#road encounter

[dailyadventureprompts]

Encounter: Tossup on the Tollroad

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Setup: The party are travelling either by themselves or as guards for some caravan, making their way along an old road widely known to have fallen into disrepair thanks to the local lord's mismanagement.

What a surprise then when the party approach an old fortified toll house and discover it garrisoned with troops in the lord's livery, who are now expecting them to pay exorbitant fees for the privilege of crossing into the lord's domain.

The toll collectors are beligerant and one or two even appear drunk. Not paying their toll ads days, maybe weeks to the party's journey, and crossing overland will not only be slow going, but dangerous, as monsters have been known to be creeping back into the region from the wilderness (again, due to the lord's mismanagement).

Challenges & Complications:

Plenty of folks call tollgates "highway robbery" but in this instance it's far more literal. The garrison are infact a group of bandits who have laid their hands on some of his soldier's uniforms, or fashioned crude imitations. The ones interacting with the party have mostly legitimate looking outfits, but those standing back have increasingly flimsy disguises which a perceptive character might notice.

The bandits demand to inspect packs and cargo for "contraband" as a means of seeing whether the party is worth robbing beyond paying their hiked up crossing fee. If one of them finds something good, they make a quick signal to the ones on the battlements which tells them to drop the portcullis after the travellers are through, cutting off their escape before launching their attack.

More than a couple merchants have fallen victim to the ruse already, and the party may notice the their wagons and pack animals tucked away, some of the former showing signs of struggle. The contents of these wagons are sitting inside the fortress waiting to be fenced, meaning a party that defeats the bandits may have stumbled into a small fortune of trade goods, as well as mementos, messages in need of delivery. My advice is to cram this treasure-drop full of quest hooks.

Selling the goods may get the party accused of banditry themselves, turning a potential payday into a brush with the law.

[downfalldestiny]

Elegant 🐎 !.

[okjii]

the last time “partner” was used with as much chemistry, sexual and romantic overtones, and overall Gayness as Jayvik have was whatever the hell Tulio and Miguel had going on in the Road to El Dorado

[normasshearer]

A newspaperman I know, who was stationed in London during the war, says tourists go to England with preconceived notions, so they always find exactly what they go looking for. I told him I'd go looking for the England of English literature. And he said, "Then, it's there."

84 CHARING CROSS ROAD 1987, dir. David Jones

[babylon38ad]

Close Encounters

[eyesore-boi]

"WISH I COULD SAY SOMEONE'S/NO ONE'S THERE!"

Yeah yeah yeah "FNAF MOVIE COMING OUT OCTOBER 27TH!!" Yeah that may be happening for you, but for me...the original t r u e FNaF movie already came out in 2 0 1 6

Just joking of course i aM MORE THAN FUCKING EXCITED FOR FNAF MOVIE DJAKSBS WE HAVE BEEN WAITING Y E A R S - So I figured to celebrate such an accomplishment i have decided to...not actually draw anything from the movie yet but instead the "movie" we all had as a substitute: FNaF the Musical!

I still absolutely adore this thing, rewatching it while drawing this piece just blasted me in the face with nostalgia the whole way through, and was just a real fun time seeing these YouTubers all collectivly go crazy in their own ways all just for some p u p p e t s -

And also aaaah back then when making FNaF kid friendly wasn't the norm......cough cough security breach >:[

But for real, this was a real fun one to do! Been experimenting with lighting and shading A LOT recently which i think is good, fun to try the simpler designs of the "animatronics" (tho Mat honestly was fun i still remember that shitty bear costume front to b a c k -), haven't drawn Nate before, and Mark...god REALLY trippy drawing him with red hair again hhHnnDHSKSN-

But yeah, all and all, finally posting more of art, real hyped for the movie (planning to watch it on Halloween with some friends...while in my Warfstache cosplays hohoho-), and who knows! Maybe the movie will spark my motivation with...other things...

So with that cryptic ending i abruptly leave...just like how FNaF does hAHAHA G O D THE LORE IS IN S H A M B L E S -

[thegreatyin]

I AM SO DELIGHTED THANKS. there is literally no greater honor than having one's made up freak get mistaken for a canon character

[throughpatchesofviolet]

Another package came in!! This time, it's the Valentine's merch I pre-ordered, last month (the Meursaults are for @magicbulletego; the Heathcliffs are for me).

Close ups of my Heathcliffs under the cut!

He's so cuuuute!! Cannot believe the seller (@/yuurils on Etsy, or @/chesedfever on Twitter) gave out the whole mini sticker set as freebies--I love all of them so much ... the cuties ...

[taamlok]

as if today couldn't get better my best friend who's playing veilguard for the first time right now wants to romance harding

[dailyadventureprompts]

Ally: Embry & Asher of the Royal Commission

artsource

It's a lonely life being a cartographer in service to the crown, but Embry Mharkos wouldn't trade it for anything. Tasked with sketching out the region's peaks, river systems, and outlying settlements, he'll gladly join the party for a chance to see the sights. In addition to picking up the bill for provisions and pointing them towards points of gossip,  Embry will take over the logistics of running the party’s camp and use his geographical knowledge to help plan routes through the wilds.

Before you ask, yes, the dog has guild accreditation. What are you going to do about it? In reality, Embry used to travel with a man named Ashar, a senior surveyor and rather unplesant drunk who fudged his findings and took a rather predictable fall off a cliff after failing to secure his belaying line. Embry was just going to report his death to the commission field office when a random stray began following him through town. Thinking about all the provisions TWO paychecks could provide, he claimed to be taking over paperwork for his old partner and started forging Ashar's already illegible signature. He doesn't really think of it as lying, Asher's been with him far longer than the old man was, and he makes for a much better conversation.

Adventure Hooks:

Knowing the party for the dungeon delving thrillseekers they are, one of the first places the cartographer is going to point them towards one of the most impressive local delves: The skeleton of an ancient dragon half impaled on the peaks of a nearby mountain.

There's an isolated settlement of orcs Embry has wanted to make contact with for a while, since they've had decades to map the territory's outermost wilderness. Sadly last time he got close he made a rather bad impression on one of their hunting parties, who thought his scouting the precursor to some kind of attack on their territory. Perhaps the party can help him smooth things out, maybe by making some kind of gift to the village elders?

One night Asher starts barking and making a general racket, going as far as to drag one of the party out of their tent by the sleeping bag before running off into the darkness. The source of his distress? The distant cries of a fellow traveller bound to the trunk of a tree, left to die of exposure by a cult operating out of a nearby village. Asher was nearly sacrificed by the cult when he was a pup, and has gained a sixth sense when it comes to detecting their influence.

After the party have gotten to know him a bit (or gotten nosey with the coded letters he's always writing in addition to his usual map sketches), he'll reveal to them that he's been on a secret mission the entire time they've known him: In addition to his duties as a surveyor, Embry is an agent of the local marquess, who's convinced her husband is involved in some kind of scheme and sent him along with a few others to investigate. More than a few of the rumours he's had them check out were pretenses to this spycraft,

[pastelshroomsbasement]

warning uh.. spoilers.////

what I absolutely love about Thousand Autumns is how just bc Yan Wushi suddenly started acting differently to Shen Qiao (positively), Shen Qiao was still so cautious and mentions the betrayal and other things Yan Wushi did to him to warrant his inability to believe what Yan Wushi says to him bc while I was reading all that, that was all I could think too and I couldnt accept Yan Wushi back then as someone worthy of Shen Qiao like aaahh and the fact that Yan Wushi also acknowledges all that (why book 4 chapter 108 Sophistry is my fave chapter aakkaka I thought it was Shen Qiao's pov at first but it was actually Yan Wushi's)

Like the line: "In the end, Yan Wushi brought this misfortune upon himself" and the whole paragraph after that just made me feel so much things and it relieved me that the absolute devastation he committed against Shen Qiao wasnt brushed over for the sake of their relationship moving forward.

[burkh4rt]

[secretceremonies]

84 Charing Cross Road (1987) | dir. David Hugh Jones

[dndsettingsinfo]

Brothel [32×50] by Atraxian Bear

[abirddogmoment]

Just a couple of moose in the canola

[youraveragedeltafan]

WAS THAT THE ATTACK IN '86????