Story building #3b

        The morning sun swept up over the young green treetops of the misty woods. As it did, six humanoid figures emerged from the trees, each wearing a hooded cloak. They were greeted by their tired comrades and worried families. One particularly bulky individual was pulled into a bear hug by a shorter, but no less bulky warrior. Another of the figures was tackled by two small bundles of energy. While the other three were received with a comparable treatment, one resting a bow against his shoulder slipped away to the south end of the liberator camp.

        At the edge of the camp, set apart from the closer gypsy tents was a vardo wagon with several ayrshire cows grazing beside it. Alongside the wagon was an adjoined canvas tent branching to the east. The polished wood of the roof began to gleam in the emerging sunlight when the archer entered into his tent-wagon home. He heard the gentle breathing of his ward behind a curtain of canvass. He removed his cloak and boots as quietly as he could and lowered his youthful, but tired body onto his bed. A bed that was made of twisted straw and lavender, which belonged to Claude Pythian.

Background #0 b

Fortunetellers

        Also called oracles, fortune tellers are the best known users of magical foresight. They devote nearly all of their skill to divination and seem to see the very turn of the universe.

Key Skills

·       All forms of divination

·       Curses/blessings

·       Aura manipulation

·       Potion making

Unique Abilities

·       Psyche work

·       Some forms of divination

Social Standing

       Most Fortunetellers are gypsies or hermits. Their focus on fate effects them: it leaves them without a practicle view on day to day. Seldom trusted, gypsies are visited by desperate or curious people who want portends or hints of how to be successful.

Details

·       To enable their more powerful abilities, Fortunetellers live their lives following one of three lifestyles.

·       In contrast to soothsayers, fortune tellers use very few talismans. Items of the trade such as tarot cards and oracle bones are focuses for the fortuneteller’s magic, they don’t have magic of their own.

Background #0 b

Soothsayer

        A practitioner of magic with the ability of foresight. Soothsayers use and make talismans for skrying and divination. They are known to be a step ahead at all times do to their inner focus on the events yet to come.

Key skills

·       Most forms of divination

·       Mystical intuition

·       Enchanting

·       Longevity

Unique abilities

·       The dream snare

·       Some forms of enchanting

Social Standing

        Often working their way into courts of nobles, soothsayers use their foresight and skrying for influence. This same insight makes many people uncomfortable about them. Not that it matters much, a good soothsayer usually knows what they need to anyway.

Details

·       Foresight and mystic intuition wax and wane. The best soothsayers go through this cycle with of a year of strength with a month or two of weakness. An amateur goes through one good month with two bad months.

·       Use and construct talismans very well. As a class they are second to enchanters. Especially things like locators, warning devices, and “lucky charms” that grant a small level of mystic intuition.

·       Unlike fortune teller, soothsayers do not often concern themselves with fate or destiny. A soothsayer will tend to focus on the actions of the present and near future. This shift in focus leaves them superior to fortune tellers in obtaining details but often limits the reach of their foresight.

                                                        

Free Writing # 2b

        Sir Lawlend crouched down in the brush as he caught sight of the slavers. There were a lot of them, at least thirty. He reached down and placed his hand on his sword as the muttered words of a prayer arrived at his ears.

        “Are you sure about this?” Sir Lawlend asked the muttering voice. “There are more of them than I’d thought, and your soothsayer claims one of them is a wizard.”

        “Yes, the plan will work.” The voice answered. “Just get their attention off of the slaves and it’ll be fine.”

        “Did your soothsayer tell you that as well Arron?” Lawlend snorted.

        “No, I’m telling you that.” He paused, “Although, it looks like he was right about the wizard, check out the cage.”

        Lawlend looked over where Arron indicated and saw a cage being pulled on a wagon. In the cage, the knight could make out five, maybe six, very pale figures.

        “I don’t understand.” Lawlend whispered.

        “Those are elves,” Arron explained. “The only way so few men could kidnap elves has to be by using magic.” An owl’s hoot passed through the air. “That’s the signal, get ready.” Sir Lawlend grasped his sword, and leaned forward onto the balls of his feet. Arron hefted his spear in his hand and raised his shield.

        The slavers drew level with the hidden liberators and shouts sounded along the path. The slavers line surged to one side. Flame lit up a tree as liberators scrambled for cover. Lawlend bellowed as he quelled a slaver, and charged bravely as only knights knew how to do. His sword deftly blocked a mace. His fist cleared the way forward. His chainmail absorbed the impact of the wizard’s arcane blast which knocked him and Arron back against the trees.

        Unseen, emerging from the trees opposite the liberators came six figures in hooded cloaks. They were seen by a slaver who was near the cage. An arrow ended his sight as he caught the first glimpse. A knife in the back felled another guard. A garrote met the third as a bulky arm crushed the fourth’s neck. The figure with a bow drew alongside the cage and, in elvish, spoke words to calm and comfort them. A second figure drew up to the cage and began to fiddle with the lock. After a moment, he had the lock open and the door opened with a creak. One of the slavers, who wore a robe embroidered with runes, turned sharply toward the cage, until an arrow burrowed into her back. Once the arrow met its mark, the flames in the trees died out.

        A sharp eyed lookout in the trees saw five pale figured leave the cage wrapped in green and grey cloaks. The lookout also saw six hooded figures take defensive positions around them and slink back into the trees. He lifted a whistle to his lips. A piercing note broke through the ruckus of the skirmish. The liberators retreated back into the darkness as suddenly as they had arrived.

free writing #1b

        In the land of fairies and folklore, where magic is real and adventurers’ stories are made, at the edge of the misty woods laid the camp of the slave liberators. The liberators never bothered to give their group a name, nor did they care what people called them. To the knights, they were gypsies and mercenaries. To the laypeople they were mysterious travelers not to be trusted. To slavers the liberators were a headache and a half. To slaves, they were a dream and a whispered tale for children.

        They numbered, in their height, eighty-seven strong. However at this time it was a mere forty-three and not all were strong. Among their members were many castes and occupations; there were mercenaries, troubadours, gypsies, farmers, craftsmen, a family of blacksmiths, a soothsayer and even a fallen knight. Not among the members but in their company were the families of members, as well as a few servants and allies to the liberators’ cause. They were mostly human, a couple of the mercenaries were half orc, and there were elves of the misty woods visiting and living among the liberators who lived at the border of their land.

        As the evening sun set at the end of its daily voyage, inhabitants of the camp began to dwindle, disappearing into the woods.