[Open RP] A lot of Fuss for Fyran

[Illysia]

[OOC]
Alright, this is a test run for forum RP to both see how people take to it and to show people how it can be done here. If you have questions, just post them in brackets. I'll apologize in advance as it's been some time since I've played, some of my settings knowledge may be out dated. Please bear with me. This one is a little long because I need to put in explanations and get in my writing practice in for the day. In the future, less exposition and story is fine, especially if the people involved already know the settings behind the scenario.

This RP will be set in hydlaa and will be out in the open. Keep this in mind as you RP a character's reactions to the scenario and as you interact with other characters.
[/OOC]



The dark, bare rock of the Dome's namesake ceiling loomed during the Yliakum night as the denizens of Hydlaa went about their business. Through the back alleys and darkened walkways, two Enkidukai laden with heavy looking sacks sneaked towards the agreed upon drop off point in one of the neighborhoods below the tavern.

With each turn of the road the obviously non Hydlaan pair stopped to sniff, listen and look for any approaching guards. Finally, having made it to the exchange point the pair waited for their contact until they were surprised by a guard in the shadows. Having already caught their accomplice, the guard pursued them hoping to add two more criminals to his growing collection.

In the scuffle, one of the enkidukai dropped their sack and left it behind. The sack contained several bottles of illegal Fyran liquor.



[OOC]Here's where the description of the setting leaves off and where the RP can begin. Presumably, the most obvious RP point is to start at stumbling across the abandoned sack of liquor.

However, characters could have been watching the scene from the window and one could write their character's reactions to watching the scene and ensuing RPs unfold. A character could be from a local gang that doesn't appreciate the regular intrusions from the gang that sells the Fyran Liquor and can try to take the liquor so they can sell it. Someone could be a random drunk who praises the providence of Talad for granting a whole load of liquor when they couldn't afford more and so on...

The main thing is to try to avoid having your character act in a way that cuts of the ability of other character's to act or jump in. Remember to treat this just like you would an in game RP. Also, be warned that if you only check the forum once a day, the RP could progress without you. Everyone should be mindful of giving others a chance to interact, but you don't have to stop RPing jut because someone went AWOL for a while.

Now start RPing.
[/OOC]

[Thoss]

Tiler, a young Ylian boy about 12 years, darts from house to house attempting to hop from shadow to shadow, kneeling down at the corner of the building.  He peaks around the corner, turns and then attempts to look down the adjacent alleyway.

Apparently satisfied with what he sees, he then looks back the way he has come motioning for his companion, still hiding in the last pool of shadows, to come this way. He tries to mouth quietly yet with an intensity that can be seen across the way... "Come on, hurry up!!!".

[ooc]
In my mind, this is in the moment leading up to the events outlined in the setting post, Tiler/Campanion haven't noticed anything yet... they were already sneaking towards some purpose.
[/ooc]

[Illysia]

[Alright. I'll give it some time to see if anyone else wishes to join in before I post again.]

[Illysia]

[Alright... since no one else jumped in I'll wind the story back and we can run this from before the sack was dropped.]

Before the young Hydlaans had made their way through the alleys...

From one of the sleepy alleys beneath the Tavern came the hiss of a hushed heated argument.

"Arg... Would they get there already? I thought Enkidukai were supposed to be fast. My grandmother could have hobbled out here faster," came the impatient complaint from an unseen individual.

The calm reply in the dark spoke of a more even temper and perhaps being accustomed to the first speaker's complaining. "Your grandmother isn't hobbling anywhere. She's been dead for 2 years... You however will live for five more minutes..."

Silence hung in the air for several moments before the impatient voice got his thoughts together enough to speak once more. "Yeah... well.... she could have hobbled here from the death realm faster."

The statement was met with an exasperated groan before the impatient voice continued.

"You know, you can be calm about all of this. You don't have to stay here and wait for them. I mean, what if this is all a set up? What if they rat us out to the guard and take the goods elsewhere? What if-"

The stream of questions where abruptly stopped with a harsh, "Enough!" A pause between the two left the air to the sounds of insects before the calmer voice continued her reprimand. "I don't like it any more than you do but you can't do my job. Just take the goods, pay them, bring the goods back. It's so simple even you can do it."

A petulant complaint from the impatient voice was cut off before it could finish one word. "Just get. it. done... We've got enough problems as it is. If you want to get paid don't screw this up. There's no one to babysit you this time... I've got to go."

The night returned to unbroken silence as two suddenly reduced to one.

[Thoss]

[Question time ... I want to make sure I have the time  sync striaght in my mind... my post was a couple of characters leading up to discovering the abandoned sack in some manner... your post was a couple of characters leading up to the guard encounter describing in the setting post correct?

That is cool if so, that gives me a at least another post to develop my folks a little bit more before things merge... also I see you are voicing two characters, I was wondering about that... that gives me some options.

Also,... to the Readers!!!... I intentionally left Tiler's companion vague... as an opportunity for someone to jump into that role... who is that companion? ...  I'll give some time to see if someone will pick up the companion where my last post left off... if nobody posts... i'll use my own ideas. Later! ]

[Illysia]

[Ah, I thought Tiler was going to be watching the scene in the first post as it happened, but this will work too. You can develop Tiler some more and I can develop the story some more while we wait to see if others to join in.

For the rest of you reading (I can see the the views on the thread. I know you are there ) If you are considering joining in but haven't worked on a post yet, leave an OOC note so we know to expect more.

As for controlling more than one character, yes you can do that. In forum RP, you are mainly limited by imagination and the amount of effort you want to put in. Multiple characters mean the possibility for multiple stories spinning off from the main one so you have to manage them carefully.

While there were two people in my above post notice that I removed one of them by the end of the post. She did her job and now she's not likely to return to the story until the end, if she ever returns. She was there for the purpose of fleshing out the story and developing the other character.

Other things you can do in a forum RP are bringing in side stories, weaving in backstories, exploring the boundaries of the given scenario, exploring the further social or community implication of actions in the RP, and so on.]

[Thoss]

The young Ylian female, of about Tiler’s age, quickly moves across the gap in the shadows, crouching down next to and a little bit behind Tiler.

Whispering, she says, “Tiler we shouldn’t be doing this… if we get caught… if my parents find out I snuck out this late at night I… I don’t even want to think what they will do to me…”

Without turning his gaze Tiler says, “It’s going to be fine Llyeth, you just have to trust me.”

Still kneeling down, he turns slightly and places a hand on her knee.

“Hey, look at me… It will be fine, tonight is special for us, it’s our month anniversary!” And with excitement moving back into his eyes he says, “Now quick! Follow me, we’re almost to the path to that place I was telling you about… just watch for guards, and move fast!”

Taking another quick peek he then darts off to the next group of shadows pushed out by the buildings across the street.

[Zweitholou]

Kwynnuhaav perches on the extending end of an exposed ridge beam, concealed by the shadow of the bridge house behind him. His wings shudder as a breeze dances across the rooftops. From his vantage in this landscape of shingles and chimneys, he peers keenly down into the canyons of street.

He mutters to himself, "Not quite like home in the city of towers and wings, but I don't have any contacts yet in this city. I'll have to take what I can get if I want food tomorrow."

A sudden noise of surprise and struggle cuts into the dark silence, and Kwynnuhaav whips his head around to find the source. Seeing nothing, he creeps along the gable end to jump softly to the neighboring building. Nestled in the grey stone of the street below a smudge of texture interrupts the scene. A faint expression of surprise and interest cross his face, then resolve sets in.

Kywnnuhaav mumbles even quieter now, "If I can't eat it, I can certainly sell it." He begins a slow and stealthy descent back to the streets everyone else frequents, readying to snatch the sack.

[Illysia]

Earlier, before the drop had been botched, a young Ylian boy barely in his late teens paced impatiently back and forth.

"Stupid Jehana... stupid Black Enkidukai... stupid Fyran... stupid night!" His voice raised above a whisper as he threw his fist impotently at the night.

However, he caught himself once his brain had caught up. He could not afford to botch any more assignments, and he could not afford to get caught. Within his own gang there had been a series of "cutbacks" which had unsurprisingly resulted in knives in the backs of under performing members and those of dubious allegiances. Past failures indicated that he was perilously close to the chopping block. He had already had his badly needed pay cut.

Whether he resented the Black Enkidukai gang or not, he would have to stifle his outbursts. Fitfully he paced in the dark waiting for his delivery.

_________________

The night had been still... too still for Jomson... Hydlaa had quieted considerbly from the horror stories the old guard still told to scare the new recruits, but it was by no means quiet. More importantly, quiet by no means filled his criminal quota.

Whether or not he found them, he knew there were criminals out-- His attention was jarred by a sudden outburst in the night. Inwardly he groaned as he felt the burden of having to decide what to do. Most likely it was nothing, even though it was odd for anyone to be up this late. However, if he continued on his patrol and missed something, he'd never hear the end of it.

Reluctantly, he trudged off in the direction of the voice to go investigate.

[Hopefully some more factors/people show up to contest the now unclaimed sack in the present. Ought to make for a good encounter.]

[Thoss]

[Illysia, do you have another post before we are back to present?]

[Illysia]

[Yeah, but you can head back to present now if you are ready. Think of my posts as story revealing flashbacks. As of right now, I don't have any characters to play in the present. I'm pretty much just GMing at this point.]

[Jessamine]

[I'm a bit confused about this story/RP is this supposed to be taken IC in game as well? I've run into people RPing about this game but to me that's a bit confusing seeing as the people you have written about here are not actual in game characters and unless someone has a forum account they won't be able to interact or respond to the RP, and I know of several people who prefer to remain immersed in game. For me I've not joined in but have been reading and keeping up, I kinda enjoy the more immediate reactions and in smaller parts so you can react to each thing happening, and I'm getting lost with order in which things are happening, and I'm not sure I'd be any good a the long narrative story telling.]

[Illysia]

[Thank you for bothering to at least post your concerns and trouble with the RP. It is supposed to be taken IC. Normally forum RPs are a bit more structured and clear, but it is a bit jumbled due in part to an earlier misunderstanding and people being reluctant to join. I've never had to pull teeth like this before to get people to join a story at the same time.

Here's an example of an open RP thread that went more linearly and faster. Dancing at the Bottom of a Bottle It petered out eventually instead of having a sharp ending since it was allowed to flow organically without a predetermined end. When finished, it was a story in the collective background of the involved characters. However, yes, all of them and the setting had in game equivalent.

Think of this this as if it were an RP that happened in a different timezone. RPs going on in a different timezone would be inaccessible but you could hear about them. You could also interact with people who overlap timezones and have access to RPs you don't have access to. You may even see RPs posted on forum, so that you see events as if watching when they happened, even though you yourself are not directly involved.

No, none of these characters currently exist in game but that is the matter of a few button pushes. Whether or not someone creates a 3D model of the character is not what defines any character as a character. Remember also that you will never personally meet most of the in game characters that have a story that can affect RP. Also, you will not participate in every single RP that happens in game. I have never meet or directly RPed with Kada-El, but that does not make her character or the tavern that resulted from popular forum RPs any less real. It was real before they made a model of it.

I will go back and better mark my second IC post as earlier in time since I understand better what Thoss meant to do. For the skimmers: The only thing that has happened in the present is Tiler, Llyeth, and Kwynnuhaav are moving towards the sack.

This has been moving slowly trying to allow for people either jump in or ask questions about what is preventing them from jumping in. This was a training exercise. However, it if it is not even serving that purpose then I might as well stop trying to stall for time.

If you are ready @Zwei and @Thoss, I'll finish up the early story details sometime after the RP is done and we'll just move to full present for the next posts.]

[Thoss]

[Hi Jessamine! I catch your drift about forum RP and in-game RP... I prefer IG RP as well, but that wasn't happening much for me so I like the forum RPs too to keep things interesting. This helps me learn a good bit too as I am rusty in the RP area!

The confusion is probably my fault as I backtracked a bit, which is fine, but I probably should have carried my original post a little further along to the "present"... but I am learning.

And... I tend to like longer RPs in-game but have know idea how to pull that off... in my mind the only way is to coordinate with the forums and then do the actions in-game.. which is a project on my todo list assuming this and the stirrings Illysia is posting shake enough activity out of the forum folks.

Anyhow, yeah I agree Illysia, we can probably start stepping through... as soon as I get the morning duties taken care of I'll throw up a post. ]

[Jessamine]

[Okay great! Thanks for taking the time to respond, I am enjoying following up on it. I just wanted to double check about it being talked about in game--which is good actually if people are rping it in game it means it's working I know lots who don't use the forums which is also possibly why not many are jumping in on here, for me I'm not always so good at the story-writing/telling being super descriptive, it's one of the things I work on with my RP but this looks hard and complex for me haha I really feel like I'd mess it up or do something considered godmodding so for now I'll observe. but do continue!]