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Messages - minerva
21
« on: January 16, 2024, 12:25:03 am »
A large room with stone walls and a packed sand floor is divided into several roped training rings as will as areas with padded wooden replicas of men. Bags of sand hang from the rafters and there are several benches with iron weights stacked close by. Soldiers in various states of armor and with and without shields are sparring with each other or the dummies.
Off to one side of the room Kat is hacking at one of the dummies. Her fashionable dress has been exchanged for what appears to be iron chain mail. Instead of a short bow she has a blunted iron long sword in one hand and a small wooden shield in the other. She looks comfortable holding the shield but no the sword.
“Come on Miss Kat, you can hit harder than that.” a grizzled older man, clad only in his leather trews. ,is feet and chest bare, chides at Kat as she makes a very clumsy swing with a long sword at the wooden training dummy.
“That's just it Henry” She wheezes as she places the sword vertical and leans against it.” I can't hit this thing harder or my arm will fall off.
He walks up behind her and lifts the sword and places it back in her hand and patiently guides her body into a more correct stance. “It don't come from your arm lass, it comes from here” as he places a large hand on her abdomen. “Use you're whole body, not just yer arm and you'll do better”
Kat sucks in a deep breath, frowns at the dummy and tries to hold the form that Henry has shown her. Her swing is a little more steady and her arm doesn't vibrate as much when the iron makes contact with the cloth padding but there is little to no damage to be seen.
“Why do others” she grunts when she tries again “ Make this look so damn easy. I'm out with others and they're dancing around towering giants and bringing them down. One swipe an a giant would have me clear across the glade.” She labors a bit with each blow she gives the padding. “I've better to stick with my bow than to teach this old dog new tricks” The practice session goes on for about a hour and Kat is left red faced, sweating and with multiple new bruises.
Henry leans over her and puts a friendly arm around her shoulder. “Join the lads with me in the tavern and have a pint or two. Mayhap I can convince you to play for us or even sing? His eyebrows waggle as he adds the last part. Kat lets out a deep breath and squares up her shoulders. “I'd never miss the opportunity to sing and play for your boys Henry”
The tavern is crowded with those local to the area. It looks a little worn and tired but it is neat and tidy and the most delicious smells of roasting meat and fowl emanate from the large hearth at the back. Raucous laughter and cheer permeate the atmosphere of the place and Kat does not have to try hard to forget her aching back and arms and smile warmly at the serving staff and patrons. A table crammed with several young men and women frantically beckon the pair over. Its not hard to tell the resemblance to Henry on the faces of several of them. Kat is greeted as warmly as a member of the family and its apparent that she is well known amongst them.
“A song , a song” they shout as she approaches. One of the serving staff hands Kat and Henry a mug of ale as she passes. Kat take a long parched draft from her tankard and her mail creaks as she stands on the bench beside the table. She holds her tankard aloft and belts out a well known drinking song and not only her table but the entire tavern sing along her voice seeming to heighten and inspire the talents of the singing patrons. She easily transitions into the ballad of the Norseman, a fierce fighting song, and follows with several more popular tunes. Much time passes before she holds up her hand and gracefully bows. “Good folk it has been my honor to sing for you but alas my voice needs a break and” she holds the now empty tankard aloft “More ale”
She sits beside Henry and places the mug down. She leans on his shoulder and asks “ I wonder if all of this is worth it. I'm a singer, not a fighter. I inspire men and women to fight harder and longer because I sure as hell can't.”
“You can do anything you put your mind to lass. Perhaps you're going about this the wrong way. Sure being a fighter is being able to swing a sword or a mace or a hammer and make sure it hit the other guy, hard but its more than that. Its the mindset. Its working past the pain when the bandit slices your shoulder and being able to take more. Learning to ignore the pain sure but also learning your own limits.” Henry leans his messy grey haired head against Kat's still bright auburn one. You got strength in that heart of yours. You helped so many in need. You raised a fine daughter and let no one make her seem less because of that bastard father of hers. You've got what it takes to move along and the courage to take on challenges. A fighter is never giving up and child I've never seen you give up.
A trail of wetness trickles from the corner of one of Kat's eyes and she motions to wipe it away. “Thanks Henry, that means a lot coming from you. Perhaps we can set aside the new stuff and you can focus on teaching me how to move in armor better and some basics weapons. Things I am already good with like an axe or daggers. I don't want to use a great long bow taller than me, but I can focus on my short one.”
Kat picks the tankard from the table and brings it to her mouth to sip the ale slowly. “ You know Henry I was thinking... “
Henry makes a fake grimace face. “Dragons shudder when you start thinking Kat.”
22
« on: January 14, 2024, 07:27:19 pm »
“I'll take a stack of those scrolls” Kat gestures to vendor in the trademark blue robes of a Lucindite. “and some of those potion bottles designed to toss”. As the vendor reaches for some grey bottles her head shakes “not those, the darker blue ones. The grey ones are for scratches. I'll be dealing with worse than scratches if I need to toss something. Do you know where I might get some Bodak teeth? It seems my previous supplier has vanished.”
The fair skinned elvin woman places her purchases in a package. “There hasn't been much call for those in recent years. It would seem that your type” she gives Kat a once over with her eye “ are not nearly as active now. But if you really need some, I suggest contacting the adventure guilds. Some of them are still active I hear. Orc Bashers, Angels and Saddlebags for a few but they mostly deal in ready made gear not components. You could try that group out of Leringard” she writes an address on a scrap of parchment “see if they have what you need”
“Thanks I will” Kat replies as she tucks the piece of parchment away in a small pouch in her dress. “Leringard means a boat trip. Guess I'm going sailing again. I wonder if Silas is still...” with a head shake she frowns and sets off toward the docks “nope, he was a mature man when I knew him, he'd be gone and dust by now”
Several days later Kat strides down the gangway of a handsome looking sailing ship . She turns and gives a good natured wave to the crew and chooses to ignore the catcalls and whistles. Atirred in the latest of fashion for the smart set, she makes her way further into the city and carefully avoids any grates leading to the city's sewer system. It's as if she wants to avoid something there. She passes the bank and the estate agents before the city center gives way to a residential section. There is a large swinging sign marking a staetly building at the edge. “I see the Arms is still in business. I wonder if Steele still runs it or if Lily's grandchildren ?” she muses to herself as she passes by. She stops and considers the new sign for a card Emporium. “That's new. Leave it to Steele to find a way to make a coin if associated with the Inn”.
I little ways further past the Arms on a narrow side street is the address indicated on the strip of parchment in her hand. Three sharp knocks on the door and it swings in, all of its own volition.
“Hello, Hello” a voice booms out of the dim hallway. Trunks are everywhere along the walls. I large elf in typical robes is absently pawing through one of them. “Can I help you? He asks as he picks up an object, turns in his hands for a second then discards it in the trunk to go looking again.
Kat grins as she watches and a smaller woman comes into view, emerging from a doorway some distance up the hallway. This woman waves and dumps something in the open trunk to which the elf latches onto and shouts “There it is” and closes the lid.
“Hello” she replies. “My name in Katrien Hommel. I sent you a falcon that I was dropping by?” The blank look on his face alerts her to the fact he has no idea what she is talking about.
“The Bodak teeth? Supplies for healing potions, the red ones?” she offers and sees regognition dawn on his face
“Ahhhhh” He grabs a bag from the wall. Take this, make as many as your skill allows, drop off some, keep some”
Kat looks puzzled. “I think there must be some mistake. I was looking to rrade or purchase supplies.”
“No mistake” he counters. “The bag is full of supplies, you're trading your skill as they are not easy to make. The more you make, the better you get and the more we have on hand for those that need them.”
He acts like what he said makes complete sense.
Kat takes the bag tentatively. “I know the potions are not easy to make but these are not easy to get either. Are you...” but before she can finish he interjects “ Squirrels”
Kat blinks. “Squirrels?” The lady in the shadows laughs. “That would be me” she hastily adds “ He calls me a squirrel. I collect things faster than he or the others that use this house can make things from them.
“Right, well, I guess I can make up some from this, my success rate is decent enough though I'm a little rusty. I take it you two and your group” she gestures to the crates “ Are the adventuring type?”
23
« on: January 14, 2024, 05:41:53 pm »
Oi.. That was fun
Lets do it again soon
24
« on: January 14, 2024, 11:43:15 am »
Happening in 30 min. What shall it be? Exploring the unknown? Lizardmen leader's head? Suicide mission for the shadow paw leader? Grandfather's ashes? Bugbears or giants on Alindor? How about Trolls or killing the Zamin? So many choices  If this is not a good time slot, please suggest another. I really want to make this work for everybody
25
« on: January 13, 2024, 02:01:38 am »
Great plumes of dust fly up into the air as Kat pulls dirty white covers off crates in a neglected part of her Guild house. Hinges creak as she opens lids and peers inside each and every one. She spends days on end cataloguing and inventorying the stock sometimes just pausing to hold an object and remissness about its story. As she works she sings, practicing the old songs and chants she used to inspire allies and diminish foes. She skips between the crates as obstacles and play fights with pretend swords and bows. Anyone standing in the shadows might thing she was daft but as time passes her movements become more fluid, more practiced. Incantations pass her lips and she winks in and out of visibility. The Al'noth crackles around her once more. All the time she spent studying her father's sonnets she'd forgotten to tap into her own music. She is the music, the song and the melding of the harmony inherent in magic. The Mistress of Sound is back.
26
« on: January 12, 2024, 10:33:57 pm »
“If I never have to deal with another pompous , mule headed , narrow minded politician again it will be too bloody soon !” Kat fumes at the other redheaded woman in the room. “I am getting too old for this Toranite trash”.
“This issue dear mother is not that you're too old, its that they're too young. All those passages through the blinding stone and you don't look a third of your age. Those arrogant asses forget what you did, the sacrifices that you made” the second redhead replies. “You're a better woman that me, I'd just tell them to shove it where Isare don't look and Xeen might”
Kat wanders over to a large window. It overlooks the harbour, though the house is well away from the seedier sections of Port Hempstead's docks. The magnificent visage of three and four masted sailing ships crowd the waterways and throngs of people can be seen scurrying about the dockyards either unloading trading ships or passengers boarding them.
“You want to be out there again don't you?”
“No, yes, damn it I don't know Lisse” She sighs. “Too much time has passed. Too much water under that proverbial bridge. Most of my allies are gone gods know where. I lost touch with your Uncles decades ago and I never thought that would happen.”
“Meh” Lisse gestures with her hand. “Make new allies. Find some new faces. When is the last time you shouted at orcs or goblins instead of senators?”
Another long sigh from Kat. She absently tucks a stray curl back into her placid bun. Her advanced age and not even a grey hair showing. Her distinct features mark her as human but the way she has aged? She turns her gaze from the window to a wall of portraits. There is a small one low on the wall of a fierce looking man in hide armor standing next to her with younger Lisse in front of them. She reaches out to it and traces her face in the frame.
She turns. “And speaking of senators, the merchants in Lor are expecting that shipment of aid supplies. Can you handle things in the warehouse for a while?”
Lisse snaps a fake salute. “Sure thing m'lady. Should I have Franklin open up the old section of the warehouse, you know the one you used to use when you screamed at more than the senate?”
“Cheeky wench”
“You know it” she teases “Hey, maybe you can go snooping in the Rift , find dear ol' father and relive some old times. This time you stick the knife in HIS back” The later she calls from the hallway as she leaves the room.
When she is gone, Kat opens a large trunk in the room. Quite ornate, at first glance appears just a decoration. Inside there is polished yew short bow sitting atop neatly folded garments, some fancy boots, belts and a collection of magical bags. Tucked inside the lid are a rather plain looking rapier, dagger and short sword. She fingers the bow, then aggressively takes it up, positions and fake fires an arrow across the room while she lets loose a string of magical curses. This causes her mouth to turn up in a wide smile. As the bow lowers something tucked into the side of one of the bag catches her eye. She places the bow down and reaches for it. In a velvet bag there is a manuscript, a bound book and small silver flute. She takes the flute in hand and pulls out the bound book. It seemly falls open on its own to a blank page. As she watches, shocked, the words “BEGIN AGAIN” appear on the first empty page.
27
« on: January 06, 2024, 05:40:04 pm »
placeholder and journal finder
28
« on: January 06, 2024, 05:04:17 pm »
place holder, journal finder - there has to be more somewhere This bit is wayyyyy out of date - nevermind Jacee wandered in to the sunset about then. (She was deleted)
29
« on: January 06, 2024, 05:00:48 pm »
Placeholder and Journal finder and OMG the horrible formatting
30
« on: January 06, 2024, 04:57:50 pm »
Place Saver and journal finder
31
« on: January 06, 2024, 04:56:41 pm »
Place saver and Journal finder
32
« on: January 06, 2024, 04:55:21 pm »
Sophia shoves solidly on the heavy wooden door. With a loud creak that could almost be mistaken for a moan it slowly opens. The servants in the corridor behind her stop their tasks, startled, before haltingly returning to their duties. As she steps into the room, a diminutive serving gnome skulks behind her and two large human males stand at guard either side the door in the passageway.
The large room is chilled and grey. Heavy drapes cover the windows. There are various pieces of furniture but a fine layer of dust covers everything in the room. Vials and beakers are stacked on the long stone covered bench beside burners. The fireplace in the corner is unlit, its cauldron cold and grey in the shadows. The desk sits bare in the other corner and against the back wall, the cages lay barren, empty. Gleaming metal shackles dulled with the layer of neglect hang dangle beams above.
The gnome scurries over to the fireplace and quickly gets a blaze glowing before she turns her attention to removing the layers of dust from the room. She eyes the cages warily and then her mistress but Sophia seems not to notice. Her attention is on the desk and the bookcase beside it. Sophia waves a hand over the desk, a soft incantation passing her lips. The air shimmers, the once bare desk reveals the implements of study. Ledgers, quills and various gadgets covering the surface.
Moving behind the desk, Sophia sits in the large chair and with a finger, flips the page in the top ledger to reveal a blank page. She dips a quill in ink, pensively using its ornate feathered end to caress her cheek as she considers for a moment then scratches on the vellum.
Returned to Leringard this day.
Will have to procure subjects to extend my research here. The dreams are back. Sleep is fleeting at best. WHO is HE darkly underlined
Jharl is gone, no word of his passing or location. Haven house abandoned but stocked. Perhaps he plans to return. Is it worth the search or shall I look anew?
So much has changed, but so much remains
“What to do, what to do” she mutters before continuing
New allies will be needed, time to check out the neighbors.
She places the quill in its holder and reaches behind her to the bookshelf. A decanter of blood red wine has somehow appeared while she was writing. She pores a glass. The gnome has opened the curtains and she gazes out over the city of Leringard , sipping from her glass. Her look is contemplative.
33
« on: January 03, 2024, 08:49:38 pm »
Meet by the fire in Center and we'll decide where the adventure goes depending on the skills of the party assembled
12 (noon) EST 9am (PST) 5pm GMT
Preferred characters level 16 and under but having a very skilled guide (Uber Epics) would be nice too
A chance to get to know some of the lower characters and give them a chance to do stuff while not solo
This is a player driven event though a GM may poke there head(s) in and make it more interesting if they want to.
Want to include as many as possible that are interested, so if this time does not work - suggest another or post your name and timezone and we can see what compromises we can come up with
34
« on: January 03, 2024, 08:47:07 pm »
Meet by the fire in Center and we'll decide where the adventure goes depending on the skills of the party assembled
12 (noon) EST 9am (PST) 5pm GMT
Preferred characters level 16 and under but having a very skilled guide ( Uber Epics) would be nice too
A chance to get to know some of the lower characters and give them a chance to do stuff while not solo
This is a player driven event though a GM may poke there head(s) in and make it more interesting if they want to.
35
« on: December 29, 2023, 03:22:06 pm »
It's been just over a month back and I'm quite enjoying it.
I was wondering what is the state of character development quests. I know the GM presence/staffing is a bit thin ATM. I was just wondering that aside from personal satisfaction of telling my girls' stories, if there is any point in keeping a journal or updating Tia and Sophia's old one. I can't even access much of their old journals with the new forms. Will a WL be available for Tia or Sophia or maybe even Charlee in coming year(s)?
36
« on: November 23, 2023, 12:00:09 pm »
I'm leaving that open for the moment. I acknowledge there would be no benefits from the former character. Charliee has no knowledge of her rather infamous surname
37
« on: November 23, 2023, 11:20:26 am »
Name: Charlee Homell
Age:18
Class(es):Fighter
Race: Human
Subrace (if applicable):
Alignment: NG
Deity (if devoted):
Domains (if cleric):
Biography and Description:
Charlee's father always wanted a boy. He got Charlee instead. Not to say he didn't love and care for his daughter, he did. He, however, didn't understand her. Never one for the more domestic pursuits, Charlee is more at home with a sword than a needle. She can cook but on a campfire, not a stove. She can hunt for her supper and she considers sparing as dancing.
She's left her family's cottage on the outskirts of Hlint with plans and dreams of adventure. Only time will tell if it was the right decision.
38
« on: April 19, 2015, 06:18:59 pm »
Welcome back. Please Copy/Paste the bio into the submissions forum and we'll stamp it there !
39
« on: March 23, 2015, 12:45:34 am »
A slim figure shedding bits of bark drags in an emormous pile of sandbags. She fills all the chests set aside for resources and then tucks the overflow in a close by empty one . (resource chests filled - put 9 bags in chest marked Empty)
40
« on: February 25, 2015, 12:11:00 pm »
*walks into the store, hooded and cloaked. She carries a case under her arm* I wish to purchase a walking stick, a new pair of boots and a long bow made of oak. I offer these in trade *hands over a case of eggs* // Walking stick of the Heirophant (1400), Boots of striding (1600) and oak long bow (1500) - noted in the sales chest
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