Remove ads

Of Winding Ways and Cunning Devices

Voting is open
Reader mode
At this stage we should just chill with the Russ. Why even go to Constantinople beyond maybe trade when we can still go adventuring and maybe become one of the prince kings rurikids by aiding their conquests.
 
Redgamer026 said:
At this stage we should just chill with the Russ. Why even go to Constantinople beyond maybe trade when we can still go adventuring and maybe become one of the prince kings rurikids by aiding their conquests.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Honestly, I would prefer this.

[X] You and Ular will go hunting with the king and his thanes (Less favor is successful, but it will be shared )
 
A bit of offtop: I've begun my first Pathfinder quest (I do not give link, it's on Russian). I do not know how long will it last, but want to try.
Cross with Worm. Participants have already unsurprisingly choosen Taylor as MC. :V It's strangly fun to construct different Oracle builds... :sour:
 
Update to this tomorrow, let's see how that hunt goes. Famously going hunting with a king never leads to any trouble.

Arhin said:
A bit of offtop: I've begun my first Pathfinder quest (I do not give link, it's on Russian). I do not know how long will it last, but want to try.
Cross with Worm. Participants have already unsurprisingly choosen Taylor as MC. :V It's strangly fun to construct different Oracle builds... :sour:
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

That sounds like a good combination, a better system than Weaver Dice IMO.
 
Remove ads
Arc 1 Post 21: Hunter and Hunted
  • Threadmarks
    • Hunter and Hunted ​

    7th of June 867 A.D.

    The forest's ragged shadows reached near the walls of the city, the hoots own owls and the warble that gives the red-bellied birds their name a warning to all the beasts of the woods that man has once more chosen to impinge upon their domain. Cuckoos linger high in the branches here, driven perhaps by perilous curiosity, a thief to another thief looking. This is not man's domain under the green scented shadows, ridding between the thinning shafts of light, though Rurick calls himself king of these woods as he is of the bustling town at your back but as you pass on rough and twisting paths guarded by shrubs just as twisted reaching for the light you cannot help but wonder at the wisdom of riding so far in search of little more than sport, so close to the even of war.


    By all accounts you are looking for reindeer, though Prince Signjótr speaks of a wolf-pack that had been sniffing around the fields and taking beasts from the local herdsmen, Thorvardur speaks half in jest of bears, though were you in his place you would worry more about that cough. It echoes a bit deep in his chest.

    At first you are surprised to see the lady Tzitzak here, though given that she sits in the saddle more surely than men twice her age perhaps you aught not be. She offers neither opinion nor boast about the hunt ahead, seeming more concerned with making sure her mount is not ensnared in the roots and old rabbit holes. 'Tis clear from just a look at the beast that it is not one of the short shaggy beasts of norsemen, though much as its mistress has done it does not seem to mind their company.

    Aside from those whose names come easily to one's lips there are fourteen other riders here, all armed with spear and bow, though all dressed for warmth over protection, the heavy coats of iron too cumbersome to wear to the hunt. Unwise in a land at war, but given that this hunt has been called to prove that neither you nor Ular are soft you to not voice the warning and make instead for the shadow of the woods, keeping a weary eye out.. and a weary ear among all the odd bird calls and strange shuffling in the undergrowth.

    If anything your mind is more at ease once your party reaches the weep wood. Here the forest floor is shrouded in darkness even at midday in summer, only lichen and moss find enough nourishment among the leaflitter and detritus. Small shy things hide away from the passing of dozens of hooves. Are they fearful, you wonder, or are they perhaps filled with impotent spite at the trespass.

    Ular proves sharper of eye than you, spotting tracks leading across the stone ground near a river and away northward, elk tracks he claims and after a bit of grumbling from more experienced hunters about turning off the game trail so soon the party turns around and follows the tracks of her herd. On your ride perhaps another third of an hour until you come in sight of a great white stone, towering above the tallest of the trees, like the claw of some ancient dragon piercing out from the loam and there gathered about are the elk you are seeking. They seem to your eye healthy enough, the winter leanness off their haunches though with only seven beasts in all not counting the yearlings you do not think all the hunters will be content with this prize.

    What do you do?

    [] Aim for the largest elk, try to claim it as your own

    [] Try to get an elk is not necessarily the biggest

    [] Let others take their shots and keep watch, you cannot shake the feeling of being watched

    OOC: Not posting the rolls this time around since they would involve spoilers.
     
    Last edited:
  • Threadmarks
    • [X] Let others take their shots and keep watch, you cannot shake the feeling of being watched

    If Eriol's feeling something then I'm inclined to agree with his instincts.
     
    from the sounds of things there will be at least another chance of getting a prize so I think we can afford to wait.

    [X] Let others take their shots and keep watch, you cannot shake the feeling of being watched
     
    Nice picture, forest near my town looks similar. :)

    DragonParadox said:
    and there gathered about are the elf you are seeking
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    I new that in that time elves could live on British islands, but I had no idea that they were in Russia too!

    It's better to hear Eriol's foreboding.

    [X] Let others take their shots and keep watch, you cannot shake the feeling of being watched

    And readers in my quest choosed the curse Legalistic. Apparently they decided that baatezu plot is exactly what Earth Bet needs! :sour:
     
    Arhin said:
    Nice picture, forest near my town looks similar. :)


    I new that in that time elves could live on British islands, but I had no idea that they were in Russia too!

    It's better to hear Eriol's foreboding.

    [X] Let others take their shots and keep watch, you cannot shake the feeling of being watched

    And readers in my quest choosed the curse Legalistic. Apparently they decided that baatezu plot is exactly what Earth Bet needs! :sour:
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    Should be elk, now fixed

    As for the baatezu in earth bet... at least it isn't another apocalypse. :V
     
    I'm thinking it's either some hidden predator (maybe wolves) or its some hostile humans hiding somehwere. Or maybe DP is introducing some minor magical shenanigans lol.
     
    Hmm, not a lot of votes. I'll wait a few more hours, see if anyone else is interested in weighting in
    Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Jan 16, 2023 at 6:31 AM, finished with 10 posts and 8 votes.
    Click to expand...
     
    I don't trust hunts during wartime. Too many nobles with inheritance disputes fall off their horses during a hunt, and a royal hunt makes for a natural target-rich environment. It's easy for a would-be assassin to loose an arrow in all the excitement. And most of us are unarmored.

    The great white stone is a natural landmark, and if the elk are known to congregate around it, anyone could have expected the hunt to come here. I am wary of an ambush. If I am merely paranoid, it falls to Ular to defend the honor of Numenorians.

    [x] Let others take their shots and keep watch, you cannot shake the feeling of being watched
     
    Arc 1 Post 22: Fire and Fury
  • Threadmarks
    • Fire and Fury ​

    7th of June 867 A.D.

    A pause... a breath, a dozen arrows fly cutting the air, then sharper still the cries of anguish as the beasts left standing begin to scatter and those less fortunate fall with heavy thuds, the hunters smile, they start perhaps to cheer, but there... but of the corner of your eye you see movement and, turning you glimpse the glint of steel.

    "Ware!" you call out to the king, but his eyes are not on you, instead upon the beast that he had felled, the largest of the herd. He starts to turn... too late as more arrows still start to fall.

    Suddenly it is not just the elk who are crying out in agony, the scream of horses struck through and of men whose furs are little hindrance to bows meant for war. Not a lone killer but half a dozen shooting from the cover of the wooded hill in front of you. Yet by skill, by chance or by the favor of his gods Rurik is not struck. Of the three arrows that had been aimed his way one strikes the tree to his right, narrowly missing his head, the second pierces the saddle just behind the knee and the third glances off his helm.

    Alas some of the other hunters are not so fortunate, including Thorvardur whose horse collapses under him catching his leg under the weight as those closest to him try to save him.

    In the chaos you hear the thunder of hooves from up the hill, your enemies little more than shadows against the morning light, obviously as prepared for failure as much as success.

    "After them!" Rurik roars. "Bloody nithlings!"

    You are not sure if he is calling the killers or his own men 'folk of no account', but it is clear from the sheer chaos in the hunting party that one is is prepared to charge after the enemy... even if they could. Looking more closely at the crumbling hillside with a few daring roots barely holding it together it's clear a straight charge in the direction of the arrows is more likely than not going to lame a horse. You and Ular might be able to jump it thanks to the quality of your mounts, but then you would be two against at least six, not odds you would prefer to be charging into.

    Even as the king's commands start to move his warriors to action a seventh arrow arcs through the air, this one trailing smoke and flickering fire sending the horses that had not been wounded and no small amount of the men in a panic as the dry leaflitter catches flame. That won't burn long you realize, but it does not have to. A few moments head-start is all they would need to lose themselves in this wilderness if they know the way and their pursuers do not.

    So again it falls do us. Do we owe him the attempt? Is his favor worth the risk?

    Looking to Ular you see familiar grey-green eyes reflect a trust long earned. He will follow where you lead.

    What do you do?

    [] Charge after the assassins (Intrigue DC 61 to catch them; contested martial to fight outnumbered)

    [] Wait for the rest of the hunting party to get in order (Lose the trail; Chance to investigate the assassination later)

    [] Write in

    OOC: Rurik was really lucky on this one since Eriol did not roll quite high enough for the warning to negate the assassins' surprise.
     
    Last edited:
  • Threadmarks
    • Reader mode
    You must login or register to reply here.
    Voting is open
    Remove ads
    Back
    Top