BUMP!

For a fantasy medieval setting i'd have a Jousting tournament. You could have betting scams and blackmailing as part of the story (corruption). It could possibly be a precursor to a civil war.

If it's a steampunk setting, a techno "film noir" would be intersting. Think Discworld Noir, but steampunk.

Introducing - Rothgarr, The Magnificent!

Rothgarr is a top-tier prizefighter from Ruseiv who has recently made his way west to seek his fortune. He stands 2 meters tall, is heavily muscled, and moves with catlike grace, his numerous tattoos make him even more outlandish in western lands. He is a master of unarmed combat and, if necessary, is skilled with weapons too where he favours the long hafted mace he uses as a walking stick while on the road.

Rothgarr make his way west accompanied by his uncle Shrein who had travelled extensively while working as a caravan guard, and undertook to act as his mentor and manager. Rothgarr's last fight was in the city of Derrig where the Duke's younger son, Michael challenged him to a match. Although a skilled and tenacious fighter Michael was simply not in Rothgarr's league and was left with several broken ribs after being badly beaten in the match. Michael publicly said he held no ill feeling towards him but Shrein though it best to move on at once. That night four horsemen approached their campsite and asked if he was Rothgarr, when he said yes they drew swords and attacked. When the fight was over Shrein and all four of the attackers lay dead.

Now Rothgarr is alone in a foreign land with only a limited understanding of the language and quite possibly more killers on his trail, seeking revenge, fortune and fame.

Have a very happy birthday, Anubis! :-D

Note that I still think you should name her Bastet/Bast/Baast/Ubasti/Baset instead :-)

Now for the contest, not sure I can use this or not, but anyway, here goes: months ago in stoicsentry's Adventures in Vue game/story I made this character named Artemus Venn, whose stats and background info (written by me) can be found here:
http://adventuresinvue.blogspot.com/2011/07/artemus-venn.html

What? Name who?

A third entry. This time, a quest with a difficult moral choice:

The search of the beast

You have been hired in a village to give chase to a dangerous beast, responsible for having mortally wounded one of the villagers, a fur trapper who was out hunting animals in a distant forest several days away. The man, who was found shortly before his death, crawling on the outskirts of the town, spoke in his delirium of a huge wolf.

The strangest part is that his injuries had been treated and bandaged carefully. In the place where it was found there is heavy human footprints. Clearly someone brought up here on his back and then left. Why? You decide to follow the trail.

After days of tracking the ground towards and through the woods, you finally arrives to the entrance of a small cave hidden deep in the mountain range that forms a natural boundary on the far side of the forest. You step inside cautiously, protected by your armor and with the sword clutched tightly in your hands. Inside is a sturdy man of weathered face with a stained bandage around his ribs and another one in his left ankle.

The man is startled, seeing your fierce expression and the blade pointed at him. Surprisingly, he dropped to the ground, his face buried in the dirt, sobbing, screaming that he hadn't want to do, that it was because of the curse. When you see the mark on his neck, a full moon shaped mark, you begin to suspect what happened. When he calms a bit, you get to hear his story.

The man was born with the curse of lycanthropy, which was activated at puberty, with the full moon mark appearing on his skin after the first transformation: human by day, wolf each night.

Since then he has lived alone in the isolated depths of the forest, away from any human settlement. But three days ago, when he returned to his human form at dawn, met with bloody hands and mouth, and wounds in his flank and ankle. The fur trapper was unconscious beside him, bleeding profusely. Healing the villager' injuries and his own as best he could, he carried the wounded man to the vicinity of the town to be found...

Now he removes his bandages and you actually see the ugly wounds in his ribs and ankle, already beginning to heal because of his strange curse. You ask him to guide you to the clearing where the encounter with the villager occurred. You find a closed foothold trap, with abundant blood and wolf hair in the bushes nearby, next to a bloody spear. The rest of the traces confirm the story.

Clearly, the villager, tempted by the value that would have the skin of a wolf so huge in the court of a local nobleman, attempted to hunt him. But when he approached the trapped animal, he missed the deathblow and the wolf, with the strength that gave him his curse, managed to extract the leg of the trap and launch into his tormentor..

So now you find yourself with a difficult dilemma. You know it is useless to force the man to leave the forest. When adapting the wolf form every night, atavistic instinct will force him to return to his lair.

You can let him live, knowing that this could occur again, leading to more deaths. You can kill him, knowing that you have finished with the danger that the werewolf represents (and collecting the substantial reward offered). Or you even can wash your hands and let the town council to decide his fate, whatever their choice.

What will you do?

The cat in your avatar is named Anubis, right? I just thought Bastet/Bast/Baast/Ubasti/Baset might be more appropriate for a cat :-)

Not entering, but Happy Birthday Xyem and +1

Happy Birthday!

I always thought that an underground, hive civilization would be awesome.

Have you heard of the ferocious sky sharks of the great plainlands? They are quite similar in form to ocean sharks, but contain lighter than air gas bladders that allow them to swim through the air. They can alter their density by inflating or deflating themselves in order to rise or descend. Thanks to their chameleon-like ability to match their colour to that of the sky they are quite difficult to see from the ground, but are easily spotted from above.

Sky sharks usually prey on the herds that cross the plains, but they think nothing of snacking on unwary travellers, or snatching someone from a passing airship. If you can pierce their tough hide and puncture a gas bladder they will fall to the ground and be left thrashing about as helpless as any fish on land, but all too often the first sign of their presence will be a despairing scream.

Fell free to use this and my previous entry regardless of whether or not I win.

P.S. Of course, as fearsome as the sky sharks are, they are nothing compared to cloud kracken.

BUMP!

I missed this thread, which is weird.

Happy really belated birthday!

The first winner will be announced tomorrow from all the entries above this post :)

Good job everyone, she is having difficultly choosing! :)

However, the first winner will be posted tonight, even if it is just a random one from her favourites. The second winner will be announced on Thursday so if you have an entry, there is still plenty of time.

Just to state again that the world setting is currently fantasy medieval but is not exclusively so. A good idea from another setting (e.g. steampunk, magipunk, sci-fi) can be worked in.

Congratulations andrestv, your entry was chosen as the first winner :)