Red Rose

OOC: Me and Anr came up with a very funny idea yesterday and this will be the results of two great minds at work - a comical, but epic join-in, in the name of Banor. Very suitable for both seasoned roleplayers and people who wish to learn! Don't be afraid - join us!

I'm going to exaggerate things, just to make it a bit more comical. Also I'm taking the freedom to control Anr's character in the first post to get things going. I hope you don't mind! (Just telling you guys this, since this is someting you normally don't do when roleplaying.)

Quoted from Sir Balder's "An Inspiration to Roleplaying"-thread:

3) Join-Ins: In the forum, you can take part in a story that is yet to unfold! By each new post, by one of the participants, the story may take a whole new and unexpected turn. This is a very very good way of getting to know your own character better, as well as others’. Also, it gives you a chance to experience things that you might not be able to in-game, for one reason or another. It is very inspiring to use what others have written before, and then incorporate your own character in the story. As a beginner, it may feel more comfortable to start out within, say, our own guild. Here you have only friends, and we will only encourage and come with tips – no risk for trolling. Remember that we all have to try out new things and learn by our experience, noone is perfect in the beginning, or even after a long time.

The Avengers of Banor
(This awesome picture is a mix of the cover of 'Streets of Fire' and Avenlia Silvershade's photoshop skills!)
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Meriado was standing in the depot of Thais. He was just standing there, day dreaming, after a long day of trading. He was thinking of going to Frodo's for an ale, but the suddenly he heard a cry of dismay from the floor above. He thought he recognized the voice and ran up to see what had happened.

There stood Anr, trembling, with a book in her hand. She was pale as a ghost and looked as terrified as can be.

"Anr! What's wrong?" said Meriado, with a worried voice. "What kind of book is that?".

"Oh, Meriado... how glad I am to see a you! Only a follower of Banor could understand how terrible this is - look!" she cried and handed over the book to Meriado.

He took the book and looked at it. After a moment a fury grew in his eyes, as if they were lightened up by some righteous fire.

"What kind of evil is this?!" he said with a strong and fearsome voice which would make any evil creature tremble with fear.

"The beloved messengers of Banor - on a MENU?!". His voice thundered throughout the depot.

This is what was read in the book:

This week's specials:


* Hot dog (real dog-meat! no fake!)
* Chien chaud a la Trolloise
* Pizza dog e salmone
* Doggi Goreng
* Doggenwurst with Sauerkraut
* Dog Suey
* T-Bone Dog

"Where did you find this book, Anr?" he said, now with a calm, but stern voice.

"I found it out in the woods, east of here. I think it might belong to the trolls" Anr answered.

Meriado smelled the book and said "Argh, it smells like trolls for sure..."

"We have to avenge the messengers of Banor! A crime such as this can't stand unpunished! Towards the troll caves, Anr!" he cried, once again with a strong and commanding voice. The righteous fury burned in his eyes.

He picked up shield and sword and ran towards the east gate.

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OOC: So, this is a JOIN-IN and this means that anyone can join the story. Just find a way to join us on our adventure - perhaps someone is sitting at Frodo's, fishing at the gate, picking flowers in the forest and sees us running by and decides to join us. The only limit is your imagination!

OOC: Great! thanks for starting the join-in Meri.. and I hope more people take part on this story, it will be fun!



I looked back in time to see a part of Meriado's armor, before he turned the corner and left the depot .. A few minutes back I had showed him the horrible book that the trolls seemed to praise, it was like a freak dog killing show. It was a disgusting offense to our god Banor, and Meriado and me had decided we would show that race a lesson.

Meriado was leaving to Thais east's gate and I had told him I would meet him in a few minutes.
I ran to my peaceful house close to the west gate of Thais and took a long breath, I knew that within a short time I'd be on battle, and this would be another of those rare occasions in my life (I never liked blood spilling).

"Okay, woman, time to get ready for battle" I told myself

I left my backpack on the floor and tied up my long almost-white hair in a ponytail. I took my precious tiara off and stored it safely in my room's trunk, before fixing my potions belt around my waist. I filled my backpack with a rope, a shovel and several runes that I could use. I grabbed a parchment and wrote a quick letter to my husband before leaving the house, without looking back.

"WARRIORS SEEKING BATTLE, GOLD AND GLORY, JOIN ME IN A WAR AGAINST THE TROLLS.. IN BANOR'S NAME" I shout as I ran through the streets of Thais, mounting my loyal Blazebringer.

I sighted Meriado as I was getting closer to the east gate of the town, and from far away I could see the glimpse of madness in his eyes. I stopped by him and we stared at each other for a second. No word was spoken, but we knew we had the same feeling burning deep in our souls, Revenge..

.. we nodded to each other and started walking into the wilderness, the battle was about to start.

OOC: Hope i can join

Visiting my old friend Marvik at Thais Druid's Guild, i heard some people screaming.

Mild: Marvik, please, give me that awesome elixir fast. I'm curious to know what is going on.
Marvik: Probably some girl are in danger, can you smell that? Looks like a girl's parfum or something.
Mild: True, that smell is not strange to me.
Marvik: Not to me neither, must be a pretty girl.
Mild: Or...
Marvik: or?
Mild: MERIADO!!! It's Meriado, i'm sure.
Marvik: That is not a girl's name.
Mild: It's not, it's a good old friend, some odd habits i must add.
Marvik: Here you are, your elixir.
Mild: Thanks alot Marvik, now if you don't mind, i going to meet him to know what is going on. I pay you later!
Marvik: No, must pay now....
Marvik: HEY...

And so i left Marvik's place and went to the east gate, but i was late. I saw Meriado and Anr running in the direction of a troll hideout. So i decided to follow.

They were pretty slow, i was able to catch halfway to the cave entrance.

They was somehow surprised to see me. I simply said hello and we started walking again.

On the way they explained me the reason of all this while i wiped the dust out of my shine sword.

... was ready for some blood...

Meriado and Anr was joined by Mild who came running after them in his shining armor.

"Hail, Warrior of Banor! Times of revenge is upon us!" said Meriado and started to explain what had happened.

Afterwards he set the others down in a glade, behind some trees. Meriado, who was a seasoned warrior (even though, it was now long ago since he was last out on a grand adventure), knew that rushing head-first into the headquarters of the enemy is often a bad idea and so he decided to make up an attack plan.

"Bravery should always be accompanied by wisdom and not replaced by foolishness" he said to the others. When they looked upon him, the sun shone through the trees upon his face. He looked old and kind of weary, but still, when he stood upright like this one could see all the wisdom he'd gained throughout his life. It could be seen in his eyes, in his dark/grey beard and hair and in all the marks of battle visible on his body.

"We will make up an attack-plan and our goal is to avenge the poor messengers that has already been eaten, but also save any imprisoned ones - the kitchen is where we're heading!" he said with a serious look on his face.

They heard someone or some people coming into the glade from behind... could it be more Followers of Banor?

OOC: Wonderful writing everyone! Keep going like this! I'm looking forward to see where you're going with that, Chikilina!

For those who does not know - OOC = "Out of Character" and BIC means "Back In Character"

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BIC: Meriado had not heard what Mild and the mysterious man had discussed, but somehow he made them take him along into the cave! The trolls didn't seem to have much say in the matter, but rather seemed to obey the words of the funny-dressed man.

"Well, even though Mild was careless to just run in like that, it actually turned out pretty good" Meriado said to Anr.

"Lets try to follow them"

And so they did - they sneaked behind bushes and kept a safe distance. They didn't want to blow Mild's cover, whatever it was.

After a while Mild and his new-found companions entered the cave.

"We can't follow them that way, but I'm pretty sure there are other ways to enter the cave" Meriado said and looked at Anr.

"They seldom have very structured homes" he said and chuckled.

"Lets go around that cliff and try to enter it from the back" he said and pointed towards a cliff not far from their location.

I woke up alone in a dark cave-complex. I was dizzy, confused about my whereabouts and I had no recollection of how I actually got there or anything at all.
I thought to myself
"Where am I and how did I get here?

There really was no answer to the question. I fumbled and stumbled in the dark trying to find my hat, only to find that it was missing the most important accessory: the peacock-feather!
I immediately realized that something very odd had happened. So I got myself together and ventured out of the cave. I could finally see the morning sun, peeping into the cave with its distant rays of light. My eyes wobbled and it took them a good while to get used to the light.
"How long have I been down here, and what has been going on?" I thought to myself.

Out of nowhere, a familiar face showed up. He was an old man with a grey beard and a very fancy cane, but I still had no clue who the man was. He greeted me as if we were good friends.
Still confused, I asked him to identify himself.
"Tell me, old man. Who are you and where am I?"
The old man slowly sat himself down on a steady rock, with his decorated cane resting in his lap. He looked at me as if to say something, but then sighed and looked down into the ground.
"Who I am is not important, son. What is important is protecting the messengers of God. he said, and paused again...

The confusion grew as did my curiosity. I knew he was referring to dogs, but what about them? And why do they need protection?
The old man looked at me with anger and sorrow in his eyes.
"We must protect the dogs! The trolls are growing in numbers and their conviction is foul and a direct threat to all followers of Banor!" he said.
I had spent most of my days inside the safe walls of Thais, occasionally visiting other big cities. But I have spent little time in the woods as I had been told it's very dangerous for people with my beliefs and had heard horror-stories about trolls eating children among other things. I had always assumed this was just exagerated stories to fill my young mind with fear and doubt to keep me from getting lost in the wild forests.

"So tell me, old man. What is the conviction of these trolls you speak of? I asked him.
"-The trolls have been roaming these forests for a long time... but for the first time ever, they have embraced the evil ways of Zathroth the Destroyer." he said, with a glimpse of panic in his eyes.
"-The trolls... worship Zathr..." and before I could finish my question he quickly replied
"-Yes! It seems they have become an organized group of decieving followers of Zathroth! This means they work against the will of Banor and are attempting to dissolve the nowadays secular belief in Banor by silencing his messengers and sacrificing them to Zathroth in ancient rituals..."

My heart was immediately filled with rage and distaste. My memory was slowly coming back to me...
"How did I end up here - and where is "here"?" I asked the man.
"-I found you unconscious and hurt in the Green Claw swamps. I was trying to get information on what the trolls next move might be when I heard a tremendous scream. I quickly ran there only to find you surrounded by grim trolls just waiting to take a bite on you. I cast a magic spell which scared the trolls off and I brought you back to my safe nest in Outlaw Camp."
I remembered how I had been collecting mushrooms in the swamps, as I often do. I had a vague recollection of the old man putting me on the back of his horse and sporadically waking up in panic and sweat screaming in agony. The man pointed to my stomach and I pulled up the shirt... only to find a big, sewed together, sore across vital organs. I had been sedated and healed with the power of nature; the old man was a druid with the ability to heal and I noticed how the cave was filled with roots, herbs, mushrooms and other organic things I had never seen before.

I paused for a second and with a shaky voice I asked him:
"-So that means the trolls are again hunting down humans?"
"-Not precisely" The old man said. He continued explaining...
"-They are merely being used as tools of the human worshippers of Zathroth! They have embraced their ways and are looking to gain power as they had in the past."

I quickly realized this was a very serious problem and all I could think about was getting home as fast as possible to warn my friends, and to use all of my power and connections to stop this horrendous uprising. I was worried about my fellow roses. Are they safe? Are they aware of the luring dangers of the woods?
And to my surprise I asked myself a question I had never had any doubts about before...

"Has Banor forsaken us?"

I told the old man that we must leave in a hurry. I said
"Bring everything you could possibly need. We must go to Thais right now!"
The old man agreed, and told me that he had already packed everything and that two horses are outside of the cave waiting for us.
We started venturing towards Thais. Never before had I been so anxious to see my fellow Roses.

In the surrounding forests of Thais, the old man suddenly stopped and told me to be quiet.
"Silence! Do you hear that?" he said.
I could hear human voices whispering. "We must warn them!" I said and the old man concurred...

Fearing unexpected company from trolls, we sneaked up to the humans and covered by a bush we had a clear view of them. I made a whistling sound to let them know about our presence. The pair turned around and to my surprise it was my fellow roses Anr and Meriado...

"What happened to my hat, where is my beloved feather?" was the first thing I said...

OOC: I'm no good with roleplaying stories I guess, but I gave it a shot and it seems fun! It's going to be interesting to see where this story leads...