test drive meme #2

[fernwehmods]

SCENARIOS

01. Settling In

It's been a couple of days since you have arrived and once the fatigue from that multiversal travel has been fixed there is a town that you should probably get acquainted with. At least well enough that you don't get lost every time you venture away from the inn where you are likely staying for the time being.

Down the narrow streets to the south where most newcomers first enter Gazin, the tradespeople have set up their shops. Armourers, blacksmiths, bowyers and carpenters can all be found there, as well a few shady types who cannot pass up the advantage of ripping off an unsuspecting person.

Heading east, one can find the two apothecary shops, a bakery, a herbarium, seamstress and shoemaker. There is also a medical clinic set up and is equipped to care for anything up to moderate injuries.

The northern part of town is the district that most people tend to avoid. It's smelly and dark and trouble lurks in every corner. It's hard not to get an uneasiness that feels like someone is watching you. If asked, most civilians will explain why it is called The Devil's Mouth.

In the west district, it is bright and cheerful and generally happy. Music and celebration seem to happen twice daily, every day of the week with Saturday being the loudest. During that day, the marketplace comes to life with vendors selling their fresh food or wares. In the evening, there's typically a firework show and maybe a drunken fistfight or two that ends with more drinking and some laughter. Sometimes, but not often, trouble from the northern district trickles into the west. Those slow festivities but not for long.

02. Exploring

You have heard people talk about the places beyond Gazin and now you find yourself itching to get out and see them. Be it Vasari Forest or Roselake, you and your trusty legs (or horse) plan to be gone for a week or more. One must always be cautious of the dangers while travelling, however. Bandits and rogue soldiers often cannot pass up the chance to take what isn't theirs. There are also creatures and monsters hiding in wait to curiously check you out or worse, hunt you for their next human-shaped meal.

But, that's all part of the adventure! Take someone along with you and maybe some weapons, too. Make sure one is made of silver.

03. Quest

The Druid known as Bhalris has contracted you to head into the Oren Mountains to find and pass a message along to the dwarf known as Brazmas Steelbelly. What Bhalris doesn't exactly explain is where Brazmas can be found, only giving approximate directions to a certain landmark where a series of clues will be revealed that start an interesting, though perhaps frustrating adventure.

Pay attention to the white raven and other animals along the way. They may be there to help with your journey. How do you tell them apart from the other wildlife that may or may not be dangerous? You can't.

Good luck!

04. Celebration

Impromptu parties are quite the norm in Gazin and it doesn't matter what the occasion is or who it is for. There's music, plenty of drink, dancing and good times to be had.

Let loose and have some fun!

05. Wild Card!

Want something else? Feel free to choose your own adventure or mix and match to create something completely different!

NAVIGATION

Comments

Arha Ilene Masaari | The Dresden Files OC

[nightingalemage]

001. Settling In - Gazin
Her rooms are small but clean in Gazin. They are warded neatly but there is too much noise from the downstairs pub and she is already seeking out new accommodations two weeks into her stay. A small cottage, perhaps, or something larger with a courtyard if she could find it. She just has to keep looking. It means passing through the market with all of its tempting wares.

She gently dissuades hawkers before meeting with a contact she'd procured at the inn that morning and they are off to see houses, cottages, things of interest, even, after she lays out how much wealth she has. It's enough for something of her own at least and she would have to do her best with her own magic and her bardic style of song. That would earn her enough to keep herself comfortable. The first house has a stable for the horse she had bought her first day and looks like it should be in a fairytale. There's enough space for her and at least another, maybe two more. By the third house, she's already decided she likes the first, and she negotiates the price down a little so she can afford it. The current owner even includes some furniture, a set of pans, things she needs and they have little need of since they were relocating to a different town.

It depletes the last of her money, costs her five protection spells for the family, and leaves her rather broke but, she has a little cottage, doesn't she? It's worth all the fuss.

And so, she moves her things into her new home and sets out to the market for things she needs - blankets mostly, a pillow, food. That means she sets up with her guitar, her violin, and her voice, vibrant as she tells tales from a world she no longer has access to save via legend and her own memory.

A small crowd gathers and she sings more until she needs a break. Setting down her guitar, she reaches for a flask of cool water and sighs as her thirst is quenched.

"That's better," she murmurs and sets about to count her coins. Hopefully, it will be enough for dinner, hay for her horse, and her necessary items. She nearly crosses her fingers.


002. Settling in - Exploring
Her curiosity takes her on horseback through the forest she came through to get to Gazin and she hums as she moves through the trees on a well-travelled path, her eyes sharp for danger. If there is, she knows it's nothing she can't handle if needed. There are crows following her, at least two, and she stops to hold out a hand and feed one a bit of meat. The other alights on her shoulder, clacking his beak in a bid for attention for his meal. Dutifully, she gives him something as well. And now she has friends on her journey.

"Once upon a time," she says to the crows and horse, Balthazar, as she breaks her journey to camp for the evening, "there was a woman who woke up in a forest..."

003. Settling In - Celebration
Back from her travels, with nuggets of gold and silver for her troubles, rescues, and general bardic feats, she changes into something a little fancier and joins the celebrations. Besides her usual dress in blue, she has one in green, now, bringing her wardrobe up to three outfits, one modern from Chicago, which she never wears. People tend to give her odd looks, as they did the first time she came to Gazin. She wears the green with a shawl of white and gold, happily throwing herself into throng of party-goers without a care.

She latches on to anyone who seems hesitant to dance and pulls them in with laughter and joy.

Exploring

[obliviouspatriarch]

Compared to his arrival a few weeks prior where he was a wreck, Wei Wuxian is now in a much more cheery mood and willing to be social with other people now that his husband has arrived. He's even wandering the forest and checking things out, playing his flute on occasion, until he hears a woman's voice beginning a story as he come out from behind a tree with a bright grin while tucking Chenqing into his waist sash.

"Oh, and what happened to this maiden upon waking? I would like to hear her tale if you'd be so kind to share it."

Re: Exploring

[nightingalemage]

"She met all manner of interesting beasts, of course," Arha says without missing a beat. The company is unexpected but the grin puts her at ease and she gestures to the little fire she has going in a stone ring. Lief, the horse, peers at the new company and shifts a little, while the two birds cuddle in closer to their chosen mage.

"And a skull named Bob who she liked very much. He was an old soul," she continued. "The woman knew this because of the markings all over his skull."

[obliviouspatriarch]

"She sounds like a well-travelled maiden to have met so many beasts!" His grin softens towards the horse and the birds cuddling, as well as comes forward to sit and listen intently to the woman's story, tilting his head in curiosity about the skull.

"A skull you say, and one that has a name? Does he have a body as well?" He pauses, waving his hand apologetically. "Ah, don't mind me, do continue this tale!"

[nightingalemage]

"Well-travelled enough to not be eaten, certainly," Arha says with a laugh. "Mm, a skull with a name, for a spirit lived there. Bob had no body, though. But he did have a home in his skull, though he was very much trapped there and appeared as two orange lights where his eyes were. All in all, he was handsome for a skull because the woman could almost see what he had been like in life. She thought it was terrible that he had no body. The markings all over his skull said many things of trapping and containing but that didn't particularly say anything about giving him a body."

She pauses as if thinking and hmmms softly.

"So, she set about doing something about it with magic because this woman was a wizard."

3~

[runicfeathers]

Aside from her bright -almost on fire- red hair and pointed elflike ears with mesmerising golden eyes, Willow looks like she belongs with the locals, her clothing even being in that adventurer's style complete with daggers at her waist and an ornate bow at her back. She's not necessarily hesitant to dance and be merry more than she's scanning the crowd for a lost companion, a companion she has been travelling with on an important mission. Although once she's grabbed, Willow lets out a startled yell before relaxing and fixing the ginger haired woman with a stern look.

"May I help you? It is impolite to suddenly reach for someone without at least making oneself known!" Her tone is lecturing and mildly frustrated. Had the woman asked, she would have been willing to take a break and be merry in the crowd.

Re: 3~

[nightingalemage]

"Apologies," she says with a soft laugh. "Sometimes I get so caught up in the moment I forget myself. That said, I'm Arha, and you should definitely come dance." Her cornflower-blue eyes are bright and merry, her lips turned in a winning smile that says she means no harm as she lets go and turns a hand up for the taking.

"It's a celebration, after all, and I would love to share it with you."

[runicfeathers]

Willow shakes her head with a sigh, offering up a smile after the apology is given. "It is quite alright, I accept your apology, and graciously accept your offer to dance, Arha. My name is Willow."

Her smile brightens, taking the hand offered to her. Those blue eyes and smile remind her of the one she's looking at, so how could she deny a dance?

"What, pray tell, are we celebrating? Is it some sort of local festival in this place?"

[nightingalemage]

"Well, Willow, I think someone just wanted a celebration for the hell of it," Arha says with a laugh, pulling the woman out into crowd with a bright laugh. "Sometimes, those are the best of reasons. I can't argue with that."

There's no particular style of dancing they're doing, either, but Arha's good at improvising and the music kicks up a notch now that there are more people dancing.

If Arha can sense holy/life magic, she's free to notice that off Willow

[runicfeathers]

Willow tilts her head to the side, red hair tied up high falling to the side. "Hm, perhaps it is, yes. I would not complain back home if one chose to have a celebration with little reasons to why. Being merry is a wonderful thing!"

Willow is not only good at improvisation, she has danced for centuries to entertain her friends and guests. Her movements fall in well with the music and if close attention is paid, a shimmer in the air can be seen. The feeling of life and fire itself radiating off her as she giggles right back.

"I do believe that you are correct, although I am searching for someone dear to me, a dance hurts nothing and I trust her to find me at some point."

She can!

[nightingalemage]

This is one is magic, Arha says to herself and smiles. She can see it, sense it, fiery, full of life. It's beautiful, much like her new companion here. Arha's skirts twirl and she laughs without restraint, happy to let go for a moment.

"I hope your friend shows up soon!" she calls over the din of music and shouting voices.