Wow. I decided to write a little back story, as well as introduce the world, but I went a little overboard. If you are not interested in the overly long story just skip to the bottom. ---------------------------------------------------- A bell sounds out over the large walled city of Amas, which could scarcely be heard over the shouts of it's inhabitants. At the main gate a battle was raging. On the ground, lifeless puppets of flesh or bone or both rambled along toward the walls, often climbing each other in an attempt to breach them. These where the undead. A somewhat uncommon sight in this land, the undead must be controlled by an insane wizard often called a necromancer. Few are left, as the toll that must be payed is far to much for moral humans.
On the wall the human inhabitants of the city where firing crossbows at the army of undead, to great effect. While most of the soldiers where simply conscripts, they where well disciplined and brave. Bolts would fire from their crossbows, which have been modified to be larger and more powerful then the standard, and would tear threw their targets. While there where many, few where strong.
A man the main gate from somewhere within the city with a purpose. He was wearing the standard uniform of the city, a steel chain mail armor with a cap helmet. The only difference between him and the rest of the guards to the casual onlooker would be his cloak over his chain mail, which has been cut in half and had bulges around the pockets. The man currently had his hands in said pockets as he spoke to a second man walking next to him.
"An army of undead, you say?" Said the man with the cloak.
"Yes, captain. An army of undead. That is what the reports say." The second man was somewhat larger then the first, but stranger was his crossbow. While most are rather large in this city, this crossbow was the size of a normal man and was loaded with a javelin that could likely cut a man in half. He held it casually over his shoulders as he spoke.
"You are aware of how magic works, are you not?" Spoke the captain.
"I have heard rumors, nothing more." Replied the second man.
The captain reached into his pocket and pulled out a coin, a silver piece with a crown on one side and a gate on the other, and flipped it in the air. He cought it and stared at it as he spoke.
"To do magic, you must make a sacrifice. You must pay a tole equal to what you want to get done. For a little spell this might mean sacrificing a meal, if you wanted to create a small hearth fire all you would need to sacrifice is a bowl of soup. Larger spells take something more valuable. Most spell casters carry around something that they value and can handle. After all, a novice wizard sacrificing a statue made of gold would have the same effect as a more trained wizard sacrificing a dagger. Personally I prefer coins. I can take out an entire army with this" he said looking at the coin still. "Now, what do you think would have to be sacrificed to bring back the dead? Golums usually run on gems, but that is different..."
The other man nods slightly and looks at the gate.
"We are almost there, captain. Try not to burn down the city."
The gate was, in fact, coming into view. The guards where firing from the ramparts at the army below still, with few casualties that could be seen. The captain stretched with the coin still in his hand.
"Looks like an easy fight. I will just go up the..." the captain starts, only to be interrupted by the gate disintegrating in a burst of energy, followed by thunder. It was as if the gate had been hit by a bolt of lightning and nothing had been left. Standing where the gate used to be was a man, or what appeared to be a man, standing in the gate way next to two undead soldiers. The soldiers looked different than the others, they where completely skeletal and armed with a two-handed sword each and some primitive plate armor. Most of the other undead where unarmed, and bolts stuck out of the bone and armor of these undead warriors at odd angles.
"Don't waste the cities coin commander, allow me to take this one" Said the man with the crossbow. He brought the giant crossbow into firing position and braced himself for the inevitable kick. The man then fired with a loud "WHOOSH" coming from the javelin as it flew threw the air. While the man is still a good distance away, it hits him square in the for head and pokes out the other side almost a foot, as well as throwing him back a few feat.
"Nice shot as always. I am surprised it did not go right threw him completely" stated the captain casually. The man was currently reloading his crossbow using a strange machine that he held on his back next to a quiver of javelins. While it can take a normal conscripted soldier minutes to load a crossbow this way, this man reloads the monster of a crossbow in thirty seconds. The skeletal soldiers simply stood in their place while several soldiers came to assist the captain from a distance, firing at them to no avail.
But then everyone looks up in shock as the hooded man stands up, with the javelin still in his head, as he walks calmly back to his position. Once he returned to his position, he and his skeletons continued to walk forward.
"Impossible!" Muttered the man with the crossbow in disbelief. "My javelins are one hundred percent steel... I have taken down steel golems in one shot..."
The captain smiles slightly and stands opposite of the hooded man. "Well looks like I will have some fun this time after all" he says as he takes a silver coin out of his pocket.
The captain calmly flips the coin in the air and snaps while it is doing a flip. A jet of fire flew from his hand, directly hitting the cloaked man, as well as going past him and threw the gate and even beyond that. The blast was about the same size of the gate in width, and managed to even destroy almost twenty of the undead that where simply in his sights.
The two undead warriors had been reduced to ash, even the weapons and armor had been vaporized, but the man had simply been blown back. His robes had been reduced to ashes and the javelin seems to have been as well. But the hooded man gets up, and appears to have regenerated his cloak.
The captain simply laughs as he pulls out a new coin. "It has been a while since I had gone gold..." he says as he pulls out a shiny gold coin. The soldiers in the area start running for cover as he does so, making sure to get behind him and out of the blast radius. The captain then starts to flip the coin in the air, but before he can snap the cloaked man had disappeared. The man catches the coin before going thru with his spell.
"I don't think he is dead yet. Search the city!" the captain yells as he turns around.
On the other side of the city, the cloaked man continued to walk. He was about to enter a large building, what appears to be the hall where the leader would live and such. Normally there would be two guards, but they had been called away to help with the attack. The hooded man simply walks in the building and makes a turn for the treasury.
"Thinking of taking my gold, are ya?" says a knight, who had always stayed in order to protect the king and his possessions. "I'm not sure how ya even know where that is... have at ya anyway!"
The knight wielded a well polished longsword and shield, as well as wearing full plate armor over chain mail, yet he still had the dexterity to pounce toward the hooded man. He gave a yell of effort as he jumped, bringing his sword down in an attack that would have nearly cut a man in half, sending the hooded man flying back once more. "Hehe, got ya!" says the knight, but that swiftly changes to a look of surprise as the hooded man gets back up again and continues to walk toward the treasury. The knight prepares for another attack, lifting his sword in preparation for a crescent strike at the head, but was stopped in mid preparation by the sounds of screams erupting from the king's room.
"Grrr my king needs me. I will stop ya later" said the knight as he jogs off toward the king's room.
The man continues to the treasury. The room was bolted by a steel door that could only be opened by the king's touch, as it was magically enchanted. The room was further enchanted to protect from spells like digging or simply transferring themselves in. The door then disintegrates much like the gate did, with the same clap of thunder. The man continues to walk in, ignoring the massive piles of gold and jewels that littered the room. He walks to the back of the treasury, and another door disintegrates. In a room no bigger then a closet, a book sat alone. It was a pitch black book, with a scull on the front that acted as a key hole. It got disintegrated as well. The hooded man gave a small cackle as he opened to book. "Your book is in another castle, princess" it said simply. There where more pages, but the hooded man could not read them. He gave a curse, but cut it short when he realized that the location of the book would be stated in this book. He then teliported out, holding the book...
At the gates, the battle is nearly over. The captain had replaced the gates using a silver coin and magic, now a stone gate was placed where the old one is. Most of the undead soldiers had already been shot down by the time he had completed everything, so he just left it to the others. The man with a crossbow for one was able to kill several undead in one shot, as his weapon was so powerful it would tear threw the weak rotting flesh as it hit. Strangely, when the battle was almost done, the remaining undead simply died on their own... ----------------------------------------------------------
Wow. Still a lot longer then I had hoped to right. Ah well. I showed the Big Bad and some of the world, as well as giving an example of each class...
This is a pretty standard fantasy game, other then what was already said in the back story.
For the class, the three main ones are "Warrior, Wizard, Ranger". That decides what you will do. You do get additional ones, after a few level ups. For example if you start at "Ranger" you might become "Ranger Hunter", "Ranger Assassin", "Ranger Soldier" or any other job you can think of that would need to be a ranger, and I will give you skills to accompany that. Did I scare everyone off yet?
Character Sheet: Name:Jacque Dume Age:25 Class:Wizard Inventory: 5 Copper Coins Status: None Race:Human Experience L1 EX 0/1 Skills: Minor Magic control, Minor healing, Minor Beast
The group teaches you many things, as you learn with them. They teach you beast magic, which involves the use of circles and animal sacrifices as well as an additional sacrifice to make powerful creatures with features of each, but warn against using this irresponsible as they have. Later another injured animal comes in, this time a deer that appears to have been injured by a tusk "This happens a lot" explains the eldest druid "For my creation cuts this forest deep". You heal the deer in sink with the others, and they teach you many other ways to heal things. After you are done, you realize the entire day has gone by, and you are less rested then you had been in the morning.
"You did wonderful!" The eldest druid said "You learned all we can teach you in only a day! You have the most potential out of anyone I have ever seen. If I was a better teacher, perhaps I could help you with the more difficult things we know..."
The man's happy tone then changed to be more serious, as he started to avoid eye contact, preferring instead to look at your feet. "But there is something I must ask you" he said gravely, "You really are skilled in magic, and you are much younger then most of us. I know this is a lot to ask, but would you go on a quest for us? For the forest? I am not normally for senselessly killing animals, but the created I had created harms far more then it helps. Can you kill the beast I had created?" What do you do?
Character Sheet: Name:Jacque Dume Age:25 Class:Wizard Inventory: 5 Copper Coins Status: None Race:Human Experience L1 EX 0/1 Skills: Minor Magic control, Minor healing, Minor Beast
"I accept, but can I have a rest before so I am at my highest power?"
Character Sheet: Name:Jacque Dume Age:25 Class:Wizard Inventory: 5 Copper Coins Status: minor Rested Race:Human Experience L1 EX 0/1 Skills: Minor Magic control, Minor healing, Minor Beast
"Of course!" He says, back to his normal happy self, "If you had not suggested it, I would have. After all, it would be futile to go after him in the dark, anyway. Thank you, but be careful, for if you die to the beast, my guilt will kill me!" He states with a laugh.
They lead you to a small clearing, where they have sleeping pads made of old cloth. You sleep uncomfortably, far less comfortable then the bed at the inn. After much tossing and turning, you manage to fall asleep.
You wake up with a back ache, but are somewhat rested. The druids all send you off happily, hoping that you make it back safely.
You walk off in the direction that the bear was said to be in. "Don't worry!" he had said to you "The beast will find you if you can't find it!". You continue to search most of the morning, uneventfully.
You then come across the monster, which was easy to spot. It was running threw the forest and making a lot of noise, but found you just as easily. It stared at you and began to charge.
It was bizarre, to say the least. It was roughly the size and shape of a bear, with the small hairs of a pig and the Mohawk like hair of a boar. Its face had the snout of a bear with its teeth as well as the tusks of a boar poking out of either side, several feet long.
The bear is starting to run at you, having found you easily. It is running faster then a horse at full gallop, running over several smaller trees that get in the way, without slowing down for a second. What do you do?
Character Sheet: Name:Jacque Dume Age:25 Class:Wizard Inventory: 5 Copper Coins Status: minor Rested Race:Human Experience L1 EX 0/1 Skills: Minor Magic control, Minor healing, Minor Beast
I time it carefully and jump over the beast as it passes under me and i summon a small knife
Character Sheet: Name:Jacque Dume Age:25 Class:Wizard Inventory: 3 Copper Coins, knife Status: minor Rested Race:Human Experience L1 EX 0/1 Skills: Minor Magic control, Minor healing, Minor Beast
You prepare to jump over the beast, but as it draws closer you realize that it is twelve feet in length. You attempt to jump anyway, but not only do you fail to jump him successfully, it was a particularly poor jump to start with. Thinking quickly with the beast almost on you, you quickly take a coin out of your purse and close your fist around it, managing to cast a spell that allowed you to clear him with barley a foot to spare. You manage to stick the landing, fortunately for you.
You pull out a second coin and close your hands around it, forming into a small knife, which you manage to do while the beast turns around and begins a second charge. What do you do?
Character Sheet: Name:Jacque Dume Age:25 Class:Wizard Inventory: 3 Copper Coins, knife Status: minor Rested Race:Human Experience L1 EX 0/1 Skills: Minor Magic control, Minor healing, Minor Beast
Right befor he runs me down i jump to his side and slams the knife into his spine
Character Sheet: Name:Jacque Dume Age:25 Class:Wizard Inventory: 3 Copper Coins, knife Status: minor Rested Race:Human Experience L1 EX 0/1 Skills: Minor Magic control, Minor healing, Minor Beast
(Wow. You get lucky on the dice throws)
The beast charges you once again, and you doge to the side at the last second, just sliding past him. You then stab downward aiming for the spine. The knife sinks in in its entirety, causing the beast to moan in pain and anger, but fails hit the spine or any other major organs.
The beast then turns around and charges again, if anything hastened by its anger at you. What do you do?
Character Sheet: Name:Jacque Dume Age:25 Class:Wizard Inventory: 3 Copper Coins, knife Status: minor Rested Race:Human Experience L1 EX 0/1 Skills: Minor Magic control, Minor healing, Minor Beast
When the beast charges i fall on my back and put the knife into its underbelly
Character Sheet: Name:Jacque Dume Age:25 Class:Wizard Inventory: 3 Copper Coins, Status: minor Rested, injured arms, injured torso Race:Human Experience L1 EX 0/1 Skills: Minor Magic control, Minor healing, Minor Beast
(Ah, looks like the dice are making up for lost time)
You fall on your back and prepare to stab up as the beast rushes toward you. The beast, however, tramples you as he rushes over, crushing both your arms under it's wait and stepping on your torso, possibly breaking a rib. You drop the knife, which then vanishes as the coins do after the spell is done.
Somehow, you manage to stand up, but your torso is painful and you can not move your let arm, while you hold it with your right hand. You taste blood in your mouth, it is possible that a major organ was pierced by your broken rib. What do you do now?
Character Sheet: Name:Jacque Dume Age:25 Class:Wizard Inventory: 3 Copper Coins, Status: minor Rested, injured arms, injured torso Race:Human Experience L1 EX 0/1 Skills: Minor Magic control, Minor healing, Minor Beast
I run back to the druids clearing as fast as possible.
Character Sheet: Name:Jacque Dume Age:25 Class:Wizard Inventory: 3 Copper Coins, Status: None Race:Human Experience L1 EX 0/15 Skills: Minor Magic control, Minor healing, Minor Beast
(Now the dice hate you.)
You begin to run, attempting to use the trees for cover from the running beast, but you trip and collapse. The beast runs past, crushing you further. You lie on the ground in great pain, not even able to use your arms any more.
The beast charges again, this time it lowers its head to gore you with its tusks. In a last effort, you manage to find your purse that had fallen out last attack. You open it with your teeth and manage to pull out a single coin, preparing to do a spell. Any spell. But you cough up blood as he comes closer, dropping your sacrifice before you can cast a spell. You lie on the ground and watch the beast run toward you as the world around you becomes fuzzy...
You think you here voices. You can not make out what they are saying, but it swiftly turns to chanting. In your blurry vision you can see what appears to be a giant dog rushing into the side of the beast and knocking it off course, as you close your eyes and pass out.
You wake up in a ring surrounded by the druids from earlier. The pain you had felt us gone, and you feel like you are in perfect health.
"Thank the gods you are all right!" Says the elder druid happily. "I did not think we would be able to save you. It took several spells to get you back to full health. You are lucky we found you, we had decided we should come with you a little bit after we left. We had heard the beast cry out, it sounded like you had a good hit on him. I can't blame you if you don't want to fight the beast again. I had some coins as a reward, but we had to use some of them for your healing. Your healing was far past little statues. So fight on if you want to, I can't pay well but I can pay a little."
Character Sheet: Name:Jacque Dume Age:25 Class:Wizard Inventory: 3 Copper Coins, Status: None Race:Human Experience L1 EX 0/15 Skills: Minor Magic control, Minor healing, Minor Beast
"I will slay that beast one day. Not today. I shall wait till my skills are more honed. I will return though and I will kill it." I say.
Character Sheet: Name:Jacque Dume Age:25 Class:Wizard Inventory: 3 Copper Coins, Status: None Race:Human Experience L1 EX 0/15 Skills: Minor Magic control, Minor healing, Minor Beast
The druid nods as he says "I thank you for the promise. If you want to learn more, I am sure that you could go to the magic school" he states sadly. "Go to Howe and tell him I sent you. He should let you in for free, if you want."
He continues as your group walks back to their clearing. "You are welcome to stay with us for as long as you wish, we have plenty of extra beds"
Character Sheet: Name:Jacque Dume Age:25 Class:Wizard Inventory: 3 Copper Coins, Status: None Race:Human Experience L1 EX 0/15 Skills: Minor Magic control, Minor healing, Minor Beast
"I want to return as soon as possible. I will go to the magic school and when I return I will kill that beast. May this forest be protected." I say and I return to town.
Character Sheet: Name:Jacque Dume Age:25 Class:Wizard Inventory: 4 Copper Coins, Status: None Race:Human Experience L1 EX 0/15 Skills: Minor Magic control, Minor healing, Minor Beast
You return to the town with no more incidents. When you arrive you notice that is about mid day, with plenty of time to go to the school. You ask the guard at the gate for directions and he gives them to you.
A good time later, you arrive at the school. It is much larger then you had thought, the size of a typical palace. In fact, that would be the perfect way to describe it. It look like a palace. You walk up to the door to be stopped by an elderly wizard standing in the doorway.
"YOU SHAL NOT PASS!" He yells as he slams his staff into the ground. "The secrets past these doors are to powerful for random citizens!". You explain to him that the druids sent you, and asked about Howe, but he does not listen. "Do you have any proof the druids sent you? You could simply be lying! Begone with you!"
You open your mouth to argue more, but you are interrupted by a high-pitch voice. "If he was lying, then how would he know the druids had connections with me?". A tall man came out of the door, probably Howe. His hair was pure white, a trait common among elves, and he was wearing white robes that covered most of his body. He was holding a simple wooden walking stick that appeared to have no knots or other such things common in walking sticks.
"Normally I would just allow him to turn you away. We are out of season, we don't have classes for months now. But many of the druids are good friends of mine, so I may give you some private tutoring. If you can prove you have the potential."
He flips you a copper coin. "Now then, impress me and I can give you some private tutoring. Fail and maybe you can come back later, during the normal season when our entrance exams are not as difficult."
Well this looks like your first test. What do you do?
