Roadside Greet

Tenebrae - Saturday, February 08, 2014, 6:24 PM

---

-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--<* H03: Eldwyn Road *>--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-

The Eldwyn Road meanders continuously around hills, wilderness, and farmland, though it is occasionally broken by fingerlets from the great Tornmawr. At one point, the road crosses the Tornmawr itself, which takes place by use of a ferry.

Further east and past the ferry are the great Redridge Mountains. These mountains, which run mostly north and south, charge through the landscape, and even through the eastern end of the Lord's City of Alexandria.

Towards the south is the city, with its flags rising far above the walls. The fiery Rising Phoenix almost glows in the sunlight and airships may be seen both in flight and in dock, as they make use of a carefully sculpted section of the Redridge.

Towards the north, the landscape of rolling hills and farmland breaks into denser forest.

The icy northwest wind howls, blowing snow about in savage gusts. The cold is intense. The sky is clear deep blue and the stars glitter, brilliant as diamonds.

Newly flush with cash from his caravan job, a jovial Ranth whistles a jaunty tune as he approaches the gate, literally bouncing his money bag as he goes.

Sitting atop a rock is an unusual sight in itself, a calm oruch sitting in a lotus position. When Ranth comes 'bouncing' by, the lady oruch speaks up. "Come back from a successful job, have you?" She says in a rather jovial tone.

Munch buzzes happily to himself, trudging down the roadway towards the city, clawed metal toes chimeing softly on the rocks of the roadway. A massive adamantine axe swings in one hand, the other carries a large branch over his shoulder. A long, shiney, segmented branch... wait, no, that's a massive insect leg.

Seeing the woman, Ranth stops and turns, looking to her and back to his bag of funds self consciously. "Err, yeah. Kind of embarassing, I only take jobs like that for extra income."

Moonshadow smiles a bit. "Don't feel bad." She says opening her eyes. "The extra income is nice, I'll admit. especially when your normal income is......almost nothing." She then waves to the War GOlem. "Hey Munch." She then unfolds herself from the lotus position and steps down from the rock, which isn't much of a step down at all, since this oruch is TALL!

Percival has arrived.

Munch raises his axe a bit, touching it to his brow in a sort of salute. "Heya. What you out and about for? Kinda chilly for just hanging out." Says the guy not wearing any pants. He peers a moment at the unfamiliar fellow. "Who are you?"

The half-Oruch gives a small salute of his own. "Name's Ranth, sir. Part time adventurer and aspiring armor designer."

Percival wanders in from the path north, the gnome flanked by his everpresent companion Solomon. Percival had leaves caught in the folds of his rob, and a few twigs with them with the hood of his robes pulled back. The wolf wasn't too presentable either, with leaves caught up in its silver fur. He sees the gathering of people and decides to approach with a smile, listening to the introductions. "And if we're introducin' new folk. I'm Percival, and this is Solomon. Pleased to meet all of ya"

Moonshadow gives Munch a small bow as he salutes her. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Ranth." She then turns her head to Percival as he arrives with his wolf. "A pelasure to meet you as well, Percival....and Solomon." She then bows to each of them. "I am Moonshadow of the Order of the Thinning Veil." She then looks back to Ranth. "You'll run into a little bit of competition then, Ranth. I know of a few people who make armor themselves."

Ranth says, "I'm sure they can create functional armor, but I'm more interested in pieces that provide a greater level of self expression."

Munch mms absently, and offers his own introduction, so long as they're being made. "Munch TerrorMaw, The Golem Who Eats." As if to offer proof, the golem's 'muzzle' splits open along the vertical and horizontal axis, reveiling a mass of... well, 'teeth' sorta kinda applies... imagine a chainsaw had kids with a food processor, and the whole mess was produced by Clive Barker, then covered in adamantine. The jaws snap closed around the end of the insect leg, a moment of grinding, and a content swallow. "Nice ta meet ya."

Percival bows back to Moonshadow, feeling awkward and small in front of such aregal figure. Solomon didn't seem sure how to act either, taking a step back and moving in close to Percival. "I'm not really of any kinda order or anything, but I follow the path of The Green Word, but I'm not nothin' fancy. What's it like bein' in an order like that?"

Ranth says, "I'm in the order of the Thinning Hair."

"I look forward to seeing what your armor will look like, Ranth." Moonshadow then looks to Percival and smiles, not entirely ignoring Munch, but his 'mouth' kinda disturbs her. "It is a monastic order. Mostly for self enlightenment, since perfection is only attainable by the gods, we learn different uses for something we call 'Ki'. Our order thinks that, if we can work out the secrets of Ki, or fighting spirit, then we can overcome any obstacle."

Munch disturbs most people. And animals. Quite a few monsters. Maybe a god or two. "Sounds a bit like Kor. Find something strong. Strong as you, maybe stronger. Fight it. Get better yourself. Fighting things weaker than you doesn't teach you anything new. And by 'strong' I don't just mean raw strength; speed, skill, things like that are important too."

Percival he stares at Ranth for a moment, his eyes wide with shock until he suddenly burst out laughing, doubling over and holding his stomach. It really took him a moment to collect himself. Solomon barked and jumped around Percival in response to his excitement, turning into a furry ball of energy as it darted around playfully. "Oh can you believe that? 'Tis a said thing to lose a good head of hair." The gnome states, still grinning widely, with a thick head of hair. "Done it once, really missed it till I got it back."

Moonshadow chuckles at Ranth, then looks at her braid on her head. "I wouldn't know what that was like." She says untying the wrap on the end of her braid and letting it loose. "Heh. Don't ever cut an oruch's hair if you value your limbs. It's a source of pride for us, and we tend to grow it long."

Ranth nods at this and asks, "So, where is everybody headed?

Ranth says, "Don't want to stand in the road all day."

Munch ehs, trying to peer up at his own head. The leathery bits are a bit like dreadlocks, but truely, they're more bags of skin than clumps of hair. "Can't say ever worried about loseing mine. Anyway, roads as good a place to stands as any if you don't got somewhere better to be. Was gonna head into the Guild, eventually, let 'em know the Fellwood spiders have been culled back from the logging road."

Percival nods to Moonshadow, calling Solomon to him to keep the wolf from annoying anyone, the gnome placing his hand on the other's shoulder. "I'll keep that in mind, ma'am." He turned to Ranth and shrugged, "I'm only headed on a walk of undetermined length."

Moonshadow smiles a bit. "You're safer on the road than you are in the woods, I believe. Easier to find you if you hurt yourself." She then shrugs to Percival. I take a walk or a jog out here every so often to see how things are going, and push myself to see if I can run fron the city to here."

Ranth says, "I try and leave the city as little as possible. Its dangerous out there. I almost had my hand bit off by a hyena."

Percival shrugs and spreads his arms wide, "I donno, I feel pretty save in the woods, and that's any wood that's good some life in it" He chuckles, "I don't run much, either ... Solomon's better at it than me. I just walk a lot, not really ever in any kind of hurry." He scritches behind Solomon's ear before turning the Ranth, "Hyeanas, huh? You should have just given them some food, they woulda left you alone."

Munch ehs. "Plenty of dangerous stuff in the city. At least out here doesn't hide in sewers or look like a regular person."

Moonshadow chuckles a bit. 'To each their own. At least you're not bringing down a cult of destruction in the middle of a volcano."

Ranth balks at the thought of entering a volcano. "I'm not pros like you guys. I'm just kind of tough is all. Gonna see where this adventuring thing takes me until I earn enough scratch to start a business."

Munch blinks at Moonshadow. "That's a thing? I don't think they'll let me near a volcano." Likely for good reason. Glancing to Ranth, he shrugs. "Nobody starts pro. Give it time, you'll get better. Or die. Some people do both, but they've got clerics for good friends."

Percival smiles at Ranth and then back at Moonshadow, "A volcano sounds pretty exciting! I've never been inside one of those, is it big? Do cults normally make them their headquarters?" He looks all excited to Solomon, practically trembling as he held it in. "Solomon! I wanna go to a volcano! You wanna go to a volcano?" Solomon barked and jumped excitedly as he stared at Percival expectedly. "Aw, yes you do! Now we just need to find a volcano!"

"Not really. That happened a while ago, and this idiot cleric was trying to erupt a volcano around him to make it fall onto Alexandria. Didn't work." Moonshadow says with a laugh. "No, you don't want to go into a volcano. It's pretty damned hot in there. On top of that, one slip and fire is the least of your worries." She then smiles to Ranth. "I'm not a pro either. But when you have to stop someone from destroying your friends and home.......you go all out, or go home and await the inevitable. I go all out."

Ranth scratches his head. "I don't know what I would do. I hope I never have to find out."

Munch eyes Moonshadow for a moment, and shrugs. "If you're not pro adventurering, then what do you do? Seem pretty pro by most standards."

Percival winks at Solomon and mouths the words, 'I can make us handle fire, we're totally go for volcano.' He then smiled a toothy smile to Moonshadow, "Well, I haven't been on any adventures, but it sounds like you go to some interesting places. Maybe I should go for one sometime too."

Moonshadow says, "Anyone that says they're a professional adventurer...disappears soon after they say it. I'm not a professional. I'm just a humble follower of the White Disc." She then chuckles to both Ranth and percival. "You never know what you can do, until you try." She says before looking to Ranth. "You said you just came back from guard duty? What happened?""

Ranth says, "I never found out what the package held, but some kobolds did attack us.""

Munch shrugs. "The Guild sends me out, I break thigns and hurt people, the Guild pays me money. It's my primary source of income. If that doesn't count as professional, I don't know what does."

Percival looks to Munch thoughtfully, "You mean you just follow orders all day? But...what about the stuff you want to do?" He rubs his chin, glancing to Solomon, "I'm frankly worried about our free time just by agreeing to do an adventure or two, you know what I mean?" Solomon growled softly in agreement

Moonshadow says, "Your time is your own, Percival. Unless you have a second job, then it's not exactly your time." She says before turning back towards the city. "I should start my jog back to the city. The temperature will drop soon, and I don't think I can handle the colder temps.""

Ranth says, "Aye, a warm fire and bath sounds delightful.""

Munch nods to MoonShadow, before speaking to Percival. "Guild doesn't have that much work. Good chunk of a job is travel anyway, couple hours of battle, maybe, then a trip back. Maybe a week downtime between each. If you want more freetime, just don't check in. They're pretty laid back about it all. But, no jobs, no pay, right?"

Percival kicks at the dirt, looking a bit unwilling to condede that giving up free time for anything was a good idea in spite of Much's explanation and Moonshadow's scolding. "Well, each to their own I suppose...I just like to think my actions aren't influenced by anyone but me."

Moonshadow looks back to Percival. Seems she has good hearing. "Your actions can have outside influences. But the spark for those actions are your own. If someone swings a sword at you, you will defend yourself or run." She seems to want to say more, but then shakes her head and starts her run again.....

Percival waves to Moonshadow as she jogs off and shoves his hands in his pocket and looked to the others, "well, I guess it ain't a walk unless I actually walk. I suppose I'll walk off." He chuckled and waved again to them and wandered off towards the town, just looking around at the scenery

Munch shrugs to Percival. "No one influencing you means no one around. Sounds boring." Shrugging, he takes off after MoonShadow, headed to the city as well. Bit slower pace, but he's carrying a bit more.