'Stumbling' in... [introduction, OPEN]

[Will Danesin]

The powerful pushes and pulls wracked Will's body as he was thrown through the vortex. 'Damned priest!' Will thought to himself. 'Why did I have to take THAT contract?!' Will wondered, remembering that he had had a bad feeling about this guy in the first place. But then, before another thought could take shape in his mind, he was thrown out of the vortex and into the ground.

Will landed with a loud thud, rolled, and smacked into a log. "OOF!" Was the only sound Will made, and he laid there a while trying to get his bearings. After his head stopped spinning and he felt well enough to stand, he got up and looked around. The sun was close to setting, so the light of day would soon be replaced with darkness. Will saw what might be a road a little ways to his left, so he went to investigate. Sure enough it was a road, and he began walking. He quickly came upon a sign, pointing forward with 'The Town of Underwood' printed on a board beneath it. Will was in luck in deed.

After a little bit of walking he came into the town, and was determined to find a drink. He saw a pub called the 'Peaceful Promenade', and figured that it was as good as any right now. He just wanted a few drinks and a meal after all.

Will walked through the door, made a B-line for the bar, and planted himself on a stool. "Barkeep, can I get an ale, a shot of whiskey and a few slices of bread please." Will calmly said, as he rested his arms on the counter. Will then waited for his meal, basking in the tavern's warmth.

[Vaan]

Concordia was a vast place, it held many deep secrets and untold stories. Many creatures never seen by the likes of men, at least none that lived, just had to be there. He’d heard rumors of a succubi village secreted away in a forest somewhere, protected by illusionary magic, and he knew the succubi to have wings. At least, from what he’d gathered they did. He hadn’t been able to read the language, but the pictures indicated wings.

Vaan found himself stumbling along game trails in what he could only hope was north. He kept tripping over roots, the branches snagged his clothes, he’d fallen several times, and he wasn’t entirely sure if he was going backwards or forwards. Soon enough he came upon a small town, small wooden buildings for the most part with a couple very large buildings. All around the forest had been cut back, small open cavities marked where stumps had been uprooted, the ground well trod and gravelly. The people around were almost entirely male, all tall and barrel-chested and laden with large axes and saws with coiled chains wrapped about their shoulders.

There were only two large buildings in the entire town, one held a sign with a cup on it, the other huge opening walls. The bigger was surrounded by wagons loaded with gigantic tree trunks, the smaller surrounded by casks that most likely contained the brew they called ale. Weary from his long hike through the woods, Vaan entered the smaller of the large buildings and took in his surroundings. An assortment of chairs and tables were scattered around, a large stone hearth on the left and a bar in the back and on the right wide stairs leading down to a storage room. He immediately headed over and took the chair closest to the hearth, pulled a table over to it as well and sat down as a waitress came over to take his order. “Food. Drink.”

The waitress wasn’t unused to this, Corone seemed to get all kinds of strange folk and less than half with the courtesy to speak the language, and half of that could speak it right. “What kind of food, eh? What kind of drink? Mead, ale, bread, meat?”

Vaan remembered the last time he’d tried some ale, a transparent brown colored liquid with an awful aftertaste, and it made his head hurt. He wasn’t in a hurry to try it again, but mead could be just as bad or worse. “Rain, the water. I’ll take also meat. Any.”

As she walked away shaking her head, he heard her muttering. “Damn foreigners. Stupid tongues too, accents horrendous…” This land’s words came slowly to his lips, his tongue stumbled over the pronunciations, and he didn’t often order the words correctly. Sometimes you say the color of the item, other times you say an item of that color, the little intricacies were butchered and forgotten from his mouth. He knew enough to get by, but even a mute could get by with enough effort.

[Will Danesin]

Will anxiously awaited his drinks and food. The barkeep set the whiskey and ale in front of him, and almost as quickly as they'd been set down, Will had drank them. He threw the shot of whiskey down his throat, and downed half the ale as a chaser. He awaited his bread, which came soon enough.

As Will chewed on the bread and sipped a little ale, he turned in his seat to take a look at the other tavern patrons. It seemed as if there was a variety of characters in here. From lumberjacks to adventurers, from knights to rogue-types. Will's mouth turned up in a small smile, and he thought to himself, 'It's not so unlike home. Perhaps this won't be such a bad thing afterall.' Will gazed at the bustling room a moment more, then took a large draught of ale.

Will then turned back around towards the bar and ate some more bread. The barkeep wasn't busy at the moment, so Will asked him if he might come over and speak to him. "What can I do fer ya?" The bartender asked as he set one arm on the bar and leaned towards Will. "Well, I'm ah, new here to say the least... I was wondering if perhaps you knew anything of possible adventure, or a job I could look into atleast. I'm sparsely equipped, and would like to get some money to buy supplies and equipmeant." Will said, as he sat on the stool. "Well," The bartender started, "There naught be much adventure around here that I be knowin' of, but you might be thinkin' about goin' to the town of Scara Brae."

Will listened, and then asked, "Where is Scara Brae? And what might I find there?" The bartender stood up fully and chuckled a bit, and replied with a smile, "Why, there's all sorts of things to do in Scara Brae! Fighting arenas, adventures to help give you a start in this land, and all sorts of colorful characters and organizations can be found! More than enough trouble to keep an adventurer occupied for a while." Will pondered what the man was saying, drinking the last of his ale. "Though," The bartender said, "Perhaps you should find a travelling companion or two before you go. If you're new to this realm, it would be good to travel in a group. For safety atleast, and perhaps someone who may be able to get you to Scara quickly. That's all I can say really. Would you like another drink sir?" "Yes, but this time a goblet of red wine please." Will said, as he pondered what the man had told him, and wondered if he should perhaps take a closer look at those around him to find a companion.

[Vaan]

After a few minutes, it became obvious that he wasn’t going to get any kind of service here. Still a little hungry, Vaan walked up to the barkeep and sat in a stool between a few others. At first he was thinking of getting the barkeeps attention, but the man beside him was having a very interesting conversation. It was a little hard to keep up with, but Vaan got the gist of it.

Seated at the bar, Vaan wanted to appear as normal as possible before he spoke up, and so he gave himself a once over. His hair was probably tangled and reached down the back of his neck, covered mostly by a dark red cap he’d gotten and wore over his left eye, his long sleeved leather coat was a light tan and bore several large smears of dirt and a few food stains, his black pants were just barely cleaner and very wrinkled, and his boots were caked with mud. He made sure to withdraw his hand into his sleeve, visible flame seemed to attract a lot of attention and ended with him getting wet, and then he addressed the man beside him. “I too look for work. I’ve heard said, Scara Brea be across the great waters. If you want us to go, us would need a raft.”

It was rough not knowing how to speak, but it would only be another month or so before he’d mastered the common the language. Different looking people each had special languages, but they all spoke the common one, so Vaan focused on that one first. He waited eagerly to see if his soon to be companion would agree. He’d traveled alone for far too long already.

[Will Danesin]

As Will recieved his wine, the man seated next to him spoke. Will noted the strange way the man spoke; perhaps he only had a small grasp of common? Or maybe he was so used to his native tongue, it was coming back slowly. Either way, he still understood him, so Will decided to atleast see what he had to say. "Well, yes we will need a boat if we are to travel to Scara Brea. But first, let me introduce myself. My name is Will." Will said to him, using a few hand gestures to help illustrate what he was saying.

As Will spoke, he noticed that this man was defineately different than most others. He wore his hat in a strange manner, so that it acted as a patch over his left eye. Will could also sense strange energy about the man. Not bad or good, but just, well different. He could sense that this man would be, at the very least, an interesting travelling companion. He decided that if he could, he would atleast travel with him to Scara Brea.

After introducing himself to this interesting man, Will asked, "Might I ask who you are? I mean, what your name is, what others call you?" Again, Will gestured a bit as he spoke, and then awaited the man's response with a sip of wine.

[Vaan]

So the man was called Will. In his interest Vaan had forgotten to make an introduction. Oftentimes he tried to imply questions without names, but it didn’t always work so well. The man’s hand gestures were quite good, on first arriving in the land his own had not been so well animated and poorly misunderstood. “Greetings, Will. Vaan is the name of me.”

He looked the man over a little closer this time, he seemed pretty fit and had a few weapons on him, overall well equipped for the kind of long hard travel required to get anywhere in Althanas. Vaan had heard a little of Scara Brea, how it was a great place for young people to start out their lives and find a place in the world. Once he had inquired as to what kind of work there was to get money there, but the answer had been mysterious.

Pulling out a rolled up slip of paper, Vaan handed it to the man beside him. “I was told, that has a job on it. Man that gave it to me didn’t discuss, so I know not what job. Perhaps, you can see and discuss with me?”

[Will Danesin]

Will took the paper from the man, saying, "Well now, let's take a look at this." Will examined the paper, reading the messy script. 'In need of a strong sword arm! My barn has now become the home of a small tribe of kobolds! I would take care of this problem myself, but I am now too old to fight with kobolds, and my sons are in the army. I live a few miles south of Scara Brae. My name is Joseph, the name of my farm is Valley Spring. Come as quickly as you can!'

"Well," Will began explaining to Vaan, "There's apparentally a man who's farm has been overrun by kobolds. He's too old to take care of it himself and his sons are gone. An easy sounding job, and we'll probably get a substantial reward since we're in essence saving this man's farm. So, what do you think?" Will took a sip of his wine, and set the goblet down again. "We could leave by the morning if you wanted. I'm sure we could find a captain who'll give us a cheap ride to Scara Brae..." With that, Will sat back a bit and waited to see what Vaan thought.

[Taskmienster]

This thread has been siting for over a month and a half. Since no response has been made to create activity I am going to be moving this. If you would like it to be reopened please feel free to PM myself or another admin and they will be able to move it for you back to the Peaceful Promenade.