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Post by Thorn on Apr 25, 2024 17:13:25 GMT -5
You can find the ooc chat thread here. For the Grail is a rules-light role-playing game. Players take turns to draw a card, read the related prompt, and write a post based on that prompt. I'll put my prompts in bold at the top of my posts but, if you'd prefer people to read your post without knowing the prompt, you can also tuck them away in spoiler boxes at the end. Any time after Round 1 of a chapter, a player can call for the end of the chapter at the start of their turn. They roll a ten-sided die and consult the Chapter End table instead of the usual table. Every player (unless they have opted out or skipped a round) has a chance to respond to this prompt. The chapter then ends and a new chapter picks up at the start of the turn order. Unlike the Chapter End, the time for the game to end must be agreed on by everyone. The group can either select the game end prompt manually, or leave it to a random draw as with the others. Anyone not signed up as a PC is welcome to insert 'NPC' posts at any point in a chapter. These posts do not require a card draw and can revolve around whatever you like- a strange merchant, an impossible choice, or even a sudden ambush! Players can respond to these however often they like. This provides an opportunity for players who would like to write more than one post per round. Turn OrderThorn as Ser Cael
Celestial as Ser Genji
Moni as Ser Fer
Twillie as Ser Percy
Breakingchains as Ser Evelyn
June Scarlet as Thomas the squire
Kyn as Ser Kay
Liou as Ser Reel Chapter Links |
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Post by Thorn on Apr 25, 2024 17:13:37 GMT -5
Prompt TablesDraw a single playing card from a deck with the Jokers removed. Or use a card drawing simulator such as this one! Hearts
Ace. What have you sacrificed to be here?
2. What inspires you the most about King Arthur?
3. What does the Grail mean to you?
4. What is the hardest decision you’ve made in this journey?
5. What secret about King Arthur will you take to your grave?
6. Do you think you are worthy of the Grail?
7. Who here owes you a life debt?
8. Who here has saved your life?
9. Who is most important to you in this world?
10. Describe a situation that tempted
you to abandon the quest.
Jack. What was your first impression of Arthur?
Queen. Describe your first meeting with
Arthur.
King. What inspired you to first take up arms as a knight of the round table?
DiamondsAce. When did you have a near brush with death?
2. What’s your greatest fear?
3. What’s your proudest achievement?
4. Would you help a stranger for no reward?
5. What do you want most in life?
6. What are your thoughts on honour?
7. Describe a time your views put you
at odds with Arthur.
8. Who helped you at your lowest?
9. What brings you joy?
10. Describe an unexpected encounter with a travelling companion.
Jack. Why did you and another knight nearly come to blows?
Queen. Describe a time your past
returned to haunt you.
King. Who or what do you fight for? Spades
Ace. Where do you go in your dreams?
2. Do you consider yourself a good person?
3. What keeps you going when times are tough?
4. What do you miss the most about home?
5. What will you never forgive yourself for?
6. Who is Arthur to you?
7. Who here did you entrust with your deepest secret?
8. How has this quest changed you?
9. What have you confessed while delirious?
10. Who is missing you back home?
Jack. Where were you when you sustained your worst injury?
Queen. Who here do you hold a grudge against and why?
King. What have you lost along the way?
Clubs
Ace. Describe one good thing that has
happened to you because of this quest.
2. What frustrates you about King Arthur?
3. Would you rather be loved or feared?
4. How do you hope to be remembered?
5. Which travelling companion do you
have more in common with than you first thought?
6. What do you long for that you can never have?
7. Why does Arthur trust you?
8. Do you wish you were something other than a knight?
9. Describe a broken promise that
haunts you.
10. How do you spend precious moments
along with the travelling companion that you love most?
Jack. What reminds you of simpler times?
Queen. What is the most important part of your daily routine?
King. Describe a quiet moment after a
battle.
Chapter EndRoll a ten-sided die or use a simulator such as this one.
1. A great sacrifice must be made to
journey onward.
2. You uncover a secret that changes
how you see King Arthur.
3. A betrayal comes from within the
group.
4. The knights are unwillingly separated.
5. Arthur is badly injured.
6. The knights receive bad news.
7. The knights receive good news.
8. You recover something thought long
lost.
9. A ship sails.
10. Arthur makes a controversial
decision.
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Post by Thorn on Apr 25, 2024 18:09:22 GMT -5
Chapter 1What is Your Greatest Fear? Ser Cael was a Knight of the Round Table. This was a great privilege and honour, etc etc. It was hard to think about how privileged and honored he was past two very prominent fears: - People learning he was from Fairy Land
- Having to return to Fairy Land (where he was known as 'Queen Caelia' and constantly bored out of his mind.)
He dressed as plainly as possible, and had initially intended to avoid speaking unless spoken to, but that had soon gone out the window. He loved mischief. He loved playing pranks. That gained him Arthur's attention much too quickly but if the King had noticed that Cael's eyes literally glittered and prismatic lights occasionally swept his skin, he hadn't said anything.
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Post by Celestial on Apr 26, 2024 9:28:25 GMT -5
What was your first impression of Arthur?
Ser Genji did not know how he ended up in this strange land so far from home. Indeed, he could only speak and understand the locals thanks to his encounter with a man named 'Merlin', who Ser Genji understood to be some wise magic man, similar to the onmyōji of his homeland. It was Merlin who introduced him to Arthur, the lord of this land, and his warriors. Despite the alien country, this was something Ser Genji recognised.
Meeting Arthur, he could tell the lord was a worthy one; he was honourable, courageous, and true. His men occupied a similar role as Genji did in his land. Until such a time as he could return home, this was a man worthy of his sword and his service. He owed a debt to Arthur for taking him in so kindly when he was so far from anything he knew and loved. Ser Genji was not one to ever let a debt be unpaid.
So did the oddly dressed, dark-haired and dark-eyed man with curved bladed enter Camelot.
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Post by Moni on Apr 26, 2024 20:16:24 GMT -5
What frustrates you about King Arthur?
Ser Fer was from a far, exotic land surrounded by clear sunny ocean. She was happy to serve the Knights of the Round Table anon after she arrived to this strange kingdom, though rarely did anybody actually see her. She patrolled the waters, riding the waves and rescuing those lost at sea.
Often away from the intrigues of the court, Ser Fer did not ruminate much about King Arthur's thornier affairs, except for one little thing: his judgement.
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Post by Twillie on May 1, 2024 0:53:06 GMT -5
How do you hope to be remembered?
Ser Percy would frankly hope to be remembered well at all, having come from such a humble background. He grew up with his mother and little else to his name, hearing small mentions of grand adventures distant relatives have embarked upon but believing few of them, having never met these people before. Instead, Percy grew up admiring the knights of his land, real heroes in the flesh. As a child, he planted the seed of a dream to one day join them, and soon as a teen he started this journey into knighthood. For the first time in his life, he felt his hope of being remembered become realized. And not just to be remembered well, but as a hero of the land.
Though after joining King Arthur's knights, the stories his mother told him of his family still stuck in his mind. Tales of glory that felt distant and dim. The weight of the sword in his hands, however, carried something much stronger, a strange weight beyond its leather and steel. As Percy held it, he thought he felt the ghost of a past guilt or failure pull his arm down. Was he truly worthy of this, his place in King Arthur's court? Perhaps there was more to those stories that his mother told him. Whatever the case, Ser Percy wanted to prove himself. He would right any wrongs, including those of his or his family's past.
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Post by Breakingchains on May 6, 2024 14:40:19 GMT -5
What brings you joy?
From the outside, Ser Evelyn does not seem very much for joy. Her observant eyes are known to unsettle, and sitting tonight by the fire, surrounded by this group of eager new companions, her face is as cold as the grave.
But you have not seen her alone. Those nights in the woods as she moved in solitude outside of her humble mountainside village, wrapped in a navy cloak and the dark of night, avoiding all detection. None have seen the exhilaration on her face as she finds that rare toadstool, takes to the skies through the eyes of a bullfinch, dances wildly beneath the moon. Ser Evelyn hides her joy well.
And should the rumors of the grail be true… then for Ser Evelyn, soon are coming joyful days indeed.
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Post by June Scarlet on May 7, 2024 7:34:46 GMT -5
What keeps you going when times are tough?
Thomas was just Thomas. Not a Ser, not anything, not yet at least. He was still just a squire. But Not-Ser-Thomas dreamed of the day he would be knighted and become Ser Thomas. It would be a sunny summer's day, Thomas would have just proved himself in a definitive way, and King Arthur would say, "Thomas, though you are young, younger than any person has ever been knighted, you are truly worthy of the title," and the rain that had been pouring down would break and there'd be a rainbow and-
Wait, was it rainy or sunny? Ah, details, he thought to himself, waving the thought aside.
There was a shout from the fire circle. "Thomas, how goes the shield polishing?"
Thomas looked at the shield he was holding. Not even halfway finished.
Thomas rubbed the rag with renewed vigor. He would be a knight. He would be a knight.
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Post by Kyn on May 8, 2024 6:59:36 GMT -5
Describe a time your past returned to haunt you.
When Ser Kay was a boy, he once tried to surprise his mother by putting a pretty silver necklace on her while she slept. He did not know that the necklace was actually made of iron, or that if a fairy wife were to come into contact with the accursed metal, she would vanish into the Otherworld — never to be seen again by her husband and children.
Young Kay was inconsolable for months. Not his kind father nor his loving brother could dissuade him from wallowing in the depths of guilt and self-reproach.
Many years went by. Ser Kay's younger brother, Arthur, was revealed to be his foster brother and of royal lineage. Arthur was soon crowned King of England, and he appointed Kay as his seneschal.
Occupied with his duties, Ser Kay had scant opportunity to dwell upon the past. That changed one day when he chanced to observe a certain troublemaker up close.
...
...?!
What in the name of Arawn?!
His senses must be deceiving him! That could not be one of the Fair Folk gallivanting about as a Knight of the Round Table! For one, Kay personally witnessed how the suspect knight could touch iron to no ill effect; if they were a full-blooded fae, they would at least have been burnt, or collapse, or even vanis—
Unbidden, repressed memories came flooding back to Kay's mind.
He ended up having to take the rest of the day off to collect himself.
Liou , your turn =D
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Post by Liou on May 13, 2024 9:51:14 GMT -5
What is your greatest fear?Ser Reel's list of fears had taken a lot of reorganisation lately. A fear of missions in wizard towers ought to have been a big one, if they had any sense, but how could it go any worse than it already had? A fear of spiders crawling throughout their suit of armour, then, sounded sensible. But it was not much use to Ser Reel, as they had gone uneaten long enough to become more familiar with the creatures than they could have imagined. Not only were spiders ridiculously fussy and fastidious, this bunch found crawling in the wizard tower's trash was downright friendly. Falling in water was a big one, of course - what would happen to all their spider pilots if water got into the suit? Fire, too, would be disastrous. Not being able to escape from the collapsing suit, being crushed under the soles of the other knights, or being found and having to fight off someone so much larger than them. If they really considered their future, what Ser Reel dreaded the most was what might not happen. If the Grail did not restore them to full human height and if they could never again wear their magnificent embroidered robes and boots, then all this would have been for nought. Thorn
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Post by RielCZ on May 13, 2024 12:56:26 GMT -5
Lady Gwyne knew that she was much more intimately familiar with King Arthur than any of these so-called knights. Why, he was riding her just the other day! While jousting that long instrument of his. Surely none of Arthur's latest round table compatriots would have the strength or stamina to endure a day with the King on their back.
She knew she had to set Arthur's recent hires down the correct path.
Gwyne left the nearby stable, trotting confidently to the new knights. "I am Lady Gwyne, King Arthur's noble and trustworthy and fabulous steed," she whinnied* with a flip of her mane -- fabulous indeed. "You knights appear to be a real scrappy lot, though I see promise and integrity in each of you. You may all have your different reasons for wanting that grail, but your lives and those of the other knights are worth more than your reasons." She stared them all down, and may have even recognized one or two of them. "Foremost, recall your place as a loyal servant to my King Arthur! And you'd best treat myself and the other steeds with the respect we deserve, lest a trampling be in your future." She started rapping her hooves against the earth, almost dancing, to illustrate her point.
* Though can your character understand animals or does she sound like just any other horse?
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Post by Coaster on May 14, 2024 0:43:23 GMT -5
(Introducing another NPC!)
The Lady of the Lake believed in Arthur.
Arthur would make her fortune, after the land was shaped in Arthurian fashion. She gave him conquest, but asked for a favor in return.
He founded an order of knights, and a kingdom. He fought rival kings; he'd already broken a sword she left lying around; she didn't protest.
To gloss over the sordid details: she had tried to call in that favor to settle a feud with one not-quite-knight, Balin the Savage; the lady had apparently been beheaded; and her body later vanished. Yes, Arthur was upset about it too, but it was already too late.
The Lady of the Lake had thought she'd found paradise in Britain, had a fair trade, made a good living; there was peace throughout the land, and she was a friend of the humans' royal court. Her family didn't need the friend they then sought an audience with. And now, they came and asked this friend for justice. But they didn't ask with respect. They didn't offer friendship. They didn't even think to call her Godmother. Instead, they came to her court on the day a changeling child was due to return, and asked her to do murder, when for all anyone knew, the watery tart may well still be alive.
Nonetheless, earning a favor of her own, she arranged the deed: the (alleged) murderer and his brother were mortally wounded by each other's blades.
Since then, one of those blades had been sealed by Merlin, and then unsealed by Sir Galahad, designating him the so-called "greatest knight ever"--another laughable step in the humans' petty cycle of self-aggrandisement.
But now they were seeking the Holy Grail, and it seemed a perfect time for the Fairy Godmother to redeem that favor. After all, nobody would dare cross her--she never asks a second favor once she's been refused the first.
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Post by Thorn on May 18, 2024 2:42:30 GMT -5
10. Describe an unexpected encounter with a travelling companion.(collab with Kyn ) Water-leapers were not usually an issue for Ser Cael. They listened if he spoke with the voice of Faerie, and their stingers weren’t poisonous to his kind. Today, however, he had unexpectedly encountered Ser Kay by the riverside, right before the water-leaper attacked. Blades were drawn and everything happened so quickly he barely uttered a word until the dead beast sank back beneath the waters.
Cael only noticed the injury when he went to sheath his weapon. There was a nasty gash in his forearm, starting somewhere below the elbow and staining his surcoat red.
When Kay caught sight of the blood, he froze momentarily before cursing and looking away. Swiftly rinsing his sword in the river and sheathing it, he retreated several steps from the water and beckoned to Cael. His eyes remained steadfastly fixed in another direction. “Your arm. Here. Now.”
Cael clutched at the wound. It refused to close at his touch. A chill ran down his spine.
Kay must have sensed Cael’s hesitation; his own impatience grew in response. “You were cut by my weapon, Excalibur’s sibling sword Alderin. Which, if you haven’t heard, is enchanted to leave lasting wounds. So unless you want to bleed to death, I suggest you come hither to let me lift the enchantment.” A pause, after which Kay added sardonically, “Of course, should you decide that you have lived long enough of a life and are ready to return to the embrace of the earth, be welcome to remain rooted like a block of wood.”
“No, no, I like being alive,” Cael said quietly.
He forced his limbs into motion. The air felt heavier than usual. He could close the wound himself if not for that darn enchantment. Cael hoped whatever Kay needed to do, he could do quickly.
Fortunately, Kay seemed to share that sentiment. With one hand on his sword’s hilt and the other in the air over Cael’s injured arm, he closed his eyes and muttered an incantation. The blood-red gem in the centre of Alderin’s hilt changed colour briefly, and then Kay withdrew his hand.
“It is done,” he said, opening his eyes to stare down at the crown of Cael’s head. “I only restored the wound’s ability to heal; you will still need to treat it.”
Cael shook himself. The experience had rattled him, but at least he was no longer in danger of bleeding out. He put on his broadest grin and bobbed a quick bow to the taller man, even as Cael’s fingertips probed at his own wound, already willing it to close.
“Good Ser Kay, I am glad we are not enemies. Be careful with that blade, eh?”
Kay’s gaze had returned to the river, but he addressed the other knight. “Ser Cael. Should you ever in the future encounter me being beset by a llamhigyn y dwr, I give you leave to attend on the sidelines. For as you’ve surely witnessed, I alone am more than a match for such creatures, and I think we would both prefer not to repeat today’s accident.”
"Duly noted."
Cael retreated to heal his wounds and recover his senses, small lights twinkling in his wake.
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Post by Celestial on May 22, 2024 13:21:18 GMT -5
What reminds you of simpler times?
This land was far colder and drearier than his home. Seasons did not so much change as flow one into the other. The only thing that set summer apart from winter was much longer days. Still, on some occassions, the sun did come out. Even better when it came out at sunrise. Whenever that happened, Genji made a point to head up to the parapets of the castle, away from the others, and meditate while looking out into the beauty of the world.
He used to do this back home. Even as a child, he got up early to have a bit of space before starting his chores. His (he supposed now former) lord's castle had a wooden platform in the garden which faced east towards the rising sun. He loved watching the sun as the seasons turned, from the cherry and plum blossoms of spring to the birds flitting over the koi pond in summer to the red leaves of autumn and the snows of winter. Here, the castle parapets lacked such lush vegetation, so Genji instead found himself watching the clouds shift in the sky, and listen to the chorus of the birds, though he could not place their calls.
This was his time. This had always been his time, no matter where he was. When you are far from home, it is important to remember the simpler times so one can ground oneself before the tasks of the day. A clear mind allowed for better, more efficient service.
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Post by Moni on May 22, 2024 16:54:46 GMT -5
What do you do in your dreams?
In her dreams Ser Fer skates along the tallest wave, a spiral stairway to the sky. There she floats among the clouds, the world a hazy ocean-green below. She paddles. The clouds coalesce. Suddenly the world beneath is completely, deeply, blue, and she glides higher than blue jays and finches and orioles. Across an endless stretch of land, and ocean again. When the clouds are not so teeming, they start to split into a clear blue sky, like curtains revealing the actors of a play, and she is back home.
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