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Walk of a Phantasm

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Tough call, this feels like a permanent decision. I usually concentrate on protection first, but I think a longsword is a good weapon long-term, while the simple leather armor isn't that impressive. I don't think the anima crystal will come loose so you can attach it to a better item, later. And the leather armor is pretty lackluster. Whereas the longsword could (it sounds like) potentially level up and evolve with you. That pretty well clinches it for me.

[X] Take her suggestion and bind it to your new sword.
 
Hhmmm I am curious as to what else we might bind it to. Sine it is an RPG-like word we might as well see if we could bind it to a higher level weapon, though that we might miss out on some of the growth that way.

[X] Hold off for now.
 
Dis Lexic said:
Regular training wont work very well for you I'm afraid, but shes a Sorcerer and should be able to give you some idea of how to draw out your latent talent.
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"won't", "she's"

You know, if you "found" something really expensive in a public place it's probably not yours to take? RPG logic strikes again!

[x] Hold off for now.
 
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First Quest: Delivery to the Elves Part 1
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    • "I think I'll hold off for now," you say, tucking the Anima Crystal away.

    "Suit yourself," says Mama, "Just remember that its difficult and expensive to remove once placed. Oh, and don't forget to pick up some supplies from Hamvil at the market before you go."

    You thank the motherly Dwarf as you leave, taking her advice and stopping by Hamvils stall on your way to the gate and getting enough supplies to last you the trip, plus a water skin, for 15 copper coins. With that done, you make your way to the main gate and out into the world at large.

    The lands around the city are lush, green and verdant, with a large number of small farms radiating out across the plain that surrounds the city walls that provided food for the city, while simultaneously making it much more difficult to sneak up on it in times of crisis. The road winds through the fields and is fairly busy with traffic ranging from men and women on foot, to knights on horseback and a few travelling merchants with carts heavy with goods for sale. A few times, you even pass small groups of people who are clearly Adventurers, clad in armour and baring weapons with a completely different air to the Knights and guards.

    As your travel further from the city, the farms begin to disappear and the traffic lessens as the well maintained, paved road gives way to cracked stone and packed dirt. Before long you truly leave behind the area of influence of the city and enter the more wild, less tamed lands that exist between the towns of this world. You pause for a moment to catch your breath as you reach the top of a steep hill and look out over the lands below. As expected, they are vibrantly colourful, the greens only slightly broken up by a small village you can just see in the distance and a river that gleams in the sunlight.

    You are about to continue down the path, when a shout of your name from behind you makes you pause and look back to see Carnex approaching with a wide smile.

    "Hey there Laddie," he says as he approaches, "Looks like ya took my advice. Let me guess, heading for Coirceoga?"

    You nod.

    "HA, thought so," says Carnex, "Mama always offers a simple quest to one of the big cities to the newbees. As it happens, I am heading in that direction as well. If you like, we can travel together for a while. I can give you some tips on Adventuring and the road is always easier with someone to talk to."

    Accept the offer.

    Politely refuse.
     
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    • [X] Accept the offer.
    Carnex the bard has been friendly and helpful. True, that might be some sort of ruse or long con, but so far you don't really have knowledge or valuables worth stealing (aside from the crystal, and Carnex doesn't know about that). In every way he could prove himself so far, Carnex has shown himself to be friendly and helpful.

    I'm just being paranoid, but he seems good.
     
    First Quest: Delivery to the Elves Part 2
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    • "Sure, why not?" you say.

    Carnex smiles.

    "Excellent, let us be off then," he says, waving an arm in the direction you had been travelling.

    Over the next couple of days, the two of you continue down the path, occasionally stopping by small villagers where your Guild card and Carnex's skill with a lute often earned you room and board for next to nothing. Every night, the Dwarf put you through your paces with your sword, allowing you to quickly pick up enough skill that you wouldn't accidentally chop your own leg off the first time you got into a fight, along with a number of helpful tips for travelling through Animas many biomes. As helpful and friendly as the old dwarf is, you cannot help but wonder why he is offering so much for apparently so little, so one night, you ask him.

    "Why am I helping you?" he says as he pokes at the fire, "Well, I suppose the simplest reason is that I find your kind fascinating. Regardless of what path you choose, Phantasms always produce incredible stories and, as a Bard, collecting stories and songs is basically my job. The first steps of those journeys are always the most interesting, so those are the ones I like to collect."

    He glances up at you and smiles.

    "Does that answer your question and put your fears to rest?"

    You twitch slightly, not entirely sure how Carnex managed to tell that you were slightly worried about his apparent interest in you, although considering his profession, he was probably just exceedingly skilled at reading people.

    The next day started bright and early, as was normal, and the two of you continued on your way to the dark smudge on the horizon that was growing closer with every step. However, the monotonous walk was quickly interrupted as the two of you round a corner and see a pillar of smoke rising from around the corner of the road ahead, the source hidden by a small hillock. Carnex frowns slightly at the sight of it.

    "That...doesn't look right," he says, "Come on and loosen your sword."

    You frown and do as you are told as the Dwarf lays a hand on one of his axes.

    "Whats wrong?" you ask, "Couldn't it just be another travellers campsite?"

    "It could be," said Carnex, "But something doesn't feel right. And a Dwarf always trusts his instincts."

    You decide to place your trust in the willy old Dwarf as you continue along the path and it soon turns out that your trust was well deserved as the stench of blood, mixed with smoke and what you think is cooking pork reaches your nose. A moment later, you round the corner and discover the source of both the smoke and the smell.

    A carriage made of white wood lies on its side just off the road, the odd, insect-like horses that had pulled it dead and still hitched to it, still burning merrily away and surrounded by dead bodies in various states of dismemberment and many riddled with arrows.

    You freeze in shock and horror as Carnex marches forwards and picks up a discarded arrow, examining the tip. After a moment, he scowls and throws it aside.

    "Wargs," he growls, "Most likely a bandit clan."

    He eyes the bodies for a moment, then scowls deeper and spits.

    "Or slavers. Stone take the damned monsters!"

    You swallow down the bile that threatened to rise as you slowly approach, taking great care to breath through your mouth as you look around at the slaughter. Even to your untrained eye, the bodies clearly aren't Human. They are much to slender, with strangely angular proportions and sharp features that, while unearthly beautiful, are also ever so slightly off putting. It doesn't help that their eyes are large, almond shaped and one solid, jewel-like colour. Most of the dead were wearing armour that looks like chitin and many had viscous wounds on their backs where it looked like something had been torn off.


    "The Elves really aren't going to like this," says Carnex, eyeing the carriage, "Those are only used by nobles and the fact it doesn't have a crest makes this worse."

    He sighs.

    "Kid, I'm afraid we're going to have to part ways here," he says, "I doubt the bastards who did this are far, not if they've taken prisoners. They need to be dealt with before they attack anyone else or, god forbid, they realise they have an Elven noble and do something stupid. Sett Village is less than a days walk from here, if your quick. Head there and tell the guards what happened."

    He turns to leave.

    Say your going with him. He shouldn't fight alone.

    Do as your told.
     
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    • [X] Say your going with him. He shouldn't fight alone.

    Despite my suspicions, he's been an excellent guide and teacher. And these "bandits" are just evil.
     
    I'm honestly debating whether to go along or do as told. We have a sword, but does Alex actually know how to use it? Swords generally take a lot of training to use properly.
     
    Dis Lexic said:
    Phantasms learn quick so, while hes not a master by any means, he can certainly hold his own against a bunch of bandits.
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    Well, I was meaning more in the since that there's more to learning the sword then just "pointy/sharp part goes in enemy" but if he's already competent enough to not accidently hit himself might as well

    [X] Say your going with him. He shouldn't fight alone.
     
    First Quest: Delivery to the Elves Part 3
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    • I am so sorry I haven't posted over the past two days, but the hotel I work at is rather busy at the moment as a result of all the christmas markets and other events going on local, so I really haven't felt like doing anything that requires much thinking. But now I'm back and my brains working again, so lets get started.

    "Wait, I'm coming with you," You say.

    Carnex pauses and looks back at you, an unreadable expression on his face.

    "Are you sure?" he asks, "This isn't your job and I cant guarantee that you'll get anything for putting your life on the line."

    "I know," you say, "But you've done a lot for me since I got here and I don't think I can just walk away in this situation."

    Carnex eyes for for a moment longer, then nods.

    "Alright, fine," he says, "Here."

    He picks up and hands you an arrow.

    "See if you can pick up the Wargs scent," he says, "Most canine Phantasms can track at least a little and it'd make things easier."

    You nod as you take the weapon and close your eyes as you hold it to your nose and inhale. You pick up the scent of blood, both new and old, along with the differently unpleasant stench of stale sweat and the unique odour of whoever it was that owned the arrow. You open your eyes and take another deep breath. Something in your mind seemed to click into place and you immediately identify the direction the scent you now had had come from and left from, accompanied by a number of people coming in and even more going out. You decided not to think about what that meant to hard just yet

    "They went that way," you say, pointing off in the direction the scent left in.

    Carnex looks around and crouches down for a moment, then nods approvingly and stands.

    "Impressive, most people would need longer than that," he says, "Come along."

    He leaves the path and heads off into the trees with you hot on his heels.

    It doesn't take you long to find the camp and Carnex leads you carefully through the trees until you can see into the clearing it was in while avoiding the barely aware guards. The camp wasn't that large and consisted mostly of lean-tos made of animal hides and a pen made of thick logs. A large firepit was located in the middle of the camp, just in front of the largest tent that was festooned with a fair amount of bones and other trophies.

    The occupants of the camp were just as savage as the decor, a group of about 20 men, all muscled, scared and tattoos, with wild hair that was either black, gray or russet coloured, canine ears and tails, sharp looking claws and clad in furs and leathers. They were mostly armed with simple weapons, spears and clubs, but there were a couple of rusted swords and every one of them had a short bow and quiver of arrows.

    In the wooden pen was a number of Elves, most of them female, bleeding and looking scared, with a couple of exceptions, including one especially battered female with short, black and yellow hair and insect wings who was stood protectively in front of a young looking Elf with a pair of extremely noticeable black and purple butterfly wings that were drooping and sluggishly leaking startlingly red blood from a number of puncture wounds. The Wargs seemed to find the womans protectiveness amusing as they were taunting her and occasionally throwing things.

    At the sight of the prisoners, Carnex draws in a startled breath and starts muttering in a language that sounds like rocks grinding together.

    "Whats wrong?" you ask.

    "That girl with the butterfly wings is a member of the royal family," said Carnex, "Not one of the Princess, thankfully, but if she gets hurt...well, it wont end well for anyone."

    You swallow. While you hadn't been in this world for long, you didn't need to be an expert to figure out that this situation was extremely dicey. Suddenly, you are rather regretting deciding to come along.

    "Alright, since we can't risk them doing anything to the prisoners, heres what we'll do," says Carnex, "I'm going to go cause a ruckus to bring some of them away, you go free the prisoners. From the looks of it, a few of them are soldiers and should be able to do something to help. Their weapons are most likely in one of the tents near the pen."

    He pats you on the shoulder.

    "Good luck."

    He vanishes into the undergrowth, making almost no noise at all. You ignore him as you turn to the camp to try and figure out what to do first. You could free the prisoners first, which would let the non-combatants get away and, hopefully, give you some backup to get the weapons afterwards. Plus, there was no guarantee that the weapons would be in the tent Carnex had indicated to. On the other hand, they likely would be less helpful without their weapons and the tent was closer to you than the pen.

    A loud crash from the tree line made the bandits jump and spin around. After a brief pause, a group left to investigate and those that remained started shifting around, taking their attention away from the prisoners. Now was your chance. You steeled yourself and started sneaking towards the...

    Pen. It would keep the bandits from taking hostages and the guards most likely knew how to fight without weapons.

    Tent. Everyone in the pen was injured and having a weapon should help mitigate that somewhat.
     
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    • [X] Pen. It would keep the bandits from taking hostages and the guards most likely knew how to fight without weapons.

    If we didn't have VVIP hostages, it'd be the other way round
     
    [x] Pen. It would keep the bandits from taking hostages and the guards most likely knew how to fight without weapons.

    Something something a pen is mightier than a sword...
     
    [X] Pen. Rescue the royal hostage, prevent World War III. That's the top priority.
     
    Dis Lexic said:
    I am so sorry I haven't posted over the past two days, but the hotel I work at is rather busy at the moment as a result of all the christmas markets and other events going on local, so I really haven't felt like doing anything that requires much thinking. But now I'm back and my brains working again, so lets get started.
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    Real life should always take priority:)

    Dis Lexic said:
    In the wooden pen was a number of Elves, most of them female, bleeding and looking scared, with a couple of exceptions, including one especially battered female with short, black and yellow hair and insect wings who was stood protectively in front of a young looking Elf with a pair of extremely noticeable black and purple butterfly wings that were drooping and sluggishly leaking startlingly red blood from a number of puncture wounds.
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    Elf as the Germanic word of the hidden folk I see, nice choice.

    [X] Pen. It would keep the bandits from taking hostages and the guards most likely knew how to fight without weapons.
     
    First Quest: Delivery to the Elves Part 3
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    • It takes you a couple of minutes to sneak around the camp and reach the pen that held the captives, including one heartstopping moment when one of the bandits turned around and nearly spotted you before you managed to dive behind a tent. You reach the pen and examine it with a critical eye. Its made of decently thick logs that had clearly been cut from partly grown saplings and tied together with braided twine. You tug on it experimentally and find that its tied to tightly to untie in anything like a reasonable amount of time.

    You glance up and see a few of the elves looking at you through the fence. You force a smile and motion to keep quiet, then turn your attention back to the ropes and tugging on them again. No, there was no way you were getting them loose and your sword wasn't really made to cut through things like this. You glance around the corner at the gate of the pen and scowl when you see that it is held shut with a length of chain and a padlock that, while rusty, are still clearly strong enough that you wouldn't be breaking them anytime soon.

    "Damn it, come on!" you hiss as you tug on the twine again.

    You didn't have time for this. The bandits could come back at any time and then you'd be stuck. You needed to get them out NOW!

    You let out a yelp ass a rush of heat suddenly shoots down your arm and the twine under your fingers goes up in a quick flash of searingly hot fire, leaving nothing but a bit of ash. You quickly shake off your surprise, there'd be time to freak out later, and check to make sure none of the bandits had noticed the flash or your yelp, then hurried over to the other side. Another quick flash of fire, that was surprisingly easy to pull off considering you'd never done it before, and the bottom log fell to the floor with a soft thump. The moment it did, the elves who had been watching pushed it out of the way and started crawling out of the pen.

    Most, the ones who were clearly not fighters, made a beeline for the trees, along with a few of the more injured guards, while a few others started sneaking towards the tent Carnex had indicated to earlier.

    "Nice work kid," hisses the woman with yellow and black hair once she'd seen off her charge with a couple of other guards, "You were right on time."

    Now that you are closer, its easy to see that she's a warrior, even without the obvious protectiveness. Despite her slender physique, her limbs and stomach have solid muscle definition and a number of scars a shade paler than her skin, cover her body, including one rather nasty claw mark that runs from her temple to the corner of her lip.

    "Don't mention it," you say, "Will you be alright to fight?"

    The woman glances down at her cuts and bruises that cover her body and scoffs.

    "Yeah, I've had worse in training," she said, "If they hadn't taken us by surprise, we could have dealt with them easily, even with that stupid pig."

    She frowns slightly.

    "Although, they did seem to be rather to prepared for us..."

    She shakes her head.

    "We can deal with that later, for now we need to make sure they don't get away," she says, "Now come on, we need to hurry before..."

    She is suddenly cut off as a massive shadow looms over the two of you. You look up in surprise and freeze at the sight of the monster that has somehow snuck up on the two of you. From its clothing and weapons, it was clear that it was the leader of the bandit band, but it wasn't a Warg. Instead, it was a massive, humanoid pig, with massive tusks, a mane of bristly hair and a barrel chest that looked like it was pure muscle and allowed it to easily heft a warhammer with a head bigger than you with one hand.

    "Well now, this wont do," growled the porcine giant in a rough, but somehow oddly refined tone that was rather at odds with his appearance, "Its rude to leave without saying goodbye. And here I thought you elves were all big on manners."

    He grunted.

    "Well, no matter. I was hoping to get some more money selling you bugs off, but the boss just wants the butterfly to disappear and I can't have anyone finding out we were here. To bad, but I guess I'll have to squish you."

    He grins as he hefts his hammer. For a moment, everything seems to slow down as the fire inside once again roared up, begging to be released, while another part of you realised that he'd left his stomach wide open for a counter attack.

    Let loose the fire.

    Attack him with your sword.

    Try to dodge out of the way.
     
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    • [X] Let loose the fire.

    If fire isn't solving your problem, you aren't using enough.
     
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