Forums » Fantasy Roleplay » Character Swap Game - RP [closed]

[The four of us have all designed characters with the intent of the sheets being randomly shuffled to another player, where they will then be played in a spontaneous adventure]


original post



The map for this setting is



Post order is

Magen
Vinna
Zyphire
Lavender



For whatever reason your character finds themselves in Maypool, a medium sized city near the coast of the northern sea. It's fairly prosperous and is a busy point of trade for places to the east, and the northern continent.

The tavern is rustic and homey. The innkeeper is a round balding man with a ruddy complexion and a big welcoming smile. The tavern workers are typical of such an establishment. A few girls with lower cut tops, a young man with sandy blond curls who is pushing a broom. On the wall is a note, inked on parchment.





From this point on, all posts on this thread will need to be IC and from those four characters only, other than what I hope will be minimal DMing and some NPCs

The man was heavily armored, a looming brooding sort of figure, broad of shoulder. His clothing and armor was all dark and drab. Iron grey metals with a bit of dark bronze accents. Mud brown, and slightly olive-tinged brown leathers covered most of a dark brown long tunic. His boots were heavy, a mingling of metal and thick leather as well, and a broad brimmed hat sat upon his head. The only really noticeable non dull colors making up the figure was that painfully bright red beard of his, wild as a brushfire. Most of his features were shadowed, but a large hawkish hooked nose could be seen, as well as features that seemed chiseled out of old wood. Armed to the teeth, there were no fewer than six daggers visible on his person, who knew how many were hidden. Two Khopesh swords were carried as well, along with a large arbalest and some bolts. Across his back was a battered and worn pack, but it seemed he traveled light beyond the gear he carried.

As he entered Maypool, he continued to curse to himself. Damnable old nag. Why did she have to end up lame? The massive warhorse that had carried him for countless miles. She'd been getting on in years. She'd been slowing down. She'd been getting grey around the muzzle. But, four days before she'd started limping. It was her knees, finally starting to give out under the weight of all the travel. He was a cold man when he had to be, but he'd not had the heart to have her put down. He'd sold her to a retired farmer just in trade for some supplies, who just needed something to keep the grass and weeds down on his property, and something to ride into town every other week or so. He'd examined her and said he had a balm for the knees but she wouldn't be able to carry an armored rider and supplies for eight hours a day anymore, but a bit of rest should have her fine and pain free beyond that. Magen had tried not to look too relieved. The old mare would live out whatever years she had remaining, in a peaceful retirement, that would be mostly pain free. Still, she'd left him horseless in a part of the world that wasn't known for it's strong and sturdy equines. Oh sure there were plenty of fleet and sleek racers, fine and dandy carriage horses with a high stepping gate. There were plenty of work ponies and even a few wide as a barn farm horses meant for pulling plows. That would serve as a plodder to get him from one town to the next, but would be of little use for his line of work.

"Damn stupid nag." He said out loud. He heard a gasp to one side, and a greying old woman gave him a wide eyed look. Clutching a basket and a bundle to her chest, she hurried off. He made it another couple dozen paces before it dawned on him that she probably though he was talking about her. A short barking laugh burst up from him.

He eventually found the tavern, and the round balding innkeeper's smile and smalltalk was met with a flat stare.

"Just get me some ale and something to eat." He said, sitting down at the bar and pulling a pouch of coins from his belt. He wanted a few drinks, a hot meal.. Then probably a bath and more than any of those things, a real bed for a night or two.

The lass had wandered her way in to town from the forest under guise of her wolf form, it was on the edge of the town she shifted back and walked along through the streets, down through alleys and brushing past people in the streets, only for them to later find themselves lighter of their coin purses. Vinna wasn't ashamed at being called a thief, she embraced it! A slight of hand, a flick of the wrist, if it meant more money in her pocket, she didn't mind it at all!

And so where else would she spend these...illicitly gotten spoils? Why at the tavern of course! Getting shit faced with the locals, and likely starting a few fights(but not partaking in them, why that would be unladylike!). So in she wandered, hands on her hips as she scoped out the scene, she spotted Magen at the counter, but decided not to get too close to the man, he didn't look like he took any shit from anyone, and instead she would plop herself down at the counter a few seats away, boisterously calling to the tender. "Mug of your finest lager! And get me the whole leg from a lamb!" A mighty grin on her face, not even wanting to keep her voice down, what had she be to worry about? Anyone tried to fight her, she could just simply slip out the door, change her forms and be on her merry way!

A figure could be seen walking down the crowded road clad in a heavily embroidered cloak with the hood pulled over the head to conceal her face as if she didn't want to be noticed. It was impossible not; with every step bells at her ankle announced her, drawing attention to the soft silk turquoise slippers getting stained in the rubbish of a wretched underclass section of town. The fineness of her clothes peaked into view when she stepped forward which parted her cloak, showing tantalizing little glimpses of wear that likely cost more than most common folk's year salary. Tresses of mint hued hair flowed out of the hood, a most strange color indeed. The woman walked with a grace that should her outfit not scream wealth her posture would.
Behind her troddled a blonde haired elven male and though his outfit was also upperclass it was clear by the way he stayed two steps behind her at all times that he was a servant. He was a tall man, dressed in an off white silk shirt with a pale green waistcoat decorated in that same off white floral pattern. His pants were dark brown, cuffs rolled up at the ends to show off hard leather brown boots.

"Where is this dreadful place, Sheridan?" The woman asked, her voice soft and lilting, accented. The poor servant Sheridan had to strain to hear her over the drone of everyday life around them.
"Just around the next bend, Ma'am." He replied.

Zyphire grimaced behind her hood but otherwise didn't speak again, instead quickening her pace to reach her destination all the quicker. She ended up falling in behind Vinna, watched the red head 'bump' into unwitting passer-by. A very unlady like snort escaped before Phire could squelch it, making Sheridan look at her sharply as if confused, a look Zyphire ignored entirely. She slowed her pace to keep out of the red headed woman's grasping reach, a but put off by the fact that thus far they were going the same direction.
Lips drew back in a silent snarl when the woman entered the very building Sheridan pointed out as their destination. Great. So that was the type of person this place catered to. Just lovely.
"You're sure this is the right place?"
Just when Sheridan was about to answer her Zyphire shooshed him with a wave of her hand, wordlessly commanding he open the door for her when he didn't immediately step forward to do so. He frowned a little but didn't comment, doing as instructed without complaint. In they went, Zyphire immediately skirting around Sheridan so that she was once again in front of him.

Silvery eyes looked around the space, finding it very unimpressive. The patrons all looked so dirty and unkept. Phire shuddered. What could she possibly find here? The pickpocket was noted and very purposefully avoided. Phire sat as far away from her as possible, gracefully sliding into a seat beside a foul smelling man with raggity facial hair and a surly attitude while just sitting there. Zyphire brushed at the bartop with a dainty pale grey hand, moving any rubbish back towards the rubbish she found herself sitting next to.
"The Lady Zyphire will have your finest drink." Sheridan called out, voice ringing out.

Lalu looks perhaps as out of place as one could possibly look. Her delicate hooves click-clack on the cobblestones as she walks, and her dress is torn and stained with dirt and dust. She's getting more than a few lecherous stares from hooligans, cutthroats, and vagabonds. She's only here as a last-ditch effort to find more of her own kind before moving on to some other region. She'd already searched the surrounding woods and wilderness and it shows. Her long hair is tangled and peppered with leaves and twigs, her dress is nearly in tatters, and her tailtuft is matted and filthy. She's in desperate need of a bath, yet it doesn't seem like she's bound to find one in this dreadful place.

Lalu had been wandering in circles since morning, and only her swift gait had kept her from falling prey to thieves. As the sun sets and the pall of darkness falls across Maypool, the unicorn finally comes to a halt in front of a man curled up in the gutter.

"Um, ex-excuse me," she whispers.

The man doesn't respond, even after continued urging. Finally Lalu crouches beside him. He must be sick! I need to help him! A pale glow picks up around her outstretched hand and she lays it upon his shoulder. The man jerks awake with a roar and begins to flail, making Lalu shriek and leap to her feet, prancing away with tail flagging. "Help, help!"

She makes a beeline for the closest door, though when she throws it open and hurls herself inside, her cries for help are immediately drowned out by tavern bustle. She claps her hands over her sensitive ears, utterly overwhelmed. She remains standing still, cringing, until the door opens again and someone else enters.

"Get out of the way!"

Lalu yelps as she's pushed brusquely aside. They must all be staring at me, she thinks in horror as she flattens herself against the wall and stares around the bustling common room. Yfarra preserve me!

Yet there seems to be a light in the darkness. Through the sea of filthy faces, Lalu spots a pale-haired woman at the counter with an elvish companion. The woman appears to be just as out of place as the unicorn is. Lalu hurries over to Phire and hovers nervously at her side for a moment, unsure of how to breach conversation. "Um ..."

The large armored male was naturally a bit on the smelly side, considering he'd been sweating in that armor all day, and he'd probably not had a proper bath in more than a week, merely a hasty washing up at a creek here and there at the most. At least for once he wasn't showing up spattered with the blood and guts of the last thing he'd killed. His targets, were often beasts rather than witches and warlocks, and his missions more often than not got quite messy. He waited for his order to arrive, and it was about that time he noticed.. first the red haired woman.. Well noticed, because she was damn near shouting. His gaze slid over to her, a flat sort of stare given for about four or five seconds before he could all but taste snobbery and silk floating in the air. The odd pale green haired woman was given a bit more searching of a look. After all, she was clearly not normal, and things that were not normal sometimes needed to be cleaned off of his blades before the night would be over. He sneered slightly. He'd always disliked that sort, who thought they were better than everyone else because they were drowning in coin. The stare, became a slight glare as he scratched at his beard. Was that her servant? Who the hell drug a servant along to go to a damn bar? "Laaady Zyphire.." He grumbled, dragging the sounds out a bit in a sort of mocking tone. "The Laady Zyphire looks like she needs to go back to being carried around on a damned litter by her oiled slaveboys." He was tempted to spat her direction, but refrained. His drink had arrived, after all..

And then, in strolled... Some sort of unicorn.. child? was that thing even old enough to be in here? What the hell was it?

"One of your pets?" He asked the silk clad woman. What a night. At this rate he was about to order whiskey for his second drink rather than another ale. He took a swig of the drink, his food was probably still being warmed up. Red haired shouty wench was the only one of the lot that didn't look like something he might get paid to hunt.

Vinna took a short glance around the tavern when she spied Zyphire and Lalu, her brow arching as she looked them over, scratching down over her neck with slight interest before she got up and walked right over to Lalu, throwing her arm around the poor things shoulders. "Hey there doll face, what's the matter?" A big grin on her face as hand settled upon her own hip. "Some big bad scare ya? I can fend him off for you iffen ya need?" A wink given her way as she pulled a dagger from her belt. Vinna could of been less interested if the girl hadn't looked like she had money somewhere...maybe that horn could grant wishes if one rubbed it right? However...this close she noticed that the unicorn gal didn't smell quite right. A befuddled look momentarily over took her face and she leaned in trying to sniff her closer, if she didn't pull away. What was that smell? Before she could think longer on it, she glanced to the pale haired point eared woman the unicorn gal had been trying to talk to. "Eh...don't talk to her, she looks like a fitta, come on over 'ere with me will ya?" Waggling her brows at Lalu.

Shortly after Sheridan had ordered for her a frazzled barmaid brought over a beautifully golden drink in a polished but plain silver goblet, hands shaking as she set it down in front of Phire. A few copper coins were placed at the edge of the counter which the barmaid scooped up before racing off to settle other orders. Zyphire used the goblet as a means to cleanse her nostrils of the offending stench wafting off the male seated beside her though she didn't sully her lips with it's content.

Pointed ears twitched at an unfamiliar voice claiming the grace of speaking her name and while the initial mockery in it made her pulse quicken with anger, instead of giving him the pleasure of her attention, Phire just smiled behind her hood. It took a certain sort of desperation to try and gain attention through such means. Desperation Zyphire was not inclined to cater to.

"You will not speak Lady Zyphire's name withou--"

"It's fine, Sheridan. The curr knows no better. He is of sullied blood, after all. You can't expect dogs to hold their bark." Phire interrupted her servant, speaking for the first time in the establishment. Her voice was smooth as the silk s she wore and sweet as honey.

The unicorn gal's timid attempt to gain her eye was noticed only because Sheridan tapped her on the arm, alerting her that something was amiss. Phire turned at the same time Vinna came up. "It seems I'm to be surrounded by rabble." Phire murmured to Sheridan as she looked pointedly at Vinna and then to the male beside her. Lalu was looked to last. The tattered upperclass dress was noted, as well as the filth clinging to the poor child. "Away with you, she doesn't seek your kind of aid." Phire said to Vinna, waving a hand through the air in a universal dismissal.

"What ever happened to you, child? Do sit and tell me what I can do." She said to Lalu as Sheridan pulled out the seat on the left side of her.

Lalu's blue eyes nearly bulge out of their head when she gets a better look at Magen, nervous hands fiddling with some of the torn lace at the neckline of her dress. She doesn't have time to worry much about him, however, since the scruffy redheaded woman strolls up and throws an arm over her shoulders and sizes her up for valuables. The only thing of any worth on the unicorn girl seems to be the bejeweled piece that encircles the base of her horn and rests upon her forehead. That would surely fetch a pretty penny. Whatever strangeness Vinna smells would likely be drowned out by the acrid scent of fear as Lalu panics. She yelps, her ears first splaying out to either side in alarm, then pinning flat against the sides of her head. "I ... I ... I ..."

The brandished dagger makes her squeal nervously and instinctively kick out to the side towards Vinna, though the hoof-blow would be weak. She prances a few paces away from the wolf-woman and flees to hide behind Zyphire instead, shaggy knees almost audibly knocking together as they shake. Finally Lalu looks back to the pointy-eared woman's face. "I ... I ... I, um ... th-thank you, my lady ... it--it's a long story ... the lion-kin came and, u-um, and I'm trying to um, to find others like me, and um ... I got lost ..." Another wide-eyed stare is given to Vinna, as if fearing her response to all this.

His eyes narrowed at the drawn knife. He really did not want to have some sort of stabbing going on when he was just trying to enjoy a damned drink. He instantly went back on his assumption that the 'normal' looking one was the least annoying or troublesome of the group. Eyes finally rolled a bit at the comment about blood. "Sullied eh? Least I'm all human. I don't look like some mashed together mongrel spawn of freaks." what the hell was she anyways? Part elf maybe. Elves didnt have weird ass hair like that though. Unless she dyed it or something. But that didn't explain the skin tone. "You look like a ****in' corpse in a stupid wig that someone dolled up in silks." Something about lion-kin did mildy catch his interest. After all, it sounded like she could have meant some sort of monsters, and monsters meant a paycheck. His food arrived just then, some sort of stew that was mostly overcooked mushy vegetables and some hunks of fatty mystery meat. He started in on it, listening in. He'd noticed too, what looked like some parchment notices and flyers on the far wall, there might be work for him there too, but he wanted to finish a damn meal first.

Vinna blinked at Zyphire and Lalu, her brow arching gently at the woman. "Whatever snob." Was her response, eyes glanced over Magen, giving him another look before plopping down beside him and throwing her arm over his shoulder. "What say ya I buy ya a drink?" A grin given to him with an arch of her brow. Hearing what he called the woman she would laugh out loud, slamming her palm onto the table. "Pfft! She does look like a lik doesn't SHE?!" No chance of her keeping her voice down...her food however would be their saving grace, silencing her as she would begin to ravenously dig in.

Zyphire waited patiently for the young dirty unicorn girl to sit down, trying very hard to not smirk at the way Lalu had used her for a shield. The idea of protecting someone other than herself was absurd. That's what servants were for. Well, among other things. Phire listened intently once Lalu began explaining what had happened to her, through she did cringe at the way the girl spoke and even told her; "Speak clearly, child. If you wish to be heard you must speak with a clear mind. Think about what you wish to say, then say it." It would be a lot easier to understand the circumstance by which Lalu was in her current state if the girl did away with all the useless stammering.

"Hold for a moment, dear. The dog desires attention from it's master." Phire purred before turning to Magen. "You mock me for not being human but that is a compliment. I'm sure you'd know all about corpses being dolled up, wouldn't you? It's the only way you'd be able to get laid, after all." And with that her attention was once again returned to Lalu. The moppy redhead didn't even rank high enough to be noticed at this point.

"You said something about lion-kin? There is a small group of them housed in the working district. Well enough behaved, they know when to bow to their superiors. Or in their case, bare a neck. If you wish we could go and have a little chat with them to see if they know others of your kind? Oh, but my dear. That would have to happen tomorrow. You are sorely in need of a bath and clean clothes.." Phire said, "You may accompany me to my home if you wish or I could have you put up in an Inn. Which ever you prefer."

It seems the reason she and Sheridan had come to this Gods awful place were temporarily forgotten.

Lalu continues to squint nervously over at Magen and Vinna, but she finally settles down on a chair and draws a few deep, calming breaths. Once she has centered herself, she attempts to speak again, this time with considerably more success. "... I come from a forest a little ways from this ... this city. I-I have never been out in the human's lands before ..." Another terrified glance is swept around the tavern's common room. "... the lion-kin from the fells nearby had coveted our horns for a long time and ... finally they struck." She absentmindedly reaches up to touch her horn. In addition to the bit of jewelry decorating its base, the horn itself would be valuable to all manners of people, from wizards to alchemists to people thinking it would bring them good luck and health.

Lalu falls silent as Phire berates Magen, a bright flush rising into her cheeks. Once the conversation picks up again, and the elf woman mentions lion-kin in town, the unicorn's eyes bulge out of her head. "Th-th-th--they're--they're here?! Are they--are they--" A deep breath is drawn through her nostrils and released from her lips as she forces calm again. "They trade flesh--it is known. Surely they were a part of the attack, and it's likely that they ... they enslaved some of my kind. Maybe ... maybe some of them are still there ..." Her eyes turn dreamy and unfocused as she wraps her mind around the horrific prospect of confronting the lion-kin. Perhaps she could wear a disguise that would let her walk among them more easily. She almost doesn't notice that Phire has asked her a question. "Ah? O-oh! You are most kind, my lady, most kind indeed. I would love to accompany you." The prospect of a warm bath, fresh clothes, and a proper bed are beyond tantalizing to the young unicorn ... the thought never crosses her mind that Phire could possibly be manipulating her. "I-I am Healer-Priestess Lavender Luster, though I--I usually go by Lalu."

The man was not really a fan of having hands on him without invitation. Rarely was he one to invade another's space, unless for intimidating, interrogation, or if he was splitting the skull of a witch or monster of some sort. Apart from that? He was not a physical man. Lips curled in a snarl when she reached to drape an arm around him. Of course, the height difference, and the fact that he wore heavy armor with large pauldrons would make it difficult to do what she was trying to do.. Still, he shouldered away from the contact, and gave a rough, warning shove with a gauntleted arm. "If I wanted some loud bitch on me I'd pay for a whore." He snapped. Hardly ruffled by the shot about getting laid, glaring eyes moved to the silk clad woman. "I've parted the heads from many a ghoul or zombie. They have about your color." Well good, at least the stupid unicorn and the mouthy bitch were leaving. He went back to his meal, leaning over his food and drink and setting his shoulders in a manner that advertised how little he wished to be interrupted again. Although, something had caught his eye. He glanced back over at the wall, squinting at something to one side and a bit above the head of the sickly colored mint haired wench. Was that some sort of call to arms, or help wanted there?