As the light of dawn starts to bring natural light to the expansive cafeteria in the Circle, Quissonce finishes her story about the time she was chased out of town by a group of particularly superstitious villagers for devil worship because of a simple card trick. You laugh about it as you finish your cheese, wiping bread crumbs off the wooden table the two of you are sitting at.

“So, what's the plan for today Alan?” Quissonce asks as she finishes her water.

“Rowe and I are going looking for some missing members of The Fighter's Guild today, might try to capture a live orc. We'll probably be out in the field for a few days.” Quissonce nods.

“Well, good luck. Don't get yourselves killed. All I'm going to be doing is reading through some books. Maybe experiment a bit. See if I can come up with any spells on my own.”

Well, it's not like you'd be interrupting any major plans of hers if you wanted her to tag along.

>Invite Quissonce
>Don't invite Quissonce

AND

>Go invite anybody else (specify)e

AND

>Any last minute preparations?

>>44156240
>Invite Quissonce
It's still her choice to continue research or come along. Call it application of theory.

>Go invite anybody else
Gabby and Kyra. Also Eve. Since this is a mission that needs stealth, I'm unsure about Dolah.

>Any last minute preparations?
Get in that daily 1 hour of prayer, check up on Father Calloway. He might need protection while we're out.

>>44156367
>>44156240
Seconding. Maybe Dolah can protect the Father while we are out sneaking.

>>44156240
We should try and keep a small team that can strike quickly and silently.

>Invite Quissonce
>Go invite anybody else (specify)e
Kyra

>Any last minute preparations?
Seconding >>44156367

Writing!

>>44156240
>>Invite Quissonce

> Light Sleeper (Fully rested on four hours of sleep)
>we actually got a racial skill
Learning stronk

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“Sure you don't want to come with?” Quissonce could be useful out in the field.

“Oh, yeah I'd love to tag along. I just thought it might be . . .” she trails off as you squint your eyes in confusion. She tries to gather her words “Y'know, a . . .” she drops whatever train of thought she was on with a dismissive wave. “So we taking the rest of the crew?” You sit back and think, crumpling up your napkin.

“I think we should take everyone except for Dolah, really. Kyra and Gabby can sneak well enough and you and Eve have spells that can incapacitate. Dolah wears a metal suit of armor. Plus, if we all go we leave Calloway vulnerable to this Deliria person if she ever decides to pull something. Speaking of Calloway, I should really go and check in on him.” You stand up and Quissonce does as well.

“I'll go inform the others and have them get ready by the East gate.” You exit the Circle while Quissonce heads upstairs to wake up Eve. You make your way to the chapel on the West side of town and stroll in for the early morning service. You take a seat in one of the pews in the front and begin your hour of prayer.

When you finish your communion you stand back up and head to Father Calloway.

“Hello my son. I hope you are faring well. I must admit Sister Dolah and I miss your company.” You guess you haven't been spending too much time at the chapel the past few days. Although, you spent a week straight there so you don't exactly feel guilty.

“Well, hopefully I'll have more time to chat with you soon. I'm leaving soon to recover some people who have been captured by orcs. I'll most likely be gone for a few days. Remember, even with Harnost gone there are still people who might wish to see you disappear, Father.” Dolah speaks from behind you a ways.

“I'll make sure to watch the premises carefully.” You turn to look at her. “I should also inform you that the sergeant of the guard came by recently and promised the Father that she'd have a man watching this church at every hour. It will be some time before those curs think they can try something.” You nod as you walk by, Dolah wishing you luck when dealing with 'her people'. There is a twang of some sort of emotion in that phrase, although it's a bit hard for you to place.

You gather by the east gate where your companions are saddled up. You quickly purchase the necessary rations for your horse and yourself. Rowe says with how big your group is, it will be two days of travel before you make it to the forest and she doesn't know how long exactly it will take you to find the orc warband. You all may have to learn to live off the land near the end.

Before you leave, there are a few questions you need to answer about what you should bring when it comes to equipment.

>Bring the revolver? Y/N
>Bring the dagger? Y/N
>Bring the magical helm? Y/N
>Bring the darts? Y/N

>>44157105
>>Bring the revolver? Y/N
>>Bring the dagger? Y/N
>>Bring the magical helm? Y/N
>>Bring the darts? Y/N
Y for everything.

>>44157105
>Bring the revolver? N
>>Bring the dagger? Y
>>Bring the magical helm? Y
>>Bring the darts? Y

>>44157105
>>Bring the revolver? N (too loud)
>>Bring the dagger? Y
>>Bring the magical helm? Unsure, do we have any idea what it actually does?
>>Bring the darts? Y

>>44157197
Nope

Writing!

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You're just going to leave the revolver here. It's too loud and noisy, not as accurate as your shortbow and you don't know how to use it yet. It's taking up space in your pack.

You and your allies exit Seaside right after Blackburn makes a sudden, unannounced appearance. He thanks you for your dedication, resolve and care before you all leave. Gabby admits she is thoroughly creeped out by Blackburn.

Rowe leads you towards the eastern coast of the Island, skirting the walls of Seaside before being forced into riding your horses southeast towards the larger forested area where your targets are.

The journey through the plains is rather calming, bordering on boring. Nice grass and the odd incline or hill, but overall its feels very flat and samey. You spot some wild buffalo grazing. For a second you wait for Gilda to stop you and inspect them to see how they differ from Mainland buffalo, until you realize you didn't bring Gilda with you all.

That realization makes you feel a bit freer. Nobody is watching you. You felt like you were being graded in everything you were doing when Gilda was around. But it's just you and your team.

You make some amazing headway, with all of you focused on moving forward. Even your slowest link, Eve and her smaller pony, manage to focus themselves and push hard.

It comes time to make camp. You set up the three tents you brought with you all, get your dinner cooking in a small central campfire and set the watches.

“Alright everybody, time to pair up.” Rowe says as she finishes feeding the horses. Quissonce quickly selects Eve and the two of them do the “Circle Up” handshake. If you have an opinion, time to speak up.

>Gabby
>Rowe
>Kyra
>No opinion

>>44157768
>>No opinion

>>44157768
>No opinion

>>44157768
>Rowe

Writing!

“Eh, I'll take Kyra.” Gabby says as she heads to her tent. She's taking last watch again. Kyra shrugs. She's on first watch so she starts to settle into her sitting position to keep an eye out for the entire camp. Quissonce volunteered to take second watch. You grabbed third, seeing as how by that time you'll be fully rested. And Rowe's taking fourth watch. She looks over to you.

“Leftovers again, I guess.” The two of you quickly get ready for bed, taking your armor off and putting your weapons back near your pack by your bedroll. Thankfully the tent is spacious enough like last time to give you both ample personal space for yourselves. Rowe brushes her curly hair back and then ties it quickly into a ponytail as she settles in to sleep. You're also ready to go to bed, but you have a few minutes before bed. There are some curious questions that have been floating around your mind about Rowe and now you have the privacy to ask them if you wish.

>Ask her about her parents
>Ask her if she misses the forest she grew up in
>Ask her to tell you a war story
>Go to sleep

>>44158243
>Go to sleep
nothing interesting.

>>44158243
>Ask her if she misses the forest she grew up in

>>44158243
>Ask her to tell you a war story
>Ask her if she misses the forest she grew up in

>>44158243
>>Ask her to tell you a war story

Writing!

“Hey Rowe.” You turn to look at her. She meets your gaze. “Do you miss the Sfar forest?” She looks up at the top of your tent before responding.

“Yeah. Probably not in the way you're thinking though.” You frown. What does that mean? “I grew up in the Sfar forest. I learned which plants not to eat through trial and error. I found plenty of hidden nooks and crannies. I met plenty of interesting animals and would try to imitate the funny sounds they made. I climbed trees, swung from vines even when my parents told me not to. That place was my childhood. When we switched sides I was heartbroken I had to leave it behind. I abandoned that place.” She pauses.

“Guess that's why I did it. Went back in. Orcs tromping through my childhood, cutting down the trees I built forts in. Killing the animals for sport that I treasured. Why wait for them to get through and meet our battle lines when I could meet them where I had the advantage.” She sighs out. “That was worse though. I knew which plants I could coat my arrows in to paralyze them, make them easy targets, bait for the others. I knew where to set up to quickly kill a captain and then hide myself. I used bird calls to signal plenty of ambushes for the rest of the troops. Climbed trees plenty of times to avoid an axe in the back. I turned my childhood into a weapon.” She looks back to you.

“The Sfar forest was gone for me months before they burned it down. It's funny in that dark sort of way though. Girl loves a forest so much she ruins it for herself and then gets is utterly destroyed.” She chuckles. “What about you Alan. Anything you miss somewhere far away from here?”

>Is there?

>>44158843
/tg/ is afraid of write-ins

>>44158843
Hometown

It was comfy as fuck

>>44159101
>>44159074

Alright, I will give options if that makes it easier.

>No, I'm glad I'm here
>I miss my hometown
>I miss my family

>>44158843
Port city that we grew up in.
Destroyed and burnt to the ground in the opening shots of the war when the Imperial Armada decided that a blockade would take too long and began bombardments of the town with incendiaries.

>>44159127
>>I miss my hometown

>>44159127
>I miss my hometown

Writing!

“I miss my hometown. It was a comfy little city. Smaller than some of the major ports and I complained endlessly to my father about how boring it was. I thought he just liked it because it made him a big fish in a small pond. But after the war started and I got into the thick of it, every day I would have dreams of just being back home eating a nice salmon stew in a nearby restaurant.” Rowe nods.

“Well, if this all pans out and we win the war, you should be able to go back, right?” You look at her.

“That's a big If, Rowe.” With that the two of you go to sleep. You have a very peaceful rest.

Hours later you feel yourself being shaken awake by Quissonce. You get up and silently make your way out of the tent so as not to bother Rowe. Quissonce heads back into her tent to sleep while you begin your watch. You feel very alert and ready. Thankfully you camped in a very hard place to sneak up on, being surrounded on all sides by miles of empty space. The small campfire crackles as you give your full attention to watching out for your allies.

Your two hours pass by uneventfully. You can now wake Rowe and go back to sleep. However, you know you don't need to sleep any more than you already have for this new day. So you have a few options on what you want to do next.

>Let Rowe catch some more sleep, take her watch for her
>Wake Rowe up, hang out with her for her watch
>Wake Rowe, Quissonce should be fully rested and you can hang out with her
>Wake Rowe, then go bond with Tornado
>Wake Rowe, go to sleep because sleeping for only four hours feels weird

>>44159601
>Wake Rowe, then go bond with Tornado

>>44159601
>>Wake Rowe up, hang out with her for her watch

Writing!

>>44159812
Dropped my trip!

You head back to your tent and wake up Rowe. She gets up, yawning and begins to put on her armor. You go back outside yourself and sit down near the campfire. As Rowe exits the tent a few minutes later, she pulls off the hair tie keeping her ponytail and shakes her head to let the curls settle into place.

She looks at you oddly as you continue to sit down near the fire. “Aren't you going to catch some sleep now?” You shake your head.

“Don't need to. I'm good on four hours.” She scoffs.

“No you aren't. We're going to be doing this for the next couple of days. You need a full night's rest.” You start to explain.

“Actually, I was able to partially learn Quissonce's ability to meditate for a few hours instead of sleep. I don't think I've mastered the trance-like portion of it yet but I've been able to reduce the amount of time I spend sleeping every day.” Rowe looks unconvinced.

“You can't learn that. It's not an ability, it's just an elf thing. That's like saying you learned her skill of having pointy ears.” You shrug.

“I don't know what to say. I learned it.” Rowe shakes her head while muttering 'whatever' before sitting down next to you.

>Bond with Tornado
>Ask Rowe about her parents
>Ask Rowe to tell you a war story
>Try to feel your pulse and tap into your bloodline

>>44160174
>>Bond with Tornado
We are horsemen we must spend some time with our horse.

>>44160174
>Try to feel your pulse and tap into your bloodline

>>44160174
>Bond with Tornado

>>44160174
>Bond with Tornado

Alright, roll me 1d100 +19, Best of 3.

This is for how well you and Tornado bond.

Rolled 48 + 19 (1d100 + 19)

>>44160427
We have a mind link!

Rolled 61 + 19 (1d100 + 19)

>>44160427

Rolled 98 + 19 (1d100 + 19)

>>44160427
Could you tell us why is it +19?

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>>44160464

>>44160464
That's a secret, but I can tell you for sure that +15 of it comes from your ability to learn things quickly!

Writing!

>>44160462
>>44160464
We bounded the shit out with tornado.

>>44160588
Tornado will never accept another rider.

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>>44160464

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You decide to spend some time with your horse. You've been relying on him a lot to carry your equipment, take you places and rush into battle with you. He's already been injured in the line of duty for you.

His coat is rich and lustrous. His mane is large and healthy. He snorts and shakes his head. Power courses in this beast. That's what he is. A beast. Your beast.

You come up to him and feed him some oats while you you use your dandy brush to comb through his hair. You remember the moment you healed him on your second day on the island. When you finally had yourself mentally prepared he trusted you completely. He knew that whatever you were doing was in his interest and with your best intentions in mind.

You've seen a lot of riders in the cavalry take their horses for granted and use them like tools. They'd lose a horse and not care or beat the horse if they were particularly angry. You don't want to be like that. This is a living thing. One that trusts you and has a connection with you. It has emotions even if it lacks the intellect to have the ambition that you do.

You take him by the face and stare into his black eyes. This animal is so different than you. Mentally, physically and yet, you have a connection. A bond. He knows you are his master and you know he is your loyal steed. You'd never abandon him. He'd never fail you.

“So are you two gonna fuck or what?” You are startled out of your moment with Tornado by Gabby. She's standing there watching you and your horse.

“Don't make this disgusting Gabby.”

“You've been staring at your horse for hours you fucking weirdo. It's time for us to move out.” What? You've been staring into Tornado's eyes for four hours? Okay, that's a little creepy. You look at Tornado. He assures you this wasn't weird at all for him. You nod your head back and help pack up camp with the others.

You all mount up and begin to ride. Another full day of riding passes before you make it to the tree-line of the forest. It's getting close to night time.

Rowe gathers you all together.

“So, I see we can handle this in one of two ways. We can either find them or wait for them to find us. I'm absolutely sure they're still in the area. Which means they're most likely looking to raid groups like ours. We can bait them that way, but they'll get to choose how they want to engage. Or we can try to find them before they find us and sneak up on them for an ambush, but if we screw that up things can quickly go south.”

>Bait them
>Ambush them

>>44161264
>Ambush them
>You've been staring into Tornado's eyes for four hours
Best horse.

>>44161264
>>Bait them

>>44161264
>Ambush them
And tell Gabby that balls weren't touching, so it's not gay.

>>44161393
+1

Writing!

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“We should ambush them. We didn't bring Dolah for a reason.” Rowe nods. Gabby laughs.

“Yeah, because she's a humorless cunt.” Seeing as you're going to ambush them, Rowe thinks the best time to head out would be around 6 or 7 am. Hit them while they're waking up or are tired. Early morning light. But that means all of you need to get a good night's sleep. It's about 8 pm right now and Rowe ropes you and Quissonce into taking two four hour watches so your group can leave at around 4 in the morning.

Somehow you are able to keep yourself attentive for four hours straight and rouse the rest of the group in the darkness right before morning. You all mount up and Rowe begins to lead you through the forest in search of the orcs.

She rides many hundreds of feet in front of you all, keeping in contact via Quissonce's message spell so you know when she wants you to stop or when she's found some clue. You seem to be pulled left and right. Zigzagging through brooks and over fallen trees.

Finally, after two hours of being dragged along behind Rowe by your invisible magic tether of a communication device, she says she has spotted them. She tells you to skulk your way up to her.

You catch up to her near the bank of a river bisecting the foliage. You, Gabby and Kyra sneak up to her position away from your horses while Eve and Quissonce remain behind to watch them. Rowe looks to you as you sidle up next to her. She whispers to you.

“Spotted them. 8 orcs in all. 2 shackled prisoners, one a dwarf and the other human. They're heading upstream on the other side. How do you want to hit them?”

>Any plans?

>>44161771
Try to get close enough for Quissonce to cast color spray?

>>44161771
Use cover to get close, and then have sleep cast on them. We and Rowe can use our bows in the initial surprise while everyone else, gabby and ky, rush in. Then go from there.

>>44161771
If it's as small a creek as in the picture, then cross over downstream, and stealth our way up to them.
Rowe and Alan will use bows to take out the orcs in front, Gabby and Kyra burst in and take out the orcs with the prisoners, while Eve and Quissonce stay back and use spells.

>>44161878
+1

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>>44161878
Supporting

Alright, roll me 3d100, best of 3.

First is for stealth
Second is for attack
Third is for defense

Rolled 49, 18, 12 = 79 (3d100)

>>44161975
We are fucked.

Rolled 75, 60, 62 = 197 (3d100)

>>44161975

Rolled 53, 32, 56 = 141 (3d100)

>>44161975

Rolled 91, 77, 45 = 213 (3d100)

>>44161975
PRAISED BE THE GREAT WILL

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Rolled 30, 95, 26 = 151 (3d100)

>>44161975

Writing!

>>44161993
>>44162000
>>44162007
Not super, but not terrible either, and we do have an initial surprise advantage. At least no one will die (hopefully including the prisoners)

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>>44161993
>>44162000
>>44162007

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“We should cross over downstream and then come up behind them. Get as close as we can without them discovering us and then have Quissonce open up with that sleep spell. If something goes wrong or some of them are still standing after that, you and I take out the survivors. Gabby and Kyra go in to mop up.” The rest of your allies agree and Rowe whispers to Quissonce for her and Eve to move up.

You find out that the range on Quissonce's sleep spell is a little over 100 feet. So, if you're lucky and smart you can get that off before they see you.

You tie your horses up a little deeper into the forest from the stream and then quickly rush across once you think the orcs have went some distance up the river. At one point Eve almost slips and falls, but Gabby is able to catch her and throw her across. Even Quissonce, who seems very upset at getting wet, is able to maneuver over the wet rocks to the other side. You lose sight of Kyra quite quickly. You're about to complain before you realize Kyra has a tendency to pull a disappearing act.

You, Rowe, Gabby and Quissonce take the lead as you move up the banks of the river, heading up the incline of the river.

You spot them briefly through the foliage multiple times as you encroach on their rather slow moving party. They definitely look a lot like Mainland orcs. Only, they're all a lot taller and a lot more muscular. Bulging biceps and they stand around 7 feet tall, with the biggest one being about 7 and a half feet tall. You wouldn't want to get too close to one of them, and thankfully you won't have to if this works.

The big one is at the front, leading the war party while two more corral and push the prisoners. The rest walk in a very sporadically changing loose skirmishing formation. They have large clubs and stone javelins. Their tusks look bigger than any Mainland orcs, looking almost like a boar's. They wear nothing but large loincloths.

As you creep closer and closer, each new movement towards them freaking you out about how at any moment they might spot you, you look to Quissonce. She keeps shaking her head that she's out of range . Your heart is thumping furiously in your chest. Gabby may be able to take one in a fight. The rest of you would need to team up to fight one in melee. And they outnumber you. This can go horribly wrong if they notice you.

By a combination of your luck, your timing for following them – they've probably just woken up and begun their march – and your skill, you're able to reach a spot behind a large tree where Quissonce finally nods that she's in range.

“Well, now or never.” you whisper to her. She leans out from behind the tree. Makes the necessary hand motion. And whispers the word.

“Sleep.” The Draconic word is barely breathed and you feel the magic at work. The four monsters in the back drop where they stand. Amazing.

The remaining four, which includes the big one, look to their fallen brethren in confusion. They search around looking for the cause.

You'd like to back off and maybe hit them from a different angle, but you can't risk them killing the prisoners. Rowe steps out from behind her tree and fires a shot. It pierces the chest of one of the remaining orcs. Instead of falling, like you assumed he would do, he just looks over to where the shot originated from and bellows to his allies while pointing at you with his club.

You rush up and put another arrow into his breast, Rowe following up with a second one of her own arrows. The third successful hit puts him down.

The last three start to rush you as you go to put another arrow in your shortbow. The largest one is barrelling forward and he's aiming for you. Gabby runs past you quickly, shouting “I got the big one!” as she goes to engage with him. One of the ones watching the prisoners, as he goes to rush you is tripped by the human prisoner. The orc falls to the ground, skidding a few feet. As he gets up to his knees to turn around and brain the guy, Kyra suddenly appears out from behind the shadow of a tree as if she had teleported. She walks up to the orc on the ground and smacks him over the head with her blackjack.

One more is still running towards you. You shoot him once in the arm. He doesn't stop. Rowe gets him once in the leg and he doesn't even slow down. He chucks his javelin at you which you barely duck.

The orc reaches your position and you're forced to drop your bow as you jump out of the way of the swing of his club. His club gets lodged in the tree you were standing next to and isntead of pulling it out he merely tackles you into the river.

You thrash and flail as the large creature picks up a wet rock from the riverbed and prepares to bring it down on your face.

Only at the last second are you able to pull your dagger out and stab him in the throat. Even as he bleeds out onto you he still manages to bring the rock down on your head.

WHAM!

As you fall back to the riverbed, with the 500 pound slab of muscle slumping dead on top of you, with the splitting head pain and the blood pouring down your face, barely able to keep your face out of the river to prevent yourself from drowning, at least you can take relief in one fact.

You're fairly confident you just won this fight.

>End of Thread
I will most likely run this next time on Tuesday. https://twitter.com/TrickQM

>>44162829
Thanks for running.

>>44162829
So if we can learn racial abilities, if we start working out with Ed, would we gain orcish strength and constitution?

>>44162921
we're sure as hell going to try.

>>44162829
Dam that dagger is proving to be extreamily usefull.

Wait, Tornado assured us it wasn't weird.

Was that just Alan being Alan thoughts or did Tornado legit tell us "Naw, it wasn't weird."

>>44163089
Island made Tornado smarter.

>>44163089
Well Tornado certainly didn't speak Common.

>>44163173
>roundabout way of nondenial

So he's a telepathic horse now, got it.

>>44163186
>your horse was a mindflayer with maximum ranks in disguise and bluff the entire time

Cavalier//
Mount (+5 to rolls involving Tornado)
(Lvl 1) +1 to hit, +2 to Fort
Keen Sense +5 to Perception
Cool.

>fighting end-game tier boss creature

>learn one of its traits mid-fight

Can we go fight some trolls, or something? Maybe pick up fast healing?

>>44163271
We trap a devil inside of a circle, and we steal its abilities over the course of a week.
And we do the same to some elementals, and then a celestial.

Then we should absorb the abilities of a bard.

>>44163553
Our ancestor is a divine sponge of knowledge.

>>44163553
>BBEG everything thief; the synopsis

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Tornado
Relationship Lvl: MAX "My Beloved Owner"
Physical Description: Big and black. Powerful body. Large, luxurious mane. 8 years old.
Biography: Heavy charger horse. Owned by Blackburn until he was gifted to Alan.
Abilities: Horse

>>44163882
One day, Gabby is going to egg Eve on to cast Polymorph on Tornado into a human form to fuck with and to fuck Alan.