Bullsung Saga: AE's RPG

Oh, muse! Bless your bard's tongue and grant him your gifts as he tells the many stories of wonder about the wicked kidnapping at the Platypi by the hands of the cruel Bullsung!

Knight Gildor Estelgalad, Noldor Elflord, had come to visit lord Platypus from his far away land. In his honor, a fighting tournament was going to be held in Gildor's honor. In the front sat lord Platypus; on his right, Gildor; on his left, Platypus' sister, fair Aelfgifu. The strong warriors were practicing among each other their courageous moves, wielding their swords and using their shields.

They were only waiting for their cousin, sweet little Hilda and for Eric the Fair, brave warrior given in marriage to Aelfgifu. Yet the time kept wasting away, and neither maid nor warrior would appear.

"My apologies, Gildor. This is looking so bad to you," said Platypus.
"Not as bad to you," said Aelfgifu, "as it looks to me." And with that she picked up a sword and got up to to look for them. As Aelfgifu got up, the father of sweet little Hilda ran towards Platypus and Aelfgifu when it was 9:00 AM.

"Lord Platypus! A terrible calamity has fallen on our house! As I and my daughter, sweet little Hilda, were about to leave our house to meet you here, at the tournament, a gang of hateful Bullsung came and kidnapped sweat little Hilda! They already had kidnapped Eric the Fair, who was unconscious on the back of a horse. I wielded my sword, but a blow knocked me out. I just woke up and came as fast as I could."

Lord Platypus rose to his feet and said, "We must avenge the dishonor that the Bullsung have brought onto the Platypi! We must rescue sweet little Hilda and Eric the Fair before their honor is gone! Warriors, rally behind me! Bullsung Castle is just 3 hours away if we take the King's Toll Road!"

A great silence fell on the camp. Slowly, the strong warriors started to walk away from the field.

"What? What kind of behavior is this, you cowards?" said Platypus.

"I will die for you, my lord," said Stephen the Safe, "yet the fame of the fearsome Bullsung is well know in this area. They are strong, terrible warriors. It is told that their chief has slayed a dragon. Many say that they are witches and talk to demons! A single Bullsung can destroy a whole army! AAAAAACK!"

Gildor got up and responded, "Those disgraceful words have dishonored you, Stephen, especially after all of the favors and gifts that our host Platypus has showered us with. I am not afraid of any Bullsung! I will go with thee, Platypus, and rescue sweet little Hilda, whom I have not seen but I have already fallen in love!"

Aelfgifu got up and said, "I will come, to rescue my future husband, Eric the fair."

"Thank you, brave Aelfgifu! Let's get our fighting gear on and travel East to Bullsung castle!" said Platypus.

Gildor took aside Platypus and said, "I am no one to get into your affairs, but don't you think that it would be safer for your sister to stay behind? Fighting is not a woman's job."

"What? You want me to tell her that she should stay? Tell her yourself." Platypus pointed towards her, as she was holding a long sword on her hand as if it were a feather. Gildor stared for a moment, and then said, "brave maid!"

The group of three champions geared up and walked in the direction of King's Toll Road. When they were about 5 minutes away from the road, they saw the market.

"Should we stop at the market or take the toll road?"

Here are some extra rules and directions about this game. 0. Ham it up. You are writing your character's own dialogue! 1. Anyone can join at any time. Just write yourself into the story. I will roll the character for you the next day at home, and tell you about how strong, intelligent, etc, etc he or she is the next day. You can ask for one special item, and I will include that into the story. 2. Rule of engaged combat To speed things up in an asynchronous forum, if you engaged in combat, you will attack 5 times in a row. I will tell you what happened to you afterwards. Can this be dangerous for the health of your character? Don't fear since I have developed... 3. Rule of self-preservation If in the five rounds of combat your character is losing badly, he or she will run away, giving you an option to decide what you can do about it. 4. Rule of lemming behavior I will try to score the game every day (except for when I go on vacation), and if you haven't said what your character is doing between each round, they will participate in whatever the majority does. If you are going to go on travel, let me know and your character will safely go on vacation himself. 5. 30 minute nodes Each time you go on a direction, you have walked 30 minutes, unless I changed that part of the story. And you can only walk through the roads. Again this is to simplify the game to be played on a forum.

Edited by hugoestr - 06-Aug-2008 at 12:10

A drunken came out of the bush. His face was unshaven; his smell was terrible. One hand hanged limped on this side. This could be no other than Jeff the Drunk, the sage of the Bullsung forest.

"Where are you three going," said a slurring Jeff, "I hope you brought plenty of doe because just around the corner the toll booth controlled by the terrible Bullsung is waiting for you. Five strong guards protect the road. The mountain said protects its right and a strong hill protects its left. This gate is the only safe passage through the foothills and the mountains leading to Bullsung. So, how much you got?"

Platypus looked at his purse. He carried with him 82 pieces of gold. Gildor had 60, and brave Aelfgifu 41.

"Ha, ha! With your clothes the guards will want a lot more money than that. Just go home!"

"Should we listen to him? He is a drunk..."

"What do you think, brave Aelfgifu? Lord Platypus? Does this sound like a good plan?"

"Hey, dude! You got an anger management problem there," said Jeff, "Calm down. I know the forest well, and if you kill me, the information that I was going to give you will die with me.

"I would love to get you across, but not even I have money to cross myself. I was just about to ask you if you could lend me some money, man."

Edited by hugoestr - 06-Aug-2008 at 21:02

"Hey, just go around this curve and the toll both will be there. But do you want to carry out your plan before you just walk up there? Once they see you, the element of surprise will be gone."

"What will you do, then? Carry out the plan or just pay the toll?"

"That is the case," said Lord Platypus. "Right now we are going to put in place the plan that my friend Gildor has made. We will try to pay our fare through the toll road. If that fails, Gildor will attack them, draw them away, and we will storm the gates of the booth."

Sarakh's eyes twinkled, his mouth smiled and his stomach began to laugh. "This I must see," said Sarakh, and we walked over the curve and leaned against the rocky wall of the hill.

The party approached gate. It looked like a small fort. A wall made of stones stood in front of them. It ran from the rocky hill wall to the rocky mountain side, leaving only the iron gate as the entrance for the narrow passage.

Platypus spoke, "Good Morning, brave guards. We wish to use his majesty's road to reach Bullsung's castle."

The chief guard opened a window and he said, "Sire, I seem to recognize you. You are Lord Hoth of the House of Platypus. I have direct orders from my lord not to let you go through. I know of his crimes, and it pains me that such dishonor has fallen upon you."

"Let's us go and rescue our kinsmen," said brave Aelfgifu.

"As much as I despise my lord's crime, he is still my lord, and I am bound to loyalty."

"How about if we gave you some money to forget that you recognized us," said Gildor. The guard smiled, "It is said that gold makes one forget men. And with men of your stature, only 100 gold pieces are enough to induced in me that great loss of memory."

"100 pieces of gold!" said Gildor, "this is highway robbery!"

"As you wish, then. If you are not willing to pay 100 pieces of gold, then your honor must not be worth that price."

Gildor controlled himself as he counted the guards. Behind the wall, he couldn't see them. His plan was about to fail if they couldn't have a sure count.

"Sire," said Jeff the drunk, "I know that guard. His name is Henry. Maybe I can talk him into letting you through."

"Go ahead, but don't try anything on us," said Gildor. Jeff left the party and walked to the front of the gate shouted a few times, and the door opened quickly, let him in, and then closed quickly again. He re-appeared on the window.

"Good news, kinghts!" said Jeff. "I got away from that elf from hell! And as much as I tried to dissuade Henry, he is still willing to grant to passage for 100 gold pieces! And looked at this," Jeff held a parchment in his hand. "This was the map I was going to give you before that putrid elf friend of yours assaulted me. Now I am going to burn it in front of your eyes!" And he began to burn it. Gildor took out his bow and arrow and shot at him. But Jeff happened to lose balance and fell, escaping sure dead. He dropped the burning map outside of the gate. Aelfgifu ran for it, beating it to stop the flames.

Worse of all, the guards never came out.

"Come out and fight as a man! I demand a duel!" shouted Gildor.

"Fight the stones as much as you want for only 100 pieces of gold can open this door for you!" shouted Henry. "As for your duel, if your honor is that important, come back with 200 pieces of gold and I'll fight you. As far as I am concern, your honor, not mine, has been lost."


Sarakh, meanwhile, was holding his stomach to stop the hurt that his hard laughing had created. He walked towards the party and said, "I know Henry well, and the calculating bastard thinks only of gold, gems, and other treasures. The only thing that he holds more dear than treasure is his family.

"And this hold thing of attacking Jeff the Drunk was a fatal mistake. Jeff is a good meaning, if useless, fellow. He knows the area well; he could have given you a lot of information. And most people like him. Thankfully he quickly forgets injuries if you buy him some mead or ale."

"Jeff once told me that if you walk through the Northern forest, there is trail that leads to Bullsung castle. Unfortunately I don't know the details about it, but you may want to ask people in the market.

Now, if you are willing to have some faith, rumors say that the Abbey on the heights of Southern mountain know of a secret way to reach the Bullsung lands. This may be a fairy tale told by Christians to increase their numbers since I don't know of such a passage, but you can try that as well. Market people may know more details about that.

"I'll join you. You are of a brave stock who made a small mistake at the beginning of your journey. And soon you will learn about my interest in the Bullsung."

Aelfgifu came back with a mostly destroyed map. In it you could see that if one walks away from the gate, one will eventually reach the trail that leads to the Abbey. And if one goes back to the market, then one can get on the trail that goes to the forest.

Our heroes then though what to do. Try another attack on the stone wall? Reach Bullsung through the forest or try the rumored passage of the Christian monks?

As they discussed the different routes, a strong hunter surrounded by 4 hounds was approaching. "Did I hear that you are seeking revenge on the Bullsung?"

I got the traits of each character rolled out right now. If you wish to hear know them, pm me, and I will pm them back. Otherwise I will just hint the values of each of your traits as you attempt to perform tasks.

Edited by hugoestr - 07-Aug-2008 at 04:09

"Yep? Yep to what?"

when I don't attribute dialogue to any character, that means that someone asked this, but that someone is an unamed non player character. This is my trick for keeping the story rolling as I ask clarifications without breaking the suspension of disbelief.

'No one stops the Hoth of the Platipi! We will go over! If the mountain doesn't come to the Platipi, the Platipi go to the mountain! Your motives are not questioned. Join us if you want to. Grave peril lies over you in any case!'

"Gildor, wake up!"

Gildor opened his eyes. "What happened?"

"You went crazy and started kicking the iron gate. You knock the gate so hard with your long sword that it bounced back on your head. Luckly it hit you in the broad side. You lost consciousness for a few seconds, although you kept babbling something about explosives and climbing gear. And look at your foot! You seriously injured it! you are going to slow down our movement by half!"

"And now we got to take you to a healer. I heard that in the forest live two witches. One is very powerful; the other one is not. They can help us with your foot. Or we can go to the mountain Abbey where the monks are known for healing the sick and the injured."

"It sounds like most people want to go to the abbey. Is this right?" Should the party move in that direction?, brave warriors?"

Edited by hugoestr - 07-Aug-2008 at 14:35

" We cannot leave a friend behind; especially not when he is injured. Besides, you are still affected by that blade hitting your head. You are carrying your chain mail, shield and long sword, as a good warrior should. And this is what you have in your backpack, brave one:

"6 torches, 4 sacks, your elven bow with 6 magical arrows, and 24 regular arrows.

"You don't have thief's tools, Gildor, but if you wish to get a rope and a grappling hook, we must buy it at the market."

"Does anyone else have it, then?"

The party began looking through their backpacks.

Brave Aelfgifu had
Chain Mail
Shield
Long Sword
6 torches
4 sacks
Backpack
1 Spear

The hunter had
Dagger
6 torches
4 sacks
1 Backpack
4 blood hounds
1 Bow
48 arrows

Lord Hoth, of the House of the Platypus had
quarterstaff
6 torches
4 sacks
Backpack
1 spell
3 potions