A day in the life

[wolfpack]

It is early september and fall is just starting. It is a clear crisp day and the town is bustling as the fall equinox is 3 weeks away, and travelers are already starting to arrive for the celebration, and farmers have finished their harvests for the year.

[Teramis]

Hanna notices all these newcomers making their way into town and gets to thinking...

~~~

Trapping with Dad and brothers, and spending time in the woods, and skinning animals with my handy knife, has taught me how to do one thing. Well, many things (I think), but this one thing might be of use with so many newcomers pouring into town: mumbledy-peg. It's that old and simple game of throwing your knife in the ground at your feet in increasingly difficult patterns of throw. You do this against one or more opponents (usually just 1 at a time). The person who gets the blade closest to their foot in the most difficult combination of throws, wins.

If you stab yourself in the foot you win by default. (I haven't done that yet. My older brother Carl did, once. Still good for a laugh, that - when he's not around to hear me, anyway.)

I've seen plenty of other people play mumbledy-peg here and there - people waiting on handiwork at the forge, or out back of the tavern- especially after they have a few drinks in 'em. Seems to me it should be easy to talk friendly, find some out-of-towners, and get a game going.

And, of course, make it interesting by betting on it.

If someone wants to play and not bet, I'll go along just to get 'em hooked. Shouldn't be hard to lose a game or two, get 'em overconfident, then bet some money on the outcome. I'll wager up to 5 of my gold pieces (not all at once but spread out, over a few challenges). See what comes of that. What the heck, if I see any of my friends in town, I might challenge them to a game too - for money, of course.

I don't know, but I suspect from playing with my brothers that I'm good at gambling. Guess I'll find out.

Besides, then I can hear the news from other places, by talking with folks while I'm trying to get up a game.

[wolfpack]

You know that while playing such a game and gambling would be frowned upon at wayfarers place, you could probably find some takers at the weary travler and definatly at the sink hole which is in the bad side of town.

[Teramis]

Last time I whomped on Carl, Dad gave me a big what-for about my temper. I better avoid the Sinkhole, because one or two crude remarks, and I might get into it with someone. The last thing I need is Carl - who's one of the sheriff's deputies - pulling me out of trouble like that.

Off to the Weary Traveler I go, looking for someone I can dazzle with my natural charm and wit.

[wolfpack]

You arrive at the weary traveler and as you approach the door you hear the sounds of a lyre and the laiughs of the crowd.

You enter and see a fairly busy room for this time of day, the house bard Christian sits on a stool singing a crude tale of a princesses daughter and a billy goat.

Looking around the room you see a variety of patrons some you would hazard are vendors who have brought there wares from out of town for the festival, you notice some locals you know farmhands and a couple of trappers mostly, and you see sprinkled throughout what would best be condidered saleswords as they bear armor and have wepaons strapped to their sides.

[Teramis]

I loiter a bit then decide to get an ale to cover my indecision.
I'm torn between 2 options:
1 - approach a likely vendor. If I can get him to gamble his goods instead of money, I might pick up something interesting or useful that I'd otherwise never buy, or
2 - approach a sellsword. If he's not working right now he'd probably be inclined to play a game to pass time, and more likely than a vendor to gamble.

Decisions, decisions....

When I get change from my ale purchase, I flip a coin. Heads, vendor. Tails, sellsword.

Tails it is.

I meander over where the men at arms are and strike up friendly conversation in this vein (though not all at once): 'Where'd you come from? What news? Do you like the work you do? I always thought it would be interesting to be a guard ready to fight (which is partly true, actually, so I'm not completely bs-ing when I schmooze). Did you have to fight or kill anything on the way here?...' etc.

My objective is to get friendly banter going and then I will invite or challenge the likeliest one of them to the knife-throwing game (taking it out back, where there's earth to throw into).

[wolfpack]

you head up to the bar and order a drink (subtract 1 sp for now as I will just assume you ordered a normal ale and not something fancy, i will be possting a local menu in another thread) and attempt to strike up a conversion with a group of what look to be hired swords.

4 men and a woman, each wears studded leather armor and have a short sword at their side. Their armor all bear the same symbol (a helmet surrounded by a ring of roses)

You try to strike up conversation and at firstthe group just kind of looks at you, a not so friendly look from the woman, a finaly one of the men relents and talks with you.

They are guards for a merchant from the city-state of starlorn. They are making the final trip this way before the winter sets in and their employer (the mechant house of Rose ) heard of the goings on as of late in this village and decided to stop and take a look before moving on to markainus for the equinox celebration there. He also says they were attacked by something called "grimlocks" (you have never herd of them) in the forgotten hills and lost two men.

Eventualy he agrees to a couple of rounds of games with you and you head out back, he will bet 1 gp and play up to three rounds.

(roll a d20 to hit, we will consider the foot AC:9 the person who beats their target number by the most wins, you can add missle fire adjustment to your roll if you have any, as level 0 your THAC1 is 20 so for AC9 you need a 12)

[wolfpack]

we will say a roll of 1 you hit your foot.

[Teramis]

Alas, my dexterity cannot be compared to that of, say, my friend Tumbeedee, so I hope some god is smiling upon me while I talk a good game full of banter and light-hearted challenges. I whip out my knife, toss it from hand to hand, give it a flourish, then flick it into the ground with a snap of my wrist.
It sticks pretty close to my foot and I flash a grin at my opponent and the onlookers.
"There. Beat that!"


***
Roll: 16
(I'm using the invisible castle roller, btw, so if you ever need links to rolls let me know. Or if I should paste the link here automatically, let me know. thx.).

[wolfpack]

the man nods his head and smiles. he flipps the knife end over end, catching it in mid spin and flings it at his boot. His grin twists into a scowl as he sees yours was closer. "let's go again"


yes please post the links to your rolls, also any in character text color green, and out of chacarter text color red. Other text (such as descriptions) can be left black.

[Teramis]

Scowl. Hm. Hope he's not a sore loser.

I grab up my knife, give it a twirl on my palm, then throw it into the ground.

I give him a grin. "Beat that!"

I keep a weather eye out to see if this guy is a sore loser, or his friends are, and if I'm going to need to make a run for it at any point.
Also, I'm not sure when we're paying up: best 2 out of 3 rounds?

[wolfpack]

I was thinking each throw was a individual bet.

He wipes his hand on his pants and throws.

About this time the others he was with exit the bar and join you.

One more time double or nothing

[Teramis]

Betting on ea toss is good with me. So now I'm up 2gp.

"Double or nothing. Sounds good."

I take my blade, toss it in the air, throw it by the blade instead of handle.

Then I frown at the ground. I'm not too happy with how that one landed. What a time to throw sort of wide.

[wolfpack]

He smiles and rubs his handstogether

I guess luck just wasn't on your side this time

he flings the knife down


well looks like we're even wanna just call it a draw.

[Teramis]

Yeah, maybe I better stop while I'm not behind. Lucky for you I'm not better with my knife. I say that last with what I hope is a winning smile. Can I buy you a drink? Maybe we could finish our ales together and you could tell me about those grimlocks you fought. I've never heard of such a thing.


Feeling like I better not press my luck with the gambling thing right now. This guy might just be better than me over the long run. I'll draw him out about grimlocks if I can, so I know a little something about those creatures if I ever run into them. Then I'll head out and go look to join up with my friends.

[wolfpack]

He agrees to let you buy him a drink (subtract 2sp 1 for you 1 for him).

grimlocks are nasty bastards, they're blind but have some kind of super sense like bats and great hearing. Because they hear so well they've learned to move about quiet as amouse so you never know they're comin, their skin is tougher than leather armor and they are strong as hell.

They live underground so usally if you run into them it's in the moun tains or hills where they come out of caves to hunt.

He tells you some about Starlorn, the ancient city that overlooks the lake of the immortals. You have heard the legends about it but don't know anyone who has ever visited.

[Mick]

Ossilliath walks through the town of his childhood, his thoughts constantly returning to his old friends who he has not seen in some time. He has not returned to his home town in some while, having spent a long time in Markainus in Seminary training.

Whilst he did not consciously wander in any direction, his legs carried him to the outside of the Weary Traveler. Coming out of his reverie, a slight smile crossed Ossiliath's face. If he were to find his friends, surely they'd be here!

[wolfpack]

Entering the tavern you see hanna at the bar talking with a man in studded leather armor. The tavern is busy and the house bard is strumming his lyre and singing a song of lost love.

[Teramis]

He tells you some about Starlorn, the ancient city that overlooks the lake of the immortals. You have heard the legends about it but don't know anyone who has ever visited.

Where is Starlorn? And why do they call it the 'lake of the immortals'?


I see Ossiliath walk in as I ask this. I smile and wave him over to the bar, and buy him an ale too. I introduce him to the man I'm talking to in passing.

I want to greet O more effusively but will wait until an appropriate break in the conversation. After I hear about Starlorn, then I'll turn the subject to my friend's long absence. Re Starlorn: what do we know about that place from legend?(I assume this will be common knowledge where we live.)

[wolfpack]

You kow that Starlorn is a great city to the southwest of here a few months travel away.

You also know it is called lake oof the Immortals becuase it is believed Poseidon dwells there.

Rumors and legends you have heard
- It was the first city built by man.
- the cities ruling family is a direct relation to Poseidon himself.
- It is the only city that survived the turning (see history of the world)
- It is full of magic and wonders
- there are shops in the sky and people fly around on magic like the skys were streets.