Dawn of Steel [IC]

[Hopes Crusader]

From the Journal of King Erin:

This is my journal.. My name is King Erin. I have a story to tell.

"Month 3, Day 7." [Day 0]

The world is at peace. Yarno has only a few factions fighting, and there are few who are unhappy. We live nice lives.

"Month 3, Day 8." [Day 1]

Rumors have spread fast, of some sort of gnome descending from a portal of a sort. No one panics.

"Month 3, Day 9." [Day 2]

The rumors where true. There is a being from another dimension, and he is in our world. We do not know his plans or agenda, but he has converted half the city somehow.

"Month 3, Day 10." [Day 3]

The gnome now rules half the city. My guards fight to the best they can, but they are up against men with strange weapons and armor, shining blades instead of rock swords. My men do not follow my command, except for a select few. They have fell to the gnome's offers..

"Month 3, Day 11." [Day 4]

The gnome has been identifed. He is Waxlow, and he brandishes weapons of great power. No one dares to fight against him. I am writing while the soldiers outside bang on my door. I fear for my life, and for my kingdom.

"Month 3, Day 12." [Day 5]

I now am forced to write in my own blood, the guards in there demonic armor will not give me a quill. I live now in the prison, as the gnome Waxlow is resting his army. The prisoners do not know what he plans.

"Month 3, Day 16" [Day 9]

I am back from the torture chamber. I know very little still. Only that Waxlow now controls the entire Kingdom.. He has converted our Kingdom, the houses being turned into crude workshops for the "steel" he creates. The guard comes.. He gives me no rest.

"Month 3, Day 19." [Day 12]

I fear now for Guratiel. It is nothing more than rubble, from what I know. I understand from the rumors spread amongst the inmates that the world is going to war. I foresee much death. I only hope I am wrong.

"Month 3, Day 21." [Day 14]

This will be my last entry. The guards gave me a quill. I plan to end my life. The inmates have given me more false hope. The only bastion of defense in Guratiel left was destroyed. I wept after hearing this. There is no hope for my family. There is no hope for anyone. The inmates can only refer to Waxlow as evil. I know nothing else of the outside world. My only friends are a quill and the cold brick of the dungeon.

This truly is the end of days, the Dawn of Steel.

________________________________________________

The sun sets. The light brings the fifteenth day since Waxlow had invaded. The air is full of the silent hint of blood and death.. The immediate sense of foreboding.

Hooock Tooey! is the sound heard when entering the Red Hobgoblin, a dirty tavern run by dirty folk. The barkeep can't say much on account of his tounge being cut out, but he can still serve a nice pint of grog if ya need that fire in your belly. The tavern has its normal customers..

Drunken Dwarves, performing Gnomes, lurking Rogues, mumbling Wizards.. Nothing exciting is happening in this foul tavern whos roots lay in Groroc. Now Groroc, thats a completely different story.

Groroc was founded by a self-loving orc by the name of Groroc, a brutish fool who tried to lay his law upon the land till a kindly order of Paladins smacked em down and took over. Groroc turned into a good town not too long after, home to a mix of races that come there for any reasons. Its not like Groroc is famous. Its just another town in the world of Yarno. But, it is home to some interesting characters.


Theres Salsakka, the Sesha merchant, a man who sells just about anything you need, hailing from the mysterious deserts.

Zaid, the Human assassin, a man whos got a missing finger to make up for the devilish wristblade he carries.

Old 'Foul' Jack, the Human beggar, a rude and greedy man who knows a little about anything you need to know.

Yrag, the Halfling barbarian, a man lookin for someone to show him something, though he doesn't know who and what, it seems to be just fine with him.

Ashback, the Human fighter, another man lookin for somethin, but this time he knows what it is.

Kallus, the Hansferfiit Lap Say. Who really knows..

Kai, the Cricket Folk ranger, a man hailing from a land of Daimyos and Samurai.

Thaimor, the Half-Elf rogue, another rogue who keeps to himself, preferring to leave his background out of it.

Begalis, the Ogre reaver, a man who dresses in black. He is a reaver, and as such does not have much respect from simple-minded peasant folk.



All these people don't have much to worry about, at least not yet. But, they will play a part in this world.

Today, there are bits of cloth posted to the doors of the town, asking for anyone brave or stupid enough to go up against powerful creatures. The cloths also say that there will be large rewards, including very precious items. Anyone interested should report to a hovel in Section 1, there will be blue smoke coming from the chimney.

[See the OC thread before posting introduction!]

[Hopes Crusader]

Skorri Siggeir, a humble bard rests in the Red Hobgoblin, singing of sexual conquest and dragon-besting. Dwarves drink and others laugh, as a dragon hasn't been seen for many years.

"Oy! Bard! If ye know of dragons, than why hasn't one ever been seen?!" screams a drunken orc.

The bard quickly stops his lute, and replies. "Why, because the dragons eat whoever sees them. Can't very well report a dragon when you're inside his stomach, can you?"

The tavern laughs and the bard goes back to strumming his lute and singing of the women he has bested many a time.

[Barbarian]

Salsakka looks up at the mentioning of dragons, remembering to have spoken to their kind often in the desert cities of his people. However, the freshly baked leg of a local form of cattle draws his attention away from the dragon-tales. As he sets his jagged teeth in the tender meat, his brightly-colored assistant squeaks a bit, demanding a share of the food.

Smiling, the ''lizardman'', as the amusing townspeople call him, rips off one of the more tasty parts of the leg and gently feeds it to his pet.

"Barmaid, dear, would you be so kind to refill my wine, please?"

[Shotaro]

Thaimor sits at his table in the middle of the room contemplating his situation, looking around the room for potential exits, one eye constantly on the door expecting someone or something to come bursting through it every second he sits still, his ale has run dry as he stands and walks towards the bar.

"Another please" he says as he gently places the glass down. At the mention of a dragon his attention turns to the bard at the stage, his new beer is placed on the bar next to him as he stares intently at the Orc heckler. drinking his ale quickly he stands up and begins walking towards the door, looking around him as he does so.

[Boostava!]

Upstairs, Begalis awakes and dresses, raising his hood to maintain anonimity. There are plenty of people in the world who would love to slay an ogre just for the story. Leaving his claymore on his bed, but bringing along his small dagger, he summons two minor lichs to scare away any villiage pickpockets who would attempt to thieve from him. He walks downstairs and orders an ale just as the Orc begins to heckle the bard. Smirking a bit at the bard's reply (though most couldn't tell it...) he turns and loses himself to his thoughts.

[Boostava!]

Edit: The sword and dagger are now stone... very, very sharp stone...

[Raistlin]

Zaid is sitting on his bed in The Dwarf and the Queen, inspecting his sword and his wrist blade. A procedure for good measures and continued survival. The sword still had the normal signs of wear and tear and the wrist blade slid nice and easily in and out.

Content that his gear is okay, he gets up and leaves. The inn was beginning to fill, the villagers laughing and most likely drunk. He quickly spotted his usual table, sat at it and motioned for the bar maid.

"The usual" He said. She simply nodded and walked away. A good 10-15 minutes later, he got "the usual". Water, bread and a bit of meat. He paid the barmaid and sat there, eating his food. When he was done, he got up and left. He did not want to spend another minute among the "simple-minded fools", as he called them.

Leaving through the door, he spotted the cloth. "Hmm. Large rewards and precious items. This might just be worth my time" He murmured to himself and made for the hovel

[Ziadan]

-"Youre leaving your guard open again!" Jamal said as he grabbed and threw a recruit on the ground... -"Mind your footwork!" he told him.....

He looked around, several recruits were badly brusied from todays traning session. Jamal sighed, such weaklings. And he was taking it really easy on them, since they surely wouldnt survive if he trained them in the same way he had been. He decided to call it a day so they would have the strengh left for the session tomorrow.

He grabbed his gear, and decided to hit the pub for a meal and a drink.

[Pvt Minsk]

Kai was finishing his round of the day through the bazaar, weaving past the taller folk on his way back to the inn. He'd been in Groroc for five days now, longer than normal, but he needed time to heal. A wolf had accidentally gotten caught in one of his snares instead of the dire weasels he usually baited. The beast was a greater challenge than the small cricket was used to and in the fight, even with the wolf tied to a tree, he got clawed and bloodied.

Fortunately, a wolf pelt fetched good coin on the market, better than weasel fur and enough to cover the cost for bandages and herbs and new rope. The first four days he'd spent closed in his inn room, letting the cuts and bruises heal naturally. Now he was out in town again, buying rope to replace the snare broken in the fight with the wolf. Soon he'd be back in the woods with enough equipment to last a month before coming to town again. He'd be back where he belonged, able to sate his wanderlust in nature and outside these cramped streets.

"Hmm," he muttered with bemusement as a cloth message posted on a signpost caught his eye. Kai had seen these things posted all round the market but had only now bothered to read it. "Interesting. An opportunity, for sure," he concluded. Maybe he'd look into this matter about powerful creatures first, before returning to the wilds. But before all that, he continued his way towards The Red Hobgoblin to fetch his few possessions and return his room key to the innkeep.

[Barbarian]

Salsakka saw the wounded cricketman enter the inn, doing his business, and waited till he came a bit closer on his way (out or upstairs, wherever he's headed), speaking to him as he passed by.

"You, sir, look rather hurt, my friend. I might have something that can help you."

Seeing that the cricketman appeared as...not-quite wealthy, he smiled and decided to help this little man.

"I assume your funds are limited, but don't let that drop your hopes on a fast healing. This... *Salsakka draws a small pot with strange runes on its cover* ...might heal your wounds quickly, when you apply the contents on them. I'll let you have them if you give me two of those fine weasel pelts you're carrying. What do you think, sir?

[Boostava!]

As Begalis drank, mental images of Groroc from an Eagle's point of view filled his mind. He had seen the cricket-man earlier, from the bird's point of view, but upon inspecting him now, noticed he was much more injured than he had originally seen. And, of course, this vulture of a merchant had closed in on him immediately. Begalis, an impulsive spender, had seen fit to steer clear of the man they called Salsakka, lest all the rest of his gold be lost. But this cloth advertisement had caught his eye as a way to make money. Mabye there was adventure to be had here, but there was definately gold. Begalis stood up and began walking back up the stairs to fetch his claymore.

[Monkey King]

Yrag shielded his eyes as he surveyed the huge village. He clun with one hand upon a tall branchless tree, leaning out gripping it in one hand, he cursed under his breath the fact that these lowlanders knew no sense of building a proper village. This opne was too set in it's place, useless Yrag said under his breath, he thought when the herds moved onwards, these people will all starve and die, there was no way they could pack all this up to follow.

Yrag hopped down landing deftly on the head of some lowlander male silly enough to have been there at the time and he continued down the street. None of what this place was made sense as Yrag walked his full height proudly. He was being impressive he knew, daunting if you will. The lowlanders avoided him, none coming near, their noses wrinkled in fear, though their garbled language was strange to his ears.

Yrag stopped and looked at the closest hut. It was large and square and seemed no different to any of the other ones. Yrag shrugged and was about to make his way when one of the lowlanders came from betweenm the two huts he was near and garbled his language at him. Yrag grinned for the man was dressed the same as the shamans back home and Yrag made his way forward, he would great the sage in the way of his tribe and grappled with the man and started to climb up his body so as to be face to face with him.

((Okay, no-one understands Yrag's language. Also I took a little liberty and the man Yrag has met is Jack, if that is okay Kaeam?)

[Hopes Crusader]

The Red Hobgoblin bustles with strange customers from foreign lands and dwarves that smell of piss and beer.

The Bard, finishing his song of dragons rests for a minute. As he does, a strange gnome walks up to the Bard and they speak for a few minutes. After that, the gnome walks away.

The bard plays a strum on his lute. "Good patrons of this humble establishment! That gnome is Eggin, and he has a request. He requires strong men and women to take upon dangerous tasks for him. In reward, will be this. " the bard says, singing parts.

The bard pulls out a tiny dagger. Its not made of wood, or rock.. But the dagger is made of the deadly steel that plunged the world into war. The bard throws the dagger on the floor.

"Do what you wish. I am but a messenger." says the bard. and he goes back to a normal song.