Tales From The Undercity (Nothing Up My Sleeve)

[Crumplepunch]

EDIT: This adventure has fanart. Other signs of the impending apocalypse may include stars going out, a serpent consuming itself, and a sequel to the Dungeons and Dragons movie with that dude with the blue lipstick as the only recurring character.

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By ShadowPhoenix.

Welcome to Tales From The Undercity! This is not a continuation of The Undercity, but rather a continuity reboot. No prior information will be expected of you.

First, we will create our protagonist. The result will be posted about this time tomorrow night. Ties will be randomized.


Tales From The Undercity: Character Creation

1: Are you male or female?

[] Male

[] Female



2: How do you prefer to solve your problems?

[] Brute force

[] Diplomacy

[] Deception



3: Where are you from?

[] The Electorate of Carlov
You are the second child of a Carlovegnian noble. Carlov is a remote and backward province of Altaigne with an independent, complex feudal government.

[] Ada-Alta
You were raised in a chapter of Iskari Keepers. The Keepers are a religious order of magicians who venerate the rebel goddess Ish.

[] The NCF
You are a member of a mercenary corsair company plying the Siping bay around the Northern Confederated Freeports, the City's wealthy neighbours.

[] The Long Republic
You are a minor functionary to the Nine League Tail, the parliament of Long. Long is an ancient nation that once ruled most of the continent in a great imperium.

[] Nirhab
You are a junior member of the secretive Order of Sabet, an outlawed group of magicians. Nirhab is an independent confederated monarchy.

[Halfblood2000]

Female. Diplomacy. The Electorate of Carlov.

[portman320]

[x] Female
[x] Diplomacy
[x] The NCF

[Roselalonde]

• Female
• Diplomacy
• The NCF

Wow, I did the same thing as the person above me!

[Vancho1]

Female.

Diplomacy.

The Long Republic.

[siguard]

Male
Brute Force
Ada-Alta

and I'm not talking magical brute-force like fireballs and junk, your the only one in the neighborhood who can throw a punch. since your frankly terrible at magic you turned towards the more personal arts of combat. more skilled then you look your a head higher then the rest of your class.

[SkyKat]

female
brute force
nirhab

[Crumplepunch]

Final results are Female/Diplomacy/NCF.

Now she just needs a name, and we can get started!

[kd7sov]

> Falara Niach

[Dar'Joras]

>Kyla Garow

[Askia]

Simone

[Andorxor]

>The shadow,at least she tried to establish that as her nickname,but the others in the NCF call her Elisa,who wants to be named "The Shadow" or just Elisa

[PavlovianCat]

> Ariana

[Xindaris]

Bianca Regularis

[Vancho1]

Alexis Valamond

[Halfblood2000]

Ariadna Faltea

[Bohandas]

Giselle Thompson

[The One Guy]

>Alaina Riggs

[CSJ]

Badriyya Redblade

[Crumplepunch]

Thank you for all the suggestions, I have picked the two names from Halfblood2000 and Dar'Joras' posts. Even then, although I think Ariadna suits her, I also think she might disagree, so she will mostly just be referred to by herself and others as Garow.



Ariadna Garow was awoken by a green light blinking into life beside her. Her initial confusion as to why there was a green light beside her and slow ambivalence at having her deliciously illicit nap interrupted were gradually replaced with dawning comprehension as the good-natured but amazingly stupid part of the brain which controls near-wakefulness was beaten hysterically into submission by the part which controls blind panic.

Near-wakefulness soon gave way, and Garow was on her way to the deck, an hour late but moving fast.

"Aha." said a voice, as she opened the door from the stairwell. The voice, a rich tenor, well oiled by Mr Perriwinkle's fine amber beverage, said this with a tone of immense and practiced pleasure. "Miss Garow, how good of you to join us." intoned its owner, doffing his preposterous hat. "Was your beauty sleep successful? I have trouble judging these things."

"Sorry" she said, between short breaths "sir."

"Sir? Do I look like an enlisted man?" He did not. "I have told you, it is 'Mister De Groot', or 'Captain' if you insist on formalities."

She nodded and looked around to take stock of the situation. A dozen other corsairs were busying themselves with the rigging, controlling the complex sail system to stabilize the Kartajan's ascent.

"I don't see the doctor. Why are we moving?"

"Moving? Well, the upper air agrees with me better. Perhaps a case of the vapours. I was bored. It turned out that my bloom supply was spiked with opium. Or it could be... that."

He pointed off the port side with his silver topped cane.

What was floating in the air, a little under a kilometer away, was something that even somebody who lived on a magical airship would be forced to describe as strange. It was a vast, shimmering sphere of water, growing steadily larger as tendrils of liquid broke free of gravity's grasp and rose languorously up to meet it. Each time a stream of water was absorbed into the sphere, the soft glow which surrounded it grew fractionally more intense. Garow, for one, had never seen anything like it, and she momentarily struggled for an appropriate response.

"What the blue fuck is that?"

"I don't know, but I'm betting it has something to do with our lucrative commission. Go and wake up the doctor, would you?"

[Dar'Joras]

> do as he says but take a short stop at the galley to get some food

[Andorxor]

>And grab a big pot to put the professor in,before you wake him,its always funny when this academic types think that they will be eaten by cannibals.

[kd7sov]

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Dag nabbit, now she's "Spiderwolf" to me.

Also, that paragraph after the first line is epic. I highly approve.

> Do you have a bow or sling or such? If so, try shooting it to see what happens if something other than water, or something at higher velocity, enters.

[Xindaris]

>Follow orders! Your life may depend on it.

[Crumplepunch]

Dag nabbit, now she's "Spiderwolf" to me.

Also, that paragraph after the first line is epic. I highly approve.

Thanks, but you're going to have to explain the Spiderwolf thing to me.




Garow hastily made her way back belowdecks. The guest cabin was situated at the aft of the ship, just behind the secondary turbine. On the way through the bowels of the Kartajan she grabbed a jar of pickled herring, a half loaf of sourdough bread and a large cooking pot to hide them in from the galley.

She knocked on the cabin door. There was no response. Having skipped breakfast, she took the opportunity to make herself a sandwich, which she quickly wolfed down half of and dropped the rest in the pot as she heard movement from within the cabin.

The door opened, revealing Doctor Fenton, currently wearing an Academy-issue dressing gown.

"Good morning, Garow." said Fenton, sleepily.

"Doctor" said Garow, eyeing the ceiling.

"What brings y-" he stopped, spotting the cooking pot. "Okay. Who have you been talking to?"

"Uh... dunno what you're talking about."

"This is the cannibal thing. Everyone seems to do it. There's some kind of conspiracy. Every time I go on a trip somebody pretends to be a cannibal. It wasn't even funny the first time."

Garow still had no idea what to make of this, but luckily, at that point, the doctor noticed that he was standing ten degrees steeper than he had been before he went to bed.

"Wait a minute... are we moving?"

"Yep. Went underway a few minutes ago. There's some kind of strangeness off to port, the captain figured you might want to take a look at it. May be this thing you've had us all waiting over.

"I wasn't expecting anything dramatic..."

"Well, I'm no expert, but I'd say this is pretty dramatic. Giant glowy floating ball of water, little under a mile out. A hundred yards across, I'd say, and growing. Come up topside, take a look."

"Well, maybe give me a minute to get dressed, first."

"Right you are." she said, turning her back to the cabin. "Windy out there."

"What was that?"

"Nothin."

"So," he said, from behind the ajar door, "just as a precaution, do you have anything that might impact the sphere from a distance?"

"How do you mean?"

"Arrows, perhaps. Or maybe a rifle?"

"Well, it'll be out of range of the deck carronades for a while, but we have a pair of long sixes we could draw up. That do the trick?"

"A long six is a rifle?"

"A cannon."

"Ah, yes," he said, "that would do it."