Story
It is a clear and sunny day. You stretch as you walk down a well trodden dirt path towards the town square, waving cheerily as you pass a group of women, darning clothes, gossiping in quiet whispers. You walk into the only shop in town (the rest of your goods comes from caravans or other traveling merchants) and set out to buy a week's worth of supply for your family. As you start ticking off the necessaries...flour, lard, dried pork....you are startled by the rustling sound of horses outside, followed by loud chatter, and then a commanding voice come through the door. Muffled, but still coming. "By royal decree..." it sounds important, but it is too hard to make out.

You look at the shop keep, who has stopped his tasks to inquisitively stare at the door. Without purchasing your items your items you step outside to see what the commotion is about. One of the King's generals is sitting atop of a well behaved horse, flanked by three other men, all dressed lightly for fast travel. "...acting King of the land." The crowd broke out into outrage. Acting King? you wonder. The King was young and healthy. Why would the kingdom need an acting king? Unless...the general clears his throat, snapping you out of your thoughts. "The kingdom is in need of every young man and woman of the kingdom without medical malady or dependents to report at once to the capital city Astron. Upon arrival you will report to the castle with this scroll-" as he said it, the other men pulled out many scrolls, each with the royal seal "-to confirm that you are indeed a member of the kingdom of Kriste. At that time more details will be revealed to you as is fitting of your disposition and abilities."

You take the scroll handed to you at once, but don't open it. You stare dumbly at it, trying to take in the vague message all at once. People around you were doing the same, each of the young people holding the same scroll. The general turns to continue off to the next town which you know is usually a four hour trip - but perhaps the way they are equipped they will make it a little faster. People yelled their questions after them, but they weren't listening.

Collapse Boxes with all of the information you need on how to act in the world are here. I've made them collapsible so that it isn't a wall of text.









The Story So Far
Chapter 1, Preparation:
Scrolls have been passed out to every man and woman capable of fighting, summoning them to the castle. Many have answered the call, but a select group of seven have been placed together to find the king. They are told that the whereabouts or state of the king are unknown, and the do not know what happened. Their only clue is a chewed up hilt of a sword, found along the road elsewhere. Although several strange incidents of beasts attacking - or killing -adventurers have been reported, beyond the man that brought back the hilt no one has seen - and lived to tell about it - the beast itself. Several rumors or claims have been brought to the attention of the court, but as of yet none are substantiated.
After gearing up, Iam goes to a tavern, where he runs into a shady character with a plot to disrupt the dinner at the castle, with Tryvali agents attending, to 'eliminate an objective.' Iam runs back to the aid, and he, Athenos and Rozen interrupt the Tryvali from doing something to Dan. They are discussing what they know - that is, two of the court are not present, nor is a representative of Tryvali (although Rozen has said that the representative is somewhere upstairs) - when a fire breaks out in the kitchen, causing panic to ensue.

Chapter 2, Diversion:
The team scrambles around, protecting the royal family first and foremost. Iam runs back into the flames, only to meet his timely demise. Dan comes out slightly better, only being unconscious and sustaining painful but temporary physical damage. After realizing that the royal family is not all accounted for, Athenos returns to the blaze to search out Princess Aleiya, and upon finding her hurries her back to her family. The Tryvali Envoy, there for the party, are missing, and it widely assumed that they were the cause of the fire. However, during questioning, after the fire mysteriously puts itself out, the source of the flames cannot be found, and the reports from servants and guards on scene only agree on one thing - the source of the fire is unknown, and the cause uncertain. Edwin sneaks away to steal the riches of his fallen comrades, finding that Iam's heart has been ripped out before falling into sleep caused by wearing a ring that was too powerful for him.
The breakfast the following morning was sullen. What little information they could gather, they already knew. Estaphon dropped to Athenos that Pryti, the oracle of Psamathe, lived far south of civilized society, and that he would only be able to find her by using a ranger, or, dumb luck. Dan goes out to find an assistant, and wanders across the path of Martin, a young mousy looking man that had recently been kicked out of the bards guild for unknown reasons. Martin and Dan get a guard to agree that they will meet at dusk at a pub called the Three of Hearts, a seedy place full of villainy. Not eager to go alone, Martin and Dan acquire the aid of Athenos and Aleiya, who has a plan to run away that night.

Chapter 3, Three of Hearts:
On the night of the meeting, a drunk man bumps into Dan, handing a note to him telling Athenos to meet the man at the pub the following night. Guard Parker, Martin and Dan hatch a plan to steel the incriminating items out of Parker's basement, disguise it as a monster attack, and then hide the evidence. The plan works, but to great agony of Martin's. He insists that he and Dan go south to find more pieces. Meanwhile, while trying to talk to the princess about what is going on and why she wants to run away, he temporarily disarms an eavesdropper, who later gets away when Athenos is pulled into the world of spirits, where he fights and wins an arm against a demon. Armed with his new strength the princess and him set out the following morning, where they run into Dan. After Dan shows Athenos the message, Athenos tells Dan to wait for the man to come, presenting his sword as proof he is with Athenos, and to follow him wherever he leads. The party split once again, Athenos confiding in Aleiya his suspicions that the kingdom wants her dead, with plans to move to a monk commune east of Kriste where she will be safe. The eavesdropper, now known to be Shaidar, is presented with startling information: she has a brother she did not readily know about, who is poised to strike on Kriste and help secure her to be Empress of the kingdom.

Chapter 4, Flight:
Athenos and Dan have parted ways, Dan following Fridolf in a misdirect tactic, and Athenos cutting behind the forests behind Astron. They come across two guards, one of which Athenos kills, the other of which, Erik, is nursed back to health, carrying misinformation about the whereabouts of the princess. Meanwhile, the royal guard is doing the minimum to find the princess, sending out only a lone blind empath. The rest of the royal family has fled into exile, and the crown is secretly controlled by the Captain of the Guard, a man named Tiev. Athenos consents to taking the princess to Pryti, and they are reunited with Dan, Martin and Fridolf before entering the Bittergreen Forest. Unfortunately, an ambush waits for them as soon as they enter the forest, the misinformation not tricking the Captain of the Guard about the princess' desire....

Chapter 5, Of the Gods' Desires
Having passed Tiev, the Captain of the Guard, the party escorting the princess continue to Pryti's humble home. The princess is quickly escorted away, Dan goes to meditate, and Athenos goes to visit Psamathe. Psamathe offers him a partnership which he declines, sending her into a rage that ends up poisoning him, weakening him and allowed him to be captured by the gods. When he goes to attend trial he is absolved of guilt, and transforms into Serena, a faerie. Meanwhile, the collision alerts Darte, who was tending to the princess, that her sanctuary had been disturbed, and tries to kill Dan and Marty. They barely escape, are reunited with Marty's "grandfather" and set off on a quest to find the missing pieces to his contraption. Elsewhere, Isador has figured out how to commune with the elements, and has gained traits from their shrines.

Chapter 6, Chaos and Terror
After the Tryvali accidentally woke up a deity known as "Father Chaos," the players find themselves in seemingly unbreakable bonds placed on them for refusing allegiance to this deity. Isador is rescued by a family with strange ties to the element of water, and Athenos and Serena rescued by a deity much like Chaos. While the players are recovering from their wounds and trying to come up with a plan of attack, Chaos succeeds in waking up Terror, which causes a multidimensional rift. It would appear that this causes the elements to flee the mortal realm, leaving a barren wasteland in it's path, which gets steadily worse as time goes on.

Name: Edwin Cole
Age: 19
Build/Unusual Markings: Average build, slightly taller than average, no distinguishable markings.
Occupation: Traveling merchant.
Positive Traits: Charismatic, more experienced in trading than other merchants his age.
Negative Traits: Opportunistic, uninterested in dealings that can't offer net profit.
Aspirations: To be able to afford the considerable expenses involved in opening a shop in a city.

I would like a character that's only controlled by me that being said...

Name: Dan D.Lyons
Age: 21
Build/Unusual Markings: Average, Chemical burns on thigh
Occupation: Crazy Scientist
Positive Traits: Smart,
Negative Traits: Crazy
Aspirations: To travel back in time twice so he try and kill himself while at the same time trying to stop him from killing himself.

Name: Athenos
Age: 17, apparent
Build/Unusual Markings: Shorter than average height, muscled frame. Has violet eyes.
Occupation: Escort for the Miline trading company.
Positive Traits: Remarkably physically able, uncanny sense of danger and innate combat senses.
Negative Traits: Impetuous; doesn't always evaluate circumstances fully.
Aspirations: Regain his god powers.

Name: Johan VanDerSchmut
Age: 357 turns round the sun
Build/Unusual Markings: Frog
Occupation: Soothsayer
Positive Traits: Omniscient
Negative Traits: Doesn't like to give up knowledge
Aspirations: Get a princess to kiss him

DevliN is unbanned.

Vrael: you can use empathy as a skill, and you can be superhumanly smart, but you cannot be omniscient. There still has to be a chance for your senses to fail.

Name: Devlin
Age: 29
Build/Unusual Markings: Average build. Scar on the right side of his face from his forehead down to his neck, received from a fight with a large creature.
Occupation: Ranger
Positive Traits: Hard-worker, excellent in wooded areas, good with creating makeshift weapons out in the wild
Negative Traits: Selfishly independent when it comes to the "greater good", nomadic, has a difficult time assimilating with town-life
Aspirations: Not dying. He has no desire to be in a position of power, but would like to be free to travel as he has done. Perhaps in the future he'd like a plot of land in the forest to call a permanent residence, supposing he survives that long given his current lifestyle.

Name: Rozen
Age: 22
Build/Unusual Markings: Terrifically towering. Wears a masquerade mask. Slender. Male.
Occupation: Mind reader.
Positive Traits: FABYULOUS
Negative Traits: Secretly super sinister.
Aspirations: Befriend everyone.

As soon as the King's men are gone, I begin going around to the many people who received scrolls, prioritizing those who seem troubled. I tell them that it's likely a dangerous task, and that no one will blame them for not laying down their life in the name of an acting King. After confirming they do not want to go, I inform them I will be going because I have no family to speak of, and nothing to lose. I then state that, while they are of course not obligated to go, that the property of the King should be returned to him, and I hold out my hand while telling them I will return their scroll for them when I go.

After obtaining their scroll, I go around to the rest of the people present, collecting all the scrolls which belong to those who seem hesitant or otherwise unwilling to go.

I pack the scrolls away in one of my satchels, and place the scroll I received in a separate pocket. I then walk up behind someone who has decided to open the scroll they received, and I read it discreetly while standing beside them.

First off, turns haven't started yet. Second, you can't just pick up and take a scroll. I'll write it tomorrow morning.

Consider this my intended course of actions for when the turn does start

Noted.

Quote from Fire_Kame

DevliN is unbanned.

Vrael: you can use empathy as a skill, and you can be superhumanly smart, but you cannot be omniscient. There still has to be a chance for your senses to fail.

What the hell is the point of RPing a Soothsayer Frog if he can't be all-knowing and grant players his wisdom in return for quest completion? Bullshit.

If you guys have any 'turn suggestions' go ahead and post them. The first post is going to be very different from the rest of the posts, and it may seem like I'm railroading. But the end of the line is at the castle, then it's open season for all of you.

Name: Iam Onrefni
Age: 25
Build/Unusual Markings: Pale, short but husky, has a love mark, kind of furry.
Occupation: Soldier answering the call of the scroll, hoping to make a positive change in the world.
Positive Traits: Charismatic, Deceitful, Uncaring
Negative Traits: Slow
Aspirations: Help others to join a worthy cause in order to enter a position of higher meaning in the world.

Quote from Fire_Kame

If you guys have any 'turn suggestions' go ahead and post them. The first post is going to be very different from the rest of the posts, and it may seem like I'm railroading. But the end of the line is at the castle, then it's open season for all of you.

In that case, I would also like to take my funds to either the store or another traveling merchant, looking specifically for a commodity to purchase that's expensive and compact, making it better for traveling with. Ideally, some kind of expensive spice would be best. It should also be something which isn't common in the area we're traveling to, so it can be resold for some profit. Once I've exchanged my assets into this safer and more easily carried form, I'll place it in one of my satchels.

Athenos looked at the tied scroll in his hand for a moment, piecing together what just happened. A citizen of Kriste? He was no such thing. In fact, he found it mildly insulting how mortals classified him with such ideological barriers. Still, he smirked, it may make for something interesting. It wouldn't make the Miline trading company happy, but it can't be helped. For a humble salary and living arrangements, he traveled all over, protecting caravans or persons of interest from thugs or bandits.

Not that it was an interesting occupation. He'd only been in combat a handful of times, and all but two have been minor skirmishes. Usually the sight of a few guards is more than enough to ward off any looking to make a profit. The best way to avoid getting robbed is to make the risk too high, they told him. They were right, of course. It was thanks to his efforts that faster travel through more dangerous areas of the country could be profitable.

He stuffed his scroll into his bag and turned, he best go prepare himself.

is sac co-hosting or sac just trolling