Mokley

RATTLECHOMP

@Wayward No worries! The edits look great! Thanks! 💚

RATTLECHOMP

@Wayward Hi hullo! 😄 I noticed Toni - she seems so overwhelmed! Thanks for the worldbuilding: the world now has a child custody system and a university, if only outside of Oaken! I do like that she can see Rue as hazy shapes, and the sudden illumination propelling them back is really interesting. Since she can't seem to control it, I think it'd be interesting to trigger unexpectedly - I look forward to seeing how she develops! Just one thing, this RP is not taking place in the real world - sorry I know the world description isn't really clear about the time period. I'm thinking more of a pseudo-steampunk-scifi sorta vibe, a totally different world of gears and clocks and magic, maybe some computery stuff. The parents could've still died in a car accident, but it'd probably be more like... mechanical buggies or weird hovering things. 😄 Maybe instead of DCF it's simply 'child services' or something vague. Just little adjustments to accommodate wherever this worldbuild goes as we go! When in doubt, as long as it's not reality it's probably fine, haha. She's good to go!

RATTLECHOMP

Yall are so awesome, loving these posts and characters! 💚

Sadie's post made me think of packing supplies! The question might come up in the future: at any point, anybody can just retroactively say they packed something useful but only as long as there's a reasonable explanation that they thought to pack it.

Yoshi, I'mma pocket away that old man NPC for future plot relevance no reason. 👻

Post is planned for Friday! I'm hyped!

RATTLECHOMP

Woohoo!! Excellence! 💚💚 Last call for any prologue posts!

RATTLECHOMP

I've updated the 0th post on the IC to give a little background and flavor. Anyone is welcome to go ahead and post as a prologue, especially if you want to write a bit about your character's daily life and/or how and why they decided to take this escort job. Any posts made right now are optional and won't get a GM response, is just for flavor and development.

Note that if there is any Rue presence at all within Oaken it is extremely small: the witchcast is a barrier against Rue from getting into the city. But I'm sure one or two somehow slip in sometimes.

I'll work on the first actual IC post, which will be the scene at the Darklight Station where everyone will gather. That post will be the trigger for actual play.

RATTLECHOMP

The sleepy little city of Oaken-- a cobble of red-sloped roofs and coppery clocks nestled like a fawn in the forests between the mountains --had long ago forgotten the Rue. Only the Howling Museum displayed relics of the city's founding, when shadows would loom silent and staring at dawn, missing persons would reappear starved with strange eyes, and backward voices murmured in butcher-dyed stones. Illuminated tomes lay open to fables of two-headed dogs and trees with doors. A glass case presented an ancient leather shoe, the last trace of a child who had been plucked into the sky. Crops would sprout toxic flowers, goats would mew like kittens, blueberry pie would turn to rhubarb when cut. There had been nothing in this valley that the Rue had not touched.

Then, there was hope. Crumbling yellowed newspapers declared the long-anticipated arrival of witches who crawled out of the mountain caverns, carrying with them relics of shining stone. In the corner of the museum, a pedestal displayed an intricate replica of a witchcast piling: one of six hundred stone carvings that still circle the city today, protecting it against invasion by Rue.

Oaken is now a peaceful refuge for the Howl: the unlucky souls born with particular sensitivity to the presence of Rue. It is one of the rare cities untouched by the unexpected. Daily life is gently predictable. Perhaps it's this undercurrent of boredom that weighs the street-corner noticeboards with pleas for help against the plague of the Rue.

This newest flyer was just one among the many:

FOR A GOOD CAUSE
VOLUNTEERS WANTED

Traveling Apothecary Seeks Howls
As Escort Through Darklight Corridor
For Medicine Delivery 4 Day Journey
Good Food and Hospitable Conditions
Darklight Station 8 AM

RATTLECHOMP

Neomi Adams

WHAT IS THE CHARACTER'S NAME?

Neomi Adams

WHAT IS A STRANGER'S FIRST IMPRESSION UPON MEETING THEM?

At first glance, Neomi appears to be a creative deadpan girl. She has no problem being blunt and straight to the point. Although she seems to have learned when to keep her mouth shut, she seems to step on toes and hurt feelings with her attitude. It's safe to say, she is probably not everyone's cup of tea. And, she seems fairly comfortable with this, because, hey, ya can't please them all.

WHAT IS THEIR PROFESSION AND HOW DO THEY FEEL ABOUT IT?

Neomi works at The Burrow, a warm and friendly lodge. It's owned and run by her parents. Typically, she is found behind the front desk helping customers. When she's not helping the family business, she is doing what she wishes she could always be doing: working on her artwork.

HOW HAS BEING A HOWL AFFECTED THEIR LIFE?

Having been risen by Howls, Neomi has been cradled into the position. Her mother has can sense them through a tingling sensation, and her father has caught glimpses of them. Neomi has inherited her father's sense of seeing them. Neither of her parents is particularly interested in investing much time into being a Howl. Both simply moved to Oaken, met, fell in love, and got married. They prefer a simple life, much like the tidy and cozy furnishings of The Burrow, and they would prefer if Neomi kept the same lifestyle. However, Neomi cannot help but continue recreating drawings of what she one time saw -- a Rue.

WHY ARE THEY IN OAKEN CITY?

Neomi lives with her family in Oaken City, where they run a small lodge.

DO THEY HAVE A HOWL ABILITY? WHAT IS IT?

If you could call it that. She can manipulate the air slightly, like making a light wind between her hands. The most she's ever used it for is entertainment when bored. One time she made the light wind go into a twirl.

&fingers crossed.

@Mole

Neomi seems like a great addition to the group - maybe one to create some fun dynamics among the characters! Thanks for the bit of worldbuilding: perhaps The Burrow is one of the more recommended places in the city, and Neomi one of the faces that strangers first see when they arrive. I have to admit, I'm a tiny bit concerned about the blunt attitude and toes-stepping: from experience there's an extremely fine line across which other players aren't having fun anymore because their character is perpetually offended. I do like the character type though, so I'll trust that her attitude is tasteful and she won't go out of her way to make any other PCs miserable. (but feel free to harass my NPCs as much as you like) 😉

As for her ability! She can see Rue which is great! Manipulating wind is more of a real-life ability that could affect the real world around her, which isn't quite allowed -- however! If this "wind" is something that she can see/hear/feel but doesn't seem to interact with real life at all (such as a weirdly colored mist or strange shadowy clouds that she can manipulate at will) then that's a-ok!

If all this is ok and you can make that little change, she's approved to go up in characters!

Same sort of ideas for @Dragonfly 9's passing through objects idea: you could perceive something that doesn't quite exist in reality. I feel like you're being pinged 100x lately sorry haha. 😅

RATTLECHOMP

Subscribed. You had me at @Mokley. I’m coming out of hiding just for this patch of fun.

@Mole

Aw I'm honored! Hullo!!! 💚

IC post coming shortly-ish!

@Dragonfly 9 (still ok to post up in character tab!) @Abstract Proxy (no pressure + character posts and apps accepted through the first round 💚)

RATTLECHOMP

@Mokley Correct, he doesn't know he's a Howl yet but has some suspicions as of late because of how much more frequently he's seeing things and feels a heat in his hands that's not really there. The power that he'll develop is being able to identify the Rue as well as use an arcanic fire ability that can't be seen on this plane, but absolutely tears through them in theirs, if that makes sense.

I figured the little sister (only a year younger than him) to be just more background information. Though if she works for some kind of plot I'm okay with you using her. I just wasn't planning on it.

As for their mother, I had it in my head that she was killed by the Rue - she was a Howl and a damn good one but just wasn't quick or prepared enough one day. Maybe for whatever reason the government is trying to hide the real reason? Or maybe they don't make Rue deaths super public to prevent fear?

@YoshiSkittlez

All sounds excellent, thanks for the clarification! 💚 Noted on the little sister, and also thanks for the clarification that she's not a little kid, I was already trying to come up with ways to account for her if her caretaker went off on this adventure. 😅 As for the mom, it seems we've got a few disappeared Howl parents here so there may be a common thread in what happened - all of those sound plausible. The story may tell... 🤔 In any case, love it! Please do throw him in the characters tab!

RATTLECHOMP

This is probably going to clash with the setting in some way, but here's what I got.

Sasha Zaitseva

WHAT IS THE CHARACTER'S NAME?

Sasha Zaitseva

WHAT IS A STRANGER'S FIRST IMPRESSION UPON MEETING THEM?

Mousy, timid, afraid of her own shadow. Sasha is a small thing, petite and short, made even smaller by the way she curls in on herself and keeps her head down; her voice is quiet and she has trouble getting her words out, especially when people are looking at her. She is not good around people in general.

Nonetheless, there is a surety to the way she does things that is at odds with this. When carrying out a task she moves with purpose, not slowing, never wavering or pausing to think about the next step; something not exactly like confidence, but more a certainty of what she is doing. That is, until she notices someone watching her and then it all falls apart.

WHAT IS THEIR PROFESSION AND HOW DO THEY FEEL ABOUT IT?

She is a hunter. At least, in theory they are.

Her father was a hunter, someone who would venture out into the woods and the mountains in search of deer or rabbit to bring home; then her mother would dress it, prepare it for cooking and separate out the parts that needed to be discarded from the parts that could be sold. Fur, antlers; that kind of thing. Before he… disappeared, he taught Sasha everything he knew; how to track game, how to navigate, how to avoid making noise or being seen. How to shoot and lay traps.

But Sasha has never hunted anything. She cannot bring herself to kill. Instead she uses the skills she was taught to forage for berries and fruits and wild vegetables; avoiding the animals, both dangerous and peaceful along the way. Sometime she will lead other hunters through the woods, the ones who can’t track as well as she can, finding and following the tracks of animals and bringing them to the place where they may shoot deer or rabbit or whatever else. Then she helps them bring their kill back to town and her mother dresses them and the hunters will give them a portion of it.

HOW HAS BEING A HOWL AFFECTED THEIR LIFE?

It’s not so bad. Sometimes she will see things in the woods that no one else can; dangers far worse than the wolves and bears that other hunters are afraid of, but ones that she can thankfully avoid. Sasha is almost certain that it was the Rue that caused her father’s disappearance; she can think of no other reason why a man like him would walk into the woods one day and never return.

WHY ARE THEY IN OAKEN CITY?

She was born in the city, technically. Albeit on the outskirts, where the buildings start to give way to the wilderness and fewer people live.

DO THEY HAVE A HOWL ABILITY? WHAT IS IT?

Sasha can see the Rue; shadowy figures that she hasn’t told anyone that she can see except for her mother. They are dangerous things that cannot be frightened off by a gunshot like a wolf can; even when she points her hunting rifle, loaded but never fired, at them they don’t care at all, but for some reason her father’s old revolver seems to give them pause. She pulled the trigger once, while pointing it at one of the shadows and although it wasn’t loaded Sasha swore she could hear the gunshot regardless, feel the gun kick in her hands and saw the shadow flee as if burned.

That only seems to work against the Rue though. The old gun is just a useless memento any other time.

@King Cosmos

I love Sasha! A quiet and dutiful observer connected to nature and the wilderness. I could see her keeping the group grounded and offering a unique perspective. Thanks for the worldbuild details: wilder settlements on the outskirts of the city, where the magic Rue-repellent doesn't reach. I gather that her father's disappearance is totally up to me to flesh out - and at this point I'm considering that everyone's mysteriously missing parents have disappeared under similar circumstances. 🤔 Seeing Rue is great, and the ability with the gun is something neat I think: an empty old gun that can shoot Rue. I'm going to assume it only works like this for Sasha. Just one note that I hope her shy nature doesn't prevent her from interacting with the other characters or she'll miss out. 💚 She's approved, go ahead and copy her to the Characters tab!