Heavenfall

Peace and tranquility are a rare find these days, so many have come to the waterfall to enjoy the beauty and serenity of nature in its purest form. Unfortunately it seems a shard of darkness has managed to make its mark even here, and a sense of dread can't help but befall those who approach. Something is here, a dark winged terror that flaps in the night, steals all that shines and is good by day, and leaves naught but fury and consternation in its wake.

It's that damned crow, just...sitting there, staring.

Judging...

And no matter where you go, it feels like it's staring directly at you.

Location: The Waterfall and Cliff

Participants: Unlimited

Time: Late Morning

Rules:
Anyone who enters the thread finds themselves staring at the crow, even if they try look away. The crow will not leave them alone until they attempt a contested Willpower roll.

Results and Consequences
Failure: The crow gets bored, mocks you a little, then leaves to find someone else to bother.

Success: Congratulations I guess? The crow gets frustrated, huffs, and flies off to find another victim.

Conclusion: This event is entirely pointless. Anyone who joins can stay and discuss the inanity of what just happened after rolling against the crow. Have fun!

Trying to get the lay of the land, Taochusu arrives to find his former challenger ready to do battle once more.

"Karasu," he says with an intense gaze and a smirk. "Are we going for another round?"

The big guy flexes at the bird.

"If you beat me this time, I'll go out and hunt down the biggest grub I can find for you. But if I win, you owe me a feather. Sound fair?" he asks the bird he knows is much smarter than it seems.

D9 LM, AWCK! Contested Willpower, VP +1k1: 4d10o10 28

"Karasu? Is it another intelligent creature like the Rat people?" Kyosei, following behind, asked the larger man. At this point, he wasn't inclined to disbelieve.

"There you are, you feathery bastard!"

Sora fixed the crow with his own baleful eye.

"You wouldn't happen to know how the brush Kinyôbi was using this morning happened to end up balanced on top of Shinsei's tent, would you? No? Is that so?"

[OOC: 18, thanks to the Fortune of Dung!]

Taochusu wrote: ↑

Sun May 31, 2020 2:39 pm

Trying to get the lay of the land, Taochusu arrives to find his former challenger ready to do battle once more.

"Karasu," he says with an intense gaze and a smirk. "Are we going for another round?"

The big guy flexes at the bird.

"If you beat me this time, I'll go out and hunt down the biggest grub I can find for you. But if I win, you owe me a feather. Sound fair?" he asks the bird he knows is much smarter than it seems.

D9 LM, AWCK! Contested Willpower, VP +1k1: 4d10o10 28

Karasu stares back at Taochusu with fire in his eyes, lifting both wings high and calling out to his ancestors for strength.

Unfortunately they must have been distracted by something shiny. Karasu looks away first, makes a grumpy sound, then yanks out a tail feather and drops it before flying off.

Willpower vs Taochusu: 4d10o10 16

Jiyo Sora wrote: ↑

Sun May 31, 2020 4:11 pm

"There you are, you feathery bastard!"

Sora fixed the crow with his own baleful eye.

"You wouldn't happen to know how the brush Kinyôbi was using this morning happened to end up balanced on top of Shinsei's tent, would you? No? Is that so?"

[OOC: 18, thanks to the Fortune of Dung!]

Karasu preened himself in response to the accusations, looking all high and mighty as he dug out nits from his wings. Then he fixed Sora's eyes with his own and stared. And stared. And staaaaaaaarrrrrred...

When Sora relented first, Karasu flew away, buzzing the man's ear with a series of caws that sounded like laughter.

Willpower vs Sora: 4d10o10 23

Kyosei of the Isawa wrote: ↑

Sun May 31, 2020 2:51 pm

"Karasu? Is it another intelligent creature like the Rat people?" Kyosei, following behind, asked the larger man. At this point, he wasn't inclined to disbelieve.

Karasu landed in Kyosei's shoulder, pecked his ear mercilessly, then quickly retreated.

Kyosei swatted at the bird as it flew away, then began to follow it around. "What?! What was that? Get back here!"

He followed after the bird, trying catch it, unable to break away from the pursuit.

Kyosei of the Isawa wrote: ↑

Sun May 31, 2020 6:48 pm

Kyosei swatted at the bird as it flew away, then began to follow it around. "What?! What was that? Get back here!"

He followed after the bird, trying catch it, unable to break away from the pursuit.

Karasu glared down at Kyosei as he flew, throwing out taunting caws here and there that sounded incredibly offensive. He kept this up for nearly a minute before breaking off and flying away.

Right as Kyosei came up on a large rock next to a larger puddle...

Willpower vs Kyosei: 4d10o10 17

Crow wrote: ↑

Sun May 31, 2020 6:43 pm

Karasu preened himself in response to the accusations, looking all high and mighty as he dug out nits from his wings. Then he fixed Sora's eyes with his own and stared. And stared. And staaaaaaaarrrrrred...

When Sora relented first, Karasu flew away, buzzing the man's ear with a series of caws that sounded like laughter.

Yep. That evil little bastard definitely needs to meet Han-Han. A battle for the ages.

"One and one Karasu! We'll need to break the tie eventually!" he calls after the crow. Bending down, he picks up the feather and finds a spot on his armor to tie it on.

Nanzi had no real high opinion of the crow, or it’s friend… master? But here it was and it seemed to demand his attention on his way to investigate something of interest to the Crane daimyo.

Then they had their moment.

It was a long moment.

Nanzi narrowed his eyes, he did not like this crow.

OOC: Willpower vs. Mighty Crow of Lewds: 3d10o10k3 10

Nanzi wrote: ↑

Sun May 31, 2020 7:13 pm

Nanzi had no real high opinion of the crow, or it’s friend… master? But here it was and it seemed to demand his attention on his way to investigate something of interest to the Crane daimyo.

Then they had their moment.

It was a long moment.

Nanzi narrowed his eyes, he did not like this crow.

OOC: Willpower vs. Mighty Crow of Lewds: 3d10o10k3 10

Karasu seemed to narrow his own eyes at Nanzi when he approached, his posture becoming very stiff and aggressive. Perhaps the bird understood more than expected of the altercation between this man and Shinsei, and took the challenge personally.

Whenever the daimyo narrowed his eyes, so did the bird, each combatant seeking to express their displeasure in the other with tighter, more aggressive focus. This exchange continued until, eyes narrowed to near absurdity, Nanzi... blinked.

Karasu laughed his cawing laugh for a good long while in return.

Willpower vs Nanzi: 4d10o10 24

Trying to look away was never the problem. It seemed as if Reo's attention turned rapt whenever he heard a flutter of wings.

It's a crow each time. Perhaps the same damned crow. Reo keeps an eye on the thing, as is a man possessed beginning to muse aloud.

"Closer to short flights with hops and jumps. What is your wing design there? You don't soar like hawks or falcons, but your wing the body ratio seems different than sparrows or pigeons. Little water activity, so you probably don't have the waterproofing ducks so. I wonder what your feathers would look like on one of my shafts..."

Reo's gaze is fascination bordering on wonder, even as his musings might look strange to an outsider.

Crow Willpower: 3d10o10 20

(Fascination disadvantage triggered for GM funsies)

Hanzou was foraging for more food. When the crow landed in front of him, he wasn't really surprised.

"I told you, you hisst ate the last plum. I don't keckt have any left. You went through ssirrr my pack. You know it's skeen true."

But, the crow just stared and stared.

"Fine. I did find some keeesss goji."

Hanzou held out a few berries.

- - -
AWCK! [LM, D9], Raw Willpower: 3d10o10 13

AWCK! [LM, D9], Hunting/Perception: 6d10o10k3 51

After the morning breakfast, Miyako went to explore the waterfall that was near the camp and see if there might be interesting items to forage, either items of a practical nature or at least some new shiny rocks and things she might decorate her hair or armor with. The crow landed in her path as she made her way nearby, and she smiled at it before trying to go about her business. But the crow continued to stare back at her, and so she stared back, her smile quickly waning. And it kept staring back. And kept staring... and the crow still kept staring! Was... was this some sort of contest? What was this crow doing? Why was it staring at her? And why did she feel so compelled to stare back at it?!

"Hello... Crow." Flatness in her voice, Miyako continued to stare...

Willpower w/ VP: 20

Reo wrote: ↑

Sun May 31, 2020 8:25 pm

Trying to look away was never the problem. It seemed as if Reo's attention turned rapt whenever he heard a flutter of wings.

It's a crow each time. Perhaps the same damned crow. Reo keeps an eye on the thing, as is a man possessed beginning to muse aloud.

"Closer to short flights with hops and jumps. What is your wing design there? You don't soar like hawks or falcons, but your wing the body ratio seems different than sparrows or pigeons. Little water activity, so you probably don't have the waterproofing ducks so. I wonder what your feathers would look like on one of my shafts..."

Reo's gaze is fascination bordering on wonder, even as his musings might look strange to an outsider.

Crow Willpower: 3d10o10 20

(Fascination disadvantage triggered for GM funsies)

Karasu seems more than a little perturbed by Reo's attention, and tries starting angrily at the man, only to be thoroughly analyzed. He flits to another area and tries again, with the same result, then again and again. Finally Karasu starts looking for hiding spots, evidently bothered by a target who isn't put off by his presence.

Willpower vs Reo: 4d10o10 13

Hanzou wrote: ↑

Sun May 31, 2020 8:40 pm

Hanzou was foraging for more food. When the crow landed in front of him, he wasn't really surprised.

"I told you, you hisst ate the last plum. I don't keckt have any left. You went through ssirrr my pack. You know it's skeen true."

But, the crow just stared and stared.

"Fine. I did find some keeesss goji."

Hanzou held out a few berries.

- - -
AWCK! [LM, D9], Raw Willpower: 3d10o10 13

AWCK! [LM, D9], Hunting/Perception: 6d10o10k3 51

Karasu caws triumphantly and eats his fill of the berries, several times, making a series of banking passes while using Hanzou as a pit stop between tormenting other members of the expedition.

Willpower vs Hanzou: 4d10o10 21

Miyako wrote: ↑

Sun May 31, 2020 10:40 pm

After the morning breakfast, Miyako went to explore the waterfall that was near the camp and see if there might be interesting items to forage, either items of a practical nature or at least some new shiny rocks and things she might decorate her hair or armor with. The crow landed in her path as she made her way nearby, and she smiled at it before trying to go about her business. But the crow continued to stare back at her, and so she stared back, her smile quickly waning. And it kept staring back. And kept staring... and the crow still kept staring! Was... was this some sort of contest? What was this crow doing? Why was it staring at her? And why did she feel so compelled to stare back at it?!

"Hello... Crow." Flatness in her voice, Miyako continued to stare...

Willpower w/ VP: 20

And the staring just kept on and on, the crow seemingly possessed of a will not of this world...

His attention span, however, was a different story, and with a flat, level "Awck" Karasu turned to find more easily provoked quarry.

Willpower vs Miyako: 4d10o10 16

The tribeswoman nodded and smirked at the bird as it broke away from their staring contest, taking the crow's cry as an acknowledgment that she had indeed been a worthy opponent in whatever game they had just played. "Goodbye, Crow," she proclaimed triumphantly, but instead of going back to her own business she stood and watched to see what the crow might do. And what it might do is... bother others in a similar manner, she saw. This really was a game this bird was playing, wasn't it? And she quickly realized as she watched for a few moments that she was not the only victim to be picked upon by this clever creature...