Forums » Fantasy Roleplay » Short session medieval fantasy, open RP

OOC: Because my time is so full, I've often been afraid to start RPs for the fear that I would disappear in the middle and leave everyone I was playing with in a lurch. It's happened before!

So I've decided to play a series of short scenes, covering only an hour or two of IC time before my character has to depart. After that happens, everyone who is still in the scene is more than welcome to keep playing without me! But that will remove the biggest anxiety I have that so frequently keeps me from RPing. If you miss me in any particular RP, don't worry, there'll be lots more this year.

Decades ago, the town had been struck by plague. In places, you could still see flakes of red paint on the doors of houses, where the sign of the black death had once been. All members of a household that had been marked as contaminated were locked inside until they recovered -- or until they died. Most met their end through hunger or thirst long before the illness ran its course. Everyone was too afraid to go near the plague houses to bring those trapped inside food or drink.

So the local church had started a garden, and from it they delivered food to the sick. And thanks to that kindness, a handful of the infected actually survived the black death.

Although that was years ago, the "plague garden" remained, a large patch of land surrounded by a short stone wall within view of the town square. The villagers continued to tend it as a memorial for those who had been lost in those dark years.

On one particular afternoon, the normal tranquility of bird song was broken by a loud explosion in the center of the garden. A mushroom cloud of yellow-green smoke erupted from the ground, blanketing the area in thick clouds whose musty smell clung to everything it touched, especially fabric.

As the smoke cleared, a massive snail, fully three feet tall was revealed at its epicenter, blinking the smoke from its eyes and looking very confused.

"Hello?" it sang out in a slow, wet voice.

(A chance to RP with you? Sweet! I am all over that opportunity! Heh. Now...who to use...when in doubt, classics work wonders.)

Kyle stood there silently looking about the town in silence. His odd attire catching the glances of the towns populous given it wasn't exactly time period friendly. As he looked about a small smirk crossed his lips.

"So...this is what becomes of the world after my time...? Danged time wizards preventing me from living my life on a natural time line."

He would then notice the looks he was getting then glanced down at himself.

"Oops...perhaps I shoulda changed before I came. Oh well."

He then pulled the brim of his cowboy hat down just as an explosion occurred a ways away from him. He looked towards it and pursed his lips in momentary thought before shrugging lightly. He quietly made his way towards the memorial from which the explosion had occurred. His nose twitching a bit at the musty smell that filled the air. Looking up and down the wall, he shrugged lightly before leaping up on top of it. He looked about quietly soon spotting the snail and quicker a brow before speaking outloud though it was moreso to himself.

"My my. The French would have a banquet with you. Luckily for you I ain't French."

[OOC: Was typing up this post and then saw Kyle had beat me to one! Had to edit it to make it fit ]

Nearly a year ago, she had come to this town, looking for nothing more than a place to stay for the night. But, after hearing of the town's past, and their recovery, that one night turned into a week, and then week into months. Here, she still was, having been hired as a civil guard for the city. It took a bit of convincing, being a woman, but she had proven herself to the town. She rejected the traditional armor the guard wore, keeping her own to wear as a symbol and a reminder to herself.

But after being a wandering knight, she now could call this place her home.

She particularly favored walking near the 'plague garden' on her patrol, finding it interesting, and encouraging, how the church did not give up on people, and did their best to recover those who had been affected by the plague. It seemed, that nowadays, that helpful trait was becoming less and less common.

And on this particular morning, she had not expect the silence to be broken in such a way. She quickly made her way to the stone wall, peering into the garden to see just what had caused the disturbance.

It took a moment for what she was seeing to register. She had seen many odd things in her day, but nothing like this giant snail... and it spoke.

She cleared away the people who were gathering, telling them to keep their distance. If this thing had ill-intent, she did't want the people here harmed.

She jumped the wall, and stood a ways away from the creature. For the most part, it seemed confused, if anything.

Another male jumped on top of the wall, and made a comment on the size of the snail. He was odd looking, and seeming to not be from this town. She frowned, not wanting any outsiders to cause any trouble and put the townspeople in danger. But for now, she just looked back to the snail.

"What are you?" Armony said, not making to approach it.

"What's a french?" responded the snail, sounding quite distracted. It had just realized that it was in a garden, and before it said anything further, it bit off an entire head of lettuce.

Its expression changed to one of far away bliss as its jaw worked back and forth, slowly pulping the lettuce leaves into mush. Green dribbled from the corners of its mouth.

"I'm a snail," it informed Armony, its eyestalks swiveling in her direction. Although it was stating the obvious, there was no malice, sarcasm or impatience in its voice. Just the simple truth told by a simple creature.

[OOC: I only have one fantasy character and he is an elf, my main character from Dragon Age. I also have completely neglected his profile but this should be fun.]

Darrian had left his companions behind at the camp, they were getting ready for other adventures. However, Darrian was very interested in this town's history and it's recovery from the plague. For a few hours walk, it seemed like it was worth investigating.

He makes his way through the streets, avoiding the gaze of the local people. They don't see many elves in these parts, let alone ones armed such as he. That's when he hears the explosion, head snapping around to see smoke rising above a distant building. He runs toward it, bracing for trouble and suddenly wishing he had brought one of his trusted friends. If this was an attack, he'd need them!

The Snail was the last thing he expected to see as he rounded the corner. Hand relaxing from the hilt of his sword, he approaches but remains cautious.

"A little big for a snail, aren't you?"

The snail considered Darrian's question, swallowing a mouthful of lettuce and uprooting the next head. "No?"

"Yes, it is very unusual to see a snail of your size," Armony said, growing a bit impatient. She watched as the creature took another head of lettuce, and her frown grew deeper. This -- thing -- was making himself at home in this garden; this monument to this town.

"You need to leave," she said, raising her hand and pointing to the other side of the wall. "You are an uninvited creature, just taking advantage of this food these people work so hard to grow."

Armony also noted the crowd of people growing, and the people she did not recognize. She feared this might get out of hand.

He watched the exchange quietly before answer the question that was posed of him in a low tone.

"French are well...French...and they love eating snails for some reason. Never quite got why..."

He then glanced to the elf who had arrived then to the guard as he rubbed his chin in thought. He silently turned his gaze back to the snail.

"Seems your drawing some attention my slime covered friend. And some of it doesn't seem good. I advise you heed the guards request to vacate this garden. For once I'm in too much of a state of surprise to bother with defending an innocent creature."

He then chuckled a bit.

"Listen to me. Sounding like some kind of pacifist. That is so not me in the least."

"I've never seen such a creature," he says, slightly taken aback by the Snail's matter of fact method of talking. Despite being an elf, Darrian was raised in the city, he isn't too familiar with wildlife but he sees it's not a hostile being and doesn't particularly want to hurt it.

The snail looked between the three, apparently understanding only about half of the words they were using. It was obviously thinking very hard, as hard as its little brain could.

"Oh. This one is yours?" it answered dolefully, and began a painfully slow crawl toward Armony. A glistening trail of slime was left behind it. When it finally arrived at her feet, it opened its mouth wide and dribbled the pulped head of lettuce on the toes of her shoes. All the while, its eye stalks are tilted back to stare up at Armony, apparently feeling that it is politely giving back the lettuce that was hers.

The only thing that Armony could do at that point in time, was glare down at the creature. There were no words that she could think to say, that would get her emotions across to this snail. She reached behind her, gripping the hilt of her sword tightly, as if threatening.

Finally, she was able to speak. "Get-out-of-here..." she said, through gritted teeth. To be honest, she couldn't tell if the snail was purposefully trying to anger her or not.

He watched in silence as the events unfolded before silently hopping down from the wall and walked towards them. As he approached he sighed half heartfelt before speaking.

"Hand...weapon...off... Snails are simple creatures regardless of size. The capacity for complex thought that exists in our minds is non-existent in theirs. It just translated your telling it that the lettuce was not it's to mean that it was yours and as anyone or thing of good nature would do opted to return it to you. No need to lose patience over such a matter."

He then looked to the snail and chuckled a bit.

"If your that hungry, I'll get you some lettuce from the market where none will have a qualm with it."

Poor Snail is slowly going cross-eyed with confusion. "What? Where?" it asks Armony, its head leaning aside to eat the top off a carrot. "Do you like leaves?"

One eyestalk swivels to look at Kyle at the mention of lettuce, while the other eye keeps a watch on the very confusing Armony. "Lettuce? Is it mine?"

Darrian relaxes, this isn't a situation that calls for swordplay. He steps in closer, almost tempted to touch the creature's snail.

"An excellent idea, my friend. I don't believe we should harm this oversized snail, it's not here to hurt anyone. It's just hungry."

He ponders.

"Perhaps we should try to lure it out into the forest once we've fed it?"

The eye stalk that had been watching Armony swivels to look at Darrian instead. "Are there birds there?"

Darrian looks back into the snail's eye stalk, or at least, he thinks he does, he has no idea how the snail sees the world.

"Plenty of birds. Do you eat those too?"

He nodded a bit.

"It can be. All the lettuce you wish so long as there is some in stock."

He then glanced to Darrian.

"A sound idea elf. Seems the best thing to do."

The snail shrinks at Darrian's words, slorping halfway back into its shell. Its eyes are wide with fear and horror.

"No," it whispers, as if it can see dead people. "Birds eat me."

He peers at the snail.

"Looking at the size of you, I don't think you have to worry about the birds in the forest," he gestures to indicate the small size of the forest dwelling birds. "They're only about this big."

The snail peers back. With the free rotation of its eyestalks, it is able to watch two different people at once while its mouth is busy eating the tops of carrots.

It doesn't look convinced.