Generated one (thought I needed to input credit card info first, stupid me) and they can ship. 94 USD for the books, 54 USD for the shipping. Wow...
Are there any gaming stores in Korea? Think it'd be cheaper for me to take the boat over there and pick them up in the long run. Also, out of curiosity, what're you doing in Korea?
Can Paizo (or any onine gaming store) ship overseas? I live in China and have "procured" the new D&D 4e books, but I always feel guilty for not paying for what I use. Unfortunately roleplaying games have not yet become a hit in China yet and there are no gaming stores here (even in big cities like Beijing).
Looking for two more players to finish out the cast of four in a new Exalted game on www.rpol.net. The game will start with all players playing heroic mortals with heroic destinies. The story will be told in four Chronicles each taking around two to three months of real life time so players comminted to a long game are appreciated. The first Chronicle will cover the journey of the players across Creation in seach of a way to save/liberate the small town they were born in and will cover a large part of Eastern Threshold. The game will be roleplaying heavy with a large amount of talking since the Exalted combat system is somewhat complex.
The story eventually requires an Imperfect Circle of four, familiar from their prior lives in which they were a Perfect Circle, with perhaps the fifth making an enterence in the later Chronicles. This being said, the Circle cannot have any duplicate Castes and the other two players already have first "dibbs" on their desired Castes. Exaltation will be strongly influenced by roleplaying so a combat heavy character will most likely be passed over by the Twilight Caste soul floating around.
If you are interested please take a look at the games information so far and send me a character idea that you think that would fit into the game well. This is both to see if your writing style suits the rest of the players style and to see if your idea of Creation is the same as that of the game.
Side note: I am currently traveling for the next seven days in the back country of China and am not sure when internet will be available. If I do not get back to you immediately please do not be offended. The games start (making characters and such) will begin in earnest on the 25th of Feburary so there is some time to get character ideas together before sending one.
I'm considering putting together a Shadowrun PBP game with around five players, but I first want to see if anyone would be interested in the game before I dust off the books and give them a good re-read. If you are interested please leave some sort of feedback indicating so. If I get a good amount of interest I will start putting it together.
The game would incorporate some elements from both 3rd and 4th editions (taking the best from both). This will make the game a little harder, but much more satisfying in the long run I believe. If you are interested, please leave some comment about the level of you knowledge of the system so I know how many "tweaks" I can safely make without throwing my gamers for a loop.
The talking continues and you seem to get some sense of what is happening in the town. After some time of listening to the conversation a cold chill permeates your body for a few moments and a sense of uneasiness overtakes you. The feeling quickly subsides and you start to again take in the conversation when two stones about the size of your fist go sailing past your head and slam into the side of the house. The stones are followed by the yells of:
"We found him! We found him!"
and,
"The mureder's here! Come and get him!"
The sounds are coming frm a pack of four children that somehow spotted you and are now readying another volly of stones to send towards you. Around the front of the house you can hear the rusty clnking of the militiamen guarding the front of the house coming your way.
After waiting for a few minutes the door to the small room opens and Xander enters carrying a small parcel wrapped in a delicate brown fabric and tied with rough twine. He nods to the assembled group as he makes his way towards Lord Chinilvur and set the parcel down gently before bending over to whisper something in the lord's ear. After exchanging glances with Lord Chinilvur he takes a seat, a look of nervousness overcoming his stern and gruff exterior. Lord Chinilvur takes the parcel in both hands and slowly slides it towards himself until it is laying directly in front of him. He takes one hand and slides it over the top to smooth the wrinkles from it's surface. He seems to be deep in thought, but suddenly grins in embarrassment as he realizes his loss of composure.
"This, I am sure of, is the reason for Vernaticus' death. When the gnome originally came to Kront he wanted to let me know that he was carrying an extremely dangerous item and that he may be in danger while in Kront. He was concerned for the people of Kront so he wanted to ask for my permission to make a home here. I agreed under the condition that the item was left in my care so that if someone did come for the item he would not be able to give it to them and then further endanger the people of Kront. Well, it seems now that some power is after this item now and Vernaticus was the first to die in the acquisition of it."
Lord Chinilvur begins to slowly untie the twine surrounding the parcel and then removes the delicate cloth that his it's exterior. The item is a black leather bound book with no identifying marks except for a picture of two goat's horns floating over a fire. As soon as the book is revealed a sense of foreboding permeates the room. Nash shifts his feet nervously under the table and Xander sets his jaw and stares at the book as if he would like to tear it to shreds. Lord Chinilvur seems not to be affected by the books cold ambiance. After giving everyone a few moments to take in the book the lord of Kront begins speaking again while re-wrapping the book in it's coverings.
"Now, for the tasks that are set before us and the reason I have called you here. I have three tasks and only two of them can be done in a reasonable amount of time. I ask for your advice in this manner and require you service for it as well. In other words, I am conscripting you because this attack has endangered the lives of all in Kront. I hope..."
Suddenly, there is two loud "thuds" against the side of the house and a lot of yelling from what seems to be children.
Something I should have mentioned earlier, but didn't because I'm a putz, is that I'm currently traveling over the Chinese winter vacation. What this means is that I might be a little late on some posts for a few weeks. It shouldn't be a problem once I get the "travel" portion of the trip done, but I could have some complications. I planned on posting from Beijing yesterday, but the trains were all messed up because of New Year and I ended up standing for four hours on a train after not sleeping for 36 hours. Please have pity on me.
You hear someone approach the window and stop, apparently looking out into the garden. From your place against the wall you cannot see what the person looks like, but after a few moments they retreat from the window. You also hear that another person has entered the room. After a few seconds you hear a new voice address other people in the room.
Figure you hear clearly about fifty percent of the conversation.
Mynis moves to the window and looks out for a few moments. His strong frame covers most of the light from the small window and Nash looks at him waiting for him to move so that he may continue reading.
For Mynis only-
Spoiler:
You look out onto the garden which is bathed in the grey light of the cloud covered sun. Nothing seems out of place and there is no apparent sign of what made the noise. The high plains wind blows through the vegetables and flowers giving them the appearance of daning in unison.
When Lord Chinilvur enters and sits Mynis again takes his seat. After greeting the group he begins to speak in the most serious of tones.
"As is most definately evident to all three of you, there has been a murder here in Kront. I was already informed by Nash about what he saw at the scene of the attack and that you, Mynis was it, was also present, but unconsceince for the entire duration of the fight. Al-God¨®n, you have been a boon for the herders and goodsmen of this area for nearly a month now and I put full faith in you willingness to help in this manner."
The Lord of Kront pauses to place both of his delicate hands on the table before him and signs deeply before continueing.
"Luckily, the motive for this murder is already known to me and I will explain it in more detail when Xander returns. He should be back at any moment. While we wait, would any of you like to ask anything of me about this matter?"
Yeah. We ran into a situation where I was waiting for you and you were waiting for me. In order to avoid this in the future I'm just going to keep rolling on with daily posts and if you want to wait you can just wait. I don't like the "I'm waiting" response so this should eliminate the need. And if you just didn't have time to post because of work or something then you can quote to a later event and we can roll backwards a little bit. Everyone is new to this (well, I don't know about Will) so we are still learning.
As Mynis eats his plate of food Nash respectfully busies himself inspecting the room itself. After awhile he moves himself to the bookshelf and looks over a few titles before starting to read one in earnest. The room is quiet for a few minutes until Nash is startled out of his reading by the words of Mynis.
Mynis wrote:
"Worry not my new friend. It is likely that the lord will want to know as much about the happenings up at the tower as is necessary to bring the late gnome's killer to justice."
For Mynis only-
Spoiler:
As you finish talking something you hear something outside in the garden. You're not sure what exactly it was, but something made a sound.
Nash thinks for a few moments, and starts talking a few times, but eventually gives up and goes back to his reading. Almost as soon as he has started to read again the door opens and Lord Chinilvur walks in. He wears no sign of authority except the air that there are things to be done and he is the one to get them done. His small body quickly moves to the head of the table and looks around the room at everyone before speaking.
"Welcome to my home. Please sit down."
With this minor greeting he takes a seat at the table himself.
You quickly peek in both windows as you pass them without making your curiosity too obvious. The first window, the basement level one, is too dark to see anything clearly through. The second opens up onto a small bedroom, perhaps that of a manservant or maid. Rounding the corner you see there is one more window on the house. The foliage leading to the window is sparse, but definitely better than nothing. No other houses look onto the garden. A small fence, which was at one point whitewashed but now is in dire repair, surrounds the garden and provides a little more cover from outside prying eyes.
You hop the fence and make your way to the window trying to make use of the cover as well as possible. Arriving under the window you can hear a voice inside, but they are far from clear.
Spoiler:
"...new friend. It is likely that...know as much about the happenings up...tower as is necessary...the...gnome's killer..."
Summis leads you into the house which is richly adorned for the region. Leading you through a sitting room and then opening a door and gesturing you to enter. Inside the room is a small, rectangle table that could seat up to six men. There is a bookshelf on one wall half filled with books, a luxury item for Kront. On the opposite side of the room from which you entered is a small window that opens up onto a lovely garden filled with various type of vegetable and wild flowers. Summis addresses the group before he closes the door.
"Please rest for awhile. I will go inform Lord Chinilvur of your arrival."
As he leaves Nash takes a seat near the head of the table and looks around nervously.
"I've never been in the lord's manor before. It's so much nicer than the rest of Kront. What do you think he'll want to say to us? I just...
Nash is interrupted by a knock on the door and the guard sent by Xander to fetch food entering. He looks towards Mynis and nods, placing the food on the table. Having accomplished his slightly mundane mission he leaves the room. The meal is a somewhat palatable looking plate of lamb leg and some damp looking greens of some sort. With the man gone the room quickly falls into an awkward silence.
Moving onto the street you see that it is indeed clear although there are two houses that look onto the back of the lord's manor. The backside of the home has two windows and a door. Judging from the kitchen you just saw the door leads into the kitchen. After the door are two more windows, one first level and the other basement level, but peering in them might be a little risky given your location on the open street.
Xander again takes the lead and you continue down the deserted streets at a quick pace. Within a few minutes the group reaches the lord's manor and Xander makes for the front door. Two militiamen guard at the door at perfect attention and nod to Xander as he approaches. As you arrive at the door Xander calls out to the men.
"Summis! Lead them to the lord's conference room and have them wait. Vince should be along with some food shortly for one of the men here so let him enter."
Xander turns back towards the group and with a large sweep of his arm gestures you towards the front door.
"Follow this man, he will take you to meet the lord. I have another matter I need to attend to, but I will be along shortly.
Al-Godón approaches Xander and talks to him for a moment in a voice low enough that the rest of the men cannot hear.
For Al-Godón only-
Spoiler:
After explaining the situation with the children Xander grins and shakes his head incredulously.
"Lord Chinilvur said you were the helping sort. I wouldn't worry about them too much. Most likely they'll run around for an hour and forget what they were doing in the first place. If I see them I'll let them know that they are under your direct command and to keep out of trouble."
The large man claps you on the back suddenly with a strong arm.
"Thanks for looking out for the kids though. They give me a hard enough time as it is."
Al-Godón and Xander quickly talk and Xander claps his strongly across the back before taking off back down the street on his apparent errand. The guard known as Summis patiently holds the door to the lord's manor open for the rest of the group to enter.
The guards only take marginal notice of your presence as you pass. The right side of the house has two first floor windows and a chimney outing made of crude clay bricks. The first window has a piece of furniture pushed up against the window blocking all view of the room, but the second you can clearly see into. It is a kitchen with two cooks, one female and one male, scurrying around preparing supper. They take no notice of the window and you are not seen.
The back of the house opens up onto another street, but not as ofter used as the one you arrived on. From where you are there seems to be no one on the street at the moment.
You make your way towards the lord's manor as the last of the sun's rays is made to vanish by a large passing cloud. As soon as the sun is out of sight a cold chill runs through the town. One by one the people taking the same street as you move into their houses until you are the last one on the street.
Arriving at the lord's manor you see the building is only one story, but judging by the ground based windows there is an extensive basement. The front of the house opens onto a large street giving little to no cover, but the right sides of the house are only ten feet from the nearest house. The left side of the house opens up only a small garden planted with both low growing vegetables and some beautiful types of wild plains flowers.
The front door is flanked by two militia men who take turns spitting and talking. They seem only slightly interested in their duties as there is no one on the streets at the moment.
Xander steps forward with his hand extended in friendship. A large smile has come across his face.
"So you ARE back in town! Lord Chinilvur was just mentioning how much better off we'd be if you were back. I am Xander Capstal, head of the militia here in Kront. I assume you'd be Al-Godón? I guess you've heard by now. That ol' Gnome finally got it up at the tower, but now I've to clean up the mess. Would you be willing to come and meet with Lord Chinilvur about this matter? Your expertise would be greatly appreciated."
Xander, smile once again gone from his face at the mention of his work, looks back towards Mynis and Nash to see if they are ready to continue onward towards the lord's manor.
Morris nods in agreement and barks out some orders to the boys. The first group, including the boy who had a complaint about his older brother, are to mingle with the standing crowd waiting to be allowed to leave the city. The other three boys are to follow Morris who plans to sweep the "per'meter" for "spic'ous" looking people. After finishing giving the plan of action to the other boys he turns back to you.
"Two hours, don't be late! If you don't come we'll 'sume that he has ca'tured you and send a rescue party."
With this the boys break off into a disorganized run to their appointed positions around town. The covertness of their actions are a little surprising until the older brother gives his younger a slight push during the run and the little one takes a nasty spill. They are quickly in a heap wrestling over the slight as all the out of town people watch in amusement, all pretense of covertness gone.
After the ruckus you make your way towards the tower gate. The warm sunshine that accompanied your ride into town has disappeared behind gray clouds and it looks as if the night will bring foul weather. With the warming rays of the sun gone, a slight chill from the cold high plains air has overtaken the town. The warm, crisp shadows that a summer sun throws have blended into a mass of gray shadows that heightens the empty feeling of the streets. You feel as if a pair of eyes are watching you from the window of every house you pass along your way. All of them wondering if you are the murderer.
After no more than a minute of walking you make your way to the main road and, as you turn onto it, you see a group of three men about twenty yards in front of you. One you do not recognize, but he seems no be a warrior of some type judging by his armament. The other two you recognize as the local Gnome mage's apprentice and the other as Xander Capstal, head of the local militia.
Al'Godón wrote:
"Hello good sir, as a Knight of the holy Order of the Aster, I would like to offer my hand in helping you restore peace to this town. How may I be of service?"
Nash looks to the ground, obviously a little embarrassed as he speaks.
"Honestly, I don't know. It was my responsibility to keep memories locked away, but still present. But when the man came and he started trying to kill me... I ran. I don't know what happened to your memories after I left, but when I returned with Xander the machine had gone haywire."
Nash is interrupted from saying more by the return of Xander who motions to continue walking. He takes the lead again in an obvious path to where you remember the lord's manor being. After a few moments of walking Nash continues talking.
"I can imagine your most recent memories are hazy at best. They are the easiest to lose in the process. Not well formed enough to be kept easily. Vernaticus said it was like trying to fence a cloud. As for remembering him and regaining your most recent memories, it is a possibility. You have an especially good chance now that you are back in a familiar place. Either way, you should have regained all that you can within a few days and some good nights rest."
Nash trails off as you walk down the deserted street. You remember that this street in the past had as many as ten men selling their daily catches of fish. The smell of fresh fish still lingers in the air, but the fish themselves are nowhere to be found.
Suddenly a man turns the corner about twenty yards down the street and starts heading towards your group. You don't recognize the man but he wears a holy symbol around his neck. As he approaches he seems to recognize Xander and calls out to him.
"Hello good sir, as a Knight of the holy Order of the Aster, I would like to offer my hand in helping you restore peace to this town. How may I be of service?"
As you set off back towards town Nash begins to explain the nature of the Magicus Experiencicator. Leaving the tower you see from the side of the hill Kront laid before you. Both gates are clearly closed and there are less people on the streets than usual. There seems to be a semi-large congregation in the center of town of around seventy people. The militiaman sent by Xander runs toward the town gate, now closed, in order to follow his orders.
"Vernaticus said that false images of combat or the other rigors of adventuring never really teach anything because the fear of death isn't in the person's mind. Apparently learning only takes place under strenuous conditions. This is why fighting an image of a person, or a mundane dummy for that mater, doesn't cause you to learn anything. Vernaticus wanted to create a machine that would instill the fear of death in the "trainee" so that the learning would be real. By removing memory he was able to instill some amount of learning, but we were always unable to remove enough memory to make the experience "real". But we were lucky with you! If we removed only a few days you would never remember Vernaticus or me. You would have no idea of our project. We thought this would give the needed lack of knowledge to make the machine real. But perhaps we will never know that Vernaticus is gone. He was the father of the machine and the only one I think really understood how it worked. I might be able to salvage some of his writings, although I don't think I could ever make heads nor tails of them."
Xander seems completely uninterested by the conversation and walks ahead two or three paces. By the time Nash finishes you have already arrived at the town gate, which was left open to let your party through. After entering the town the gates are closed behind you. Xander says to you two,
"Wait a moment, I want to talk to this man."
He then turns without waiting so that he may speak in private with the militiaman guarding the gate.
Morris scratches the back of his head and looks off behind you. Squinting one eye, as if contemplating herd, he says,
"None of us really knew anything about the murder except that we think was up at the tower. That means it was probably that Gnome that got it. Sammy saw Nash running full speed into town, so it wasn't him. Then Xander and a few of the militia left in a hurry. Course it could have been outside of town too. Maybe a merchant just leaving?"
After speaking his piece Morris looks back at you expectantly.
Nash, looking a little hangared, steps forward and begins talking excitedly.
"I'd say around two hours. It was amazing though! I thought you were done in by the Cavern of Wind, but... Wow! Flying across the room like that! Maybe, when this all gets sorted out, we can have another try?"
While Nash is talking you overhear Xander command one of his men to run ahead to inform the lord of the current situation and to get a meal ready for you. As soon as Nash finishes talking he turns back to you and speaks.
"That'll have to wait. Let's get going if you are both ready. Lord Chinilvur is waiting for us and I have a lot of work to do today."
Morris scratches his head as you explain your intentions so him with a dumbfounded look on his face.
"Ooooooh..."
He begins to rub his chin with his thumb and forefinger contemplating to himself. After a few moments he takes on a look of realization and starts talking excitedly.
"Kynum was out gettin' some water at the far well for his mum earlier today because if he goes to the town well Sharese always tries to kiss him. Well, that's what he tells us anyway. More likely she just beats the snot out of him when he tries to kiss her. 'nyway, he says he saw a dark man ridin' around outside town. Think that's him?"
Xander eyes you carefully when you refuse the accompaniment back to the town proper but says nothing until you are dressed and ready to go. As you move to leave he calls out to you.
"I hope you wouldn't mind if my deputy here and Nash went with you back to the town proper? Lord Chinilvur would like to have a word with both of you."
Morris listens to your plan with a surprising amount of interest for a boy around the age of eleven. After you finish he immediately turns around and divides the other boys into two groups of three and tells them to come back to the town center with any information in an hour. One of the boys, probably the youngest at around eight, complains that he is in his older brother's group, but quickly is made to keep quiet with a shove by his brother and a few stern words from Morris about the group's pecking order. After the minor altercation the six other boys take off in different directions and Morris turns back to you.
"'kay Mister Knight, I'm ready t' go. Which of the militiamen are you going to talk to first?"
"Excuse me good sirs. My name is Myins Morne. Who might you be?"
The gruff man quickly looks back to you as you speak and rights himself so that he is not so close when answering you inquiry.
"I am Xander Capstal, head of the Kront militia and these are two of Kront's militiamen. Oh, and this is Nash, Vernaticus' apprentice and local ruffian."
Mynis wrote:
"Well met. Does any man here know who or what has wounded me?"
"To be honest, I wish we met on better terms..."
The man looks over his shoulder at the boy apprentice as he trails off. The boy quickly takes the hint and speaks.
"Mynis! His name is Mynis."
The head of the militia looks back to you and continues to speak.
"Right, Mynis. There was a murder here while you were off "training". You were apparently accidentally injured in the fray, but someone in Kront can fix you up right again no problem.
There is obvious sarcasm in his voice when he mentions the apparent training. Taking a moment to look around the room you see many things knocked over or out of place, a clear sign of a struggle. There is also a fair amount of blood around the room, most of it not your own from the looks of it. Your possessions, once nicely stacked on a chair, lie on the floor in a heap.
"Don't be worried, you are not a suspect. Nash here witnessed a good bit of the conflict and you were asleep for it. Now we would like to escort you back to town to keep you safe and so we can continue our investigation.
You grasp around in the dark not finding anything. Not the boulder, not the door, not even the wall. Wandering around in all directions there seems to be nothing tangible left at all in the area.
Suddenly you realized that you are on your back on a pallet in a small room with a very low ceiling. Strange machinery whirl and buzz against every wall and strange lights flicker on and off with no sense of purpose. Your legs aches more than it did a few moments ago and the wetness of your blood seems more real now. A gruff man with greased back hair is standing over you with his face only inches from your own. Two other men are at your feet removing some sort of apparatus with no sign of gentleness while another man, or almost a man as he looks as if he is at most 15 years of age, complains about damaging "it". The gruff man's severe eyes peer from one of your eyes to the other as if looking for something. Suddenly he grunts in an apparent sign of approval and says,
"Eh boy! Welcome back to the reality. Some things have changed since you've been gone."
Suddenly, like a thundering storm bearing down on a village in the Spring storm season, your memory of the last few weeks floods back. You remember coming to Kront and meeting the boy at the end of your pallet whose name is Nash. You remember him as identifying you as a Rashemi and wanting to hear about your home lands as he is studying magic himself. You remember him telling you about his master's newest invention, the "Magicus Experiencicator", which was able to put a warrior through the rigors of training with no danger to their life. You remember scoffing at the machine and eventually taking up the boy's challenge of trying the machine. You also remember the wily bearded Gnome that invented and operated the machine, a Vernicus or Vurnasus or some such. Your new gained memories end with the Gnome applying a combination of spells and machinery to you which caused you to drift off into the apparent dream world from which you just emerged from.
The gruff man interrupts your thoughts by yelling at the boy over his shoulder,
"Nash, I think that damned machine retarded this boy, Tyr damnit!"
I'm new to the PS world so I'd like a little help figuring out where my character is from and what deity he would serve. I'm playing a Tuladhara with the true neutral alignment. I want him to have spent most of his young life training to be a Druid and then, at the age of 16, to have entered a Druid deliberative that debate the nature of neutrality by slumbering and discussing. I want him to have spent the last twenty years slumbering, leaving his body tough but ultimately atrophied beyond the point of repair (hence my strength and dexterity). Luckily, his years of studying have left his mind is the greatest of shape. The deliberative has sent him out into the world to gain more information for study since they haven't seen the outside world for some twenty years or more. After gaining new information about the world he will eventually return to the deliberative.
As for his philosophy, it is that of true neutrality. He has the belief that there is no such thing as good and bad, only systems that work better for some people. And evil society is not bad if people are given the choice to leave the system if it doesn't work for them. Anyway, that's the main idea in a nutshell.
What I mostly want to know is what you suggest for a place of origin and a deity.
As you place the last stone all the stone turns to white and the second globe on the far door lights up. The stones start to slowly screech their way into the boulder as before. Suddenly the boulder is not there anymore. The screeching sound has also disappeared. Everything has gone black in the room, but more than that. The space that used to be occupied by the boulder is now empty space and your torch has disappeared. In every direction all you can see is blackness. Suddenly you feel a tugging on your fingers and toes as if someone is trying to remove something.
As you mention the danger involved the children all take on a wide eyed look of realization. When you finish Morris, the obvious leader of the gang, looks over his shoulder towards his counterparts who all nod in agreement. Turning back to you he say,
"'kay! Sounds good to us. 'ow you mind getting i'formation mister... What's your name?"
Knowledge of the feat does not nessisarily mean that you can perform the feat because your body does not allow for it.
Example, we all know how to slam dunk a basketball, but our bodies prohibit it. So, were I able to grow two feet and jump twice as high I wouldn't need to re-learn how to slam dunk, it would just now be possible.
I could see someone knowing theoretically how to use Improved Grab long before their body allowed them to actually make use of it.
Are you allowing the taking of feats if you don't have the reqs for it, just not usable unless you have the stats? Asking b/c I want to take some feats for when I'm wild shaped, but my base stats don't allow it.
Also, monster feats available for while in shape change?
Are you studying as well? I've been here for about six months now and I pretty much speak more Chinese than I do English on a daily basis. Perhaps we could trade study tips!
As you attempt to move the last stone, the second black one you have moved, it removes to budge from its spot in the boulder. After releasing the stone the puzzle resets as before.
I'm looking into something on the Druid or Bard track. Something to pull some back-up healing. Maybe a wonky multi-class. Not sure on race yet. I'll get it set-up tonight. I know I'm slowing everyone else down.
On another note, Kruelaid where you located at in the great abyss known as China? I'm in Shijiazhuang.
Scanning the crowd you spot the seed merchant and his wife heading towards the cart. Seeing you take notice of him he gives you a slight wave. It is fairly obvious he is heading back to his cart.
The children have formed a circle and as you approach you overhear them talking over methods of investigation and possible suspects. They are visibly surprised at the prospect of an adult speaking to them so earnestly and with such manners. After you state your intentions they quickly recover from their surprise and look to each other trying to get a sense of the group consensus. After a few moments the largest of the boys, and coincidently the dirtiest, steps forward to address you, giving you a incredulous look all the while.
”So you’re a knight, eh? I’m Morris and ‘is is my gang.”
The boy sticks his stubby thumb into his chest as he introduces himself and then directs the dirty digit over his shoulder towards the other boys to indicate his friends.
”You can ‘elp us if you want, but you ‘ave to share all the money we find with us. Oh, ‘n’ we can’t be telling out parents about ‘is. It might affect out i’vestigation. Agreed?”
You move the cart, with the help of the man’s rather well behaved mule, to the right side of the podium and out of the way of later comers. After getting it into place a few children climb on to the cart to get a better view over the heads of the adults. The area in front of the podium is fairly large and you are easily within yelling distance. The flow of people into the center of town has stymied and as many as one hundred and fifty people are present
After you get the cart in place you only have to wait half a minute before Lord Chinilvur makes his appearance. He climbs the podium, which is only about two feet tall and only sets his head a little over that of the crowd. The lord of Kront is smallish in stature, much skinnier than the average resident, and height, but dons clothes much akin to that of the residents. The podium is flanked by four town militia as he ascends the podium. The men scan the crowd with scrutiny as if looking for someone in particular. After taking the podium Lord Chinilvur spares no time addressing the crowd.
“Kront residents hear me! There are reports of an attack up at the tower and the militia is currently looking into these reports. For now I request everyone who lives here in Kront to return home and wait further instruction. For those of you from outside of the walls, I want you to stay here in the center of town and wait.”
The lord turns to descend but a man, obviously a fisher as he has a long string of silver fish strung over his shoulder, calls out to him.
”Eh! Those of us from outside the walls all have family waiting for us as ‘ome. We can’t we wastin’ the day here in Kront if we expect to get them fed.”
A few yells and a general grumble from the crowd backs the man’s words of displeasure. Lord Chinilvur slowly turns, looking at the man as if he was expecting complaints, and addresses him in the sternest of tones.
”The doors of the town are already being shut so you have no other recourse. We hope once we get an idea of the situation we can re-open the gates and let you return home. There is no negotiation in this.”
The lord quickly turns and descends before any more complaints can be raised and starts off towards his home accompanied by the four militiamen. Half the crowd starts to move out of the town center while the other have turns to their neighbors to start a mass complaint. The children who were on the cart run off down a street yelling about how they will find the murderer.
After moving all the stones you notice that the black piece in the middle is still black. The stones slowly slide into the boulder with a loud screeching and reappear in their original positions.
Sounds good, and I like your writing. Go into the Play-by-Post forum discussion and look for "The Test of Golden Cinders Discussion" and find my e-mail. Send me an e-mail and we'll get started on character creation and work you into the story. The quicker the better.
As you approach the other side of the boulder you see another inscription and another set of stones. This inscription reads:
”Light contains dark, dark contains light, both will bring a change, and the world will mature. With two moves of light, and one move of dark, create a world in which, only light can persist”
Below the inscription is another set of stones similar to the first set-up in a new pattern.
Spoiler:
The stones are arranged as follows:
______________
|O|O|O|O|O|O|O|
----------------------
|O|B|O|W|O|O|O|
----------------------
|O|B|B|B|O|O|O|
----------------------
|O|W|B|B|O|O|O|
~~~~~~~~~~~
The door has no visible handle or any type or opening mechanism. The shining globe on the top half of the globe glows unnaturally, but there is no sign of the source of the light. After searching the door thoroughly you notice that there is a second, hardly noticeable circle on the bottom half of the door which looks like it can be lit up like the top half.
Placing the first stone in the hole the white piece turns to black. Then, as you place the second white piece into place, all the stones turn white and slide into the boulder. Once the stones are out of sight the holes and the inscription light up, which gives the room a little bit of light. A large circle lights up on the top half of the door on the far side of the room.
The slotting of the first stone goes as planned and the stone fits perfectly into the hole. After placing the second stone, the white piece between the two black stones slowly changes color until it is as black as the other black stones. After changing color the stones slowly slide into the boulder, making a terrible scratching noise, and then reappear in their original spots.
After speaking to a few vendors you locate a middle aged, severely balding man whose main source of income comes from selling seeds to the herders of the region. He deals mostly in seeds that do well at the high altitude and in the hard weather, such as potato and cabbage. When you come upon him he is loading the last of his seed bags onto his cart and is securing them into place. He says he is not interested in trading seeds except in bulk unless you have something truly exotic that can, of course, survive on the high plains. After hitching his mule to the cart he makes off towards the town center as you question him about the frequency of the town meetings. He tells you, after only swearing about foreigners once, that they are somewhat rare, but not unheard of in Kront. He also recalls that the last town meeting took place last year when a trade caravan was attacked by a unknown raiding party and Lord Chinilvur was worried that Kront was in some sort of danger.
After talking for five minutes, you, the man and his cart all arrive at the town center. About one hundred Kront residents have assembled to hear what their lord has to say and more are still filing in. The people mill around the yard talking in hushed whispers about what the meeting could be about. The man notices his wife as soon as you arrive and makes towards her, leaving his cart behind.
