Chewing on his meat, Vriishnak waited a few seconds before replying.
"Melikah and I went to the Temple of Verena, but the Priestesses were unwilling to accept our aid, though we did confirm that something was lost. In fact, Melikah is there now, recovering from her wounds."
Stopping again to eat more steak, Vriishnak watched the curiosity grow on the faces of those sitting around him.
"After deciding that we were going to gain nothing by remaining at the temple, we went to the less civilized part of town, and visited inns, asking if anyone had seen anything. We found nobody willing to speak, but we were attacked outside of one of the inns, hence the blood and Melikah's injuries."
Quickly finishing his share of the steak, he nodded his thanks at Luther as he gulped the last of his ale.
"All of this leads me to believe that somebody there knows what happened, and that he probably won't underestimate me again. If we intend to return, we should do it before he has time to prepare."

Real life aside (;)), Scaly is being too slow. I hereby start the RPG, Scaly's character can join the band at a later junction. Hope you don't mind me doing a little bit of dialogue for your characters in this first post - just getting this RP on its feet.
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A cold, bitter wind rattled along the swiftly-emptying street in the Altquarter of Middenheim, rattling the signs of taverns and shops along the cobbled way as a light, grey rain began to fall from the gloomy skies. The last rays of the sun glinted ruddily from the rugged, grey buildings as it began to sink below the horizon, breaking through the dark, swollen clouds. Swinging in the wind, the painted sign of the Coppershiners inn clacked against its iron rail. Muffled murmurs of conversation, and the constant clink of mugs and steins drifted out on the cold air as firelight flickered in the small windows of the stone tavern.

The inside of the Coppershiners was packed, men of all sorts taking refuge from the increasing winter cold clustered about every stained table. Barmaids stumbled to and fro, taking trays of food and beer to tables as they hurried from one clamouring customer to another. The proprietor grinned, filling steins of beer from the reserve barrel behind the bar, his first cask having already run dry. This would be a profitable day.

The door banged open as another man entered the crowded inn, his thick clothes wet and dripping. The man took his coat off, hanging the wet garment on the over-laden hooks by the door. Stepping into the fire-light of the tavern, the man looked about. Several faces looked up from the crowd, knowing that, as a traditional haunt of mercenaries and sell-swords, many employers looked for hired hands in the Coppershiners.

Spotting several likely-looking persons seated about the bar, the stranger walked swiftly across the room, the babble of conversation resuming as he took a bar-stool and sat down. Glancing over at the bunch he had seen, he lifted his head and called for seven beers.

Six faces looked up at the man. He smiled back, revealing rows of well-kept, straight teeth – probably a nobleman, or in the employ of a particularly rich one.

“This round’s on me,” he said, extending his hand in a gesture of greeting. Cautiously, the nearest man shook it, looking into the stranger’s smiling eyes.

The stranger surveyed his choice. Next to him sat a powerful-looking, grizzled man, some of his hairs turning to grey. A scar on his cheek marked his career as a fighting man. Beyond him sat a slight, feminine figure, cloaked and hooded, drinking from a small glass. Behind her, another slim shape, but he would have thought this one a man before a woman. In the poor light of the tavern it was hard to tell. Then another cloaked figure, but this time in dull, dusty red, with a bare head that revealed a pale face, furnished with a full head of red hair and a bushy goatee beard. The man furthest from him seemed nondescript, openly clad in worn mail.

“I have a proposition for you people,” spoke the newcomer, splitting the drinks between himself and the group as they were brought to him. “The pay would be high. Would you be interested?”

The big man looked up. “I do not know these people, but I am interested nonetheless. What kind of work?”

“I am only an envoy, if you will, a servant of my master. I was told to find a group of men to work for him in a possibly dangerous but profitable venture. If you wish to take this on, I will take you to his lodgings.”

Suddenly, there was a scrape of a chair being pushed back and a hand was laid upon the newcomer’s shoulder. Behind him stood a man of remarkable appearance, braided white hair running in a single lock over the top of a light grey, expensive cloak. The man gave the impression of affluence, as his clothes and boots were well-made, and the hand which still rested on the stranger’s shoulder bore an intricately-crafted ring of gold.

“I would be interested indeed, if you would have me as well as these – esteemed persons. My name is Vaclav Von Nietsrac.”

“And mine is Linz Gruber. You are welcome.”
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It's up to you now. Post your responses to this man's proposition.

A blanket of grey hung over the northern sky, the shadow of this carpet cloud throwing the vast expanse of the forest into darkness. Rising from the thinning trees amidst a welter of hills, the jagged rock of Middenheim, bastion-city and lynchpin of the Empire, threw its stark outline against the overcast sky.

Middenheim. The centre of a twisting maze of broad highways, trodden tracks, and winding paths through the dark forest, the city was the Empire's first defence against the marauders of the North, should the lines of Kislev fail. Rumours of Archaon and the End times murmured through the streets, and the vigilance of the city watch had doubled since the shadow from the North had risen. Witch hunters roamed the streets of the great burg, their worn boots treading the great rock that the city was built on - the Fauschlag. No-one guessed that the danger to this great city was not from outside, but within - and that it would threaten even the ancient roots of this proud settlement.

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OK, this is my first try at an RPG. I'm going to use the rules that I developed with Rasputin a while ago - basically a hybrid of the Inquisitor system and Warhammer Quest. Rules-wise, the system is extremely complicated and so I won't explain it here - anyone wanting to know all of it can e-mail me for it at Pipandrob@AOL.com. All you NEED to know is that you have stats out of 100, you can be injured and struck in different places and that at certain levels of damage (namely 1/5th, 1/2 and equal to your toughness value) you either have to test to see if you pass out, automatically pass out, or die. Unlike Scaly's RPG, most "monsters" are easy to kill compared to characters as they do not have this system, instead they have a "damage capacity" rule which functions a lot like Wounds in WHFB. As you become more damaged your fighting effectiveness will decrease as you become tired, lose blood and take injuries to the limbs you use to fight.

I need 5-8 characters - Human, Elf or Dwarf. Please PM me and fill out the character sheet below with your character.

You will be placed in the ancient city of Middenheim, haunt of adventurers and rogues from around the globe. Once I have all the characters, I will begin the adventure.

Also, all past differences aside - kingphesphestus, Paco, I would be glad if you would join.

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Character sheet

Name:

Race:

Weight:

Height:

Appearance:

Personality:

Career/class:

Background story (please try to include how your character came to be an adventurer):

Equipment:


I will fill in your stats etc.

For those who think they want to see the full rules: I must warn you, the document is written in point 10 and is 54 pages long. It has a file size of 1,218 KB!

'Goodies', only?

Also, do we submit our entries here?

You PM your characters to me, and as long as your character is humanoid (i.e. elf, dwarf or human) he or she is in. Nasty characters add depth to the game in my experience - however, try to stay in character for your race.

yay, our rules finally get an airing! yay :D

this looks rally good, im in. Its gonna be fun fun fun!

This'll be starting fairly soon - we're just waiting for Scaly, who says he will enter with a "pure of heart templar".

The band will then consist of 7 people:

Vriishnak
Gerard Vanzfield
Melikah
Darius Rhinesfeld
Vaclav Von Nietsrac
Luther Flamestrike
...and Scaly's character

Interesting - we have 6 human characters and 1 elf. A rather stark contrast to "Adventure 1" - 1 dwarf, 3 elves, 1 saurus, 2 humans.

this should be fun :ph43r:

Does this mean our band is complete? Are we going to try waiting for one more?

Either way, when do you think we'll start this?

Scaly's being a bit slow, but he's said that he wants to enter so we're waiting for his character.

When isn't he, LOL!

Nah, he just has a real life unlike the rest of us :lol:

The hooded figure didn't turn away from the drink that stood half empty on the table. "Well whats the job?" The voice sounded more like an elf's thn a man's. However it was clearly that of a human.

Vriishnak rose slowly to his feet, pushing the hood from his head to allow his black hair and elven ears show freely to anyone who cared to look. Taking the few steps needed to cross the distance to the stranger, he opened his mouth and spoke, his voice devoid of the musical quality which marked the speech of most elves.
"I have no need of your money, but I will join the group if you can promise me the destuction of followers of Chaos."

The scarred man drank casually from his mug and set it down again quietly. He took a deep breath, as if he were hoping to hear whether or not the others were volunteering before he did so himself. With no luck, he started, "I'll go." He paused for a moment, "If it's profitable, of course." He took another drink, and turned to the woman beside him, "Shall I be expecting to see you there?" The man wore a quick smile, his breath holding a hint of alcohol. She looked strangely at him, and he returned his look to the stranger. "The name's Gerard."

Luther idily wandered whether their was any chance of rejecting the offer and leaving alive before saying "i will go but i expect to be payed colledge rates as is the custom for members of the bright colledge" he looked at the man with out blinking.

"I need not your money kind sir, but I am with the elf in that I will join if we will hunt the vile Chaos scum." I am known as Darius Rhinesfeld.

Great, glad to see the fast and detailed responses. Just waiting for Aesgareth now.

The hooded woman pushed the drunk man back. "I care not who you are." Standing she walked over to the man who had bought her the drink that now sat idle on the bar, untouched. "So, What be your answer staranger?" She spoke with no emotiong. Her voice was calming yet at the same time was graceful mush like the elves.

How long are we going to wait?

OOC: Ok, ok, every day instead of every two days. Got it.

BIC:
Vaclav stood as still as stone, awaiting the answers of the various mercenaries, before turning to the would-be employer.

"As I said before, I am willing to complete your "task", although I shall require that the payment be suitable for a man of my skill and station."

His voice was soft but cold, and his eyes betrayed no hint of emotion as he awaited the man's reply.

"Excellent!" spoke Linz, looking around at the party. "My master has not described the full nature of the task to me - he has merely told me to find a group skilled in combat to aid him. I will give you an address at which you can find him."

"You are a servant?" asked Darius.

"No. A debtor." Linz bowed with a smile. "My 'master' is a man of some power, and allows me to repay him without crippling my financial means. I am his messenger, and his helper."

With that the man placed a card upon the bar's surface, stood and walked out. There was a slight scrape of a chair and the door creaked again - thinking he had returned, the group looked over their shoulders, catching the last glimpse of a black cloak disappearing through the closing door.

Turning back, they noticed the card.

"Dieter Lowenhertz, merchant and free trader, at the sign of the Swan and Sail"

luther put down his mug and looked at the others imperiously but at the back of mind he admitted that they all looked pretty formidable and quite capable of dicing apart a few greenskins so obviously this Dieter knew his stuff.

luther decided to voice his opinion "well i think we should head off to tis inn" the rest nodded and they headed off.

note i'm making this decision because i presume seeing this is our only leed everyone going to do it and waiting around for every one to make posts were their character's say "yes" is going to be time consuming. i'm just trying to speed things up

also i won't do this again once the arena gets going

P.s chilly do our characters gain experience?

OOC: Yep, you gain experience. This will be kept track of on your character sheets once you actually get some.
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The group set out over the rain-slicked cobbles, having asked for directions to the Swan and Sail from the landlord of the Coppershiners. Slowly, they began to noice the buildings around them improving, bare stone and thatch giving way to white, half-timbered houses and shops, tiled roofs growing in number. The rain made a harsher noise in this well-made district, smacking against slate instead of thatch.

Through the haze of rain, the bedraggled group caught sight of the Swan and Sail’s sign, bolted to a wooden post outside the large establishment. Pushing open the door, they stumbled inside, finding a well-furnished, although not luxurious, common-room before them. Oaken tables lay to one side of the room, to the other a bar. The noise was slight and the smell almost imperceptible – an upper-class establishment indeed. Asking for Lowenhertz at the entrance, they found themselves directed, with some suspicion as to their appearance, to the third room on the upper floor.

The upper floor was equally well-kept, heavy oak doors lining the low landing. Stepping forwards, they saw the rooms were numbered, and knocked on the door of room 3.

The door opened, and the party saw the face of a large man, with heavy jowls and a broad nose. “Yes?”

“Dieter Lowenhertz? We were asked by Herr Gruber to see him he-“
“My name is Reinhardt. Lowenhertz is through there.”
“Thank you.”

Almost grudgingly, the big man opened the door, letting the party file through one by one. Luther bristled as he saw the man’s practiced eye run over him, checking him for weapons.

“What do you take me for? A common scoundrel?”
“Yes.”

The wizard nearly exploded. His hand went to the hilt of his short blade, but a harsh voice rang out from the back of the room.

“Luther Flamestrike?”
“Who are you? How do you know my name?”
“I am Dieter Lowenhertz. Kindly desist from attacking my employees, if you wish to keep this assignment.”
“His manner was highly offensive.”
“So is yours. Sit down!”

Dieter shot a glare at the wizard before seating himself behind a heavy desk, pulling up a pen and sheet of papers. He was a tall man, with gaunt, ascetic features and a sharp nose, the hard lines of his face masked by a grizzled beard of medium length. His hair was a steely grey, and his whole manner implied harsh efficiency.

Looking up again, he saw the party still standing. “There are chairs at the back of the room, gentlemen. Please be seated.”

The group drew up chairs, looking at each other. Slowly, like a roll call, Dieter began to pronounce names, scribbling them down as he heard confused noises of affirmation from the sell-swords before him.

Looking up, he gave a curious glance to the elf and human woman, his pen poised over the paper. “Your names I do not know. If you would be so kind…”
“Melikah”
“I am Vriishnak”
“Thankyou.”

Luther started, bristling with hurt pride and anger. “Look here, man, how do you know our names? We gave no information to your agent, and I must say I have never met you in my life.”

Dieter looked towards him. “You are Luther Flamestrike, once known as Luther Shickelgruber, expelled from the Bright college for slaying a fellow student in a duel. You have been making your way as a mercenary spellcaster for some years now. I like to keep a track of possible agents in Middenheim – knowledge is power, gentlemen. But to business-“

Lowenhertz picked a piece of paper from the somewhat cluttered desk, showing the group a detailed sketch of a pair of ornate scales. “The Golden Scales. Emblem of the Merchant’s Guild, of which I am a prominent member. Last night, on my watch, they were stolen. A trio of guards stood at each entrance to the grand hall, in which they are kept along with many other trophies and valuables of the guild, and the hall is devoid of windows. None of the guards saw anything, yet in the morning the scales were gone, leaving the other ornaments and the guild treasury untouched. I want you to find the thief and return the scales”

“Have you no clues?” spoke Vaclav. Malikah, Vriishnak and Darius exchanged worried glances. “This does not seem relevant to our agendas” said the Witch Hunter. “A petty theft is hardly my field.”

“There is more, if you would let me finish. I gather from my sources that the Knights Panther have been making clumsy enquiries as to the loss of an item of great value to them, as have the Priesthoods of Morr and Verena. The Alchemists are surprisingly taciturn, and the College is emptied. It is not often the wizards roam the streets outside their cosy precinct. Gentlemen, last night, every major institution in this city was robbed. Vast amounts of gold have been left. Things of far more material value than the emblems snatched are untouched. This is not a ‘petty theft’, master Rhinesfeld. This goes deeper. Not only do I wish for the return of the scales for my own reputation, I seek the gratitude of these great organizations, of which you would have an equal share. Follow the leads – talk to the alchemists, the wizards, the priests – anyone and everyone. As a token of my sincerity, I give you a down-payment of twenty-five gold pieces each. On the completion of your task, you will receive five times that amount.”

Dieter motioned to Reinhardt, who had remained at the back of the room. The big man moved over to a large chest in the corner of the lodging, lifting the lid to remove six small bags of gold. He dropped these before the party before returning to his post, shutting the chest.

“Linz said you had some questions. I would be happy to answer them, if you are still curious.”
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OOC: Over to you!

luther looked at Dieter he instinctively didn't like this man but he was a professional so he said "i'll go check the wizards guild it is of the jade colledge and their is no love lost between them and the bright wizards who expelled me so perhaps they will help."

with that he turned on his heel and walked out pausing only to sneer at the bouncer

"Theft...I must say I expected something a little more, but don't worry, I'm still taking the job. This is goind to be a prime time for theft, with the trouble in the north and all. Suffice to say, I never had to deal with such small fish in the Imperial Greatswords." Gerard wore a proud expression as he spoke.
He recieved an unamused look from Lowenhertz. "You'll hear no questions from me. I'll start with the priests, anyone care to follow?"

Gerard stood up, nodded to the present company and started on his way.

Melikah stood up, he dark robes still hid her face. After looking around the room and at all who were in her compnay she spoke, her soft voice was like soft silk on the ears. She spoke witht he same grace as the elf who acompanied her. "I will help you, only due to the temple of valaya's loss. I will head there. Perhaps we should all meet back in the copper shiners in a few hours to discuss what we have found?" Shee looked around the group as if to say "Well?"

Then as she turned to leave the room, Melikah stopped and turned to speak to the elf, "I would be honoured if you would accompany me. I feel great comfort being around the asur."

---------

If Vriishnak agrees he can write me leaving with him. If he doesn't then I will depart alone, not waiting for any of the others to come wih me.

Vriishnak turned his head to look at the human woman beside him, the shadows cast by his head giving his amused smirk a somewhat sinister air.
"Of course I will accompany you, Melikah, if only in the hopes that you may discover a link between these crimes and the servants of the dark powers. However, I am afraid that you will find that I am quite different from my kin."
The elf rose gracefully to his feet and, checking that his swords were loose in their sheaths, left the room, followed closely by Melikah. Seconds later, the rest of the group realised that his pouch of gold lay where it had been placed, completely ignored by Vriishnak.

Vaclav stood pondering for several moments, before adressing Deiter Lowenhertz.

"Did the guards tell of any unusual traces around the scales? Traces on the carpet, bits of torn cloth and whatnot?"

"No clues. Such professionals as evade a troop of elite guards are not amateurish enough to leave pointers to their guilt."

"I will go with you, Gerard." Darius said. "I have to talk to some of my sources and you are welcome to follow once we are done with the priests."

Darius exited to go with Gerard.

Vaclav nodded.

"I think that I shall go an see for myself. Perhaps I will be able to discover something new."


With that, Vaclav turned and left, presumably headed towards the Merchants guildhall...

O-K, time to meet up at the Coppershiners!

Everyone has concluded their actions outside the group, so now is time to meet up and recount to the others what you have learned. For those who remember Scaly's Adventure 1, it's basically "Campfire" but in a nice, warm pub :)

BTW, it's about 10:00pm in Game Time.

The door of the pub slammed open, a gust of cold wind swirling around the room before being quelched by the roaring fires in the pub. Even as the tavern's occupants turned to complain, their voices died in their throats at the sight of the people walking in out of the cold night. Vriishnak came first, his armour and clothing caked with still-wet blood, giving the elf a ghastly appearance which was only enhanced by the flickering light of the flames.
He moved swiftly to the bar, ordering two drinks even as his companion made her way in, slowly and haltingly, still suffering from wounds recently suffered and not yet healed. A line of blood traced across her cheek, and her left arm was bleeding from a deep gash, but Melikah made her way through the press of people and joined Vriishnak at the bar to await the arrival of the other members of their newly-formed band.

Darius entered the tavern with a grim look on his face, as his searching had been in vain. Hopefully the others had found out more than he. As he passed Melikah and Vriishnak he nodded and continued to the table where they first met. As Witch Hunters do not drink he didn't order any alcohol but wanted a warm meal.

As he ate, he waited for the others to enter and share their findings.

Minutes after Darius entered the tavern, Gerard came in. He had a disappointed lok on his face. He strode over to the bar, this time he already knew the people there. He took a quick look at the blood-soaked elf, "What in Sigmar's name happened to you?" he said slowly, with a hint of disbelief. "It looks like I chose the wrong spot to go to; we had nothing where we went." He hastily took the same seat he had last time. "So what happened?"

The door to the tavern swung open once more, and in strode Vaclav, a self-satisfied expression upon his face. He sat down at the bar, took scope of the group members who had already arrived, and then issued a snort of contempt when he noticed Vrishnaak and Melikah's battered appearances.

"Well, well. It seems that the dwarves did not appreciate us sending an elf to deal with them. Or was it your tone, perhaps?" He said, smirking broadly, his voice a liquid whisper filled with disdain.

"But hopefully you discovered something of importance for your troubles. I, alas, had no such luck. It is clear that the thieves used magic to enter and leave the building, but that is all."

Vriishnak allowed a small smirk to cross his face at the look of disbelief on Gerard's face before turning to face the group as a whole.
"We had no luck finding out who might have done this; the Priestesses of Verena were less than willing to divulge their loss to outsiders, and this town's lower class seems unneccesarily violent."
Vriishnak raised his glass to his lips, wetting his throat before continuing.
"I don't think I'll ever understand the motivation of humans, but at least they die like anyone else."


OOC: I encourage you all to get into fights, just for the quality of the writing. Check out my sig for a small example. :D

Melikah looked around at the windswept adventurers that she was to call colleagues. Slowly she rose to her feat, her injuries clearly visible.

"It seems we are all in the same boat. Well except for one thing. We know that people know who did it, we also know we were close to finding out who knows. People dont want us to find out what there are up to. This (points to her wounds) is evidence enough of that. Now I must leave you all. Im sure Vriishnak will fill you in on the details."

Melikah picked up her bundle that she had perhaps fooshly laid on the table, and dissapeared out of th door, having bent down and whispered something into Vriishnak's ear that none of the other could even hear or understand.

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OOC: Vriishnak is right. The wriing in the combat scenes is awsome. Truely awsome. Vriishanks, I have PMed you with what was in the Whisper.

luther walked in to the inn in a huff and sat down next to the dwarf ordered a rare steak and sat down looking around at the others he said in a disgruntled tone

"bloody snooty wizards so i killed thrus gorman's nephew in a duel who was best mates with the head of the colledge here it's all ancient history but they don't seem to think so. in short i got nothing" he said in a tone of finality

the bloody elf was eying his steak with envy Luther noticed this and offered him some

"how do you like yours cooked"

vrishnak surprised replied "well done but i don't see."

without a word flames apeared out of luther's fingertips and cooked expertly a peice of the steak which he handed to the elf. "now what happened to you?" asked Luther.