[D&D-5e] Abyss Emerging

[MemoryBeast]

Application Name: Pavel Vocheslav Race: Human (V) Class: Fighter (Battle Master) 3 Background: Soldier Alignment: Neutral Character Bio: Five years ago, as a starry-eyed farm boy with dreams of glory, Pavel Vocheslav took the king’s coin and joined the ranks of the Border Guard. He imagined a life of thrilling adventure and camaraderie in the untamed northern marches, until he mustered out with a fat coinpurse and tales enough to keep him in drinks at the tavern back home, when finally his tour was up. Instead, he found himself waist-deep in a cold, bloody quagmire of a war. He’d had the ill fortune to sign up just in time for the most recent incursion of the Kalaj Nar barbarians, and when that black horde of flesh-eating northern wildmen was finally repulsed, Pavel found himself pressed into the expeditionary force that the king sent into the northern marches after them. For years, Pavel trudged across grey, rain-slick highlands, hunkered down in rat-infested border redoubts, and fought skirmish after skirmish and battle after battle against the Kalaj Nar - as often as not ending in blood-soaked stalemate or panicked, humiliating retreat. The wildmen themselves, with their hooked knives and shrill war-cries, were bad enough, but they had their shamans and their shadow-witches as well, calling on fell magics and ancient, wicked gods. Pavel saw friends and comrades overrun by baying packs of demons, melted away by clouds of acid, drawn screaming into black, whispering patches of shadow conjured up in the midst of the battlefield. No plan of the king’s generals, no battlemage’s spell or war-cleric’s blessing, ever seemed enough to overcome the horrors that the Kalaj Nar unleashed. By the time his tour was up, Pavel had aged far more than five years. He limped home from a war that had never really ended, only ground to a halt, and mustered out with a few months’ pay, a tarnished tin medal for valor shown in some insignificant battle, and the scuffed and dented arms and armor that had seen him through the war. But though he wanted nothing more than to slink home and forget he’d ever been a soldier, he found that the ghosts of the war would give him no rest. He’d grown too accustomed to hardship and bloodshed, his eyes too wary of every threat and his hand too quick to spring for the blade at his side. In the end, he found the farm life to which he’d longed to return unbearable, and the family he’d left behind unable to understand what he’d become. Taking up his sword and shield once more, Pavel took to the road as a sellsword, heading for the coast and the fractious independent states far from the king and his wars, and quickly fell in with other hardened mercenaries with no place left for them among decent folk. Of the coin he earns fighting bandits and putting down monsters, he keeps almost none, sending the bulk home to his family - more recompense than most families got after losing their sons to the war. Appearance: Pavel is a young man of medium build, with plain, coarse features that betray his peasant stock, with patchy stubble and a tangle of dirt-brown hair, trimmed and tended indifferently at best. Despite his obvious youth, Pavel's face is gaunt and careworn, with scars across his cheeks telling of old wounds, and ever-present rings of bruised purple beneath his eyes bespeaking sleepless nights. His arms and armor bear the dents and scratches of long use, and the blue-and-white Border Guard tabard that Pavel still wears over his chain mail is tattered and stained. Despite his slovenly appearance and sullen expression, Pavel moves with the assurance and poise of a seasoned fighter, and his sunken eyes have the hard glint of one who has grown accustomed to killing. Personality: Pavel is resigned to being what the war made of him - wary, sullen, and fatalistic, fighting because it's the only thing he's any good at, rather than out of any zeal for a cause or exhilaration in combat. His experiences in a pointless, brutal, and mismanaged war have left him bitterly cynical about kings and generals alike - he chooses his own battles now, and his loyalty is to his own coin purse and to the people who fight at his side. He is haunted by survivor's guilt, unsure of how he survived the horrors of the war against the Kalaj Nar when so many of his friends and comrades did not, or whether he deserved to. Pavel abandoned his family out of an inability to re-adapt to a peaceful life - the only act of real cowardice in a life full of rather exceptional bravery - and beneath his cynical facade, the guilt over this gnaws at him. To ease his conscience, he sends home what money he can from his work as a sellsword, but more than this, he tries - however haphazardly - to cling to some shred of his ideals. He fully anticipates getting himself killed before too long, and when he does, he'd like it to be in a way his family can be proud of. He maintains a deep and abiding hatred for the Kalaj Nar, whom he considers little better than beasts, and for the ancient gods and any that would worship them, who are, as far as he is concerned, no better than demons. He fights with professional dispassion and without malice or cruelty - except when his foes are such as these. Writing Samples: Naraka appears. A big boss encounter in the game I was running until recently. Katerin returns. Introductory post for another fighter. Anetsa changes. A druid in a sadly abortive game.

That should do it, I think.

[Dressedtojazz]

Interesting stuff to start the week off with. I have put up a table with all your neat applications - please let me know if you find any mistakes.

I hope to make a choice at the start of next week.

@Xian - is your application complete? It looks like it, but you didn't explicit state it to be so.

[Xian]

Originally Posted by Dressedtojazz

Interesting stuff to start the week off with. I have put up a table with all your neat applications - please let me know if you find any mistakes.

I hope to make a choice at the start of next week.

@Xian - is your application complete? It looks like it, but you didn't explicit state it to be so.

Dressedtojazz,

I apologize for that. I can confirm that my application is complete. Thanks for putting this on!

Cheers, Xian

[Dressedtojazz]

@Tyeal - caught your completed application

@Perdition, @Maskain - are yours complete too?

Others are still welcome. I am reading through applications as they tick in now. Still aiming to make a choice on the other side of the weekend.

[Perdition]

Still need to put in some links, but mostly done.

E: Completed

[Maskain]

It certainly is now. Though I plan on downsizing and quality checking that image when I'm off mobile.

[Lukarnis]

Vitals Name: Tuil'villanue (Tully) Al'vellana Race: Wood Elf Class: Monk, Way of the Four Elements

Background Tully doesn't tell many people about his past. It's all need to know anyway. More than anything, he enjoys the mystery and the rumors that spread around him. The truth is, his past is entirely dull. Born to elven parents with a fondness for the sea, Tully spent years watching the tides. When he was old enough to drag a plank, he'd put it on the waves and pretend to surf. When he was old enough to chop wood, he'd build small boats and row along the coastline. He'd pretend to fight, dance, and climb all over his little ships, developing an unparalleled mastery over his sea legs. It was on the shore one day that he met Allienne, an elven girl from his village who had always been quiet, standoffish, and a little difficult to read. Not anti-social, simply shy and self-contained. She had watched him longer than he realized, and her interest in him only grew as she watched him dance aboard his little boat that day. They sat and talked for a few hours, and the next day she joined him on his drift. It was in that little homemade boat that they shared their first kiss. Allienne's parents were less interested in him than she. He was known as a slacker, a good-for-nothing, and their daughter deserved better. They told him, if he were true with his intentions on their daughter, making something of himself would be the proof. So once he reached maturity, he boarded a merchant ship as a deckhand at the first opportunity. He signed a contract for ten years, a pittance in the life of an elf, and being on the open sea was everything he dreamed it could be. After those ten years, writing to Allienne every chance and getting her letters in return, he finally went back to his village. There, he found Allienne and her new husband. She had written him the night before their wedding, keeping the relationship a secret for the past year, never having the heart to tell her that her parents had arranged for her to marry. Tully was disappointed, but his first true love still waited for him. He signed another contract and left his village again, this time never to return. He sailed aboard merchant ships, luxury ships, any kind of boat that would have him. He made a comfortable living, but he was generally just happy to be on the ocean.

Personality Tully is reserved, almost defensive, and doesn't truly trust anyone. It's a game to him, being older than almost anyone he meets, and having been playing longer he is very good at it. He will make up a story that sounds plausible, only to laugh when his lie is found out. He is jovial, comfortable on the sea, and his elven heritage gives him a much longer perspective than most shorter-lived creatures.

Misc I don't have much in the way of examples - haven't been in any games for quite some time. Been mostly running them. This is a freeform solo game I'm running with a player whose character has been in a couple of my games. Should demonstrate my rp capability well enough. The approximate trait, ideal, flaw, and bond are something like "I know little of life on land, and it can be socially detrimental," "My quick foot is better than your quick blade," "You can trust no one but yourself," and "The land may fall, friends may fade, but the sea is forever."

[Drachenspirit]

Where's the Sparkle? Character Name: Defiant Sparkle "Def" Race: Tabaxi Class: Rogue, subclass of Swashbuckler Physical Description: Def is 6/5" tall when standing full erect, which isn't a common thing. She's cunningly, and devilishly pretty, which gives her a certain charm. Unlike some Tabaxi, she smiles quite often, a thing made obvious by the showing of her longer teeth, and usually followed by a teasing word and tone. She keeps her hair immaculate most of the time, though not bound so her man flies around when she's doing anything athletic or acrobatic. Personality: Def loves life. Getting to know her means getting to understand that her value of things materialistic is strictly relegated to their purpose. She only has coin to get something else. She only sees it as trade, and though she understands the coin bartering system, she doesn't like it too much since too many are too infatuated with shiny coins. Her almost constant jesting and daring ideas sometimes makes it difficult to know when she's serious or just foolhardy. She's a wanderer and traveler in a way even an elf struck with wanderlust would have difficulty with. Her idea of personal space is way different, or perhaps nonexistent than most folks. She'll blithely invade your space with absolutely no idea that she's done so. It is clear that she is far from wherever she calls home as she sees everything (almost) as strange and wonderful, and if someone says she doesn't know their ways or the ways of this place she'll often remark, "They don't know mine either, so who's got the upper paw now?" Though she's fascinated by the beauty and wonder of these new lands she is in, it is clear that her freedom is her most precious possession, and no one will take that from her - and this is how all should feel. She will often pretend not to speak the language to avoid an interaction she's rather not have. Her greatest weakness is how she can be taken in by what she sees as the exotic beauty of the places and peoples of these lands, as well as their new drinks of alcohol. Background: She was no more than a kit when she came to these lands with a friend of the family. Or maybe he was family. Or maybe her family is so large, she can't keep up. Anyway, she had just cut her teeth, her adult teeth, when her friend and fellow Tabaxi just up and disappeared. She took up with a band of folk who liked to acquire, sell, and dodge authorities who disagreed with this way of doing things, and learned their traits. It's kept her out of trouble... well, out of serious trouble, as she's bounced around from one thing to another, and always wanting to see something new. So it's right good timing when someone needs people to investigate missing slips and... what? Ships? What's a... OH! Sailboats! They're called ships? Ahhh... that explains that argument I had with a fellow said he was a sailor on a ship and I corrected him and said a sailboat, and he... wait. Where was I? ... and it was fortunate as she was just thinking - a few seconds earlier - how she'd like to try something new as this town wasn't so new anymore. Sample of your skills: Here's one, my first game thread of many in this group, Arbiters of a New Age. Here's the Forum where I am currently running "2" adventures/games and about to add a third. I try to give the NPCs some character, so check out 'Welcome to Thentia' for some good examples. NOTE: I will shrink Def's image for posting in the game thread should I make the cut.

[Warson]

Posting interest...if there is still time.

[pkeiter]

I think I finished my application. Let me know if you need anything else.

[Dressedtojazz]

What a I am Danish, by the way.morning? Nifty new applications and good intentions all around. I'm loving it.

@Drachenspirit, Warson - there is time still. I plan on making a choice sunday/monday (DK time)

[Jon]

Application now complete - towards the end of the thread.

Its a stellar collection of applications - you’ll be spoilt for choice. Good luck all!


Hi - I plan to put in a submission over the weekend

I love the set up of this game and have been mulling a character to join the game. I’ve finallly hit on a concept I’d like to submit - a high-elf rogue (sometime spy, sometime trade representative, drawn to the mission for the access and intelligence it promises). I’m going to have time over the weekend to have a crack at writing a proper submission. I hope that gives me time to be considered.

Thanks

[tomplum]

Application Character Name: Drakhar Bratig the Liberator Race: Githyanki Class: Eldritch Knight Fighter Physical Description: Tall, slender and yellowish, there is a hidden strength concealed in the githyanki's slim appearance. An inner power belies his lanky frame that would be detected in the intensity of his eyes, piercing orbs that glare through any adversary or look on with sympathy upon the weak. Personality: The Liberator, a breaker of chains, Drakhar has spent years searching out the oppressed and the enslaved and exacting a terrible vengeance upon the perpetrators of such acts. The tales of his people, passed down to him by the only Gith he ever knew, have shaped the man he became. He fights in her memory and the memory of a people twisted and deformed by a malevolent overlord. Some would call his means cruel or inhumane but to Drakhar, his actions are justified to end a life of torment at the hands of those who would abuse their power. Background: Ellarin, the last surviving member of House Immiza and her young pupil, Drakhar, sole survivors of an ancient order, the Knights of Phragos. The knights scoured the cosmos searching for illithid hives. On one particular world, in one particular hive, things went drastically wrong. The knights were destroyed to a man leaving only the elderly Ellarin and the young Drakhar. When the soldiers did not return from their raid, Ellarin knew the worst had come to pass. She spirited the young child away, seeking refuge in the cities of men, hoping to keep the line and the order alive in him. Her plan worked to some degree as she told the story of their people to the young boy on a nightly basis. Growing up among humans, however, young Drakhar found many other causes to take concern in. When the elderly gith finally passed, Drakhar joined an adventuring party and looking to overthrow a maniacal wizard who had enslaved an entire village and was forcing them to construct a 'tower to the stars'. Their had been given by the wizard's brother, a king of some note who wished for his brother to be taken alive to answer for his crimes. Hundreds of feet atop the nearly completed tower, an epic confrontation ensued that saw the wizard kill two members of the party but those remaining outlasted the mage's spells until the man was spent. Before the others could restrain him to take him back to his brother, Drakhar threw the man from the ramparts. The king was furious his orders had not been followed and issued a warrant for the arrest of Drakhar. His former companions came searching for him but Drakhar found himself a veritable army of followers in the former villagers. They protected him from arrest until the king, in his rage, called his retainers and sent an army to capture Drakhar. The villagers did not back down from the king's army and the ruler balked at killing so many for his own vengeance. A truce was made and a meeting between Drakhar and King Nodis held. The verdict, Drakhar was banished from the kingdom and the village, never to return under penalty of death. To spare the villagers he had liberator from the bloodshed of battle, Drakhar agreed. He has been wandering the lands as a vagabond since, finding himself in the Copper Flagon on a night when a call for help is issued. Sample of your skills: Link to Grigore. A dark anti-hero type remembering better days during some down time between combat encounters.

[Drachenspirit]

My character, "Def" is complete. I'll work on the sheet over the next few days. Seems when there's no magic or spells and the like, a sheet build can go quickly.

Which brings the question: Are we to get a magical item?

[Dressedtojazz]

@Jon - sounds good.

@Drachenspirit - not for starters, but there will be some during the game