Nightmare Lands (Dungeon World Game)

[Tiffanian]

Re: Nightmare Lands (Dungeon World Game)

Wyndyl sat atop her canine companion with a pensive look on her face, mulling over the captain of the guard's words. It did seem strange, this attack. Even if they were powerful their enemy had been too few in number to be truly dangerous to a town of this size, and if they wanted to capture people that made even less sense... it would be much easier to raid small groups of travelers coming and going. She thought for a moment why they would even want to capture people. Slavery? That was possible, she supposed. If they took young children they could perhaps even raise them into the ways of the tribe to swell their own numbers. But whatever the case it still seemed that she was missing something.

The captain was called away soon enough, and the small group made their way through the town towards the church he had mentioned to them, Sir Wolf trotting alongside the others at a slow and easy gait. Predictably there was a crowd gathered around it, though most seemed to be worriers. Wyndyl hopped off her mount by the door and patted his back, encouraging him to have a seat by the door. <"Wait for me here, Sir Wolf"> she said in her native tongue, unconcerned about the others understanding her, <"I'll return for you soon."> With that she followed the others in, clutching at her wounded shoulder, though the pain wasn't too awfully bad. When the healer's assistant came to greet them the elf smiled, though she let others do the talking. She wasn't completely confident in her Common, and she certainly wasn't confident about her manners in human society yet. It wasn't a big deal that she would have to wait to be seen anyway.

Wyndyl followed along to the corner they were to wait in, and while the young healer asked if they needed anything she fiddled with the straps of her leather armor, letting out a sigh of relief as she let it slide down her arms and into her hands. It was rather... constraining... at the top, just to give her less to worry about when she drew her bow, but she was always glad to have it off. For a moment she examined the damage to it, frowning a little bit. It could be repaired, true, but it would be a bit of a hassle. She turned to look at Colette and Mireleth as they bantered back and forth lightly, grinning a little bit at the latter's shyness. It was amusing to her, really, something she didn't understand very well. "To have food would be wonderful" she piped up, "I have yet to break my fast this morn." With that she unceremoniously lifted her short dress up and over her head, leaving her clad only in a plain white pair of panties that she wore for riding. Quickly she turned the front of her dress towards her, eyeing the hole in the shoulder and the red stain that emanated from it with a frown. That would be hard to get out, which was a shame; she liked this dress, and indeed it was the only one she had brought with her on this adventure, seeing as how it was the only one she owned that was short enough to ride in properly.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Nightmare Lands (Dungeon World Game)

'Of course she likes it,' a now furiously blushing Mireleth thought, squirming a little as Colette seemed to enjoy her pinch a lot more than she'd expected and then went on to mention the lewd performances that one might find in the capital. "What? N-no... Not here anyway," she said flatly, fidgeting. Thankfully their elven companion's actions proved a suitable distraction, the sudden sight of Wyndyl stripping to naught but a pair of panties causing Mireleth to look mildly surprised despite that the strange woman seemed to never have problems with such displays. To Wyndyl nudity had seemed so casual, something that had initially put off the more conservative minded easterner, but she had gradually grown slightly more used to her casual attitude towards baring her body. She wasn't quite used to it yet though, and Mireleth couldn't help but glance around at the other occupants of the healer's quarters, looking to see how much attention the elf was getting. At last it'd distract them from Colette's antics...

 

[Astarte]

Re: Nightmare Lands (Dungeon World Game)

"I’m sorry, we don’t have any food here," The girl shook her head with a frown, "We just barely got this place set up in time for the wounded to arrive, we haven’t had a chance to gather anything other than medical supplies. I might be able to see about having someone run down to see if the tavern or one of the shops have anything to spare, but you might be better off just going by yourselves once we’ve got you looked at. Everybody is a little on edge right now, and we don’t even know where everyone is."

"Water I can get you though, I’ll be right back!" She made the transition from somewhat somber back to enthusiastic remarkably quickly, and she was out the door in seconds. None of the others in the building spared the girl a second glance, so it was probably safe to assume this was standard behaviour for her. The party attracted a few curious glances as the two swordswomen began to strip down to just their chest wraps, and then a few more as Wyndyl seemed about to follow their example only to go a step further and strip down to nothing but her panties—though that could perhaps be attributed to the fact that she wore nothing else underneath her dress. Nonetheless, such a casual display of nudity was much less common among humans than it was among her own people.

Perhaps fortunately, the corner they’d been directed to sit in was not visible through the open doors to those waiting outside, so her—and to a lesser extent the two swordswomen, especially after how playful Colette had started getting with Mireleth—only attracted a few leers from a handful of town guards who were seated on the opposite side of the room, all bandaged and obviously having been seen to already, but wounded badly enough that the healers kept them around as they recovered. From the healers themselves, an elderly looking man, a middle aged woman and another, younger man, they received only brief glances. They were obviously a little surprised, but they were likely used to seeing their patients naked, so they didn’t linger, instead remaining focused on their work.

(Spout Lore: 2d6+0 = 7 [5,2]. Partial Success.)

As they waited, Nagan took a closer look at the medallion she’d retrieved from one of the attackers. Now that she was in a quiet place where she could give it more than a cursory inspection she was able to note a few things. Nothing about it pointed her to a specific tribe; She knew of a few whose totem was a snake, but this particular design of a snake coiling around itself was unfamiliar. Not only that, but none of those tribes resided anywhere close to this city, unless they’d relocated since she’d last been with her own tribe. The metal itself was simple bronze, but that itself ruled out a number of possibilities. While not all of the wildland tribes were as primitive as most Imperials believed, there were many who were. Bronze working was not rare, but nor was it common, and there were many without the means to make medallions such as these.

The medallions themselves were also odd in simply being what they were. A quick comparison with the one Sable held or any others she might have seen along the way would confirm that while not identical, they were very similar, meaning they were likely all somewhat uniform. That in itself was unusual, as while tribes might have symbols, those symbols were usually carried on personalized items, often painted or carved by the one they belonged to. While handmade, these were likely all the work of a single smith, or at least a small group of them. Unfortunately, while she could point out many odd things about them, there was nothing to point them at a specific tribe.

"Here’s your, um..." A familiar voice called out as the girl returned with a bucket of water in her hands with a few cloths draped over the side, only to stop as she stared at the sight before her, of the almost entirely nude elf and the thief groping at the only partially nude swordswoman. It was a few moments before she regained her composure, and a few muted snickers could be heard from the guardsmen on the other side of the room, a faint blush creeping over her cheeks. "Ah, here’s some water, and someone should be with you soon." She placed it on the floor before them before making a hasty retreat back to where the healers were working.

Only a few minutes later she returned, giving a friendly smile once again and obviously trying very hard not to let herself be distracted by the near-nudity and whatever other antics any of them might have gotten up to, followed by the older man. He stood a full head taller than the girl—who was only a little on the shorter side herself, comparable to the shorter members of the party—and clean-shaven, with short cropped white hair that only appeared to have started receding a little. He had an almost military bearing, and his voice was gruff enough to match.

"I hope my apprentice hasn’t caused you too much trouble?" The man asked, causing the girl to give a brief pout, but he continued without waiting for an answer, "Well, all of you who are injured come with me and I’ll get you checked out. Alicia, look after their things until they’re done." He motioned for them to follow, potentially leaving Colette, the only uninjured among them alone with the healer’s apprentice as she began gathering up the clothes and anything else they might choose to leave for her, unless she chose to follow regardless.

The man was quick and efficient with his work, obviously having done this many times before as he cleaned and applied some kind of alchemical salve which numbed their wounds slightly before bandaging them tightly. "So, you were the ones who held the gate for us?" He spoke as he worked on their wounds, "My apprentice said she saw you fighting as she was running, she lives near the gate. Thanks for that." His voice didn’t betray much in the way of emotion as he spoke, so it was difficult to judge much about the man from his words, but he at least seemed genuine in his relief that his apprentice was safe.

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: Nightmare Lands (Dungeon World Game)

"What? No food? Oh, no I meant I'd go to the tavern anyway... but... Oh. There she goes, off to fetch us some water. What a nice girl. Now... back to you."

Colette quickly dismissed the apprentice healer from her mind as she went back to throwing her attention Miraleth's way. She'd stopped molesting the eastern warrior after getting pinched herself, but that didn't mean she wasn't still hovering next to her, smiling mischievously and making deliberate off-hand comments about some of the other lewd acts she'd witnessed on the infamous Flesh Lane in the capital. It was a place condemned by the holier-than-thou priests of the Temple District, but satisfied the needs and lusts of many a wide-ranging patron (including some hypocritical clergy). Colette had grown up not far from the lane, and had made many acquaintances among the bouncers, pimps, whores, cutthroats, charlatans and sharks that lived in the compressed squalor of those notorious confines. Thus, she was knowledgable enough to talk off-handedly about several displays that included public whipping and spankings designed to titilate a paying crowd. She enjoyed seeing Miraleth's almond eyes widen at the notion, and the deep crimson blush that the warrior displayed made the thief giggle to herself.

"...All consensual of course. After they let the girl out of the cuffs, the two topless 'nuns' would caress and kiss her to the applause of the crowd and she would wave as the donation sack was handed round. City guards only break these things up if there's a hard case captain trying to make a show for the high priests - of course, the average lowly guards loved the shows. This one time, they got one of them to participate and..."

Colette's bawdy recollection was interrupted by the healer, who led everyone except her away to get patched up. She was left only with the apprentice girl, who didn't really interest the thief all that much.

Her stomach rumbled, and she tapped her foot impatiently for the rest to return, so they might be on their way to finer, more aromatic surroundings. And so that she'd have a captive audience for her tales once again.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Nightmare Lands (Dungeon World Game)

Mireleth wasn't sure that she was entirely happy or entirely unhappy being the center of Colette's attention through her bawdy tales of her life back in the capital. She squirmed somewhat uncomfortably and blushed throughout her ribald retelling of any number of lewd anecdotes, looking around and occasionally scowling in response to the leers of the wounded men staring at them or Wyndyl. No salvation was to come from her discomfort for quite a while, however, and so the warrior was made to suffer through Colette's teasing for what felt like at least an hour, her eyes going wide and her face turning beat red in the most intense portions of the thief's tales.

Eventually the healer saved her, however, and Mireleth couldn't help but give a little sigh of relief. She nodded and moved to follow the older man, smiling at his question about his energetic assistant. "Yes," she said simply when he questioned their identity, "it was our duty to defend those in need. Even if we don't live here, we would have suffered from the attack had they broken through the gate and forced a more extended brawl with the guard." It was simple logic, mixed with a bit of somewhat practical altruism, and while she might be no samurai or knight Mireleth was still empathetic enough to others that she wouldn't have left the innocent to fend for themselves.

 

[GargantuaBlarg]

Re: Nightmare Lands (Dungeon World Game)

After she had cleaned everyone's wounds a bit, Nagan had gone over to help Wyndyl with her dress. The doctor found her kneeling on the ground in front of the elf, blotting at the stain on the elf's dress with some of the water, hoping it hadn't set in yet. She quite liked the view from down here... Perhaps she ought to take Wyndyl to get fitted for a new dress - Even Nagan had a few other pieces of clothing, though she usually didn't bother to wear much but the barest coverings under her heavy, protective, and warm cloak; after all, her skin bore history in its plant-dye tattoos. The tattoos spoke not only of her clan - its glory, hardships, history, chieftains and shamans - but of the broader histories as well. The tree on her back spoke of the First Tree that bore the First Seeds, from which grew the great Irontree she and her tribe venerated. The waving blue swirls on the entirety of her right arm the Great River that Split, becoming the vein-like web of waterways that fed water and life throughout world - represented by the split of her her five fingers, now wet with cleaning-water and whatever blood she'd managed to get off.


For the most part, Nagan ignored the goings-on around the room, listening with half-interest as the burglar spun tales of excess and debauchery that were born within their cities. She was somewhat tickled by their far-traveler's bashful reactions, but mostly focusing on her work. She joined the doctor when they were called away. Her wound was easy to get at, and her skin was bare where she'd been struck.

 

[Tiffanian]

Re: Nightmare Lands (Dungeon World Game)

It was a little bit unfortunate that there wasn't any food on hand, but Wyndyl wasn't too troubled by that even as her stomach began to grumble a little bit. There would be plenty of opportunity for that later, surely. For now there was her dress to fuss over and wipe down with some of the water. When Nagan came to help her she would thank the shaman briefly, glad to have such a person in this little group. Of all of them she felt the most in common with her, both because she was from the outside as well and because she seemed to have similar views in a lot of ways. The elf wasn't completely blind to the attention she was getting with her partial nudity, but she didn't think anything of it, simply smiling at the wounded guardsmen. It seemed that her dress, at least, would be a pretty easy fix whenever she could set down with needle and thread, and it wouldn't stain too awful badly, probably. It would be easier to fix than her shoulder, at least.

In the meantime she listened with no small bit of curiosity to Colette's storytelling. They were quite the interesting tales, fascinating in the way that only something truly foreign and strange could be. People volunteered to be violently punished in public? For pleasure? It seemed ludicrous to the elf. Of course, that wasn't to say that she would have been shocked at the idea of pain and sex mingling; laying with a dire wolf wasn't exactly pure pleasure all the time, after all. Still, to simply be whipped and nothing more was quite an extreme notion, and she couldn't imagine what the receiver would get out of the experience.

The healer's arrival interrupted things before Wyndyl could comment, however. She followed along with the others as he led them to be helped, her dress folded over her arm. She could tell he was good at what he did once he started tending to the lot of them, efficient and experienced, though it didn't occur to her that he might be getting old; she still wasn't fully aware of what that meant to a human, though she had some vague ideas that were little more than rumor and conjecture. When it came her turn he rubbed some kind of salve on her shoulder, something that made the wound a bit numb and tingly, pleasantly so, and then wrapped a tight bandage around her. She flashed him a smile in thanks, but still didn't speak up. The others were much better at expressing themselves anyway.

 

[Knephi]

Re: Nightmare Lands (Dungeon World Game)

Sable frowned as she glanced across the room to the men seated there, shooting them a brief glare before pointedly turning her gaze elsewhere. Unfortunately, it was much harder to ignore what was going on around her. Colette had blown off her comment about the lack of privacy and seemed inclined to continue, now beginning to tell some sort of decidedly lewd story, and Wyndyl had apparently decided to strip down to almost nothing. She didn't seem particularly bothered by either, seemingly oblivious to the attention it was drawing to her.

Her companions' seeming lack of shame, at least in Colette's and Wyndyl's cases, only served to make Sable all the more self-conscious. Her upbringing had emphasized modesty and proper decorum, and while she'd changed much since then, she had never really been comfortable showing off. The scars that marred her otherwise smooth skin were yet another cause of discomfort to her. While she personally was not overly bothered by them—they were proof of what she'd overcome—she was acutely aware of how they clashed with the traditional ideals of beauty she was accustomed to. Even though she had no real desire to try to appear attractive to anyone here, she couldn't fully suppress some sense of self-consciousness here, especially considering the people she was surrounded by.

Fortunately, reprieve from Colette's increasingly lewd stories, and her own attempts to keep herself from blushing in response to some parts, came in the form of the girl from earlier returning with some water for them. Sable was quick to seize the distraction and begin cleaning her wounds, wincing a little at the pain but paying it little mind. The healer called for them soon after. The man was old but obviously skilled at his job. Apparently the girl who had greeted them upon their entry was his apprentice, a fact which surprised the swordswoman for a moment, but it did make sense. The girl had a good personality for the job, at least.

Sable simply nodded in agreement with Mireleth's response to the man's thanks. "Yes, we were in danger from the attack as well, this treatment is thanks enough." She didn't say it, but she would have helped regardless of the danger to herself. Though she had long since left her family and their responsibilities behind, she still felt obligated to protect the people. The methods had changed when she chose to pursue her vendetta against the demons and the beasts they spawned, but she had never stopped protecting them.

 

[Astarte]

Re: Nightmare Lands (Dungeon World Game)

"Well, thank you nonetheless," The healer continued his work, not seeming to give much thought to the reasons the swordswomen gave for their actions. "Looks like you were lucky too, nothing here that shouldn’t heal up fine. You should change the bandages tonight, but once the salve has had a chance to work you should be just fine as long as you keep them clean."

His gaze lingered on Mireleth’s bandages for a few moments, looking as if he had something he wanted to say, but he turned away without comment. "You’re fine to go whenever you’d like, Alicia should have your things for you. If you’ll excuse me I have others to see to." He gave a curt nod before walking back toward the entrance, where a few soldiers had just arrived, sitting near where the party had been previously, and ushering them into the back.

When they reunited with Colette, they would find that Alicia had gathered up their clothes and anything else they might have left and set them aside on a table for them. The girl was looking a little awkwardly between the rest of the room and the thief. She seemed to brighten up a little when she saw the others returning, waving them over. "Ah, you’re all done? I have your things here. I should get back to work!" She scurried off quickly, somewhere into the back of the building, leaving the group to get dressed again and move on to the tavern for some food, or wherever else they wished to go.

Stepping outside, they would find that little had changed from when they entered aside from a conspicuous gap in the people crowding around the edges of the street. Many were shooting wary glances at the massive wolf resting on the side of the street near the entrance to the old church. Fortunately, it seemed that none had tried to get him to move in the relatively short time they’d been inside, but he’d attracted more than a little attention and everyone seemed to be giving him a wide berth.

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: Nightmare Lands (Dungeon World Game)

Colette yawned and stretched up onto her tip toes, with her hands flexed together, palms upward. Like Alicia, she too brightened at seeing the others coming back after all the treatment was done.

"So, breakfast? Then maybe we see if this town could use a few sell-swords? Somebody to scout out all this trouble that's come to visit... Assuming there's coin on offer, naturally."

She smiled coquettishly. It's not that the thief didn't have a heart. Her sense of justice was in the right place. But she'd learned at a young age: don't do something for free when people would be willing to pay you for it. And in the sprawl of her urban upbringing, squeezed by the mass of humanity's poorest and most cruel, Colette had survived coin by coin. The art of stealing was developed when no work was available. Forged by necessity, shaped by desire, that was her beginnings.

Mireleth was something new, something different, something that didn't come wandering down Colette's alleys every day. Life was more spirited with her and the odd group of friends they'd come by. But still, the thief missed her city. It was a wilderness to itself and she understood it. Out here in the true wild, the air was too open, the wind too harsh, the sounds of the country too quiet and alien.

Food however, was a constant, and breakfast had been delayed. She was impatient to find the inn and see what dish would calm the growling badger that was her stomach.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Nightmare Lands (Dungeon World Game)

"Naturally," Mireleth replied somewhat flatly as they reunited with Collette. While she too did not lack for a sense of justice, the rogue's notion that one should be repaid for good deeds was one that she wholeheartedly ascribed to. What better incentive to continue a life of aiding others than to be rewarded for it, after all?

"Breakfast sounds good, and then yes, I would like to see if the guard would appreciate some... Assistance with this problem," the warrior continued as she began getting her clothes back on. It was somewhat awkward with the bandages inhibiting her movement, but it still didn't take her long. Before they departed, however, she turned to Sable and said; "I know hunting men isn't exactly your preference, but would you perhaps be willing to continue accompanying us if we undertook such an endeavor?"

She knew that the huntress preferred to go after more esoteric creatures, and while obviously Mireleth had seen that she was willing to defend herself from any adversary, she wasn't entirely sure if Sable was willing to play the role of manhunter so easily. The same could be said for Wyndyl and Nagan, but Mireleth wasn't quite sure how to approach the pair about it just yet and thus was reserving asking them for later.

 

[GargantuaBlarg]

Re: Nightmare Lands (Dungeon World Game)

Nagan cared little for the city-dwellers' coin - it was heavy and troublesome to carry, and often drove the desperate to attempt to relieve Nagan of it - but it DID ease her way through existence within the cities. She could trade it for food, or for places that people didn't bother her when she slept or rested. She also could trade it to make the city's warrior folk go away. Yes... to Nagan, coin itself was worthless. What power it had sprung from how enthralled the cityfolk were to it; with coin, she could make others do as she wanted. And that was good.
"I'm interested in who these tribesmen were," Nagan said offhandedly, overhearing the Traveler's question. She offered little else, however, instead walking to her elf companion... though her eyes watched the girl whose spirit was in turmoil, idly wondering what she would have to do to ease the discontent of Sable's soul.

 

[Knephi]

Re: Nightmare Lands (Dungeon World Game)

Sable simply nodded her agreement to Colette's suggestion of breakfast, toying idly with the medallion in her pocket as she considered her options. While Mireleth was correct in that humans weren't the usual prey she hunted, She was not so single-minded either. She'd come into conflict with the natives of the Wildlands before, but that was usually simply to defend herself or occasionally others. She had no quarrel with them for the most part, but she had a bad feeling about this group.

Contrary to what her usual behaviour might imply, the monsters that roamed outside of the borders of civilization were not the true target of her hatred. At the very least, they weren't the greatest. What she truly loathed were the sorcerers who unleashed them, who continued to terrorize the people... and she had a hunch they had some involvement here. There were too many oddities about the attack. It could just be some group from far abroad whose methods were new to this land... but she was willing to bet there was something more sinister behind it.

And besides, her upbringing told her to protect the people. Normally, she had her own way of doing so, but she could make an exception. Circumstances demanded that she seek compensation for her work to support herself, but she had not abandoned her old duties. "Yes, I think this is worth following up on. I have my suspicions that there's more going on than there appears, though." She gave Nagan an appraising glance for a few moments when the woman expressed interest in the identities of the attackers.

"You would know better than I," Sable withdrew her hand from her pocket, holding the medallion between her fingers, "But these look a lot more like something you'd see coming out of the cities to the west than out here. I don't like the implications of that. It means we might be dealing with my line of work after all."

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: Nightmare Lands (Dungeon World Game)

Colette gave a cursory glance over the bronze medallion and sniffed at it.

"Simple craftsmanship and backwards material. Cities of the Empire make most of their casts in iron and steel; it's the foundation of civilization itself. Keeps us separate and better protected from the savages of the wilderness."

The thief could see the door to the inn was only fifty or so yards away now. She knew her stomach was rumbling and hoped there were fresh eggs and good bread available - maybe some nice pork too.

"Maybe there's a snake worshipping cult out there in the wilderness. Some witch is stirring them to action."

[Spout Lore test to know more about snake worshipping cults?]

 

[Astarte]

Re: Nightmare Lands (Dungeon World Game)

(Spout Lore: 2d6-1 = 1 [1,1]. Very much a fail. +1 Experience.)

Unfortunately, the symbol of the coiled serpent was no more familiar to the thief than it had been to Nagan or Sable, and she had no recollection of any stories or rumours of any kind of snake-worshipping cult. As she examined the medallion though, she suddenly felt as though the hairs on the back of her neck were standing up—Like the feeling of a pair of eyes staring very intently at her back.

If she chose to look around for the source however she would find nothing amiss. The few townspeople around seemed uninterested in the group, their attentions focused elsewhere, but she simply couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched.

 

[Tiffanian]

Re: Nightmare Lands (Dungeon World Game)

Wyndyl took a moment to slip on her dress before following after the others back out of the church, noting that more wounded had continued to trickle in behind them. This had certainly been quite the big event. What sort of tribe thought it could spare the warriors to make an attack of this scale? When they got outside Sir Wolf was there waiting, laying down quite near the door. The elf quickly walked over to him, running her hands through the fur of his back and said <"Thank you for waiting for me. I think we're going to get breakfast. Are you hungry?"> in Elvish, beckoning him to walk alongside her as they headed towards an inn. As for the other question at hand, the answer seemed fairly obvious to her. "It certainly bears exploration" she said, "the cause of this strange event ought to be ascertained. And coin, I suppose, is necessary to live in these parts."

 

[Astarte]

Re: Nightmare Lands (Dungeon World Game)

By the time the party reached the inn, they would find that many before them seemed to have had similar plans. The main floor was quite busy, though there were a few tables left empty, but the atmosphere was nothing like it had been during any meal the day before. The townsfolk seemed to be focusing solely on their meals, aside from a few who'd gotten drunk enough to lose those inhibitions. While the battle had been a victory the town had suffered losses, most notably the guards at the gate when the attack began, and it seemed that few were comfortable with revelry so soon.

Word had apparently reached the inn's owner of their part in defending against the attackers though—and many others, judging by how many looks they got as they entered—and they wouldn't be paying for food and drink for today at least. Aside from some curious looks nobody really bothered them during their meal, but if they chose to question the patrons or staff regarding their earlier decision to try to find someone willing to pay for their services in hunting down the source behind the attack they would find little of use, other than that the town guard would be the best to ask once they got themselves organized again.

Any attempts to find more information would unfortunately come up similarly dry. It seemed that nobody knew quite where they had come from, it was like they had just sprung up out of the seemingly ever-present mist that still clung to alleys and alcoves outside even now that the sun was high in the sky. The symbol was similarly unknown, though if he was asked the innkeeper would mirror their resident monster hunter's opinion that some kind of foul sorcery was probably involved.

Spoiler

I apologize for the lack of content, but I didn't want to skip straight forward without giving people a chance to get anything else they wanted done. I'll make smaller individual replies as necessary for anything anyone would like to do in the inn (Or if you want to just talk) and continue once that's done. Or I can just edit more in here if nobody has anything they want to address.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Nightmare Lands (Dungeon World Game)

Falling silent on their journey to the tavern as she pondered the morning's deadly opening, Mireleth joined the others in the tavern and, as per usual, closed her eyes and clasped her hands before her after they had ordered her breakfast, taking a few minutes worth of meditation and silent prayer. She didn't bother fighting the inn staff on paying for their meal, nor did she attempt to seek information on the attack here, or even approach anyone of note in the meantime. Now wasn't the time for alcohol, not for her anyway, and her choice of meal - if she had any to speak of - was for something simple that she would add a bit of spice she had from home. She didn't have much left, but it was another reminder of where she'd come from, and it actually fit in nicely.

As she ate, she eyed the bronze medallion, left on the edge of the table by Collete, and pondered some of the older religions from back home. She ascribed to the most ancient beliefs, the old philosophies and the worship of the ancestors, but some other faiths were nearly as ancient, and some of them had involved snakes. "I think I might recognize that symbol actually..."

(Roll = 5 + 4 - 1 = 8, spout lore.)

 

[Astarte]

Re: Nightmare Lands (Dungeon World Game)

(Spout Lore: 2d6-1 = 8 [5,4]. Partial Success.)

Though this specific symbol was not one the foreign swordswoman recognized, on closer inspection it did resemble something she had seen in the past. Serpents had been holy symbols for a number of deities over the ages, but this coiling design was reminiscent of a particular deity.

Unfortunately, she only knew a little of it, as it did not come from her own homeland but a neighbouring nation. That nation was said to be home to creatures known as Nagas, who were apparently women with the lower body of a snake. They were apparently quite rare but highly regarded among the people of their home. Mireleth had seen a symbol reminiscent of the one on these medallions on some imported goods on occasion, supposedly representative of the Nagas' serpent-god, but sadly she had heard little more than that, not even a name.

It could simply be a coincidence, but if it was not it raised some interesting questions. Such as why these symbols were now appearing all the way on the far side of the empire, in the hands of those who should have had no way of coming in contact with her homeland or its neighbours.

 

[GargantuaBlarg]

Re: Nightmare Lands (Dungeon World Game)

Nagan was a bit uncomfortable surrounded by so many Imperials... even in these halls of food and drink, places where folk went to eat and make merry. The shaman couldn't shake the knowledge that if these people found out about her magic, she'd be run out of town at best... and captured and strung up like game at the town gallows or worse, if she weren't quick enough about leaving. Even if they didn't find out, she might still have the townsfolk turn on her, if one among them decided he didn't much like her for whatever reason. The tribeswoman hadn't thought too much of Wyndyl's wolf-riding when she'd befriended her... but it had definitely saved her a few times before.

As a result, she kept close to the elf. The food in the hall was quite good, and the generosity from the others here was welcome, but Nagan remained alert nevertheless.