Gyrfalcon

Carving

4. to decorate with designs or figures cut on the surface: The top of the box was beautifully carved with figures of lions and unicorns.

Sorry for the last one (Castle), since I went stupid and didn't count letters properly... on a short word even!

Actually, you tied Sweet on that one, Peredhil.

Well, it makes sense as a word, but doesn't pull up listings in any of the dictionaries I tried. None the less, it makes sense when you think about it, and beyond being a tonguetwister, it should work.

Otherwise... o_O Hard to match reverie's find.

Peredhil! You showoff... *laughs* Great work, but it makes it even harder to find the next word. I like the little snippets though, good job.

*Peredhil sneaks in and points his fellow half-elf to the site's chat window with a sly wink.

*chuckles* Thanks Peredhil, not sure if it's entirely valid, since it doesn't appear in any of the dictionary sites... but what the hey, I'll give my theory.

acquisitivenesses

A plural of acquisitiveness, which is the noun of acquisitive

1. eager to possess things: eager to acquire things, especially possessions

...particularly suited to Wyvern, given the many types of things he is eager to possess.

abbreviation

Definition:

1. reduced form: a shortened form of a word or phrase

2. reduction: the shortening of a word or phrase to be used to represent the full form

Xander looked up at the black-furred Satyr thumped its hooves firmly against the tree that Xander was climbing, blocking the young magus' way up. Always willing to improvise if going his current route was going to lead him straight into the arms of a satyr, Xander gathered his legs under him and pushed off, holding tight to his rope as he swung away from the tree and to the side in a wide arc, landing with a legs-braced thump against the tree to the right of the one Guerrero was harnessed to.

"You might want to start climbing, it'll only get harder!" Xander shouted down as he started pulling at his ropes again, trying to get up even with or higher then the Satyr who had tried to block his ascent the first time.

OOC: Move action to the side at full speed (20' with equipment), so he should go from the 1' tree to the 5' tree if I'm thinking correctly.

Climb check to pull himself up with his second move action:

Satyr Ascent, Round 2, Climb Check #1 (1d20=7)

Hm... too bad, no movement I suspect, but at least he didn't fall to the ground again... unless the Satyr does something. *laughs*

Attack

to set upon in a forceful, violent, hostile, or aggressive way, with or without a weapon; begin fighting with: He attacked him with his bare hands.

Well... that's definition one. Attack has a LOT of them.

Congratulations! It's great you got hired doing something you love to do.

The screen flashes to a whipcord lean man, hazel eyes squinting against the harsh glare of the spotlight. Much less flamboyant then Guerrero, his clothing was well made but unornamented, the only exception his green cloak, a pair of crossed wands stitched with thread that glimmered in the spotlight, riding over a black crescent moon that drink in the light greedily. From the thrown-back hood of his cloak, a pair of green eyes glimmered in the spotlight for a moment.

"And here we have Xander, a promising young magus from the Mage's College in Clearwater, give him a round of applause folks!" The crowd applauded politely, nothing like the wild cheering that had greeted the masked Guerrero, but that was fair enough - Miknemi was well known, even in the Mage's College, while Xander was a complete unknown. Right now, at least.

His eyes scanned the crowd as the spotlight moved away from him, and they widened fractionally as he saw a few old friends from school sitting in a line, waving and giving him exaggerated thumbs up. Grinning, Xander waved back before turning to look up at the platform as the two satyrs made their challenge.

A sense of curiosity tinged with sleepiness touched his mind, and he willed back a comforting thought to Aliq, his familiar. "Don't worry yourself, Aliq, it's nothing." he said confidently as he strapped on the climbing harness, securing his quarterstaff under his pack, slanting across his back.

"We'll make it to the top in no time, you'll see." he said, giving the ropes a tug and the apple tree before him before beginning his climb.

OOC: Xander is starting at the 1 o'clock position.

Initiative (1d20+2=19)

Climb Check #1 (1d20=10)

Climb Check #2 (1d20=9)

Hey! Late with this post sadly, but still wanted to make sure it was said... Happy Birthday Ayshela, and may you have many more to come. I hope your birthday was calm and peaceful (or hectic and exciting, whichever you prefer!) and that you got plenty of cool things to enjoy.

Good luck on all of your exams, Psimon, and here's to passing all of them with flying colors. I can fully understand that the pressure of school means you have less time for other things. Let us know how your exams go, and hopefully you'll have a bit more free time once they're all past!

Let's see...

1) My important documents - birth certificate, Social Security Card, bank statements, etc, which are in a handy, easy to carry box already.

2) My wallet, with the credit cards that'll let me support myself while insurance works its way through.

3) *looks around* Pratical things aside, I'd grab the fox doll that represents Daryl to give me something other then a wiggly cat to hold onto. There's a lot here I'd miss, but people are more important then possessions.

Daryl coursed through the hallways, nose to the ground as he sought a particular scent. Finding it, he turned his head and streaked down another hallway, barely avoiding legs as he wove through a small crowd of Pennites before accelerating once more, the smile on his face more wolfish then foxish.

Jonathan barely had a chance to look surprised as the fox carromed into him, bowling him into the Cabaret Room, and nibbling at his ears! Jonathan sprawled to a halt at the feet of Yui-chan, who shook her head again at the pair, never really surprised to see Daryl play-fighting with Jon, but always surprised when they find their way to her feet.

"Daryl, you know you're not supposed to attack Jon, especially today." she scolded, causing Daryl to let his tail and ears droop, trying to look as contrite as possible - and failing horribly.

Jon grumbled as he sat upright and rubbed his tingling ears, only to be helped to his feet by Gyrfalcon and Sweetcheerie "Sorry about that, I told Daryl to *lead* you here, not tackle you in here and attack your ears." Gyrfalcon said, looking apologetic and succeeding.

"It's okay, Gyr, I know how Daryl is." Jon said, smirking at the fox, who grins and wags his tail before scampering behind a table. Jon shook his head and looked around, then blinked. "Wait... what's all this?" he asked in surprise.

"It's a birthday party, of course!" Gyr said with a grin as he pushed his friend into the crowd of well-wishers. "And you're the guest of honor! Happy birthday, my friend."

Cool! Good luck, Annael, let us know how it goes.

Hey!

Here's the method to do it under Invision Powerboard software - results and milage may vary depending on differences in the backend layout, but it might give you an idea of where to look in your board software.

1) Login to the administrator control panel

2) Click on the Management tab in the upper-left corner

3) Click on 'Manage Forums', the first link on the sidebar to the left. This link should already be selected, however.

3) The right pane will now list the layout of your forums, with three tabs along the top - 'Show All', 'Create New Forum' and 'Show Moderator Options'. Click 'Create New Forum'

4) The 'Basic Settings' field includes options for the forum's name, it's description, and its parent forum. By default, the parent forum is Root, making it a new forum. If you set the Parent Forum for one of the already created forums, it will become a sub-forum of that forum.

The rest of the settings depend on what you're doing with the forum - organization of posts, who can access it and the like. When you're done, hit create and it should appear. Let me know if this helps, or if not I'll see if I can do some internet research to help you out.

Very interested, but I just came back from my trip. I'll start working on a character soon!

Ack, totally missed this as well. I hope you had a great birthday, Peredhil!

*Daryl glances around sneakily and then noses a a present onto the table in front of Peredhil. Inside it's wrapping is a small amulet of a dove perched on a quill*

Happy belated birthday, Cryptomancer, hope it was a good one!

Many thanks for getting the portal up and running, Yui-chan, you rock.

I'm also in.

One question - what sort of world is this? High fantasy? Victorian steampunk? modern day/alternate modern day?

Sorry Gryphon/Sav... I took a gamble that the Seer was accusing you for a specific reason, knew that I was next, and hoped that I'd get lucky. 50/50 chance of getting a wolf, right?

Anyway, good game wolves, you two were perfectly undetectable - Tanuchan's tanuki was too cute, and Alex the Brother was too obvious.

Good question... probably because then you'd need a Concieved Day rather then Birthday. And Birthday sounds better!

OOC: Patrick's journal gave me the idea for my own, so now there'll be two of these things. *laughs and grins* Anyway, as with Patricks, massive spoilers for the game Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion are ahead, so you have been warned!

28 Last Seed, 3E433

Part 1 of 2

Ah... good to have some place to write my thoughts again. I wonder what happened with my last journal? Probably thrown into the sewer (not a section I tromped through), or burned. Too bad, but I'm glad I didn't have too much that was personal in there.

Ah yes, where are my manners? If you're reading this, I either handed it to you, you pulled it off a shelf in a library somewhere, or you found it among my rotting bones. Either way, try to take good care of it, will you? First thing's first, if you aren't reading this for the first reason. My name is Ian, and I am - or was - a Redguard, born in the month of Rain's Hand in the year 3E413, under the Sign of the Mage. An odd sign for a member of one of the most well-known warrior races, but we all have to be born sometime.

My childhood was much the same as any other Redguard lad's, my parents members of the Forbearers, the descendents of the wave of warriors who took Hammerfell for the Yokudan, my people. My parents are both alive and well, my father a somewhat renowned alchemist, my mother a member of the city guard of Sentinel. I understand my younger sisters and brother are doing well, at least as of the time of this writing.

Now, why are you finding this book (presumably) so far away from Hammerfell? Well, my family is a bit more Forbearer then most - a large number of our ancestors are Redguard only by marriage into the family. Where many Redguards are dusky, black haired and dark eyed, I'm fairly pale, exacerbated by my recent stay in the Imperial Prison, green eyed, and with dark brown hair. This didn't make my childhood any easier, since I was physically quite different.

When I was sixteen, I decided it was time for a change in scenery, and I enlisted in the Imperial Army, with the aid of my mother and the tacit approval of my father. They, at least, were glad to have me, for whatever my coloring, I was a Redguard and did quite well in the initial training. I was given the standard training for the Imperial Army, given my equipment, and posted on the border between Valenwood and Eleswyr, where the occasional skirmish with deserters from units on either side who thought they could sneak up on our garrison unopposed kept our skills sharp and our nerves slightly frayed. Those Khajiit like attacking at night, where their night vision gives them an edge over our mostly human troops.

But that was a while back. Roughly three months ago, my unit was rotated to the Imperial City garrison for rest and refit. It was there a letter caught up with me, informing me that a distant uncle had died, and had designated me as his heir. It was a tower up in the mountains called Frostcrag Spire. It didn't sound like it'd ennoble me or anything, but property means that you can potentially join the officer core, and officers do a lot less fighting then the enlisted men do.

Anyway, I went out to celebrate my new fortune with some barrack buddies of mine... former barrack buddies. We ended up drinking too much in a low bar in the waterfront district, and one thing lead to another, and we ended up in a brawl. I was having a good time, even if my opponent wasn't, when I heard a scream behind me. I turned around and one of my mates shoved a bloody dagger into my hand before pushing past me. On the floor was one of the patrons, a rather nasty gash across his throat. Before I could even drop the dagger, the guard came through the door and beat nine kinds of Oblivion out of me.

When I came to, I was in the Imperial Prison, and the guard told me that the only way I'd avoid jail time would be paying a 'fine' of over a thousand Septims! I didn't have that kind of money on me and said so.

That was three months ago, and I've been in a damp cell deep in the prison for all that time. Today... well, yesterday since it's after midnight, I was moved from my normal cell to an empty one near the stairs down, something about my cell being needed for something else. Honestly, after about five minutes I was hoping they'd move me back soon, across from me some sarcastic bastard of a Dunmer kept making snide remarks, telling me that I'd rot forever in this prison... well yah, as if I hadn't guessed?

Guess fate had other things in store with me. I couldn't believe my eyes when three soldiers in ornate armor escorted a richly robed figure down the stairs. They looked tense, and nervous, and were annoyed when they stopped in front of my cell and saw me standing there. I guess the watch had mixed up which cell they needed to clear out. I was ordered to stand near the window or be killed, so I wisely followed orders. They opened the door and trooped into my cell, one of them watching me with dark, angry eyes, while the Captain went and started fiddling with the wall near the pallet. The robed man ignored me but for a casual glance... then started and looked at me more closely. I was looking back before dropping my eyes respectfully... and seeing the amulet on his chest. At that point, I almost went to my knees, but for fear that the Blade watching me would attack if I made any move.

The Emperor stated that he had seen me in his dreams, and dismissed the reasons I had been placed in jail as an act of fate, that would bring us together. The conversation was cut short as the Captain told him that they needed to get moving, and pressed a series of rocks in a precise pattern. The pallet lowered itself into the ground, and the wall behind it swung back to reveal stairs leading down!

I was allowed to follow behind the group, though both of the male Blades told me that this was none of my concern and to stay out of their way.

Before we had made it more then fifty feet, dark-armored figures swarmed out of the shadows ahead. I cast a simple spell that hurled a ball of fire ahead, but it flashed over the head of one of the attacks. In the confusion, Captain Renault went down at my feet, and her katana spilled from her fingers. I swept it up and stepped up behind one of the armored figures, slashing him hard and allowing the Blade he was fighting to finish him off, though he growled at me to watch where I swung the sword - guess I was a little rusty. I went back and slipped Captain Renault's steel short sword from her belt - she wouldn't need it anymore.

In death, the armored figures became robed men, cultists of some form, all wearing the same robes and hoods, though a few had potions on them that I collected. The remaining Blade's led the emperor through the next door, but one of them drew his sword and told me to stay behind before closing and sealing the door behind him. Obviously my continued fate was now in my own hands.

Before I could contemplate what I could do, rocks tumbled from the wall in front me, and a pair of giant, starving rats chittered before lunging at me. I caught the first one with a fireball, but the second leapt. I deflected it with my sword and slashed its throat with Renault's katana.

I started past the rats, but then remembered my father's words, that the meat of rats had some alchemical properties to it. I cut a strip from each of the rats before stepping over the rubble, into what looked to be a minimally worked cave. In the distance a rat was shuffling, but a fireball flung in it's direction (with a whisper of thanks to the Altmer wizard who taught me this basic spell) took care of it. I searched the area and found a luckless thief who had tumbled down from above. I could see light above his body, but no way to climb the small chasm that leads down here. I grimaced and looted his age-old body, surprisingly his boots and tunic were still serviceable, as well as a leather shield, iron-core bow, and his arrows. the chest next to him and another one in the area yielded a few golds, an inferior sapphire, and a number of lockpicks and iron arrows.

After cutting a strip of meat from the rat I had toasted, I came across a startling discovery - a dead goblin. This could prove a bit more troublesome then I thought. Rats are easy to deal with, but goblins are nasty and cunning trap makers. I looted its body, only a few days old, and came up with a pair of scrolls as well as a key to the door right beside it.

The next caves were interesting. In one chest, I found some rusted iron armor, which I gratefully put on. Leather is fine, but a bit of iron between you and someone or something intent on your death is better. I dealt with a few more rats and even some corpse that had decided to drag itself out of its grave before I came back into the worked stone and found the emperor and his bodyguards fighting off another attack by the strange robed men. I announced my presence into the battle with a few fireballs from my perch before dropping down to help them, but they were done with the last cultists. One of the Blades immediately started for me, but the Emperor thankfully told him to leave me alone.

The Emperor asked me an odd question, wondering what Sign I had been born under before inviting me to join them in their travels through the rest of these ancient ruins. We fought off several attacks by cultists before reaching a dead end. The two Blades rushed back to defend the passageway by another assault, leaving the Emperor in my care. I failed.

The Emperor took off his Amulet of Kings and gave it to me, warning me cryptically that the Gates of Oblivion must be closed, and that I must take the Amulet of Kings to Jauffre at Waynon Priory, near the city of Chorrol. Before I could ask more, a secret passage opened behind him, and an assassin sank his blade into the Emperor's back. A strange expression of peace crossed his face, and then he sank to the floor.

The next minute was a haze of red, but when I came out of it, the assassin was pinned to the wall by my blade and that of the Blade, Baurus. He was skeptical as to my explanation, but accepted that I would take the Amulet to Jauffre, his Guildmaster and the head of the Blades.

Baurus explained the minimal dangers ahead, and glanced me over, guessing that I was Bard, though his glance at my sword-callused hands and the way I handled the Akaviri blade makes me suspect that he suspected that I had a certain amount of Imperial training. Either way, I told him I was a simple Adventurer, which he accepted reluctantly.

I escaped through the sewers beyond, slaying a few more rats and a pair of goblins and then I reached blessed light, fresh air, and the smells of autumn.

I confess I broke down and wept with joy at that point, though anywhere other then here I will claim that the light merely stung my eyes.

Excuse me for a moment, I got some dust in my eyes.

Lupus shook his head and frowned at Sav, Niko and Chiko as they bounced and cavorted, using the pain of the Pokemon Monster in their game, despite his being freshly Dipped only a few minutes ago. Shaking his head, he ran his eyes over everyone remaining... Bugs nibbling nervously on a carrot and pacing back and forth, the two Alexes sitting side by side quietly, holding hands as they stared at the puddle.

"Dip just doesn't appear out of thin air!" Lupus said to Bugs, who nodded, his eyes nervously taking in the puddle of the Pokemon Monster. "Someone had to have splashed him with dip, but who?"

Lupus ran his eyes across the figures around him as Sav ran by Chiko in rock form, and then the tanunki ran back into the clearing, and then across the two Alexes, one with halo, one with horns.

"I wonder... devil horns and a devil tail are usually signs of evil. Maybe Alex the Brother is the one with the Dip!"

OOC: Accusing Alex the Brother / Phoenix!