Thread Status: Closed
Players involved: Immortal Cyan, Khamnin, Bamboozle
Characters involved: Fairfax and Eathelin played by Bamboozle, Valeria played by Immortal Cyan, Augura and Vadima Narshara played by Khamnin
Setting: Southern Ocean
Time: Current
Weather: Clear
Augura stood in her now-empty Captain's Quarters, which was emptied when she ordered the routine cleaning. As she took a breath in the emptiness - she looked over at a picture of her parents which she hung on the wall, and slithered over to the portait slowly, tears forming in her eyes. Suddenly, a bluish ghostly figure appeared behind her, which made the area around Augura drop in temperature. The figure was in the shape of a Minotaur, with ragged clothing, and a broken horn. "Your parents were good people." He said simply looking at the tearful Augura. Augura closed her eyes tightly, wiping away the soon-to-be tears. "No, they were not. They were awful people, Bareiu. Don't you understand that after all this time? They destroyed lives, towns, entire families........" She said, stopping for a moment. "But they were still my parents." She finished, running her figures over the edge of the picture frame, then turning around to face the ghostly minotaur. "You have taught me so much more than them- you have been more of a father figure than my actual dad ever was....and your a ghost!" She said, getting louder at the end. Bareiu closed his ghostly eyes, nodding slightly. "Calm child, I know you are frustrated at not finding out what happened to them.......but when the gods will it, we will find them, and the ship." He said soothingly, which calmed Augura down.
"It will only get harder though....with the recent happenings...some people are panicking, and the rebellious Queen in the elven woodlands stops our operations there. People will have even less tolerance for us, which will make our job harder than it already is." She said, sounding worried."And....and we just can't get caught in the middle of these skirmishes and arguments. We all will end up in the ocean or jail... She said, twirling herself around to the back of the room, where hung a map of the known World. Augura approached it, walking straight through Bareiu, and looked back at him then the map as he walked closer to it. She waited for any guidance from the ghost, but he simply nodded. The map was filled with different shades, indicating different factions. Augura waited a moment then touched the map, south of West Sleibte there were usually cargo ships filled with gold and other resources....they would go there.
"Bareiu!"Called Vadima from the deck of the ship, "I must be going." Bareiu said, vanishing into air. Augura nodded to herself, then started slithering out of the door and up to the wheel of the ship, where she was able to see everything- the ship, the town, everything. "It is something amazing we have created." She said to herself peacefully.
Augura slid her right hand over the wheel that steered their magnificent ship. It was elegantly carved, made of the wondrous white birch wood. She peered over at their little haven, small town, whatever people like to call it. She could see a little hatchling dragon playing with a young siren boy...they were most likely Orphans now, with all but a handfull of adults left, it left her and the survivors to care for the Haven- and the Orphans. They were the few children they had around, they were practically her own kids. They were all a huge family- they would die for each-other. Some were newer than others. Yet a few years was a long time, some have been here since she was born. As far as Augura knew, she fit in nicely, or at least that was what she thought through observations. She peered on the deck below, where a worker gave her a thumbs up and she nodded. "We are ready to go, let's make sure everyone is aboard. We will need practically everyone, we are short on men." She said, holding on to the wheel, ready to go whenever everything had been checked. Vadima and Bareiu were still chatting up a storm below, while about a dozen pirates boarded- included a young human teenager.
Later...
"Board the ship! Grab everything you can!" She yelled before climbing onto the side of the ship and jumping over the water several feet to the other vessel. She barely made it, but climbed on board. Her crew began to board as well, and started to instantly fight the enemy crew. Augura herself was pulling her spear out of a thinly built elf, then swung her spear around to knock a stout dwarf over the ship. The ship had way too many crewmen for them to kill- they'd need to get the stuff and escape. "Block the entrance to below decks!" She hollered to her crew. She soon slithered her way to the door and opened it, where a human burst out and maneuvered to stab her just as a burst of green energy hit him and he fell down, dead. Augura looked over to her ship and saw Vadima, and nodded in gratitude.
Then she began her way down the steps to see what the ship held. But instead of the riches she hoped....there were four Kelahati. She moved curiously towards their cages.
One of the Kelathi in the cage was a diminutive, singapura-cat woman. Her brown hair was cut short, with one side covering her right eye. The woman had her tail laying to her side, which shifted from a light tan shade at the base to a dark brown color at the tip. Her expression was neutral, yet restless. As she listened to the chaos going on in the upper decks, she wondered whether her captors were engaging a rescue party or the harbingers of a more gruesome fate. She suddenly felt naked without her massive ring blade or kunai with her in the midst of so much fighting. Her weapons and old clothes were in a chest next to the door. They were close, but far out of reach when trapped in a cage which prevented her from escaping even if she did shift to her diminutive singapura cat form.
It was then that she noticed a womanly, snake-like figure enter the lower decks, moving around the corpse of the human who had been their gaoler.
She met the eyes of the snakewoman, her expression curious, yet cautious at the same time. However, the cat girl decided to remain silent, opting to let her senior master do the talking in the next cage over.
"What are those sounds, Fax?"
"Hush, Linnie."
"Fax." Eathelin paused. "I'm scared." She looked at him through the close-set bars of the cage, her blue eyes glassy with unshed tears. Fairfax swallowed hard, trying to ignore the lump of pain in his throat. Reaching a few fingers through, he tried unsuccessfully to touch her, giving up a moment later with a violent shove against the metal netting.
"Fax?" Eathelin repeated. When he did not answer, she let her head fall forward, furtively brushing the back of her hand against her eyes. Anger, hot and sharp, pierced her throat and ran in boiling little rivulets down to her stomach. She drew her knees up to her chest and tried to ignore the feeling.
How long had it been since the farm? She didn't know. There had been long days of darkness, an awful-smelling rag and worse food. Fairfax had always been near and sometimes he had even been allowed to hold her, when the space was big enough and they could sense the presence of others like them. But then, one by one, those others, nameless and voiceless, had vanished, until it was just them.
And then the ship.
Misery jumped so quickly through her breast that Eathelin thought she was going to throw up. Instead, she gave a strangled little cough, and tried harder to hide the tears that were now rapidly falling from her chin. Beside her, she sensed Fairfax stirring again, no doubt aware of her weeping, though she fought to keep it silent. All the battle was lost, however, when the door to the cargo hold burst open and a strange figure stood silhouetted in the light. Even the other prisoners were shocked into silence.
"Let us out!" Fairfax suddenly yelled, and Eathelin flinched. The lion kelahati threw himself against the front of his cage, his claws hooking through though the bars. "Let us out and we'll fight!"
But you don't know how to fight, Eathelin thought in confusion. Still, a tiny ray of hope seemed to unspool itself from the darkness. She crawled the few inches to the front of her cage, too, narrowing her eyes against the bright daylight. "Please," she said softly. "Don't leave us here!"
The snake woman slithered closer to the cage, looking at all four of the prisoners, then locking eyes with the one that was seemingly a feline Kelahati. Before she could say anything though, one of the other prisoners spoke.
"Why did they take you!?" She said quickly in response, completely having to turn to see who was talking to her, due to ony having a left eye. "And speak up everyone! We don't have much time." She said, frantically looking through the other cargo beside the cages for a key, still waiting for a response. Her vibrant blue tail could be seen shimmering in the ligh to the few potholes as she went around the room searching.
"Check the corpse of the human for the key.", Valeria said softly to the snake woman.
The elderly goat was standing at his cell door, looking at the naga curiously. It was obvious by her attire that she was too a pirate- like those that captured him and his disciple. "We were taken from our monastery...now can you help ones in need?" He said, surprisingly calming, although there was a level of worry in his voice.
Valeria looked towards her master as he spoke, his manner calm and serene, unlike that of the two farmers in the cells over. However, Valeria could not blame them. Seeing the naga and her attire, it was obvious that she was a pirate. What reason did she have to rescue a group of people who might turn on her at any time?
However, Valeria held her emotions in check. Her master had always been a good speaker, and he seemed to be the group's best hope at convincing the naga to let them out of the cells.
"Why?" Fairfax was at a loss. Why had they been taken? He had his suspicions - the tavern in the town near home had been bursting with rumors of slavery and worse. But he wasn't about to launch into that discussion in the middle of a battle.
Eathelin quieted, looking sidelong at the others. She caught the dismissive glance of the cat kelahati and flushed, but the direness of their situation would not let her dwell on embarassment for long. Instead, she focused on the goat's words. A monastery. They must have been kidnapped, too. She opened her mouth to say something more but was stymied by the sudden, clear view of their rescuer's... tail. Eyes wide, she drew back in the cage, while Fairfax continued to kick at his own.
Augura nodded as Valeria mentioned checking the guard, and quickly made her way towards him limp, cursed corpse. Alas, there was no keys. "Godsss damn us!" She said, turning swiftly around and heading back towards the cages. "If I can find the keys, goat, then I will." She said, breathing heavily as she looked around the room for a possible way to get the prisoners out. Suddenly though, a loud bang could be heard and pieces of metal and wood flew across the room. A cannonball went straight through one side of the deck to the other, and with luck, it broke two of the cages. Eathelin's cage along with Valeria's were partially missing along with some of the walls of the ship. Augura meanwhile had covered her face and had a few scraps from debris.
"Quickly, out!" She yelled towards the two females as she slithered her way towards the cage that held the elderly monk.
Valeria quickly climbed through the hole in the cage, which was just large enough to fit her humanoid form without her having to shift. After going through, Valeria stared at her master's cage, which was undamaged in the explosion. The diminutive cat girl looked over at the other cages, finding that the lamb Kelahati's cage had been damaged as well.
"He's not out yet!", Valeria said to the lamb girl. "We can find the keys faster with more people searching.", she spoke loudly, yet seemed somewhat calm in spite of the chaos. If anything, the presence of her master ameliorated and focused her emotions.
After speaking, she jogged to the door and undid the locking mechanisms on the massive chest. When she opened it, she found her kunai, ring blade, and the various possessions of the rest of the prisoners. The ring blade was a massive, unwieldly, and dangerous weapon. In essence, it was the type of weapon that only found use in her hands alone. However, she quickly strapped it to her back, knowing that she would find a use for it later, if not now.
"If you brought anything, your stuff should be inside the chest!", Valeria said to the lamb girl, their eyes meeting as she spoke.
Eathelin was still extricating herself from the remains of her cage when Valeria spoke. Throwing the cat kelahati a frightened look, she ignored the chest and turned to her brother's cage, tugging helplessly at the door.
"Stop, Linnie," Fairfax rasped, grabbing her wrists through the bars. His voice calmed her panic, and she settled, the wide-eyed glare fading from her eyes. "Help them look! Who knows where the next cannon will fire..."
She nodded wordlessly and went to the chest, rummaging through it for any hint of a key. Predictably, it wasn't there; but, drawing out her sheephook, she was momentarily reassured by the smooth feel of the familiar staff. There, too, was Fairfax's dagger, still dangling from its belt. She snatched it from the bottom and, arms full, looked around frantically for that last, most important thing.
Above, the sounds of battle were growing more intense. Dozens of boots pounded on the deck, and the crack of pistols was deafening, broken only by the irregular thunder of the ship cannons. Eathelin struggled to keep her feet, unused to standing, and stumbled around the hold, occasinally steadying herself against a barrel of powder. "Oh, this is useless!" she muttered suddenly, and pitched her way back to Fairfax's cage. "Can't we break these locks?! Here -" She drew out her brother's dagger, wedging its point into the center of the lock and levering it back. Fairfax scooted to the rear of his cage, one hand raised in front of his face as Eathelin leaned more and more on the knife. "Please don't break," she mumbled, eyes shut tightly as she felt the dagger strain against the metal. Then, with a splinter of metal, she felt something give.
Her eyes flew open as the shock jolted her back. There, on the floor, was the lock, sheared in half. Fairfax made a sound somewhere between a choke and a laugh as he pushed free, but he barely had time to stretch outside the confines of the cage before the hold shuddered alarmingly around them. Without hesitation, Fairfax grabbed the dagger and jumped to the lock holding the goat kelahati prisoner. Eathelin picked up her hook and stood unsteadily, glancing from the cat to the snake for guidance. "What do we do," she asked hoarsely, "once we're free?"
Players involved: Immortal Cyan, Khamnin, Bamboozle
Characters involved: Fairfax and Eathelin played by Bamboozle, Valeria played by Immortal Cyan, Augura and Vadima Narshara played by Khamnin
Setting: Southern Ocean
Time: Current
Weather: Clear
Augura stood in her now-empty Captain's Quarters, which was emptied when she ordered the routine cleaning. As she took a breath in the emptiness - she looked over at a picture of her parents which she hung on the wall, and slithered over to the portait slowly, tears forming in her eyes. Suddenly, a bluish ghostly figure appeared behind her, which made the area around Augura drop in temperature. The figure was in the shape of a Minotaur, with ragged clothing, and a broken horn. "Your parents were good people." He said simply looking at the tearful Augura. Augura closed her eyes tightly, wiping away the soon-to-be tears. "No, they were not. They were awful people, Bareiu. Don't you understand that after all this time? They destroyed lives, towns, entire families........" She said, stopping for a moment. "But they were still my parents." She finished, running her figures over the edge of the picture frame, then turning around to face the ghostly minotaur. "You have taught me so much more than them- you have been more of a father figure than my actual dad ever was....and your a ghost!" She said, getting louder at the end. Bareiu closed his ghostly eyes, nodding slightly. "Calm child, I know you are frustrated at not finding out what happened to them.......but when the gods will it, we will find them, and the ship." He said soothingly, which calmed Augura down.
"It will only get harder though....with the recent happenings...some people are panicking, and the rebellious Queen in the elven woodlands stops our operations there. People will have even less tolerance for us, which will make our job harder than it already is." She said, sounding worried."And....and we just can't get caught in the middle of these skirmishes and arguments. We all will end up in the ocean or jail... She said, twirling herself around to the back of the room, where hung a map of the known World. Augura approached it, walking straight through Bareiu, and looked back at him then the map as he walked closer to it. She waited for any guidance from the ghost, but he simply nodded. The map was filled with different shades, indicating different factions. Augura waited a moment then touched the map, south of West Sleibte there were usually cargo ships filled with gold and other resources....they would go there.
"Bareiu!"Called Vadima from the deck of the ship, "I must be going." Bareiu said, vanishing into air. Augura nodded to herself, then started slithering out of the door and up to the wheel of the ship, where she was able to see everything- the ship, the town, everything. "It is something amazing we have created." She said to herself peacefully.
Augura slid her right hand over the wheel that steered their magnificent ship. It was elegantly carved, made of the wondrous white birch wood. She peered over at their little haven, small town, whatever people like to call it. She could see a little hatchling dragon playing with a young siren boy...they were most likely Orphans now, with all but a handfull of adults left, it left her and the survivors to care for the Haven- and the Orphans. They were the few children they had around, they were practically her own kids. They were all a huge family- they would die for each-other. Some were newer than others. Yet a few years was a long time, some have been here since she was born. As far as Augura knew, she fit in nicely, or at least that was what she thought through observations. She peered on the deck below, where a worker gave her a thumbs up and she nodded. "We are ready to go, let's make sure everyone is aboard. We will need practically everyone, we are short on men." She said, holding on to the wheel, ready to go whenever everything had been checked. Vadima and Bareiu were still chatting up a storm below, while about a dozen pirates boarded- included a young human teenager.
Later...
"Board the ship! Grab everything you can!" She yelled before climbing onto the side of the ship and jumping over the water several feet to the other vessel. She barely made it, but climbed on board. Her crew began to board as well, and started to instantly fight the enemy crew. Augura herself was pulling her spear out of a thinly built elf, then swung her spear around to knock a stout dwarf over the ship. The ship had way too many crewmen for them to kill- they'd need to get the stuff and escape. "Block the entrance to below decks!" She hollered to her crew. She soon slithered her way to the door and opened it, where a human burst out and maneuvered to stab her just as a burst of green energy hit him and he fell down, dead. Augura looked over to her ship and saw Vadima, and nodded in gratitude.
Then she began her way down the steps to see what the ship held. But instead of the riches she hoped....there were four Kelahati. She moved curiously towards their cages.
One of the Kelathi in the cage was a diminutive, singapura-cat woman. Her brown hair was cut short, with one side covering her right eye. The woman had her tail laying to her side, which shifted from a light tan shade at the base to a dark brown color at the tip. Her expression was neutral, yet restless. As she listened to the chaos going on in the upper decks, she wondered whether her captors were engaging a rescue party or the harbingers of a more gruesome fate. She suddenly felt naked without her massive ring blade or kunai with her in the midst of so much fighting. Her weapons and old clothes were in a chest next to the door. They were close, but far out of reach when trapped in a cage which prevented her from escaping even if she did shift to her diminutive singapura cat form.
It was then that she noticed a womanly, snake-like figure enter the lower decks, moving around the corpse of the human who had been their gaoler.
She met the eyes of the snakewoman, her expression curious, yet cautious at the same time. However, the cat girl decided to remain silent, opting to let her senior master do the talking in the next cage over.
"What are those sounds, Fax?"
"Hush, Linnie."
"Fax." Eathelin paused. "I'm scared." She looked at him through the close-set bars of the cage, her blue eyes glassy with unshed tears. Fairfax swallowed hard, trying to ignore the lump of pain in his throat. Reaching a few fingers through, he tried unsuccessfully to touch her, giving up a moment later with a violent shove against the metal netting.
"Fax?" Eathelin repeated. When he did not answer, she let her head fall forward, furtively brushing the back of her hand against her eyes. Anger, hot and sharp, pierced her throat and ran in boiling little rivulets down to her stomach. She drew her knees up to her chest and tried to ignore the feeling.
How long had it been since the farm? She didn't know. There had been long days of darkness, an awful-smelling rag and worse food. Fairfax had always been near and sometimes he had even been allowed to hold her, when the space was big enough and they could sense the presence of others like them. But then, one by one, those others, nameless and voiceless, had vanished, until it was just them.
And then the ship.
Misery jumped so quickly through her breast that Eathelin thought she was going to throw up. Instead, she gave a strangled little cough, and tried harder to hide the tears that were now rapidly falling from her chin. Beside her, she sensed Fairfax stirring again, no doubt aware of her weeping, though she fought to keep it silent. All the battle was lost, however, when the door to the cargo hold burst open and a strange figure stood silhouetted in the light. Even the other prisoners were shocked into silence.
"Let us out!" Fairfax suddenly yelled, and Eathelin flinched. The lion kelahati threw himself against the front of his cage, his claws hooking through though the bars. "Let us out and we'll fight!"
But you don't know how to fight, Eathelin thought in confusion. Still, a tiny ray of hope seemed to unspool itself from the darkness. She crawled the few inches to the front of her cage, too, narrowing her eyes against the bright daylight. "Please," she said softly. "Don't leave us here!"
The snake woman slithered closer to the cage, looking at all four of the prisoners, then locking eyes with the one that was seemingly a feline Kelahati. Before she could say anything though, one of the other prisoners spoke.
"Why did they take you!?" She said quickly in response, completely having to turn to see who was talking to her, due to ony having a left eye. "And speak up everyone! We don't have much time." She said, frantically looking through the other cargo beside the cages for a key, still waiting for a response. Her vibrant blue tail could be seen shimmering in the ligh to the few potholes as she went around the room searching.
"Check the corpse of the human for the key.", Valeria said softly to the snake woman.
The elderly goat was standing at his cell door, looking at the naga curiously. It was obvious by her attire that she was too a pirate- like those that captured him and his disciple. "We were taken from our monastery...now can you help ones in need?" He said, surprisingly calming, although there was a level of worry in his voice.
Valeria looked towards her master as he spoke, his manner calm and serene, unlike that of the two farmers in the cells over. However, Valeria could not blame them. Seeing the naga and her attire, it was obvious that she was a pirate. What reason did she have to rescue a group of people who might turn on her at any time?
However, Valeria held her emotions in check. Her master had always been a good speaker, and he seemed to be the group's best hope at convincing the naga to let them out of the cells.
"Why?" Fairfax was at a loss. Why had they been taken? He had his suspicions - the tavern in the town near home had been bursting with rumors of slavery and worse. But he wasn't about to launch into that discussion in the middle of a battle.
Eathelin quieted, looking sidelong at the others. She caught the dismissive glance of the cat kelahati and flushed, but the direness of their situation would not let her dwell on embarassment for long. Instead, she focused on the goat's words. A monastery. They must have been kidnapped, too. She opened her mouth to say something more but was stymied by the sudden, clear view of their rescuer's... tail. Eyes wide, she drew back in the cage, while Fairfax continued to kick at his own.
Augura nodded as Valeria mentioned checking the guard, and quickly made her way towards him limp, cursed corpse. Alas, there was no keys. "Godsss damn us!" She said, turning swiftly around and heading back towards the cages. "If I can find the keys, goat, then I will." She said, breathing heavily as she looked around the room for a possible way to get the prisoners out. Suddenly though, a loud bang could be heard and pieces of metal and wood flew across the room. A cannonball went straight through one side of the deck to the other, and with luck, it broke two of the cages. Eathelin's cage along with Valeria's were partially missing along with some of the walls of the ship. Augura meanwhile had covered her face and had a few scraps from debris.
"Quickly, out!" She yelled towards the two females as she slithered her way towards the cage that held the elderly monk.
Valeria quickly climbed through the hole in the cage, which was just large enough to fit her humanoid form without her having to shift. After going through, Valeria stared at her master's cage, which was undamaged in the explosion. The diminutive cat girl looked over at the other cages, finding that the lamb Kelahati's cage had been damaged as well.
"He's not out yet!", Valeria said to the lamb girl. "We can find the keys faster with more people searching.", she spoke loudly, yet seemed somewhat calm in spite of the chaos. If anything, the presence of her master ameliorated and focused her emotions.
After speaking, she jogged to the door and undid the locking mechanisms on the massive chest. When she opened it, she found her kunai, ring blade, and the various possessions of the rest of the prisoners. The ring blade was a massive, unwieldly, and dangerous weapon. In essence, it was the type of weapon that only found use in her hands alone. However, she quickly strapped it to her back, knowing that she would find a use for it later, if not now.
"If you brought anything, your stuff should be inside the chest!", Valeria said to the lamb girl, their eyes meeting as she spoke.
Eathelin was still extricating herself from the remains of her cage when Valeria spoke. Throwing the cat kelahati a frightened look, she ignored the chest and turned to her brother's cage, tugging helplessly at the door.
"Stop, Linnie," Fairfax rasped, grabbing her wrists through the bars. His voice calmed her panic, and she settled, the wide-eyed glare fading from her eyes. "Help them look! Who knows where the next cannon will fire..."
She nodded wordlessly and went to the chest, rummaging through it for any hint of a key. Predictably, it wasn't there; but, drawing out her sheephook, she was momentarily reassured by the smooth feel of the familiar staff. There, too, was Fairfax's dagger, still dangling from its belt. She snatched it from the bottom and, arms full, looked around frantically for that last, most important thing.
Above, the sounds of battle were growing more intense. Dozens of boots pounded on the deck, and the crack of pistols was deafening, broken only by the irregular thunder of the ship cannons. Eathelin struggled to keep her feet, unused to standing, and stumbled around the hold, occasinally steadying herself against a barrel of powder. "Oh, this is useless!" she muttered suddenly, and pitched her way back to Fairfax's cage. "Can't we break these locks?! Here -" She drew out her brother's dagger, wedging its point into the center of the lock and levering it back. Fairfax scooted to the rear of his cage, one hand raised in front of his face as Eathelin leaned more and more on the knife. "Please don't break," she mumbled, eyes shut tightly as she felt the dagger strain against the metal. Then, with a splinter of metal, she felt something give.
Her eyes flew open as the shock jolted her back. There, on the floor, was the lock, sheared in half. Fairfax made a sound somewhere between a choke and a laugh as he pushed free, but he barely had time to stretch outside the confines of the cage before the hold shuddered alarmingly around them. Without hesitation, Fairfax grabbed the dagger and jumped to the lock holding the goat kelahati prisoner. Eathelin picked up her hook and stood unsteadily, glancing from the cat to the snake for guidance. "What do we do," she asked hoarsely, "once we're free?"
