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

[treadswater]

Every time someone speaks, Annie's torn between relief and disappointment that she never recognises the way they speak. This woman looked closer than most to how a lot of District folks look like, brown skinned and strong featured, but still. An utterly strange accent.

"Annie. Um. Annie Cresta."

Not many people here use last names, but her momma had raised her to be polite. And this woman - Kassandra - hasn't accused her of staring even though that's exactly what she's been doing.

"You're, you're very good. The archery? That's, that's, uh. Talent."

Talent and a hell of a lot of practice, but that's what good talent is according to Annie Cresta.

[aetophoria]

Kassandra could be numbered among the greatest hunters in the world, after the tasks she completed for the Daughters of Artemis. She's still not quite sure what to make of how easily the tale of her deeds could sit alongside those of Herakles, Jason, or Theseus. She knows that she has a bloodline that could stand her in their stead, if what Pythagoras told her about the mysterious Precursors was true. But she prefers to judge herself by more normal standards: she may have some abilities that others do not, but much of what she can do is the result of years of practice and the early teachings of Nikolaos and her Spartan schooling.

Still, she won't pretend not to appreciate the compliment, even if it is from a stranger.

"I have been shooting since I was a little girl." It's not the first thing most people think of when they think of Sparta, but archery is an important skill as well. Especially for a misthios who has spent much of the last few years traveling and fighting.

She smiles as she slips the arrows back into her quiver. "It's an important part of my trade."

[treadswater]

Sometimes, people boast. I've done this since I was a little girl, I've done this since I was a tiny boy, I sat up in my crib and started a novel. Annie's seen it all her life. District or Capitol, people boast. But this statement, from this woman, makes sense.

You only get that level of confidence and smoothness when you've done something for years.

"Trade? Oh, you mean, you're a hunter?"

It, still, is an occupation which doesn't first appear in her mind. The only time before arriving at this strange place that she'd consistently seen bows and arrows were the Games and the Academy.

"Just, uh, just the meat or hides as well?"

[aetophoria]

"Mainly for hides," Kassandra says. "Blacksmiths pay me well for them, or I can use them myself."

In Sparta, everyone learned to fight from the time they were small. Boys, so they could go on to fight for the glory of Sparta. Girls, for the fitness and the opportunity to show off that competition gave them. But Kassandra was not just any other Spartan child. She'd been the granddaughter of the famous Leonidas, the daughter of a prominent Spartan general. She'd been meant to bring glory.

That was what Nikolaos used to tell her, so many years ago. Before the mountain. Before exile. Before she'd had to learn to really fight, not just to please her parents, but because it was how she got paid.

"I am, I think the word is, a mercenary. Where I am from, we would say misthios."

[treadswater]

The first bit? That makes sense. Leather has to come from somewhere. So does fur. District 4 does fish and seafood, but she's still familiar with where leather comes from. And she's getting familiar with all the things that blacksmiths do.

But then the woman with the bow, who already Annie likes far more than Katniss Everdeen, keeps talking.

And Annie stops, and frowns, and opens her mouth a moment or two before actually speaking.

"Um."

She tries again.

"Wh, what's a mercenary?"

[aetophoria]

Maybe her grasp of this new language isn't as perfect as she'd been assured it would be. Or maybe this woman, Annie, is not just from somewhere with a different accent and language to Greece, but somewhere a misthios is not so common a sight as it is in Greece. Everyone knows what she does, knows what she is from seeing her walking past.

Annie, though, sounds and looks confused. Kassandra will need to explain.

"People hire me, to do things for them. Find a lost husband or deal with bandits or protect them from someone who wishes them harm. There are many things that someone who is not a fighter might pay a warrior to do. I ... do those things."

She tilts her head to one side, a little ruefully. "And when there are not many people who wish to pay for someone to solve their problems, I sell things to blacksmiths and hunt for my food."

[treadswater]

"That's a job?"

It's not that she doesn't believe this woman. She seems sincere. But it's just that...

Well.

The idea of it being a formal, freelance occupation is weird. Of course fisheries have people who can fix things, fix situations. And you can go to your family or your friends or crew if you have a problem. And in the Capitol, she's sure there are all kinds of fixers. But to actually make a living of it, outside of a gang?

"I. That makes sense. I, think? I'm sorry, I'm being really rude, I've just never heard of that as an actual job before. Instead of, um, a favour. Sorry."

[aetophoria]

"It's something you can do to earn money, if you are good enough at it," Kassandra says, her head tilting again in something like rueful concession that it's certainly not easy. Or formal. Or, necessarily, respected.

"There are mercenaries in Greece, where I am from. Enough of us that if I ask someone if a misthos could help them, they know what I mean. We go from place to place looking for anyone who will give us work. There aren't always many people who can pay, so it isn't always a very good job. But it ... suits my skills."

She's not offended by the woman's surprise. If being a misthios is a common enough trade in Greece that most people know one when they see one, it's not a steady trade, not steady enough that an island like Kephallonia could really support her if she hadn't been doing regular work for Markos. There's a reason many misthioi travel, and take whatever work they can get, even if it's picking herbs or retrieving a lost item.

[treadswater]

That, at least, Annie understands. She hasn't always been rich. She remembers what it was like to grow up in the fisheries, and then to go back to them after the Academy.

People found what work they could.

They even travelled. When they could.

(Bribery was often involved. A lot of Peacekeepers were fine with looking the other way.)

"Is, um. Is there much call for it here?"

[aetophoria]

"Not so much as I would have hoped."

She says it lightly, but the look on her face suggests it's something of a problem.

"But I have managed in places smaller than this. I can find my own food if I need to, and if I have to sell wood and hides to get by, I can do that."

She sighs and shakes her head. "Times where I am from are unsettled. There is war across much of Greece between two great cities, and instability means that bandits and criminals can thrive. And that soldiers are always willing to pay to have one more bow on their side in battle."

If that makes her sound like she'll sell her services to anyone with no thought of the consequences, that's not entirely true. She does choose her jobs, when she can. She simply doesn't support one side or the other in the war between Athens and Sparta, because she's seen the corruption at the hearts of both cities.

"In a way, it's nice to be somewhere a little more peaceful, but it doesn't pay as well."

She says it with a sly tilt to her mouth and a sparkle in her eye that suggests she doesn't entirely mind the difficulties she's bemoaning. After so long spent going into battle for one side only to support the other in the next region she visits and do it all over again, undoing her own work all in the name of uncovering the cultists at the heart of the war, peace is refreshing.