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

[bowvahkiin]

[He's guarded in a way she recognizes, a wariness born out of some form of betrayal or bloodshed. It's a lesson learned the hard way, a bitter pill to swallow and one that would forever be lodged in the throat. She understands it in a way that she can't express, only that the same haunted air that hangs about him also hangs about her.

He's right that the name doesn't mean very much to her. Winterfell sounds close to Winterhold, but she doubts it is anywhere close to the lands of the far North or even in the same world as Skyrim. But he isn't wrong when he tells her that she is familiar, it is the same with him for her. It brings an easy smile to her face as she ducks her head for a moment before looking back at him from behind the curtain of her brown hair.] You remind me of home as well. Ours might not be so different.

[Down to the ruthless life that so many had to lead.] It's a pleasure not to waste my arrow in your heart, Robb. [A noticeable shadow crossed her face at the mention of family, thinking at once of her parents and siblings, people she had not seen for years.] Gone. I don't know where.

I have a son and daughter, but they are home and safe.

[wolfsnarl]

[ One home was not so different from another, at the end of it. Home was a place that always tugged at the heart, no matter what had happened there. A smattering of bright memories among the betrayal and the failures. The call of home would always sting, for everyone. It did for him, anyway. He couldn’t think of home of without thinking of everything he’d lost, and everything that could’ve been. Home was innocence and safety and warmth, and there was no returning.

To think that he bears some reflection of her own home gives him a flick of pride, though he can’t imagine why. A shimmer of light in the darkness, perhaps. His smile softens as he watches her, before his gaze shifts to the trees. ] I hope they are not too much alike. [ Not even his faraway home had been free from bloodshed, after all, and he would wish that on no one.

He can’t help but laugh as she returns his words, regardless of how true the threat may or may not have been. As long as he stood breathing, at least, he could find humor in it. Only so much humor to be glimpsed in the otherwise wrathful grip of life, he well knew, and he lowers his gaze once more at the answer he is given. Gone; how much is gone for them all?

And still something saved – a son and a daughter, and he suffers a brief but indescribably sharp stab of pain before he can summon another polite smile. ] A gift to be grateful for. I hope they stay there. [ He remembers leaving his own home before he was ready, as he’s sure many children do. What he wouldn’t have given to stay, and protect them all. He makes an addition, so as not to give insult. ] Though you could make a home anywhere, by the looks of it. Neither elk nor wolves would trouble you.

[bowvahkiin]

Alike enough. [Heartbreak, sorrow, betrayal, these things left stains on the soul. No matter the years, no matter the distance, it would remain there, never completely washed away. She could look at him and see the mark, the lingering threat of more bloodshed in some form or another, whether spilled by him or another. It was a song heard on the wind, carrying them until they crossed paths inevitably, loneliness drawing loneliness.] Otherwise we both wouldn't be armed. [She was much the same, doing her best to find humor in the situation.

She noted the sharp stab of pain, but can't place why, only that she understands what that response meant.] They are. So long as they stay home, they will be looked after. My housecarl is able enough with a blade to protect them and the land where our home is doesn't have much danger, save for bandits or wolves. [She glanced up at him, a flicker of amusement.] Wolves not of your kind, I should say.

[It was a compliment, but one she was proud of. Having traveled to so many different places, it was a virtue to be able to make any of it a home.] As do you, despite being noble. Not many nobleman I know have that ability.

Most like to stay where their servants can tend them.

[wolfsnarl]

[ Alike enough, as in all things. Nowhere was safe, just as no one was safe, and he regretted that he was wise enough to know the truth. Life had been much sweeter when he didn’t know how much blood the gods demanded. Life was easier when he hadn’t had to bear in mind the cruelty, and the fact that he could do very little about it. Just one more thing he could never return to. He had the impression that she understood that as well as he did. ] I imagine it’s only a world where all men are blind that they dare to go unarmed.

[ It was the moment of eyes meeting that was so precarious – trust or distrust followed. Usually the latter. Most men had too much to lose when it came to trust, and so they had no choice but to carry weapons. Swords were forged for justice and vengeance; true peace would not require bladed weapons. But that was a world they would never know, and he was among those who would never give up his sword. He resists the urge to grip his hilt again.

He steers his thoughts toward home, instead – her home, where her children are cared for. A child’s safety cannot be guaranteed in any world, but that doesn’t keep him from envisioning such a reality. Maybe her world knew something closer than his did. His lips twitch as ‘wolves’ once again prowl into conversation. ] Wolves defend children. It’s lesser beasts that would threaten them. [ Cowardly dogs passing as wolves. Scavengers and lawless predators.

He raises both brows at her assessment, although she is not wrong. He is noble, but the drudgery of court had never appealed to him. Nor did the weight of the responsibility that came with it, but there’d been no choice. It might have been different if he’d had his father to guide him. He tips his head, inviting her to walk with him should she be inclined, both hands behind his back. ]

In name more than action, I think. A home built by servants is the servants’ home, not mine. I’d rather build my own nobility. [ He flicks his gaze over her again. ] You have no servants to tend you?

[bowvahkiin]

I wouldn't turn your back on all the blind men. [She fell into step alongside him, holding to the cord that tied the rabbits to her belt. There was no clear destination in mind for her, only the desire to continue moving and wander further into the forest. He didn't seem to mind, so she would accept his company.] I like my bow well enough I don't want to be without it. [And perhaps that was the sad truth of their worlds. There was a comfort in the weapons, but an eventual kinship as well. It became more than extension of the body but the body itself. How much of her heart and soul had been poured into making her bow? She couldn't imagine losing it or leaving it behind.

Lesser beasts, perhaps. She's known several different types of wolves. The kind that roam the woods and terrorize her children, the kind that men can easily shift into both figuratively and literally...and now this kind before her.] Well it was some form of wolf that attacked my chickens and children. [And she had shot it the moment it lunged at them.] They have their own weapons and are training in them, but they are still too young to be trusted to look after themselves. [She was proud of her children and her face didn't hide her open love for them.

But of course he mentions servants and she can't exactly lie that she is similar to him in yet another way.] My home was built by my own hands, but aye, I do have servants. If I say it is only a housecarl and bard, does that mean I'm less pampered?