Search for a Song

[Kyng]

♫ ♪ SEARCH FOR A SONG ♪ ♫

Deep in the heart of the forests of western Waldia, lived a young Elvish girl by the name of Cheryl. She endured a difficult and stressful childhood: her father serve as an archer in Waldia's border patrol, which frequently forced him to be away from her for weeks at a time. Her mother stayed at home with her - but she frequently had to do the work of two to raise her, and she was forever worried that her husband might never return home. The only comfort the two of them had was song: Cheryl's mother sang folk tunes that had been passed down from her ancestors, while Cheryl played them on her sheep-bone flute. It turned out that Cheryl was extremely adept with this musical instrument - and, she was able to soothe her mother's mind with her beautiful tunes and melodies.

As Cheryl reached the verge of adulthood, life suddenly got substantially easier. Her father finally retired and returned home for good - bringing with him a substantial military pension. As a result, he was able to afford a fairly lavish gift for his daughter's 18th birthday: he purchased a second-hand gold-trimmed book named "Verses of the Valley". This contained over three dozen Elvish folk songs - some of which Cheryl recognised from her mother's singing, whereas others were completely new to her. Sadly, the very last song in the book was missing: the title 'Hymn of the Whistling Wind' was still present, but the page was torn beneath this.

This gave Cheryl the inspiration to go on the first great journey of her adult life. She would travel the continent far and wide, until she could sing this song for herself. Little did she know how far this journey would take her - or who else she would meet along the way...

Here are three of the main characters. I'll be taking Cheryl herself; however, you can take either of the other two, or create your own:

Name: Cheryl (being played by Kyng)
Race: Elf
Gender: Female
Age: 18
Weapons/Powers: Wields a small obsidian dagger, with an emerald on each side of the handle. Is also able to mix a few basic potions.
Physical description: A slender woman of average height, with jade-green eyes, and lengthy blonde hair plaited all the way down to her waist. She has a variety of dresses - although, her favourite is her lime-green one with yellow knotted lining. On her finger, she wears a ruby ring with a butterfly - although, unlike some similar rings, this has no special powers and is purely decorative!
Personality: Is very creative and artistic - and, as such, she enjoys sewing and creating her own clothes. Furthermore, she's an avid musician: her most-prized possession is her flute, which she has owned since she was a young child. She's become rather skilled at this; however, her own success has given her very high expectations of other people - and she's prone to losing her temper with anybody who doesn't meet them.

Name: Chloe
Race: Elf
Gender: Female
Age: 18
Weapons/Powers: Owns a composite bow made out of wood and horn, with pearls at either end. Can do a small amount of healing magic.
Physical description: Taller than her childhood friend Cheryl, but with much shorter blonde hair, down only to her neck. Has brown eyes, and a tattoo of a fox on her left cheek. Usually wears plain padded green clothes and brown boots, with a quiver on her back for her arrows.
Personality: Like Cheryl, she's very musically-minded. However, in order to differentiate herself from her best friend, she instead decided to play the fiddle. Her sweet-sounding music helps her to keep a cool head under pressure - as well as providing Cheryl with a much-needed calming influence.

Name: Duane (being played by Megan)
Race: Elf
Gender: Male
Age: 16
Weapons/Powers: Has a hammer which he uses for carving and carpentry. In the absence of a proper weapon, this can function as a makeshift one.
Physical description: Is fairly short and muscular, with messy black hair. Wears a brown leather tunic, and short cast-iron boots.
Personality: Chloe's annoying younger brother, who is very loud and boisterous. Is always eager to go out on adventures and try new things - but is prone to acting without thinking. Has a bit of a crush on Cheryl; however, he got into major trouble with Chloe the one time he tried to act on it, so he never attempts to do so any more.

Finally, a couple of other points:

• This RPG takes place in the same universe as 'Asleep', 'Reconciliation', and so on. However, it takes place in an as-yet unexplored part of the world, and all characters (apart from Cheryl) are completely new - so, you can jump straight into this one without any prior knowledge of those RPGs . (If you want to do any background reading, then my introduction to the Kingdom of Waldia might be of interest to you; however, it certainly isn't required reading)
  
  
• This part of the world is populated mainly by elves. Non-Elvish characters are allowed; however, it'll probably take a while for the elves to get used to their presence!
  
  
• We'll start either in a week's time, or when we have four players (whichever is sooner).

Enjoy !

[Megan]

If it’s okay I’ll do Duane.

[Kyng]

If it’s okay I’ll do Duane.

Accepted !

[Kyng]

It's been a week now - so, time to get this started .

Cheryl was done playing her flute for the evening. She had just finished playing The Summer Sea - a slow and quiet melody which she often played when she wanted to relax and relieve stress. It had been invaluable in helping her to pull through the lengthy periods of separation from her father - and now, it was helping her to keep her mind at ease as she began to contemplate adulthood, and all of the new challenges it would bring. How was she going to cope with moving out of her parents' house? Where was she going to find a job - and a husband?

Still, before she started preparing for any of that, she had a much simpler quest to cast her mind to. The final page of her song book had been torn - and the tune for the last song was missing. All she had was the title - Hymn of the Whistling Wind - with none of the notes below it being legible.

With a sigh, she put her flute back in its wooden box, and went to her fireplace to start cooking dinner.

[Megan]

Outside Cheryl's home was some noise. Mostly yelling. A young male voice being the loudest.

As usual it was Duane causing a ruckus in the village. He often pestered many of the villages and would play childish games such as pretending to be an adventuring much to most people's annoyances. Right now he was pestering his favorite target: his sister Chloe.

[Kyng]

"Oh, cut it out !" Chloe begged. "We don't have the time for this!"

Cheryl heard her best friend in the distance - and, she briefly stepped away from her fireplace in order to greet her. However, when she noticed that Duane was there, she retreated a little and hid herself up against the wall of her house.

"Hi, Chloe..." she whispered, hoping that Duane wouldn't notice her presence.

[Megan]

Duane looked over at the sound of Cheryl's face. He smiled brightly blushing lightly, but he knew better then to act as he had last time. "Hi, Cheryl!" he yelled out cheerfully.

[Kyng]

"Hi, Duane..." Cheryl responded through gritted teeth, as she hesitantly strode out from behind the wall. "How are you? And... what was Chloe shouting about? You have been behaving, haven't you ?"

[Megan]

Duane smiled innocently. "Why of course...I always behave." he said with a chuckle. "How about you. Have you been behaving?"

[Kyng]

"Of course," Cheryl responded, with a dismissive shake of her head. "It's not like there's much to do around here, except playing my flute... I could barely misbehave even if I wanted to ."

Cheryl then turned to Chloe, who was still shaking her head in disbelief at Duane's claims to have been behaving. "Anyway... how's your day been? Managed to hunt anything?"