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balance mod ([personal profile] balancemod) wrote in [community profile] balance_memes2018-11-01 05:40 pm
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TDM#1: Welcome to Phlan


I'd bring an umbrella and a good pair of waders if I were you.
NAVIGATION




WELCOME TO PHLAN



Click on the map for a full view


BACKGROUND.

The port city of Phlan, located just north of the Moonsea region, is not an idyllic landscape, filled with images of swashbuckling sailors and brimming commerce. It's a place that's been razed and rebuilt so many times that even the people of this rough and tumble town seem to embody a particular nonchalance to the chaos that exists within it. Entire streets of the city remain either unfinished or abandoned. Farms on the outskirts of town lend prayer to the Goddess of harvest and bounty, and yet, year after year they struggle to make ends meet. The main road leading into town, called the Iron Route, splits at the path just outside the city's gates. To your left, a quiet and somber collection of headstones litter the grounds of the Valhingen Graveyeard. They remind all who venture into this city from the main road of one simple thing: those who are born and raised here rarely make it out.

The Director has sent her Reclaimers here, and as the glass bubbles are shot from the Moon Base, they land with thuds against the lining of the Quivering Forest. There are rumors that there's a powerful item hidden deep, somewhere within the confines of towns dotting the landscape of the Moonsea region. Your purpose is simple. Ingratiate yourselves as travelers, offer aid where it's needed, and keep an ear out on the ground for any whispers that might give lead to the location of a Grand Relic.



1. THE WELCOMERS


You've spent a few hours in Phlan already, and have probably seen the entirety of its less than stellar nightlife; it doesn't take incredibly long to walk from one end to the other. There's only one tavern in the entirety of the place, and asking any locals where the best food or ale around is will either get you a cold shoulder or a heartily responded "The Laughing Goblin, of course!"

The Laughing Goblin is run by a staff of two; a boisterous human woman who everybody calls Bonnie (although no one actually knows if that's her name or a callback to the sailors who frequent the town during stints in the Moonsea), and a rather rotund man named Mar (who tends the kitchen but has a serious soft spot for cats or juicy gossip). You can almost hear the raucous shouts of vulgarities from just outside the doors of the bar. Even tonight's musical guests, a trio of halfling bards who call themselves the Dandy Warhalls, don't seem to be outpacing the chatter and heated conversations going on within.

Opening the doors and making your way into the room gives you more of a sense of what Phlan is really about than any other moment you've spent wandering the streets and being a really unfortunate tourist who decided on the worst vacation spot this side of the Sword Mountains. This place is alive. And in some ways, it's a good welcome to the world of Faerun, as you'll be spending quite a lot of time within these sorts of establishments, attempting to make your way through the inner workings of a possibly unfamiliar world.

A. WHAT THE BAR KNOWS.

○ Bonnie is running herself to death trying to keep up with the orders. She can't seem to pour ale quick enough to keep the patron's glasses filled to the brim. She knows that this is a dangerous crowd, but she's tough as nails. A skirmish begins breaking out between two humans at the far end of the bar, disagreeing on the roles of the local law enforcement and how helpful they've been to their beloved town. Bonnie flares up almost immediately.

"ENOUGH OF THAT OVER THERE. ONE MORE PUNCH AND I'M CUTTING YOU OFF FOR A WEEK, NIFF."

Whoever Niff is, he snaps to immediately and sheepishly scratches the back of his head. You can almost swear you hear a defeated "Yes, ma'am," before Bonnie's attention is drawn elsewhere. She could use a hand, if you're particularly good behind a bar, and won't object to the assistance, even if she's leery at first. She just doesn't trust a whole lot of people.

Get to know her a little bit, and she'll even complain about how the lighthouse's lens going out last week has made everyone in town anxious as trade seems to have come to a halt.

○ Reizem, Mof, and Jimbob, the trio performing in the back of the room on instruments and trying to invent the concept of rock and roll, are not exactly being welcomed with the type of applause that they'd like. They'll take a break midway through the set list, and are more than happy to talk to some refined guests of higher culture. Jimbob, who's currently sporting a number of upper cartilage piercings, is happy to talk about how this place is the literal worst. Not just any "worst." The literal worst. He's also a little bit drunk.

○ Mar, the only cook and also the only waiter in the tavern, will be happy to stop at your table and fill you in on "The Happs" in town, much to Bonnie's absolute dismay. A loud voice, even among the patrons that are currently three sheets to the wind, he'll disperse a few gems with the promise that if you know anything, you'll return the favor:

○ The local police, named the Black Fist, have been up in arms over the last few days about a shipment that was supposed to arrive at HQ. No one would bat an eyelash at that, since trade seems to have completely stopped once the lighthouse has gone out, but Mar's friends with a few low ranking guards who play bridge with him on the weekends. Yeah, he plays bridge. They got "real quiet" when he mentioned the missing shipment, covering it up with something about their training supplies getting cut short. Seems fishy, even for a place that reeks of fish pretty constantly.

○ The lighthouse over at Sokol Keep has gone out. "First time since I've been alive, that's happened," actually. He'll explain that one of the few rich families of Phlan (old money, he clears his throat with a sound of detestation in his voice) controls the lighthouse. The Black Fist have been sent over there to investigate but no one knows what the hell is happening.

○ Be careful of the Welcomers, a group of bandits who run around trying to steal anything they can get their hands on. "You'll notice you came across one of 'em on a'count of them missin' a gods forsaken ear."

B. EVERY D&D ADVENTURE BEGINS WITH "YOU MEET AT A TAVERN, AND..."

And it's a good time to meet your fellow Reclaimers, as well. Some of you might have been paired up during the Test of Initiation into the Bureau of Balance, or maybe you dropped into an apartment room to meet a flatmate you never knew you had (or maybe wanted), but there hasn't been a whole stint of time available to you to really get to know each other. Take a seat, grab some ale, complain about the music. The meal of the day, as it has been every day for the last 2 decades, is cabbage soup. It's kind of delicious.

You're going to need to figure out lodging for the night as well. The Laughing Goblin has some rooms, but it's definitely not enough to fit all of the Reclaimers in the upstairs apartments. Lucky for you, your handy-dandy Bureau Issued Adventuring Supplies (BIAS, for short) has a sleeping sack and a tent. Maybe it's time to rough it for the night.

C. LIKE TWO SHIPS PASSING IN THE NIGHT

On your way out though, should you decide to cut it short and head elsewhere, you should probably stick to the main roads within town. A little ways away from the docks district, you can swear you hear a woman crying. Following the source of the sound leads you into a back alley, and just as you approach, you and your companion find yourself cut off on both ends of the street as the woman stands up, sardonic smile twisting around her lips.

"Welcome to Phlan."

And wouldn't you know it? She's missing an ear.

Let's roll some initiative.



2. AROUND TOWN


Your first night in Phlan either went amazingly smooth, filled with nothing but a pleasant experience of pure country bumpkin culture at its finest, or knocking out some thugs in a dark alleyway who were attracted to you by the value of your silver armlet. Either way, don't be discouraged, because it's daytime in Phlan, and time to set out to see what this place is like in the light of day.

A. THE MARKET

There are various stalls open for trade and business. Several of them seem to be closed up; without fresh fish and meat traded in from the nearby cities, access to certain goods is nearly impossible for any of the residents of Phlan. It's cabbage soup all the way down, it seems. Either way, there's a bit of a crowd coming and going from the center square. It's a great place to meet any number of people, Reclaimers or not.

B. WHERE'S MY WRIT?

Attempt to enter any of the stores that sell weaponry or armor and the first thing you're going to be asked here is if you've obtained the proper license from the Black Fist in order to purchase weaponry. See, there's a bit of a pay-to-play scheme going on here in Phlan. The merchants are offered protection by the local (mafioso) police in exchange for a highly lucrative bribe system, requiring anyone who wants to purchase anything sharp or potentially stabby to head over to the Black Fist HQ to pick up a "writ." And wouldn't you know it? The old man sitting at the receptionist desk of the Black Fist mansion has a mountain high pile of paperwork to go through. But he supposes he might look the other way if you happen to grease his palms a little bit. Anyone who can distract the earnest, hard-working, underpaid administrator to check that stack of paperwork will notice that there's nothing written on any of the sheets below the top one, which is basically just a diary entry from the man to make it look like official paperwork.

While accepting your bribe, he bemoans how hard it is to make it by in Phlan these days.

C. THE TELLER OF MISFORTUNES

Along one of the side streets, you'll notice that there's a dimly lit shop with a stuffed kraken-looking beast dangling from the window. The smell of burnt sage wafts under the main entrance, and you can make out a row of various gemstones and crystals lined up perfectly within the shop itself. For a small fee of 10 silver pieces, you can go in there and meet Filistrom Stromdoodle, a gnomish woman who'll be happy to read your fortune.

No matter how bright your prospects may be, she'll alert you that there's some impending doom in your life to come. She's seen a dark figure in your past, an ex-lover, an obsessed stalker. It's never good news with Filistrom. Ever the lover of theatrics and flare, she'll put on quite the show, and offer to cleanse your spirit of dark influences. Although the ritual does work (you're bathed in sage for a solid 5 minutes straight), she charges a hefty 5 gold pieces for it.

Refuse, however, and she will absolutely cast a hidden Bestow Curse on you.

And your luck from there only gets worse.



3. MISSING CARGO


You've heard that the Black Fist have been fretting about lately over a shipment of goods that they were expecting recently. Remembering the Director's advice here- keeping an ear to the ground, not starting trouble, etc- you may get the hunch that getting to the bottom of the missing cargo might prove to get you some information about what exactly was in that crate that the higher-ups in the police were getting so on edge about.

There's a few options in front of you to begin your search.

○ Look around the docks. There's a container yard that holds crates waiting to be shipped to and from the city of Phlan. With the lighthouse out, they can't be loaded onto ships and sent across the Moonsea. The waters are just too dangerous to go without a guiding light. You see a number of crates with city seal of Neverwinter on them. Little weird, since anyone that's spent time getting to know Faerun at the library back on the Moon Base knows that Neverwinter is on the other side of the continent. Searching inside any one of the crates (don't get caught!) you'll mostly find grain and agricultural wares meant for trade along the sea route. But one crate in particular has a subtle acrimonious smell to it. Open it up inside and you'll see it's filled to the brim with statues of Tyr. Tyr is a very well respected and beloved God within Faerun, denoting justice and law. Smash open any of these idols and you'll notice enchanted ink dust. Weird. The shipping label points to an appointed spot outside of town.

○ The location that the label directs you towards is a farm just northeast of town. It's seen better days, for sure- but the one thing that stands out is the remains of a recently burnt down barn. The family who owns the farm tells you that there was an accident a few days ago when the kids were playing Hide and Go Boo by candlelight. The children don't say anything about this.

○ Taking a look at the barn itself, you notice there's a similar smell in the air that's reminiscent of the enchanted ink you found within the crate back at the container yard.

○ The family simply doesn't have anything else to say on the matter when questioned. They're still reeling from the loss of their 2 prized family cows, who have won them the Phlan County Fair Blue Ribbon 3 years running. "Best cream on the Moonsea... such a sad loss for us. We'll miss Ben and Jerry so much." The woman of the house will point out the 3 blue ribbons hanging on the wall. It's the only decoration they have in this place.



4. THE BROKEN LIGHTOUSE


Figuring out that the lighthouse being out is a huge source of financial ruin for the town, you eventually make your way over the Sokol Manor. The administrative head of the house sits at her desk, one Leela Sokol, pure white hair tidied neatly with a combover part and bright red lipstick on. She taps her fingers on the desk, looking bored and disinterested in your offer for help, but the second you mention that you're not affiliated at all with the local law enforcement, the very edges of her lips perk upward.

"Oh, I do love some adventurers just gallivanting about upon our private property." Thinking it over, she rolls her eyes upward to the ceiling, but she guesses this will just have to do. Those of you from Earth may notice two things: she's wearing a bright red pair of heels and happens to look incredibly similar to Meryl Streep. Anyone who mentions that to her will be met with a confused stare and a request for clarification, mentioning that the Streep family over in Melvaunt, a neighboring town on the Moonsea, has no ties to House Sokol.

Whoosh.

She relates to you that the lighthouse has been tended to by her beloved nephew, Philip, for the last decade and although she wears the fiercest poker face you've ever seen in your life, you get the sense that she has no idea what's going on over at the Keep. Communication has come to a halt both to and from Thorn Island, just off the coast of the city, ever since the only ferryman in town passed away 2 weeks ago. The lighthouse and the Keep are the only things of note on the island that she's aware of. Black Fist Captain Grim and a team of 6 Black Fist guards are typically stationed there, but attempts at talking to the Black Fist over at their HQ have been fruitless. The excuse seems to be the same; most of the force is out either taking care of a recent surge of bandit activity by the town's local gang, the Welcomers, or are otherwise concerned with finding some missing cargo that never showed up a little while back. She'll allow you to head over there and find out what's going on, provided you don't go and talk to anyone in the Black Fist. House Sokol has a reputation to keep up, after all, and tarnishing that by showing distrust in the militia of the city doesn't bode well for her or her family.

"Oh, and should you get there in one piece, please do remember not to steal anything.

I'll know."

Time to get a group of fellow Reclaimers together to find out just what went down over on Thorn Island.

A. ARRIVAL AT SOKOL KEEP

The Keep is on Thorn Island, surrounded by water in all directions. It's a rough swim, as the Moonsea isn't exactly a calm body of water. Maybe you can scope out a rowboat to help you get there. Either way, coming ashore at the massive mansion will be rather quiet and uneventful. There are no butlers to greet you. No Black Fist standing watch at the gate. Maybe Philip was just that reclusive, or maybe there's another reason that this place feels abandoned.

There are 5 main structures on Thorn Island- the Sokol Keep itself, the lighthouse, an eastern tower, a western tower, and the barracks, used to house the guards that come and go from the mainland during their stay here. The stone mansion itself has two floors, and up until recently, looks like it was incredibly well maintained. Funny, since you didn't see any attendants on the island to greet you. Not a speck of dust, anywhere.

The banquet hall looks filled as if an evening meal was being served just a few hours ago. Unfortunately, whoever was served this delicious looking feast didn't have time to finish it. It looks like it's been sitting out for days, and the smell of rotting meat is more than just a little pervasive to your senses.

B. LOOKING AROUND

After searching long enough on this abandoned island, you start to notice a few things that don't quite add up. First of all, Philip's room has a number of books on the occult hidden neatly among the academic literature peppered about in his personal library. Although nothing seems to indicate a struggle has occurred anywhere, investigating the ground around the barracks on the outskirts of the manor indicates freshly upturned dirt that looks like it was recently tilled over to cover something up. Perhaps someone was dragged, but it's really hard to figure out who, or what, could've done that.

Your examination of the lighthouse itself shows a crystal at the top of the structure encased in glass that's been warded off and reinforced through magical means. There's no indication that someone had come here to snuff out the light or steal the lens from which the lighthouse operates. It just simply... won't glow.

Ransacking the eastern tower reveals a place that doesn't look like it's been touched in ages, aside from a chair that's been moved, uncovering a trail of clean floor in the midst of dust literally everywhere. The dust seems to be everywhere, and spending a particularly long amount of time in here makes your lungs hurt and your eyes water. You do, however, find a small Holy Symbol, a rosary of beads with a small coin on it, the image of a Faerunian god etched into the metal. You're starting to get the sense that this island has been dealing with some below-board stuff lately. Cults, religious symbols.

And did you just hear that chair begin to creak? Why do those empty bookshelves up against the wall look like they're vibrating?

Time to get the hell out of dodge on this one.

Investigating the western tower, however, reveals a bare floor that's been broken into via a pickax. Move some of the earth away and you'll find a hatch.

Wouldn't you know it? It's unlocked.

C. THE CATACOMBS

If you didn't get the chills from the seemingly haunted eastern tower, dropping down through the hatch reveals a damp, dark passageway after a drop of roughly 10 feet below. The catacombs smell damp, have a particularly unsettling feeling about them, and touching the walls reveals an ungodly amount of mud that never seems to quite settle. Prestidigitation that off, if you will.

Going deeper, you realize that you're descending below sea level. Eventually, you hit a snag- in the form of a whirlpool that seems to block your way through to the other side. It moves concentrically, and trying to cross it without a plan will end up getting you sucked right into it. At the bottom? You're tossed around like a gnome being fired out of a canon, and hitting the bottom of that pool of water reveals sharpened bones. Most likely human in nature. Better move fast, you can almost feel something reaching out to touch you.

Provided you don't drown to a group of skeletons sitting at the basin of the whirlpool, you'll come to a wide open room with an altar towards the back of the cave structure, emanating a sickly violet light. On a raised platform, the body of Leela's beloved nephew, Philip, lies sacrificed. There's a trail of blood that leads from the dais to the pool of water surrounding this statue. Looking closer, you notice that the statue itself depicts something with the body of a woman and 6 slithery heads of a snake, crested with jade jewels for eyes.

A hollow laughter fills out from the room as a figure moves forward from the statue.

Where the hell did that come from?

"Stay for dinner, we've got the early bird special prepared, just for you."

Of course, it's Captain Grim. Did you ever think that a dude named Grim wouldn't be evil? He's sacrificed the poor boy and is now currently possessed by some unrepentant six-headed snake beast. His tongue slides out of his mouth, licking his bottom lip. Yep, that's more snake than human too.

Make sure you kill this guy.

D. THE AFTERMATH

Killing, or otherwise subduing Captain Grim (what's your alignment, again?) is enough to make the lighthouse mysteriously come back to life. Whatever desecration was going on in the catacombs below seems to be lifted. Too bad you can't be treated like heroes upon your return to Phlan proper. Leela has made absolutely sure to spread a rumor at the Laughing Goblin about how efficient the Black Fist were at resolving the issue on Thorn Island.

Oh well, you weren't doing this for fame and accolades, right?



5. CALL TO ARMS (DEXTROUS): THE SCROLL THIEF


The Bureau of Balance has done pretty much everything they could have for this small port town on the Moonsea. The lighthouse has been restored so commerce once again begins to breathe life into the docks district. Sailors have changed their tune from anxious boredom and nights at the Laughing Goblin to the simple blessing that returning to work provides. That is to say, they've (mostly) sobered up and got back on the straight and narrow for the time being.

But it doesn't end here, not quite yet.

There's the sound of a parade of footsteps emanating out from the direction of the Black Fist headquarters. The entire guard has begun to give chase, and the city is quickly mobilized to a state of apprehension that you haven't seen at all during your stay here.

Wherever you are, you're stopped nearly dead in your tracks as a man, not much older than 20, knocks you or one of your party members over on a beeline straight to the ships. You see, tucked neatly under his arm, an ornate looking piece of parchment paper that's been rolled up tightly.

The man smiles at you, apologizing, just as a battalion of Black Fist agents begin to approach off from the distance.

The youngster who has just collided with you turns his head to look upon this scene and groans.

"Typical lugheads. Just what I was expecting outta this shit hole."

And he takes off for the docks. He needs to get out of Phlan, and quick.

What do you do?





OOC: A LETTER FROM YOUR MOD TEAM


Hello everyone and welcome to the first TDM for Balance, an experimental DWRP game that looks to combine light elements of time-honored and classic strategy games like FFT, Octopath Traveler, Tactics Ogre, and the wonderful worldbuilding experience of D&D. Our setting and concept is heavily based on the McElroy Brothers' popular D&D podcast, The Adventure Zone. If you're here, there's a good chance that you have interest in some, or all, of the components listed above.

First off, this TDM is a little bit different than the TDM's that will come in the future app cycles. This one is structured like a mission mod log and assumes your character has already come to the Bureau, passed the Test of Initiation, and have been deployed on your first foray out into the world of Faerun. The reason we've done this is two-fold: to avoid any possible duplication with the introduction log (as you'll have the opportunity to thread out your arrivals), and we wanted to give everyone a sense of what the real core of the game will be like. So, for the purposes of this specific TDM, and only this one, you cannot take events that occur here as canon upon apping into Balance. Future ones will be more aligned with the Moon Base cycle and can potentially account for CR to transfer into the game.

What we're aiming to do with Balance is a little different from your typical DWRP game. In a typical setting, the mods set up some NPCs that have limited contact with you, the player, under a very structured set of conditions. For example, The Director is one of those NPC types, as are her two counterparts (Davenport and Garfield).

However, in Balance, we'd like to take a moment to instill something early on as we run through the first TDM of the game. We've listed a few NPC's up there to give you a flavor of their personality and what their look and feel constitutes. Those NPCs are completely pilotable by any of you, at any time. What we're looking to do is give you all a structure for adventure and seeing where you all can take it. It's part of our core value and how we'd like to see things move along. Be amazing- not just in the sense of being amazing to each other and to your characters, but also with your character choices in-game. The world is completely malleable and up to you to meld, mend, repair, or bust.

In a nutshell, what we're saying is... go wild. It's okay not to ask permission for something cool you'd like to do. We've given you some outlines of events, but the story that you create as you thread these out is entirely yours. And we, as a mod team, can't wait to see what you bring to the table.



blurb code by photosynthesis
mylawn: (pic#10463807)

soldier 76 | overwatch | (a very bad) paladin

[personal profile] mylawn 2018-11-02 12:31 am (UTC)(link)
i. the bar
[76 isn’t going to do anything that will outright sabotage the mission, of course—that’s simply not who he is as a person, even if who he is as a person is far removed from who he used to be as a person. Seeing a task through to completion is what he does, and he isn’t about to let his personal feelings get in the way.

That is not to say he doesn’t have personal feelings. He has a lot, especially about all of this.

As such, he isn’t exactly the friendliest of Reclaimers, and he’s a little jumpy too, scanning the bar like he’s cataloguing every possible entrance and exit (he is). No gun and none of his familiar gear only makes it worse, but at the very least he’s good at keeping his ear to the ground. 76 is content to watch and listen, eavesdropping fairly obviously on conversations between Mar and anyone asking about the lighthouse. The alcohol doesn't really do much for him, but he's nursing a glass anyway, snorting a little into it as he finally decides to chime in at the mention of the Black Fist. What an ominous name for police!
]

You consider they might be in on it?

[That's not very nice.]
ii. around town
[Though swords aren’t exactly unheard of, back home, they’re certainly a special case when it comes to weaponry, and despite his extensive arms training, his know-how mostly involves guns. That’s not an option here, and his distaste at being shaken down by the merchants is palpable, but he’s willing to fork over some gold if it means he has a weapon, even one he doesn’t really know how to use.

He’ll figure it out. It’s fine. He should be glad he managed to secure a weapon at all, given the apparent corruption involved. It makes him want to get out of the marketplace as quickly as possible, but it occurs to him he should make sure it’s undamaged, inspecting the blade right outside the store.
]

Just a really big knife, right?

[Possibly that’s meant to be a joke, but the too-serious way he mutters it as he turns the weapon over in his hands, testing the weight, indicates otherwise.

Please help him.
]
iii. the broken lighthouse
[He’s still wrapping his mind around all this magic business, but halfway through searching the lighthouse, it becomes apparent that there’s something occult going on here. Every creak and shudder makes him flinch, and the further they go, the more he’s sure that the other shoe is going to drop sooner rather than later. When he reaches the catacombs, he’s more certain of an impending ambush than ever.

Being thrown into a situation like this with people he barely knows means that he can’t be sure who is and isn’t a liability. It’s in his nature to take the lead, and he doesn’t hesitate to take point.
]

Stay behind me.

[The command comes from a place of wanting to protect the person he’s with, but his general demeanor means it might not come off that way. He’s apparently got no concern for any potential objections to this plan.]

We're not alone.

[You know, aside from all the dead people.]
iv. wildcard
[I’ll do whatever the heck u want. network me. write your own thing. make me write a thing. anything is possible.]
mccreehaw: unless stated otherwise (overwatch)

iii

[personal profile] mccreehaw 2018-11-02 01:03 am (UTC)(link)
[ C'mon, now. At least you know McCree isn't a liability, right? And if you think he is, that was clearly just Gabriel being an asshole back in the day and making shit up.

He's got this. ]


You don't say. [ He flicks some mud off the tip of his glove. ] Somebody's definitely down here doing who knows what with skeletons. Think it's that Philip guy?
mylawn: (pic#11960641)

[personal profile] mylawn 2018-11-02 03:07 am (UTC)(link)
[It's only 76's ability to compartmentalize that allows him to be anywhere near McCree--he's spent an awful lot of time trying to divorce himself from the person he used to be, and he hasn't been with the Bureau long enough to properly wrestle with his feelings of working alongside ex-Overwatch agents. He'd rather they still think him dead, but since the cat's out of the bag,

That said, he can't deny that it's nice to be working with someone so skilled in black ops. He doesn't have to worry about watching his back--76 just tries not to think about the part where McCree bailed on Overwatch with potentially valuable information related to Blackwatch's mutiny.

He does his best to swallow down his own paranoia for the sake of their infiltration.
]

Might be.

[76 is moving slower now, as if any misstep is going to alert the undead hordes.]

Not really in the mood for zombies.
mccreehaw: (trainhopper)

[personal profile] mccreehaw 2018-11-02 02:56 pm (UTC)(link)
[ It hasn't been easy for McCree either to see someone that he knows Gabriel had such a tempestuous relationship with, and that he's heard plenty of complaints about. Oh, and that he thought was dead. There's that too. He supposes he can't blame a guy for going underground when he was at the center of an explosion that was obviously meant to kill him and destroy the whole organization he was a part of in one fell swoop. It's just been something he's had to deal with. ]

Don't know a sane person who'd have a mood for 'em, honestly.

[ Which is his way of saying "Me either." But the sound of rushing water ahead has him frowning. Is that an underground river? A waterfall? ]

Well that doesn't sound like it'll be easy to get through.
mylawn: (pic#11742600)

[personal profile] mylawn 2018-11-03 05:45 pm (UTC)(link)
[And also zombies aren't real, so he feels extremely ridiculous even entertaining the notion! Just awful. Still, he knows he can't count anything out in a place like this, and he's half expecting the catacombs to come alive around them. Wouldn't that just be

great.

Still, he presses on, only coming to a stop when he hears the water, too. Jack glances back at McCree.
]

Only one way to find out.

[The path opens up in front of them to reveal the drop into the whirlpool, which looks like an awful time for everyone. Jack finds himself wondering if it's too late to turn back, but he knows that the two of them don't exactly like abandoning a mission before they see it through.]

Don't suppose you brought your swim trunks.

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horsepowered: (x4. Serious face)

ii, hi stranger idk if you're crauing it

[personal profile] horsepowered 2018-11-02 01:22 am (UTC)(link)
Well...yes and no.

[Chiron cannot overhear the particular question, as he is currently in search of new arms for himself and supplemental arrows to ensure that he isn't going to run out. There's a certain familiarity with most of the weapons here that other situations haven't afforded lately.]

If you intend to wield it as a knife then you're going to have quite a few difficulties in combat.
mylawn: (rrrrrrrrghn)

IM NOT but pls feel free to know him i'm very excited

[personal profile] mylawn 2018-11-02 02:39 am (UTC)(link)
[76 is ordinarily a little prideful, reluctant to admit that he needs help with anything and largely preferring to handle any speed bumps or roadblocks on his own. Here, however, so completely out of his element, he's a little more willing to accept some help, especially if the end result is an ability to do his job better.

If that means he has to learn how to sword fight, then it's something that should happen sooner rather than later. He raises his eyebrow at his current partner-in-shopping, as if to ask if he's offering any tips.

Of course he's not going to wield it like a knife, but a knife is what he knows how to use, which he imagines is better than nothing.
]

Somewhere to start, at least.

[Surely his foundation of combat experience will give him a leg up in this department.]
horsepowered: (x8. Eyes closed)

THIS IS HORSE SO HE'D PLAY IT ON THE DOWN LOW

[personal profile] horsepowered 2018-11-02 02:49 am (UTC)(link)
[Chiron knows the face of the man he is talking to. But there is no spark of recognition in return, otherwise they'd be speaking of worlds gone by. So Chiron decides to not say anything at all. 76 was a man who taught him with regards to firearms - in turn, teaching him how to handle the sword? A fair trade.]

It is, but the reach and the balance is very different. Depending on the type of blade, it will also determine the style of attack. When you attack with a knife, how do you go about it? That will determine the best style of sword for you to use.
mylawn: (pic#11742613)

I KNOW IM SO SAD ABOUT HORSE

[personal profile] mylawn 2018-11-02 12:33 pm (UTC)(link)
[Luckily, these are all principles that make sense to him. Even if he's never had to wield a real sword, he knows enough about combat to understand reach and balance. The context and frame of reference is there, so it's just going to be a matter of learning how to translate what he already knows into function.

Knives, for one thing, are for close-quarters combat. With the length of the sword, he can keep his enemy at a distance. 76 is about to ready his stance when he looks around them and has second thoughts.
]

Maybe we should go somewhere more private.

[Don't want to alarm the locals.]

a good horse....a good friend

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we could call it here?

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nailgame: (Default)

i'm impatient so pretend i have icons, also ii

[personal profile] nailgame 2018-11-02 01:26 am (UTC)(link)
[Moira has too much poise to ever actually, physically roll her eyes, but make no mistake. If eye rolling had a sound, it would be the sound of her voice.]

Yes, Morrison. Just a really big knife.
mylawn: (pic#10641437)

[personal profile] mylawn 2018-11-02 02:05 am (UTC)(link)
I could probably figure out how to stab someone with it.

[Nobody asked you, O'Deorain! 76 says that while keeping his gaze trained on the sword--he doesn't know much about this, but he does know the role he's meant to fill doesn't go around wantonly stabbing people. Even if that weren't a factor, they're supposed to be part of the same organization, working towards the same goal, and despite his own personal feelings, airing out Overwatch-related vendettas is just going to put him in a position he doesn't have the leverage to handle.

For now the only choice is to grit his teeth and cooperate, but that doesn't mean he has to play nice. He turns the sword over in his hand once more, then readies it for effect.
]

We can find out, if you want.
caseclothesed: (15)

i.

[personal profile] caseclothesed 2018-11-02 02:11 am (UTC)(link)
Right now, I haven't ruled out that you're not in on it.

[Did Soldier 76 want a rude, unhelpful comment from a teenage girl with no combat experience? Well, he's getting one anyways. She's not even sitting at the bar, she's just standing at the stool next to him because he's the only other Reclaimer in here.

And she wants to feel 'safe' while watching the cute musicians play. Except she doesn't really feel all that safe? She needs better company.]


You keep looking around. Are you always this jittery?
Edited 2018-11-02 02:31 (UTC)
mylawn: (pic#10463906)

[personal profile] mylawn 2018-11-03 03:08 pm (UTC)(link)
[76 doesn't bother to respond to that one, making a sort of derisive noise in the back of his throat. He's clearly not here to make friends, but he finds the idea that he's somehow involved in the disappearing shipment and the lighthouse shenanigans to be entirely ridiculous. The only thing he'll address in that department is why he's so on-edge, in a way that indicates it's actually to their advantage.]

Exits are there, there, and there. Most people will only think to leave through the front.

[He points them out with his index finger while still holding the glass. One is apparently through a service door into what must be a kitchen.]

Something happens and those are blocked off, you can get out through the upstairs.
aviphile: (foudia.)

i.

[personal profile] aviphile 2018-11-02 03:16 am (UTC)(link)
[And da Vinci, who happened to be sharing the table with her jumpy companion, continues to sketch. She's borrowed some napkins from a neighboring table and is drawing a makeshift map of the city. There are markings, with the biggest one over Sokol Keep, and a few miscellaneous others. If they're to find a Grand Relic, they'll have to look for a pattern.]

In on what?

[Though her tone is bored, her glance towards Jack indicates her interest.]
mylawn: (pic#10982003)

[personal profile] mylawn 2018-11-03 01:45 am (UTC)(link)
The missing shipment.

[The lighthouse. All of it. Seems very suspicious to 76 that the police force is sent out to deal with it and is coming up empty, unless the person doing all the shenanigans is just that good. He can't exactly discount anything, at this point, but it's very easy to distrust law enforcement in a place like this.]

Maybe something in there they want.

[Something that Bureau might be interested in as well.]
aviphile: (scolopacidae.)

[personal profile] aviphile 2018-11-03 02:01 am (UTC)(link)
Perhaps. But if that were the case, wouldn't we have been called back already?

[Da Vinci says it casually, but with the way she's speaking a little quieter, she's aware of how dangerous their conversation is. She puts down her pencil, rests her cheek on her hand.]

Unless... there's more than one Relic around here.
mylawn: (pic#11742599)

[personal profile] mylawn 2018-11-03 03:36 pm (UTC)(link)
Not necessarily.

[It could be that the mission becomes a bid to take the relic from the cops. Sure, it'd be a little more interesting than just laying low and helping the local populace, but 76 is just enough out of his element to not want to get deep into this kind of conspiracy.]

It wouldn't surprise me if that was the case.
cluelesscavewoman: (Howler in the Theatre)

ii

[personal profile] cluelesscavewoman 2018-11-04 12:09 am (UTC)(link)
No. It is a sword.

[And she's appraising it. Spears are her specialty but she knows her way around swords well enough. Metal quality and requirements are the same for both.

Though it's kind of a problem when the metals here are different to the ones back home. And there's no handy manufactures' label... But moving on.]


Did you get what you need to maintain it as well?
mylawn: (hhraaghrngh)

[personal profile] mylawn 2018-11-07 07:00 pm (UTC)(link)
Obviously. I'm contextualizing.

[Putting it in terms of what he knows--fighting with a sword like it's a knife is just going to end badly for him, but taking what he knows about how to wield a knife and starting from there is better than starting from nowhere, he thinks. Not that he really needs to justify himself to someone he's just met, and he holds out the little kit that came alongside the weapon to show her that yes, he's thinking of long-term maintenance of the weapon as well.

Not so different from a gun, in that regard.
]

Are you giving me tips?
cluelesscavewoman: (Participants in a Chance Meeting)

[personal profile] cluelesscavewoman 2018-11-08 10:19 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh. Okay...

[She tilts her head to look at the kit. Nice, now she has to get one. But all that paperwork is too much of a pain.]

No. I have been told that I am too forceful to help people learn new things.
mylawn: (pic#12074765)

[personal profile] mylawn 2018-11-11 09:10 pm (UTC)(link)
Clearly none of those people have been in the military.

[He says that with all seriousness, an eyebrow raised. Sure, it might be a her problem, but he's feeling generous. He'll give her the benefit of the doubt.]

If you know anything about swords, I wouldn't mind some pointers.

[Haha. Pointers.]

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lighthearted: gesture, smile, down (determined)

iii!! paladin friends

[personal profile] lighthearted 2018-11-04 01:47 am (UTC)(link)
[ There's a musty smell to the air as soon as they get down into the catacombs, and Sora's immediately reminded of the Underworld. It's the sort of place that makes the hair on your skin stand on end, and he's already on the alert, even before his fellow Reclaimer speaks up.

There's no way he's going to hang back like 76 is suggesting, though. To make a point of it, he forces himself to keep up so that they're walking side-by-side, regardless of how much longer 76's legs might be. He knows how ready adults are to underestimate him, but this is hardly the first time that he's marched into a dangerous situation. ]


Did you hear something?

[ It makes sense that if they're going to find a fight, it would be down here, but Sora wants to be sure he didn't miss some hint that they're about to be ambushed. ]
mylawn: (pic#10982005)

[personal profile] mylawn 2018-11-07 07:12 pm (UTC)(link)
[For 76, an actual kid is a whole new realm of liability. Sure, he's dealt with some prodigious youths over the course of his career, but he likes to think he never put them on the front lines until they were at least a little older than this. Sora insisting on walking side-by-side with him just has him even more on edge. He tries to stay one step ahead, perhaps a compromise, but as soon as he has an inkling that there's something down here with them, he's stepping in front of Sora again whether he likes it or not.]

Yeah, up ahead.

[And hopefully it's not the undead hordes about to descend on them.]

If we're careful, we can get the jump on them.
lighthearted: gesture, smile, down (stance)

[personal profile] lighthearted 2018-11-11 06:33 am (UTC)(link)
[ Sora notices that this guy is doing what he can to stay in the lead, and while it might get under his skin, there's not too much he can do about it. He isn't going to pick a fight over it when they're in a potentially dangerous situation where they might have to spring into battle at any moment, but he does huff to himself when 76 suddenly steps in front of him. These underground walkways are too narrow for him to do much about it.

When 76 suggest that they can do a sneak attack, though, Sora's all ears. He isn't usually the stealthy type, but getting the first strike in battle can make all the difference. ]


Got it. [ He keeps his voice quiet and then takes a small step forward, a not-so-subtle implication that 76 should keep moving. Sora's willing to employ some strategy here, but he's not the most patient person. ]
gowildcat: (8)

i.

[personal profile] gowildcat 2018-11-04 05:40 pm (UTC)(link)
[Sitting beside him and seeming much more relaxed, Ogata shrugs. He's got on a cloak with the hood up, but casual observation reveals the Meiji-era military uniform beneath it. He leans back in his chair, eyes to the ceiling, though in truth he's been following the line of this man's gaze, watching him mark the exits.

His voice is a slow, even drawl.]


I wouldn't be surprised. Ramshackle port towns like this get lawless pretty fast.