RE: The Search for Santinal
05-18-2012, 09:43 PM
(This post was last modified: 05-26-2012, 05:41 AM by Dragon Fogel.)
Username: Dragon Fogel
Name: Elliot Mudwood and Slort
Race: Human and Larconean Parasite, respectively
Gender: Male and Female, respectively
Text Color: #C05A70
Biography:
The Sangsaxian Kingdoms are home to numerous guilds, of varying degrees of prestige. There are guilds for warriors, guilds for mages, guilds for poets, for painters, for engineers, for explorers, even for thieves.
And Elliot Mudwood knew the names of more guilds than anyone else, due to the sheer number he had been refused entry to. At the Fighter's Guild, he could barely lift his practice sword; at the Wizard's Guild, the only spell he had been able to cast was one to turn a frog into a toad. In the Thieves' Guild, he hadn't even been able to pick his own pocket, and the Poet's Guild had been so offended by his verse that they passed a bylaw that his exploits couldn't even be mentioned in poems.
It was the same story everywhere. Regardless, Elliot persevered, certain that there was some guild where he could make a name for himself.
And then he stumbled upon the Checking Out Things That Fall Out Of The Sky Guild.
Their task was rather simple, though not in high demand; on occasion, something strange would fall out of the sky, and the Guild would send someone to take a look at it and find out whether it was safe.
The Guild's membership largely consisted of the sort of people who wouldn't think too hard about what it meant for them if the thing from the sky wasn't safe. And among this group, Elliot was exceptional.
The Guild's clerk was honestly surprised when Elliot asked what the entrance test was; they hadn't ever actually given one. The surprise soon passed, however, when the clerk realized that the key difference between "a test" and "a job" was that you were only obligated to pay for the latter.
Half an hour later, Elliot was wandering the fields outside town trying to find the thing that had fallen from the sky. He stared at the crude map he had drawn from his attempt to join the Cartographer's Guild that morning, and realized that it would have been much easier if he had written "The thing that fell out of the sky" on it somewhere.
Unfortunately, he had no pen. So when he saw something that looked like a small house, only made of metal and burning, he decided to knock on the door and ask if they had a pen he could borrow.
The small creature that popped out didn't answer him for a while. It looked around with its single eye, and stared at Elliot as if waiting for him to explain something.
Then it jumped at him. Elliot wasn't entirely sure what happened next, he just has vague memories of a haze of pain and then he had tentacles and an eye sticking out of his shoulder.
"Hello, transport-creature," the eye suddenly said. "I am Slort of Larconea, and I have come to learn more about this planet. How many creditoids of compensation will you require for carrying me to a local civilization?"
Elliot was understandably confused, but after a short conversation, he came to realize that she was essentially offering him money to take her back to town. Since they didn't accept "creditoids" here as far as he knew, she agreed to help him out with some odd jobs in order to pay for her fare.
Over the next day or so, Slort explained that she wanted to study the culture of the world by visiting every city and taking notes. She was confused by the fact that nobody else seemed to be willing to serve as a host for her, so she decided to stay with Elliot; his rates weren't that unreasonable, and the work she did to pay her way was also quite informative.
After several months of travelling, Elliot had taken her to every city in the Sangsaxian Kingdoms. Once her study had concluded, he very politely asked if she was done now.
"No, not just yet" she told him. "There's still that one city we haven't been to."
"One city?" Elliot asked, confused. He took out his crude map of the countryside and looked over it; he'd been to every city on there. "I was pretty sure we visited them all."
"No, you missed one. I'm not sure where it is, but from what I heard about it, it sounds far too interesting to pass up. I can't go back home until I've seen it."
"Which city is it?"
"I think they called it Santinal."
Elliot tried his best not to groan out loud. If he wanted his body to himself again, he'd have to guide Slort there.
Description:
Elliot is a boy of about fifteen, wearing unimpressive peasant clothing and thick boots. He's a little short for his age, and somewhat scrawny. He's got short and curly brown hair. All in all, he looks rather nondescript aside from the two pinkish-purple tentacles sticking out below his arms and the similarly-colored eyestalk growing out of his shoulder.
Said tentacles and eyestalk actually belong to Slort, who has made Elliot's body her new home until she's ready to go back to Larconea and report on her findings. Were she removed from him, she would look like a small pinkish-purple octopus with a single eye on a stalk.
Elliot is highly adventurous and optimistic, but ultimately not particularly competent at anything. He'd like his body to himself again, but Slort's a polite enough guest that he doesn't want to just kick her out. Besides, he's enjoyed seeing the world, plus she's good at paying for her space.
Slort, for her part, is very friendly and curious. She's taken a great interest in the culture of the Sangsaxian Kingdoms, and constantly directs Elliot at locales she'd particularly like to take a closer look at. This has a tendency to include the sort of places Elliot would avoid if he knew better. She doesn't quite understand the local culture or Elliot's discomfort with hosting her - the other intelligent species on Larconea are used to parasites, and she still has difficulty understanding that the local species generally aren't the same way.
Slort frequently talks, but to anyone except Elliot, it tends to come out as a series of incomprehensible squeaks and gurgles. Elliot, however, can understand her perfectly, and is a bit confused when somebody else can't.
Neither of them is particularly violent. Unfortunately, neither of them is particularly good at staying out of dangerous situations, either.
Inventory and Abilities:
Elliot has few abilities other than a boundless optimism and a desire. He does have a variety of miscellaneous minor skills he acquired from his days of guild applications; these talents include making maps that only he can read, turning frogs into toads, and writing the world's worst poetry.
Slort is quite intelligent, but most of her knowledge is based on how things work on Larconea. As such, a fair amount of it isn't so applicable on a planet with different species and cultures, and even though Slort's objective is to learn about the local culture, there are a lot of details that don't quite stick.
Slort has full control of her tentacles and eyestalk, and she can also grow temporary structures on Elliot's body and control those, as well. She can't really do anything with the body parts Elliot already has, however. If he falls unconscious, all she can do is wiggle her tentacles and eyestalk or hop out of his body and look for a new host. However, she's far too polite to force herself on a host; she only did that with Elliot because she assumed he was a transport. If she does ever shift bodies, she'll ask first, and she'll always offer to pay her way. She's used to Elliot's body, however, so if she uses anyone else's it will most likely be temporary.
Slort's tentacles are quite strong, and she could potentially crush someone with them, but she's not the violent type. They can also produce ink, at a rate which Slort can control; she can make a small stream and effectively use a tentacle as a pen, or she can unleash a large spray of ink if that suits her needs.
Slort's single eye can see some things that Elliot can't, but she doesn't have good depth perception with it; still, she's able to either borrow his eyes or let him borrow hers. Elliot generally doesn't look through her eye if he can help it, however, because it tends to give him a headache.
Name: Elliot Mudwood and Slort
Race: Human and Larconean Parasite, respectively
Gender: Male and Female, respectively
Text Color: #C05A70
Biography:
The Sangsaxian Kingdoms are home to numerous guilds, of varying degrees of prestige. There are guilds for warriors, guilds for mages, guilds for poets, for painters, for engineers, for explorers, even for thieves.
And Elliot Mudwood knew the names of more guilds than anyone else, due to the sheer number he had been refused entry to. At the Fighter's Guild, he could barely lift his practice sword; at the Wizard's Guild, the only spell he had been able to cast was one to turn a frog into a toad. In the Thieves' Guild, he hadn't even been able to pick his own pocket, and the Poet's Guild had been so offended by his verse that they passed a bylaw that his exploits couldn't even be mentioned in poems.
It was the same story everywhere. Regardless, Elliot persevered, certain that there was some guild where he could make a name for himself.
And then he stumbled upon the Checking Out Things That Fall Out Of The Sky Guild.
Their task was rather simple, though not in high demand; on occasion, something strange would fall out of the sky, and the Guild would send someone to take a look at it and find out whether it was safe.
The Guild's membership largely consisted of the sort of people who wouldn't think too hard about what it meant for them if the thing from the sky wasn't safe. And among this group, Elliot was exceptional.
The Guild's clerk was honestly surprised when Elliot asked what the entrance test was; they hadn't ever actually given one. The surprise soon passed, however, when the clerk realized that the key difference between "a test" and "a job" was that you were only obligated to pay for the latter.
Half an hour later, Elliot was wandering the fields outside town trying to find the thing that had fallen from the sky. He stared at the crude map he had drawn from his attempt to join the Cartographer's Guild that morning, and realized that it would have been much easier if he had written "The thing that fell out of the sky" on it somewhere.
Unfortunately, he had no pen. So when he saw something that looked like a small house, only made of metal and burning, he decided to knock on the door and ask if they had a pen he could borrow.
The small creature that popped out didn't answer him for a while. It looked around with its single eye, and stared at Elliot as if waiting for him to explain something.
Then it jumped at him. Elliot wasn't entirely sure what happened next, he just has vague memories of a haze of pain and then he had tentacles and an eye sticking out of his shoulder.
"Hello, transport-creature," the eye suddenly said. "I am Slort of Larconea, and I have come to learn more about this planet. How many creditoids of compensation will you require for carrying me to a local civilization?"
Elliot was understandably confused, but after a short conversation, he came to realize that she was essentially offering him money to take her back to town. Since they didn't accept "creditoids" here as far as he knew, she agreed to help him out with some odd jobs in order to pay for her fare.
Over the next day or so, Slort explained that she wanted to study the culture of the world by visiting every city and taking notes. She was confused by the fact that nobody else seemed to be willing to serve as a host for her, so she decided to stay with Elliot; his rates weren't that unreasonable, and the work she did to pay her way was also quite informative.
After several months of travelling, Elliot had taken her to every city in the Sangsaxian Kingdoms. Once her study had concluded, he very politely asked if she was done now.
"No, not just yet" she told him. "There's still that one city we haven't been to."
"One city?" Elliot asked, confused. He took out his crude map of the countryside and looked over it; he'd been to every city on there. "I was pretty sure we visited them all."
"No, you missed one. I'm not sure where it is, but from what I heard about it, it sounds far too interesting to pass up. I can't go back home until I've seen it."
"Which city is it?"
"I think they called it Santinal."
Elliot tried his best not to groan out loud. If he wanted his body to himself again, he'd have to guide Slort there.
Description:
Elliot is a boy of about fifteen, wearing unimpressive peasant clothing and thick boots. He's a little short for his age, and somewhat scrawny. He's got short and curly brown hair. All in all, he looks rather nondescript aside from the two pinkish-purple tentacles sticking out below his arms and the similarly-colored eyestalk growing out of his shoulder.
Said tentacles and eyestalk actually belong to Slort, who has made Elliot's body her new home until she's ready to go back to Larconea and report on her findings. Were she removed from him, she would look like a small pinkish-purple octopus with a single eye on a stalk.
Elliot is highly adventurous and optimistic, but ultimately not particularly competent at anything. He'd like his body to himself again, but Slort's a polite enough guest that he doesn't want to just kick her out. Besides, he's enjoyed seeing the world, plus she's good at paying for her space.
Slort, for her part, is very friendly and curious. She's taken a great interest in the culture of the Sangsaxian Kingdoms, and constantly directs Elliot at locales she'd particularly like to take a closer look at. This has a tendency to include the sort of places Elliot would avoid if he knew better. She doesn't quite understand the local culture or Elliot's discomfort with hosting her - the other intelligent species on Larconea are used to parasites, and she still has difficulty understanding that the local species generally aren't the same way.
Slort frequently talks, but to anyone except Elliot, it tends to come out as a series of incomprehensible squeaks and gurgles. Elliot, however, can understand her perfectly, and is a bit confused when somebody else can't.
Neither of them is particularly violent. Unfortunately, neither of them is particularly good at staying out of dangerous situations, either.
Inventory and Abilities:
Elliot has few abilities other than a boundless optimism and a desire. He does have a variety of miscellaneous minor skills he acquired from his days of guild applications; these talents include making maps that only he can read, turning frogs into toads, and writing the world's worst poetry.
Slort is quite intelligent, but most of her knowledge is based on how things work on Larconea. As such, a fair amount of it isn't so applicable on a planet with different species and cultures, and even though Slort's objective is to learn about the local culture, there are a lot of details that don't quite stick.
Slort has full control of her tentacles and eyestalk, and she can also grow temporary structures on Elliot's body and control those, as well. She can't really do anything with the body parts Elliot already has, however. If he falls unconscious, all she can do is wiggle her tentacles and eyestalk or hop out of his body and look for a new host. However, she's far too polite to force herself on a host; she only did that with Elliot because she assumed he was a transport. If she does ever shift bodies, she'll ask first, and she'll always offer to pay her way. She's used to Elliot's body, however, so if she uses anyone else's it will most likely be temporary.
Slort's tentacles are quite strong, and she could potentially crush someone with them, but she's not the violent type. They can also produce ink, at a rate which Slort can control; she can make a small stream and effectively use a tentacle as a pen, or she can unleash a large spray of ink if that suits her needs.
Slort's single eye can see some things that Elliot can't, but she doesn't have good depth perception with it; still, she's able to either borrow his eyes or let him borrow hers. Elliot generally doesn't look through her eye if he can help it, however, because it tends to give him a headache.