wilderlogs | THE LAST HOMELY HOUSE ※ RIVENDELL ※ LOG 2

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THE LAST HOMELY HOUSE ※ RIVENDELL ※ LOG 2

THE LAST HOMELY HOUSE
OOC POST
The group is told to take a week of rest in the Last Homely House as the injured and sick among them heal. The Elves promise them that at the end of that week, there will be a great Council, with representatives of several peoples in attendance.

Until then, they can wander the peaceful halls of Rivendell, which are filled with travelers from all over the Wilderlands who are making a rest stop while they travel through the lands of Middle-Earth.

The most notable part of Rivendell is the Hall of Fire, a great feast hall where people can eat, drink, and be merry. This is the great social hall of Rivendell, where the Elves and their visitors share news of lands far beyond, tell stories, or perform music. The music here almost sounds divine, especially when the Elves sing and play, but they're just as eager to hear songs from other lands, so if any of the squad decide to share, they'll be glad to listen.

Some of the hall's guests are a touch more lively than the others, like a party of dwarves staying at Rivendell. Their stories are a mite more adventurous and if you get in their good graces, they might be willing to share some of the beer they brought with them. Listening to their stories or their talk about their craftmanship is a way to get into their good graces.

The Elves love learning, so there are libraries the group is allowed to browse, though they mostly only contain tales of Middle-Earth (for now), though the Elves seem to be collecting what books about other lands they can. These libraries often have viewing stations with telescopes pointing at the sky. The Elves have been almost delighted by the changing skies, enjoying the challenge of trying to understand how the sky has been knitting itself together with the addition of new worlds.

There are also beautiful balconies here, overlooking the gorge and the waters below, and terraced gardens filled with flowers, bushes, and flowering trees. Their rooms are open to the outdoors and have beds that seem grown into the shape of bed-frames instead of carved. The bathrooms actually have running water. The Elves have figured out how to direct the clean running waters of the gorge in primitive indoor plumbing. Water for hot baths has to be heated first in brass cauldrons over coal braziers before getting dumped into the bath.

It's time for the squad to rest, eat, and regroup. If a great Council is going to be called involving them, it might be a good idea to make sure they go into it as a united front, lest decisions about their fate be made for them.

NOTES
✦ Joint log: Since this camp period won't be particularly long, everything will take place in a joint log. Players can post starters with prompts for others and tag into other players' prompts.

✦ Post in actionspam format. Plots and mod-run events in the game are meant to be in actionspam format to keep a brisk pace.

✦ Cursed Weapons/Powers: So they know about how they'll be treated: those with cursed weapons and dark powers will be tolerated by the Elves after entry. While they'll get the same general treatment, the Elves around them may at times seem uncomfortable. Those with cursed weapons will only be distrusted a little, as the weapons themselves will seem more suspicious than their bearers. Those with dark powers or some kind of dark nature (such as being a vampire, Necromancer mage, werewolf, etc.) will be treated with the greatest distrust.

✦ Fairy Swaps: The Elves may be slightly alarmed by the Brugh fairy swaps but get over it easily. However, if the character swapped in is one of the "dark" characters, the swap might be extra cause for alarm. (A potential prompt idea).

✦ Npcing: There will be two npc threads. The "Random Encounters" thread is for characters to have a totally random encounter with an npc. These npcs will be fellow travelers from lands beyond. While they can't give much information about the group's status as Chosen Ones (that will happen during the Council) they can provide info about events in the Wilderlands beyond that may come to affect the squad in their travels. The "Specific Requests" thread will be for more specific issues your character might want to discuss with the Elves. While they'll push any Chosen Ones discussion off to the Council, they're willing to discuss issues with the characters, like if they have questions about having received magic, about being bound to their weapons, etc. The Rivendell Elves have heard a lot of gossip from all over and can potentially provide info based on things they've heard.

✦ Clothes: The group will not yet be fully equipped for their travels (that will happen upon leaving) but everyone will at least be given new clothes since theirs are dirty and sometimes torn. Characters without appropriate travel footwear will also be given light and sturdy boots that will somehow be in their size without their size being asked. They'll also be given basic toiletries like scissors that can be used to cut hair and beards. There are no razors, however, because the Elves don't need to shave so they don't keep them on hand.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It's where you're really good at punching and kicking. [It is not.]

Gee, thanks. Tell you what, find me a gun and none of this will even be a problem.

Ah. So a disciple of the open fist or some such nonsense...

[ He's known a few monks in his time, thank you. ]

A... gun?

[ He's never heard of such a thing. ]

What sort of device is that?

Sure. [What?]

Yeah, a gun. It's this weapon that shoots bullets at people. [Dixon realizes he might need to break it down a bit more.] They're like crossbows, kind of? Except instead of pulling a string you pull a trigger, and a little metal thing flies out and punches a hole in someone. They can be in all size, handheld or pretty big ones, depending on what you're using them for.

[Crossbows have triggers, but fuck if Dixon knows that.]

Anyway, I'm a pretty good shot. [Who has two thumbs and can hit most of a row of empty beer cans on a porch railing while drunk as hell? This guy.]

Ah. It sounds like something people would make to kill one another, so I suppose I can't be all that surprised. What actually powers it? If you know, anyway.

[ Alacruun flashes a smile. Not really a nice smile. ]

it does sound a handy device, although I tend to prefer my innate... talents. Or learned skill, however you want to describe it. It's much more elegant, in my opinion.

[ Yes, elegant. Like sucking someone's life force out through their face. ]

[Rude.] Gunpowder. If you know that, anyway. [Asshole.]

I wouldn't go around calling it elegant. It was a little nasty, if you ask me, but I didn't mind the backup. [Dixon's impressed he kept his cool when magic ripped his legs out from under him, given that at the time no one knew it was temporary.]

I'm afraid "gunpowder" is a new concept.

[ Alacruun smiles. ]

Well, we all have to look out for one another, don't we? It wwould be ridiculous if we let our allies simply perish...

[Smooth, Alacruun, putting Dixon back on the defense like that, making him explain something he knows the name but not the actual mechanics of.]

It's like pieces of charcoal that explode. [That's as good as he's got.

He nods. When it comes to the cohesion of the group, he's a true believer. He took that knife to the back protecting a guy he'd been in a fistfight with the week before.] We're a unit. If we don't have each other's backs we don't have shit.

I'll have to find some and take a look at some point in the near future, if I have the opportunity...

[ Sounds promising, anyway. Or at least an interesting distraction. ]

Do you think everyone else agrees with that assessment? Of being a unit?

No, and that's a problem.

[Not just for him, even though he knows that if they were going to vote anyone off the island, he'd probably be at the top of the list. As far as he's concerned, it's an issue the whole team will have to start reckoning with: their inconsistent numbers, the difficulty keeping track of people in the mirror or not, the fact that they never know when or who will join them next. There's no central structure and that worries him. He likes his world divided into clear ranks and authorities.]

We held up pretty good when shit hit the fan on the hill, and most everyone here's a hero type [at least one participant in this conversation excepted] but I don't know how long that'll hold up.

We all have our squabbles and disagreements... but as you said, most of us are... "hero types". Why wouldn't we stick together? Unless you there's a weak link somewhere.

[ He's just going to edge this conversation on, bit by bit. ]

Yeah, there's a weak link somewhere. [For fuck's sake, Alacruun, he's dumb but not that oblivious.]

And what do you intend to do about it?

[ Questions, questions. Always questions. ]

Do this, and keep my mouth shut. [He slings and calls the shield back again, managing to not quite catch it but clip his fingers and send the shield spinning and rolling behind him like a wheel. The way it wobbles to the ground, then scoots across the floor to him like an abashed pet, is almost comical.]

Not like I'm winning any awards at either.

Don't be too hard on yourself.

[ Alacruun's voice is surprisingly soothing. ]

We all start somewhere. I'm sure that you'll find a way to prove your worth.

[Being hard on one's self is an art Dixon's been getting very good at lately. He used to be able to turn it outwards more easily, but he's been trying - God has he been trying - to keep it away from anger and hatred. It's like trying to stop up a running faucet with a finger. The pressure just keeps building and it keeps leaking out, but first it has to back up within him first. He doesn't know how to turn it off or slow it down.

So Dixon's desperate for someone to give him something to feel good about, and a little 'don't beat yourself up' feels like the first thing he's had in grasp for a while. So he grabs and holds it.]

You think?

Of course. We're all capable of self-improvement. I didn't start out a powerful wizard - I had to learn.

[ Admittedly, he was also a natural. And a dragon. That's a hard combo to fail with. Dixon, on the other hand... ]

To tell you the truth, I was the runt of the litter. But here I am and my sister is dead, because she decided she was going to play the part of an extortionist... [ No love lost there, apparently. ]

Yeah?

[He gives Alacruun a bit of a skeptical look, but something's hitting home.] She decided she was going to kill ghosts?

...not exactly.

[ Alacruun gives Dixon a long look, debating whether he wants to try and explain. ]

Someone decided she had too much treasure for her own good. They proved capable of killing her.

[Dixon hates that look, and his own gaze darkens back in a sort of idiot defiance, as if being annoyed could force the world into what he just said it was.]

Well, you don't seem too tore up about it.

We didn't get along.

[ That's all he'll say about that. It was a long time ago, anyway. ]

What else is there to say?

I guess not much. [It's not like Dixon doesn't know family ties aren't the most important things in the world to some people, but it's still always a bit unsettling to stare it right in the face like that. And letting it just linger tends to sour the air of a conversation.]

You seem like you're getting on with the elves, at least.

"Getting on" is a way of putting it, yes.

[ Alacruun sighs dramatically. He suffers, so. ]

They don't like me that much, simply because I'm a dragon. It's very disheartening.

I'd of figured you fantasy-types would all get along. [Dixon's not super fond of the elves, despite their hospitality, mostly because they've figured out he's dumb as paste and get a little condescending about it.]

How does that whole thing even work? Because you don't look like a dragon right now.

I looked like a dragon when I walked through their "front door" and they gave me a piece of their mind about it.

[ Alacruun snorts. ]

Dragons and elves don't usually get along. Or dragons and dwarves or dragons and men. They think us greedy, terrible monsters. Utter nonsense, of course, but you can't please everyone.

[Dixon makes a little expression like 'sounds about right' when it comes to the elves being a little kneejerk in elitism.]

For real? There's no truth behind that reputation? [Dixon looks genuinely curious; unfortunately, that basically means he's an open vessel for Alacruun to dump as much misinformation and bias as he's got into. Shooting fish in a barrel is likely to be better sport. Maybe shooting dead fish on a plate would be easier.]

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