✼ Heeded Highbound: Reboot ✼ {RP}

[Temteno]

“Autumn in the Highlands would be brief — a glorious riot
of color blazing red across the moors and gleaming every shade of gold in the forests
of sheltered glens. Those achingly beautiful images would be painted again and again
across the hills and in the shivering waters of the mountain tarns until the harsh
winds of winter sent the last quaking leaf to its death on the frozen ground.”
― Elizabeth Stuart, Heartstorm

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✼ Heeded Highbound: Reboot ✼

✼ Foreword ✼

Spoiler: foreword • show

I'm happy to announce that, after a long time, we are finally rebooting the roleplay "Heeded Highbound". I feel honored to be the game master and I'm also thankful to Satyr, the original GM, who gave permission to use the original plot in this.

There are still a few things to take in account before continuing further.
As in the original roleplay, we will use 3rd person and past tense. Roleplaying happens in full sentences and not in asterisks, but I don't expect long and lucious explanations of the situations.

If you are interested in joining this roleplay, that's great! Still, I can't promise that we can find a free position or need a new character. This roleplay is also a long-term one, so try to think whether you can commit yourself to this for a longer time. It is very time-consuming to work position for a new character. If you are interested in joining, send me a personal message about it.

Without futher ado, let's get started with this.

✼ Plot ✼

Spoiler: plot • show

Plot and wording by Satyr, few changes made by Temteno.

The year is 118.

There have been three expeditions so far, but only first has been successful. The second expedition from year 95 was rerouted onto the coast of Greenland during a storm, and it was discovered that the country actually had a few old and abandoned settlements left. As they found nothing there the whole winter and less than a half of the crew came back, the mission is considered to be unsuccesful. Nobody returned from the third mission from year 103: main radio station lost the contact to the expedition members after a month they were settled to explore the old Russian area.

It's been 15 years now, and a newly assembled group of an academic and military members is attempting to assemble another exploration team. With minimal funding and less than stellar reputation, they are recruiting for an expedition to Scotland, and have been forced to hire, to be frank, a bunch of more or less skilled members of the North's deepest ends.

✼ The Crew ✼

Spoiler: the crew • show

Expedition members

Name...Elin Bergström
Nicknames...N/A
Age...20
Gender...Female
Profession...Cleanser
Nationality...Swedish
Height...194cm
Immune...Yes
Languages...Swedish and Icelandic
Magical abilities...No magical abilities
Brief motivation...She wants to fight some stuff and burn some things, but more importantly she wants more respect from her fellow cleansers due to them losing trust in her over recent events.
Jobs before...She dropped out of school and while she speaks two languages she's nearly illiterate. She was formerly captain of a team of cleansers.
Physical looks... She is very tall, muscular and athletic, she had curly red hair that she wears in two long braids. She has lots of freckles all over her body, she has dark brown eyes, and she has a dopey smile. Her posture is fairly relaxed and she's almost always fidgeting.

✼

Name…Sanni Lampinen
Nicknames…Fool, Idiot child
Age…19
Gender...Female
Profession…Mage, Medic
Nationality…Finnish
Height…160 cm
Immune…No
Languages…Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian
Magical abilities…Mage who has been trained and who is trying to figure out how to use magic to cure the rash illness.
Brief motivation…She really just wants to get out into the field so she can learn more about the illness and try to cure it.
Jobs before…She was trained as a mage by her mother and decided to learn to be a medic when a friend was wounded by an encounter with a duskling. She had a very good education because there really wasn’t much else to do but learn. She officially works as a healer in her hometown, and unofficially works on her “cure.” She hasn’t been able to have a practical field job due to the whole “not immune” thing. Sometimes she sneaks into the woods because she’s kind of an idiot like that.
Physical looks…Very short; light blond hair in six braids, shoulder-length; grey eyes.

✼

Name...Rúnar Flóki Agnarsson
Nicknames...Boss, Big guy
Age...35
Gender...Male
Profession... Icelandic mage, Mechanic, likely the designated driver
Nationality... Icelandic
Height... 193 cm
Immune...Yes
Languages...Icelandic, Norwegian (understands Finnish on a spiritual level, doesn't speak it)
Magical abilities...Trained Icelandic mage. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
Brief motivation...It sounded like a good idea at the time.
Jobs before...Started off as an absolute tech geek, until they found he's a magical boi. Joined the army to do proper magic training, and army also got themselves a skilled mechanic.
Physical looks...MASSIVE guy, really big and muscular. He has very long black hair he ties in a braid, complemented with a black beard. His eyes are bright gray, and he is a pretty pale dude. Looks like he can break you.

✼

Name...Amelia Vinter
Nicknames...Strawberry (by her boyfriend), Melli (by friends and rivals in the army), Corporal Vinter (formal army interactions)
Age...24
Gender...Female
Profession...Hunter, in this trip the Leader
Nationality...Norwegian
Height...181 cm
Immune...Yes
Languages...Norwegian, Icelandic, French
Magical abilities...N/A
Brief motivation...Wants to improve her CV so she can join the officer academy, so she's been looking for a job with leadership opportunities to do for her vacation instead of just going home to her family.
Jobs before...Been a hunter in the Norwegian Army for five years, currently a Corporal in a team of combat engineers. In a seven year old relationship. Was traumatised as a kid by her oldest brother sacrifising himself to save her life.
Physical looks...Reddish Blonde hair that reaches the shoulders, with bangs so the hair over her forehead only reach her blue eyes. Usually in a ponytail when on patrol/duty, else let free. Her face's features are sharp, and she has thin shoulders, but otherwise she has a medium but well defined frame.

✼

Name...Anne-Inga Thorvaldsen
Nicknames...Scoutlady, Anne, Hound
Age...29
Gender...Female
Profession...Scout, in this trip Second in Command
Nationality...Danish
Height...171 cm
Immune...Yes
Languages...Danish and Swedish
Magical abilities...Not anything that she knows and believes in.
Brief motivation...Combining her Danish fixation to the Silent World and Swedish ambition to cleanse areas, she couldn't let the opportunities of exploring Silent World deeper and gathering information for the future cleansing pass.
Jobs before...After being in a Denmark's primary school, she joined as 16 years old to the Sweden's military, specializing to be a scout. Anne has mainly worked as a scout since then, overlooking cleansed areas and working alongside with the cleansers.
Physical looks...Anne has face full of acne scars from her rough puberty years and eyes blue. Her hair is in very short bob cut style and dirty blond. She has a heavy body build, but is actually quite agile despite it. Her skin gets easily tanned, so it is naturally slightly darker than a normal Dane's.

✼

Name...Axel Johansen
Nicknames...Ugly, You Over There, Oh God Please Don't Kill Me
Age...36
Gender...Male
Profession...Violence Dispenser (former Marine, former Bouncer, former legbreaker for a smuggling syndicate, etc.)
Nationality...Norwegian
Height...191 cm
Immune...Yes
Languages...Norwegian, (technically) Icelandic and Swedish
Magic...Nada
Brief motivation...The prospect of a good fight and getting paid to do said fighting.
Jobs before...As above, if the job doesn't require much intellect and does need a surplus of muscle and a lack of restraint, Axel's your guy.
Physical looks...Built like a brick outhouse, also looks like he was swung face-first into said outhouse at birth repeatedly. A redhead, hair is cropped pretty short.


Others

Name...He forgot it. Mostly goes by Jack.
Nicknames...Spring heeled Jack, Bogrunner, Tree
Age...Also forgotten.
Gender...Male
Profession...Wanderer/Messenger
Nationality...Scottish
Height...7’5”
Immune...Yes
Languages...Scottish, English, Irish, Norwegian (he allegedly found a book on it)
Magical abilities...Yes, capable of entrancing beasts and trolls using magic enhanced music for as long as he keeps the music going. All he can do is get them to calmly follow along and lead them away. He hasn’t attempted to use his magics on humans.
Brief motivation...He might be the welcome wagon?
Jobs before...N/A
Physical looks...Tall and spindly. His clothes are weatherworn, drab and very patched. A small messenger satchel at his side carries most of his worldly possessions. Jack’s face is covered up by a wool scarf, and only some of his freckled pale skin, otherworldly green eyes and coal black curly shoulder length locks are truly visible.

✼ Starter post ✼

Spoiler: Starter post • show

All the expedition members start at the Dalsnes' military base. They all have just arrived there from their own ways and have been escorted to a slightly run-down room by few sea defense members.

The room has window that gently reflects the light. A huge, old map is pinned down to a table. Some places were marked with red tacks.
The room has one corner with equipment that suggests some sort of a radio station. There are few chairs around, but even more papers on the ground.

As they arrive into the room, they are greeted by a middle-aged man with knitted sweater and a brown jacket, straight pants and a mug. His hairline seems to be disappearing, but there's bright look. He touches his short beard with surprise and puts his mug on another table.

:iceland: "Welcome, welcome back. Familiar and unfamiliar faces - great! No need to be too stiff here."
He shrugs his shoulders with excitement.
:iceland: "I won't keep you all here for too long."

If you had been in contact with an Icelandic academic to join this expedition, you'd know that his man name is Sirus Leosson. If not, the Swedish woman Vilma Holmquist who recruited you doesn't seem to be here.

[Kitty]

There was a man, already in the room with the pair before the others arrived. He was tall, and had a very massive build. His long black hair was tied back in a long braid, and he was playing with a tiny kitten in his lap.
He was sitting in a corner and he looked like he was trying to be as small as he could possibly be.

He didn't say a word to anyone.

[Nellie McEnt]

A very short woman (if she could be called that at nineteen) moved quietly out of the group, intent on finding a corner before anyone paid too much attention to her. Unfortunately, the first corner she came upon was occupied by an intimidating man who was, for some reason, playing with a small kitten. Eyebrows raised and eyes wide, she made hurriedly for another corner, where she sat on the floor, arms wrapped around her knees.

[ILoveMySocksAndSweater]

Toward the back of the room there sat a tall, redheaded woman. She seemed a bit too large for the chair she was sitting in, she even seemed a bit too large for the entire room itself. She fidgeted a bit, tapped her foot, picked at her hands, twirled her braid. She desperately wanted to say something but she had no idea what to say. Not knowing what to say is probably for the best , she thought, I'd probably make a fool of myself if I did say something right now anyway.

She was here to go along for the ride, hopefully toughen up a bit along the way. At the very least she wanted an impressive story to tell once she got back.

[Temteno]

Anne sat calmly and with a slightly curious expression. Her professional look crashed with the leather jacket that she had on top of the turtle neck and the woman scratched her neck.
Truth to be told, she didn't catch any of that. Few greetings were familiar, but everything else went over her head. She glanced to her sides: on the right side is a woman with red braids and left (although way further away) a huge man with a long, black braid.

Anne turned to her right to face the way taller woman. She seemed to be fidgety.
:sweden: "Hey, could you translate me that?" she asked with a smile and leant forwards to get the other's attention. She hadn't really seen Bergström for a long time and it took embarrassing amount of time to recognize her. Anne was still sure the other wouldn't recognize her either.

[Ragnarok]

A redheaded bear of a man entered surprisingly silently. His clothes marked him out as a sailor of some kind, reinforced both by the scars on his face and the harpoon he is for some reason carrying on his back. A full-grown wolf, grey with amber eyes, trotted at his heels, panting with its tongue hanging out the side of its mouth.
The redhead gave Sirus a blank look before sitting down.

Anne sat calmly and with a slightly curious expression. Her professional look crashed with the leather jacket that she had on top of the turtle neck and the woman scratched her neck.
Truth to be told, she didn't catch any of that. Few greetings were familiar, but everything else went over her head. She glanced to her sides: on the right side is a woman with red braids and left (although way further away) a huge man with a long, black braid.

Anne turned to her right to face the way taller woman. She seemed to be fidgety.
:sweden: "Hey, could you translate me that?" she asked with a smile and leant forwards to get the other's attention. She hadn't really seen Bergström for a long time and it took embarrassing amount of time to recognize her. Anne was still sure the other wouldn't recognize her either.

Upon hearing Anne speak, the bear-man let loose a string of words that might, if not spoken by someone with a horrendous Norwegian accent, have borne some small resemblance to Swedish.

[Kitty]

A redheaded bear of a man enters surprisingly silently. His clothes mark him out as a sailor of some kind, reinforced both by the scars on his face and the harpoon he is for some reason carrying on his back. A full-grown wolf, grey with amber eyes, trots at his heels, panting with its tongue hanging out the side of its mouth.
The redhead gives Sirus a blank look before sitting down.

The other mountain of a man looked up when a man and a wolf entered. His kitten fluffed up and arched her back, and started to hiss at the wolf, absolutely terrified. He picked her up and placed her on his shoulder, looking at the two newcomers absolutely distrustfully.

[wavewright62]

Spoiler: npc note • show

Don't mind me, just the friendly neighbourhood mod passing through, setting this thread sticky and the older one un-sticky.  I'll leave the old one there for a wee while for reference, and move it into the Forum Memories board later.
Have fun. 
Reserving the right to take bit parts as needed - drop me a PM if you need a chaotic neutral in your travels, will discuss other orientations if needed for gameplay.

[luca0483]

Being the last one in through the door, Amelia greeted the three who hadn't been escorted to the premise with the rest;
the older man with the cup, the muscle with the cat, and the twin-braided redhead.
:iceland: "Good day, hi"

As most of the team sat along the walls, Amelia sat down a little more forward, towards the middle of the room, to better view the map.
:iceland: "I believe that's all of us" she stated openly, more to the old man than anyone else.

[ILoveMySocksAndSweater]

Anne sat calmly and with a slightly curious expression. Her professional look crashed with the leather jacket that she had on top of the turtle neck and the woman scratched her neck.
Truth to be told, she didn't catch any of that. Few greetings were familiar, but everything else went over her head. She glanced to her sides: on the right side is a woman with red braids and left (although way further away) a huge man with a long, black braid.

Anne turned to her right to face the way taller woman. She seemed to be fidgety.
:sweden: "Hey, could you translate me that?" she asked with a smile and leant forwards to get the other's attention. She hadn't really seen Bergström for a long time and it took embarrassing amount of time to recognize her. Anne was still sure the other wouldn't recognize her either.

Elin jumped a little. Just coming back out of her own thoughts, she looked up at the woman before her. She narrowed her eyes, there was something familiar about her, that was badbadbad. It was best not to jump to heavy conclusions though, perhaps this woman just had a common look about her, who's to say they'd met before?

Elin realized she had been staring, not for long, yet a moment of staring was still a bit too long for having just been asked a simple question after all. She sat up in her chair and answered the woman's question, " :sweden: Oh, uh, of course I can translate!"

She desperately scrambled to remember what had just been said, " :sweden: He just said: 'Welcome back! Familiar and unfamiliar people!' and uh... 'No need to be stiff, I won't keep you too long.'"

Elin tried for a smile. Guess I'm on translator duty now, she thought. Then it hit that this trip might not be as well thought out as she had thought when she signed up.

[Temteno]

Upon hearing Anne speak, the bear-man lets loose a string of words that might, if not spoken by someone with a horrendous Norwegian accent, have borne some small resemblance to Swedish.

Anne's eyes locked immediately to the man with a...huge dog also on his side now that she looked closer. The words he let loose sounded something like a Swede with hangover, so that must have been a somewhat of a greeting.
The woman waved her hand modestly to him. Her lips quirked into an amused smile.

Elin realized she had been staring, not for long, yet a moment of staring was still a bit too long for having just been asked a simple question after all. She sat up in her chair and answered the woman's question, " :sweden: Oh, uh, of course I can translate!"

She desperately scrambled to remember what had just been said, " :sweden: He just said: 'Welcome back! Familiar and unfamiliar people!' and uh... 'No need to be stiff, I won't keep you too long.'"

Anne turned her head back to look Bergström again. Her eyes wandered then to Sirus, who himself eyed carefully the whole group.
:sweden: "Thank you. Should've chosen Icelandic in school", she said with grateful tone that had a slim regret in it. Her smile didn't leave the face at any moment, but it slightly dimmed out when Sirus tapped the table.


Sirus had waited for everyone settle down and took the mug from a table.

:iceland: "I believe that's all of us" she stated openly, more to the old man than anyone else.

The man nodded to her and took a one tack to his palm.
:iceland: "That's right, so it's better to get straight to the point. Holmquist will surely come later"
Sirus' face cringed clearly when he mentioned Vilma's name.

:iceland: "I'm glad you all have decided to take the mission to discover the Silent World", he said with a smile again and stuck the tack into the map.
:iceland: "Or more precisely, the Old World called this part 'Scotland'", he pointed at the tack that he had just stuck into the map.

:iceland: "I'm sure you all know the risks and facts that you might not come back and so on - I at least suppose you all have read the contract before signing up. The mission description was also there: bring anything valuable back from there. That includes books, items and information about rash and cure, academics in this group know will known more."
Sirus looked at Sanni and Runar when he mentioned academics.

The man inhaled.
:iceland: "Here's the route on the map. The sea defense's ship will take you and the equipment from Selbjorn to the place formerly called John o' Groats. There, the tank will go the straightest route to the former city of Perth and then to Aberdeen, where the sea defense's ship picks you all up. The trip will take the whole winter."

Sirus pointed at the map before him.
"You have to report at least once a week to the main radio station and tell the situation. The leader of the group is Amelia Vinter and the second-in-command is Anna-Inga Thorvaldsen."

Anne heard her name and waved to everyone automatically, fixing her stature and puffing her chest out. Her face told that she didn't understand any of that.

:iceland: "Any questions?" Sirus asked with a smile and took a sip from the mug.

[Ragnarok]

Anne's eyes locked immediately to the man with a...huge dog also on his side now that she looked closer. The words he let loose sounded something like a Swede with hangover, so that must have been a somewhat of a greeting.
The woman waved her hand modestly to him. Her lips quirked into an amused smile.

Anne turned her head back to look Bergström again. Her eyes wandered then to Sirus, who himself eyed carefully the whole group.
:sweden: "Thank you. Should've chosen Icelandic in school", she said with grateful tone that had a slim regret in it. Her smile didn't leave the face at any moment, but it slightly dimmed out when Sirus tapped the table.


Sirus had waited for everyone settle down and took the mug from a table.The man nodded to her and took a one tack to his palm.
:iceland: "That's right, so it's better to get straight to the point. Holmquist will surely come later"
Sirus' face cringed clearly when he mentioned Vilma's name.

:iceland: "I'm glad you all have decided to take the mission to discover the Silent World", he said with a smile again and stuck the tack into the map.
:iceland: "Or more precisely, the Old World called this part 'Scotland'", he pointed at the tack that he had just stuck into the map.

:iceland: "I'm sure you all know the risks and facts that you might not come back and so on - I at least suppose you all have read the contract before signing up. The mission description was also there: bring anything valuable back from there. That includes books, items and information about rash and cure, academics in this group know will known more."
Sirus looked at Sanni and Runar when he mentioned academics.

The man inhaled.
:iceland: "Here's the route on the map. The sea defense's ship will take you and the equipment from Selbjorn to the place formerly called John o' Groats. There, the tank will go the straightest route to the former city of Perth and then to Aberdeen, where the sea defense's ship picks you all up. The trip will take the whole winter."

Sirus pointed at the map before him.
"You have to report at least once a week to the main radio station and tell the situation. The leader of the group is Amelia Vinter and the second-in-command is Anna-Inga Thorvaldsen."

Anne heard her name and waved to everyone automatically, fixing her stature and puffing her chest out. Her face told that she didn't understand any of that.

:iceland: "Any questions?" Sirus asked with a smile and took a sip from the mug.

:norway: "I hope you speak proper Norwegian," the redhead said.

[Kitty]

Anne's eyes locked immediately to the man with a...huge dog also on his side now that she looked closer. The words he let loose sounded something like a Swede with hangover, so that must have been a somewhat of a greeting.
The woman waved her hand modestly to him. Her lips quirked into an amused smile.

Anne turned her head back to look Bergström again. Her eyes wandered then to Sirus, who himself eyed carefully the whole group.
:sweden: "Thank you. Should've chosen Icelandic in school", she said with grateful tone that had a slim regret in it. Her smile didn't leave the face at any moment, but it slightly dimmed out when Sirus tapped the table.


Sirus had waited for everyone settle down and took the mug from a table.The man nodded to her and took a one tack to his palm.
:iceland: "That's right, so it's better to get straight to the point. Holmquist will surely come later"
Sirus' face cringed clearly when he mentioned Vilma's name.

:iceland: "I'm glad you all have decided to take the mission to discover the Silent World", he said with a smile again and stuck the tack into the map.
:iceland: "Or more precisely, the Old World called this part 'Scotland'", he pointed at the tack that he had just stuck into the map.

:iceland: "I'm sure you all know the risks and facts that you might not come back and so on - I at least suppose you all have read the contract before signing up. The mission description was also there: bring anything valuable back from there. That includes books, items and information about rash and cure, academics in this group know will known more."
Sirus looked at Sanni and Runar when he mentioned academics.

The man inhaled.
:iceland: "Here's the route on the map. The sea defense's ship will take you and the equipment from Selbjorn to the place formerly called John o' Groats. There, the tank will go the straightest route to the former city of Perth and then to Aberdeen, where the sea defense's ship picks you all up. The trip will take the whole winter."

Sirus pointed at the map before him.
"You have to report at least once a week to the main radio station and tell the situation. The leader of the group is Amelia Vinter and the second-in-command is Anna-Inga Thorvaldsen."

Anne heard her name and waved to everyone automatically, fixing her stature and puffing her chest out. Her face told that she didn't understand any of that.

:iceland: "Any questions?" Sirus asked with a smile and took a sip from the mug.

:iceland: "What is our equipment?" the mountain grumbled from the corner. "And who is the non-immune member?" He was still eyeing the wolf. His kitten climbed on the top of his head and was staring at it with wide eyes.

[Nellie McEnt]

:iceland: "What is our equipment?" the mountain grumbled from the corner. "And who is the non-immune member?" He was still eyeing the wolf. His kitten climbed on the top of his head and was staring at it with wide eyes.

Sanni heard the question and looked down slowly at the floor, trying to avoid attention. She had really hoped to avoid a fuss about this.

[Temteno]

:norway: "I hope you speak proper Norwegian," the redhead said.

:norway: "Proper enough to have a talk through the radio, don't worry", Sirus said with amused voice, but his Norwegian had very strong Icelandic accent in.
:norway: "Though my Danish is bad and Finnish is non-existent. Swedish is okay."

:iceland: "What is our equipment?" the mountain grumbled from the corner. "And who is the non-immune member?" He was still eyeing the wolf. His kitten climbed on the top of his head and was staring at it with wide eyes.

Sirus glanced at his papers and scratched his head.
:iceland: "You will have a one tank that pulls one bigger van. The weaponry is, due to our budget, non-existent and you all have to survive with your own weapons. But in need, Vilma can surely get something."
Sirus didn't look sure at all of it though. He started to rummage through the papers after the answer.

:iceland: "And true, you have one non-immune with you, uhhh...Sanni Lampinen, yes you."
He nodded at the girl that sat in the corner
:iceland: "We will ensure that the tank and the van are safe from the rash and its creatures as long as you take precautions. There will also be spare masks."