Rites of Spring
(Action Thread 1)
Please also read, "Introduction to Rites of Spring", if you haven't done so already.
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It’s Springrite. Each year with the coming of the spring, the elves celebrate the Rites of Spring with a huge festival. A great feast, full of dancing, singing and drinking, all week long. From all over the world, people come to the elvish cities to witness and participate in the amazing Rites of Spring. So did you. You’ve come to the lands of Alfheim and the city of Eolo, home to the Sylvan Elves and their Queen Loreley.
The festival started with a great feast, and a welcoming speech by Queen Loreley to all those present. Thousands of people had come to Eolo. The streets were full of humans, dwarves, halflings and gnomes, coming from all over the world. They were, naturally, still vastly outnumbered though by the large amount of elves. Elves from every breed and every kind had come to the the city of the Sylvan Elves. There were of course the High Elves, the most commonly seen type of elves, but also aquatic elves, grey elves, half-elves, sylvan elves and dark elves. But also more rare and exotic elvish races were present, such as the winged elves or “avariel”. Queen Loreley welcomed them all. She looked young, likely not more than 300 years old, yet wise and regal and every word she uttered she spoke with complete determination and confidence. She talked about the differences between the elvish races, how in the past the quarrelled, and about different prejudices. She also talked about union between the elves and how the similarities between the elves are greater than their differences. After the opening speech, large quantities of fey-wine came and the feasting didn’t end for 6 whole days and nights. Dark elf fire breathers made several performances, each more spectacular than the one before. The grey elves sang and the aquatic elves made music and half-elf bards told amazing stories and legends of elvish wars with goblins and lizard men. The sylvan elves performed plays and gnome illusionists had come to perform great acts of illusion and ventriloquism.
The festival has now come to an end though and you’ve had a great time.
When morning eventually breaks, after the last night of partying, all the elves and all the foreigners who’ve enjoyed the festivities, gather in front of the city gates of Eolo and take their place in one of the many hunting parties, setting out into the woods searching for game. That, as you learned in the past few days, is how the festival traditionally ends, with a great hunt, in honour of the gods.
As the hunting parties gather inside Eolo wooden’s palisade, a crowd gathers to celebrate the occasion. Elvish children laugh and scream as they chase each other through the assembled throng. Dogs bark in excitement, eager to be off.
In front of the gates, the chiefs of the village’s most prominent clans draw their conversation to a close and bid each other good hunting. As they return to the parties they are leading, the gates are unbarred and swung open to the sound of hunting horns and the cheers of the settlement. The cheering continues as the elves depart on the great first hunt of the season. You take your places in the procession, after being, randomly, selected to join the hunting party of a half-elf ranger called Belgos. He’s a strong and handsome half-elf with long black hair. He wears a silver torque or “neck ring”, beautifully decorated. During your stay in Eolo you learned to look out for these torques, since they are is a sign that the wearer belongs to a special order of knights, called Titania’s Guard, a group of elvish militia, highly respected in all of Alfheim, responsible for keeping order and peace and serving the queen of the sylvan elves. Joining Belgos are 3 other elves, 1 wood elf and 2 high elves, and you guys:
Lady Clarissa, an elvish assassin, (played by onlyme)
Ragnar Harold, a human paladin, (played by Vargr1105)
Sergius, a human wizard, (played by zebediah)
Agrim the Wanderer, half-orc cleric and fighte, (played by ragnboneshopper)
Risto, a gnome thief and illusionist, (played by rfrahm87)
and Yoan, human ranger, (played by Double-edged)
Prologue: The Hunt
Before you go into the woods, Belgos turns towards all of you (not just you guys, but everyone in the hunting party) and introduces himself: “Welcome! I see we’re joined today by many new faces. That’s... great.” (he doesn’t sound too thrilled by it though and sounds more sarcastic, he continues. “As you might know, I am Belgos, son of queen Loreley. You might not know this, but each year my half brother, Prince Halimath ‘wins’ the hunt by bringing in the best game. Each year I try to out-hunt him and prove my elvish worth. Each year I fail. This year I want to win and therefore, before we go out, I want to know exactly of how much use you’re going to be. So please, before we continue, tell me, who you are and how much experience you guys actually have with hunting.”, he asks, in a quite unfriendly manner.
One of the high elves, a female, looks a bit scared and replies. “eh, I’m Mist.” Judging from her clothes, you think she’s a paladin. She has fiery eyes. “And this is my little brother, Evoric.” She points towards the other high elf in the party. He’s maybe a head smaller than Mist and a bit shy, doesn’t say much, but looks somewhat scared of Belgos as well. “We’ve both taken part hunts before, Belgos. No need to worry about that”
The other wood elf looks annoyed. He’s middle-aged and has a grim look about him. His skin hangs loose and sickly, likely from malnourishment and dark bags under his under his eyes reveal that something robs him of his slee. Angrily, he replies to Belgos: “My name’s Aelgar and I’ve participated in way more hunts than you, Belgos, son of Loreley. Don’t ruin the sacred hunt, by turning it into a competition, though. We'll catch some game and the Gods will be pleased. That's all that matters.”
Belgos, ignoring Aelgar’s words, now looks at you, hoping not to be disappointed.
