Lady Jamandi Aldori, a leading swordlord of Restov, has issued a call for adventurers. Anyone brave, ambitious, or desperate enough to answer the call may receive a charter to explore, settle, and eventually rule the Stolen Lands, in the name of Restov and Brevoy.

You arrive at Lady Jamandi's mansion, just in time for the dinner party, and introduce yourselves to your companions as you walk up the drive toward the front doors.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:23, Fri 21 Oct 2022.

Wilkezag arrives at the front gate and announces himself to the guard, "Wilkezag Frapakesen, responding to the Lady's call for adventurers.  I know I am early -- I do not mind waiting."

The guard waves the slight young man in the gate.  "Wait in center lawn, there, until the front doors are opened," he says, indicating a grassy area that the carriageway encircles.  There are several benches and a small fountain that tinkles merrily.  Will takes a seat, unstraps his lyre, and begins to improvise a light, lively tune that seems to resonate with the sound of the fountain.  This fountain sounds almost like Jalaijatali's perfect music.  Always eager to see the enjoyment of any audience, he looks over at the guard and is gratified to see the man smiling and bobbing his head slightly.

To the other players:  As you arrive, feel free to use the below or any simple variation of it as Will's greeting to you.  There is also a physical description in my Description page.

<Purple>"Greetings!  I am Wilkezag -- please, call me Will.  I am here for the Call for Heroes, too; maybe we will be put in the same group!"</Purple>

This message was last edited by the player at 05:16, Sat 05 Nov 2022.

Sophia approached the guard and Wil striding quickly, as fast as one could walk without looking suspicious. No, a little faster than that. She glanced over her shoulder constantly. The mansion was in the right place at the right time for someone who felt like every eye on the street was looking for her. Now, time to bluff her way in.

"Call? For Adventurers? Right! Stolen lands! Call for adventurer, yup that's why I'm here!" she panted to the guard and Wil, flashing her million gold piece smile with just enough shamelessness to sell it.

"Lovely afternoon, isn't it?" she announced bouncing a little, still looking over her shoulder every few seconds. She ducked through the gate with the man she'd come to know as Will, and seemed to relax a lot once inside the estate grounds.

She was dressed in a way that didn't scream adventurer so much as woods-woman, with a simple but well-made breastplate under a frayed cloak with her athletic, powerful-looking arms bare. She was a 'big girl', thick and curvy as best anyone could tell under a breastplate, with a statuesque frame that showed off what would be to some an intimidating amount of muscle.

"My name's erm Sophia. Sophia Akhova," she held out a hand for Will to take as she introduced herself. Her hands were calloused and rough and he got the impression that she probably could have made him cry out if she squeezed his hand with her full strength.

"So Will, umm. What do you know about this call for adventurers?"

The guards apologize to Wil and Sophia for the slight delay. Through the open doors you can hear a distinctly male but rather shrill voice screeching, "I cannot be seated next to this... this... oversized, overmuscled thug! Forget which fork to use; does she know what a fork even is?" It seems the seating plans have been upset slightly, and the ushers are struggling to sort things out.

You're supposed to be the last ones in the doors, so I'll wait until tomorrow for everyone to finish up with character creation and introduce themselves here. But after that we are going to get this dinner party started!
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:38, Thu 27 Oct 2022.

The figure that approached in the distance tended to draw the eye to its unusual silhouette, but as it drew nearer to Lady Jamandi's magestic mansion and its stately drive, conversation broke out and many stopped to stare.

A woolly mammoth, that shaggy beast with its humped back, curving tusks and swishing tail plodded steadily down the road to the crunching of gravel underfoot, turned, and began to approach the house.

It's black eyes registered no surprise at the grandeur arrayed before it, but it did use its trunk to casually strip the leaves from one of the ornamental trees that lined the approach before it popped the wad into its mouth and chewed.

Astride this mammoth was a man, a primitive looking brute of a man who was clad in furs and who looked worn out from the journey. One who swayed in his saddle with the natural movements of the animal and who looked down on the other visitors in their finery with a disinterested, or perhaps just exhausted expression.

Wordlessly the shaggy beast stopped right at the apex of the drive, and the Kellid slowly lifted one leg over the saddle and slid to the ground, where he grimaced as he rolled his shoulders back.

He looked slowly side to side, unsmiling, and then started stiffly towards the front door as the Mammoth blinked lazily in the lamplight, unmoving.

The waiting grooms, watching this monstrosity stride in, play a surreptitious round of odds-and-evens. The loser looks mutinous, but a little additional heated whispering gets him on his way to Ulle. "Erm, yes, sir, I'll bring your... mount... to the stables? As long as she won't trouble Lord Maegar's horses....." he trails off rather uncertainly. His fellow groom makes a valiant (but futile) effort to conceal her snickering.

[Private to Sophia Akhova: You can't quite catch what the grooms are whispering.]
[Private to Ulle; Wilkezag: You just catch the girl groom whispering, "I had to deal with that bloody drake earlier, it's your turn this time anyway!" before the boy groom gets on with it.]

A quick reminder: I strongly prefer present tense for roleplaying. It should read like a play, not like a history.

Poor Ruhk just really doesn't fit in the first upcoming combat scene, but you'll get her back soon, I promise.

Also, the private messages here aren't important at all. I'm just practicing with the dice roller and the UI.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:29, Tue 25 Oct 2022.

Lena waits patiently while the guards examine her invitation, only yanking the paper back when allowed entry.

Walking past the trouble and bother that the mammoth represented, she removes her long coat and holds it between clasped hands as she approaches the lute player and what appears to be a forester of some kind, butting into their conversation.

"We know what we've been told, which is precious little. And what common understanding holds, which is that we are but the most recent crop of would-be landholders and their servants endeavoring in this manner. None have succeeded. Yet."

She tucks the coat into the crook of her elbow and extends a hand.

"Lena Sellenski. And if we are as doomed as superstition says we are, I would at least like to know why before whatever misfortune falls upon us."

A grey tabby cat weaves its way through the gathering crowd. It gives the mammoth an inquisitive sniff before rubbing up against the massive creature's foreleg and scurries away as the grooms get the beast moving again. The cat catches back up to Lena as she introduces herself to the group.
At her closing words the domestic tabby shifts from sitting at the edge of the circle, the being grows and morphs into a human figure in a well worn travelers cloak mottled browns and faded green. As he raises his head he adjusts and alabaster mask to sit more comfortably on his face. "It never seems to sit quite right after something with whiskers for some reason." He purrs to himself. Giving the group his full attention he replies to Lena. "None have succeeded because none of them have been us." He offers a slight bow to those around him. "Dubh of the Woods. At your service" He provides his identification with a lilting accent and a pronunciation that makes it sound like Dove Ahthewoods.
If anyone extends a hand he will shake without hesitation.

It sounds like the ushers have figured out whatever the problem was, and you are all invited to enter the manor. It's been gloomy all day, and just as you enter, the first drops of the storm begin to fall; looks like you're just in time!

The great hall just inside the doors has been prepared for a mighty feast. Servants rush about, while several armed soldiers watch over the hall from positions against the east and west walls. Across the room to the north, a fire crackles away in a fireplace large enough to roast a whole pig. A lever secured with an iron lock sticks out just to the right of the fireplace. Two massive crystal chandeliers hang from the double-height ceiling. The decorations on the walls depict woodland scenes: nymphs frolicking amid waterfalls, satyrs dancing with fawns, and assorted winged fairy creatures flitting about a forest.

Below the head table are four long banquet tables, but no food has been served yet, only drinks. You are all escorted to the remaining seats at the second table. Your dining companions for the evening include:

• A massive human dressed in animal skins, with a sword strapped on her back so big you feel certain no human could dream of actually wielding it. Yet she seems to wear it as though it were an extension of her body. [Private to Ulle: She is definitely from the Realm of the Mammoth Lords, although you don't immediately recognize the tribe.]
• A refined middle-aged human swordlord, with a distinctive crest of four hatchets in a circle on his sword. [Private to Wilkezag: The crest is that of House Varn, and he's not old enough to be the lord, but you're not instantly sure which of the sons this is.]
• An exceptionally beautiful human woman in scale armor. She's impeccably polite but seems strangely reserved. [Private to Lena Sellenski: She doesn't seem to have much of an outgoing personality to go with her beauty.]
• A young halfling woman in leather and a worn cloak. She has a massive journal in front of her, in which she sketches furiously if she thinks no one will notice.
• A very dour dwarf (even for a dwarf) with a rusty flail and an odd skull-like holy symbol on his shield. [Private to Sophia Akhova: You feel like you saw this holy symbol on a mad street preacher in the slums when you were little, but it's not really coming to you right now.]
• A gnome in a loud and rather tasteless purple silk robe. He's glaring at the huge warrior, who has indeed been seated at the other end of the table (and considerably closer to the high table). [Private to Sophia Akhova; Wilkezag: This is the high-pitched voice you heard complaining earlier.]
• An exceptionally pale elven woman in dark clothing, with a razor-sharp scythe leaning on the table next to her. [Private to Dubh Oiche: Something about her seems strangely sinister.]

You only have a minute to study your dining companions before Lady Jamandi arrives, but I don't have time to write up her introduction right now! So you'll have until I get back tonight.

You may also each make two Recall Knowledge checks to try to learn a few additional hints about the people you're about to be interacting with. I've given each of you at least one private clue of some kind. Remember that you can attempt to Recall Knowledge even untrained, and it might actually work at this level! You won't get the kind of full information that you would if you spend an entire Influence round observing someone, but you'll get some kind of hint, probably.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:03, Wed 26 Oct 2022.

Sophia cranes her neck to look inside at the commotion. Oversized, overmuscled thug of a woman sounded like someone she wanted to meet. So did the person complaining, but for very different reasons.

She is as shocked as anyone when the shaggy mammoth pulls up. But she also saw the utility of it too. Now nobody is looking at her! She made sure of it by moving to put Will between her and the mammoth. Once she has some distance to her distraction, She relaxes visibly, watching the antics of grooms who were in no way trained for a beast of burden like this.

She nods at the Northman as he approaches, then notices the slight, and slightly wet looking woman approaching as well. She takes no offense at the interruption, conversation was a free-for-all.

After the mammoth, a cat turning into a man (or something resembling one) is almost mundane.

"So... nobody knows too much except that we're either doomed or destined for great success," she looks at the other woman, then the cat-man respectively, her two-colored eyes sparkling, even in the gloomy overcast day, along with her bright smile.

"Perfect, then I fit right in. But I would be much more comfortable if we could just get inside."

As if on cue, they're invited in soon after. Sophia relaxes immediately, now that she's out of sight from the bulk of the town. Her eyes darted around the room with wine and the fire and the banquet tables and a girl could get used to this! She smiled to her friends from outside, then studied the ones already assembled, her gaze lingering just a fraction of a second too long on the woman with the massive sword before moving to pour herself two glasses of wine. She hands the second to Lena with a smile.

"Gentlemen will have to pour their own," she teased lightly, her smile sparkling.

"Interesting companions," she observed in a low voice, scanning the others again. Then in a louder voice, "I like your sword!" towards the massive woman. She feels it's probably impolite to get up and go ask to see it, but she plans to do so sooner or later.

---

Well, let's get those out of the way! I don't know much about much...

21:39, Today: Sophia Akhova rolled 5 using 1d20+3 with rolls of 2.  society again if allowed - who is that gnome in the gaudy robes?

21:38, Today: Sophia Akhova rolled 12 using 1d20+3 with rolls of 9.  society - what are those symbols on the swordlords sword?

23:24, Today: Wilkezag rolled 15 using 1d20+6 with rolls of 9.  Recall Knowledge using Society.  (See Read the Air spell.)
23:38, Today: Wilkezag rolled 21 using 1d20+6 with rolls of 15.  Recall knowledge using Lore: Politics.  I'm hoping to recall more about the man from House Varn.  Do I recall his Lord's name?  Or perhaps more about Varn politics in general, like their closest ally or hated enemy?
23:25, Today: Wilkezag rolled 10 using 1d20+7 with rolls of 3.  Diplomacy to Make an Impression.
Ugh.  That last roll should have been at +1 because of the Read the Air spell, but it's not like an 11 is all that much better.  At least I believe it won't hurt me.

Wilkezag greets each of the others as they arrive; his warm smile is clearly genuine.  He is suitably impressed by the man emerging from a cat, and by the mammoth. I'm glad I'm not on shovel duty following the massive beast's visit.

As he heads into the banquet table, he pauses, the memories flooding in.  It looks so small!  I remember this room to be cavernous, like it would take 15 minutes to walk from end to end.  Whenever father brought me along, I would hide in that corner over there, and sometimes the servants would give me treats.  Imagine being a real guest!  He nods to the seated guests and subtly casts Read the Air, trying to see beyond the obvious animosity between the gnome and the large woman who is probably a half-giant.

Will turns to speak to the Swordlord, to ask him about his father and about conditions at Varn manor, but he suddenly becomes distracted by the halfling woman and her sketches.  ...

OOC: I guess I need to know the results of my first two rolls to be able to know what I will say to the Swordlord.  I'll role-play the mediocre Diplomacy roll then.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:57, Wed 26 Oct 2022.

Those are perfectly reasonable rolls to attempt, exactly the sort of thing I was hoping for. But those results aren't going to accomplish much, sorry!

Sophia: You're sure you've seen the swordlord's sigil around town somewhere, so you're confident he's a local rather than a visitor from Mivon or something. Probably a personal friend of Lady Jamandi's. But that's all you can remember. You have no idea about the gnome.

Wilkezag: You do manage to recognize this swordlord as the third son Maegar Varn, who's presumably here because he's not going to inherit anything. Lord Androth Varn and Lady Jamandi have been close friends for decades, so Maegar is probably expecting a pretty good assignment here. Both House Varn and Maegar himself are well-liked and respected in Restov. As far as the rest of the table goes, the gnome has clearly managed to irritate everyone else at the entire table already (pretty quick work!), while the halfling is almost disturbingly excited about the whole situation.

You really only have one round here, not enough time to Make an Impression or even exchange any amount of dialogue, but I'll apply the bonus from read the air to your first round in the upcoming social encounter, assuming you intend to Influence someone rather than Discovering.

I'm interested to see what the other players try to find out, so I'll give you all until tomorrow morning before moving on with the actual encounter.


As everyone gets settled, the huge warrior notices the gnome still glaring at her. She rolls her eyes dramatically and mutters, not at all quietly, "Typical of a little man to have such a sensitive ego. Probably never even seen a real giant." She tips her tankard toward Sophia before drinking up.

The halfling notices Wilkezag casting a spell and almost jumps up and down on the bench, gazing intently at Wil while madly scribbling some kind of poetry combined with a quick sketch. "A fellow artist! Maybe he'll appreciate my lyrics..."
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:55, Wed 26 Oct 2022.