I'm assuming she isn't going to ask them right now, which is just as good; I didn't really mean right this second anyway. "Ah, no, no offense intended whatsoever, you and your friends are very beautiful, and the offer is appealing, but I believe that sort of relationship should be shared between a (one) man and a (one) woman who are intimately close with one another emotionally; I don't really consider it to be a recreational habit, or something I would generally do on a whim. Perhaps..." I trail off, thinking about whether or not to say it's a possibility when we know each other more, then pick up again, "perhaps a change of subject is in order. I'm somewhat of a treasure hunter, if you will, though more an explorer. If you and your friends come along with me, I can promise the three of you three tenths of all the spoils we come across; I will take the remaining tenth, but take the precedence of first choice with artefacts of intellectual worth."
*she nods and gets out two pieces of parchment and starts drafting up a contract, she calls the other girls over, and they want things like you gathering firewood, and gathering water, and a minimum 5 foot distance between you all, and making sure Cass is equipped with what she wants before the adventure*
*they read it and sign it and hand it over to you for reading and signing, and Cass is scribbling notes on the other paper*
*once you sign, she hands over the paper with what she wants from the shop keeper in the keep, Breastplate, Helm, Greeves, Sword and Shield, exact ones she wants*
"Thanks you've been a great help." *she blows a kiss as they leave the room to get the contact officially entered into the logs*
*Seith starts busting out laughing*
"Man that was the funniest thing I've seen.....ever"
Alright, I sign it, on the caveat that the five foot rule can be broken if in a matter of life and death. As for Seith, "Yeah... she's cute. I seem to have finagled an adventuring party, though, and some eye candy to boot." I lower my voice, confident that they're out of human hearing range but unsure about the rogue. "Gelidrasil -- the elf -- is the hot one. I've always had a thing for elves. Though I bet you like Jennah, huh?" "More importantly, any ideas for how I can convince the smith to advance me the armor based on what I'm sure he'll consider a meager amount of gold?"
*Seith grins*
"You can look at it like that, or they played you, but yes you have your party. Just remember a group of three women together, must know what they are doing. As for Jennah, yes she is a looker, she is also hard as nails. Galidrasil is deadly, not a girl I would want to cross."
*smiles*
"Well I suppose you could agree to work it off by doing jobs, I know the Wardens have odd jobs they need done, only way to know is ask him."
regarding Galidrasil: "Dangerous, yes; but a wise man once said, it wouldn't be a rose if it didn't have thorns." *laughing with him while he laughs at me* about the smith: "True, but isn't it a fact that my primary objective still takes precedence? People are dying, and I need to try to find.. what I'm looking for as soon as possible... presuming that I do find it, should I try to put a stop to it then and there, or report back here and share my findings in case it turns out to be too much for me?"
*nods*
"And sometimes those thorns are coated in nightshade, just saying."
*considers*
"It does, but often if your heading to the same place, why not handle the tasks there, just makes sense in a logistics viewpoint."
*nods*
"You don't know what your looking for, we don't know what your looking for, but your expected to track what it is we are looking for and make the decision whether to try to take it down yourself or come back for help. Coming back also means losing precious days while the enemy gets to work freely."
*when you take the list to the smith, he whistles*
"Deep pockets, looks like Cass found a benefactor."
*when he finds out that you don't have all the gold, he smiles*
"I am looking for metal deposits, I can sell you the armor, and you give me full rights for any metal deposits you find. If I can get the metal for free, it would many times make up what I'm losing to you in value now, and your a Grey Warden, not much more trustworthy than that. I'll get a crate with the items ready."
*He comes back dragging a crate, easily 200lbs in weight*
"There it is, hope it was worth it."
"Are you kidding? Metal deposits have no worth to me, and I'm more than happy to claim them in your name; I don't know factually how long my journey will be. Do you have some sort of banners I could hang at the location so that no one else will be able to stake a claim to the deposits until I'm able to tell you where they are?"
*he gives you a hammer and a couple of tablets*
"Place the tablet on the deposit and strike it firmly, and that will let anyone know it's claimed"
"It will be my pleasure, then. Thank you very much." I'll have some difficulty dragging a two hundred pound chest behind me, but I'll take it to... wherever I'm uh... supposed to be? If I have no idea, outside the smith is a good first step.
*You do what you think is best, and try it up to your room, you get about 500 feet and halfway up the steps before you stop, sweat pouring off your body, you try again, and get about another 500 feet before you lay down beside the box panting, several amused Grey Wardens gather to watch this, not wanting to embarrass you by offering a hand, you get up make one last effort and drag it into your room*
((Str Checks, 33, 28, 14, Fail, Fail, Success))
Panting heavily, I grin good-naturedly and jokingly tell one of the warriors "I'm coming... for your armor... next...." finally back to my room, I collapse for a short bit to catch my breath. Assuming it's evening, I wouldn't be suprised i I drift off into sleep; if not evening I'll go back out again and wander.
*You end up taking a nap and wake up to the following conversation*
"Sleeping already, only carrying one box."
"I think a nug would beat him in a fight."
"Leave him alone guys, he got my armor, and he's cute and means well."
*you see the trio standing in front of you waiting to get going*
*Jennah says*
"Wake up boy, time to make a man out of you.....in the field of battle."
I'll... stay in bed. Giving every evidence that I'm still asleep.
*Jennah standing over you is an overwhelming presence and not keeping your eyes on Gelidrasil makes you worried where her daggers are, perhaps at your throat, perhaps below the belt. You hear Cass say a few words of a spell, a flash of light, and the rumblings of layers of armor being put on*
I'm going to stay right where I am until one of them does something drastic to wake me, like dragging me out of bed or beating me over the head, or they leave the room.
*The wait for Cass to finish donning the armor, sword and shield*
*Jennah says*
"If this is what the Grey Wardens are accepting these days, we are all doomed."
*they walk out of the room and slam the door behind them*
I get up and follow them on out.
*They don't find your ruse amusing, and it seems like their dislike of you is not just because of your bad pickup lines, they seem to not trust the Grey Wardens. As they walk out the Grey Wardens ignore their presence for the most part, and they are given the same ghost treatment*
*The Grey Warden commander meet you at the door*
"Good luck" *looks at the women with a bit of disdain* "You are going to need it."
*Jennah retorts*
"Don't worry commander, we won't have to tell other recruits about the joining process, your reputation of dishonesty proceeds you"
*they walk out of the compound*
Once we're out of the compound, I say, "Hoo, felt like a blizzard in there. Is there anything any of you want to tell me about the Grey Wardens?" I want to explore south of Feldaren first, but if they seem to know where they're headed and don't look to me for direction I'll follow their lead for the moment.
*Jennah hmmphs*
"Did they tell you that the joining has a 50% mortality rate, and that if you die, you just disappear, your family doesn't know what happened."
*Gelidrasil nods*
"I snuck into the joining ceremony when we were recruits, witnessed the whole thing, not a good way to die."
*Cass shivers*
"We decided that the power it gives you to detect the darkspawn wasn't worth the price, so we were not wanted there."
*Jennah smiles*
"Don't take the fact that we wanted out to mean we have any confidence in your abilities, it was just a means to an end, so lead on fearless leader."
"Well, I actually figured the chance of dying from joining was closer to sure, but that doesn't faze me; my kind don't die, and I have no family in this world." "Detect the darkspawn? I can do that? Interesting." "Well, first I'd like to explore south of Feldaren..." Assuming my standard adventuring kit came with a compass, I'll begin navigating a southernly course, keeping a stoic vigil for any enemies in our travel and not deviating too much in my course from a straight southern direction until I reach an obstacle or enounter. Isn't traveling without a destination fun? "In the event of a battle we have a chance of winning, I'll generally want Jennah and Cass on point to take the majority of hits and take them from the front; Gelidrasil and I will try to slip out of sight and flank the enemy in a pincer attack. As long as that sounds good to you three."
*Jennah sighs*
"They didn't tell you about the dreams, the taint, you can detect darkspawn, they think your a darkspawn? Wow, just tragic."
*Gelidrasil says in response to your plan*
"I hope you brought flame resistance for your armor, Cass is pretty much a nuke at her feet kinda mage, she gets one or two spells off wearing armor, and the rest powers her defenses and melee attack, so we end up eating the fireball usually."
*Cass nods and smiles*
"I perfer extra crispy myself, and now with the armor, I'll be fine."
*the other women roll their eyes and rub some balm on their exposed skin*
"I woke up in this world yesterday. I don't know much of anything other than that Seith saved me from a lot of pain and the three of you seem intelligent and gorgeous -- also, I should mention, I've never seen an Elf before, though the stories I've heard seem like no disappointment." "Well, my weapons also do fire damage, so hopefully we don't run into anything that absorbs elemental fire or is resistant."
*Jennah grins and smiles to the other two*
"Flattery won't get you anywhere on the battlefield, prove your worth there, and gain our respect, and we'll see if such flattery is acceptable then."
*Gelidrasil adds*
"We are just cautious, we prefer to keep our distance from men and Grey Wardens in particular for obvious reasons."
*Cass pipes in*
"Don't let Jennah's tough as nails exterior fool you, she has a soft spot for heroes, and Seith in particular."
*Jennah has dagger eyes for Cass*
"Keep it up Cass and your going to take point alone."
*Cass gulps*
"Speaking of Seith, he spoke highly of all three of you, and I don't mean just for your looks. I'm confident in your skills; now I just need to show you mine." "Obvious reasons? Like, you mean, because darkspawn can sense me?"
*they nod and smile, already stating their stance on flattery*
"No because they aren't honest with recruits till there ceremony, and if you back out they kill you. We got off lucky we found out before."
*they wait to start the trip*
*oh, I assumed we were walking and talking.* "Let us go."
*You head out the road, you travel for about 3 hours and there is a fork in the road, southeast and southwest*
hmm.. I'm going to relax and reach out for the sense for my equipment. I had two senses when I first got here, one which was southernly; I want to see if one coincides with a path. If not, sotuhwest it is.
As an aside to the goings on of the game, I wanted to post here for reference my character stats as adjusted thus far in this world for easier record keeping, and so you can correct me if I'm wrong. 2@2 persuasion, 1@6 charisma, 1@8 animal magnetism, 1@8 strength, 1@5 stamina, 1@7 resistance, 1@1 density, 2@1 flexibility, 1@7 agility, 1@8 hand/eye, 2@1 intellect, 1@10 intuition, 1@10 education level, 1@8 will power. averaged attributes: 1@8 martial strike value, 1@9 ranged strike value, 1@6 target value, 1@5 damage value.
((For right now that's right))
*Your stuff is South west*
Awesome, well, that was the way I would have gone if it didn't seem to be either direction, so southwest it is.
*You walk about another 10 miles down the road and you feel your items off to your right, in the middle of a grove of four trees*
((GE Roll 20))
hmm... I'll peer in that direction to see if I can see anything; then start moving that way if I don't see any signs of hostility. Moving southwest, turning ninety degrees right, that should mean... either northwest or southeast, but right now I don't feel like figuring with it, since Arziay is the one with the compass, he knows anyway.
*You don't sense Darkspawn nor movement*
*Geli states*
"Sometimes even the trees are alive, just a warning"
((Int check, 20 success))
"Thank you for the warning, Gelidrasil. I did not know that." We'll move in the direction of my sense, keeping alert.
*Your items are as you left them mostly inbetween the trees, you see Cass buffing up one spell after another, she is now semi transparent, rocky, a round shield, and everyone's weapons seem to cut through the air faster as well as, several auras up. Geli starts singing a song which makes everyone's energy shoot up and an aura appears around her as she moves, Jennah growls and gets in a defensive stance, and gives out a rallying cry, making everyone feel safer and feel like they can hit more*
Daggers out, style up. I'm not sure where the enemy is so I'm kind of waiting to see what happens; but I see my katana and I want it.
*Jennah and Cass rush into the middle, back to back, and as Geli predicted, the four trees surrounding the grove start moving and creeking and walk into attack, before you rush in Geli points you back*
"Wait"
*You see all four trees cast a spell, and Jennah gets entanged by two roots and they are thorned and look like they hurt, Cass with one*
*Geli runs in to hit one of them from the back, hits it with a stun, which it shrugs off, but what it doesn't shrug off is the daggers hitting four times, and on the fourth, felling the first tree*
((Lots of rolls, the flavor text says the results, your action))
Assuming style is up, I'll go for momentum. Either way I've got at least three attacks; I'll follow Gelidrasil's lead and go after the same tree.