< atton revisited > The information page for Atton has been fully revised and updated with the new map!
< updated calendar > The Fortuna calendar has been updated in the "Other" lore section! This includes a document which displays the calendar for you to see, making it much easier to understand.
< moving map > The first functional map has been released in the News section! This map is also interactive, allowing you to drag and drop between points in order to determine distances. This is the first iteration, and there's more and better to come!
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< human lore update > Humans have been updated with TWENTY-FIVE subraces/subcultures which add numerous options, and a little extra lore and flavour.
< magic lore update > Magical Lore has been enhanced with the addition of a post on Magical Education. From Beginner to Expert, this is how you learn the spells.
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Welcome to the world of Fortuna, a land of fantastic proportions. This is an original fantasy roleplay that takes place in a world developed over nearly a decade of work and collaboration. We aim to encourage all participants to have a hand in the stories of the characters here, and the world around them. Your choices are key - so make them with pride. You decide who wins the wars, you decide who becomes King, the world is ours, and together we will bring it to life!
Post by Maldrem "Wight" on Dec 14, 2016 8:23:38 GMT -7
Late Night on the 1st The Winter Storm, 5152 Aboard the Defiled Grail
M aldrem had lost a bet. Well, technically he lost the bet, but frankly speaking he'd more or less been angling to lose on purpose. Why, one may ask? Well, because the penalty for the loser of the bet was to steal a gold coin from the quarters of Captain Merlyn, a perilous task for anyone who knew how much the captain cared about his gold, and how well defended he was against magic.
A greater challenge had never yet been presented to Maldrem's skills in thievery, and the prospect of getting caught only added to the potential thrill of the scenario. The Captain was a man of great charisma and likability - traits you probably had to have to be a good captain - but he had a legendary temper when dealing with those who outright defied him. Maldrem wondered if Merlyn would be especially mad at him if he caught him doing this. On the one hand, Maldrem was a valued crew member, had been with the Grail for a good number of years now (certainly longer than the duo he'd been playing liars dice with), and the Captain might not feel so inclined to murder him or even maim him for the attempted robbery, especially if he knew it was for a bet. On the other hand, the Captain didn't tolerate people stealing from him no matter the situation. It really came down to whether the Captain liked him enough or not.
So to err on the side of caution, Maldrem felt it was probably best to just not get caught, hm?
A shame, though; part of Maldrem liked to entertain the fantasy of Merlyn catching him in the act and then roughly manhandling him against a wall, perhaps closing the distance between their bodies, rutting up against him... but alas, in the six years Maldrem had been with this crew, Merlyn had never demonstrated so much as a drop of carnal interest in others, whether they be men or women. It wasn't even just a crew thing, since Merlyn never bedded any tavern girls or boys when they would make port, either. As far as Maldrem was aware, Merlyn's only love was gold (which if you asked him was a fantastic waste of the man's gorgeous looks).
The captain's quarters were not guarded, even when the man was asleep; he didn't feel a particular need for them considering his door had a rather sophisticated lock on it, and it had been charmed with his abjuration magic to repel magical attempts at tampering with it. The only way someone was getting in was to bust it open, which Merlyn would clearly be alerted to just from the noise alone.
But then, most people attempting entry didn't have the legendary lockpick skills of Wight, Infiltration Expert of the Defiled Grail (and former captain of The Soundless Bell, he would add!). Most lockpicks also didn't have Wight's necromancy, which could eat away at other magics, including the captain's abjuration.
Wight sat before the captain's door, an illusion thrown up behind him to mimic the door and thus not alert anyone walking by of his presence. His tail had been put to work, the pointed appendage slipping into the keyhole of the captain's lock and pushing on the mechanisms inside. This was much easier to do when you could feel the work being done, as opposed to when you had to use tools. The stealthy thief focused carefully on his task while his ears stayed alert for anyone behind him, and he could feel his own magic slowly pushing at the seal the captain had placed there.
In a few more minutes' time, the lock made a soft click, and Wight grinned. He pushed the door open quietly, applying a bit of grease to the hinges before doing so (always vital for a thief to carry!) to ensure it wouldn't creak, and slipped inside as soon as he'd gotten it open just a crack. It was closed soon after, making narry a sound. Inside the room was dark, and Wight could see the captain's slumbering form in his hammock, his breathing soft and measured.
Wight threw up a small decoy illusion as a precaution, making it look like little more than a shadowy figure, and he had it stand near the captain's bed. If Merlyn awoke, he'd see that first, and would hopefully be too distracted by it to notice Wight before the tiefling had a chance to hide. With that handled, he moved silently across the room, his eyes scanning the darkness, until they landed on a chest.
Wight applied more of the grease to the chest's hinges and cracked the lid open... and there was the beautiful sight of a pile of gold coins, ripe for the taking.
Post by Merlyn Astra on Dec 18, 2016 14:33:55 GMT -7
Merlyn felt himself lean back in a chair. A number of people were circled around the same table as him, each looking at him eagerly. He was leaning back and looking at a hand of cards that would win him a fortune. He kicked the chair forward and laid the cards out. The others each gave a look of disgust at the hand was played as a big smile filled Merlyn’s face. The pirate picked up the gold coins that were piled in the middle of the table. He then tucked them all into a pouch and left the tavern behind.
The pirate stumbled through the streets until he came to some back alley in which he could relieve himself. By the time he had stopped and was midstream, a very loud sound erupted from behind him as he collapsed against the wall.
Captain Merlyn’s eyes shot open as stared at the ceiling above him. He was swaying with the ship, no longer on land. To think I’d remember such a memory now, he thought to himself as he re-settled where he was. The Defiled Grail was his ship, he was no longer a young crew member that would put everything on the line for gold. Well, he would still do anything for gold, but nowadays he was having to act more responsible. Or maybe that was just something he used to convince himself that he was not like his old self.
As he swayed, preparing to go back to sleep, he felt the old wound from the dream start to tingle. A sensation that would occur from time-to-time even though the injury had fully healed. A reminder of the time he was shot in the back because of his success. While lying there, staring at the ceiling, he felt as though there was something off. Possibly from his number of years in the life of a pirate, or even from the high bounty on his head, Merlyn was getting a vibe, most likely something that did not matter. However, the more he focused on it, the more he thought he might as well make sure that everything was all clear around him.
Before doing anything to get up, he slowly reached down to grab a dagger that he kept within reach in the hammock and slowly began to edge his way out. Merlyn landed on his feet and took a deep breath, and then turned his attention towards the entrance to his cabin. _________ Tag: Maldrem "Wight" Notes: I'm super sorry for the delay, also just as a heads up, you are more than welcome to succeed in this! I'm just gonna have Merlyn give Maldrem a run for the gold coin, make it a story worth telling to the others.
Post by Maldrem "Wight" on Dec 18, 2016 23:22:07 GMT -7
He wakes! The game is afoot!
H e had just managed to pluck a coin from Merlyn's chest when he heard the sounds of the captain rousing. He had almost missed it; Merlyn was so silent, Wight likely wouldn't have noticed at all if not for the soft thump of the captain's boots on the floor. He stilled his movements and quickly threw up a muddied screen of illusory shadow around him. In the light, that would doubtlessly look extremely suspicious and shoddy, but the lights in the room were still out, and so as it was it would simply help him blend into the corner of the room while he sought out a hiding space.
He shut the chest as quietly as possible, tucking the coin into his pocket, and then skulked through the darkness towards the captain's table. He crept underneath, lying still there and dispelling the shadow illusion he had left by the chest. His heart was pounding in his chest as he watched the captain from his crouch, Merlyn with his dagger in hand and looking around his cabin as though sensing something amiss. He hadn't yet seemed to see the shadowy figure Maldrem had left standing by his hammock - it was standing on the other side of where Merlyn had gotten off of it. Maldrem looked around, finding an old quill on the floor, and plucked it up. Taking a deep, quiet breath, he tossed it over by the shadowy figure, the quill making a clacking sound against the wood as it struck the wall, right where Maldrem's illusion was standing.
Post by Merlyn Astra on Dec 29, 2016 11:41:39 GMT -7
Every part of his instinct was telling him that there was something strange going on in this room. He scanned what was in front of him and noticed nothing out of the ordinary. I guess it was all in my head, he thought as he was preparing to return to his hammock and try to sleep for the rest of the night. Before he could, a clacking on the floor boards behind him drew his attention.
Automatically he spun around and loosed the dagger from his hand in the direction of the sound. The blade flew towards the figure behind him and narrowly missed where the head would have been and kept going before getting stuck in the wall. The dagger twanged into the wall and slowly stopped its vibrations after a few seconds.
Merlyn was stared at his target to make sure that he had hit whatever it was, or if he was just seeing things. ____________ Tags: Maldrem "Wight" Notes: Sorry for the tardiness and length, if you need more just let me know!
Post by Maldrem "Wight" on Jan 2, 2017 20:56:14 GMT -7
Got the Hook; but what about Line and Sinker?
M aldrem reacted as quickly as he was able. When Merlyn spun to fling his dagger, Maldrem made his shadow man dodge it, and had it affect the body language of someone who was startled. He needed this to look and seem as real as possible, and so he had it turn on the spot and make a run for the Captain's window - the one that led right out of the ship and into the sea.
Though it was difficult for him, having little experience with faking sounds, Maldrem used his illusory powers to the best of his capabilities to create the sounds of feet pounding on the wooden floor of the deck, to accompany the visual of his shadow puppet running away. He had the figure grab at the round window and make a show of trying to pry it open - deliberately having it pull in the wrong direction, so Merlyn might not find himself wondering why the window was failing to open.
Maldrem began to silently edge his way out from under the table - his hope, of course, would be that the Captain would pursue his illusion over to the window, and while his back was turned, Maldrem would have it make a loud illusory noise - one loud enough to hold his attention and keep him distracted - which would give himself the opening to slip out of the captain's door unnoticed. That was the hope, but... well, Merlyn wasn't a fool.
Maldrem could only hope that he was groggy enough from sleep to fall for this.
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