Discussing Dreams

So, I am going to make a little write up for Sandy Graves and bump him up to a Minor Character with aspirations to be Major.

I'll also try to thin the herd and create some mayhem for the other groups, that is if someone else doesn't beat me to it. My soldiers are all expendable so run them through the wringer if you wish or back them into a corner.

I am not sure how many Long Spears there are, I was trying to not to build them up too much. Realistically they may be traveling in two groups, in the echoing tunnels their high pitched language would allow them to communicate at a distance. That being said, both the Eastern and Western groups could be in jeopardy.

Sandy Graves would naturally run in the direction that Sergeant Lasekura was bound to inform him of Basha's fall, so that's the way I seeing things occuring in the sewers at the moment.

o.O

Just so I don't screw things up royally.....Meitharal is a port town with accomodations and the like, correct? It's not just a fishing village is it? I can't remember from the previous posts regarding Meitharal what was there.

Here is the information you need to navigate the coast.

The beacon of Aullyndor yet loomed in the distance as the three riders
followed a seaside trail that followed the cliff's edge at a safe
distance. Gulls soared upon the ocean winds that played at unfastening,
Gertrude's bound tresses, their cries mocking the earth bound travelers
that slowly ascended the high ridge.

-----------

"Long ago, the fortress of Aullyndor stood strong, ever watching the
oceans for signs of the northern ships that plagued the coastal
communities. If they spied a vessel, the beacon was lit and its warning
could be seen for leagues at night, for that was the most common time
that the raiders struck.

One ill fated day, the fortress fell under the siege of the pirates, who
had through the night scaled the cliffside to attack at dawn. The battle
lasted for many days, but in the end, Aullyndor was destroyed and the
northerners descended upon the coast at will.

The night that they approached Mierathal, the villagers were all asleep
save for a few sleepy guards. Even with notice of the oar driven ships
there would be little that could be done as reinforcements would never
arrive in time, but that night the beacon shone bright. An eerie green
glow emanated from the burnt tower and the ocean stirred, then as swift
as the northerners set upon the beach a squall ripped through their
forces, as powerful as any army. Crushing waves and a gale, capsized all
the boats but one, and their sailors drowned at sea. The surviving ship
sailed home to tell its tale and ever since then, not a single northern
ship ever threatened their peaceful homes again for fear of angering the
sprits of Aullyndor."

--------------

The hungry travelers took their noontime picnic on the sunny,
wind-brushed hillside below the Beacon of Aullyndor as their horses
grazed the tall green grass.

-----------

Mierathal was just as Payden had remembered it, a quaint settlement
surrounded by an ancient rock wall the height of two men, offering a
false sense of security against a horde of leaping Ta'kun, but providing
security nonetheless. The bastion bent and twisted around the sturdy
stone buildings and ended at the seaside cliffs and the harbour, the
tips of the ships masts just appearing over the steep drop. A single
road that descended the cliffs was the only entry or exit from the
marina, which consisted a long stone wharf, connected to a few wooden docks.

A thick limbed man with a raspy voice had been one of the first to greet
the travelers when they had rode through the open gates. He had
approached Payden with a welcoming smile and had addressed him as
'Cloud', of which he would later explain to his companions was a
nickname he had received when he had first came there.

Payden introduced the man as, Marshal William Kallend, and it was
apparent by his size and the weaponry he carried that he maintained the
peace and provided security for the village. Then he in turn offered the
names of his traveling companions as Miss de Pontu the ward of Mr.
Starling, who was actually the name of a character from one his
favourite books as he could not think up any other name for Curt at the
spur of the moment. Subtly he cast, Curt an apologetic look for his poor
choice of title but as they had not discussed a suitable alias for a
last name he did his best.

Marshall Kallend, extended warm welcome to Curt and Gertrude, then
offered to buy them all a drink after securing the gates, which were
always closed just before sundown. Payden knew the way, and lead the
group to the stables where a young lad, took care of their mounts then
he showed his companions to the inn.

The inn was called the 'Brackish Bed', a two story building built at the
cliff's edge overlooking the harbour and the rolling sea. The innkeeper,
a pleasant, motherly woman saw them to their rooms which were meager at
best, but the beds were soft and the fireplaces in each a glow and warm.
Soon after they were settled, and returned down stairs to the dining
hall for some sea side fare, Marshal Kallend entered and told them to
order anything their hearts desired. He assured them that despite the
size of Mierathal, they boasted a selection that would rival that of
Fort Glory.

Drinks in hand then, he toasted to "Safe travels.", then proceeded to
inquire more of the happenings of Fort Glory and of where the travelers
were bound for.

--------

With Marshal Kallend as their guide through the bustling wharf,
candy-bright awnings and ship’s flags dancing above their heads in the
frisky wind, they soon found a suiting vessel for their journey. A
grizzled, brown-colored old fisherman named Arner had a thirty-two foot
(9.75 meter), two-cabin, one-head sloop named the Sylph that he was
willing to part with to the tune of two hundred and seventy-five golden
sovereigns. Kallend gave his friends an apologetic look and opened his
mouth with what looked like diplomatic determination, but Curt waved him
off.

----------

The terraced orchards of Mierathal seemed to float above the sea, along
walled ledges, silver branches flickering, ornamented with the tiniest,
tenderest green leaves and fragile gossamer blossoms of spring. The
breezes ballooning down from the rows of slender trees were heady with
the bee-luring fragrance of fruit-to-be and mingled pleasantly with the
salty musk of the bay.

EXCELLENT! That's what I was looking for! Thank you so much, Tiph. I can go with this info and not worry about not getting it right,.

Now Colleen can run into Marshall Kalend and learn what became of Payden.

Oh, and Marshall Kallend always called Payden 'Cloud', the story is below, but the real reason, that I never managed to get to (there was too much of a time lapse on the journey) is that in Mierathal, when people become sea sick, they call it becoming 'Cloudy'. In his young days, Payden was always getting sea sick after a day at sea, then he would improve the next day. So he was always Cloudy, hence the nick name Cloud.


----------

Before he started the tell, the Marshall ordered another round of drinks
and to add to the roast, a few other locals drew near to listen to a
good story while they enjoyed a drink after a long days work.

"Many a year ago, when believe it or not, I was even more strappin'",
the Marshall cracked, jabbing an elbow into Payden's side and slapping
the shoulder of an old salt to his right, "I happened upon this half
starved waif, just outside the walls, beaten and bruised and without
horse. He's not talkin' but by the look of him it seemed that he and
been thrown from his mount and then some, so I picked him up and took
him to the doctor. He cleans him up, and all through it the lad says not
a word. Later, I asks him his name and still nothin', so I figure the
lad would come around when he was ready so I let him be. Days pass and
not a word and the villagers get to thinkin' the lad has something to do
with the lingering storm that arrived the day he did, 'None sense', I
told 'em, but a part of me begins to wonder. I can't be around him all
the time, and the other youngin's begin to taunt him, blaming him for
the weather, calling him a Witch, spawned from the underworld. Those
were some dark times for Payden, but he came around and tried to make
himself useful, and I was surprised to see the hands of an aristocrat so
keen at repairing nets and traps. Still the rains kept on, until the
elders considered banishing the silent lad and as he wasn't talkin' to
defend himself and rightly a man at the age we pegged him for, there
wasn't much I could do."

William paused and took a long drink of his beer. Some of the younger
locals were at the edge of their seats in anticipation of the outcome as
if Payden were a fictional character and some of the older ones
remembered the story as it was told.

"Let's see now, where I was? Ah, yes... the next morn the lad would be
cast out to appease the old sea gods and even I was beginning to believe
something evil lurked in those dark eyes, although sending the young man
into the steppes just didn't sit right with me. I tried to tell 'em he
had to plead his case, but he kept his tongue, so I had to go along.
Then late that night the toll of the watch tower bell awoke me from my
sleep and hastened to awake the boy, but couldn't find him anywhere. I
could only assume he'd run off, but I had little time to worry about him
and ran out into the storm to learn that a fishing ship was caught on
the rocks. Some of the boys had braved the storms and in making a late
return got hung up on the shelf, where the waves would eventually smash
their hull to bits. By the time me and some the other boys made it down
to the wharf, there was already someone heading out to save the stranded
men. To this day I don't know how that skinny kid managed it, but he
rowed a ten man boat out to the reef and managed to get all six of the
men away safely. The next day, the clouds broke and instead of banishing
this young man, he was now a hero, and even after he found his tongue
and told us his name the one that the kid's had given him just stuck,
and since then we all called him, 'Cloud'."

Oh most definately....

Very nice post about Mierathal.

I imagine the village to be about a third the size of Fort Glory, but they also have another small market (aside from the one within the village perimeter) down by the wharf. The wharf extends far out into the bay and at it's end it a light house. There is a smaller and much older beacon on the shore just at the beginning of the wharf as well.

Thanks...you all have been giving me a great deal to work with and I felt the writing bug tugging at my shirt....


heh


At least I was able to write this post wihtout having to stop and regain my composure like I did writing about Cricket.

Excellant job my fellow writers. As always.

I'm afraid I don't have my updated 'Cursha' pictures with me here at work, but I will update them some time when I am home!

Also...I couldn't remember whatever his fake name was supposed to have been in Mierethal, though the townsfolk would know it, of course. Not that it matters that much.

----

Ah ha! I just remembered. It was Mr. Starling.

Summer Sucks Socialist Slippers!

I can't think of a worse insult.

At least not without all S's

But hey! Look at all that Yassun I got up in Y Ass Un...?

Yeah...

Welcome back, Socks.....we missed ya...

I doubt that.

Anyway, despite his actions Yassun is going to be a bit buggered after all this and despite there being mostly rage right now when that subsides there will be a hit to the effectiveness of the ta'kun due to the death of their matron.

I didn't quite flesh that out as much as I maybe should have, but I am planning to do so anyway, just figured I'd tell you ahead of time.

SWATS

We DID miss you and that swat was for doubting us.

I sort of had the inmpression the shit's gonna hit the fan now....

There is no physical evidence whatsoever that you missed me, therefore I am going to continue doubting that statement.

You also seem to be alone with your statement, and since you'd swat me no matter what anyway, that's hardly any evidence either.

But, more to the point; What is up with all that (MC) stuff?

I don't remember the need for any Masters of Ceremonies.

PS. At this rate I'm going to need pictures of dragons and mermadons... (subtle hint for someone around here!)

Nice post with Lasekura, RPM. You wrote his character well, even down to his apprehension of ingesting a sedative. I mimic the character of Sayid Jarrah from Lost, how he can be so pleasant and yet aggressive at the same time.

So I was under the impression that the Dragons had yet to travel westward, and yet one's roost was on the island of Cursha? I seem to recall that being said somewhere, unfortunately that was at the Nine Worlds. So I am assuming now that Dragons are everywhere in the world, or do they just seem to fly around over the sea searching for islands to claim as there own? Do these smaller Dragons squabble over land that had not yet been claimed? I am just surprised that they would travel so far from their mountainous home, while others rarely venture out.

Oh, and did I read right that the Dragon battle took two days? That is going to stretch the time line of Cursha's story line even further beyond the others on the mainland.

I have another question concerning No More Dreams.

Might we have a little direction. Should we all be just casting ourselves to the maws of Dragons, rather than attempting to fortify ourselves. Part of the story description says this:

'Now one must survive in a world where you will find no rest and given no mercy'

I would just like to know, how we should go about 'surviving'? To survive means to exist despite hardship, I understand that much, but if our characters are to wander the wastelands like nomads I would like to have a hint if that is the way we should be steering the story.

I was under the assumption that this was a collaborative effort, but thus far, it seems that cities are being built and Godzilla is simply crashing them down. I realize that this idea went pretty far in Japan, but can anything more exist? I personally fear attempting to elaborate on my characters just to have the story torn asunder and cast to the wayside. Now if that is truly the premise of the story then please someone enlighten me.

It was my impression too that we were ment to surivive. I agree that if my charcters are destined to expire then I question the wisdom in putting the energy into creating them and developing them. I am not opposed to hardship but futility is another matter.

So in lieu of recent of events we shall have to decide what will become of Yassun and King Dorian.

I believe this would be best left up to Vaudeville's creative mind, but I would suggest that perhaps the King as well could be kidnapped along with his daughter. Just a simple idea. I've no doubt, that she can tie this all together quite neatly.

It is also her decision but I am not opposed to that Dragon battle being removed from Cursha's castle, unless it was truly was something she had in mind.

I agree totaly with you Tiphereth, it should be Vaueville's decision. As far as the threat to humanity is concered I think that should remain in No More Dreams in some fashion.
Thoughts?

I agree to all of the above. Let's hear from the Lady of the Hour and see what she says.

Oh, I completely agree, and if the King were taken... that would still pull our characters into the 'Belly of the Dragon', so-to-speak. We can resume our regular story lines, and eventually they can take us to the East. Oh, I think my back is loosening up again.

I'm not sure its fair to throw this all in Amanda's lap, in fact I'm not sure how any of you are going to continue this story, but obviously all the ideas and plans I had that you don't know of make me biased. I certainly can't blame you for wanting to continue and I do wish you luck, I'm sure Amanda and the rest of you will try to do it justice.

To clarify though, Fort Glory was never going to fall in the first place, despite my dramatic use of magic that might make you think otherwise. And the appearance of dragons on the island was intended and discussed with Amanda, though whether or not she still wants them around without me remains the question of course.