Location: The Nameless Village
Time of Day: Late Morning (10:00 AM~)
People of Interest: @Zeroth Yasunami Akitsugu,
@Lupusintus Rinn Arniman,
@ERode MacKinnon,
@Dragonydas Myrravel Velasien,
@CitrusArms Niara Rootwick,
@Remram Brom Stronghammer,
@BunniesOfDoom Adrila Jaaxa,
@Rune_Alchemist Yingmei Okudaira
The sun shines brightly in a mostly clear sky, marred only by a few wispy clouds that lazily sail across the endless blue. It is spring and the snow and cold of winter has thawed away, giving rise to the return of colors and fragrances. The birds are chirping happily and busying themselves with gathering materials to nuild their new nests or thatch-up their old ones. Animals, both small and large, have awakened from their hibernation or otherwise sleepy days of conserving strength, and are now once again ready to rise and face the coming year.
Our eyes, however, are turned to the Farland Frontier, a wild and untamed stretch of very varied wilderness and terrain, located in the western parts of the world. Here, nestled in between eight different regions of quite different climates and geography, is a small vale of temperate green grasslands. Bushes and thin trees dot the landscape here, with the occasional larger rock or stone popping out of the grassy ground. The area's mostly flat, with a few very low hills that're more like knells or squished-down mounds. But apart from the wildflowers and other vegetation, there really isn't much here...
... Except for at the very heart of it all.
Here, in the very center of the little vale, lies an old, long-forgotten town. Or... Well, village might be more appropriate... Okay, okay, it's not even quite that... More like a
hamlet. Judging by the looks of things, there hasn't been any residents here for quite a while. The few buildings still standing have either suffered collapsed walls, caved in roofs and rotting or otherwise weatherworn frameworks. The
very few buildings made out of simple stone bricks have faired better than the wooden structures, of course, but even they have begun to be reclaimed by time and nature. The roads, once little more than well-trodden dirt paths, have started to become overgrown and retaken by ever-encroaching neighbouring grass, which has season by season, year by year, reclaimed bit by bit.
Honestly, the only things that even look as if it would be remotely hospitable at this point are the two central-most buildings of the place. One, a large long-house-like building, with tiled roofs that've long-since lost their color. Although the window-shutters are about to fall off their rusted hinges and the front door won't close shut - since it's become off-balance and won't fit into the doorway anymore, the rest of the structure is in a... Serviceable... state, if nothing else. Sadly, the inside is a bit more depressing, with the floorboards having become warped or partially rotted through, and the only real futniture left from the years of yore are a bunch of small, uncomfortable-looking cots. There
is a fire pit, but no pot or spit to go over it, and there are no shelves or cupboards - none intact anyway - with any sort of pottery or other utensils.
The second building, one made from bricks rather than wood, is on the opposite side of the road from the aforementioned longhouse. This one has a thatch roof with only a few holes in it, though the front door is nowhere to be found, and neither does it have window-shutters. To get inside, one must ascend a very short set of steps, which leads into the main door and a small antechamber. Sadly, like it's sibling across the street, it too has warped or crumbling floors and is lacking in any furniture. Given that the rooms are fairly large inside this structure though, perhaps someone of importance or above-average-levels-of-wealth lived here once? It's quite hard to say, really.
Apart from these two buildings that still stand with all four walls still intact, there're two other important sights at the heart of the hamlet. The first being an old well, complete with a little roof above it. However, the crank looks about ready to fall off, the pully is wobbly and in dire need of replacement, and the rope is frayed to the point of being about to snap or unravel at any moment. The bucket that the rope is attached is in no better condition, leaking from several cracks or small holes in bottom... But at least you could get
some water up before it all trickles out and back down into the well. And hey, the well still has water in it!
the other, last bit of noticealbe interest, is the weird statue at the dead-center of the settlement. Seated on a small stone dais, is a solid stone statue of a four-pointed star, kinda like a shuriken, but with no hole in the middle. This old statue seems to have been here for a while, and has been weathered by the elements and time, yet somehow still stands strong, with no discernable cracks or chipping in the stone. There's no plaque or inscriptions though, nothing to tell or inform what this thing actually is supposed to be or represent... Perhaps it's just apiece of artwork that the former residents made and put up? Or perhaps it's holds some kind of cultural or religious significance to someone? Hard to say, and even harder to figure out, given that none of the old residents remain.
But, then you ask, what is so important about this run-down, crumbling, long-forgotten little place? Well, as it so happens, this very morning, a few fresh faces crossed from all of the other areas surrounding the vale, and made their way to it. Some were drawn by a voice they clai,m, while others had a dream, a few even swore they were just being
pulled towards this location. It doesn't matter their reasons really, what
does matter is that they're all here now... It is a small group, barely more than a dozen souls from all parts of the world and all walks of life...
And yet, they've all gathered here, and now gaze at this rural, rustic ruin in the middle of nowhere... This is where their, and our, story begins. A new season, a new day... What will grow from this young, fledgeling seed?
--- At the heart of the settlement ---
A tall, broad-shouldered man with a simple plain tunic and pants, wearing a dark apron, was talking in a lively fashion with a woman who was about a head-and-a-half shorter than him, also dressed in simple attire with an apron. From the one of their conversation, it was fair to say they were a married couple, and they were standing next to an old-looking wagon, which had an equally old-looking horse pulling it. The wagon was filled with bags and crates - luggage and personal belongings no doubt. The duo were standing a bit off the road, near to the still-mostly-intact longhouse and seemed to be having a bit of a mrital spat, though there wasn't any anger or heated words, just a wife sighing in exasperation at her seemingly eccentric husband, who in turn was laughing jovially and seemed excited at the prospect or renovating an entire village.
--- Near the northern edge of the settlement ---
A short woman, a dwarf, with healthy caramel skin and golden blonde hair, dressed in a long dark coat, and equally dark short-shorts and a bandeau, was busy poking around one of the crunbling buildings. She had a crossbow strapped to her back, along with a quiver, a small sheath with a dagger clung to the belt on her waist. She seemed to have just exited from a nearby house, which one of the walls were about to give out on, as it was more rot than wood at this point.
"Too bad... It was nearest to the plains forest too... Guess I'll have to go look deeper in and see if there's something else still standing." she mused to herself, tapping a dainty finger against her equally daint chin, while slowly and lazily gazing up at the sky, seemingly lost in thought.
--- At the western edge of the settlement ---
A very young-looking girl was riding in a cart pulled by a donkey, along with a very old-looking man. The smaller person was now busy hugging the larger one, who in turn was just chuckling in amusement at the child's antics. Compared to the first pair, this cart seemed to be in better condition, and the donkey - although an ass - looked to be a far more healthy specimen than the wedded couple's horse. But, in a place with no real roads, things were slow-going. But it seemed the old man wasn't in any rush. By the looks of it, it appeared they too were headed for the center of this old village. Their cart was filled with barrels, crates and even had a small tent-like fixture at the very rear - suggesting they'd been sleeping while on the road in this wagon of theirs.
...
... And then, there were the rest of them... The other eight, who each arrived from their respective direction, for their own reasons...
Lemons,
nightmare medx,
ChronicleMan,
BunniesOfDoom,
Expendable,
Dragonydas,
Eventua,
LupusIntus,
CitrusArms,
TheMushroomLord