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 Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2014 7:05 am
Bring your marks & bring your wares,
Bring your family for there's
Food and drink, dance and song.
The hold flag flies, so gather along!
High Reaches Hold has a bi-monthly Gather - scheduled to fit around Threadfall - and today is the day! The stalls have been set up, the dance floor laid out, and visitors have flown in from the Weyr. It is set out on the large open field in front of the Hold proper, which is lined by smaller homes and buildings, and from it there are beautiful alpine views - if you can get over the smell of the open sewers.
The stalls include a trader selling song wherries all the way from Nerat, an Extremely Dubious pie stall (more experienced visitors may warn younger ones about this - food poisoning is a Distinct Possibility). Exotic fruit flown straight in from Ista are available from another stall, and the more wealthy might be interested in the small stall selling books. A weapon-smith has set up his regular stall, accompanied by his wife and three large sons. Herdbeasts are being carefully cooked in dug-out pits, and by the Lord and Lady Holder's generosity, portions will be available to all - even drudges can eat roasted meat today!
Wiser heads will also advise less sensible ones to stay away from the healer selling questionable 'cures', including medicines for weight gain, fertility and clear skin. There are also weavers selling everything from clothes to soft furnishings, and anyone who can persuade a rider to haul it back for them might be interested in the deal a carpenter has on some rather beautiful chairs.
The Wher races have started now that it's beginning to grow dark, a specialty of the Hold, and anyone can bet on them. The favourite is Hadresk, at 2:1 odds, but those who are looking to bet for an underdog can go for Krissesk at 16:1.
Meanwhile, there appears to be a slight problem with purses going missing. Visitors should keep an eye out for pick-pockets and cut-purses, though surely no-one would be quite so stupid with this many riders in attendance? Keep your eyes peeled.
Random event roll!
If you're up for it, roll a d20 and use the relevant tidbit - this is not mandatory, and you don't have to take a result if you roll it.
1. Your eye is caught by a pretty girl who seems pretty interested in you. Yes, you!
2. You are handed a bunch of flowers by a young man who grins and then darts away into the crowd.
3. You're haggling at a stall, and reach for your purse, only to find... whoops. Well, that's embarrassing. Your purse seems to have been stolen.
4. You see what you think might be a bargain with a trader selling furs.
5. Someone bumps into you in the crowd, causing them to drop the sack they're carrying with a CRACK. They burst into tears. This reminds you of something a wingleader was talking about the other sevenday... some sort of scam?
6. An older woman does her best to pull you into the dancing.
7. A pair of child beggars do their best to extract a few marks from you. They are *adorable*... and very thin.
8. One of the racing wher-handlers passes by on top of their wher, a handsome young brown with exceptionally good form.
9. You see someone you dislike a great deal in the crowd.
10. A clearly over-excited child throws up in front of you.
11. You think you see a Weyrling with a wine-cup, but they're lost in the crowd a moment later - after them!
12. There's a bit of a commotion - a man is yelling about his purse being stolen by a young woman who claims she has nothing to do with it, you can sharding search her if you want, so shaff him!
13. Someone trips and falls into the stall selling song-wherries, setting several free from their cages.
14. Someone is having an argument with one of the bookies over their bet and repayment of.
15. An old woman attempts to sell you a potion that will bring healthy children from a tray around her neck. Even if you're old, even if you're worn out, it'll do the job! And if you're young, well, she has this here which will guarantee an easy labour...
16. You can barely hear yourself over the journeyman beastcrafter doing the final auctions of stock
17. The harpers have struck up a tune that you love - time to grab a partner and get on the floor?
18. A harper attempts to sell you on a new harp. Do you play the harp? No? Well, this is a FINE instrument to learn on, he built it himself!
19. You win twenty marks betting on the whers!
20. You see one of the candidates in tears. Perhaps they've been here a little too long and got a little over-excited - maybe time to take them home? Or is there something more sinister at work?
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Tuatha De rolled 1 20-sided dice:
8
Total: 8 (1-20)
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Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2014 9:30 am
Quote: One of the racing wher-handlers passes by on top of their wher, a handsome young brown with exceptionally good form. Natalya would never - not in a million turns - pass up the chance to watch a good wher race. Perhaps in another life, she could have been a racer instead of a huntleader. She had the small stature and the coordination for it, and she couldn't deny that the finely bred racing whers had a certain aesthetic appeal. Natask, bless her heart, was bred to kill things, not to run fast or smoothly... and she looked the part, enormous blunt head and sloping back and all. So radically different from the smaller, fine-boned, swift-legged creatures that Telgar's breeders turned out. Curious, really - at this rate, whers would end up with breeds as distinct and varied in purpose as canines or runners. Natask, incidentally, was Not Invited to this particular event. The egg-heavy gold was... irritable. Irritable was a good way to put it. A broody gold wher was not so different from a broody gold dragon, after all. The closer she got to clutching, the faster her mood could turn sour at the slightest provocation. There was no danger of Natalya losing control of her wher, but that didn't make it a great idea to expose her to crowds of unpredictable people who might not know how to act appropriately around a combat-trained, highly alert animal. For the occasion, Natalya had broken out the rare finery: an elegant dark dress in a cut that might be considered scandalous for a married woman but a handler could get away with, her huntleader's knots prominent on her shoulder. Some exotic variety of flower, large and multicolored, had been purchased from an Istan's stall and tucked behind one ear as ornamentation against her upswept fiery curls. She didn't so much stroll through the crowd as prowl, eyes sharp and roving constantly over the varied stalls, the visiting merchants, and the usual crowd of less reputable quacks and cutpurses. It didn't pay to let one's guard down too far during one of these events. Small as she was, there was still no missing the wher racers as they moved through the crowd: atop their whers, they were not just head and shoulders but full-body above everyone else. One young woman, dark-haired and dark-eyed, sat proud atop a brown with a rich mahogany hide, fading to near black at his limbs. Must be one of the favorites, Natalya thought, maybe even Hadresk. The lean but well-muscled wher was the picture of speed, moving with tight control at the slightest aid from his rider. Oh yes. She definitely needed to get that one's name - and perhaps the name of his breeder, in the bargain. It was always useful to know who was turning out fine wherlings these days to improve the blood around the Weyr. She picked up her pace, hitching her skirt slightly so that she could weave neatly between people and catch up to the likely-looking racer.
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Ryuthulhu rolled 1 20-sided dice:
14
Total: 14 (1-20)
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Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2014 9:46 am
Well... he had been debating putting a mark down on the Wher racing, but as he overheard the heated debate over what had been marked down versus what had theoretically actually been bet and what was and wasn't owed... he quietly slipped the mark back and tucked his coin purse safely away. He wasn't opposed to loosing a mark occasionally, but the tones he was hearing brought to mind impressions of slightly more obvious potential corruption and violence than he was ready to deal with, and he thought it might be better to spend his free coin on something else pointless. Like sending sweets to a pretty girl who would then think it came from someone else and then get together with that person and they'd be soulmates or some such.
me something!>
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moonlit-raven rolled 1 20-sided dice:
6
Total: 6 (1-20)
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Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2014 11:49 am
Zareen was rather proud of the fact that she had been permitted to attend the gather, and had every intention of enjoying herself. She didn't have many marks, just a few that she had saved from before candidacy. It would be enough to buy a pie or two, and maybe even put a little bid on one of racing whers.
It wasn't the best use of marks, but this was a gather and she was allowed to splurge a little. It wasn't like she'd be bidding more than a quartermark anyways.
She grinned brightly, and began to explore, looking at all the wares, and keeping an eye out for any of the other candidates. She wouldn't mind hanging with any of them, at least for a bit. Things like this tended to be more fun when you were in a group.
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Concinnity Blaise rolled 1 20-sided dice:
15
Total: 15 (1-20)
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Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2014 3:38 pm
L’ris’ good mood dissipated in a moment - sharding charlatan, what did she think she was doing selling… selling stuff like THAT. To HER.
“Shaff off and die, crone” she snarled, rounding on the old woman, who jumped back a step. “And take your sharding potions with you, 'fore I smash them!”
The big rider was dressed up for the occasion, though she had refused the urge to try for a dress - instead, she was wearing sensible breeches and a doublet, with a long dark cloak. Her hair was uncovered like a man’s would be, though she had allowed Pennath to persuade her into at least tying it back neatly. Her sword sat neatly on her hip, a mark of status as much as a practical tool - she’d carried it (or one very much like it) for more then thirty turns, and wasn’t dead yet.
Why in particular the elderly woman’s sales pitch offended her would be an open book to anyone who knew her beyond a casual greeting - or who knew her daughter. Even to those who didn’t know her well, it would not take a master harper to work out that she was Seriously Irritated.
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Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2014 4:31 pm
Oh shaff.
C'tis knew trouble when he heard it, and turning around he saw it. One L'ris: extremely pissed off. One old woman: holding tray of goods and looking justifiably terrified. L'ris punching an old woman would be seriously unfortunate and much as the older rider irritated him and infuriated him a lot of the time but she was his friend - sort of - and he didn't want to see her get herself grounded.
Ignoring his dragon C'tis turned quickly from the stall he had been inspecting and shouldered his way through the crowd to L'ris, his knots and the elaborate sword at his side probably aiding his progress somewhat - those and his heavy boots of course. As he came up beside the big woman he grasped her right elbow, fully prepared to duck if she tried to break his nose with it. "Leave the old baggage be, she's not worth your time or effort," he counselled with a dark-eyed glare for the woman with the tray; he hadn't caught what it was that she was selling but given L'ris' reaction he could hazard a reasonable guess. The daft old woman was lucky L'ris hadn't knocked her teeth out.. assuming she had any teeth to begin with of course.
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Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 3:23 am
Pennath observed cheerfully, apparently entirely unruffled by her rider’s sudden flush of righteous anger or the possibility of her punching a random holder. It was all interesting, and she lived for interesting.
L’ris herself almost swung when C’tis grabbed her arm, her face black. “C’tis -“ There was a brief moment where anything might have happened, and then her shoulders dropped, mouth a tight white line. “If I see her again with that quackery, she’ll be finding herself in the stocks”
This was accompanied by the elderly woman backing away, clearly rightfully afraid of the two riders - nearly tripping over a stray canine in her haste to get away. “No - no, you won’t see me, riders, I promise” she babbled, and then was gone.
L’ris did her best to pull her elbow away from the other rider, her face flushed. That had not been… good. No. Shaff, she needed some wine.
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Spicy Dizaster rolled 1 20-sided dice:
17
Total: 17 (1-20)
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Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 7:33 am
 Z'fer prowled the aisles of gather stalls, his head held high and proud. Well, prowl may not be the best word. It's what Z'fer thought he was doing, but in all honestly his saunter was less predatory and more 'these people better get out of the way if they don't want their toes stepped on'. The tall brownrider never did have much patience for making his way through crowds. Especially if he had his good boots on. Besides, he'd already done his good deed for the day in ferrying a handful of dragonless and weyrlings to the Gather. Calanoth would make sure he got them all home safely later so until he decided to leave, he was free to do as he pleased. A commotion not far from him drew his eye, and just as quickly made him take a quick turn down a different row. L'ris and C'tis. Whatever they were up to Z'fer didn't feel like dealing with at the moment. He was in a good mood and would wait till he got home to have it soured. For now, the first bars of a new song lifted up above the general noise of the crowd and Z'fer grinned. It was one of his favorite dancing songs. He turned, and angled his way towards the dance floor, maybe he could nab a partner before the song ended.
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Tuatha De rolled 1 20-sided dice:
5
Total: 5 (1-20)
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Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 9:44 am
I am not going to die if you leave me on my own for a day, Descanth deadpanned in his head.
I know that, Des, it's just -
Strange?
...Yeah.
From the moment of her Impression, Miskael had rarely been away from his dragon's side for much longer than the span of an indoor lesson. But the Gather had come around again, and this time the weyrlings were invited to go - at least, the ones who could be trusted not to get themselves into trouble. He had no idea what kind of reckless deadglow you'd have to be to forget about the alcohol ban just because there was a Gather going on, but anything that put dragons at risk... Well, Miskael trusted the Weyrlingmaster's judgement. And he'd been cleared. Encouraged a little, really.
It didn't do anything to assuage the slightly lost expression as he moved through the crowd from booth to booth, admiring the wares on display. He had a few fraction-mark pieces in his pocket: enough for food and maybe a souvenir, but not much more. He could have a chance at earning more if he tried his hand at the wher races, but... Miskael's focus was in dragons, not whers, and he didn't count himself knowledgeable enough to place a bet with confidence. Without that, he might as well be throwing his marks away.
Maybe he'd try to find his fellow weyrlings...
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tetrachrome rolled 1 20-sided dice:
20
Total: 20 (1-20)
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Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 10:02 am
It felt...weird, to be physically separated from Isonth for as long as she had already been. It was like a whole half of her was missing, she thought to herself, though she could still hear her dragon fussing in the back of her head, occasionally trying to look through her eyes or sending La flashes of visualization that proved to be profoundly disorienting.
Eventually, she had to ask the overenthusiastic green to...well, stop.
Things got easier from there.
She had very little in her pocket - mostly what she had scraped together picking up the occasional lost fraction-mark or running quick errands over the past several months, and that barely enough to get her anything worth talking about. She was thinking of betting on the wher races, but...well, she hadn't had a lot of time to interact with whers, really. Still, she thought she could probably look at them and make an educated guess, dragonkin were dragonkin, and...
Oh dear. Was someone over there crying? ...oh, Faranth, and they were in the knots of a High Reaches Candidate and everything. La glanced from the Candidate to the surrounding Gather-goers, shifting uncomfortably back and forth and hoping someone else would notice. Everyone around her seemed kind of blind to it, and...well, she wasn't any good with that sort of a thing. Should she go...talk? Or...
Faranth, if Isonth were there, this wouldn't be weird. Buuuuuut Isonth wasn't, and La was going to go find someone who was better at this kind of thing than she was. Maybe Miskael would have a suggestion? He was around here somewhere, it was just a matter of finding him...
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Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 10:52 am
Malcarreth observed to his rider and to Pennath, the smoky quality in his voice coiling to the fore with the feeling of a smirk.
C'tis continued to ignore his dragon; ignoring Malcarreth when he was being a forkhead was an important life skill. "For your sake, I hope you're right," he growled at the old woman as she babbled her promise and then retreated into the crowd. With her gone and no punches to pay L'ris back for, or at least complain loudly about, there was... L'ris. He let her elbow go and dropped his hand back to the pommel of his sword, fingers brushing lightly over the letters graven into the surface. He wasn't actually entirely sure what to say or do not that he'd ever admit that of course; come to that he would be highly reluctant to admit that he'd even wondered about it at all, much too mushy.
Well, he supposed that there was always one plan to fall back on that wasn't mushy in the least.
"Drink?" C'tis jerked his thumb off to the side to where a rather striking brown wher was just passing in front of a stall. "They're selling hot spiced wine that might be passable, mead too I think." If in doubt, suggest alcohol.
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Shaddaling rolled 1 20-sided dice:
17
Total: 17 (1-20)
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Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 2:32 pm
(Rolls for Brishen)
Brishen tipped his head, catching a strain of melody. He knew this one. He wiggled through the crowds, following the music to the dance floor. Nice. He glanced over the crowd, toes tapping to the beat. Okay, he found the dance floor, and the harpers and now he needed to find someone who knew how to dance.
Who to ask, who to ask. Brishen ran his hand through his tightly curling hair, he really wanted to graduate so he could have his hair longer. Certainly he couldn’t be the only weyrling here or candidate. Who was that?
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Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 3:40 pm
“Spiced wine sounds like it’d do the trick” L’ris said brusquely, not mentioning that perhaps she was kind of maybe grateful to the younger rider for preventing her from causing an Incident. “I’ll buy you a cup”
That would do, debt paid off.
She did like spiced wine, and the evening was beginning to grow chill - winter had not entirely lost it’s grip on the mountains, fighting a vanguard action against spring. It would do her good to put some warmth back into aching bones, and she swore she felt the cold ache worse where she’d caught a blade in the arm last spring.
Pennath commanded Malcarreth lazily, even if that was one of her own worst faults.
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Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 3:53 pm
The spotted blue merely sent Pennath the feeling of a snort; he didn't even feel the need to say 'hypocrite'.
"Thanks."
That was that then, thank shells.
Turning towards the stall C'tis scanned the crowd, dark eyes seeking trouble by force of habit that was only reinforced by the murmur that several people had lost their purses throughout the day. "So what do you think then?" he asked lazily after a few moments, gaze still flicking from face to face. "I mean T'gall winning the election." The man had been his wingleader up until a couple of days ago and wingsecond before that, it would be a little odd not to fly Thread with him anymore... and he couldn't say he was a big fan of the replacement.
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moonlit-raven rolled 1 20-sided dice:
7
Total: 7 (1-20)
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Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 4:18 pm
An old woman tugged at Zareen's arm gently, motioning towards the dancing, She allowed herself to be pulled in, laughing amusedly, and moved from partner to partner until she caught a glance at. someone familiar. It was another of the weyrlings, Brishen, of Blue Hazmath, and he would certainly be more fun to be with than these holderboys.
"You'll have to excuse me." She said, bowing to her partner and then making her way to where Brishen was standing. She was unsure if he was with anyone or not, but even if he was it wouldn't hurt to check in, see how things were going.
"Having fun yet?" She asked, grinning brightly at him. Maybe if he wasn't waiting for anyone, he'd be willing to dance a song with her.
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