The year is 1322.
Three unforgiving winters have passed since your village was razed. The borderlands between civilization and the oppressive hand of the goblins' realm grow ever more dangerous as the Empire tightens its grip. Monsters and renegades are pushed ever further south, into the wild stretch of rocky foothills and scrubland that you now call home. Soon there won't be room for free folk like you, just trying to survive. The time has come to either flee... or fight back.
You are a salamander, one of the last still living free here on the borderlands. Though you were born and raised among a tribe of hunters, your people carried the stories -- and the pride -- of an ancient folk. One that once conquered all that dared challenge them, claiming victories by the might of fire and sword. Those days are long past; your ancestors built but one of the dozens of kingdoms to rise and fall here, ground to dust by the passage of time. Yet ruins still remain, and with them, relics of the past.
Relics, and knowledge. Knowledge of the blade and flame, the spell-blade's art that made all the world tremble in your predecessors' shadows. It is for this forgotten lore that you now quest...
The stars are out in force tonight, peering down on a cool autumn evening. The smells of cooked meat suffuse your little campsite, radiating around the burning embers still alight in your firepit. From your reclining seat against the base of an old oak tree, you can just make out the shadowy outline of the ruins on the hilltop. A single stone tower stands erect in the distance, thrusting into the sky amid crumbling walls and palisades. This was once the seat of your ancestors' power, the fortress that played home to the legendary Blackscale Queen and her unparalleled sorcerer-knights.
You'd always taken it as an auspicious sign that you were born with the mythic queen's colors, dark of scale and bronze of skin. Now, though, it seems like fate. With luck, you'll soon find the tomes of war-magic that brought her victory time and time again. All you need to do is brave the ruins, navigate the deep dungeons underneath, and face the deadly traps and monsters that yet guard the keep's ruins.
Taking a breath to calm your nerves, you run a hand along the haft of your spear, planted in the ground beside you. Crude though it be, it's seen you through thick and thin so far. The weapon's mere presence reassures you, though still your chest rises unsteadily beneath the sheer cloth robes pulled tight around your body, and the mail bustier that hugs your chest. Sleep promises not to come easily tonight...
Before you can even make the attempt, though, you hear a crash from somewhere nearby. You grab your spear, leaping to your feet. Branches crack and pop somewhere in the darkness, like something huge has fallen through the treetops... and a moment later, you hear something like a scream.
No, definitely a scream. A woman's; terrified.
((Oh boy here we go! As said, I'm not 100% sure on how to take actions for this, so for now: vote in the polls above. Leave comments and votes below to add in modifiers, twists, and other suggestions to layer on top of the basic options if you want. This post is a little longer than normal thanks to the intro bit and the appearance screen below; sorry! I'll be attaching a very brief character sheet at the end of each successive post, but for now, have Remi's appearance and baseline stats. She's a tough cookie, and both quick-witted and quick on her feet, it seems.
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