[Game Thread] Chapter 1: Awoken in Northshire

[Embrodak]

Chris looks on as they speak of a homunculus, his eyebrows raising as he digests the info. He keeps an eye an ear out in the proceedings with the strange device, but keeps to himself on it an instead lifts a spoonful of Tom Yum soup to his lips.

[Tahlon]

John leans over the edge of the boat to watch it split the water. It had been a while since he had been out on his dad's little speedboat, and he certainly missed it. The air had a different feeling out over the water, and everything seemed a bit more serene.

"I've never had Thai before," John offers, looking curiously at the food Chris spread out. "But I suppose now is as good a time as any to try it! Thanks for bringing it." He puts his beer down in a nearby cup-holder and walks over to the table, his two pieces of pizza already gone. He hadn't eaten much earlier, knowing that Hawk would have plenty of food.

Looking a bit awkward, John peers into the containers until he locates the beef soup. "Ok, so, uh, I just put some of this in the bowl... and then stick some rice in one of those containers?" He juggles bowls and spoons and containers until he has a satisfactory meal, then returns to his seat to try it all.

"Mmm... this is pretty darn good!" He grins and winks at Chris. "Even compared to pizza!"

[Insacrum]

Steve walks aboard the boat, and the first thing he things when hearing that the group would be gaming on the boat was, 'the first dice overboard is going to have a bad rest if it's life as fish food!'

With his stuff stowed, he got himself a slice of pizza and a beer, nothing to out of the ordinary for him. With Chris joining the group, and more importantly, with more food, Steve found himself with what seemed like a second stomach. I guess he was just as game as anyone else to tryout the Thai food, "Interesting!"

[Beez]

"Yeah, I guess I could." Kitten looks at the homunculus, then pauses. "I still need to give you a name... Anybody got any ideas?" While waiting, Kitten shrugs and looks back at the thing. "Alright, Machine Thing. Go... steal some of Ansley's Thai food." Kitten grins when the idea comes to him, and sits back to watch the show. Kitty just eats her pizza silently, watching with wide-eyed anticipation, and maybe a little glee.

[Krazy]

The engine of the boar hums, more a quiet purr than a roar, as the boat sets off out onto the lake. The sky is already gaining an orange hue as the sun begins the first part of its descent, but this does not seem like a large concern with this boat. It easily pushes out over the minute waves of the lake, and in a short while the pier grows distant.

The shore does not get too far away, though--Hawks drives North, along the coast, until some islands come into sight.

Despite the development of the lake, the small islands along the coast remain undeveloped--and further North, the developments are more spread out, so that they move through a forested, calm part of Lake

Some of the larger islands are developed, though--but Hawk avoids these.

Once they are out by some of the smaller, forested isles, Hawk stops the boat and comes back.

Hawk refrains from partaking in Chris's beer--although he seems pleased to see it, and probably would drink if he didn't still plan to drive them back. At the sight of the Tom Yum, he smiles. "That looks amazing--I'm absolutely going to try some." And he does--although apparently he finds it spicy, as he frequently goes for a water bottle.

Originally Posted by Beez

"Yeah, I guess I could." Kitten looks at the homunculus, then pauses. "I still need to give you a name... Anybody got any ideas?" While waiting, Kitten shrugs and looks back at the thing. "Alright, Machine Thing. Go... steal some of Ansley's Thai food." Kitten grins when the idea comes to him, and sits back to watch the show. Kitty just eats her pizza silently, watching with wide-eyed anticipation, and maybe a little glee.

With a whir of its wings, not unlike a dragonfly, the homunculus lifts up into the air and flies toward Ansley. It circles around her once, as though scoping out the food, and then darts in, grabbing a shrimp with its insect-like legs. With that, it flies back to Kitten, hovering before him, clearing waiting for him to receive its gift.

"I wonder if you could make it do that with jewelry," Hawk wonders, watching it. "The homunculus jewel thief? Sounds like a case for Sherlock Holmes."

[Beez]

Kitten looks vaguely interested. "Jewelry thief, huh? Hmm. That could actually work. Remind me later, I'll test it." He grins, then looks around. "This is a great view. How is it you're this lucky? I thought I was the one with all the luck."

"So, are we playing on the boat, or somewhere on this island? 'Cause this feels almost like adventure, and it calls me so."

[Tahlon]

John raises his eyebrows at the little toy. "Wow, that is pretty awesome! You said you got it at the craft fair, huh? I guess I should have gone."

He wolfs down the rest of his Thai and washes it down with a beer. Then he sighs in contentment. "I'm going to fall asleep out here, bobbing in the water with a full stomach, if we don't get this game rolling! I totally tried some zen meditation stuff this week, to try to get into Xeno's character a bit more. We'll see how it goes."

[Embrodak]

Chris nods. "Yes.. Where is the game table?" he says as he adjusts the weight in his backpack, shifting the weight from one shoulder to the next.

[Krazy]

Hawk "parks" the boat close to the island, but there is no dock. "We can try to find a dock in a bit--but I think we're pretty well set up right here for now."

Indeed, there is the equivalent of a large coffee table toward the rear of the boat--it's a soft plastic, not wood, but the surface is as flat as it gets. The gentle waves of the lake don't upset the balance of the boat enough to disrupt any of the food that's about, and drinks can rest comfortably as people play with their books or notes.

It takes Hawk a good minute to settle in enough to get into a "game mode."

"Last time, we had just finished our encounter with the orcs. With nothing else to find at this locale, the group makes camp, rests, and then heads on their way the next day."

As he continues on, Hawk's voice transitions for a summary of the last week's events and a brief gloss to active description of what's going on.

Hawk's Description You continue riding up through the hills. Your supplies from restocking at the inn along the way are almost exhausted, and there is little time when camping each night to hunt for game. But Locke assures you that you are close to Northshire, your destination. As you ride, you continue to see the wide fields. Yet, the grass seems rougher out here, and the animals few and far between. As you continue on, starting to head up into the hills, you find that you cannot remember the last time you saw a cow int he fields to the East. As always, you do continue to see offshoots of the path, leading down to small fishing villages along the coast to the West, but these too seem infrequently tread, and whether anyone actually lives down in these remote villages is a complete mystery. After another day and night, the hills begin to transform into mountains. The crops along the East change briefly--there are vineyards and crops, and these actually do seem to be tended to, with an actual fence enclosing them in, protecting them from whatever predators stalk the slope up the mountain. After this, it is not long at all until you finally come to Northshire itself.

Hawk pauses and takes a long drink from a water bottle. Perhaps they will need to sneak off to the island, but the sun is setting now and it's quite gorgeous along the water. Although the breeze has picked up.

Northshire The path leads you low along the mountain, and pushes you West to the coast itself. Still, your awareness of Northshire comes from a small plume of smoke rising around the curve of the mountain. If you had any worries about the safety of the town, however, they are reassured when you make the bend around the mountain an the docks--in-tact--come into view. Ahead, you can see gushing waterfalls crashing over the high cliffs, creating a myriad of small rivers criss-crossing around the docks that meet up with the ocean. Warehouses dot the oceanfront and tower and stone buildings are cut into the side of the cliffs and the mountain. The source of the smoke from earlier is soon identified as coming from a large pyre, close to the cliffs--a Rowlandson creation, a symbol supporting their god Koveras. "This is Lower Northshire," Locke explains as you near. "We actually won't find much in the way of accommodations here. We'll be wanting to get up the cliff for that." He pauses, and then says. "The Koveras people are here, and in force. Now is the time to be making sure we all remember our stories. If anyone wants to be adjusting their setup, now is the time to do so."

[Beez]

"Koveras, huh? They probably won't like me very much. Let's see..." Sargavan mutters under his breath, waving his hands a little, and slowly takes on the appearance of a halfling, clothed like Slave and Mikki. "There. Now we should be able to get by a little better. Er, does anybody have any spare chains? It may help with the ruse. I may have some rope in my pack somewhere, but it's not very slave-like. Oh, and I can only hold this for about ten minutes, so we'd better hurry if we're going through today."

Kitten Kitten looks up at Hawk. "Alright, so Sar casts Disguise Self to make himself look like a halfling slave for 10 minutes. We don't get our spells from last time back, do we? Or has that much time actually passed?"

[Embrodak]

Chris Speaks up "Well he did say a few days passed so I say it would be safe to assume you have all your spells available."

Henly The Sorcerer looks down to Sargavan "Sorry, I have no chains. But I would say a Slave that is cowed would be hesitant to run. With us traveling it would be believable that you would not be chained." With that said Henly walks with the group.

[Tahlon]

John arranges his notebook, dice, and pencil so that they aren't in danger of falling overboard. "Ok, let's go!"

Xeno Xeno is fairly quiet on the ride North, but he shakes his head when he sees the pyre at the base of the cliff. "How ostentatious." His voice is quiet, but his tone speaks volumes of disgust. He runs a hand over his bald head. "How long to get past them?" he askes Locke. "Is there an easy road- will we make it up the cliff by night?" Xeno wasn't looking forward to any extended encounters with Koveras fanatics- he certainly didn't want to be forced into any fake professions of faith- but he at least hoped the time exposed to any fanatics would be minimal.