dead, but just in case you got bitten by a venomous snake, hit by a poisoned arrow or narcotized by sniffing too much gunpowder in the morning... ask him.
• Spiritual connection - It's not something he has actively been trained for, but sometimes it seems as if Mardyn could almost communicate with animals of different kinds. It's not the kind of information flow to be expected from a real conversation, but it's enough to have different effects such as calming, motivating, turning them aggressive or in the extreme case even taming. He's also able to summon some smaller spirits to haunt and hurt his foes.
• Track reading - A skill necessary for hunting, but also useful if you want to know whether you're crossing the path of someone or something else that might be dangerous. He can distinguish a lot of different tracks and tell some basic characteristics about the creature or individual in question.

𝕀𝕟𝕧𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕠𝕣𝕪:

• Large traveling bag - Big and sturdy, this leather item is well suited for carrying around a variety of goods.
• Throwing axes - He prefers carrying around a few of those and they can also serve as makeshift melee weapons if needed.
• Small medicinal pouch - When there's death and decay around you it's better to have some herbs, bandages and concoctions readily available instead of having to search for those first. Your companions might greatly appreciate that.
• Dried mead and fruits - Mardyn needs food... a lot of food.
• Water flask - People say that the sand in the desert flows like water if the winds are right, but have you ever tried drinking sand ?
• Ruggedized clothing - There's enough leather, fur and other padding to it that he could sleep on bare rock with at least some comfort if needed.

---

---

ℍ𝕚𝕤𝕥𝕠𝕣𝕪:

𝕊𝕦𝕞𝕞𝕒𝕣𝕪:

Mardyn was born in a mountain valley called Edestir high up in the Hallard mountains. It's safe to say that Edestir is pretty much the only place of significant size up there that can sustain a major settlement for any longer period of time. The soil is comparably fertile and the winds not as harsh as around the mountain peaks above, also there's some ore to be found there. Unsurprisingly so Mardyn was expected to pull his young weight with doing field work and also some mining, but from the perspective of his people there also was a problem with this valley...

It is a little boring. Some daring, foreign tongues even claim that it is a little too peaceful for a real Goliath tribe such as the Othiosyyia. Chopping away at stone and swinging the scythe is hard labor, but neither entertaining nor a real proof of one's warrior skills. Therefore the tribe follows a tradition that has already lasted many generations: Every newborn must go on some sort of trial once reaching adulthood, usually a journey that leads out of Edestir and into other regions where challenges are present. It is up to the person under trial him- or herself as to what kind of thing to do, but it is their duty to bring back some proof that they indeed have done something worthy of a true member of the tribe. Whether to drag home a bag full of monsters' heads, deliver some kind of artifact or just tell a believeable story preferably backed up by witnesses is up to each individual's decision, but it is also part of the trial to bear the uncertainty whether the chosen method will suffice.

Luckily the time constraints are rather relaxed, so there was at least some time for Mardyn to do some preparative groundwork before searching for the big thing. His tribe, due to the mining activity, has some contact with the dwarves, so this was the first direction to go. What followed were a series of not so glorious mercenary jobs: escort some valuable goods from A to B, guard the marriage of two important people or just investigate what's going on in these dark woods. It did allow Morvayn to gather both some initial experience and coin and to hone his skills further. Also he got to know some interesting people, one of them being the dwarven master blacksmith Hammac. Having done some jobs for the man, Mardyn was to be granted temporary ownership of one of Hammac's newest achievements: a downsized cannon. However Mardyn was as much a guinea pig as being the receiver of a great honor for the thing was a little experimental and not without risk of exploding in its user's hands. Guess where he's got the scars in his belly region from...

At some point the time was right and it appears that a certain someone has caught wind of a Goliath roaming around and searching for a major adventure. A bunch of griffins and a phoenix should be enough to attract the man's attention, right ? Simply because they are also bound to attract the attention of many bad people that need to be fended off, not to mention that these creatures are difficult to handle themselves. Mardyn was not hesitant to accept as he could start looking forward to several potential rewards at the same time: enough challenge for his trial, enough gold to make it more believeable that he has actually done something significant and last but not least getting to know a lot more of the land and other people.

---

---

𝔼𝕩𝕥𝕣𝕒𝕤

ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕣𝕒𝕔𝕥𝕖𝕣 ℚ𝕦𝕠𝕥𝕖: "You may ride on my shoulders, but don't hold me responsible if you should fall."
𝔸𝕟𝕪𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝔼𝕝𝕤𝕖: -

Sum up your week in roleplaying in just 3 words

Very thorough frustration.

Forsaken

I've been considering going for a Warforged who has grown to regret his original purpose and is quite hesitant to do any acts of violence. While he still could, by design.

An alternative idea is a Tiefling who is just totally fed up with the general view of his kind and, while holding a lot of internal anger he might release towards those too provocative, tries to prove that not all of his kind are what they say. A bit of a comedy aspect about him could be that he's also sort of a bodybuilding individual, so... huge.

Please tell me if any of those two ideas actually make any sense :)