Kelewen

Between the hammer and the anvil

The carriages did not take long to transport the prisoners to a nicer part of the city and were soon pulling up beside an odd, but magnificent house.



"In 'ere." An old plump woman with a worn, but well cared for brown dress and apron stood at the top of steps that seemed to lead down into a cellar. She waved at them, apparently expecting them. "I ain't to let you into the main house until I clean you up a bit." Her nose wrinkled as she caught a whiff, the scent confirming her orders. "Shoulda dunked you all in a horse trough before she let you into the carriages anyways. Woulda been an improvement. I'll be scrubbin' 'em for a month to get the smell out!" She shook her head sadly, as if imagining all the work they had just caused her.

"Down there." She said, pointing to the cellar entrance. "Got some hot water ready already, but you will have to take turns."

closed roleplay (for delete)

Galiena nodded, realizing as she did so that there was probably little point in trying to hide what she was from Count Leonard, as Benny has suggested. If the boy had already figured that out, she wouldn't be able to keep it a secret from the Count for very long anyway.

"I was on my way to go speak with this Count of yours, actually," she said. "I should go before he departs for the day."

She hesitated, feeling as if by feeding him, she had somehow taken responsibility for Tristan and was a bit reluctant to just leave him to his own devices. "You know, the Luminites sometimes need boys like you to run errands and do chores. If the order here is anything like my own, they would ensure you had a full meal in your belly every day," she gestured to his nearly empty plate, "and a safe place to sleep."

Between the hammer and the anvil

Here's what I've been pondering. My intention is not to hammer out every detail (as I'd like most of it to come out in the RP), but just to give a general history to drive the story. Thoughts/comments welcome.

Magic has always been rather rare and considered dangerous. But there was a prestigious order of mages who studied magic and tried to utilize it wisely. It was about a century and a half ago when things went wrong. A mage named Gerrell dove too recklessly into magic and it corrupted him, driving him to seek ever more, no matter the consequences. When the others grew concerned, he fled the order and was forgotten about for years. During that time, he was slowly building an army, corrupting the minds of the trolls until they came to serve him. Gerrell himself continued his foray into more and more powerful magics, driven ever more insane and lustful for power.

After a decade had passed, his troll army began their conquest, bolstered by his magic, and more organized than ever before, they swept up a large portion of territory before the other areas and races could get their act together. The order of the magi was overrun, killing all except a few that managed to escape.

War followed. Gerrell was only defeated by the combined efforts of the armies from various city states and those few mages who had escaped him previously. They performed a ritual to finally defeat him and seal up the fortress that housed the mage's order "forever".

By almost unanimous decision, magic was outlawed.

Dulcena believes she may have found a way to get inside that fortress and see what secrets can be uncovered.

@Assallya, I hope you join in at some point!

Between the hammer and the anvil

I'm thinking the recovery of some lost/forbidden magic.

closed roleplay (for delete)

She listened carefully to the boy, eyebrows scrunched as she noted with concern the fact that there seemed to be multiple factions involved in whatever was really amiss here and she didn't yet have enough information. It added a whole new dimension of possibilities to the mission into the catacombs at Plyren. Could this be a base of operations for these "bad sorcerers"?

"Do you know what kind of things they stole?" she asked when he was between bites. "These bad sorcerers?"

Between the hammer and the anvil

I have some ideas about Dulcena's goal, but not the mission specifics yet. Are there general themes you guys would like to see? :)

Between the hammer and the anvil

I don't have anything special in mind for the carriage ride to Lady Dulcena's residence, so anyone feel free to narrate as you wish. And fit in as much RP as you want here. I figured your 4 characters would be in 1 carriage and the "extras" would be in the other.

Between the hammer and the anvil

Dulcena let a glimmer of surprise overtake her purposefully blank expression when she saw the monk was blind. When she had observed him in his cell, he had been meditating, eyes closed. She recovered her composure quickly enough and contemplated sending him back, unsure of his worth to her needs, but pushed back the idea immediately. No good would come from revealing she may have made a mistake. "I will tell you all soon enough," she replied to his question and she unlocked his shackles, discarding them on the floor.

Next was the sellsword. There was an air of arrogance to him that she found disconcerting and dangerous, but reminded herself that dangerous men, bent to her purposes, were required. Still, she felt his handling might perhaps need to be different than the others to keep his loyalty for long and she let her eyes linger on him as she unlocked his shackles, silently suggesting that she may have more than one use for him.

She continued down the line. All of the remaining 5 accepted, willing to risk their lives in exchange for the promise of freedom.

"Two carriages await you outside and will bring you to my home where you can wash and eat before we discuss specifics." She gestured toward the front of the prison. "Until then," she turned and left, having arranged a private carriage for herself. You never knew, of course, but she believed none would attempt to flee without fulfilling their obligation to her.

closed roleplay (for delete)

She had been expecting some sage advice or perhaps a warning about the boy or even the men she had been speaking with earlier and was a bit surprised the barkeep would ask a stranger to run an errand for him.

"I apologize. I have another matter I must attend to after getting a meal into this one," she said, indicating toward the boy. She was worried that if she delayed too long, she may not find the Count in the Mage's library.

But she did hate to say no when someone asked her a favor, so quickly added. "Once my other affairs are in order, I'll check back to see if you are still in need."

Between the hammer and the anvil

@Polybius, welcome! No worries, the order of introduction isn't a big deal.

@Gisk, I'm definitely okay with weaker/more subtle magic. Feels more "real".