Sataari

[quietblade]

WHO: Taashath + OPEN
WHAT: Catch-all for Wintermarch
WHEN: All through the month
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: Come get giant qunari CR!

I. SKYHOLD

Most days were good days for the warrior. He laughed, he smiled and he spent his time among friends and peers. Training, teaching, working for something.

Other days were not as good, when memories came to him and he swore he could almost hear again; the low thunder of the aftermath of an explosion. Those days Taas withdrew from the rest of the soldiers and spent his time on the battlements, looking at the mountains. It reminded him of freedom, to see the high rise of the snowy peaks - yet there was the the drop from the wall and deep into the chasm that settled his stomach even more.

Nothing came without danger, did it?

"Meraad astaarit, meraad itwasit, aban aqun," he says softly. There was nothing to struggle against, even when all he could see were the faces of his antaam.

Taas keeps his back free, his weapon in the barracks and his thoughts stubbornly on the future, but he could probably use a distraction.

II. TAVERN

Some nights Taashath spent in the tavern, having a few drinks and talking to people. He does his best to not get too drunk, but sometimes it was nice to let go and be the guy who had to sleep it off on the floor.

...few people could move him once he was down, after all.

Other nights he enjoys less alcohol and more games, and he's still trying to master Wicked Grace. Diamondback is more his thing, as well as Dead Man's Tricks. It would be nice to get some Qunari games in the tavern, but he doubted any of them were easily found in the south.

Join him for drinking or games?

III. TRAINING RING

The swing of his dragon-tooth mace crushed the target dummy under him, and he makes sure to follow up the weight of the weapon by bracing himself with his legs. Swinging the thing was different from his usual axe, but the destruction was obvious. Standing back, he looks at the broken piece of straw and wood, rolling his shoulders a bit.

He still preferred the axe, but Korrin's present was damn amazing.

"So who wants to spar? I need to work on my speed, and I'm sure I'll be decent training for facing any Red Templar behemoths." Taas grins, leaning a bit on the mace and looking at the people gathered.

IV. SIGN LANGUAGE CLASS

Taashath's sign language class was still going, although it was mostly teaching non-verbal commands to the scouts. The people who came back for more were always welcome, and it was really a blessing for the deaf warrior to have more people around that were able to sign. It meant he didn't always have to guess half the words people said to him, and the most important conversations couldn't be misunderstood.

(...silent ways of flirting was another thing that he was asked a lot, so Taas has to try not to laugh any time he sees it used outside his 'classroom'.)

The door to the semi-broken tower that the soldiers used as a place to nap between shifts during the night was always open when Taas was teaching, and by now he had dragged some old benches and blankets there to make it a little more comfortable.

Comments

[quietblade]

He's kind of impressed by that, really. The man was sturdier than he looked.

"A very fair deal," Taas agrees and then asks for a refill of Waver's cup from the bartender. As soon as that is taken care of, he grins again and makes his way back to the table.

At least it was easy to follow the qunari, since he was big enough to make people give him a wide berth.

"Do you know anything at all about these games? We've been playing Diamondback, but we could do Wicked Grace as well."

[kartereo]

Waver slipped off of his seat quickly, pausing just long enough to fan out his coat so that it wasn't bunched up in one spot. He didn't have dry cleaning in case something happened to it now, he needed to be more careful.

Following in Taas' wake, Waver kept up with the questions.

"Mostly I've figured out the names, but that's about it."

[quietblade]

The warrior misses what Waker says since they're moving and he has most of his back against the man as they sit down, but he figures he had replied and just nods instead.

No need to make it awkward.

"Well, Wicked Grace is all about cheating. Diamondback is more honest." Taas takes the deck and folds one part over to show the faces.

"Each player starts with a hand of five cards. You try to have as many matching cards as possible in a good hand, and you keep drawing and discarding cards until the Angel of Death shows up - then everyone has to show their hand." He flips some cards until he finds said angel. "This is the Angel of Death. When it's played, the round is over. Those cheating try to hide it until the game is in their favor."

He spreads the cards out a bit to show more suits. "The other cards are Serpents, Songs, Knights and the other Angels."

[kartereo]

Waver leaned in as Taas began to show the faces of the cards, memorizing each. No surprise that the faces of the cards were different, but well, why would they be the same? That'd be ridiculous.

"Okay, I follow that much. How many rounds until a winner is determined, or can the game go on forever?"

[quietblade]

"Sometimes it goes on until someone tires, is out of money or clothes - depending on what you're playing for. Otherwise it's usually three, where losers are out until there's one winner."

He takes the cards and shuffles them again, pulling out one of them. Serpent of Deceit.

"Say I have this and another Serpent card, that's a pair. It can go up to four, and that's definitely a winning hand, especially if it is Angels and the last card you pull is the Angel of Death. Other hands can be double pairs, like two Serpents and two Songs. Or three matching suits; even better.

He grins and shuffles the cards yet again, before sliding over five to Waker - faces up for an easier explanation.

"Here you go. Two Songs, One Knight, One Serpent and one Angel. So you should discard one of the non-matching cards and take a new one, and hope that it's another Song. You can also trade with another player."

[kartereo]

"Is there a limit on trades or discards?"

It seemed like the most obvious question to ask while the rest of him filed the rules away for later. The key was making sure that there were matches, and Waver only wished he bothered with card games of chance back home. He'd probably be able to draw parallels better if he did, but sadly for him, that had never even been on his radar.

[quietblade]

"You can trade, take new cards from the deck and discard into a pile until the Angel of Death is played. That's where a lot of players cheat and do not show the card until they have their winning hand instead of playing it as they draw it." He looks quite amused, drawing another card from the deck. A Serpent.

"See, if you throw your Knight or Angel card now, you'll have two Songs and two Serpents. That's a good hand and beats having just one pair... or you could risk it and take another card, replacing a non-paired one." Taas draws another card - this time the Angel of Death.

"Whoops. Yeah, round over. Now you have to play two pairs wether you want to or not."

[kartereo]

"I follow. The Angel freezes your hand and ends the round."

That was probably the easiest part to remember, honestly. Waver shifted in his seat, leaning over Taas' arm just a bit more to get a better look at the cards. He kept both legs steady, as he could feel the chair wanting to tip over due to how close Waver was to the edge.

"Are there any more rules?"

[quietblade]

"Don't kill someone for cheating," Taas says with a somewhat serious expression - even if it soon turns into a chuckle. "...but nah, none that I can think of right now. Do you want to try playing a hand?"

The warrior takes back all the cards and carefully starts shuffling them again.

[kartereo]

"Look at me," Waver responded, his voice deadly dry. "Do I look remotely capable of doing bodily harm to anyone?"

He arched an eyebrow for emphasis. Waver was nothing but skin and bones, a squishy mage if there ever was one.

"But, yeah, sure. Might as well start being terrible now so I can define rock bottom, then move up."

[quietblade]

"Even the smallest child can kill someone with the right weapon," the warrior says with a slight shrug. It sounds like something he grew up hearing, from the way he states it without hesitance.

Besides, a mage is a mage. He's never heard of a warrior that could kill with a word.

"You wanna deal? Five cards each."

[kartereo]

Waver only smiled thinly at the statement. A mage he might be, but he was never a man for combat. His only skill lied with analysis, and it was because of that that he rose to fame. Never mind that every student he ever taught was more powerful and eventually surpassed him.

"Sure."

Waver took the deck after it was offered, making a point to shuffle everything a little too much, if only to avoid any accusations of cheating should he have beginner's luck. Once he was certain he had everything well sorted, he passed out five cards each, then leaned forward to place the deck in the center of the table.