Tanma

Maybe the Krampus will attack the Shadeaux because of Quest 4, and some heroes will be hired to protect the Shadeaux?

IC: De'kra shrugged and replied, "I not sure, but it true I no need cloaks while at Hall. I need Cloak of Blue Assassin no matter what, but I might lend you Cloak of Elven Spy. It no help you in defense or offense, but it let you see abilities, type, health, and power of enemies before you start fight. That way you know whether foe too strong, and possibly avoid risky battle. It work on three groups of major leaders in Quest 4, make I think it have no limit. Might you want it, you allow to borrow it when you go to quest, but I will need it back after you quest."

De'kra shook his head and replied, "I want to help, but I not sure Crownies better. In Quest 4 I made a lot of mistakes, I not trust myself on another Quest yet. Might Igo on another Quest, I spend whole time distrust I and others. I would only hurt other heroes' success and paranoia. It best I take break and learn from mistakes, make I might not make new mistakes."

IC: De'kra shook his head. "No, I no trust Ether. I not know enough about Ether to trust it in battle, nor it source. I hear it involve one of those entities, but I not know more than that. How I rely on something I no understand? I might use it in wrong way, way that hurt group. No, I go path that I understand, like Raider, Black Knight, and Assassin. I think I go route of Assassin, not only I have weapons I trust, but to track foes will help I enact usefulness to group. What you plan to become?

I think Hybros has a Zoot's Reaper now.

IC: De'kra shook his head and sighed. "Rumor false," he said, "Shadeuax started war, because Shadeaux will make great money from sell weapons to both sides. And because Crownies support knights, crownies have to join fight and loss resources. It make Shadeaux become stronger than crownies. Elves and Knights both pawns of Shadeaux, also heroes of Quest 4. Heroes of Quest 4 were manipulate into think Elves or Knights try to start war, to make heroes try to stop war by kill either Elf Leaders or Knight Leaders. Heroes fell for plan. I fell for plan. And now Uland at civil war, because I not enact anything right. Everything I enact wrong, nothing right!" De'kra sighed again, and tried to relax. After failing to calm, he added, "Read up on Quest 4 records, it tell Arasmyth whole story. Just...make careful of Shadeaux and other houses. People in power in Uland no care for lives of people, only more power. Quest 10 show lack of empathy also."

IC: De'kra shrugged and replied, "Neither, two fighters hurt two fighters great much, both will beat up in end. Same with Elves and Knights, both will end up kill other in end, and devastate north Uland. Elves and Knights will ravage forests in fight for sources of food and resources, villages will raid for food and tools also. Blood will flow like river, and no hero here seem to care."

IC: De'kra watched with surprise as some of the heroes decided to beat each other up. Could this be a result of the Roma Ant Icism? De'kra knew that some creatures of flesh fight over their reproductive partners, and with the recent spread of Rome Ant Icim the timing of these fights seem a little more than just mere coincidence. The Hall was falling under the sway of utter chaos! De'kra rolled that thought around in his mind, the Hall was falling into chaos, along with the whole island of Uland. And there is one foe of the Hall who deals in chaos; Wren.

De'kra will visit the library every so often to read the official statements on Quests, which is basically a collection of summaries from all the involved heroes about all the things they saw and what they did. Of course because they are records by the heroes, they might be twisted. Like all written versions of Quest 6 neglect to mention that the three heroes there betrayed their employers and made an alliance with the Wolfgang. The heroes wouldn't want that in the open, so instead they would record that they failed, rather than mention that they made a secret deal. Likewise I don't think those records could be accessed on a quest, so if you haven't read them you can't use their knowledge.

IC: De'kra flinched as he heard someone refer to him, though they were not within sight. Usually he held those feelings in, but it was so much harder to do so with all that had happened. A plague was spreading through the Hall, and De'kra and company had just triggered a war that consumed the north of Uland. So many would die, just so that the Shadeaux would grow in power? It was madness! Maybe the plague was the cause, but the fact that barely any heroes talked about the war was especially troubling. Is this kind of evil so common on Uland that it isn't even noticed? De'kra didn't remember much of his past, but in two of the three nations he remembered, this would never happen. Even the "nation" of six separate villages would never start a war for personal gain! De'kra sighed softly, knowing that it would never feel right. The lies he made for himself would never fit, not that he could do better. Without the memories of his past he would have no choice but to continue using those pseudonyms. At least "De'kra" fit better than "shade." Or that other lie he made to make communications easier. But looking at hoe Eubric worked, he couldn't help but feel that those lies were a good choice.

Here is something to consider, how did Wren know about Jess and Haldor? I don't think it was mentioned out loud, and while Wren seemed to know what was going on in her arena how did she already have those riddles about them prepared? It wasn't a major discussion in the Hall at the time, yet Wren knew all about it. How? Likewise the Hall seems different now. We have Knights, Barbarians, and Clerics arguing over shared points of interest, and Haldor and Jess both seem a little dazed and distracted: not as focused as before. They aren't completely crippled, but the Hall is suffering with so many strong members distracted. Now I am not implying that Wren engineered a love plague to distract Heroica and cause chaos among the Heroes...but that is exactly what I am implying.

IC: De'kra was watching everyone in the hall carefully, his eyes and his ears other senses listening to the other heroes. De'kra had just noticed that a Mage seemed to have caught Rome Ant Icism, and he was directing his disease on an elf. Worse, this elf had spoken along with a barbarian to the elf rogue when the rogue and the cleric first became sick. Clearly the sickness was spread by the former Ranger and from there the Mage. The disease was spreading, though at what rate? The elf rogue, the barbarian, the cleric, the Mage, and the Evoker had all gone on quests since the cleric and rogue first became infected, could they have infected everyone who went on their quests? What if the disease spread to civilians they encountered all the way. This could be worse than the plague that incapacitated that village of carvers, or the plague that corrupted the minds of those villagers of Light. In those plagues the disease couldn't spread unaided, and required contamination by leeches or poison. But Rome Ant Icism spread through interaction, it could move much faster and there was no easy cure. Who could know who was infected?

I wonder if Uland is currently in it's spring equivalent, a time when all the heroes feel the urge to go out and continue the hero species. Maybe we will get to see two hero males trying to impress a female hero, perhaps by plumage or rare physical power. Thank goodness De'kra lacks the potential for anything beyond friendship, it might just keep him safe from this madness.

Okay. If I understand you right, there is nothing in the rules that says Rangers can't use Animal Talk to communicate with foreigners, it just depends on whether or not the QM allows it. On another note, where are all these pairings coming from? Is there an overzealous cleric of Amadea and Melodion running around in Heroica Hall?

There is something I have been wondering about the Rangers for some time. Aside from what QM's decide, what are the limits of Animal Talk? Could you use it say to speak in the language of another nation, provided that country is not made up of plants? Like if a group went to Xu and the aoi had a different language, could a Ranger decipher it and listen in to private conversations? Or does Animal Talk only work on races with simple languages and not tongues with complicated grammar rules? Am I over thinking this?

IC: De'kra sat in his corner, wondering if he should take that upgrade, once he reached level 15. All the Rogue upgrades seemed darker than the other types, so it wasn't any less violent than the others. And to be honest, he would rather put his trust in something he understands and trusts, rather than some mystically power. And with the power of an Assassin, he might be able to liberate this island from the houses. He could actually become useful, and perhaps avoid the mistakes he is prone to make. Yes, an Asassin he shall be, once he reahes level fifteen. As De'kra sit to himself, he notices the mind sick cleric speaking to the Evoker. The shade doesn't approach, the cleric is obviously still very sick and the Evoker might be a carrier for the disease. And although De'kra is immune, he could be a carrier as well. He won't want to inflict this madness on anyone, well except maybe the Shadeaux. Rome Ant Icsm might cripple them with it's insanity.

IC: De'kra returned to the Hall, feeling a little better. He would definitely have to look int the Ji Pi, aoi, and Xu, what he knew of it fit his memories. Perhaps he was even from that area! Still, the evils of Heroica weighted down his spirit, and kept him bitter. As he glanced at current news, the shade was surprised to see that two heroes had become level 15. The shade wasn't really familiar with either of them, but both of them had links to the sickness of that cleric. One of them had chosen the class of Evoker, a powerful melding of Mage and Ranger. As De'kra looked at the complete list, his eyes caught sight of one class in particular, one that seemed familiar to his mind...

As De'kra put down this book, he found that he was faint. In his memory of the city some of the denizens had been blue in hue, just as the aoi were. The very name Aoi seemed familiar, and what little of their technology was recorded struck a cord with him. And De'kra's memories often had bits and pieces of terrible conflicts, where the elements themselves warred for resources. But humans had not been in his vision, nor dwarves nor snake men. But then again, Xu was said to have once been entirely of the aoi, perhaps De'kra's memories were just a little too old. But if De'kra remembered a time before humans lived in Xu, and a time where the aoi existed in shades of green, red, brown, white, blue, and black, but nowadays only blue aoi are recorded to exist; then how old was De'kra? Either way, the Ji Pei had peaked De'kra's interest.

IC: De'kra continued to sit alone, staring at nothing in particular. He could tons of conversations going on about him, from victorious heroes and visiting guest. The more he heard, the more hate he felt towards the houses of Eubric. The rage wasn't hidden well, his hands had already begun to "eat" the wall out of nervousness. It was not the best tasting meterial, but it was distracting. While he drained the energy out of the structure, De'kra heard something about the Ji Pei, the house he knew the least about. Supposedly they had come to Uland on a flying ship, originating from a distant land. As soon as De'kra heard the term flying ship, his mind exploded with memories. He could see a vast city, towering higher than any mountain. Grand buildings forged of metal made up the landscape, and long tubes stretched from building to building. People of strange colors walked through this city, working on strange flying ships and mining new ore. This nation was surrounded by a silver sea, with two sun's illuminating all. It was bigger than Eubric, probably bigger than all of Uland. This was a true city, not a village like Eubric. His curiosity peaked, De'kra decided to pay a quick visit to the Library, to learn more about the Ji Pei.

IC: De'kra sat alone, hiding from the light of the sun. The light still mocked him as it always had, but at least it didn't bring up what had happened in Quest 4. How could the Shadeaux so calmly start a war? So many innocents would die! It was like no one in power in this city cared about the people! A child prodigy was viciously murdered, yet only one person noticed. That person ironically was a Shadeaux from what the Quest Records claim, so perhaps not all of that house was bad. And if that Nuitan grew to be a major member of his house, perhaps things might get better. But does this city have those years to wait? "No," said De'kra softly, "It Island not I islands. In I islands six houses exist, but six houses all allies and work to protect island's people. Eubric not home at all, home nothing like Eubric. Home nothing like Uland. Some parts like Uland parts, but I better other whole of Uland."

I didn't see it like that, but thanks regardless. De'kra will get "back on the horse" eventually, but for now he has a lot to think about.

Tanma know that it isn't his fault, but De'kra doesn't. De'kra doesn't know he is in a roleplaying game, so all the dice results are because of skill, not luck. Tanma hoping to use Quest 4(and knowledge of Quest 10) to progress De'kra's character into wanting to bring down the houses, possibly leading to him allying with Wolfgang. De'kra might spare Ji Pei though, because of other character reasons. First he needs to learn about them however... De'kra is free for interaction in the Hall by the way. Why Tanma talk like Cronk?

But he did argue in favor of killing the Elves, which directly caused the war. Plus I think De'kra was the first one of us to suggest killing the elves, and so it is possible that he swayed the decision. But more importantly De'kra knows that he was nearly useless in our adventure(except for that one knight he killed by himself and when he used that awesome cloak), and so he sees the war as another in a long list of failures.

De'kra can't go on a quest yet, he is busy recovering mentally from the last adventure. Not only did he accidentally cause a war, but he died and went feral. He has a lot to think about before he feels ready to go on another adventure.

IC: De'kra clicked, "Heroes and I should have known, I should have known. Many tricks and lies back home, why would I think to trust employers? Have I learn nothing from the guardian heroes? I no know you past ranger, but what I remember scream at me not to believe anything at face value. Not employers, not other heroes, not anyone. I should have know not to trust Shadeaux, I betray enough to learn it. And now many will suffer in a war, one that no one here care about."