WWXXXII - Stephen King's Wolves of the Calla

[Mynx]

The ka-tet sat around the fire, contemplating their next move towards the Rose and the Tower, when the stranger emerged from the bushes to speak with them…

‘Then what do we do next?’ Jake asked.

‘I might be able to help you with that,’ a voice said.

They all turned, only Roland without surprise. He had heard the stranger when he arrived, about halfway through their palaver. Roland did turn with interest, however, and one look at the man standing twenty feet from them on the edge of the road was enough to tell him that the newcomer was either from the world of his new friends, or from one right next door.

‘Who are you?’ Eddie asked.

‘Where are your friends?’ Susannah asked.

‘Where are you from?’ Jake asked. His eyes were alight with eagerness.

The stranger wore a long black cloak open over a dark shirt with a notched collar. His hair was long and white, sticking up on the sides and in the front as if scared. His forehead was marked with a T-shaped scar. ‘My friends are still back there a little piece,’ he said, and jerked a thumb over his shoulder at the woods in a deliberately non-specific way. ‘I now call Calla Bryn Sturgis my home. Before that, Detroit, Michigan, where I worked in a homeless shelter, making soup and running AA meetings. Work I knew quite well. Before that – for a short while – Topeka, Kansas.’

He observed the way the three younger ones started at that with a kind of interested amusement.

‘Before that, New York City. And before that, a little town called Jerusalem’s Lot, in the state of Maine.’

‘You’re from our side,’ Eddie said. He spoke in a kind of sigh. ‘Holy God, you’re really from our side!’

‘Yes, I think I am,’ the man in the turned-around collar said. ‘My name is Donald Callahan.’

…

Callahan turned his attention to Roland and then did an amazing thing: dropped to one knee, lowered his head slightly, and put his fist against his scarred brow. ‘Hile, gunslinger, may we be well-met on the path.’

‘Hile,’ Roland said. ‘Come forward, good stranger, and tell us of your need.’

Callahan looked up at him, surprised.

Roland looked back at him calmly, and nodded. ‘Well-met or ill, it may be you will find what you seek.’

‘And you may also,’ Callahan said.

‘Then come forward,’ Roland said. ‘Come forward and join our palaver.’

So begins the signup for this game. And this time, rules will be somewhat stricter. Those of you who have read the Dark Tower series will recognise and know of the story, those of you who don't will manage fine I am sure.

You will be restricted to playing only Calla-folken in early to mid adulthood. Think peasants and farmers, although there are some who make more than pittance with their work. You can be married with children, or not, but you will have a twin. This twin will either be dead and just a memory, or alive but 'Ruint' - in blunter terms, mentally retarded. It is what was done to your twin that causes you to seek out Roland and his group, for you wish to prevent it from happening to your own children. For if you have children, you will have twins, as twins are the common in the Calla.

The wolves come, once a generation, and steal one child of each set. The child is returned ruint, and rarely lives beyond its mid twenties.

 

The wolves of this tale will not be the werewolves of my game. They will be those who call the wolves and betray their town. But that will be explained after signup.

 

I think I've explained all I have to for now. Please PM me or post questions here if you need anything cleared up.

Signup will continue until I feel we have enough...

 

So...yeah...

 

Come-come-commala

Rice come a-falla

 

Commala-come-come

Sign-up has begun

[Tanuchan]

I'm in, say the gods thankya

 

 

Character midway to coming - will have to check it with you, Mynxie! (You were stricter than I thought, but I see a way out for my idea... PM you later, no time right now).

Edited February 23, 2007 by Tanuchan

[Mardrax]

I'm in as well, character will be thought upon

[Mithrandin]

I'll be in.... if I ever come up with something..... hell, even if bad, I'll give it a try!

[Finnius]

Mmm...

 

Mmm?

 

Mmm!

 

Mmhmm!

 

(I'm in! Character stuff as it pops up.)

[Patrick]

Also in! Character to come later.

[Savage Dragon]

hate to say it again, but I'm in with a character yet to come...

[Guest Phoenix]

i'm in

 

*starts plotting*

[Gryphon]

I'm in. I'll post a character either after seeing some of the others or after discussions with someone who's read the books.

[Lord Panther]

I'm in, more to come....

 

Freedrick of the Manni (description to come)

 

Twin will be Samual, who is a surviving roont. (again, more to come)

Edited March 7, 2007 by Lord Panther

[Tanuchan]

Can still be edited for more info . Thanks Mynx, for allowing the triplets instead of twins!

 

 

Taleena Clearwater, 28. Twin sister: Taleah, died a couple months ago.

 

Taleena has been married to Zeldon Clearwater* (37) for 4 years, and they have triplets - 2 girls (Iris and Diris) and a boy (Osiris), aged 3. She is pregnant again, and she's also a skillful Oriza thrower. She loves her husband dearly, and they have a happy marriage. They live in a smallhold by the river (Devar-Tete Whye), and breed fish. She has a sweet temper that can become rather fierce when irritated, and the stubbornness of the Carpenters is still visible in this.

 

Taleena has a younger brother, Luke**, who is slightly jealous of her husband but who otherwise keeps visiting her. She still feels very close to him, and not even her husband's mild annoyance towards Luke's ways stops her being somewhat overprotective of him.

 

 

 

 

*: played by Mithrandin

**: played by Finnius

Edited March 3, 2007 by Tanuchan

[Finnius]

Name: Luke Carpenter

Age: 25

Twin: Duke Carpenter

 

Luke is a hardworking and industrious young man, and half of the second set of twins to the Carpenter family. (Being the younger brother of Taleena, as played by Tanuchan)

 

Before Taleena's marriage, she and Luke were very close - they both lost a twin to the Wolves during the last wave of kidnappings, and naturally filled the hole left by the loss of their twin with each other.

 

Eventually he apprenticed to their father, and is still learning all the workings that go into running the Saye June Nef, as it will eventually be his farm to deal with. His actual twin, Duke, helps as much as he can, but it is clear to all that he is swiftly fading. He tends to spend most of his days sitting on their front porch and attempting to speak with anyone who passes by.

 

With Taleena's marriage to Zeldon (played by Mith) three years ago, Luke once again feels as if, in some way, he's lost his twin. Still, he's polite, and even helpful to the Clearwaters. Every week he brings them spare vegetables, milk, and red meat from the farm, and makes frequent stops by the Devar-Tete Whye to visit his sister, nieces, and nephew.

 

He may or may not be oblivious to the fact that this irritates Zeldon to no end, and is unlikely to cease his visits even if told flat out. He enjoys hunting, woodcarving, and occasionally can be heard singing in a surprisingly fine tenor on warm, dark nights.

[Mynx]

Yay! Characters!

Just a quick note for those of you who haven't read the book - the Oriza is a kind of a metal dish with a sharpened edge. It is a weapon used by some women of the Calla and, until Roland and his ka-tet came to the town, was kept relatively secret from the men of the town.

I'll try find something about it to post during the game...

[Savage Dragon]

Character name: Johnny Drumwoode

Former twin: James Drumwoode

 

Johnny is the kind of guy whose eyes sometime shine brilliantly, but rarely do anymore. When the wolves had come and taken his brother James, his mother had at first cried and then rarely spoke to Johnny at all. His father, on the other hand, made sure to remind Johnny every night, in a drunken stupor, that he wished it had been Johnny that had been taken and not his brother.

 

For James had been the perfect example of a golden boy. He was outgoing and athletic, quick to do his chores and always ready to give a hand. Their mother had doted over him, while their father was always quick to brag about his favorite son's latest accomplishments.

 

Johnny on the other hand was a daydreamer and slow worker. With practically no social skills, his father had sometimes cruelly joke that when the wolves brought him back, they wouldn't be able to notice a difference.

 

When the wolves had stolen James away instead, even Johnny had been surprised. It had been perfectly natural for everyone to believe that Johnny would be taken and when fate played its cruel joke on them, they were all shocked. Caring for James the last few months of his life had fallen to Johnny, his parents unable to face the empty shell that was their former favorite son.

 

At the present, Johnny remains alone, having moved out of the home of his parents very shortly after his brother's death. He is now living in the spare room of an elderly couple named Morrison and works in the town's stable, caring for horses. Though he has no children of his own to protect, the searing memory of his brother gives him reason enough to hate the wolves.

 

............................................................................

 

OOC: Well, there's my character. I'm afraid i don't know anything about the book this is all based on, so i'm sorry if anything doesn't fit. Some people have some very exotic sounding peasant names and the best i can come up with is James and Johnny. If the names, or anything else, is inappropriate for the story, let me know and i'll change it.

 

and if anyone is interested in playing a love interest with Johnny, or adopting him into their own spare room (i can nix the Morrisons), PM me and we'll figure things out.

[Mynx]

Just wanted to say Savage that for someone who hasn't read the books, this is a fine character

[Savage Dragon]

yea, i'm worried about that

 

every WereWolf game i've played where i really like my character, they usually end up dying in the first round... oh well, guess we'll see

[Patrick]

Quick question while I'm working on a character. Are the twins necessarily of the same gender or can they be different?

[Tanuchan]

Patrick: they can be of different genders, it's only chance so far that all our characters have had same-gender twins

 

Mmm... actually, Mith's character has a roont sister, Zelda - he should be posting his info later today/tomorrow.

 

 

Savage: nice character! Never mind the exotic names, it happened that I had mine in mind for some other purpose, and a bit of searching in those 'baby-names' sites gave me the name of the sister. The children's names came up in a converstation with Mithrandin. If you don't find a love interest or someone to adopt you in a spare room (or even if you do), maybe you want to spend some time every now and then to help Taleena with the triplets? She is in a rather advanced pregnancy, so she'd need some help . PM me if you're interested! (Well, you or anyone else ).

Edited March 1, 2007 by Tanuchan

[Tanuchan]

Just wanted to add a couple links here, with some info on the settting...

Warning for those who haven't read the book - it contains spoilers!!

 

http://www.thedarktower.net/wiki/Main/WolvesOfTheCalla

 

http://www.thedarktower.net/wiki/Main/Terminology

 

 

 

Also, to clarify something (Mynx, I hope you don't mind my adding info... a couple people have asked me about it...)

 

Roont children come back severely mentally handicapped, experience excruciating growing pains that cause them to grow into giants, then die young.

 

Note: This is almost certainly "ruined," pronounced with a heavy dialect.

 

One of each pair of twins between ages 3 and right before puberty are taken by the Wolves each generation or so (23-24 years).

[Mynx]

Tanny you're a lifesaver

Thankee sai

[Mithrandin]

Zeldon Clearwater is 37 year old stubborn fish breeder, like his father before him. Nothing seems to be better than his juicy fish….

 

Zeldon is the male brother, from the second generation of living Clearwater’s. His father aged 71 insists on living alone at the other side of the river in his old house. Her mother died from grieve when his daughter, Zelda, was taken by the wolves at the age of 13 never to see her return roont afterwards. Zelda itself died at the age of 23, after living roont for 10 years, 10 long hard years for the three remaining Clearwaters…

 

Married to Taleena for 4 years, he loves her very much. Nothing seems to be better then her lovely wife…

They have triplets, 2 girls (Iris and Díris) and a boy (Osiris), aged 3, so that makes him pretty much edgy about when will the time come.

 

Zeldon is quite annoyed with Taleena’s younger brother, Luke; the little brat keeps showing up all the time and in the most inappropriate times. He is not that young anyways and keeps visiting his sister.

[Ozymandias]

Tam Cardeen, age 25. Cooper and carpenter. Hasn't spoken or written a word since his twin sister Shelly disappeared during a rainstorm when they were three. They had wandered away when their overworked father had fallen asleep watching them. The elder Cardeen didn't wake until the storm was well under way (the first close thunderclap was what did it), so the search began very late. Tam was found silently clinging for his life to a bush halfway down a ravine that had become a raging river.

 

Shelly was presumed drowned, though no evidence of her fate was ever discovered. Tam has been wordless since, communicating only through gesture and other body or facial language. He remains a clever man, and very astute in architecture. The only point where he seems to show any loss of comprehension or perhaps senses is when confronted with the request to write something. At those points, Tam gives every indication of shutting down emotionally until the request is removed from his immediate attention- unless the request is repeated too often, which at one time landed him a night in jail for punching a traveling salesman.

 

He does not mind any number of yes or no questions, or waiting for folk to decipher his "signing"- usually.

[Patrick]

Joshua Oldwind, 38 years old. When he was 13, his twin sister, Tania, was taken by the wolves. Her loss hit Joshua pretty hard. But no one guessed how hard until Tania was returned exactly on her fourteenth birthday, roont. It happened three days later that Tania was found dead in her bed, her throat slashed open with the bloody knife that was next to her. Joshua was at her side crying. No one ever managed to prove that Joshua had killed his sister, though many suspected. Two years later Joshua became the woodcutter's apprentice, and when three years later the woodcutter died in an accident he took up his mantle. He still lives in town, though has moved out from his parent's place at the age of 18 to live in a small house of his own on the northern outskirts, close to the forest.

[Mynx]

Gah...I'm sorry I've taken so long to get this up and running...

The game will hopefully start this weekend...although some of you still owe me characters...

Here's the current list of players:

• Panther - Freedrick of the Manni - Twin: Samual, alive
• Tanny - Taleena Clearwater - Twin: Taleah, dead
• Finnius - Luke Carpenter - Twin: Duke, alive
• Savage Dragon - Johnny Drumwoode - Twin: James, dead
• Mithrandin - Zeldon Clearwater - Twin: Zelda, dead
• Ozy - Tam Cardeen - Twin: Shelly, dead?
• Patrick - Joshua Oldwind - Twin: Tania, dead
• Gryphon - Travis Reid - Twin: Terry, alive
• Phoenix - Sialla Reblen - Twin: Sial, alive
• Mardrax - Bill Marsh - Twin: Henry, dead

And now for a little more development on the story...

(The following excerpt takes place before Callahan finds the ka-tet)

'Andy,' he said.

'Yes!' Andy said, smiling. 'Andy, your friend! Back from a goodish wander and at your full service. Would you like your horoscope, sai Tian? It is Full Earth. The moon is red, what is called the Huntress Moon in Mid-World that was. A friend will call! Business affairs prosper! You will have two ideas, one good and one bad-'

'The bad one was coming out here to turn this field,' Tian said. 'Never mind my goddam horoscope, Andy. Why are you here?'

Andy's smile probably could not become troubled - he was a robot, after all, the last one in Calla Bryn Sturgis or for miles and wheels around - but to Tian it seemed to grow troubled, just the same. The robot looked like a young child's stick-figure of an adult, impossibly tall and impossibly thin. His legs and arms were silvery. His head was a stainless-steel barrel with electric eyes. His body, no more than a cylinder, was gold. Stamped in the middle - what would have been a man's chest - was this legend:

NORTH CENTRAL POSITRONICS, LTD

IN ASSOCIATION WITH LaMERK INDUSTRIES

PRESENTS

ANDY

Design: MESSENGER (Many Other Functions)

Serial # DNF-44821-V-63

Why or how this silly thing had survived when all the rest of the robots were gone - gone for generations - Tian neither knew nor cared. You were apt to see him anywhere in the Calla (he would not venture beyond its borders) striding on his impossibly thin silver legs, looking everywhere, occassionally clicking to himself as he stored (or perhaps purged - who knew?) information. He sang songs, passed on gossip and rumour from one end of town to the other - a tireless walker was Andy the Messenger Robot - and seemed to enjoy the giving of horoscopes above all things, although there was general agreement in the village that they meant little.

He had one other funciton, however, and that meant much.

'Why are ye here, ye bag of bolts and beams? Answer me! Is it the Wolves? Are they coming from Thunderclap?'

Tian stood there looking up into Andy's stupid smiling metal face, the sweat growing cold on his skin, praying with all his might that the foolish thing would say no, then offer to tell his horoscope again, or perhaps to sing 'The Green Corn A-Dayo,' all twenty or thirty verses.

But all Andy said, still smiling, was: 'Yes, sai.'

Andy is yet another character I will be using to try and weave this story, as well as Roland and his ka-tet. I will try not to spoil too much of the story for those of you who have yet to read the books but have intention to, so I will be trying to use these characters in close relation to as they are used in the book, but there may be cause for deviations...we shall see I suppose... Edited March 11, 2007 by Mynx

[Gryphon]

Travis Reid - once a bright playful youngster brother of Terry Reid who was the quiet, less reliable twin.

 

When Terry was taken their parents guiltily breathed a sigh of relief, but they did so too soon.

 

Travis changed, almost from the moment his twin was taken, a change that only turned to the worse when Terry was returned.

 

Now years later, Travis has a poor reputation around the farmstead - sullen, typically late to work, argumentative even when given the simplest jobs to do with a violent streak that has earned him more than his fair share of unwarranted fights with other locals.

 

These days those that know the Travis and Terry whisper that it would have been better if it were Travis that had been taken, including their parents - but only in guilty whispers...