Raylah

Adelon: Steeling the Faith (High-Casual)

Yarri was sitting in her cabin and waiting. Under normal circumstances, she was a very patient person – you cannot be a good hunter without the ability to remain still for long periods of time. But this was a different kind of waiting. Waiting for something that she couldn’t possibly influence. Waiting trapped in a small room on a small ship in the middle of nothing, nowhere to run or hide if things go sideways. Waiting for a possible death.

She growled angrily and for the millionth time swore to herself she would never go on another boat ever again. Shaela jumped up to her feet and hissed, sensing danger. Just a second later, Yarri could feel it too – the ship was going a bit up and shaking. There was a loud noise from all the water trying to tear the ship apart and then silence, followed by loud cheering. ‘Hmm, this wasn’t that bad,’ Yarri thought, before glancing at Shaela.

The cougar was alerted, growling, her ears lying flat towards the back of her head and the fur on her back and tail bristled. Yarri froze. She didn’t remember seeing Shaela this horrified before. She quickly jumped up and collected her weapons, tying them closely together and then to a strap around her body. She rushed out of the cabin and then stood in the corridor, unsure of what to do.

The sea decided it for her – suddenly the floor jumped up, throwing her to the ceiling, then back down and then everything rotated around, sending her flying around like a ragged doll. When things finally stood still, Yarri got up on her shaky legs. There was a light blinking right beneath her feet. The ship really did turn upside down, which meant it would quickly start filling up with water. Suppressing the horrifying thought that the ship is already halfway to the bottom of the ocean, with just a few bubbles of air remaining below the deck, she turned around to look for Shaela.

The cougar jumped out of the cabin door, slightly bloodied from hitting something, but alive and without serious injuries. “Fuck this ship,” Yarri mumbled, remembering that the captain said to go to the escape hatches. Fortunately, there were glowing arrows to guide the way. “Fuck the ocean.” There were some bodies lying on the ground, one man clearly dead with his head hanging in a sharp angle, and a young woman, unconscious, but breathing. Yarri picked her up, muttering all the curses she knew, and continued to the escape hatch.

Finally getting to the hatch, she saw one of the crewmembers, helping people get out of the ship, giving them life jackets. There were a few small boats around the hatch and people were boarding them. “Did you check the B2 corridor?” the crewmember yelled at another one, who was coming to the hatch, supporting two bleeding and limping people.

The man just shook his head. “It is starting to fill with water, there is no time.”

“Which way is it?” Yarri shouted at the crewmembers.

“There is no time!”

“Just shut up and show me the way!”

The crewmember just shook his head and pointed to one of the corridors. “It is the second one to the left. We can’t wait much longer.”

“Then don’t. Take Shaela on a boat if there is space.” She handed the unconscious girl to him and sent the cougar out of the hatch. ‘Why the hell am I doing this?’ she thought, running around the corridor and checking rooms. There were already few inches of cold water on the ground and its level seemed to be increasing faster than she would like. All of the rooms she had checked were empty. She kicked the door to the last cabin, finding two kids kneeling beside their father. The man had a badly broken leg, a piece of the bone was sticking out bellow his knew.

“Save my children,” he mumbled when he saw her.

“To hell with this.” She quickly grabbed him and put him over her shoulder, making him scream loudly when his injured leg moved. “Run by the arrows, I will help your father,” she told the kids. “NOW!” she yelled when they hesitated, making them dart out of the cabin.

Yarri was much slower now, the man wasn’t of the lightest and the fact that she had to wade knee-high water also didn’t help much. Grunting and panting heavily she made it to the escape hatch, relieved to see that the kids were entering the last boat. The man she was carrying was silent now, she hoped that he had only lost his consciousness. The crewmember to whom she talked before jumped back to the ship, helping her with the man. The hatch was now barely above the sea level and as Yarri jumped out of the ship, the water started pouring in.

They put the father into the boat and the crewmember jumped in, grabbing a paddle. “Come on!” he yelled at her, but Yarri, waist down in the water by then, suddenly felt a strong pull back. The ship started to sink fast, creating a swirling vortex of water currents. She didn’t have time to scream out or even take a deeper breath as she was pulled under water and dragged mercilessly back to the escape hatch.
Acting more from an instinct than some conscious thought, she took out a dagger and shoved it to the ship’s hull. She must have been lucky to hit some gap between the platings, because the dagger went in. She desperately held to it with both hands, the only thought on her mind being that if she would get sucked back into the ship, she would end up at the bottom of the sea with it.

When the crazy currents finally calmed down a little, Yarri faced a new problem – she was being dragged down with the ship now, already several meters deep. She bounced off the hull as hard as she could towards the light that signalized the water surface. Her lungs were burning already, her brain desperately ordering her mouth to open and breathe in.

‘Well I could sure use the stupid life jacked now,’ she thought as she finally pierced the water surface. Breathing heavily, she tried to keep her head above water. Looking around, she saw some wreckage from the ship, and, to her huge relief, a boat heading towards her. When they pulled her in, she could just lie there, coughing and panting.

She must have fallen asleep for a bit, because when she opened her eyes, the boat was already ashore, its passengers walking around, confused and shaken. The crewmembers were trying to organize things and to make sure that everyone’s injuries would be taken care of. She sighed with relief when she saw Shaela running towards her. She scratched her under the chin. “Let’s not do ‘that’ again.”

Yarri looked around. Under other circumstances the beach could be considered a beautiful place. Now, filled with people, boats, wreckage and also what seemed to be a line of dead bodies, you wouldn’t probably consider it a great vacation destination. The beach ended at the tree line and Yarri headed towards it. She wasn’t really sure of what to do – her conscience commanded her to stay here and help take care of the people, especially as it seemed that the nearest civilization is rather far away from here. But she rarely listened to her conscience. In fact, until a few hours ago, she didn’t even know she had one. The smart thing would be to just disappear. Especially since the hunters were on board, at she saw at least one of them survived.

Still hesitant, she examined the edge of the forest, looking for signs of danger. Or signs of potential food. Shaela followed her quietly, carefully sniffing every tree and every rock.

Vikings Westward (closed)

color=0072bc

Isgred Ulfdottir

Isgred Ulfdottir

Race/Faction: Viking
Age: 26

Description: Isgred is tall and lean. She has long dark hair and piercing brown eyes. She usually wears long dark robes and cloaks made of fur of the most fierce animals. These were given to her as a gift and a token of respect by various Viking chieftains. Like all vǫlur, she carries a long staff made of wood from the sacred grove of Upsalla, decorated by various trinkets and fetishes. She also always has her satchel with the healing necessities nearby.

Class: vǫlva – a seer and a healer

History:
Isgred’s fate was set even before her birth. Her father was a famous warrior and her mother was a famous vǫlva. Isgred’s two older brothers both became strong and fearsome raiders and Isgred was sent to the temple Upsalla to study. There she learned about the sacred art of divination, all about the gods and how to please each of them and the ways of using different herbs for healing or even taking lives.

A quiet, peaceful life of the vǫlur and other priests in Upsalla wasn’t for her. Being a fighter after her father, she would leave as soon as she passed her final rites and carved her staff. She returned home and joined a smaller raid to the coast of Frankia, putting her skills to a test in real battle conditions. She enjoyed the battle, even just watching it from a safe spot in the healers’ tent. When other group of enemies suddenly attacked the camp, Isgred joined the fight, using her staff and a dagger taken from a fallen warrior. She enjoyed killing Christians, feeling like it meant fulfilling the will of the gods.

Strengths:
A skilled healer, great dedication to help her people to kill as many Christians as possible, a seer who can sometimes unravel glimpses of the future

Weakness:
Blinding hatred for the Christians, lack of proper fighting skills, over-confidence

What is the most important thing to know about your character?
Isgred believes that the Norse gods are the only true gods and the presence of Christians in the world insults them greatly.

What is your character's greatest flaw?
She is over-confident, despite her lack of fighting skills she often gets too close to fights and put herself in danger. Also she is sort of a religious fanatic.

Writing example

“So, what is my future?” The boy was eager and nervous. Understandable given his age, he couldn’t have been more than fourteen summers old.

Isgred knew he was going on his first raid with his father tomorrow. “Patience, young man. Did you bring what I asked?” The boy nodded and handed her a coin and a jar filled with tallow as a gift; she would later use the tallow to make herbal ointments to heal wounds. “Very well.” She took a knife out and run it lightly across his palm, so that a thin line of blood would appear. Isgred reached for a pouch with the bones, they rattled quietly as she emptied the pouch into boy’s hand.

“Throw them,” she told the boy and he turned the hand over, letting the bones drop onto the table. Isgred carefully studied the patterns. Some of the carved runes were clearly visible, some were hidden under a layer of fresh blood. The boy stared at the bones almost breathless, no doubt trying to see what only she could see.

She saw a lot of things – life and death, bravery and cowardice, hate and… no, no love. It didn’t seem like the boy was going to make it back from the raid – these young ones were sometimes trying too hard to prove themselves, often becoming reckless and putting themselves in danger’s way. Even though the bones never lied, they sometimes hid the truth in the most mysterious ways.

“Your fate contains many things,” she told the boy. “I can see a great battle and I can see you becoming a hero. Beware the danger of cowardice in other people’s hearts.” That much she could say. The boy was excited at the mention of becoming a hero and he probably didn’t even hear her warning. But that wasn’t her problem. He paid for a prophecy and he got one, what he would do with it was his thing.

Vikings Westward (closed)

Well I think I found a way to play a female character in this female not-so-friendly world, without being a cheap copy of Lagertha. And I think the two hours of my worktime investigating the Nordic mythology and the Vǫlur were exceptionally well spent.

Isgred Ulfdottir

Isgred Ulfdottir

Race/Faction: Viking

Age: 26

Description: Isgred is tall and lean. She has long dark hair and piercing brown eyes. She usually wears long dark robes and cloaks made of fur of the most fierce animals. These were given to her as a gift and a token of respect by various Viking chieftains. Like all vǫlur, she carries a long staff made of wood from the sacred grove of Upsalla, decorated by various trinkets and fetishes. She also always has her satchel with the healing necessities nearby.

Class: vǫlva – a seer and a healer

History:
Isgred’s fate was set even before her birth. Her father was a famous warrior and her mother was a famous vǫlva. Isgred’s two older brothers both became strong and fearsome raiders and Isgred was sent to the temple Upsalla to study. There she learned about the sacred art of divination, all about the gods and how to please each of them and the ways of using different herbs for healing or even taking lives.

A quiet, peaceful life of the vǫlur and other priests in Upsalla wasn’t for her. Being a fighter after her father, she would leave as soon as she passed her final rites and carved her staff. She returned home and joined a smaller raid to the coast of Frankia, putting her skills to a test in real battle conditions. She enjoyed the battle, even just watching it from a safe spot in the healers’ tent. When other group of enemies suddenly attacked the camp, Isgred joined the fight, using her staff and a dagger taken from a fallen warrior. She enjoyed killing Christians, feeling like it meant fulfilling the will of the gods.

Strengths:
A skilled healer, great dedication to help her people to kill as many Christians as possible, a seer who can sometimes unravel glimpses of the future

Weakness:
Blinding hatred for the Christians, lack of proper fighting skills, over-confidence

What is the most important thing to know about your character?
Isgred believes that the Norse gods are the only true gods and the presence of Christians in the world insults them greatly.

What is your character's greatest flaw?
She is over-confident, despite her lack of fighting skills she often gets too close to fights and put herself in danger. Also she is sort of a religious fanatic.

Writing example

“So, what is my future?” The boy was eager and nervous. Understandable given his age, he couldn’t have been more than fourteen summers old.

Isgred knew he was going on his first raid with his father tomorrow. “Patience, young man. Did you bring what I asked?” The boy nodded and handed her a coin and a jar filled with tallow as a gift; she would later use the tallow to make herbal ointments to heal wounds. “Very well.” She took a knife out and run it lightly across his palm, so that a thin line of blood would appear. Isgred reached for a pouch with the bones, they rattled quietly as she emptied the pouch into boy’s hand.

“Throw them,” she told the boy and he turned the hand over, letting the bones drop onto the table. Isgred carefully studied the patterns. Some of the carved runes were clearly visible, some were hidden under a layer of fresh blood. The boy stared at the bones almost breathless, no doubt trying to see what only she could see.

She saw a lot of things – life and death, bravery and cowardice, hate and… no, no love. It didn’t seem like the boy was going to make it back from the raid – these young ones were sometimes trying too hard to prove themselves, often becoming reckless and putting themselves in danger’s way. Even though the bones never lied, they sometimes hid the truth in the most mysterious ways.

“Your fate contains many things,” she told the boy. “I can see a great battle and I can see you becoming a hero. Beware the danger of cowardice in other people’s hearts.” That much she could say. The boy was excited at the mention of becoming a hero and he probably didn’t even hear her warning. But that wasn’t her problem. He paid for a prophecy and he got one, what he would do with it was his thing.

Vikings Westward (closed)

@Wick Is this one going to turn into a novel too? :) I am thinking about joining, but just cant come up with a character idea I would like.

Amberclad Index

@Connor I mean absolutely no discrespect, but could you write more punctuation into your texts? I know I struggle with it all the time as English isnt my first language, but I just try to put a comma or a semicolon here and there to separate things up a bit.

I was reading this bit maybe five times, before I realized there are like three different sentences jammed together.

The Bandit yelled commands into the radio jack acting on instinct drew the only weapon he had and slammed it into the bandits clavicle but as the man collapsed he fired a shot off from a pistol and hit jack right in the left eye jack was left conscious and tried to patch his wounds quickly the man would be no threat as he knew that he was already blacking out from blood loss.

@Connor

And also in regards to your character - it is probably not my place to criticize, but having a person that is good both with melee weapons and guns AND at the same time knows "how to heal almost any injury" seems kinda OP.

Time of Fire and Stone (Early Tribal NRPG)

@The Narrator hopeful bump? :)

Amberclad Index

Eva Novak

Eva Novak

Anything can be killed, you just have to try hard enough.

Age
39

Physical Description
Eva is tall and despite not being one big walking muscle she is very strong. She has long red hair, that often stick up around her head in wild angles, dirty most of the time. She has plenty of scars on her body, most of them usually covered by her clothes.

Psyche
Eva is a loner, she is used to make only shallow contacts with people. She can seem a bit too serious and grim, but she is a professional and can be a good team member in a group of other professionals.

She is afraid to get closer to anyone, even as a friend, because she feels like she had already lost enough people in her life. People die rather sooner than later, that is the hard truth of this world. And the closer you are to the person, the more pain you will feel.
She respects strength and courage.

Motivation
After years of wandering around and killing the creatures she sees she has made absolutely no difference, nothing to make the world a better place. She wants to try and change that. And also maybe kill some monster along the way.

Relations
She is known around the city and especially the National Guard as a loner, sort of a weirdo but also a capable fighter. She does not have any closer friends and her family is gone.

Personal History
Eva was born in the old world. Her parents were originally from Europe, but her father was offered a prominent job in a research institute in New York. The entire family moved to the United States when Eva was three years old and lived there since, with only occasional visits to the grandparents back home.

Her father got paid very well, so Eva could grow up in luxury – elite school, fine clothes and the best technology. She however did not appreciate it much, preferring to slack and hang around with the street kids, often getting into their fights. When she came home bruised and with two of her teeth knocked out, her father hired Garret Lake, a former bodyguard, to train her. “If you are going to fight,” he told her, “make sure to win.”

So Eva learned everything from martial arts to tough street fighting without any rules. She would learn how to use a knife and how to see a potential weapon in everyday objects around her. Garret had just started to teach her to shoot a gun, when the mist came.

Eva’s mother was on a trip with some of her friends in woods in the middle of nothing. They all disappeared without a trace during the first outbreak. Eva, her father and Garret traveled between the “safe spots” as those fell one by one, always barely escaping with their lives. Eva found her training very useful, at those times when hiding in a settlement you were more likely to fight other people for food, water or shelter, than the actual monsters.

For several years they survived like that. Hearing rumors about a safe place, heading there over the vast wilderness crawling with the… things, sometimes with other people, sometimes just the three of them. They were usually a welcome addition to the settlements – Eva’s father helping out as a doctor, and Garret and Eva working as hired muscles. Despite being only seventeen, she was already strong and muscular piece of a woman.

But the safety never lasted long, only this time Eva was the only one who got out. Left alone in a hostile environment, she didn’t succumb to despair. Fueled by anger, she scavenged for weapons and started her never ending quest on killing as many of the mist creatures as she could. Short time later she encountered some members of the New Philly National Guard and tagged along with them to the city. They offered her to join, but she preferred operating alone, which was seen like a bravery by some and madness by all.

Equipment

• Knives. You can never have too many knives. Aside from the two visible ones, Eva has a few others hidden around all the way from her boots to a small piece of metal hidden in her collar.
• Sword and a shield. Yes, good old-fashioned sword and a shield, allegedly made by Quincy himself. The sword is a regular one-handed one, carefully cleaned and sharpened. The shield is made of wood and stainless steal and is tested to withstand a few hits from a feeder.
• 9 millimeter gun. That one belonged to her mentor Garret, Eva carries it around mainly for sentimental reasons, as she has no ammo for it. It is also useful to scare people off.

The Black Adder Tavern- always open!

Lucy

@DawningAurora@Cherrywitch

Lucy sighed when Arte sent her to kitchen. “Seriously?” she mumbled to herself, when she saw what Kric was doing. Skinning squirrels. Awesome. She took a large apron, so she wouldn’t get her best dress dirty. It would be rather hard to find some customers with stains of squirrel blood all over her.

She frowned at Krick. He was pretty, under other circumstances she would certainly go for a flirt with him. But she had known him for a while and knew him very well, him and his little tricks he liked to play on people. That’s why she was most suspicious when he offered her money. So much money. Compared to what she would normally have to do to earn that sum, skinning squirrels didn’t seem so bad. But this was Krick. A deal with a tiny devil is a deal with the devil nonetheless. ‘But it is soooo much money,’ she thought desperately.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Angle entering the kitchen. Lucy never understood why would someone like Angle choose to live and work in this tavern. If she could fly wherever she wanted to, she sure as hell wouldn’t end up in a place like this. Hands covered in squirrel guts. Ugh.

“I have the squirrels covered,” she said quickly and grabbed the pouch from the imp’s hand, wondering how soon she would regret it. “Maybe help Kric with the vegetables.”

Amberclad Index - Something evil is coming.

This seems very interesting.
What is the timeframe here - how long after the fog arrived is this situated? What about more primitive weapons like bows, spears, etc. - would those be useful, or completely outshined by guns? The fog comes and goes to places, or is it a permanent thing in some areas? What about normal animals, are there some still left in the wild, or were all killed/mutated by the fog?
Also, I am not from US, and I have a rather rough idea where Seattle and Pennsylvania are located. But according to googlemaps there is over 2600 miles between the two places. I assume the plan isnt the walk the entire distance on foot, so there are some vehicles still operational?

Somewhere Over The Mountains

Yarri was stunned by a show of disrespect from some of her soon-to-be companions. How could someone talk like that to the king? But he didn’t seem offended, so Yarri kept her mouth shut. Perhaps this was the way things were at court.

She was incredibly relieved at the notion of more soldiers coming along. Keeping in mind the decription of the monsters, this would have otherwise been rather short journey, ending badly for all participants. She frowned when the king talked about horses. Of course, she expected it but that didn’t make her any happier. She wasn’t very fond of horses, to put it mildly. Riding slowly without falling was possible for her, but only if the horse chose to cooperate. But she sure as hell wouldn’t be going in a carriage.

She followed the knight to the stables, having Luna wait outside. “Do you have some um… nicer horses?” she asked him nervously, seeing one rather aggressive stallion. “I’m not an expert rider.”

He smiled at her. “I think I have one just for you,” he said and pointed at one brown mare in the corner. “Her name is Bella and she has the nicest personality I’ve seen in a horse in a long time. Or humans for that matter,” he laughed.

‘That doesn’t look so scary,’ Yarri thought, approaching the horse slowly. “Hey there. You aren’t going to try and kill me, right?” She patted the mare’s head carefully, giving her an apple from a barrel standing nearby. Bella neighed quietly and nuzzled her hand, searching for more apples. ‘Well it doesn’t get any better than that. It could get much worse though.’

Yarri took a saddle and the stablemaster helped her put it on the horse, showing her how to do it herself next time. After she took a deep breath, gathering her courage, she climbed into the saddle. The knight was right, Bella didn’t make any attempt to throw her off and Yarri was eternally grateful for that. She guided the horse out of the stables, completely forgetting about Luna waiting at the entrance.

Bella didn’t seem to appreciate a wolf running towards her. She let out a panicked neigh and started to jump around. “Luna! No! Sit!” Yarri yelled, desperately trying to calm the horse and not get thrown out of the saddle. “Hey, girl, it’s all fine,” she whispered to Bella’s ear, gently stroking her neck. After a while the mare finally calmed down.

‘Damn these animals. This is going to be a very fun trip,’ Yarri thought sarcastically. Still, she was proud that she didn’t fall down into the mud. That probably wouldn’t be a best way to introduce herself to her companions.