Orus chapter 1: Strangers in a strange land

[Furiel]

You believe that he is telling you the truth about whatever he said.

[Maizan]

And you two are?

[Whiteness]

Alrek finally speaks up, "Yes, I must insist you answer the dwarf's question. I could use some straight answers after the day I had"

[Furiel]

"I am Xur, Agent of the Nine and associate of the apparently late Teringal Tormud. My companion, well I will allow him to introduce himself but know that his background is similar to your own, and that is why he, and you, are all here. Unfortunately it appears that your arrival here has been observed by some beings that we know almost nothing about. I have almost no information about this threat, but I can and will answer whatever other questions you may have of me that are within my power and knowledge to answer. Now please, do sit down and I will send for dinner."

[Blackferne]

Upon hearing 'agent of the nine' Maeve launches into an angered tirade.

"Agent of the nine? I would have words with the nine! They have bore us each a grievous injury of the life we had planned. I had plans to attend convent. I had plans to learn further the ways of Chauntea and assist in the village in which I grew. But that was denied by the threat of prophecy. They threatened to end my family line and whether that meant my family's death or merely cursing my family line with barren wombs and seed, denying my sisters and brothers the joy of hearing their own children's laugh in the future I did not know. And for what? To face a threat that they were incapable of fighting? How am I supposed to vanquish the evil that mighty wizards and warriors of the nine seem helpless against? How am I, an acolyte of the field and the plow to stand against the evil they are impotent against? The nine have bore me grievous injury of my planned future and probably my own blood. Know that the nine owe me a great debt at the outset, and one I intend to collect upon!"

Maeve scowls at Xur as she takes a seat.

[Maizan]

Quawff says loudly What She Said! and sits down beside Maeve. Let eat. I am hungery

[Whiteness]

Alrek is surprised at Maeve's tale and it shows on his face.

[Furiel]

"I can understand why you are angry, but I believe your anger is also misplaced. The nine did not place this burden on you, your ancestors did. The nine did not even exist when they swore that sacred vow. The nine is here to govern and protect this world, and it was foretold that your return was required to prevent catastrophe occurring. So the nine decided that it was time to remind you of the duties that YOUR ANCESTORS placed upon you. You had the option to decline. Yes there would have been repercussions, but the nine would not have been the one to meet out punishment. That would be between you and the gods as the vow made was a sacred one.
Will you have to face dangers due to this. It seems likely. Your role in this is not currently known, we only know that we need you hear to win. Nothing says we can't fight this ourselves. We found ourselves against an enemy earlier that we knew nothing about and were completely unprepared for. Wizards are incredibly formidable when they are prepared. We were not prepared for what happened earlier. We do not even know if these beings are the threat you are here for or if that is just a precursor of what is to come.
Now, do you wish to continue to yell at the messenger or shall we have a civil discussion about matters?"

[Blackferne]

Maeve's face still scowling "I've said my piece, and whatever actions may hasten my departure back to my home I will do as long as it is in standing to my gods. So break words with intent so we may progress."

[Maizan]

[ooc I am assuming that there is going to be no live session this weekend. Correct?]

"You said something about dinner. I am hungry. I am sure Maeve and Alrek are too. Can we get something. A tankard of Ale would be good too. .
Quawff looks directly at the one person who has not said anything yet. So who are you Laddie and what brings you to this fine and lovely place?

[Whiteness]

(Ooc - I'm out for this weekend, lost power due to storms and don't know when it's coming back)

[Furiel]

Xur rings a bell and serving perople appears a moment later with stew, a couple crusty loaves of bread and cheese along with some pitchers of wine, ale and water to share.

(ooc - I'm holding off on going further until Staris has a chance to introduce himself...)

[Staris]

[OOC I can go now if you want. Figured you would handle the start of my entrance with the handler that brought me. If that is the case than my stuff will happen after that.]

Pacing back and forth almost obvious to the others for a while until Mardak finally noties "I see that there are more returned heros than I thought there would be. My name is Mardak ..." going pale momentarily when he sees the pitcher of ale. Than proceeds to double over as if sick and about to vomit, catching himself on the table with his left hand. As he straightens himself out Daren will attempt to pretend to still be Mardak, though Xur can tell the switch has occurred if he is here. He will than comment as he is looking to Xur but will look over the whole group as he says "I do apologize for broaching this now but I can't help but wonder if the nine bringing these heros back is the reason for the attack I witnessed the aftermath of."

Looking next to Maeve before response can be had, having sensed her cleric powers ”Oh good a fellow Cleric. A follower of Talona, Chauntea, Tymora“ puts a hand up dismissively and won’t be able to help but grin a bit as he leans in towards her ” well never mind that I’m more interested if your ceremony included a vow of chas” SMACK by his right hand leaving a visible hand print, causing him to stumble a bit and wrenching his head to the left.

As he recovers will glance back to Xur displaying his more normal characteristics and voice ”You know at first I was a bit miffed at arriving late but really if that was because the truce got broken on this side first, means I get to help fix a major problem I didn’t have a hand in creating, which is refreshing.” getting a bit of a mischievous grin when he is sure the man pale slightly at that. In a quiet tone respond seemingly to his right ”Well not all of them and there was good that came out of them.”

Daren will than grab a cup attempt to grab the ale and with a huff ”Fine, Mardak, fine." take some water instead picking it up with his left hand, will look momentarily back to Maeve ”Don’t worry my friend took care of the response to my question." pointing to the mark left with his right hand before grabbing some cheese and bread off of the closest plate mushing them together one handed giving a nod of thanks before looking to Xur ”Clearly though I doubt the state of this town is because of foresight on the nines part because of this dark vision so there are already things disrupting the peace of these lands, which I’m assuming you would also like taken care of as well. I for one don’t mind as long as there is compensation involved.”

Having said his mind, and caused enough havoc for now, will take a couple steps back and lean against the wall as he seems to expect that there will be no available seating for him at this point. jerk his head to the right in a slightly muffled tone though loader than last time ”No we will not donate all of it to the needy. will indicate towards Maeve with his head Get your new cleric friend to donate all of hers.” He will than watch and much on his cheese bread and sip his water, getting a slightly disgruntled face with each sip and eye the ale from time to time.

[OOC noting that the edit is to help congeal things as a result of some confusion.]

[Blackferne]

[ooc I'm a bit confused. Correct me where I go astray.

Xur and one other human are in the room. We enter. Maeve does her strenuous objection. THEN Two more people come in. Mardak and Daren? One is a handler the other seems to be a party hard washout sort who makes various crude comments.

Am I right that the room now has Xur, unnamed male, (Marduk and Daren both run by Staris for the time being), Maeve, Qwuaff, and Alrek?]

[Staris]

[OOC two people did enter the room, though both are not named Mardak and Daren.

Mardak and Daren are one person with a split personality. Normally there is a condition that has to be meat for Daren to be present, which has already been hinted at, and the condition was meat during the season with Furiel but Daren had temporarily given control back to Mardak surprising even him that he could return like this while the condition was still in effect.

And though not always the case the two personalities do have a different dominate hand and can to some degree have control of said hand even if not the present personality. As was made evident by the slap.

For RP you know Mardak by name but Daren has yet to officially give you his name, just that there differences between them, mannerisms, speech pattern, and can be a bit hard to denote that without getting a little too detailed which is why I'm going head and noting who is who. I am not guarantee that will always be the case so don't be surprised if you see a of of he does whatever action instead of the name unless it is very apparent. Example would be when Daren was trying to pretend to be Mardak in future event you might see he being used instead of the name.]

[Maizan]

[ooc. I was going to say this first. but got called out before I could post]

Quawff notes between bites of food. Holy Crap on a cracker. Your bat-crap crazy!

[Furiel]

OOC - definitely some confusion that I may have created but didn't mean to, so let me explain....No there is too much, let me sum up.

There is a total of 5 people in the room. Xur and Marduk were the 2 that were already in the room when Maeve, Qwuaff and Alrek arrived. Any other order of arrival was a mistake on my part that I had not intended. Xur was the one that brought Marduk here and is the person Marduk has been with the whole time.

Feel free to edit/retcon anything necessary to make it flow correctly for this meeting.

[Staris]

[OOC ok yes confusion abounds as at the end of the seasion made it sound like the other party had arrived before us instead of after, though could be me miss remembering. In any cause Mardak wouldn't have been seated, likely pacing when they arrived due to Daren's boredom or at least that's the excuse I'm using for not considering that being me. So my end spot would still be leaning against the wall.

And in hindsight I've already messed up a bit in Daren should have been looking to his right when commenting to Mardak, which you aren't hearing his input just Daren's response.]

He will look to Quawff shrugging a bit "Raised in a church run orphanage can do that to you." but will be looking to Maeve by the end to see any reaction. Darren will point his thumb to himself with his left hand. "Trust me you'll want Daren over the pipsqueak. and than point over over his right shoulder for the last part slightly grinning add Though maybe this is me trying to convince the nine they want nothing to do with me and release me from being honor bound." followed by another bite of his bread.

[Blackferne]

Upon seeing Mardak's exposition Maeve narrows her eyes slightly in suspicion. "Sir I ask you to speak plainly and simply since your thoughts leave your mouth like a tangle or rope. Simply put please state your name, what gods you worship, and whether you have intention to promote good." She smiles though it is clearly somewhat forced.

[Staris]

"I call myself Daren, though honestly you all can call me whatever you like. The tamer half already told you his name, Mardak. Don't be surprised if he is around more, I tend to get bored and let him handle the duller duties but don't worry when fighting is needed I'll be at your beck and call." bowing for the last part. "We serve Tymora, though I have a feeling Mardak hasn't quite been forgiven for performing the ritual to align himself with Ilmater, who I might add rejected him."

[Blackferne]

Maeve smiles warmly and in a soft reassuring tone (think like a teacher trying to talk sweetly to a problem 2nd grader)"Daren are you or is Mardak a foreign spirit in that body? A lost soul which yearns for release? I ask because I want to help you find peace."

[ooc mental illness would not be something Maeve would understand too well and naturally like most people in the middle ages, she'd think there might be competing souls in one corporeal body]

[Staris]

He will smile when responding but his eyes will show he's had this talk before and it not lead to good things. "We are sure Mardak is the original and I certainly don't feel like a foreign spirit. I like to think of myself as the person Mardak wished he could be when he was getting bullied, so in a way the unrestrained version of himself."

"Wouldn't be the first time someone has tried to get me to move on, and your welcome to try and have Mardak do so. Though I will give you points for not jumping to the conclusion that I'm a demon like the priests did." will give a nod of thanks as he says the last part.

Daran will scratch his chin in thought "In hindsight my retaliation to the bullies may have had a hand in that." and with a bit of sudden realization "Oh and second thought I take back having Mardak move on, would hate to have to deal with the boring aspects of life. On that note I can tell my control is starting to slip and can't help but feel things are headed towards some boring aspects so I will call it a night."

Daren will look to Xur "Though I do expect the talk of compensation to be broached on the Goblin problem as I'm certain we will be handing that." with that in seemingly the blink of the eye the visible shift between Daran and Mardak occurs. With Mardak paleing slightly and immediately starts bowing repeatedly to Maeve "I apologies for Daran's behavior and promise he was interested only in seeing your capabilities as a cleric only... by trying to upset you into action." shirking away at the last bit slight as if expecting to be hit in response.

When he stops bowing will blanch momentarily shaking his head no before looking to his left in hushed remark "and obviously she looks more capable than the others we have meet." clearly an indication Daren had said something though only the two know his first remark.

After realizing he had said a load will look even more embarrassed and seem to be more than content for the group to ignore him at this point.

[Blackferne]

[ooc just for my benefit Staris when Mardak and Daren talk is it kind of like a Gollum/Smeagol thing where Daren has more aggressive and malicious mannerisms and Mardak is passive/submissive and grovel like?]

[Staris]

[OOC to a degree though I wouldn't say Daren is super agressive, has an attitude but knows he can back it up. Though I don't know if it completely holds up the first thing that popped into mind is Daren a slightly pissed off Han Solo, some of that could be how he thinks of himself, and Mardak Luke Skywalker before he could use the force, bit of a country bumpkin, wants to do good, but untested.

Some of Mardak's current attitude is that for the most part both are present at all times so Mardak has had to live though the events without being able to do much beyond watching and because of his bullying there is a small bit of fear that there are still going to be repercussions for what occurred from Maeve.]

[Maizan]

While eating his meal Quawff says with some passion. What I do not get is why humans are so ready to blame someone us for their problems. I am this way because something bad happened to me as a child. Horse Shite. I am being forced to sleep and eat in a cesspool because there a bad monster outside. Horse Shite. Someone is bullying me into doing something I do not like. Horse Shite. The Nine will come and rescue me. Horse Shite. Hands are moving about to match the passion of his tirade. some food is flung off his knife and lands some where in the middle of the table. You are responsible for your own actions. Success or Failure is only determined by yourself; Myself. I choose success, I choose to win. I choose the winning side - My side. What ever goal you want to achieve, the success or failure is only determined by YOU and You alone. The symbols of my Goddess is a mountain with a heart. I choose to stand on top of that mountain. Tall and Proud and Successful!

Speaking of my Goddess, I need to make a sacrifice to her. Where are these Goblins?