RP Story

Now, now, that's interesting! Perhaps you wanted Marco to reply to that but I can't let myself be left out of the RP...

Firessa heard shouts while walking. Kar didn't seem to have heard though; she seemed to be dreaming while walking like when Firessa first met her. Firessa dragged Kar towards the angry shouts...
So surprised was she to see that two of her friends, Thenaius and Siroff, were fighting.
"What are you two doing?" Firessa shouted over the turmoil.
"That wicked wizard sneaked on me!" Siroff said calmly.
"What does that mean, Thenaius?" Firessa asked.
"This human imitated Kol..."
"KOL? Where is he?" Kar suddenly said.
"Go back to your dreaming, Kar!" Firessa said but Kar was alert and listening attentively, "Anyway, why are you fighting?"
"I just told you!" Thenaius complained.
"Firessa, do you know that elf?" Siroff asked.
“Yeah,� Firessa said, “Now, why did you disguise yourself into Kol?�
“To let him retire from the tournament with dignity, not by forfeit while a dwarf is insulting his name!� Siroff said with no sign of defense.
“Okay. I suppose you don't know each other, do you?� Firessa said. The two men shook their heads.
“Well, Thenaius, here's Siroff, a master of disguise. And Siroff, here's Thenaius, a good mage from Tirisfal,� Kar said, not waiting for anyone to tell her to talk.
“Wizard of the First Circle of the Order of Tirisfal, please!� Thenaius said.

Hmmm . . . I'm not sure what to put - how's this?

Thenaius still didn't know what to think of this strange man, but he let the energies go. He was tired, tired of his life, of his losses, tired of having to even think. It was all too much for an elf, giving him problems when he already had enough of his own.
He looked at everyone, emotion drained from his face. Finally, he said to Siroff, "Well, I am still Glakthol's second, so you'll probably have to speak with the people controlling the matches about that." With that, he turned and walked back into the town, into the throngs of people.
Crossing the old, familiar streets, Thenaius came back to the old pub, his old pub, and sat down. There would be no drinking today, however - he needed his mind clear, unhindered, to sort everything out.
Letting his thoughts wander, Thenaius allowed his elven ears to pick up the conversation of a pair of dwarven guards in the corner.
"Ay tell ye, friend, everything's going out of place out there!"
"Quit yer worrying, Fil. Everything's gonna be fine."
"Fine? Fine, ye say? If it's fine to have bands of undead roaming the countryside to unknown ends, then I'll shave my beard! Not to mention the large army encampted nearly right outside our city limits!"
"Jaina would never allow an attack on a prosperous dwarven city such as ours, ye daft fool. Not with all the profits we're giving her-"
"Oh? And what if Jaina doesn't know about it? What then? And to top everything off, those centaurs are-"
Thenaius lost track of the conversation as a familiar voice shook him out of his semiconscious state. "There ye are, lad! Been looking for ye everywhere! We gotta get ye back to the arena for your turn at that yellow-bellied elf!"
The wizard turned to look at Glakthol curiously, "Still steaming over that blow to your pride, sir? It's about time you lost the tournament, anyway."
"Yeah, I be agreeing with you there; one can't stay on top forever - there'd be nowhere else to climb to." Still, the dwarf brooded. "It's just that - I'd seen him fighting in the earlier matches - such skill, such control over hisself! I just couldn't wait to test my trusty axe against him! And what does he do!Throws me out of the ring as though I weren't even worth tackling! The rude little whelp wouldn't even face me square on!" The dwarf slams his axe into the stone bar, leaving it embedded.
"I suppose I'll have to add it to your tab?" the pandaren bartender groaned, struggling to remove the offending weapon.
"Never mind that, I'll just pay for it now," Glakthol said, reclaiming his axe with a quick jerk and reaching into his jacket to pull out a sack of coins and place them before the bartender. "Just take the extra and subtract it from my tab; if there's any still after that, keep it as an apology."
Still busy counting up the gold, the pandaren was only too happy to agree.
Thenaius wasn't sure if he should tell Glakthol about the scam. "Kol . . . wasn't himself today at the arena."
Realizing how foolish he had made himself look out there - it had taken an entire squad of guards to drag him down, and more than a few were nursing broken fingers or noses - the dwarf conceded the arguement. "Well, in any event, I'll be sending a formal invitation to everyone who wins this round to my place for dinner - a gesture of congratulations, ye see. If ye be knowing any of them, feel free to invite them in person." Glakthol grinned. "Ye are remembering where I live, right?"
Thenaius laughed. "How could I miss it?"

Kar: Eep! Sorries, but I've got no time to update today (and no inspiration at the moment anyway) because I've got to do some studying. At any rate, I'll be sure to update on/after tommorrow, as school gets out for summer then. Well, just thought I'd let y'all know whats happening on my end.

Firessa watched as Thenaius walked away. It started raining right then.
"Poor guy! He's seems so lonely..." Firessa said sadly.
"Yeah, he seems. What will we do today?" Kar said.
"Think we better get going to find some jobs to do... There was much cash on... Anyway, we'd better go find jobs..." Siroff said.
They turned opposite the direction Thenaius took, towards the central bazaar, under the cold rain.
"What are we going to do? The only thing that comes to my mind is fighting with blades..." Firessa thought, half-smiling.
"We will do something like going on search quests if you wonder," Kar said, looking at her.
"Are you reading my mind or what?" Firessa said, surprised.
"No, but that's obvious you are asking yourself something like that," Kar said.
That left Firessa speechless. She laughed softly and followed her companions, still in direction of the market...

That's a little update towards the direction of quests! We're going to really begin the story... At least, I hope!

Pherexio: What? The story hasn't started yet!? How is that possible? Well anyway, I'm back, as finals are over. For the time being however, I will not be updating. I also will (for the time being) post udates from the vantage point of Gazz Stripbolt when I do update.

Kar: Well, I won't be updating (I know I should, but hey....) because it's the first day of summer vacation, and that means I get to slack off today! So I/we/... will update tommorrow for sure. If I don't.... well.... I'll think of something...

Dreadnaught: Ditto on the here.
Defi:I just need some time to gather my thoughts.

Kar: Well... ya.... see ya tommorrow! *runs off to party*

Hehe, you surprised? I've seen RPs going for 25+pages of 20 posts... And it was not even at the half point so what did you expect?
You're on vacation? I restarted school a month ago and two months still to go before next holidays, but only 3 weeks! Well, I get my summer holidays in Oct-Jan so I shouldn't complain...
Don't know what to post! Perhaps when you guys update, I'll get an idea of the story...

EDIT:
On the way to the bazaar, the little group passed by the old inn in which Thenaius sat, talking to the dwarf. The two dwarves near the door were still talking. Both Firessa and Kar overheard the conversation and stopped dead in front of the door.
"What's up?" Siroff asked.
"SHH!" both elves replied.
"... think Jaina knows?" one dwarf was saying.
"Can't be sure... I think we should try to see something else in the meantime like talking to the tournament participants," the other said.
"Who would bother about saving dwarves anyway?"
"Have hope, Yolk. We'll surely find someone kind enough to save our town from the undead."
"Who would be willing? I think think orcs will. And I doubt elves would."

Firessa stopped listening and talked to Siroff, "Those two dwarves need help... Their town is under attack and I think we should help them. Undead, the assailants are."
"That's interesting... I might have a talk with them," Siroff said.
Kar joined in, "The town is not yet under attack... the undead are preparing a heavy assault though."
"We'll have a talk immediately then..." Siroff said, stepping into the inn.

I advanced a little. D'you think we should retire from the tournament? Not sure about that. The finals are close though. Dunno. After this round, six will go through of which Siroff, Firessa and Kar. Then they will each fight a match... Then there will be a battle between each of the three finalists... See yourself and tell me...

Kar: *blank expression* ..... ..... I've run dry on inspiration here..... I'll think up something though--can't just let y'all bury me with updates. ....
*Two-and-a-half-hours later* Ok, I got some....
"'Excuse me.'
'...but I'm--whaddaye want? Can'cha see we're in a tad of a bind here?' The dwarf turned around as he finished his sentence.
'Actually, that's why I interrupted. I believe I may be able to help.'
'I-we-uh... may we speak with you in private? The doorway of an inn be no place fer a talk such a' this.'
'Certainly.' Siroff and the two dwarves walked further into the inn.
'Well, I suppose we'll have a bit of a job now, won't we?' Firessa said it almost jokingly.
'I suppose we will.'
Siroff returned.
'Well, what are the details?' Firessa seemed a little over-excited to Kar.
'It doesn't look good; the dwarves are vastly outnumbered, the undead have the mountain almost completely surrounded, the women and childeren are still in the city, and the attack is most likely going to start at the same time the Finals begin. We will have to choose between the tournament, and the dwarves. The--'
'Well of course, choose the dwarves; more money in that.'
'Actually, mage, I was getting to that.' Siroff gave Thenaius a glare that would have curdled milk. 'If all you want is money, I suggest you stay in the tournament. The dwarves have lost most of their money supporting the mercenaries that help defend their city. The likely reward, if we accept it, would come to a maximum of five hundred gold pieces.' Thenaius was silent. 'The dwarves have determined that the undead have discovered a mass grave left over from some war from long ago at the base of the mountain. This has given them a great advantage. To top it all off, a great dragon that lived in a nearby mountain was killed by the undead. Not only do they now have complete control over the beast, but they also took its haord, nearly quadrupling their available funds.' Not a word was spoken throughout the entire tavern; Siroff had apparently been speaking loud enough for all to hear. 'I've pledged them my steel; their plight is far greater than some petty tournament; the true test of a warrior comes on the battlefield! I will fight for them, and I hope more will agree with me. The pay may not be much, but I'll do it for none, as any true warrior should.'
The speech drew cheers from the entire room. Kar left to escape the noise and do a little thinking. The sky had grown completely dark with night, the air was crisp and cool. Kar looked into the sky. Not a cloud blocked her view, and she could see every star. 'They're the same...'"

Ok.... well, that's all I've got for today. I really need to come up with better material for future updates. Anyway, I do believe our characters are faced with a choice now.

When did Thenaius rejoin the others? Oh, well, it makes sense that he would anyway - must have been a background event.

And why does my character always come out as so evil? Although I can guess where Kar got the idea that he was greedy - that was more of a sarcastic comment than an actual viewpoint.

[edit]: Okay, now for an actual contribution:

Thenaius glared back at Smiroff, "Oh, yes, a fine warrior indeed. You say that you shall rush off to fight an army that quadruples the size of the entire mining town! An army that does not sleep, does not bleed; an army whose only meals are corpses of their foes." Unsurprisingly, the cheering died down considerably. "Do you not think that the governor of Raignaton is already aware of their plight?! By the Light, it's his hometown! The settlement is already being evacuated as we speak - those that stay are merely too stubborn to save themselves-"
"Too stubborn?" one of the dwarves shouted, outraged, "Our 'kin' is asking us to be giving up our way of life! Our home!"
"We can rebuild homes, create jobs! We cannot raise the dead!" the mage protested. "All you must do is come to Raignaton for a month at most. The undead will shatter upon these walls, and before you know it, it will be your people driving the ghouls out of your community!"
The dwarf stood silent, looking grim, and a little anxious. He looked to his partner, who nodded back grimly. Looking through the room, the first drew Smiroff aside and began to whisper something in a strained tone. Thenaius could only catch a few words, such as "Alliance-sanctioned", "Titans", and "excavation".
When they finished, Smiroff turned back to Thenaius. "There are some things even more important than lives, wizard," the human said.
Something about his tone suggested to Thenaius that there were words between these lines, but the elf remained uncertain.
"Thenaius," someone said behind him. He turned - it was Karazai. "I'm going with him." Firessa nodded her agreement. Varall scowled at the mage, a direct invitation to stay behind.
Thenaius sighed. "All right, then. But you're not going in there without a plan - that dwarven town is about as defendable as a clean plate." Pulling out a clean scroll, the wizard began scribbling out a rough map, noting the two communities and several important landmarks. "I suggest that instead of going directly to the village, you take a small force and destroy the frost worm first, to flush out their ace, if you will." A quick pencil mark denominated the original location of the deceased dragon's lair. "After that, gather the remaining dwarves and LEAVE THE COMMUNITY - the thick wooded areas surrounding the town are ideal for guerilla warfare. I, and anyone else wishing to accompany me, shall head west to the Alliance stronghold Deramere with the purpose of acquiring a contigent of soldiers to bring bring via teleportation. Take this," he tossed an electrum coin to Smiroff, "it will help me find your location and reach it. Any questions?"
As the battle discussion went on, a larger patron in the corner watched them grimly. Picking up his mug with a huge, furred hand, he drained his brew and crushed the cup in a fist.
"You cannot leave yet, my little rivals," he spoke at the group, too low for them to hear, "I've not had my row with you." The huge pandaren quietly watched the weaklings discuss their options.

Actually, Karazai had to turn it that way, Marco, cause, Thenaius has attacked Siroff, remember? It's normal for the human to glare at him... after such a comment...

"I will come!" a man was saying, followed by cheers.
"Seems that the undead are hated enough to attract people to war... I wonder if the deathknight we earlier met has something to do with all this..." Firessa thought.
A team composed of two pandaren, about four elves, five goblins and three men has already been formed. And more was to come. One by one, volunteers were massing. The two dwarves, by Siroff's side, was apparently surprised of the recruitment.
"Okay, I'll need a messenger!" Siroff cried aloud.
Some more men and elves stood up. "We will go!" They said.
"Okay! You go find Jaina and warn her..." Siroff ordered, "Any orcs as messengers?"
"US!" a group of orcs rose.
"You go find Thrall then," Siroff moved to Firessa's side, "You think we could get help from night-elves?"
"Sure, I take charge of that..." Firessa whispered back.
"No, we'll need you!"
"Who said I am going as messenger? I'm going to send an owl to the priestess that's all!" Firessa turned and went outside.
Kar was standing there alone. Firessa summoned an owl and ler it go with her message...

Heh, we posted at the same time. But I guess it still works out, right?

Yeah, I think it does... Anyone has an idea of how all this war thing will turn out?

Firessa turned to look at Kar; she was watching the stars overhead, thinking. She looked sad, on some distant world of her own, unaware of her present surroundings.
"You're thinking about..." Firessa was careful, "...Kol?"
"Yeah... He's protected me for all these years... and recently he chose to sacrifice himself for me... once again..." silent tears dropped from Kar's face.
"I didn't know him for long... but I know he was respectable... and a little more than a friend for you... I think..."
"Let's not talk about this... it makes me even more sorrowful... How's the battle recruitment going on?" Kar apparently tried hard not to cry, to fight away her tears, to chase the thought.
"It's going well enough... the story of the dwarves has apparently moved everybody in that inn. Thenaius has already set up a plan for destroying the frost wyrm."
"Good! When are we moving out?" Kar asked.
"I suppose tomorrow, very early..."
"Okay! Let's go inside..."
They re-entered the inn...

Pherexio: I wonder... what would the little green guy say...? :>
"Gazz was running down the street. His equipment had picked up unusually loud shouting. The spot it had come from was getting closer.
'Should be just around this corner; I can hear it now!' He thought aloud.
He arrived in time to see Kar and Firessa enter the building.
'Hmm... looks like an inn...' Again, he thought out loud. Then he lightheartedly added, 'Sounds like a colleseum!'
He entered to see what all the shouting was about.
'...Okay. Now, we need to form the strikeforce that's gonig to surprise attack the undead base.' It was Siroff talking. He had apparently drawn cheers from the whole crowd many times, but now, silence pervaded the air. Not a soul spoke, no glasses chinked. No tables were struck, no feet stamped, no mugs slammed down. No one spoke, or dared to move. 'Anyone?' The silence continued from the crowd. 'No one will come with me to throw them off guard?'The silence continued a moment.
'I will.' The entire crowd wheeled and looked at the stout goblin,who seemed too brave for his kind. The entire room filled with laughter. Everyone, save those who had seen him fight, rolled with laughter, thinking the little goblin's proposal to fight was funny. 'Laugh if you must!' The jubilation quickly ended, 'But know that I am braver than you all!'
'Or more'a fool!' The room filled once more with laughter.
'But a fool,' he looked at Siroff; the man nodded, and Gazz knew what was going on. He saw two dwarves, sapparently happy as could be, with faces that seemed to scream out thanks, 'who fights for a cause such as this... is the better fool than you.' The laughing people quickly became hostile toward the goblin. 'Point your weapons not at me; the undead await your steel!' The agitation seemed to drop from the air. 'Who among you, has the courage to take up arms against these abominations. I ask you to join us! Fight with us! For the sake of all you hold dear, what happens if the dwarves' town falls? Hmm!? They come here! The whole bloody lot of undead move to the next town, and that town, according to this map, is Ragnatan. Now then, who will fight?' The crowd seemed downtrodden and beaten; they knew they had been bested, but none of them spoke up."

Wow.... he's quite the little speechwrite! ^_^

That's the longest event in the story:D Sweet speech of Gazz's... Now, wonder what will happen next? Are we going to war yet? Gonna update later if I can...

Dreadnaught: So this is the plan..
"'The red X's mark the Dwarven town and the undead base...' The crowd was intently listening, 'The Green X marks where the frost wyrm is. The blue X marks where the mass grave the undead are using is. The purple X's mark Ragnatan, the Night elven forest, and the direction in which the orcish and human reinforcements will come from...' There was a sense of urgency in the room. 'As soon as we can gather a sufficient force to attack the base directly, we will move out. Now, I ask you once again: who will come with me?'"

*Disclaimer: I didn't draw the scroll or that hideous blue background, but the rest is all my photoshopping.*

You think Count will be posting soon? I wonder what came up? And Dreadnought - what do the orange X's stand for? (Grins) I guess those are the two dwarven settlements.

They hade so far forty, maybe fifty men, willing to strike out against the undead. Some of them were from the tournament, including the tauren Kol had beat the first round, and even the gnoll, though no one could get any more out of the beast than the occasional annoying laughter. Some were explorers who had stopped for the night to sell their discoveries; even more were members of Raignaton's hardy militia. The rest were simple craftsmen and laborers who were motivated mainly by the motivating speeches that resounded throughout the inn. Some merchants began offering rewards for the destruction of the undead (and acquisition of particular parts), encouraging a few mercenaries to show, and twilight introduced a small band of Knights of the Silver Hand, who stood ready to fight this menace. By the end of the day, their ranks had grown to over one hundred ten, and the dwarves promised at least three score dwarven fighters awaiting them at the camp.
It would not be enough.
"It's not enough," Thenaius whispered to Siroff, "The undead still have the advantage of numbers, coupled with their necromantic magics. Things are seeming very grim from under my brow."
"Still, we have to try," Siroff insisted, "Giving up now will just give the undead a new ground in which to fester and spread."
Thenaius stared at the man, still unsure what to think of him. To the elf, Siroff's terms of honor and morality seemed very mixed - he seemed prone to follow his own decisions without much regard for the consequences, as he had when he staged the fight with Glakthol.
"And if you fight them, and lose, the undead will gain a new ground to fester in and a head start."
"Then we can't lose."
"Can you?" The two continued to look at each other, waiting for some unspoken signal. Finally, Thenaius decided to ask.
"You act so much like the gentleman, the 'honorable' warrior, and I don't believe your lying. But then, why is it that you make deceit and trickery part of your style?"
Siroff's eyes turned cold, and he ignored the question, "You said you would go to Deramere with the other Alliance members and bring back aid.."
Strike one , the mage thought, I guess the best thing to do now would be to leave it alone. "That was when you were maybe forty people. Two score can disappear into the woods and survive for days; eight score would not be so lucky. The dwarves won't come back here; if you're going to save them, you'll have to spend more than a few days to wait for those reinforcements. Days spent in the heart of an undead horde."
"Look, I've got that covered. I know we can't afford to wait on the envoys - the whole messenger act is just to give the others a little hope that they won't be fighting this war alone."
"You're lying to your -"
"Cut the theatrics, unless you want them to go in there thinking they won't come back."
"They might not."
"Would you just listen to me?! I've got everything planned out. The main force will proceed to the dwarven communities and pick up the reinforcements within. Meanwhile, Firessa and Varall will lead an experienced band of warriors equipped with bows and magic to take down the frost worm. Not only will this destroy the 'giant' of the undead, it will leave them expecting further resistance on that front. Firessa assures me that she is a master at disappearing into the forest - while the undead waste at least a third of their force hunting her crew, the main group will assault the base at wherever we deem the weakest point. If everything goes well, the undead will be leaderless also, and -"
"Wait a second - what do you mean, they will be leaderless?"
Siroff looked back at Thenaius, sizing him up. "What I mean is, while all this is happening, I plan on infiltrating the base and assassinating their master."
"WHAT?!" Thenaius practically jumped out of his chair, drawing concerned looks from the crowd that reminded him that discretion might now be the order of the night. "You cannot be serious?" he resumed at a softer pitch, "There must indeed be a fine line between bravery and insanity!"
"Well, there is also a fine line between genius and insanity, and therefore, could I not just be an unrecognized genius?" Siroff asked lightheartedly.
Thenaius was not amused. "Who will lead them then, if everyone else is unavailable? Karazai? I'm not even sure if she is fit to travel, after her loss!"
"Do not underestimate Kar - she is stronger than she looks," Siroff cautioned, "And that is why I am here to tell you - you must lead the main party." Siroff sighed at Thenaius' confused expression. "For geniuses, you wizards sure take a while to catch on to things."
"I'm only just past a century old!" Thenaius protested, forgetting that he spoke to a human.
"Indeed. Look, Karazai is more than fit to fit, but I agree with you; she's in too much emotional turmoil to lead. You're the only person left to make sure that everyone's where they need to be. We can communicate to each other through Kol's crystals, so everything should be timed just right."
"And, Thenaius," Siroff added, his voice suddenly lowering, "If anything happens to Karazai, you'll be the first to suffer for it."
Thenaius brushed off the threat; he had no intention of harming his kinswoman. Instead, he reached into his pocket and handed Siroff a note. "This is from Glakthol - he wishes to meet with you tomorrow morning."
Siroff looked at the wizard oddly. "You didn't tell him it was me today, did you?"
"No." Thenaius spared a smile for this strangest of his new companions. "You did not think the governor of Raignaton could just ignore you while you gathered armed forces within his city, did you?"
If Siroff was surprised, he did a good job of not showing it as he read through the letter. "Interesting. It seems he's finally decided to throw his weight in with us. He's granting half the city's militia - eighty men - and his personal collection of modified steam tanks." Siroff smile grew to match Thenaius'. "The old dwarf even plans on going himself!"
This was news even to Thenaius. "But who will watch the city while he's gone?"
"Some elf by the name of Karl'Vrynn. I think he fought with Karazai in the first round of the tournament - maybe she would know more about him. It doesn't matter, anyway - now, even you've got to admit that we'll have a fighting chance!"
"I'll drink to that!" Thenaius exclaimed, reaching out to call the bartender.
But Siroff grabbed his wrist, shaking his head. "I don't think so. It wouldn't do to have our army see their 'fearless leader' nursing a hangover tomorrow morning!"
"Who told you about that!" Thenaius protested, "And besides, I didn't see you protesting when the half-orc took his turn at the keg!"
"That's because -" Siroff stopped. "Wait - where is Varall, anyway?"
The half-orc was nowhere to be found; everyone said that he left with a huge, muscular pandaren a half-hour ago.
Thenaius whitened, recalling their morning encounter with a similar warrior. "What is it?" Siroff asked.
"I'm afraid it may be another chapter in a long story that can be summarized in two words - Bad Tidings," the elf replied. The two raced outside, searching for their comrade.
They found him at the tournament arena, lying on his back and in terrible shape. Towering over him was the pandaren from this morning. "Come on, now - don't be so weak," the pandaren roared, twirling a huge, double-headed pike in one hand, "I tell you what, I will give you another chance to beat me. We can make it, how do you say - best 3 out of 5?" He laughed as Varall struggled to his knees, refusing to give up.
Thenaius turned to Siroff to say, "We've got to help him!", but the human was already moving to aid his fallen companion. Thenaius could do no less for the half-orc.