Talisek Unthraet's page

Tally will make sure that the innkeeper knows to bring Atticus some food. "Rest easy, lad. Be sure y'r well 'nough ta patch us up, an' we come back wi' holes in us! Foxes be fierce, sometimes."

Ready here.

Tally takes rather less time hanging up and caring for his armor, but makes sure to get his boots off and socks rinsed and hung up to dry. "I'd better check on Atticus, make sure he 'membered ta take care o' that too. Poor lad'd walk on blisters for miles...."

My wife is also a teacher, and this coming week is the last before the holiday break. Seems like a lot of the kids have already started checking out, though....

Talisek laughs, not unkindly. "We're not s' long-lived as th' elves or th' dwarves, and we go t' war fer any reason or no reason. So some bright ol' sage, she writes this all down in a book, that book goes in some library, the library's in a city, an' all of a sudden the king next door looks at the city 'n thinks to hisself, 'Oh, here's a fine place just yearnin' for my kindly rulin' hand!' So he sends over some grunts like me with swords an' torches, and there goes the book.

"It's no' fair, but tha's the way o' things. It's why folks like ye need ta hold tight to whate'er y' learn, pass it round, so things don't get fergot tha' maybe should be 'membered well."

He pauses, struck by a thought. "P'raps we should speak to young Atticus o' this. He's no scholar, but he knows more than he knows. Iffin' y' know what I mean."

"Anythin' o' use ta us down there?"

Tally is also remaining upstairs with Narcisse and the children, packing up leftovers for Atticus and otherwise cleaning up.

"Thank ye again, Master Almery, and thanks ta th' goddess for this feast.

"I'm no skilled hunter m'self, but I'll gladly help ta track y'r fox, or whate'er it be."

After looking at the sketch, Tally shakes his head. "I'm sorry, young mistress, but I don't know 'im. Iffin y' could give me another drawing, though, I'll look fer 'im in m' travels."

"Master Almery, thank y' again fer y'r hospitality. D'ye and the children allus eat this well?"

Once Valgar has finished telling of Anvil Plunge, Tally will continue. "Young master, I'm Talisek. Y'll not have heard o' where I'm from, it's a village much th' same as Lessef. More ank--kids underfoot, though. I s'pose I've been some exciting places, though truth ta tell I mostly recollect mud an' marchin'. An' screamin' an' bleedin' a time or five, o' course." He absent-mindedly rubs the scars on one arm, staring off at nothing much at all.

Tally is also a bit unsure about the turkey. "A verra large goose, I'm thinkit."

Sounds good to me. BTW, I apologize for not posting anything for the past couple of days--cooking Wednesday night, tryptophan coma Thursday, and on the road today. (Yesterday was US Thanksgiving.)

"I'm thinkit not, Narcisse. Best not ta keep Master Almery and the children waiting.... We can allus get some after the fox hunt t'morrow." In a much lower voice, Tally continues, "...'sides, y'should never turn down home cookin'."

Talisek looks over the scene, scratches his chin, and ambles over to the group. He murmurs an aside to Valgar:

"Atticus had summat to drink again, looks ta me. No blood this time, Freya b' thankit. How's th' lad doin'?"

"Aye, let's. Master Almery, thank y' fer y'r kind offer, and we'll not be long." Talisek bows slightly to Almery, and he and Narcisse (I assume) head back down the hill to the Pebble.

Brethel

Although Talisek has generally been staying quiet except for the one question, when Narcisse offers to pay for dinner he all but cuts her off, starting to speak just as she finishes talking.

"Beggin' y'r pardon, Master Almery, but Mis--er, Narcisse hasn't had ta deal with human hospitality much o' late, livin' in the elflands an' all. All our dealin's on the road were with innkeepers. She meant no insult by her offer.

"Truth ta tell, we're here with three others, an' they're down at the Pebble--Master Valen's an elf, see, an' from what Jeb said, Ol' Man Porter mebbe wouldn't take kindly ta seein' his like. It'd be a rude thing ta do, acceptin' y'r hospitality when our friends're not here."

Brethel

While Narcisse thinks, Talisek asks Almery:

"Why so few anklebi--er, children in town? Makes things too quiet by half, no lie."

Talisek seems to be at a complete loss for words when Narcisse looks to him, and is visibly relieved when Almery responds.

"Hey, wait fer the rest of us!"

Talisek will again follow the impetuous magic-user, muttering under his breath. "Well, if'n there's kids there, p'raps th' town aten't too far gone."

I may not be able to post much this weekend--will be at an SF con, and I don't know if the hotel charges for internet.

Talisek will follow.

Sorry about not posting sooner; very busy couple of days at work.

Talisek responds to Narcisse: "Iffin' y' say so, Mis--Narcisse."

"Aye, Mistress Narcisse, but there's worse and there's worse. Burned-out towns an' th' dead in stacks by roadside are part an' parcel o' a soldier's life. Seein' a place that should be healthy all hollowed out inside, like an empty husk...that's not right. Not right at all."

As he fixes Atticus' pack, Talisek thinks to himself, "Easier'n dealin' with officers...'leastways Atticus don't lord it over a poor bloody grunt." He catches himself before he claps Atticus on the shoulder, then picks up his own pack, reseats it with an ease born of many marches, and follows.

"I hope y'have the right of it, Master Valen. This place is unsettlin'."

"Nawp, mine don't chafe, but she be broken in good an' proper. Thought yours would be, by now...y'might have the straps too loose again."

"Valen needs to stay away I think if Jeb is right."

"I don't like splittin' us up, but iffin we hafta, better it be two-an'-three than one-an'-four. I'm thinkit first, we all go up an' have Almery open the inn. We drop our packs there, then Valen and mayhap Valgard, y'stay at the inn whilst Atticus, Narcisse an' I go up to see Old Man Porter?"

"Now, my old serjeant (may Freya rest his soul) used ta say that whene'er y'split up like that, y'gotta have some way fer each group t'let the other know if there's trouble. We got whistles, or anything like that?"

"Friends, do you think we could perhaps discover what happened here, to the child, I mean?"

"Sure, since we're here an' all. This place, though--y'know, I bin ta a few little farm towns, an' every one of 'em y' could hear kids out playin'. I don't care for this much."

He turns to Atticus. "Mayhap this is why y'were called here? Ta set right what can be?"

Gettin' a bit late, you'll probably be wantin' to spend the night here in town?

Talisek stops with the rest of the party and looks around briefly before doffing his pack and setting it down next to him. "Sounds like a good idea to me. If it's all right with you, Atticus?"

Sounds good to me. In the aftermath of the chill washing over him, Talisek suddenly feels a bit healthier.

Maeve's spirit morphs into an all-powerful, malevolent entity...the Old-School Game Master!

Mwaaa haaa haaa!

Talisek looks up from his ale mug. "Did someone leave a door open? I just felt a chill."

"Dancing's not that bad, with the right partner or enough to drink."

Ready here.

I've got the S&W Core rules...says level 1 clerics get save 14, magic-users get 15, fighting-man gets 16. Am I missing something here?

The version I have (Third Printing (Internet Version) - July 2009) has the level 1 fighting-man save at 14, cleric at 15, magic-user at 15 (but saves at +2 vs. spells, including those cast from wands or staffs).

So, Valen and Narcisse have a connection already. Maeve has a reason to hit the road, and Tally and Valgar are along for the ride. Atticus will be met along the way. How do the Valen/Narcisse tag team hook up with the Maeve/Tally/Valgar stable as they head out from Bargarsport?

At a guess, Maeve is looking to bulk up the group before trying to take a 250 mile trip on foot along a mountain range. Valen and Narcisse are newly out of the Kajaani Forest, and if Maeve and Narcisse knew each other before (as was suggested above), it's understandable that Maeve would recruit her friend the magic-user, especially since she has an elf along. The combination seems perfect for the trip. It's as if it were designed that way!

Let's start trying to work out a shared background, everyone. Remember, Maeve is the lynchpin, she's making a pilgrimage to the temple of Freya in Lessef. Your PC is along for the journey...why? (This is more likely to be due to some relationship with Maeve or another PC than the town itself, which is rather a hole in the wall sort of place).

I'm thinking Tally is along as a bodyguard for Maeve or maybe Narcisse. Right now he's desperate enough to work for shares.

Talisek Unthraet wrote:

Talisek's profile is done. By an amazing coincidence, though, I happened to roll a one for HP. I was going to deal (I mean, +2 for class and +1 for CON score bumps it up a bit), but since you brought up the possibility of a reroll?

Yeah, reroll that, John. The guy's supposed to be a former soldier and all, let's try to toughen him up a bit. :)

1d6 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 2 + 1 = 7

That's better!

Sorry I didn't get to all of your questions last night! I got interrupted, and never got back to the computer.

Yes, start with one spell in your spellbook, and I'd say you can go ahead and cast it even at 1st level.

Hit points will be random at all levels, so roll away! (I'll probably let you reroll a one, though).

That interruption thing happens sometimes when you have kids. It gets better in terms of frequency when they're teenagers, but the interruptions get a bit more...fraught, let's say. Car accidents, speeding tickets, major homework assignments that were due yesterday and need to be reviewed....

Talisek's profile is done. By an amazing coincidence, though, I happened to roll a one for HP. I was going to deal (I mean, +2 for class and +1 for CON score bumps it up a bit), but since you brought up the possibility of a reroll?

Talisek ("Call me Tally") Unthraet isn't the sharpest tool in the shed, as they say, but at least he knows his limits. In the army he kept his head down, followed orders, and (most importantly) didn't panic. Now that his unit's been demobbed, though, he's at loose ends. He's not ready to go back to farming again. Fighting is the only other thing he knows how to do, so he's on the road looking for action.

Tally's HP:

1d6 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 2 + 1 = 4

Ah, well. Nowhere to go but up, right?

I'll try to get the profile in later today or this evening. (Unfortunately I left my copy of the rules on a computer at home....) Here's Tally's starting gold, though:

3d6 ⇒ (1, 6, 1) = 8 x10= 80

Clearly Tally isn't very good at economizing, either....