• Event • A debt is due

[Victor Amielle]

As Victor took a look around, a beautifully constructed crypt caught his attention. Such buildings held no fear for him. He had already explored a few crypts in his life. To him they were not something that should be avoided, but rather a potential source of treasure. The carvings on the stone were of a particular interest to him, and thus he approached in order to take a closer look.

It was just then that an enormous boom of thunder rang through the graveyard though. He spun around abruptly. There were people all around him now. The way they acted made it obvious that they had been teleported there, just like him. He didn’t immediately greet them though, but kept his distance.

Something wasn’t right. The terrible sounds continued, and then a ghostly ship suddenly appeared above them. He made a step back, not because he was more afraid than his companions, but rather because he still possessed a modicum of common sense.

Tio’s behavior especially seemed strange to him, although he had to give him credit for how he said the things he said. “You have a way with words”, he complimented him. “I wouldn’t have been able to come up with half of those things. But it doesn’t sound like a walnut being crushed by a hammer. It reminds me more of the sound the Snäytu Kanna of Desnind make. There is a temple dedicated to Lisirra in a dead tree in Desnind, by the way.” He broke off, realizing that he had been rambling and turned towards the ghost pirate.

If the others were going to play pirates, then he was going to be their advisor, he supposed and the one who made sure that they and, most importantly, he didn’t die. “Maybe he wants money”, he told them. “We can give him money. A confabulation is a fabricated memory, by the way,” he explained to Quit’ria and added an “Arrr!” to prove that he could talk like a pirate, too. The situation, he realized, was finally getting to him.

(Word says my post is 343 words.)

[Arlo Creede]

[img]/gallery/image ... ge_id=6566[/img]

At first, Arlo was convinced that he must be dreaming. Ordinarily he knew the difference right away. His instincts might be a little off at the moment though. But even Lyova assured him that it wasn't a dream at all. But when he called out, it came right back to him in rounds.

"Strange," he'd uttered to himself under his breath. He'd walked through a great deal of fog during his travels, and it tended to lack form and substance. More likely to swallow sound than send it right back. Maybe it was the tombstones. It made him jumpy though, not being able to see more than a foot or so in front of his face. Too many ways for something unsavory to take him by surprise.

Like that giant snake he and Vega had battled in the jungle. "You know, Lyova," he said, "I'm thinking that the way that thing squeezed tight before it died, it must have been a python. If only I'd had a pineapple and a pair of scissors on hand. I'd have done it in quicker." Grief. Did strange things to the mind.

Then a crack of thunder, a flash of lightening and Arlo realized he wasn't alone. Except the only person he saw that he figured he knew for sure, was Qit'ria. They all seemed as lost as him. "Well this is all a bit of a confabulation, isn't it?" he said, not realizing that some things would turn out to be contagious. Like a dream, not a dream, all mixed up and a disturbance of memory, which might further explain the confabulated nature of it. "Nice shoes," he said to Kura, by way of introducing himself.

Thunder rolling and rolling, sounds like mighty oaks crashing and falling to the ground but not. A ghost ship on dry land and a hovering skull. Not to mention the cold. "Well shiver me timbers, look at that." But then somebody had to go getting the thing riled. He had his pistol crossbow at the ready. Not that it would do him any good. "What debt?"

word count 349

[Kali'rial]

119th Vhalar, 717

”You know. We should probably. Take this. Back to The Muse.” Kali’rial muttered between kisses on the bards warm, soft lips. What had started as a nice evening stroll had somehow very quickly become far more...intimate. Given this is where she and the sunkissed minstrel has met, it wasn’t hard to make the leap, and whilst the Sev’ryn was all for a romp on the beach, she was also aware that this was Almund itself. Full of creeper peeper sailors and ex-pirates who’d simply love a good show. The idea made her skin crawl.

Still, it was a lovely evening. With the snow and the fog being almost enough to perhaps hide them, for a while.

Grinning wolfishly wrapped in her yak cloak she moved from sitting beside Pash to her hands and knees with the intent of pushing the tanned Biqaj over on his back when suddenly the sand was not sand. The waves were gone too.

”What confabulation is this? How did we...where are we...who are...huh?!” Jumping to her feet and brushing the dirt off her knees, Kali blushed deeply and adjusted her cloak over her shoulders as she looked at her familiar peers with confusion.

”Kura. Uh. Hello. You look...er....very well! Have you done something with your hair?” Her confused and awkward greeting was interrupted by a great boom and thunder - no creaking - followed by the ghostly visage of a ship. Turning rapidly at the sound of laughter Kali stared at what could only be the ghostly Captain.

The debt must be paid. The debt is due.

”Yar Tio, what did y’do this time y’landlubber!” Good Immortals, what even was a land lubber?!



(Word count 300)

[Pash Raj'oriq]

“Qes, I’ve no wish t’ get tips for this kind o’ performin’.” Pash laughed in their intimate proximity, perhaps a little more inebriated than he’d intended to be after a trial spent re-rigging The Muse with new sails he'd purchased in Almund. It had been cold and the meal and the ale had been more than welcome. Walking back to the docks had become distracting, drifting from conversation to walking closer once the snow began to fall, to pausing for a few stolen kisses to, well, enduring the cold of the beach for way longer than intended.

The fog had admittedly not caught his attention until it was too late, grinning in alcohol-warmed mischievousness even as the strange mist moved and shimmered as if it was alive, Kali’rial capturing far more of his focus than—

Something changed in a reluctant blink, and the sand his calloused palms had been leaning on was now cold, damp grass instead. His lover was just as surprised as he was, for clearly the both of them were no longer deviants on the beach but in a graveyard. A graveyard? Glancing around at the flash of lighting and the strange thunder, the seafaring musician quickly recognized the sound of creaking, cracking wood. There were others, all faces he knew and who probably didn’t need nor want to see himself and his lover so enjoying themselves, “Though this be somethin’, aye, some confab’lation while we’re sailin’ ‘bout three sheets t’ th’ wind, it’s no’.”

Not one to be ashamed of his choices often (rarely, if ever, honestly), Pash took in all the strangeness for a moment and attempted to process everything in his alcohol- and desire-fueled mind, failing miserably because he was standing too close to Kali’rial and his hands may have wandered for a trill or two without him noticing. Instead, he grinned at Victor as he offered money,

“Ah, now that’s a generous lad there, aren’t y’ now? I doubt that this ghost be wantin' jus’ our coin.” Squinting up the hill, the tall Biqaj curiously awaited whatever was next.

OOC

Word Count: 359

Talk like a pirate: “three sheets to the wind” = drunk. Pash mostly talks like a sailor anyway. So.

Fashionably late! Naughty Pash. My bad. Being drunk for a spoopy adventure with a PC is a Halloween tradition for me. Sorry not sorry.

[Kura Wolfsdotter]

It wasn't long after arriving in the graveyard that Kura began to shake and shiver. Then there was feeling that she kept getting, as though someone were walking right over her grave. "Oh, brilliant. Now I'm gettin' spooked just because of some creepy fog." she said, berating herself before she looked back over her shoulder at the cranky feeling ghost that was always here. "For what it's worth, lass, I'm not happy about it either." she said with a laugh, as she wrapped her arms around herself, trying to fight off the shivers as if they were a normal thing.

The flash of lightning was almost welcome, the illumination it brought showing that she wasn't alone. "Well now, well now. The gang's all here." she said with a cheery laugh at Tio and Kali's greeting. "And you've a nice hat, lad." she said with a grin before turning back to Tio. "And empress, is it now? If you be wantin' to service me, Tio, you'll have to be findin' a better place for it." Then the fog turned into a succession of nightmares, ending in a shipwreck.

The ghostly captain that appeared then, and Kura sighed in realization. "Fitting, all this talk of confabulations. I'm pretty sure we were just witnesses to the memories of our spooky, scary, skeletal friend over t-t-t-t-t-there." she said, before closing her mouth with a growl to suppress her chattering teeth.

"Ahoy there, captain. Perhaps you could be tellin' us what this debt you be speakin' of is? After all, we're no foolish landlubbers to be payin' a debt we don't know the cost of." she said, lowering one hand and bending her knees into a slight crouch, ready to move in a hurry in case there were spectral cannon balls in the near future.

Word count: 300 exactly

[Pegasus]

119th Vhalar, 717

Standing in front of the Dead Dread Pirate......

Tio

Tio did his very best - he gave it his all! With the sort of inner fortitude which meant that he was destined to make it to at least the next post, he tried to talk to the Big Dead Guy. It wasn't exactly unsuccessful, it was just noisy.
So close!! unlocked. Tio completed nearly all objectives and will receive additional loot at the end of the thread!
I talk too much, I know..... unlocked. Tio has a new Personal Objective!. In your next post, limit Tio's speech to 20 words or less!

Qit'ria

With a friendly thump to Tio and a glare at her new furred feline companion, Qit'ria declared herself to be mating with Tio. No one laughed, that was good, right? Then, she decided that the thing to do was to demand payment from the ghost. Careful what you wish for!
So close!! unlocked. Qit'ria completed nearly all objectives and will receive additional loot at the end of the thread!
I'm with blondie unlocked. Qit'ria has a new Personal Objective!. In your next post, say something which could (should) be misconstrued by those around as Qit'ria flirting with Tio.

Victor

Victor was a source of a lot of knowledge and he, too, spoke to the Dread Dead Pirate. Perhaps the situation was getting to the serious young researcher, but the pirate lingo sounded good and, actually, it felt good too. He was a pirate!
All done!! unlocked. Victor completed all objectives and will receive additional loot at the end of the thread!
Chemical reactions... unlocked. Victor has a new Personal Situation!. Maybe it's the mist he breathed in, maybe it's the adrenaline. But at some point in your next post, Victor should get a fit of the giggles.

Arlo

Nope, he wasn't sleeping. His small and invisible to everyone else companion looked at him and somehow managed to look querulous, despite being a small glowing ball. He noticed Kura's very fashionable footwear, and he asked what might well turn out to be a very important question indeed!
So close!! unlocked. Arlo completed nearly all objectives and will receive additional loot at the end of the thread!
Fashionista unlocked. Arlo has a new Personal Objective!. In your next post, compliment the ghost (or one of his companions... see below) on a piece of attire which is not either a hat or an eyepatch.

Kali'rial

There were good times and there were very much bad times to get swallowed by mist. Which of these was, well, that was for each individual to decide. But never let it be said that the young Sev'ryn wasn't flexible in attitude! She was soon involved with the whole situation and, in fairness, it was hard not to be when faced with it.
So close!! unlocked. Kali'rial completed nearly all objectives and will receive additional loot at the end of the thread!
Fashionably late! unlocked. Kali'rial has a new Personal Objective!. In your next post, you must include reference to a cat, a drawing and a yellow dress! (you have 50 more words to do this)

Pash

The other new arrival was a little drunk, a little loved-up. But at least he had all his clothes on! Frankly, a few more minutes and it could have been a lot worse. A whooooole lot worse. Still, this particular party was a bit of a worry and the scene before the canoodling lovers was a bit different.
All done!! unlocked. Pash completed all objectives and will receive additional loot at the end of the thread!
And you didn't know it! unlocked. Pash has a new Personal Objective!. In your next post, Pash should speak in rhyme. The whole time.

Kura

Tio was flirting with her, she was trembling like a leaf. Ah, the beginnings of love might have started to blossom there, that misty night. She too asked about the debt and more than that, she got herself ready to move! Just in case things went the way we all know they're going to further down this post!
All done!! unlocked. Kura completed all objectives and will receive additional loot at the end of the thread!
A state of unagi? unlocked.Kura has a new Personal Objective!. In your next post, you should include reference to a mask, a pair of tweezers and a crystal (you have 50 more words to do this)

[/align]

All Players

As the chill of the sudden sub-zero temperatures hit them and they may take a few trill to wish they'd brought gloves or a scarf, behind the ghostly Dead Dread Pirate there were suddenly a whole lot more dead, skeletal, ghostly pirate types. Five, in total, with the Captain made six.

The others, each in varying stages of decay, stayed behind the Dead Dread Pirate and they rattled their sabres and made arrrrrrr noises. As they materialised, Pash suddenly realised that a large (not huge, just... big) undead parrot was suddenly perched on his shoulder, where it had more or less appeared. It didn't hurt, didn't dig in but it was heavy and then it let out a screeching cry which was just wholly unpleasant.

The Captain (Dead Dread Pirate) turned to look at Arlo as he asked the question and he nodded his skeletal head. He seemed pleased to have an audience, in fairness. His voice boomed out.

" Souls. The debt is souls. Smugglers and pirates, that's what we are, all over the world we have been," his voice echoed. Then he motioned with one boney finger, to them all." and our companion Seymour Maveth, was supposed to guide us in to a cove. But he let the ship run aground, the mist came in, an' we needed that guiding light. But he let the ship run aground to get our treasure an' the people looted it. Looted us, they did."

Low groans from the pirate crew around him accompanied the tale.

"They buried our treasure, they did," he spoke to Kura, now. Then his gaze swept them all and landed on Kali'rial. "The debt is due, can't pay with our treasure, it's buried we don't know where. Pay with her." There was a sudden chattering noise of skeleton jaws clacking in approval. "Come ride with us, huntress,"

As he said that, the parrot on Pash's shoulder (even if he chased it off, shoo'd it away, it just reappeared there) screeched again. "I'll swallow yer soul! SQUAWK!"

They started to converge on Kali's position.....

Objectives!

You have a number of options here (please be aware, you can do something entirely different too!)

1. Hand her over! Vote to hand Kali'rial over as payment. You'll receive negative fame and a larger reward.

2. Negotiate with something else! There must be something else they want, surely!? You'll receive positive fame and a larger reward.

3. Fight!Fight! FIIIIIGHT! Self explanatory. You might receive all sorts, including bad owies.

Welcome to the Vhalar 717 All Hallows Eve Event!

The way it's going to work is:
1. This is a quirky adventure with a spooky theme - it will run for maximum five rounds of posting. This was round 2
2. I am going to post to it every 2 days ~ so it will last a maximum of ten days.
3. This is an impact thread for Scalvoris.
4. There is both risk and reward in this thread.
5. I am going to run it along the lines of individual goals / achievements unlocked, objectives and so on. Some of these will be ic, some OOC
6. I will post again on the 2nd November 2017. The thread is now closed to new players.

Disclaimer

I am really, genuinely, flinging around words like "loot" and "consequences" in a very vague manner. Sometimes. Other times, less so. This is about fun - there is risk, but I'm not planning on killing anyone. There is the potential for long term consequence, though.

What happened to whom (specifically the parrot and the choice of "victim") was determined randomly - this was a dice roll done in Discord chat. Qit'ria was there to witness it.

Objectives

I'm going to split your objectives into two types. Must-Do (or sometimes, Must-Not Do) and Can-Do. The first type are for all, the second are optional, if you want to.

For your next post: Must Do Objectives 1. Keep your post to less than 300 words.
2. Hallucinate one of the creatures of Scalvoris in ghostly form.
Can-Do Objectives 1. Give the parrot an order. It will randomly obey one of those.
2. Dance a nautical jig.
3. Identify both the movie and the TV show reference (both, please)........ (pm me)

Thanks!

I have to give thanks to the person who inspired this style of moderation for me. In a different place, he wrote some of the best adventures I ever took part in. Thanks, Stray. <3

[Kali'rial]

119th Vhalar, 717

Unconsciously, Kali’rial swatted the bard’s wandering hands away, her blush deepening as he seemed to be oblivious to the fact that they were in the public eye in his tipsy state. As the cold surrounding them pierced the warmth of her cloak, the huntress shivered and sneezed, pulling it closer to herself with a frown.

”I should have worn that yellow dress we saw in the market.” She muttered, regretting letting the knitted garment pass her by. As the chill deepened, before them appeared a whole host of ghostly pirates, and on Pash’s shoulder a large loud parrot. The brunette jumped and stared at the bird.

”Immortals, would be handy to have a cat right about now. Shoo bird, go on!” Turning back to the pirates as their captain addressed Arlo, the Sev’ryn listened with a frown and a shiver. So they were betrayed by their companion and the folks they ran into looted them.

Swat, swat, swat. The huntress almost looked like she was performing an of exotic jig trying to keep the Biqaj’s hands to himself.

As the ghostly Captain’s eyes landed on her, the huntress glared back, ready to help with finding the treasure if th-

Wait, what?!

”With me?!” She squeaked, eyes wide and stepping backwards slowly as the ghostly crew began to move towards her. Looking at the group, the shivering sneezy brunette shook her head.

”You can’t. I won’t. Surely we can think of something else. Maybe that treasure, do you have a drawing of the area? A map?! We could figure this out.” Looking back at the pirates, she swore for a moment there was a ghostly apparition of an aye-aye flitting around their feet. Steeling herself, Kali’rial shifted her stance and wished she’d had her bow when they’d been transported. Although she could sense Sarkis, it was anyone’s guess if he could follow her or reach her in time. Still, she called to the spirit wolf telepathically as she raised her petite fists.

”I’m not going with you.”

If anyone was planning on taking her, they were going to do so with a fight.



(Word count 336)

[Pash Raj'oriq]

It was just about when the strange parrot landed on his shoulder, heavy and unexpected, that Pash could have sworn he saw Scalvuffy buzzing and flitting in the mist, causing a rise of panic to fill the hull of his chest. Grunting and swaying under the sudden weight of the thing, the inebriated Biqaj attempted to roll his shoulders and shoo the creature, but it had no interest in leaving,

"Squawk y’self away an’ find some other prey!"

Opening his mouth to object further to its presence, he heard the words the Dead Dread Pirate Captain said and stepped forward, his attempt to shake off the skeletal parrot and his level of intoxication making it look as if he was dancing just a little. The seafaring musician put himself bodily between Kali’rial and the ghostly crew, one hand reaching for his daggers while he held up the other as a signal for them to stop. Glancing up toward the Captain, he spoke loudly for all to hear and as he spoke, he began to shimmer with a golden light, his words almost a song, convincing and honeyed with the baritone of his voice:

"Now hold on t’ your rotten patooty,
This here huntress b' only my booty.
I’m going t’ stop y’ all here t’ say,
Let’s instead t'gether have a lil’ parlay.
If it’s treasure that’s buried,
then we can be harried
t’ help y’ find it an’ dig it up
an’ then fill everyone’s cup
with rum and mead—
aye, we’ll find what y’need!
‘Cause this woman’s mine
y’ buncha ghostly swine.
So have we gotta deal,
‘r y' gonna taste steel?
If there be treasure then give us th’ map,
An’ we’ll find it b’fore y’ can say shiver me bootstrap!”

NOTE

298 words

Pash is using Musical Enchantment in order to enhance his persuasion abilities and sway the ghostly Captain into striking a different deal.

[Victor Amielle]

Victor didn’t mind the sudden chill. In fact he considered it a welcome change after having nearly sweated to death during the season of Saun. What more, acting like a pirate had felt good, moral issues that he didn’t particularly care about anyway withstanding. If I ever get tired of researching unusual phenomena, he realized. There’s always piracy. I wonder what Stefan would say to that.

He tried to picture the look on his brother’s face as he found out that his younger sibling raided ships and drank copious amounts of rum. The image was so comical that he immediately broke into a fit of giggles which was unusual since he didn’t normally giggle.

Maybe there was something in the air after all!

He didn’t ponder the issue further as even more pirates appeared. That was not what worried him the most though. Right behind the pirates a ghostly Dinili materialized. Dinili didn’t normally hang out in graveyards which meant that he might be losing his mind. Was that another side effect of the mist?

He considered offering the Dread Pirate his soul because it was tainted with magic, and it might just make him sick and thus solve their problem, but then again, he didn’t know if it would be possible to live without a soul, and he was rather fond of living. That meant that he would have to try something else. But what?

“Trust me”, he spoke. “You don’t want her. She’s just a mortal. You need a proper ghost wife. I’m sure there is one for you somewhere. And as my companion here said, we’ll help you find the treasure. Maybe there’s even something hidden in the crypt over there?” He pointed at the Maveth family crypt.

“Did you know that there is an entire island full of undead called Haakon’s Isle floating somewhere above Rynmere, by the way?” he then asked the Dread Pirate. He didn’t know why he’d asked something as unrelated. Maybe a part of him secretly hoped that the pirates would go there instead.

(Word says my post is 342 words.)

[Tio Silver]

Qit'ria may not have had the strongest punch, but Tio wasn't exactly the toughest guy on Scalvoris either. The thump on his arm caused him to jitter and rub the offended limb in an attempt to brush off the pain, which in turn made him look for a moment like he was doing some strange arm-centric jig.

“Oww! What was that for?” He muttered sulkily. What was it with this girl and going for the shoulder? Speaking of people Qit’ria had hit in the shoulder two more familiar faces joined the party as Pash and Kali appeared out of thin air, both of whom looked rather flustered. This was turning out to be a nice little get-together, despite the spooky setting and undead pirates.

Tio turned his attention back to the captain as he spoke of a debt of souls. At the mention of treasure an unmistakable gleam of desire flicked on in his eyes, but before he could ask more about it the pirate finished his speech with the demand that Kali be given to them as payment. He knew that Pash at the very least was not going to sit by and let that happen, which meant they’d have to either find something else to trade to them or fight.

A shadow of movement in the corner of his eye caught Tio’s attention, and for a second he could have sworn he saw a ghostly Thwarthog sniffing around the graveyard. That gave him an idea; perhaps, like the cunning Thwarthog, he could trick these pirates into falling for their own trap?

“Why not work for me? I’ll help you get enough treasure again.” He declared. He beckoned he parrot to come rest on his shoulder in an attempt to look more like a proper captain. “Come here Polly.”

Off Topic

Exactly 300 words, with exactly 20 spent on speech.

[/align]