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busb
Mar 19, 2009

Thorgie
Chapter 0 - Your childhood.
:siren:
The second post now contains a recap of the story so far, only read if you wish to skip the early world building and get right into the current story as of 20 Jan, 2020, where our character is nearly 19.
:siren:



‘Wake up’ whispers the wind.
‘Stand strong’ urges the sun.
‘Be true’ sighs the moon.

The Blackness remains silent.




The Lands of Deliverance


You start awake, stretch lazily with a loud yawn and slip out of bed. You pad over to the window and lift yourself up on the wooden sill and peer outside. It’s grey and dark outside, and it smells like it could rain at any moment; almost dreary enough to be a Stormday! In the window’s semi-reflection you catch sight of yourself. You’ve not survived through your 10th Storm season yet, but Liberator allowing, you will.


1: Your name is:
A) Laena
B) Roberta
C) Stephen
D) Tarin
E) Jeffrey
F) Andri
G) Write in here!


2: You are:

A) A young girl, an only child to two loving, hardworking parents. You live in the small farming village of Perseverance. Your village farms mostly corn, barley, onions and carrots. Your parents are both farmers, and you are expected to help out the family even at your young age. You are poor, salt of the earth and humble.


B) A young boy, with two brothers and two sisters. You are the eldest, and your mother is constantly worked off her feet running the family’s tailoring shop. You live in the dusty trading and frontier town Vigil. Your family is not too badly off; well that’s what your mother tells you anyway.


C) A young boy, with one elder sister. Your father and mother live in comfort in the mining town of Gratitude. Your mother runs the local inn, while your father runs the attached kitchen. It’s a rowdy business in the evenings when the miners gather to wash replace their lost sweat with food and tea.


D) A young girl. You are an orphan looked after by the Matron of the orphanage of Whisper. Most of the orphans here nowadays are left by families that are lazy and poor and don’t want to work. You have no memory of your parents, but the Matron tells you you’re best off without them anyway.


E) A young boy, an only child living with your uncle in the city of craftsmen, Vise. Sent here in your infancy for a greater hope at life, you help your uncle at his small chandlery. Your uncle does well for himself, and is a demanding master..



Hello, i am busb and welcome to this Choose Your Own Adventure where you, dear voters, control what happens. This is a fantasy life simulation-adventure in a world where voters decide how to shape the life of a young child in the world of Deliverance.

It does not run on or rely on any system other than the one i have created and maintain in the background. That is to say this world operates by its own rules which i will adhere to and according to interpreting the will of The Noble Goon(tm).

The scope of what you wish to achieve is completely up to you. Do you wish to create an idyllic farming community? Or be a militiaman dedicated to stomping out crime? Or become a brigand, preying on those unable to secure their own?
Or do you want to be a merchant-prince, growing vast amounts of wealth and influence with the ruling nobles?

The first few votes will shape our origins, let’s create a lasting legacy!

busb fucked around with this message at 06:19 on Jan 20, 2020

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busb
Mar 19, 2009

Thorgie

Fanart of Jeffrey cleaning Gratitude's Statue of the Liberator by our very own Brawnfire
:11tea:

Chapter 0 - The beginnings of the not-so-humble Jeffrey of Gratitude

You are Jeffrey Tavernboy, born to two loving parents, your Pa - Gertrand and Ma - Myrtle and with your elder sister Imogen. Together they have run the Splintered Oar tavern in the hilly mining city of Gratitude, a somewhat eyeroll-worthy play on words. But your family did good business in feeding hungry miners and merchants, as well as stimulating and delicious tea.



You learned over your childhood of the history of the land, how the Liberator and his army arrived from his homeland after hearing of your peoples' plight at the greedy and grasping claws of the cursed Magi. Foul warlocks that over 250 cycles ago cruelly ruled and enslaved your isolated continent. In their defeat, they cursed your land, and now every cycle there are violent, magical Storms that devastate the surface. Only cities like Gratitude are protected by the Liberator during this time, everyone else is forced to live one month of every cycle in underground caverns or basements.

His Deliverance led to the creation of your society, focused on every man and woman performing their sworn, notarised and enforced Duty to the Liberator. The land is metal-poor, with strong and useful metals and ores highly sought after.



In your childhood you dabbled in several things, mostly inspired by filial devotion and helped out your family in the tavern along with your sister. You kept a close bond with your whole family, and in turn your family would do anything for you.

In particular, you once overheard your father 'negotiating' (bribing) one of the local government officials - Lady Alecta of the Administration. Unfortunately your small 'donation' of a single copper nail (which as a child seemed large) only drew the attention and ire of the greedy official, and sent you down a path of avoiding the government wherever possible.

You also went on to meet an kindly older woman, Hanah, in the town Plaza, whose Duty, among other things, was to clean and preserve the Liberator's statue. Getting on in years, she convinced you to help her out by climbing up and cleaning all those hard-to-reach spots, particularly the statue's Feather - a finely wrought obsidian looking thing held in the Liberator's proud, upturned hand. She told you many tales and stories of the Liberator, his generals and their great battles against the Magi in times past, and the coin you earned went to small things here and there.



You went on several solo excursions outside the city into the surrounding foothills, and encountered none other than a couple of carnivorous large rats, which you kind of scared away with some rocks. You claimed it as a great victory, even if they simply wandered off away from the pesky child-Jeffrey.

You used it as an example of the dangers outside the city, and eventually gave your best buddy Kel all your coin to make you a trusty homemade sling. He took some liberties with your copper nails, and his mother ended up making Kel one as well, at your expense. You privately felt a bit miffed at this, and it led to you not spending as much time with him as you may have otherwise.

Jeffrey then learned to his parents' horror, that doing whatever you liked was not in fact a very good idea. He brought back some strange flowers one day, and got a quiet dressing down. Your mother, due to heroics in her prior life as a soldier or guard, had special dispensation to brew a strange, inebriating tea from some of these same herbs - which can only be legally purchased and consumed by a member of the Liberator's elite expeditionary force, the Emberguard, who often visited your tavern over the cycles. You learned that anything which impairs a person's ability to perform their Duty is a crime - a key reason why the only beverage you are allowed to sell is tea.


You also learned about the Administrations role in doling out Permits for any extra-Duty activity you could dream of. The increased taxation due to banditry in the region led you to try and earn extra coin for the tavern and your family. but all you got instead was insulted by another wrinkly old Administration official who you think tried to fleece you. You left without a Permit, your dreams of hunting small game dashed.

Nevertheless, you spent time practicing with your sling when you could - but you never devoted much time, preferring to help Hanah clean and your family in the Tavern. Over the cycles you kept up practice very rarely, and never became more than highly unskilled at its use.

When she came of age, your sister Imogen decided to follow in your mother's martial footsteps and enlisted in the army at Vigil. Perhaps swayed a bit by your own interest in the Emberguard and watching caravan guards practice and train, she left for her new life, one which your childhood friend Kel eventually joined also.

Taxes continued to rise before you reached your own Duty age, bandits kept plaguing your city's trade, and the tavern was looking in dire straits with the introduction of a Levy to raise more militia. Your mother, to your father's chagrin, decided that the only way was to take up her sword again, and went out as a caravan guard for several cycles. She left you a strange iron brooch to safeguard you - it was worth a lot more than anything you'd ever seen.

It was a symbol of something owed to your mother by the Emberguard, and you wore it underneath your tunic.

You were determined to help your family, and that day saw you climb the Liberator's statue for Hanah and clean it.
https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3885560&userid=148818#post494781327

You were cleaning the statue when one of the Magi-cursed storms rolled across the city - a week early than it had ever been.


You were in the middle of cleaning the feather, when your brooch seemed to get stuck on the feather. Stormstrikes are usually safely deflected from the city, but for some reason, the brooch melted after a very nearby strike, and it turned liquid, sticking to your chest and the Liberator's feather, and somehow this caused a Stormstrike to bend towards you, and hit you clean in the chest.

https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3885560&userid=148818#post495075779

Bordering death, you ^hear^ the voices of two beings, each weak and pitiful, and vying for access to some sort of power that you seem to possess. One Amber . The Ruby however promises you power, and to heal your battered body and return you to life. The Amber can't promise you will live, and so you ^touch^ the Ruby and save yourself.



He takes your power, and in turn mostly heals your physical body, and in addition shapes and moulds your mind itself - a boon you begged from him. He promises you more if you continue to feed him with energy and eventually free him from… wherever he is imprisoned.

This event perhaps changed you even more than you thought. You eventually found this exchange with the two coloured entities left you with shackles of red around your metaphysical self's neck, as well as a tiny splinter of gold in your arm. The shackles feed your benefactor every time you consume power in the world. As for the splinter, you know not.

This saw you return to your physical body, alive but grievously burned and hurt. Your convalescence took months, and you have a scar for life across your chest where the brooch and feather melted inside you. You carry this strange, black alloy inside your physical body, and have found it enables you to… project a shadow self. In it, you see brilliant colours and light and you have over many cycles learned how to take in some small amounts of this energy to feed Ruby, and eventually ^meld^ it into physical objects. You have also discovered that you can absorb people's emotions and use it for the same purpose, but your knowledge is fleeting and simple.

After the events of the Stormstrike, you are struck by another great idea, and claim to three Administration officials from other cities - investigators of the phenomenon you were central to - that you were struck by a Stormstrike and lived... something that is impossible.
The three take you to their leader, the Lady Kyra from the capital of Liberty.


She imprisons you for weeks, questioning you and submitting you to… tests. You are eventually released as a braggart and a liar, earning the intense emnity of the investigator Lady Jinda for wasting her superior's time.

But you do manage to impress one of their party, an old, fat oreologist Bortwin, with tales of a new, black alloy. He is an ore and metal specialist from the thriving craftsman's city of Vise to the south. He slips you a piece of paper, and eventually manages to give you the option of attending the Academy in Vise as your Duty - where you can learn to read and use your (hopeful) Ruby-blessed smarts to become rich, powerful and/or important.

You survive a gruelling test when you reach Duty age at 15 from your city's rulers, the Foreman of the mine, and two of the Administration officials that you offended as a child. You pick your Duty as Prentice to the Academy, and with your mother you scrounge enough coin to pay for your first cycle, and leave your home city and your family, and the tavern behind.


https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3885560&userid=148818&perpage=40&pagenumber=3#post496653248

Vise is huge, easily three or four times the size of Gratitude, and the Academy is a sprawling complex where you are forced to study exceptionally hard. You learn of the five pillars of your peoples' scholars:
Quantology - the study of mathematical predictions from everything from taxes to food production and consumption
Lexicology - the study of reading, writing and translation
Artiology - the study of making things, the most popular subject for your people
Anterology - the investigation of history, and exploring dark caves and magi secrets to recover useful artefacts
Caelology - investigation of weather and the Storm and your stricken lands and environments.


You excel at many areas of study, particularly and in the face of prejudice against you from coming from a provincial city, earn the friendship of your roommate Trevor - a friendly and charismatic orphan from far-off Whisper and his close friends Celestine and Kassandra, as well as the hostility from various Visean and Libertean children used to privilege, and their ringleader Dapimo.

You tutor Trevor who is failing Caelology, and quickly learn you have a head for numbers. You also excel at reading and writing, and Caelology and you finish first in those three subjects, winning coin prizes that help you pay for your next year's studies. The more physical demands of Anterology and Artiology means you are merely decent at them.


Your erstwhile investigators Chloy and Bortwin (who is also your benefactor), then nab you in the middle of the night to call on you, neither having forgotten your actions around the disappearance of Gratitude's feather - for which Hanah was blamed publicly and never seen again. They believe otherwise, and you confess that you think you saw the feather melt with iron to form the new alloy. Chloy begs you to help her research and end the magical Storms which continue to arrive earlier and earlier every cycle. Bortwin seconds you into experimentation with him, and you work with him to minor discoveries on creating what you have come to call the Blackness - the dark metal alloy that lives inside you, and is your terrible, perhaps magical, secret. You and Bortwin have not figured out how to create more Blackness yet, although it may be the key to expanding your projected-self's strength.

Key to it though, is the metal ore Carentium, an exceptionally rare ore that was fashioned centuries past by the Liberator and acts as a Storm-repelling barrier. It is prized over all other metals, and possession of it would mean instant and swift death.

https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3885560&userid=148818&perpage=40&pagenumber=4#post499501501
Your second cycle at the Academy sees you continue to excel scholastically. But your insistence to not be silenced and give up your top placings means that you and many other Prentices from rural areas are selected by 'lottery' to assist in the most dangerous of undertakings - a Delve.

https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3885560&userid=148818&perpage=40&pagenumber=4#post499951556

Your third year, you go on the Delve. Led by Anterologists, and protected by none other than your sister Imogen and her squad of requisitioned soldiers, who has risen to the rank of sergeant, and Kel, a somewhat delinquent but still capable soldier, you seek out the ancient, buried cave of a suspected ancient Magi.

You try your best to guide your fellow Prentices to success and survival - as you were warned that you would be no more than rats for the deadly magical traps and pitfalls that frequent Magi buildings.

You build ties with your fellows, and rise as a quasi leader among them. You also try and help your sister's priorities of defence, and you convince the Delve leader Lalian for you to construct basic defenses around the Delve camp. Eventually you push her too far in an attempt to throw your rival Dapimo into the cave complex first - and hopefully face first into a deadly trap. It backfires, and you find yourself ordered to trigger a trap you found.



Upon triggering it, the Blackness inside you reacts and instead of merely trying to protect yourself, you attempt to grab the trap's magical energy and consume it in yourself and feed Ruby. Although by pure fluke you manage to untangle its complex working, the energy is too much for you to contain, and you end up teleported into the Magi's chambers along with Kel, who tries to save you at the last minute and gets carried along for the ride. You find that too much colour to contain or use makes you violently ill, and you vomit up glowing and toxic green goo, which handily is your only source of luminescence. It also results in green pustules forming and bursting all over your body, and your once youthful face suffers from scabs even still.

https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3885560&userid=148818&perpage=40&pagenumber=5#post500537239

Without access to the surface, Kel looks after you until you can stand and help him safely explore your surrounds. The teleporting shiftstone completely depowered through your meddling sees you stuck, and you investigate what becomes clear is the tomb and workshop of a centuries-dead Magi. Kel hacks his skeleton to pieces, while you investigate three things
A letter in your language, that is perhaps partially translated into the Magi's own language - something that has never been achieved by your people yet
Vials of coloured liquid, some of which you steal away with you
A huge, sloughed metal spire that reaches up all the way through to the surface - the thing that was spotted by a scout and inspired the whole Delve in the first place

Before you can figure out what exactly is going on, Kel insists on figuring out an escape route before your scavenged supplies run out.

You inadvertently poison some kind of giant cavern bug eyeball thing with your green toxic waste in your tunnelling out, and finally find your way back to the Delve camp, where you find bandits have fought their way through your defences and occupied the camp, and your sister and some of your fellow Delvists are holed up in the entry cave.

Crushing your only physical gift from Ruby - a stone medallion which he scraped from your hair and scalp and eye fluid - Kel uses its brief invisibility to ambush and kill the outlaw leader and several soldiers, buying your sister and her one remaining soldier time to sally out and join without being heftily outnumbered.

You hadn't chanced however, on the robed figure there being an actual, Liberator-damned Magi

He bests your invisible friend, and makes to kill him when you leap to his defense projecting yourself with the Blackness. You stop and consume his magic, but it's power is once again too much for you to fully contain, and you leak purple goo and fall unconscious. Your sister is able to sneak up on the man, and cuts him down from behind before he can do anything else. She is the first to kill a Magi that you know of, in over two hundred cycles.

Using the purple energy you could contain, you have ^melded^ a crude amethyst-coloured chisel. With it, you plan to try and chip away at Ruby's shackles. He has been useful, and part of you desires the power he brings, but you also fear what you see as his ruthlessness and capriciousness.

You have now returned to Vise, and must seek to somehow complete your third cycle of studies in less than two months, with your Delve being over two months late to return, and with most of your fellow Delvists slain.

But you are alive. And you will overcome, as you always do.

https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3885560&userid=148818&perpage=40&pagenumber=6#post501664130

You are Prentice Jeffrey. You have survived your eighteenth Storm. You have survived a Delve. You have survived a Magi.

But what will become of you, and your close friends and family now?




You are Jeffrey Tavernboy, of the mining town Gratitude.

Below in the spoiler text is Jeffrey's current vitals and knowledge. Do not read if you are a new viewer unless you want to be spoiled!


You have survived 18 Storms. You have left your family's tavern in Gratitude to seek education in the great Academy of Vise, some weeks to the south of your hometown. You excelled in your first and second cycles of study.

You are a slightly short youth and a bit skinny.
You struggle carrying everything you need for the day's studies.
You are a bit clumsy, and trip over your own sandals much to your embarrassment.
You get fairly tired after a day's walking around the Academy.
Your hair has a definite reddish streak to it.
Your body feels sluggish and tired, and you're missing a huge clump of hair.
You are fairly intuitive to peoples needs and you can make friends with familiar people quite easily.
You seem to have an (un)natural aptitude for study, particularly in Quantology and numbers
You'd be best off avoiding any schoolyard fights. You would lose, badly.

:frogbon:
Vise's Administration has no idea who you are.
The Academy guards barely recall you.
Bortwin, an Oreologist that sponsored you to attend the Academy, has found you and demands your compliance in discovering a new alloy.

:anttony:
He know where you are.
He feels a bit irritated at being ignored

:yarr:
Your mother has taken up guarding caravans from the bandits across the region.
The common folk are much more prosperous now that the bandit tithe has eased, although they haven't been dispersed completely yet.
Strange ratmen have been spotted trying to sneak in from the Shattered Wastes near Vigil.

:eng101:
Your Duty is studying at the Academy of Vise, where you are undertaking formal education in the five Quaestios (areas of study) - Quantology, Lexicology, Artiology, Anterology, and Caelology
The Liberator is rumoured to live forever, and has a mythical Feather. His statue in Gratitude was damaged by the Storm. You have not visited the statue in Vise.
The City of Vise is a marvel of industry, home of craftsmen and scholars studying every facet of your world
Fort Vigil to the south then west trains fighting men and women, and watches over the Burned Lands. Your sister, and your best friend Kel, have enlisted in the rank and file army here.
The Academy at Vise is where you can go to receive a formal education, such as reading and writing and artisanship.
Liberty expelled one of its noble families, House Vanticus, several generations ago, and they are still striving to return to favour.


:science:
Storm comes a week early every year
Something caused a Storm lightning bolt to strike your chest.
You have a viscous dark metal alloy beneath your skin that ^feels^ odd to the touch
In times of great desperation, your body ^acts^
With great difficulty, you can enter a meditative state and are able to manipulate colours into... something? nothing?
You can ^feel^ Something is to the west and south.

:smaug:
Your wealth is measured by:
* A 4 lead knuckle Duty due every cycle to pay for your studies in the Academy
* 0 electrum fists, 2 lead knuckles and 15 copper nails.
* A homemade cloth and leather sling, which you are not very good at using
* a cord with a wolf fang on it, given to you by your mother from a wolf she slew.
* a stone medallion on a twisted-hair cord. When crushed and inhaled, renders you unseeable
* a small, practical bronze knife in a serviceable and cheap leather sheath.

You work for Oreologist Bortwin. You have a goal to recreate the Blackness - the strange black alloy that exists within you.
You must:
* figure out how to melt your replica brooch
* find a source of Carentium
* figure out how to alloy them together

busb fucked around with this message at 06:17 on Jan 20, 2020

sniper4625
Sep 26, 2009

Loyal to the hEnd
JEffrey, how did you become a world famous craftsman, JEffrey.

sniper4625 fucked around with this message at 04:04 on Mar 26, 2019

AnAnonymousIdiot
Sep 14, 2013

We are Andri of the Abbey.

Podima
Nov 4, 2009

by Fluffdaddy
I'll go for D. Tarin and C. Gratitude.

sniper4625
Sep 26, 2009

Loyal to the hEnd
Actually Jeffery will become the Tavern King of Gratitude

Brawnfire
Jul 13, 2004

🎧Listen to Cylindricule!🎵
https://linktr.ee/Cylindricule

C. Stephen at D. The Orphanage of Whisper

Blasphemaster
Jul 10, 2008

G. Bock. Because sis was taking very loud insistent orders for the freshly tapped keg of Dopplebock as we were delivered in the barrel room, Dad thought it was manly, and Mom was too hopped up on medicinal whiskey to complain.

C

busb
Mar 19, 2009

Thorgie
Thanks for and please keep the votes coming, new readers!
The first few votes to generate our character/background will be fairly quick if we can reach a majority(hoping to update ~once per day for a little while) before relaxing into meatier updates.

CapitalistPig
Nov 3, 2005

A Winner is you!
E and C

Max
Nov 30, 2002

F - Andri, D - Whisper

Dog Kisser
Mar 30, 2005

But People have fears that beasts do not. Questions, too.
EC

busb
Mar 19, 2009

Thorgie
In the not so distant past, the land of Ataxia was one of conflict and unrest. Wild animals ruled the wilds and roving cruel monsters destroyed any chance of human progress. And the Magi... the Magi were even worse as they ruled both monster and corrupt man.


Then came the Liberators. Strong, fierce, and armed with burnished metal they stormed across the land. They threw down the corrupt lords kept in thrall by the foul magi and Delivered change, peace and prosperity everywhere.


Monsters were banished back into the wilds and bandits were strung up everywhere in a proclamation of justice done. The Magi themselves were killed where they stood with some cowardly few escaping to the darkest corners of the world until they died of starvation, disease and old age. In their petulance, they cursed the land that was freed from their clutches. As the seasons turn, the very land is stricken by vicious storms; lightning that kills and turns men and women mad.



But the Deliverance protects, and the years of rebuilding began, with the crucial promise that the Liberators would always protect your people from magicks. Taking up the mantle of reluctant ruler of a stricken people, the Liberator Himself remained when his comrades departed, and with a chosen few He trained and equipped the bravest and strongest men and women among you as the Emberguard, capable of defending your lands. And with His knowledge, the Storms could be weathered.

And so the people are guided and nurtured so you can grow and be prosperous.




“Jeffrey, get up you lazy boy!” your mother yells from downstairs. Looking wistfully outside and the promise of fun you quickly dress and clamber down into the taven.
“Come on come on, Liberator preserve if we all slept as long as you then we’d all starve afore noon!”

“Oh leave him be for two shakes at least Myrtle, he’ll be wishing he was anywheres else if you keep at him like that,” your father’s laughing deep bass cuts across from the corner of the room. He laughs as he strides across and perches you up across his shoulders. “Asides, I need his help this morning. We’ll be back for early supper, don’t you worry about that!”



Your sister, Imogen, is already hard at work scrubbing out the tavern’s lanterns and replacing the burning tallow within. She is a few seasons older than you, and has already surpassed your mother’s height and has your father’s strong build. She smiles and rolls her eyes at you when your mother doesn’t see as your father strides past her and outside into Gratitude’s bustling sidestreets.

As you past next-door, Albert and his son Kel wetting and stretching out wicker and leather. “Mornin’ Ger, little Jeffrey, a spot o’ trouble last night eh?” drawls Albert, mid-thwack of hide.
“I ‘eard fightin and such!” Kel pipes up, excitedly, “Wassit them Reddies again?’
“Shush your mouth this second you little snot!" Albert lightly cuffs Kel on the shoulder. "Don’t be calling them that how many times have i told yer, we carn’t afford no fine.”
“You mean another one don’t you Da?” Kel slyly asks.

Your father laughs “Not to worry, little Kel, they were just tired rockbreakers with not enough coin and tired hands. But i know they’ll be workin’ harder today to come back tonight though. I just gotta take little Jeffrey here across town, he’ll be able to play with Kel and the gang by this eve though.”

You say goodbye to Kel and his dad, and ask “Where are we going Father?”

“You pick son, I’ve got something I need to do later on, but where would you like to go first?

1. You have a think, you’d really like to:
A. Go and watch the local guardsmen train. Maybe you’d even catch a glimpse of a famed Emberguard! Kel told you that they are the bravest warriors with metal armour and weapons! Imagine being wealthy enough to be able to use that much metal!
B. Go have a look at the Causeway. It’s the sole wide road where all the rock and spoil from the mines in the hills west of town gets hauled and carted across to the Rockyard in Gratitude proper. Some days you dream of going down into the mines yourself, pickaxe in hand and finding enough ore to buy yourself enough spice you’d never have to share a cup of tea ever again!
C. You want to head to the market fair. You love beads and baubles, and there’s always something fascinating to find to buy for a couple of coppers. You also really love the statue of the Liberator in the middle of the plaza. It makes you feel safe and protected!
D. You just want to hang out with your father today. Maybe today you’ll learn how he makes the bestest bread and boar in the whole city! Everyone likes your Da, even when the tavern patrons get rough, he knows just how to deal with them all the time!
E. You kind of want to go exploring by yourself. Imogen told you that there were some strangers in town with strange things on their faces and even bound-papers! Maybe you could get a look at one and tell everyone tonight!
F. Something else


2. Regardless of what you choose how to spend the day, how do you want to spend your evening tonight?
A. Mucking around with Kel and the gang. You tend to muck about in the back street, wrestling and throwing things around.
B. With just Kel. Together you love to walk about the square pretending to find and slay evil magi hiding in the shadows just like the Liberators!
C. By yourself to the rockbreaker’s yard. Maybe if you’re quiet, you’ll be able to find something shiny that they missed! I mean if the Foreman or the guards see you there’ll be trouble. But you’re really quick!
D. Stick around the Tavern and help out your family serving tea and the like. Your mother would be really proud of you for stepping up, and your sister has been wanting to have a night off for a while.
E. Something else.

busb fucked around with this message at 01:00 on Oct 30, 2019

Podima
Nov 4, 2009

by Fluffdaddy
Let's do D and D, indeed.

Max
Nov 30, 2002

1b and 2c. Being alone is awesome.

CapitalistPig
Nov 3, 2005

A Winner is you!
A and B

AnAnonymousIdiot
Sep 14, 2013

"Strange men with masks? Count me in!!"

also...

"Maybe if I stay at the Mines, maybe they won't catch me there... Could I invite Kel there?"

Blasphemaster
Jul 10, 2008

DD :quagmire:

50 pounds of bread
Sep 27, 2006

CC get it. NO ANTS.

peramene
Oct 13, 2015

by Fluffdaddy

Brawnfire
Jul 13, 2004

🎧Listen to Cylindricule!🎵
https://linktr.ee/Cylindricule

C for both.

dont be mean to me
May 2, 2007

I'm interplanetary, bitch
Let's go to Mars


Podima posted:

Let's do D and D, indeed.

Outrail
Jan 4, 2009

www.sapphicrobotica.com
:roboluv: :love: :roboluv:

AnAnonymousIdiot posted:

"Strange men with masks? Count me in!!"

also...

"Maybe if I stay at the Mines, maybe they won't catch me there... Could I invite Kel there?"

I trust what this idiot wants to do.

Crazycryodude
Aug 15, 2015

Lets get our X tons of Duranium back!

....Is that still a valid thing to jingoistically blow out of proportion?


D
D


Family time so we can get attached to these characters and make sure it actually lands when they're all horribly murdered by the fascist templars and/or rogue magi at the end of the prologue because we are a good son. Although honestly if this game just turned into Completely Unremarkable Tavern Simulator 1072 that would also be acceptable, adventures are hard and beer is good.

Crazycryodude fucked around with this message at 05:58 on Mar 27, 2019

busb
Mar 19, 2009

Thorgie
We're fairly split across {X}C and DD. if we get a bunch more votes that lead to a consensus i may be able to update tonight, likely tomorrow though.
Speculation is always welcome :eng101:

Outrail
Jan 4, 2009

www.sapphicrobotica.com
:roboluv: :love: :roboluv:
Change my vote to whatever's in second place, tia.

CourValant
Feb 25, 2016

Do You Remember Love?

Podima posted:

Let's do D and D, indeed.

Vote: +1

sniper4625
Sep 26, 2009

Loyal to the hEnd
Voting anyway for DD!!

busb
Mar 19, 2009

Thorgie

busb posted:

[b1]D. [/b] You just want to hang out with your father today. Maybe today you’ll learn how he makes the bestest bread and boar in the whole city! Everyone likes your Da, even when the tavern patrons get rough, he knows just how to deal with them all the time!

2D. Stick around the Tavern and help out your family serving tea and the like. Your mother would be really proud of you for stepping up, and your sister has been wanting to have a night off for a while.
3rd of SecondToil, 256d
Your father looks surprised when you say you just want to hang around with him all day. “Well, great, come along then, first we need to see what’s down at the market...”

As you wander about he points out some of larger buildings and what they are for. The market is towards the eastern gate out of the city, and is an open plaza, dominated on one side by the dark-granite Town Hall. You have seen it before, but your father tells you that everyone important works there, and oversees the running of everything in town! The Foreman currently is the boss of everything, as the town mines and breaks rocks and ores and sends them southward.

In fact he points out a few battered wagons, and cloth-covered carts that are waiting along the side of the town hall, where merchants must record their cargo and where they are going. There are dozens of people standing around bored. You ask who they are, your father tells you there are "Sometimes animals or bad men that want to take things that aren’t theirs, and sometimes strong men and women need to protect the wagons as they travel, they're doing the land a great service".



On the opposite side are more wagons still, and clusters of thin and weary looking travellers. "The travellers are people coming for jobs in the mines or the Rockyard, trying to find metal gems or other treasures". The wagons are of more interest to your father. They bring food from the nearby farms such as grains, livestock and vegetables from the countryside. Your father walks to some bored looking women herding a couple of cattle down toward the market and talks to them for a while, asking them about how their farms are going and suchlike. You find it a bit dull but hear one of them talk about how there hasn’t been enough rain and loads of farmhands might have to come to become rockbreakers before the Storms begin this year, and that some have already taken off into the eastern hills to become outlaws and brigands!.

Your father frowns, shakes their hands and implores them to visit his tavern, the Splintered Oar’ after their trading is done. The rest of the morning passes by in a bit of a blur. Your father talks to weathered farmers and hawking sellers, and you even see him slip beggars a copper nail or two.

Then he takes you into the Town Hall.

After the general noise of the market, the silence of this place is a bit unnerving. People here are also dressed quite differently, some even have red frilly things around their necks as they sit at benches or walk silently across the foyer. You ask your father what you are doing here and he tells you to shush, His name is called by a tall, stern looking lady and you and your father follow her to a small room. Your father tells you to wait outside and not to touch anything or go anywhere, and if you’re good you’ll get a nail to spend all for yourself!

You can’t help but try to listen in, but it sounds like your father is getting frustrated at something. His deep voice travels, but you can’t get the words. The lady’s voice is low but you manage to catch a few words about worse than fines’.

Finally the door opens and your father looks red and even a bit angry!
“It’s ridiculous is what it is! You’ve wasted me money and you know it!”
You leave with your father as he mutters under his breath but he refuses to talk more about it.

“Right Jeffrey my boy, i promised you a nail, and unlike some people, I fix my promises right up. What do you want hmm? Something tasty?”

1.
A.
You want a honey roll! Delicious and hot and sweet.
B. You saw a man selling swords! You’re only small, and it’s just a stick, but its painted and whittled and looks just like a real one! Kel will be jealous!
C. You get a loaf of rye! It's tasty and wholesome, and you can share some of it with some of the poor beggars too, just like Da!
D. You buy some of the carrots from one of the wagons you saw your Da talking with earlier, maybe you could give it to mother to make tonight's stew even more delicious.
E. It seemed like Da wanted something from that lady, maybe if you gave her a nail she would give it to you. It sounded like she wanted more money
F. You hold onto it, you don’t have anything you really want to buy just yet, but you really like money and maybe you can get something even better if you get another nail!
G. You thank your Da, but really you don’t want money at all.
F. Something else

busb posted:

E. It seemed like Da wanted something from that lady, maybe if you gave her a nail she would give it to you. It sounded like she wanted more money

You take the copper nail and slip it into your pockets. Your father asks you what you’re going to do with it but you tell him it’s a surprise!

You run off, and go back to the Town Hall. You remember to slow down and look all sombre like before you go inside. You try and recall where you went earlier and think you can retrace your steps accurately. You are pretty sure children aren’t allowed in here; or at least you’ve seen no others in your now two visits.

Luckily the entry is clear, as the two militia guards on duty in the foyer/atrium are currently marching a down-on his luck old man backwards from one of the far offices and out one of the side exits.

“You can’t do this! I’ve survived fifty storms but it’s too much and i’ll dieee!” The man wails.
The guard on his right speaks, “It’s your Duty, old man. The Liberator will have what you owe in sweat, tears, and yes, your blood if that’s what it takes. Work hard now and we’ll not have to chain you in the Yard next year. Now bugger off”.
With this distraction taking most of the attention, you put your head down and find the side office you were at earlier.

The door into the lady’s office is closed, and although you hadn’t seen her before your father marched you out, you dry-swallow and raise your small fist to knock on her door.
“DAMNIT!”
The lady’s voice shrieks incredibly loudly and you hear a loud crash. You have second thoughts, but your father wanted something and you’re going to show him you can help out with anything!

You knock.

The door is swept open and you’re faced with the face of a lady who definitely does not want to be seen. Her dirty blond hair is still tied back out of her face, but cheeks are rosy red and she looks at you with the slightly manic expression. Splinters of shattered glass glint in a far corner from the small office’s candlelights.

“Who are you small child, what are you doing? Why are you knocking on my door and wasting my time? Time I incidentally have very little of now and which is shrinking by the second.”

“S’cuse me Ma’am but i was wonderin’ if I could give you some money?”

She immediately stops at that and her eyes bulge and look up and down the hall quickly. Then sighs and relaxes, and ushers you inside and closes the door gently but firmly shut behind you.

“That’s Lady Alecta to you, boy i don’t know who you are or what game you’re at, but it’s a thrashing at least and probably three Toils at the rockyards for attempted bribery of an Administrative Official. What’s your name? Who told you to offer me a bribe? Was is Carlisle? I know it was. Tell me who it is and i’ll make sure you’re whipping is swift and your family need not know of it.” She no longer looks angry, she looks almost gleeful

You are shocked silent and stammer searching for an answer, but you stiffly grasp your coin, and place it on her desk with a slight ring of metal on wood.

“Me name’s Jeffrey, Ma’am Lady Official, I’m not bribing you promise! It’s just my Da came by earlier and I heard you say you was doing something for him to stop some really bad fines or some such, but you weren’t able to finish it up. I was wonderin’ if i could give you my own money to help you finish what my Da needed help with for the tavern, the Splintered Oar... that’s all.” you finish softly.

As you say the name of your tavern, the lady’s ruddy face turns pale and quickly says “A single copper nail? What kind of jest is this? Your father wasn’t to tell anyone about our deal and he tells a silly little boy? Well I’m going to teach you a lesson boy. You see this coin? It’s Liberator property now. I’ve fined you for sticking your nose into grownup business where you don’t belong. And if you tell anyone else about what you and your father have done today, this won’t be the only thing that’s taken from you. Now leave!” Lady ALectra says, and grabs your arm and shoves you outside.

You are shocked silent, and wander back home in a daze and sit on your bed. Why was Lady Alecta so mean? You stare at the walls for a while until you have your emotions under control. What have you done? Have you gotten your father in trouble?


After your day in the marketplace, you tell your sister and mother that you want to help with them with the tavern tonight! You’re only little, but you can run about and take people things they’ve ordered and such.

“Thanks Jeffrey! Mother, with Jeffrey about, can i pleaaaaaaaasepleaseplease go out?” Imogen pleads.
“Okay okay, but don't you go getting in no trouble! AND I want you home for cleaning up none too late. Now go and have fun dear. Jeffrey, this here is the tea-cauldron, here is the stew. Don’t you be mixin’ them up you daft boy and make sure you get the coin before you give them…”

The evening at the Splintered Oar is full of laughter, the farmers come in and sit in large groups, relaxing after a hard day before they need to trudge back to their farms. Last night’s troublesome rockbreakers come back in too, just like Da said, and your mother corners them before you can help out and makes sure they pay double beforehand, which they do.

You can’t help but wonder, in between mopping up spilled tea what Kel is up to, but your family is more important. And you have the best tavern in the city after all!





The days stretch ahead and you dutifully keep helping out in the tavern, until Eight-Toil ends, and Duty and Storm approaches. When the first of Duty arrives, your mother and father hunker down at the long counter for hours. Your mother rests her hand on your fathers' as they as they talk earnestly and in a hushed tone. You don’t really understand what’s going on, but it ends with a smile, a kiss and embrace, before your father leaves.

You ask your mother where he’s off to, and she says to “talk about taxes. Don’t worry little man, everything will be fine.”

And everything was fine. A couple of weeks later your father leaves once again, but this time with a large sack, and he returns without it.

And then Storm begins. Your mother, father and sister all sit along the lonely tavern benches.
Your mother tustles your unruly hair and asks "Well, what do you want to do with yourself Jeffrey?"
You've been helping out a lot in the tavern and your mother has obviously appreciated your enthusiasm for the family trade.

What DO you want to do with your life?


I think this update is long enough. The thread is now open for questions. You’re stuck in the tavern for the next month. You may ask questions of your mother Myrtle, father Gertrand, or sister Imogen, or friend Kel.

Questions must be reasonable enough for an 11 year old to ask, and the answers will be the same.
After Storm, we will have a vote to shape the direction of our adolescence, or we need to stop and update for some other event/reason. So ask whatever questions you have and once they slow down, i'll close down and open up a fresh vote. You may vote for 1. at any time, i won't close that vote until we finish Storm.

busb fucked around with this message at 04:31 on Nov 6, 2019

Crazycryodude
Aug 15, 2015

Lets get our X tons of Duranium back!

....Is that still a valid thing to jingoistically blow out of proportion?


C, a solid nutritional choice for a growing young lad and also we can start befriending the poors for purely altruistic reasons that will not in any way lead to eventually forming a mob of the downtrodden to chop the heads off of all the fascist templars and tax collectors giving Dad a hard time.

Crazycryodude fucked around with this message at 03:33 on Mar 28, 2019

Crazycryodude
Aug 15, 2015

Lets get our X tons of Duranium back!

....Is that still a valid thing to jingoistically blow out of proportion?


How does the calendar work? Storm is obviously when The Storm comes, but what are Duty and Eighth-Toil? Months of some sort?

Dad what were you arguing with that lady at Town Hall about?
What was in that sack?
What kind of metal do we mine here?


And I guess an OOC worldbuilding question, does alcohol exist in this world? We run a tavern but we serve tea, not beer. Interesting twist.

Crazycryodude fucked around with this message at 03:41 on Mar 28, 2019

Podima
Nov 4, 2009

by Fluffdaddy
Absolutely E for the first choice, and ask our parents about how they came to own the inn as a starting point, and what they hope for their children (us and our sister) to become - are they hoping for us to take over the business, or do they want something more for us?

AnAnonymousIdiot
Sep 14, 2013

"I wanna sword!"

busb
Mar 19, 2009

Thorgie

Crazycryodude posted:

How does the calendar work? Storm is obviously when The Storm comes, but what are Duty and Eighth-Toil? Months of some sort?
Your sister pipes up "Don't you know anything little brother" and laughs. She then starts speaking with a strange forced intonation
"When the Deliverance came, it freed us
And the magi died with curses and storms
So we must Toil on field, anvil and forest
We must provide proper Duty to the Liberator
And we will weather the Storm".

You poke your tongue out at Imogen, of course you'd heard that before!
Father chuckes and says "What it means Jeffrey is we work for eight whole months, pay taxes in the ninth, and we try not to let our roof be blown away at the end every year."

Crazycryodude posted:

Dad what were you arguing with that lady at Town Hall about?
"Oh we weren't arguing, she promised us she would change something that would be good for our tavern and we were just discussing why," your father says.

Crazycryodude posted:

What was in that sack?
"That was our Duty for the year, right down to the lead knuckle and copper nail"

Crazycryodude posted:

What kind of metal do we mine here?
"Whatever we can find, and none at all," your mother muses.
Your sister says: "I heard from Jimena the other night that the mine is only finding mostly copper these days. But 10 years ago we were finding lead and iron by the cartload, and even some gold and rubies here and there!"
"It's not the metal the miners find, its the ore," Father corrects her. "We can't work it properly here so we dig up large rocks, the rockbreakers smash it up into littler rocks, and our traders send it south to be turned into metal. One rockbreaker did find a small opal last Toil, but not many do nowadays. Hard, dirty and not very rewarding work. Still, it has to be done by someone. We can't just send useless rock in a cart."

Crazycryodude posted:

does alcohol exist in this world?
You have never heard this word before and don't know what this means. Sorry, you can't ask this question!

Podima posted:

Ask our parents about how they came to own the inn as a starting point, and what they hope for their children (us and our sister) to become - are they hoping for us to take over the business, or do they want something more for us?
Your mother answers the first part, "Everyone must Toil, little man. This tavern was your grandfathers'. When he passed, he left it to me. Mister Saucemaster over here" she nudges your father, "knew a bit about how to cook a haunch, and somehow we worked it all out."

Your father looks at you and claps an arm around yours and Imogen's shoulders "You kids are learning really important stuff about how to work a tavern, and we'll teach you whatever you want to know. Of course we'd love you both to keep the Splintered Oar going, but if your calling lies elsewhere, we'll work something out. We can afford an apprenticeship or two..."
Your mother looks a little worried, but soon smiles at you both again.

busb fucked around with this message at 04:15 on Mar 28, 2019

Outrail
Jan 4, 2009

www.sapphicrobotica.com
:roboluv: :love: :roboluv:

Crazycryodude posted:

C, a solid nutritional choice for a growing young lad and also we can start befriending the poors for purely altruistic reasons that will not in any way lead to eventually forming a mob of the downtrodden to chop the heads off of all the fascist templars and tax collectors giving Dad a hard time.

All of this. gently caress the man and I'm not at all bitter about things.

Brawnfire
Jul 13, 2004

🎧Listen to Cylindricule!🎵
https://linktr.ee/Cylindricule

D, being with Da is its own reward.

busb
Mar 19, 2009

Thorgie
Any further questions?
I'll give it an hour or so for more questions and votes on what we spend our hard earned nail on before we update.

sniper4625
Sep 26, 2009

Loyal to the hEnd
I'll vote E - lets do our part!

Question - are there other taverns? Are we friends with them? (If we're going to take over the family concern can't hurt to scope out the competition.)

busb
Mar 19, 2009

Thorgie

sniper4625 posted:

Question - are there other taverns? Are we friends with them? (If we're going to take over the family concern can't hurt to scope out the competition.)

Your mother says "Yes dear there's several, such as the Runny Elbow down closer to the Rockyard and the Pickled Dandy up closer to the markets. You don't need to be worried about them, they don't do anything we can't. All the same, don't go wandering inside them, no place for my little lad."
Your father coughs gently into his hand during this and takes a delicate sip of tea.

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busb
Mar 19, 2009

Thorgie
30th of Storm, 256d


After being cooped up together all month, your family sits down for a final meal.
"Alright everyone!" your father booms. "I have an important announcement to make".
"Imogen will have passed her fourteenth Storm as of tomorrow." He looks over at your sister, "This means you have until FullToil to figure out yer future. Now we ain't made of iron here, but you tell me and yer mam what you want and we'll figure it out. Then you will go yerself to the Town Hall with the other young'uns and announce yer Duty to the Liberator."
"Da, how will i decide?," she fidgets with her hair, "Can I just stay here?"
"Of course you can stay here if you decide to Gennie!" your mother says, "But workin' in the old Splintered Oar forever isn't for everyone, and we have a feelin' you'll be wanting something else. Maybe you want to learn 'erbcraft, or smithying down south, or we might even stretch to you learnin' to read at the Academy. Yer father and I have thought once or twice about learnin' but we could never afford the time. Or perhaps we're just too old."

Your father kisses your mother's cheek, "Unlike some other families," he says "We'll cover yer Duty payments until yer 18th Storm has passed. So don't you be worryin' about coin until you're done."
Your mother says "Don't be worryin' all at once now either. You've got until FullToil, so go out, talk to your father and I, and your friends and that and let us know what you've decided."

"Jeffrey, don't you be daydreamin' about your grand future now either, you've still got growin' to do. And please help your sister out this year."
Your sister, gone in a year! What will she do?

2. How do you offer to help your sister throughout Toil?
A. You offer to cover her in the Tavern even more. This will mean you have less time to explore town and learn things
B. You offer to talk to people for her! Your sister seems nervous and maybe you can help by asking herbalists or travelling merchants about fantastic things to learn and do out there in the world!
C. You offer to help her, but really you just want to go out and play with Kel. You will make up some stories to keep up your end of the offer
D. You don't do anything. You've already helped clean and serve in the Tavern loads, why should you do any more? By the time your Fourteenth Storm comes she'll have already left and will never be able to return the favour anyway
E. You try and convince her to stay in the Tavern. There's nothing she can learn elsewhere that will help the family, Ma and Da already know more about Taverns than anyone else!


More importantly, even at your young age you realise this will definitely be something you need to think about. What do you want to do?
3. How do you spend this Toil? (You may select 3 options, which will be prioritised from most time > least time spent. so 3. X > J > S if you want X to be most time)
A. You keep on helping out your mother and father at the Tavern. You think being the town's most famous cook or tea-brewer would be the best!
B. You play in the streets with the gang. You don't get into much trouble usually, just playing Liberators and Bandits.
C. You explore the markets where there's always someone new. You try and find interesting people like merchants or travellers.
D. You sneak out of town into the hills north of town. You don't go far, but you love dust-free air and it's much quieter
E. You sneak out of town by yourself, and check out the mines and Rockyard. Imagine finding a new vein of ore or even a nugget of gold or a gem! Your family would be rich and not have to worry about Duty ever again!
F. You spend time watching the Town Hall, you're fascinated by the officials and recording of comings and goings. Administrative life sounds really important and you could work in a really neat building.
G. You spend time watching the Guard-Fair. Its where guards practice and wait to get hired to protect wagons headed south.
H. You always have fun playing with Kel, you ask him to join you on your adventures this month.
I. Something or somewhere else?

Voting for 1. also continues... currently votes are tied C and E someone please break this hideous tie!

busb fucked around with this message at 06:33 on Jun 18, 2019

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