The World of Skara Brae

Welcome to "The World Of Skara Brae"

Skara Brae is actually not the name of the fictional planet this world is set on, but rather the name of the nation-state that serves as the primary setting for the game. The name of the planet varies from language to language and culture to culture, but in Skara Brae it's called "Septera."

Humans make up the bulk of the population of Skara Brae, but a small population of Elves, Half-elves, Dwarves, and Gnomes also live here.

Most of the Elves that live here now came here either as merchants or mercenaries, or as refuges in one of the wars of the last half-century, before the fall of the great Elven empire (known as Suldeneselar). Elves are generaly humanioid, but with thiner, more elongated bodies, pointed ears, sharper features, and a slightly higher level of overall cognitive potential. They are usually dark haired and very fair-skined, but various random genetic expression within the Elven race can lead to random skin and hair coloration developing at birth, puberty or adolescence. These random color variations can range from the mundane to the extreme. Even metallic gold and sliver colored skin has been known to occur. However, Elven skin variation never expresses itself in dark colors. Bright blue is about as dark as it gets for the surface-dwelling elves.

However, there does exist a sub-race of dark-skinned Elves known as the "Drow", or "Dark Elves." These Drow branched off from the main genetic line of Elf-kind millions of years ago, and have been banished to live deep underground because of their evil ways. About sixty years ago, the Drow managed to escape their underground banishment and invade the surface world, which triggered a war between the Drow and their Orcish, Ogrish and Demonic allies on one side, versus an alliance of Suldeneselarian Elves, Humans from Skarae Brae, a contingent of the mysterious Zuquian people from the Far East, the Uthgart barbarian tribes and the great Lizardmen nations from the jungles of the south.

During the run-up to the war, a small group of adventurers discovered that an evil goddess, known as Lloth, Lillith, of simply as "The Spider Queen", was responsible for the Drow being released from their banishment to their underground dwellings. One of these adventurers, a Half-elf called Eruntian, was in possession of a magic ring. At first, all he knew that the ring could do was make ice, but he and his friends accidentally discovered that the ring had a dormant array of vastly powerful abilities, and that it was capable of defeating the Spider-Queen. After a long serise of adventures, the Spider-Queen was killed and descended into the Lower Planes. The Drow were defeated, but only after a long a bloody war.

This war (known to history simply as The Drow War) had serious repercussions for the whole world: In it's wake, the The Empire of Suldeneselar collapsed, the Regemen were all but exterminated, Skarae Brae suffered a long series of succession wars, and the previously isolated Lizzardmam nation became less barbaric and more "civilized" due to closer ties to the human and elven nations, but not without an intervening period of civil war and internal strife.

Also, the already reclusive and secretive Gnomish race decided that further contact with this part of the world was simply too dangerous. As a result contact with the Gnomes became more and more infrequent, to the point that now only a handful of Gnomes are known to exist in all of Skarae Brae. There hasn't been a visit from a Gnomish Airship in years.

edited 26th Sep '10 5:15:15 PM by TheSarge

As for Eruantian as his band of adventurers, after the war their party mostly broke up, although some would occasionaly work together in the years after. Now, sixty years after the war, only the arch-mage Micheal of Targos, Prince Drek (former heir to the now-defunct throne of Suldeneselar) and Eruantian himself remain active. The rest of their adventuring party have all either retired, died, or now explore solo pursuits.

Recently, Eruantian, Micheal and Drek discovered that the Spider-Queen had usurped the demon-throne in one of the lower reaches of Hell in a move aimed at returning her to this plane of existence. In order to prevent this, Eruantian became locked in a perpetual struggle with her, and the two effectively left this dimension entirely.

At around the same time, a distant relative of Drek named Orandious became the new apprentice of the archmage William of Targos, and Prince Drek discovered that he had a son. After Eruantian's heroic sacrifice, his worldly holdings effectively became Drek's property, including Eruantian's tavern in the small sea-side city of Glenarbour. Drek then took up residence there, raising his son there and running the tavern. It is this tavern, called the Gold Lion Inn, that you find yourself standing outside. What do you do?

edited 27th Mar '11 12:20:33 PM by TheSarge

Wesley walked into the inn, today's drills with the Sersian military were satisfactory and showed the Sersian military might. He grinned deeply, and decided to get a strong drink to calm down from the day's activities.

Sam stood outside the tavern, her stomach growling as loudly as a Lion like the one painted in the Tavern nameplate would.

There was almost nothing good to hunt in the streets, the dogs where where even slimmer than her and the rats fiercer than wolves.

So she could not resist entering tavern lured by the smell of some really good cooking that made her drool slightly in anticipation. She went right to the counter following the smells.

edited 13th Oct '09 5:50:35 PM by daltar

Behind Sam, a mysterious figure moved, wrapped in a cloak of midnight black, he followed her into the inn, eyes glinting. He smiled, like a lion smiles at an antelope, as a hand reached out from under his cloak.

"Hey there, friendess," he said, setting a hand on her shoulder. "You sound hungry, and I could use some company. How about I buy you a meal? I've come into some money recently... And some food along with it, but a man can only go through so many rat recipes before they all start to taste the same."

Little Sam turned around and nearly fell out of her chair out of surprise. She'd never seen a blue person in her entire life. She decided that people in the city are even stranger than she thought.

But still the weird stranger offered her food and at this point she would have done almost anything for something tasty to eat. She nodded her aproval at the offer and then found herself still nothing when rats came up in the conversation. The damn things never tasted any better no matter how hungry you are.

After drinking some ale, Wesley and a few friends walked outside, making merry and relating tales of their triumphs. Wesley saw Sam and called out, "Hey there, pretty girl!"

Sam lowered her head trying to ignore it, she had soon learned that drunk people where often dangerous. If not she could always claim she was a boy like her dad had told her many years ago. She tried to sit in a more manly manner althought it was hard to concentrate on something with the smell of cooking meat going right up her nostrils.

Wesley sighed, maybe it was his friends, maybe it was how he had walked out of a tavern, but he was learned enough to know girls did not like the town drunk. And he was sober enough to speak clearly, "Get going men, I will see you back at the castle." There were cries of how a son of House Caractan knew how to throw a party as the men walked away. He gazed at the girl for a while before yelling to her, "I am sorry if I made you think anything bad about me...maybe I'll get to see you again!"

edited 13th Oct '09 7:02:21 PM by x0JohnDoe0x

Sam cocked her head slightly to one side in wonder, maybe the man wasn't so drunk after all, his face wasn't red and he was apologising. Drunk people never did that.

So while she waited for her meal to come she decided to wave the stranger good bye.

He looked around and smiled, noticing that she was not ignoring him anymore. He rubbed the rough stubble around his jaw and then yelled out to her, "My name's Wesley Caractan! Maybe we'll get to meet again!"

Just then, a red-skinned Elven man dressed in black wizard robes and walking with a long metal staff with a red glowing crystal on top came around a corner and moved towards the door of the tavern. Behind him was a rough looking party; A Lizzardman wearing a chain shirt and a set of leather pants but with no other equipment. A Dwarf in full plate armor with a long beard and carrying an axe. A masked woman in her twenties wearing acrobat-style black cloth leggings and a tight-fitting black chain-mail shirt, armed with a pair of steel short swords. Finally, there was also what appeared to be a small demon, approximately six inches tall, composed apparently of living flame, and with black smoke for wings and a set of white-hot flame for horns.

The wizard (if that's what he was) stopped when he saw Sam & company. He said to his companions. "So this is the accursed place. Very well, it shall burn. So commands my mistress, and so it shall be." With that, he pointed his staff at Sam & company and said: "You there, stand aside if you do not wish to burn along with this place! The Great Garm commands you!" The wizard had a very intense look on his face. Something about how he looked said that he wasn't taking no for an answer here.

When Wesley saw the men approach, he frowned deeply, they looked like some kind of evil servants. He rushed over, drawing his sword and making sure Gaia Belg was ready just in case he needed it.

Sam had very little time to react. She turned to see the mismatched party that entered trought the door and now menaced to burn this place where she was having her meal. Samantha would hear nothing of it, noone would take her away from her food. In the wild when animals had the look on their eyes these people had you knew it meant trouble.

Samantha exploded into action jumping onto the bar for higher ground, in the blink of an eye she took her trusty bow and let one arrow fly towards the loud tall red person.

edited 13th Oct '09 8:45:08 PM by daltar

Wesley entered as well, his sword drawn. He drew Gaia Belg from behind his back and said, "This is the spear that pierces even the heavens, Gaia Belg...stay away from that girl and her elf companion, or I'll kill you." He meant every word.

Zelph picked up a chair and scowled.

"Garm doesn't sound so great to me, pal. As a matter of fact, if he's interrupting my meal before I've even managed to flag down a server, Garm is officially going on my list. Now, you can either wait to burn this place down until me and this nice young lady" (at this he gestured to Sam) "are done our business, or you can annoy me more and risk a fatal case of slivers. What'll it be, chuckles?"

He blinked, as he noticed that while he was making his speech, Sam had already leapt into action.

"Spirited... I like her more already. Well then... HAVE AT YOU!" At this he charged, swinging the chair at the tiny demon. That wouldn't be much different from a rat, right?

edited 13th Oct '09 8:01:04 PM by Scrounge

In the mean time, Wesley threw the Gaia Belg at the dwarf, knowing it would kill the dwarf if he did not move.

Aaron Scrob was nearby, he was going to spend dinner at the Golden Inn like the Sam, Wesley and Zelph. He was not happy to see that a crazed elf and his party were trying to destroy the tavern and raised his palm towards the Lizzardman, a ball of energy shot out of his hand.

<OOC: That spell is Aaron's only offensive spell (I can't think of a good name for it), rather than dealing damage to the target, it is supposed to render them unconscious and knock them down to the ground. However, if the target is tough enough, become dizzy instead of being KO'd, still be standing or in worst-case scenarios, not affected by the spell at all!>

Aaron's spell hit the lizzardman, and he fell to the ground, unconscious.

Wesley's spear, Gaia Belg, arced through the air towards the dwarf. However, in a swift movement the lady dressed in black with the acrobat's leggings neatly tumbled in front of the Dwarf and caught the spear in her hands, saying: "Hah! Never send a spear to do a javelin's work."

Meanwhile, Sam's arrow had shot the red-skinned man in the chest. He cried out in pain, but did not waver. Instead he leveled his staff at Sam and from it issued forth stream of fire. However, the pain from the arrow had thrown his aim off, and he had aimed too low. The stream of flame missed Sam, but it scorched the bar stools and nearly set one on fire.

At the same time, Zelph had swung his chair at the demon, and although he managed to connect, the demon didn't seem phased. As a matter of fact, it grabbed onto the chair, which immediately caught fire! (Not surprising since it's a wooden chair.)

{GM's Note: At this time, our P Cs are the only people in the tavern except for the one bartender (who is currently cowering behind the bar) and a single waitress who is now fleeing out one of the side doors into the hotel lobby.}

edited 14th Oct '09 11:44:34 AM by TheSarge

Wesley rushed in with his sword at the enemies, while grabbing the spear out of the woman's hands. The man in red seemed to be like the leader, so Wesley decided to stab at him from behind. Wesley scanned over the rest of them to make sure none of them were a threat before saying, "Your Garm will command no more."

edited 14th Oct '09 1:43:38 PM by x0JohnDoe0x

Sam was bewildered when she saw the stream of flames coming at her from the red man's staff. It's fire struck the bar on which she stood the burning wood smell wafting trhought the aire and Samantha felt the heat on her legs so she vaulted to a nearby table for safety.

Once on it she scanned the battle for a moment and saw the kind blue man in trouble fighting a small flaming critter. Sam saw a water filled flagon conveniently placed on the table she landed into so she kicked it with all ehr strenght at the scorching demon.

Without pausing to see if it connected she took another arrow from her quiver and set it on her bow, drawing back the string with all her strenght and aiming once again on at the neck of that mean red man that had litted such fearsome fire at her feet.

"Command this" Samantha said in an icy tone as she let her arrow fly.

edited 14th Oct '09 1:44:39 PM by daltar

Zelph smiled... Then ran out the door, headed for the nearest well. His hands burned painfully, but he forced himself to hold on.

Just like a rat, the small demon had taken the bait. Now he had to see that the trap did its work.

With a jubilant shout, he chucked the chair into the well. Hopefully, the imp hadn't seen it coming.

Between Wesley's sword-based attack and Sam's arrow-based attack, the Redskinned wizard didn't stand a chance. He fell to the ground, a bloody mess. However, Wesley immediately found himself fighting the Dwarven warrior in plate-mail and the quick-moving woman in black chain mail.

Both were highly skilled fighters, and it was all Wesley could do to hold his own from their ferocious attacks. The woman in black had a pair of steel short swords, which she wielded one in each hand. The Dwarf in plate-mail had a large Dwarven-style battle-axe, which he was wielding two-handed. Between the power of the Dwarf's attacks and the speed of the woman's attacks, Wesley had to stay on the defensive. He would dodge or parry one blow only to be immediately confronted with the necessity of defending against another, and he couldn't find an opportunity to launch an attack of his own. Wesley was fast, but this woman was incredibly fast!

It quickly became obvious to everyone in the room that the woman wasn't just fast, she was unnaturally fast. Much faster than should be possible without the aid of magic. Perhaps she was some sort of magical adept, or perhaps she had a magical talisman of some kind.

Meanwhile, Zelph's ploy had worked. The flaming demon (or whatever it was) apparently wasn't very smart, for it clung to the flaming wooden chair even after it had been submerged in water. However, this did not kill it: It only extinguished it's flames. It climbed out of the well, dripping wet and screaming some unintelligible gibberish at Zeph before it jumped on him, pounding it's tiny fists on his chest and trying to tear open Zeph's skin with it's pathetic fingers. This would have been amusing if the creature wasn't so vile. It smelled like a combination of rotten eggs and oily smoke, and it's skin looked like charcoal. In fact, it's "attack" (if you can call it that) was leaving black, oily, marks all over Zeph. And he's just had that shirt cleaned!

edited 14th Oct '09 3:51:31 PM by TheSarge

Wesley was forced on to the defensive against both the woman and the dwarf, but soon found relief. He knocked over a table full of cups of ale on to the floor, hoping to slip the enemies up and distract them enough so he could fight back. He just hoped somebody would help him against these two...

With that arrow in his throat The Great Garm will find it difficult to command anymore. Not to mention the mighty sword swipe. Still she struck the redskinned man first and last so it was her kill.

And even so the little square man and the masked woman gave her their backs. That irritated her slightly altought it did serve her purpose. They might as well paint a bullseye on their backs, not that she needed it.

Drunk man that turned out not to be drunk after all and that joined the fight afterwards did a good job of distracting them she guessed. Still if she acted quick she might finish this faster and get back to her steamy hot meal. So she took carefull aim and shooted at the speedy woman, a more powerful shot aimed at her center.