"True. But Arsenic is a stubborn b*stard at the best of times," Vix reminded Andruil. "The only one he really talks to without being asked is Rowan, for better or worse."
At that moment, Arsenic jumped down to avoid a well-aimed snowball and rolled to his feet covered in snow. Rowan gave him a friendly shove before he could recover his balance, and the mute fell into a snow drift.
Lore of Leyuna RPG (FRPG)
Re: Lore of Leyuna RPG (FRPG)
by Hopeflower » Mon Jul 11, 2016 4:04 am
"Gotta have a little sadness once in a while so you know when the good times come."
"Talent is a pursued interest. In other words, anything that you're willing to practice, you can do." ~ Bob Ross
"The future is always uncertain and painful but it must be lived." ~ Unknown
"Talent is a pursued interest. In other words, anything that you're willing to practice, you can do." ~ Bob Ross
"The future is always uncertain and painful but it must be lived." ~ Unknown
- Hopeflower
- Titanium Shortcake
- Posts: 18702
- Joined: Mon Mar 12, 2007 7:17 pm
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Re: Lore of Leyuna RPG (FRPG)
by C S » Mon Jul 11, 2016 3:42 pm
"Diu vas ruum,
Ad-daha tuu,
Le dav liu."
While Gwenviere continued her lesson, and occasionally going on a chittering tangent with the teacher, Solaurn was making headway with what Viho had begun teaching her. The dwarven command she inscribed upon the rock had performed better than she could have ever imagined. The phrase drew mana wherever the slab went, and the composition of the stone allowed it to store some of that ambient energy. An inexperienced reader of auras could easily mistake her own magical aptitude because of the slab. Ironic, since Solaurn had yet to master channeling.
She traced the sharp letters debossed into the stone with a fingertip, seemingly wistfully. It was very deliberate, attuning herself to her "tool" of a certain kind. Once she was familiar with its magical signature to the point where it and her were one, she could channel that latent mana as her own. It would make for some powerful spellcasting.
But she was not at that level, yet.
The majority of the dwarf's magical knowledge revolved around the material arts. The matter of magic. Which stones and metals had affinities for what kinds of magic. Dwarven engineering could accomplish what other schools of magic did: lifting heavy objects, kindling incredibly hot flames; so such studies were not nearly as popular as branches of alchemy and enhanced metallurgy were. It was by heading out into the world by herself that brought Solaurn to the point that she was a competent runecrafter. Her methods were a bit unconventional.
Most mages silently drew mana to their call by channeling. Solaurn got her start with words of power, a school of magic from a faraway land. Not only did she know how to use a few of these world-bending words, she knew how to write them as runes.
Simultaneously, all the way across to Aster's western reaches...
Slaughter's Trough was the name of the waters immediately past the land's western coast. In a time immortalized by absolute fear, it was a vast open upon which ships went out, only to be torn apart by winged horrors. The sailors and soldiers alike who lost their lives, bodies and very souls to the Blood Dragons are forever remembered with the namesake. To the current generation of elves, they were all lambs to the slaughter, and they turned the blue waters red.
The city that sat before the water's edge had a less austere name. Gryerwun. The buildings of this city stood upon the low-lying land that transitioned smoothly to the ocean. There were no beaches in Gryerwun, as the ground was hard and rocky. Piers and wharves were simply built out from the bedrock into the ocean, and so the harbor sat for generations of elves, despite the raids carried out by the insatiable drakes. To the city's east, a single mountain ridge disturbed the level terrain. The Crumpled Crust snaked its way through the forested landscape and would have cut off Gryerwun from Niyera had the Fauriil dynasty not have spent hundreds of years tunneling through the rock.
In present days, that pass through the mountain was a symbol of achievement for the elves, of the Fauriil kingdom and outside of its borders. It was also, as a certain Walgruuf found out over the course of a month of passively perusing literature, romanticized to a degree in stories of love and conquest. A popular setting for the climax of such tales, heroes doing battle underneath the hanging urns that lit the way to the capital.
They were a pleasant distraction, but the opportunity to partake in them were woefully rare. Considering her daily activities involved prowling far flung and scenic locales, it was hardly a wonder why. And that was precisely what she, Chandra and Valeria were doing in Gryerwun while Urlox and Matthias maintained a stake in Niyera. Their mission, as it turned out, was a three-way split of interests.
There was Elias and his loyalists. There were the parties seeded in the Niyeran aristocracy that wanted them dead for some reason, that much was clear at this point. Lastly, there was Matthias and his Daavenian squad, whose objectives were dual pronged.
One objective was finding Elias and terminating him and his cronies on their own terms. The other was to work their way through the waves of underlings to discover the ones in Niyera calling the shots. These objectives were equally important, but which was completed first did not really matter in the long run. It was all a ploy for retribution when all was said and done.
And neither one would be easily done. If it wasn't for Elias being a gladeiryn, as revealed by Matthias -- a fact which stunned all save for Baaz and Urlox, the former because of her talk with Andruil, the latter because he was a warrior through and through and took it only as a further challenge in his endeavors -- it was the knowledge that some of his supporters were renown Black Hand assassins. And of course, the ones being sent to eliminate them were top agents of Niyera, elites to match.
When they all met, it was a buzz of tension, trauma and terror that couldn't be allowed to spill out into the public eye. Yes, in the greatest irony of them all, despite the three interests being vastly different and opposed to one another, it was a common goal to keep their dealings as discreet as they possibly could.
In the midst of the seaside populous, the rangers made their play. The buildings were not nearly as tall as Niyera's nature-mimicking architecture, but the layout of them were more organized and structured. The homes and businesses all harkened to their bay-proximity, most of them having elevated sections that were meant to look like lighthouses, with guard stations strategically placed at converging points in the radial streets. At the center of each section of the city, the law enforcement had easy, straightforward paths to any disturbance. Naturally, their guard towers were also styled after lighthouses, though without the red and white stripes. They had more dark, earthy colors to match the mountains and bedrock.
The three rangers crept along out of sight regardless, moving in plain daylight. Granted, they took to the shade of alleys, using any cover they could find to keep out of sight of the pointed-eared citizens and guards. Clotheslines crisscrossing the way made for some interesting shadows, which Chandra and Valeria's suits excelled in blending into.
However, when it came to crossing the street, they had to be more creative than that. Carts were regularly being pulled through the streets by creatures that were a blend between oxen and steers, but slipping into or underneath a wagon without being detected was a gamble the operatives could not afford to take. For that, they had to go through the less the glamorous ordeal of gripping the sides of gutters and sewers and traversing the walls, poking their heads up when the coast was clear and speeding into the next hideaway, evading the gazes of the watchmen watching from above.
Navigating cities through strange means were not new things to the senior rangers, and by now, even Valeria was seasoned at finding out of the way routes that eyes rarely ventured to in day-to-day life. And between the three of them, they carried the means to get to even stranger places. In addition to her sling-bow, Baaz had a coil of thin rope on her back. Valeria had many styles of climbing hooks and pitons attached to her belt. Chandra carried full on grappling hooks on hers, with tangs long enough to be loaded into their bows and fired like heavy arrows.
At the base of their destination, they did not need to fire rappelling lines. Silently, they took up point, where Baaz crouched with her back to the wall and her squadmates stepped up to be boosted up to the apron of a window. Chandra went up first, putting a boot in Baaz's interlocked hands and pushing off of the ground as she was thrown upwards. She held onto the ledge with one hand, bracing her boots against the side of the building for added purchase. Her other hand went down to the quiver on her leg, retrieved a bolt, and she used the thinnest part of the spike's tip to flip the latch in between the two halves of the window up. She put the bolt away and gently nudged the window open, allowing herself to climb in and Valeria to follow after being boosted up. Chandra held onto Valeria as she leaned out of the window, arms outstretched, to catch Baaz, who in turn ran up the wall a few feet.
After hauling Baaz up the side of the building and into the room on the second story, the rangers prepared to do some professional eavesdropping. Some of Niyera's agents were going to be having a meeting here, if the intel they got from their last encounter was still good. Once they had another lead towards Elias to work with, they could consider engaging. Fighting was usually to be avoided for outings like these, but any inconvenience they could deal for their so-called rivals bought them that much more time to reach Elias first.
Ad-daha tuu,
Le dav liu."
While Gwenviere continued her lesson, and occasionally going on a chittering tangent with the teacher, Solaurn was making headway with what Viho had begun teaching her. The dwarven command she inscribed upon the rock had performed better than she could have ever imagined. The phrase drew mana wherever the slab went, and the composition of the stone allowed it to store some of that ambient energy. An inexperienced reader of auras could easily mistake her own magical aptitude because of the slab. Ironic, since Solaurn had yet to master channeling.
She traced the sharp letters debossed into the stone with a fingertip, seemingly wistfully. It was very deliberate, attuning herself to her "tool" of a certain kind. Once she was familiar with its magical signature to the point where it and her were one, she could channel that latent mana as her own. It would make for some powerful spellcasting.
But she was not at that level, yet.
The majority of the dwarf's magical knowledge revolved around the material arts. The matter of magic. Which stones and metals had affinities for what kinds of magic. Dwarven engineering could accomplish what other schools of magic did: lifting heavy objects, kindling incredibly hot flames; so such studies were not nearly as popular as branches of alchemy and enhanced metallurgy were. It was by heading out into the world by herself that brought Solaurn to the point that she was a competent runecrafter. Her methods were a bit unconventional.
Most mages silently drew mana to their call by channeling. Solaurn got her start with words of power, a school of magic from a faraway land. Not only did she know how to use a few of these world-bending words, she knew how to write them as runes.
Simultaneously, all the way across to Aster's western reaches...
Slaughter's Trough was the name of the waters immediately past the land's western coast. In a time immortalized by absolute fear, it was a vast open upon which ships went out, only to be torn apart by winged horrors. The sailors and soldiers alike who lost their lives, bodies and very souls to the Blood Dragons are forever remembered with the namesake. To the current generation of elves, they were all lambs to the slaughter, and they turned the blue waters red.
The city that sat before the water's edge had a less austere name. Gryerwun. The buildings of this city stood upon the low-lying land that transitioned smoothly to the ocean. There were no beaches in Gryerwun, as the ground was hard and rocky. Piers and wharves were simply built out from the bedrock into the ocean, and so the harbor sat for generations of elves, despite the raids carried out by the insatiable drakes. To the city's east, a single mountain ridge disturbed the level terrain. The Crumpled Crust snaked its way through the forested landscape and would have cut off Gryerwun from Niyera had the Fauriil dynasty not have spent hundreds of years tunneling through the rock.
In present days, that pass through the mountain was a symbol of achievement for the elves, of the Fauriil kingdom and outside of its borders. It was also, as a certain Walgruuf found out over the course of a month of passively perusing literature, romanticized to a degree in stories of love and conquest. A popular setting for the climax of such tales, heroes doing battle underneath the hanging urns that lit the way to the capital.
They were a pleasant distraction, but the opportunity to partake in them were woefully rare. Considering her daily activities involved prowling far flung and scenic locales, it was hardly a wonder why. And that was precisely what she, Chandra and Valeria were doing in Gryerwun while Urlox and Matthias maintained a stake in Niyera. Their mission, as it turned out, was a three-way split of interests.
There was Elias and his loyalists. There were the parties seeded in the Niyeran aristocracy that wanted them dead for some reason, that much was clear at this point. Lastly, there was Matthias and his Daavenian squad, whose objectives were dual pronged.
One objective was finding Elias and terminating him and his cronies on their own terms. The other was to work their way through the waves of underlings to discover the ones in Niyera calling the shots. These objectives were equally important, but which was completed first did not really matter in the long run. It was all a ploy for retribution when all was said and done.
And neither one would be easily done. If it wasn't for Elias being a gladeiryn, as revealed by Matthias -- a fact which stunned all save for Baaz and Urlox, the former because of her talk with Andruil, the latter because he was a warrior through and through and took it only as a further challenge in his endeavors -- it was the knowledge that some of his supporters were renown Black Hand assassins. And of course, the ones being sent to eliminate them were top agents of Niyera, elites to match.
When they all met, it was a buzz of tension, trauma and terror that couldn't be allowed to spill out into the public eye. Yes, in the greatest irony of them all, despite the three interests being vastly different and opposed to one another, it was a common goal to keep their dealings as discreet as they possibly could.
In the midst of the seaside populous, the rangers made their play. The buildings were not nearly as tall as Niyera's nature-mimicking architecture, but the layout of them were more organized and structured. The homes and businesses all harkened to their bay-proximity, most of them having elevated sections that were meant to look like lighthouses, with guard stations strategically placed at converging points in the radial streets. At the center of each section of the city, the law enforcement had easy, straightforward paths to any disturbance. Naturally, their guard towers were also styled after lighthouses, though without the red and white stripes. They had more dark, earthy colors to match the mountains and bedrock.
The three rangers crept along out of sight regardless, moving in plain daylight. Granted, they took to the shade of alleys, using any cover they could find to keep out of sight of the pointed-eared citizens and guards. Clotheslines crisscrossing the way made for some interesting shadows, which Chandra and Valeria's suits excelled in blending into.
However, when it came to crossing the street, they had to be more creative than that. Carts were regularly being pulled through the streets by creatures that were a blend between oxen and steers, but slipping into or underneath a wagon without being detected was a gamble the operatives could not afford to take. For that, they had to go through the less the glamorous ordeal of gripping the sides of gutters and sewers and traversing the walls, poking their heads up when the coast was clear and speeding into the next hideaway, evading the gazes of the watchmen watching from above.
Navigating cities through strange means were not new things to the senior rangers, and by now, even Valeria was seasoned at finding out of the way routes that eyes rarely ventured to in day-to-day life. And between the three of them, they carried the means to get to even stranger places. In addition to her sling-bow, Baaz had a coil of thin rope on her back. Valeria had many styles of climbing hooks and pitons attached to her belt. Chandra carried full on grappling hooks on hers, with tangs long enough to be loaded into their bows and fired like heavy arrows.
At the base of their destination, they did not need to fire rappelling lines. Silently, they took up point, where Baaz crouched with her back to the wall and her squadmates stepped up to be boosted up to the apron of a window. Chandra went up first, putting a boot in Baaz's interlocked hands and pushing off of the ground as she was thrown upwards. She held onto the ledge with one hand, bracing her boots against the side of the building for added purchase. Her other hand went down to the quiver on her leg, retrieved a bolt, and she used the thinnest part of the spike's tip to flip the latch in between the two halves of the window up. She put the bolt away and gently nudged the window open, allowing herself to climb in and Valeria to follow after being boosted up. Chandra held onto Valeria as she leaned out of the window, arms outstretched, to catch Baaz, who in turn ran up the wall a few feet.
After hauling Baaz up the side of the building and into the room on the second story, the rangers prepared to do some professional eavesdropping. Some of Niyera's agents were going to be having a meeting here, if the intel they got from their last encounter was still good. Once they had another lead towards Elias to work with, they could consider engaging. Fighting was usually to be avoided for outings like these, but any inconvenience they could deal for their so-called rivals bought them that much more time to reach Elias first.
-
C S - Bae Fish
- Posts: 20156
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Re: Lore of Leyuna RPG (FRPG)
by The Kingpin » Tue Jul 12, 2016 3:11 pm
"I only hope that he'll learn eventually that he can talk to us as well...But if he still does not speak to you as freely as he does Rowan, I doubt I will ever be counted so close...Not until we are old men, at least," said Andruil, sighing in frustration. He looked up at the sound of Arsenic's collision with the snow and decided it would be best he didn't raise any suspicions.
"Need some help, Arsenic?!" called the Knight light-heartedly, taking an amused note of the outcome of his little engagement with the Scarred Assassin.
"Need some help, Arsenic?!" called the Knight light-heartedly, taking an amused note of the outcome of his little engagement with the Scarred Assassin.
"Ah yes, organised chaos. the sign of a clever but ever-busy mind. To the perpetrator, a carefully woven web of belongings and intrigue, but to the bystander? Madness!"
–William Beckett, Lore of Leyuna RPG
–William Beckett, Lore of Leyuna RPG
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The Kingpin - Webmaster
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- Location: Kuwait
Re: Lore of Leyuna RPG (FRPG)
by Hopeflower » Tue Jul 12, 2016 3:43 pm
Arsenic blew a lock of damp red hair out of his eyes and got to his feet, picking snow out of his collar.
Before he could speak, Rowan declared triumphantly, "He can ask for all the help he likes. Nobody beats me at snow wars." She ruffled Arsenic's hair affectionately, adding, "And that was for throwing me in the lake!"
He gave her a slightly disbelieving look, but there was no hiding his fond smile. 'That was months ago. And an accident. I hardly think that's fair.'
"Another round, then?" Rowan asked, flashing a sharp grin. "I don't see you shivering yet."
Vix snorted at their well-matched stubbornness, and murmured, "Give him time." She stepped away to avoid getting caught in any crossfire.
Before he could speak, Rowan declared triumphantly, "He can ask for all the help he likes. Nobody beats me at snow wars." She ruffled Arsenic's hair affectionately, adding, "And that was for throwing me in the lake!"
He gave her a slightly disbelieving look, but there was no hiding his fond smile. 'That was months ago. And an accident. I hardly think that's fair.'
"Another round, then?" Rowan asked, flashing a sharp grin. "I don't see you shivering yet."
Vix snorted at their well-matched stubbornness, and murmured, "Give him time." She stepped away to avoid getting caught in any crossfire.
"Gotta have a little sadness once in a while so you know when the good times come."
"Talent is a pursued interest. In other words, anything that you're willing to practice, you can do." ~ Bob Ross
"The future is always uncertain and painful but it must be lived." ~ Unknown
"Talent is a pursued interest. In other words, anything that you're willing to practice, you can do." ~ Bob Ross
"The future is always uncertain and painful but it must be lived." ~ Unknown
- Hopeflower
- Titanium Shortcake
- Posts: 18702
- Joined: Mon Mar 12, 2007 7:17 pm
- Location: NY, USA
Re: Lore of Leyuna RPG (FRPG)
by The Kingpin » Tue Jul 12, 2016 3:51 pm
"Just remember there is no cosy inn to run into when you do get cold. Not for a few miles yet," warned the Knight amusedly as he watched the two re-engage.
"Ah yes, organised chaos. the sign of a clever but ever-busy mind. To the perpetrator, a carefully woven web of belongings and intrigue, but to the bystander? Madness!"
–William Beckett, Lore of Leyuna RPG
–William Beckett, Lore of Leyuna RPG
-
The Kingpin - Webmaster
- Posts: 22584
- Joined: Thu Jan 01, 1970 12:00 am
- Location: Kuwait
Re: Lore of Leyuna RPG (FRPG)
by Hopeflower » Tue Jul 12, 2016 4:03 pm
'We'll be fine. Akando's had us out in worse,' Arsenic replied without taking his eyes off of Rowan.
"Oh, don't remind me," Rowan groaned. "I still have nightmares about that blizzard." Then she dove at Arsenic, and just like that they were back at it.
With a fluid step that looked like it must have come from the fighting style Rowan herself taught, he evaded her grab. 'A mile run, mostly uphill,' the mute continued, just to bait her. He had to drop flat to avoid the snowball that came flying at him with impressive speed, and jump up again just as quickly to run from her charge.
"Oh, don't remind me," Rowan groaned. "I still have nightmares about that blizzard." Then she dove at Arsenic, and just like that they were back at it.
With a fluid step that looked like it must have come from the fighting style Rowan herself taught, he evaded her grab. 'A mile run, mostly uphill,' the mute continued, just to bait her. He had to drop flat to avoid the snowball that came flying at him with impressive speed, and jump up again just as quickly to run from her charge.
"Gotta have a little sadness once in a while so you know when the good times come."
"Talent is a pursued interest. In other words, anything that you're willing to practice, you can do." ~ Bob Ross
"The future is always uncertain and painful but it must be lived." ~ Unknown
"Talent is a pursued interest. In other words, anything that you're willing to practice, you can do." ~ Bob Ross
"The future is always uncertain and painful but it must be lived." ~ Unknown
- Hopeflower
- Titanium Shortcake
- Posts: 18702
- Joined: Mon Mar 12, 2007 7:17 pm
- Location: NY, USA
Re: Lore of Leyuna RPG (FRPG)
by C S » Wed Jul 13, 2016 1:25 am
The rangers went and spread out in the room, searching every nook and cranny for any evidence about this home they had broken into. If it was a place used for covert meetings by Niyera's task force, then every room, nay, every panel of wood in the floorboards and walls could hold some kind of secret compartment, or cache of tactical goods such as coin and weaponry. Securing some of that would be sure to bolster their future missions. They stepped lightly wherever they went, placing the heels of their boots down without a thump or squeak.
Chandra peeked around a dresser and, with the most delicate touch, slid drawers open to see what was inside them. She shouldn't have been so disappointed to find nothing but simple clothes and undergarments, for both men and women. Valeria was poking around a closet that had a folding door. She had the door tucked away as far as it would go and moved the hangers holding up puffy, formal wear aside so that she could press her palms around the inside of the closet in search of any hidden doors and cupboards.
Baaz draped herself over the bed in the corner of the room, careful to keep her boots hanging off of one end, and eased herself over the edge so that she could take a look at what was underneath. Nothing. Not even a measly box!
"Wanna know what I find funny about this whole thing?" she said in hushed tones. Even that seemed a little too loud, given where they were. The others looked over to her but did not answer. Baaz spoke freely anyways. "For all the roof-running, wall-walking, balcony-bouncing, and generally creeping around less than comfortable places, I didn't think we'd ever be snooping around a place like this."
"Hmm, yes. Given our previous meddling in more... intuitive locations... I suppose an attempt at inconspicuousness in a place like this is to be expected," Chandra replied as she fiddled with a small painting of a ship on the wall.
"Hey, Valeria; you think they're having a tea party downstairs?" Baaz joked.
The young soldier held a fraction of herself out of the closet to eye Baaz warily. She didn't say anything.
That's when they all heard footsteps outside of the door. They were quiet enough that it was easy to infer they were farther down the hall, but they were getting louder. Like a shot, the three rangers scrambled for their hiding places. Baaz rolled over a few times and hooked her hands and feet around the bedframe, swinging herself underneath without letting herself rest on the floor. It was a stroke of luck that there wasn't anything underneath it, after all.
Valeria was quick to swing an arm around and extend the closet door, with herself still in the closet.
Chandra, in one expertly sinuous command of her body, strode from the painting and to the window. She raised a leg to step out while her hands took the edges of the frames and pulled them with her.
The door opened. A woman in dark brown stood in the way. Her long ears bored through her slick hair, pulled back into a tight ponytail. She looked like she had just come in from outside, and her orange hued eyes surveyed the room with a heightened perceptiveness. Baaz saw her walk into the room, the long, dignified steps denoting her position instantly. A member of the Royal Arms.
For her to have made her way into this room in particular so soon after arriving for the meeting gave Baaz the sneaking suspicion that she was one of the more specialized units they had to offer. A practitioner of one of the old fighting arts. That begged the question: was she a kleidde, as Andruil had described to her, or was she a fighter without some crazy alternate, animalistic form?
The elven woman stopped in the middle of the room and was still. Something was wrong about this, something deep down inside of her was certain of it. What she was seeing, however, was a scene of normalcy. Nothing seemed disturbed. Not even the painting on the wall. For some reason she couldn't explain, she felt that detail would be one of the first that the unknowns reported by other field agents would gravitate to if they were in fact here.
"Bianca?" someone asked, from the passageway, another woman. "Something the matter?"
"I had a hunch," this Bianca stated. It was enough.
"I'll inform the others," the other agent replied and then was off without another word.
"Lass is a veritable canary for her unit," Baaz mused. Then she thought back to Chandra, dangling outside in the cold. She couldn't keep that up for too long without fatigue setting in. Valeria wasn't in much of a position to make a move. As soon as she started opening that closet, her position would be blown, and Baaz didn't want to imagine what kind of damage a few of those fancy punches and kicks could do to a rookie. "Up to me then," she decided. She remembered Jhotan and smiled despite herself. Ranger Walgruuf was still the one for the strokes of poor judgement that worked out for the best.
Maybe.
Maybe she was banking a bit too hard on her lifetime's supply of luck.
Baaz carefully shifted her weight to move across the underside of the bed, peering out from her peripheries at this mysterious elf. Bianca was inspecting the dresser -- there had to be some indication that her gut could latch onto. She opened the drawers to see if the clothes had been rummaged through. Nothing of the sort. Damn! She stepped backwards and put a hand on her chin. When she had a hunch, it was for good reason. So what the hell was different about this?
Baaz slowly pulled herself out from underneath the bed, exhaling slowly as she did. She had a passing thought that there was nothing quite like pulling on the rigging of a sledder to build up the arms for such feats. Especially with a sling-bow and rope fitted to her back. She put her feet down gently on the floor and eased her weight onto them while keeping an eye on Bianca. Baaz made sure to keep herself squarely behind her even as she stood upright.
Bianca stepped away from the drawer, her intuition at a nervous boil. Wasn't the window supposed to have its latch on? Her instincts told her to get to the others immediately and comb the whole house in pairs. She spun on her heels to head out of the room.
And was faced with the stranger in burgundy. Her alert eyes widened, and Baaz watched her lips beginning to part with such attentiveness that it seemed like everything was happening in slow-motion. A single thought beat out the passing of time itself. "Plant your fist in the side of her mouth." The jab she threw followed suit and Bianca was staggered, a spurt of blood flying against the wall near the dresser from her burst lip.
After that, Baaz was a beast of instinct. She stepped forward to Bianca and punched her in the throat so that she wouldn't be in any position to unleash any of her elvish techniques. The elf was gasping for air when Baaz sent a punch up to clip her chin, then secured her other hand around Bianca's throat. So now Baaz was actively choking her, and Bianca's hands grabbed at her arm in an attempt to throw her off.
Baaz started punching the elf in the gut. Once, twice, thrice, it did not take more than that to figuratively and literally beat the fight out of her. Bianca's body bucked, one especially strong punch lifting her off the ground a few inches before Baaz threw her arms around the Royal Arms agent to catch her, holding her around the waist and leaning her over a shoulder.
"Valeria, shut the door!" Baaz whispered urgently. She heard the hint of a whimper before the closet door opened and the young soldier tiptoed out. Valeria closed the door silently then twirled about to brace her back against it, as if she would dissuade any other from entering.
Chandra pushed the window frames apart and then pulled herself into the room. She debated with herself if it was worth it to close the window to maintain the ruse, or keep it open in case she needed to head through it a second time. "Nice work, Walgruuf," she said out loud in their hushed way.
"Save the congratulations for after we've dealt with pretty miss eagle-eyes here," Baaz responded. She went over to the bed and placed the groaning Bianca onto it. Valeria started pulling sheets out from under her to roll them into improvised restraints and gags.
"Very different from the last time I took elves to bed," Baaz noted silently as she stepped away to let Chandra and Valeria work. Valeria slung the coils around Bianca and tied the ends to the bedframe, while Chandra tied a piece of the covers around Bianca's eyes and stuffed her mouth with other pieces before tying it all up into one terrible package. Bound, blinded and gagged. It seemed almost mean spirited, and Baaz said as much.
Chandra couldn't help a humorless laugh, and even then she was sure to keep it to as much of a minimum as she could in the situation she was presented. "I never thought you would be the one to have remorse over this kind of work."
Baaz eyed the blood on her hand. "Yeah, well neither did I." She sighed. "It wasn't much of a fair fight." And her means seemed just a little... uncalled for. It might have taken a little longer, but a chokehold would have brought about the same end, wouldn't it?
"It's three of us versus a contingent of them, remember that. It takes all of them to do what three rangers are capable of, do well to remember that," Chandra said as she and Valeria moved away from Bianca.
"Right," Baaz responded with less enthusiasm than Chandra would have liked. She put aside her petty anger -- for now, but Baaz was not too keen on the whole squad leader persona Chandra had going for her, always out to reassure her soldiers and all that patriotic drivel. She could do without it, even now.
"The others are going to be on alert. They're going to be heading up here any second and then they're going to find her... and us... and..." Valeria swallowed hard and breathed in through her nose. Baaz cocked her head at Valeria almost flinching as she reached for her sling-bow. "Preparing for the first time she has to take a life."
Chandra spoke with steadying conviction. "We divide and conquer. Valeria, stay with Baaz. The two of you work together to pick off isolated pockets of enemies." Valeria knew Baaz and Chandra were able of doing that on their own. Baaz was supposed to keep her from getting killed. It wasn't the most comforting thought.
"Word about us being in the city does not get back to Niyera until we're already well on our way," Chandra concluded. Without another word, she went to the door and stepped out. Baaz and Valeria looked to each other.
"Ready to hurt some people?"
"How do you get ready to do that?" It was such an offputting idea to Valeria. A soldier's duty was to defend their nation in times of duress; but to relish that grave requirement seemed inhuman in a way.
"You think about how bad they're going to hurt you if you don't hit them first," Baaz answered. With that, she took the lead and headed to the door. Before she stepped out all the way, though, she spied a rack on the wall with a few hats. A pink sunhat with white floral patterns called out to her, and she plucked it off the rack and put it on her hooded head.
"Um," was all Valeria was able to muster as a response to seeing that.
"There's a tea party downstairs. I want to look somewhat presentable for the occasion. Before we start dropping bodies."
"Um." Valeria slowly pulled the door closed behind her. "So much for getting more information..."
Chandra peeked around a dresser and, with the most delicate touch, slid drawers open to see what was inside them. She shouldn't have been so disappointed to find nothing but simple clothes and undergarments, for both men and women. Valeria was poking around a closet that had a folding door. She had the door tucked away as far as it would go and moved the hangers holding up puffy, formal wear aside so that she could press her palms around the inside of the closet in search of any hidden doors and cupboards.
Baaz draped herself over the bed in the corner of the room, careful to keep her boots hanging off of one end, and eased herself over the edge so that she could take a look at what was underneath. Nothing. Not even a measly box!
"Wanna know what I find funny about this whole thing?" she said in hushed tones. Even that seemed a little too loud, given where they were. The others looked over to her but did not answer. Baaz spoke freely anyways. "For all the roof-running, wall-walking, balcony-bouncing, and generally creeping around less than comfortable places, I didn't think we'd ever be snooping around a place like this."
"Hmm, yes. Given our previous meddling in more... intuitive locations... I suppose an attempt at inconspicuousness in a place like this is to be expected," Chandra replied as she fiddled with a small painting of a ship on the wall.
"Hey, Valeria; you think they're having a tea party downstairs?" Baaz joked.
The young soldier held a fraction of herself out of the closet to eye Baaz warily. She didn't say anything.
That's when they all heard footsteps outside of the door. They were quiet enough that it was easy to infer they were farther down the hall, but they were getting louder. Like a shot, the three rangers scrambled for their hiding places. Baaz rolled over a few times and hooked her hands and feet around the bedframe, swinging herself underneath without letting herself rest on the floor. It was a stroke of luck that there wasn't anything underneath it, after all.
Valeria was quick to swing an arm around and extend the closet door, with herself still in the closet.
Chandra, in one expertly sinuous command of her body, strode from the painting and to the window. She raised a leg to step out while her hands took the edges of the frames and pulled them with her.
The door opened. A woman in dark brown stood in the way. Her long ears bored through her slick hair, pulled back into a tight ponytail. She looked like she had just come in from outside, and her orange hued eyes surveyed the room with a heightened perceptiveness. Baaz saw her walk into the room, the long, dignified steps denoting her position instantly. A member of the Royal Arms.
For her to have made her way into this room in particular so soon after arriving for the meeting gave Baaz the sneaking suspicion that she was one of the more specialized units they had to offer. A practitioner of one of the old fighting arts. That begged the question: was she a kleidde, as Andruil had described to her, or was she a fighter without some crazy alternate, animalistic form?
The elven woman stopped in the middle of the room and was still. Something was wrong about this, something deep down inside of her was certain of it. What she was seeing, however, was a scene of normalcy. Nothing seemed disturbed. Not even the painting on the wall. For some reason she couldn't explain, she felt that detail would be one of the first that the unknowns reported by other field agents would gravitate to if they were in fact here.
"Bianca?" someone asked, from the passageway, another woman. "Something the matter?"
"I had a hunch," this Bianca stated. It was enough.
"I'll inform the others," the other agent replied and then was off without another word.
"Lass is a veritable canary for her unit," Baaz mused. Then she thought back to Chandra, dangling outside in the cold. She couldn't keep that up for too long without fatigue setting in. Valeria wasn't in much of a position to make a move. As soon as she started opening that closet, her position would be blown, and Baaz didn't want to imagine what kind of damage a few of those fancy punches and kicks could do to a rookie. "Up to me then," she decided. She remembered Jhotan and smiled despite herself. Ranger Walgruuf was still the one for the strokes of poor judgement that worked out for the best.
Maybe.
Maybe she was banking a bit too hard on her lifetime's supply of luck.
Baaz carefully shifted her weight to move across the underside of the bed, peering out from her peripheries at this mysterious elf. Bianca was inspecting the dresser -- there had to be some indication that her gut could latch onto. She opened the drawers to see if the clothes had been rummaged through. Nothing of the sort. Damn! She stepped backwards and put a hand on her chin. When she had a hunch, it was for good reason. So what the hell was different about this?
Baaz slowly pulled herself out from underneath the bed, exhaling slowly as she did. She had a passing thought that there was nothing quite like pulling on the rigging of a sledder to build up the arms for such feats. Especially with a sling-bow and rope fitted to her back. She put her feet down gently on the floor and eased her weight onto them while keeping an eye on Bianca. Baaz made sure to keep herself squarely behind her even as she stood upright.
Bianca stepped away from the drawer, her intuition at a nervous boil. Wasn't the window supposed to have its latch on? Her instincts told her to get to the others immediately and comb the whole house in pairs. She spun on her heels to head out of the room.
And was faced with the stranger in burgundy. Her alert eyes widened, and Baaz watched her lips beginning to part with such attentiveness that it seemed like everything was happening in slow-motion. A single thought beat out the passing of time itself. "Plant your fist in the side of her mouth." The jab she threw followed suit and Bianca was staggered, a spurt of blood flying against the wall near the dresser from her burst lip.
After that, Baaz was a beast of instinct. She stepped forward to Bianca and punched her in the throat so that she wouldn't be in any position to unleash any of her elvish techniques. The elf was gasping for air when Baaz sent a punch up to clip her chin, then secured her other hand around Bianca's throat. So now Baaz was actively choking her, and Bianca's hands grabbed at her arm in an attempt to throw her off.
Baaz started punching the elf in the gut. Once, twice, thrice, it did not take more than that to figuratively and literally beat the fight out of her. Bianca's body bucked, one especially strong punch lifting her off the ground a few inches before Baaz threw her arms around the Royal Arms agent to catch her, holding her around the waist and leaning her over a shoulder.
"Valeria, shut the door!" Baaz whispered urgently. She heard the hint of a whimper before the closet door opened and the young soldier tiptoed out. Valeria closed the door silently then twirled about to brace her back against it, as if she would dissuade any other from entering.
Chandra pushed the window frames apart and then pulled herself into the room. She debated with herself if it was worth it to close the window to maintain the ruse, or keep it open in case she needed to head through it a second time. "Nice work, Walgruuf," she said out loud in their hushed way.
"Save the congratulations for after we've dealt with pretty miss eagle-eyes here," Baaz responded. She went over to the bed and placed the groaning Bianca onto it. Valeria started pulling sheets out from under her to roll them into improvised restraints and gags.
"Very different from the last time I took elves to bed," Baaz noted silently as she stepped away to let Chandra and Valeria work. Valeria slung the coils around Bianca and tied the ends to the bedframe, while Chandra tied a piece of the covers around Bianca's eyes and stuffed her mouth with other pieces before tying it all up into one terrible package. Bound, blinded and gagged. It seemed almost mean spirited, and Baaz said as much.
Chandra couldn't help a humorless laugh, and even then she was sure to keep it to as much of a minimum as she could in the situation she was presented. "I never thought you would be the one to have remorse over this kind of work."
Baaz eyed the blood on her hand. "Yeah, well neither did I." She sighed. "It wasn't much of a fair fight." And her means seemed just a little... uncalled for. It might have taken a little longer, but a chokehold would have brought about the same end, wouldn't it?
"It's three of us versus a contingent of them, remember that. It takes all of them to do what three rangers are capable of, do well to remember that," Chandra said as she and Valeria moved away from Bianca.
"Right," Baaz responded with less enthusiasm than Chandra would have liked. She put aside her petty anger -- for now, but Baaz was not too keen on the whole squad leader persona Chandra had going for her, always out to reassure her soldiers and all that patriotic drivel. She could do without it, even now.
"The others are going to be on alert. They're going to be heading up here any second and then they're going to find her... and us... and..." Valeria swallowed hard and breathed in through her nose. Baaz cocked her head at Valeria almost flinching as she reached for her sling-bow. "Preparing for the first time she has to take a life."
Chandra spoke with steadying conviction. "We divide and conquer. Valeria, stay with Baaz. The two of you work together to pick off isolated pockets of enemies." Valeria knew Baaz and Chandra were able of doing that on their own. Baaz was supposed to keep her from getting killed. It wasn't the most comforting thought.
"Word about us being in the city does not get back to Niyera until we're already well on our way," Chandra concluded. Without another word, she went to the door and stepped out. Baaz and Valeria looked to each other.
"Ready to hurt some people?"
"How do you get ready to do that?" It was such an offputting idea to Valeria. A soldier's duty was to defend their nation in times of duress; but to relish that grave requirement seemed inhuman in a way.
"You think about how bad they're going to hurt you if you don't hit them first," Baaz answered. With that, she took the lead and headed to the door. Before she stepped out all the way, though, she spied a rack on the wall with a few hats. A pink sunhat with white floral patterns called out to her, and she plucked it off the rack and put it on her hooded head.
"Um," was all Valeria was able to muster as a response to seeing that.
"There's a tea party downstairs. I want to look somewhat presentable for the occasion. Before we start dropping bodies."
"Um." Valeria slowly pulled the door closed behind her. "So much for getting more information..."
Last edited by C S on Thu Jul 14, 2016 5:43 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Lore of Leyuna RPG (FRPG)
by The Kingpin » Wed Jul 13, 2016 11:41 pm
"As you like. Just don't complain when the cold finally gets to you," teased the Knight with a shrug. Now that the duo were sufficiently distracted, Andruil's attention turned once more to the Innkeeper at his side. "What are you hoping to find with this whole...adventure, of ours, Vix? What are you hoping to come away with? I know that you want to learn more of your heritage, but is there anything...How to put it...Is there anything in particular that you are expecting, or hoping to find?" he inquired.
"Ah yes, organised chaos. the sign of a clever but ever-busy mind. To the perpetrator, a carefully woven web of belongings and intrigue, but to the bystander? Madness!"
–William Beckett, Lore of Leyuna RPG
–William Beckett, Lore of Leyuna RPG
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Re: Lore of Leyuna RPG (FRPG)
by C S » Thu Jul 14, 2016 1:49 am
The one who last spoke to Bianca moved with a partner in searching the house. They ditched their coats in the foyer for lighter wear. Cloth pants and shirts colored a dark blue, almost black, was what they wore. The only armor they had were leather bracers and greaves. A consequence of looking civilian was that the agents could not look like they were expecting a fight. It meant they could walk about Gryerwun without raising suspicions of the locals and the guards, but that ease of mind came at a tactical cost. A tactical cost that was lessened somewhat by the arsenal they smuggled on their person.
The woman carried an elvish saber. The guard encapsulated her hand, a curved metal plate at the front and a winding metalwork cage at the sides that looked equal parts practical as well as regal. Nothing less from the Royal Arms. The sword itself had a similarly serpent-like design. Closer to the guard the blade bowed towards the user, however, the tip flared outwards, like a vertically stretched S. The end of the sword had a double edge, able to slash with a regular swing and hook into an opponent with the backhand.
The man with her carried a pair of an exotic form of dagger. At the top and bottom of the handle, knives were mounted perpendicular to it so that the wielder's hand was in between the flat sides of the blades. It was just one of the many ways the humanoid races of Aster chose to give themselves claws, and the sickle-like aesthetic only amplified that appeal.
The elf with the saber reached the top of the stairs and brandished her saber at either sides of her preemptively, looking down the lengths of the banister on her left and right that merged with the passageway. Bianca hadn't left that room near the end of the hallway since she issued her warning, and that was more than a little alarming. Without a soul in sight before her, she nodded to her partner and and motioned for the two of them to keep going. As she went to the room where Bianca was last seen, the other elf kept an eye out behind them, just in case. They walked the short way across the overpass and stopped at the door, and that was when the woman said a terse curse.
"She wouldn't have locked herself in," said the saber-holding agent as she reached for the knob, sword at the ready for a possible ambush on the other side. Her partner held his dagger-claws up in bracing for a fight as well, in position to follow through the door. Alas, while their attention was focused on what potentially awaited them inside the room, Baaz and Valeria were silently crawling up the side of the railing. Valeria's climbing hooks made for some interesting stealth tactics. Up until then, they were hiding underneath the stairs, backs against the angle of the incline, right over the heads of the Niyeran elves passing from room to room.
The same footsteps that started this whole thing were what allowed them to time their attack so well.
The woman was aghast when she saw what had become of Bianca. Her partner didn't know what to make of the sight himself. Before either of them could say anything about anything, Baaz sprung. She came up behind the man with the daggers, slapped one hand over his mouth and as he made his muffled cry, Baaz locked one of his legs with hers and locked a wrist with her other hand. The woman snapped her body around and was in the process of cementing her stance with her sword held in a guard, but the ranger had already thrown her weight about. The elf in her clutches was off kilter, and Baaz was holding his arm out as he stumbled.
The woman stiffened and paled with the realization of what was done in her remaining moments of consciousness. Her mouth opened, and she gurgled through her blood before falling to her knees, then onto her side. Baaz shoved the elf with the bloody knives away from her before he could lash out with his second set. With some distance between the two of them, Valeria, who was standing in the doorway with her bow, had an easy shot.
She blanked her mind and took it. The arms of the sling sent the bolt flying into the base of the elf's neck with a splattering of crimson. He grunted, fumbled with his footing, and Baaz put her arms around him before he could thud onto the floor and alert everyone else in the house as to where she and Valeria were.
She laid the body down easily and stepped back. Baaz then looked to Valeria, who had her bow turned on the stairs, reloaded and rearmed. Adrenaline and ingrained training took over. Guilt was for later. "No need for a pep talk, then." Baaz shut her eyes and breathed in deeply. One less thing to worry about. She opened her eyes again, and glanced down at herself. "So this is why Dundorf went for the red color in this getup. Makes it harder to see the blood."
The ranger's attention went to Bianca. She was mumbling something through the gags and was struggling against the restraints pinning her to the bed. Baaz walked over to her side and took the hat off of her head. "This isn't my style, anyway." She placed it over Bianca's face, and her mumbling became more panicked as she thrashed her head about.
Valeria gave Baaz an intense stare that conveyed her question better than even words could. Shouldn't we kill her?
"Way ahead of you," Baaz thought grimly. She produced a bolt from her quiver, turned it about in her hand and looked up to the ceiling. "Just like the damn lizard." Baaz drove the bolt into Bianca's neck and held it firm until she felt the elf's struggling come to an end. She pulled it back out, feeling a level of disgust with herself. She didn't know this Bianca existed before their meeting in this room, but the sense that she deserved better was palpable. A better, more honorable death, maybe.
Anything other than being tied down and pacified.
Baaz shook the feeling off and brought her sling-bow around, loading the reddened bolt into the box. She loaded up nine more bolts and then pulled the priming lever back until it was locked in its notch. "Trupont, give me a report on the enemy's loadout," she said to the younger soldier when she stepped out of the room.
"Short to medium range melee weaponry," Valeria replied in a monotone. Time spent hanging underneath the stairs was time spent assessing their opponents.
"With no shields and no plating. Let's go finish off squad leader's stragglers."
Baaz moved around Valeria, dropping into a low stance as she walked flush against the wall opposite the banister. The younger soldier fell into form, covering the flanks.
"-- you don't think these are affiliates of Elias'?" a mustached elf inquired with a voice comically posh and proper for a finely trained killer.
An equally unfitting hum of contemplation was the reply from his comrade who wore a suit with big, popped up collars. "If they are, it would mean Elias was emboldened by a recent happening. Why else would he be on the offensive, now?"
The two elves were crouched in front of a fireplace that was not lit. Instead of arranging blocks of wood to burn, they were clearing it out. A few of the bricks had been taken out of the base and stacked up beside them over the duration of their conversation. The foyer was guarded by a pair of agents, one stationed at the door to the house itself, and the other in the passageway that led to the other areas of the place.
"If Elias is behind all of this, we'd best reorganize our safehouses. If this one has been compromised, then who knows how many others are targets?"
"It would be best to scatter the trail as best we can, yeah."
The man in the passage behind them leaned from his post. The two agents continued speaking, oblivious to the blur of a figure that struck him right after from the other side of the wall. Chandra chopped him in the side with a hand and as he reeled from the blow, that same hand drew the elf's sidearm from its sheath. She twisted the small dagger about in her grip and with a cold efficiency, drove it into the elf's neck right underneath the lower jaw. She pulled the knife from the elf's corpse and lowered him to the ground before rounding about into the foyer and lobbing it into the spine of the other guard.
The sharp, yet hauntingly short cry made the other two freeze, then their gaze shot to the woman holding the sling-bow. In the span of time it took for the guard by the door to crumple to the floor, Chandra had sent her Daaven-points across the room, two shots in rapid succession. The projectiles were lodged in their chests, though they were not made to suffer long. Chandra walked up to the two elves with agony etched upon their faces and put an end to their lives with two more shots to the skull from pointblank.
She had toppled a few other Royal Arms fighters on her way to the foyer. She heard the shouts from elsewhere, followed by the snapping retort of slings going loose. "About time," Chandra muttered to herself. Her eyes drifted to the pit in the fireplace, and she arched a brow curiously. "Now what's this?" she wondered, nudging one of the elves out of the way with her boot.
"Ah. The fireplace. So there is where you hide your secret stash."
The woman carried an elvish saber. The guard encapsulated her hand, a curved metal plate at the front and a winding metalwork cage at the sides that looked equal parts practical as well as regal. Nothing less from the Royal Arms. The sword itself had a similarly serpent-like design. Closer to the guard the blade bowed towards the user, however, the tip flared outwards, like a vertically stretched S. The end of the sword had a double edge, able to slash with a regular swing and hook into an opponent with the backhand.
The man with her carried a pair of an exotic form of dagger. At the top and bottom of the handle, knives were mounted perpendicular to it so that the wielder's hand was in between the flat sides of the blades. It was just one of the many ways the humanoid races of Aster chose to give themselves claws, and the sickle-like aesthetic only amplified that appeal.
The elf with the saber reached the top of the stairs and brandished her saber at either sides of her preemptively, looking down the lengths of the banister on her left and right that merged with the passageway. Bianca hadn't left that room near the end of the hallway since she issued her warning, and that was more than a little alarming. Without a soul in sight before her, she nodded to her partner and and motioned for the two of them to keep going. As she went to the room where Bianca was last seen, the other elf kept an eye out behind them, just in case. They walked the short way across the overpass and stopped at the door, and that was when the woman said a terse curse.
"She wouldn't have locked herself in," said the saber-holding agent as she reached for the knob, sword at the ready for a possible ambush on the other side. Her partner held his dagger-claws up in bracing for a fight as well, in position to follow through the door. Alas, while their attention was focused on what potentially awaited them inside the room, Baaz and Valeria were silently crawling up the side of the railing. Valeria's climbing hooks made for some interesting stealth tactics. Up until then, they were hiding underneath the stairs, backs against the angle of the incline, right over the heads of the Niyeran elves passing from room to room.
The same footsteps that started this whole thing were what allowed them to time their attack so well.
The woman was aghast when she saw what had become of Bianca. Her partner didn't know what to make of the sight himself. Before either of them could say anything about anything, Baaz sprung. She came up behind the man with the daggers, slapped one hand over his mouth and as he made his muffled cry, Baaz locked one of his legs with hers and locked a wrist with her other hand. The woman snapped her body around and was in the process of cementing her stance with her sword held in a guard, but the ranger had already thrown her weight about. The elf in her clutches was off kilter, and Baaz was holding his arm out as he stumbled.
The woman stiffened and paled with the realization of what was done in her remaining moments of consciousness. Her mouth opened, and she gurgled through her blood before falling to her knees, then onto her side. Baaz shoved the elf with the bloody knives away from her before he could lash out with his second set. With some distance between the two of them, Valeria, who was standing in the doorway with her bow, had an easy shot.
She blanked her mind and took it. The arms of the sling sent the bolt flying into the base of the elf's neck with a splattering of crimson. He grunted, fumbled with his footing, and Baaz put her arms around him before he could thud onto the floor and alert everyone else in the house as to where she and Valeria were.
She laid the body down easily and stepped back. Baaz then looked to Valeria, who had her bow turned on the stairs, reloaded and rearmed. Adrenaline and ingrained training took over. Guilt was for later. "No need for a pep talk, then." Baaz shut her eyes and breathed in deeply. One less thing to worry about. She opened her eyes again, and glanced down at herself. "So this is why Dundorf went for the red color in this getup. Makes it harder to see the blood."
The ranger's attention went to Bianca. She was mumbling something through the gags and was struggling against the restraints pinning her to the bed. Baaz walked over to her side and took the hat off of her head. "This isn't my style, anyway." She placed it over Bianca's face, and her mumbling became more panicked as she thrashed her head about.
Valeria gave Baaz an intense stare that conveyed her question better than even words could. Shouldn't we kill her?
"Way ahead of you," Baaz thought grimly. She produced a bolt from her quiver, turned it about in her hand and looked up to the ceiling. "Just like the damn lizard." Baaz drove the bolt into Bianca's neck and held it firm until she felt the elf's struggling come to an end. She pulled it back out, feeling a level of disgust with herself. She didn't know this Bianca existed before their meeting in this room, but the sense that she deserved better was palpable. A better, more honorable death, maybe.
Anything other than being tied down and pacified.
Baaz shook the feeling off and brought her sling-bow around, loading the reddened bolt into the box. She loaded up nine more bolts and then pulled the priming lever back until it was locked in its notch. "Trupont, give me a report on the enemy's loadout," she said to the younger soldier when she stepped out of the room.
"Short to medium range melee weaponry," Valeria replied in a monotone. Time spent hanging underneath the stairs was time spent assessing their opponents.
"With no shields and no plating. Let's go finish off squad leader's stragglers."
Baaz moved around Valeria, dropping into a low stance as she walked flush against the wall opposite the banister. The younger soldier fell into form, covering the flanks.
"-- you don't think these are affiliates of Elias'?" a mustached elf inquired with a voice comically posh and proper for a finely trained killer.
An equally unfitting hum of contemplation was the reply from his comrade who wore a suit with big, popped up collars. "If they are, it would mean Elias was emboldened by a recent happening. Why else would he be on the offensive, now?"
The two elves were crouched in front of a fireplace that was not lit. Instead of arranging blocks of wood to burn, they were clearing it out. A few of the bricks had been taken out of the base and stacked up beside them over the duration of their conversation. The foyer was guarded by a pair of agents, one stationed at the door to the house itself, and the other in the passageway that led to the other areas of the place.
"If Elias is behind all of this, we'd best reorganize our safehouses. If this one has been compromised, then who knows how many others are targets?"
"It would be best to scatter the trail as best we can, yeah."
The man in the passage behind them leaned from his post. The two agents continued speaking, oblivious to the blur of a figure that struck him right after from the other side of the wall. Chandra chopped him in the side with a hand and as he reeled from the blow, that same hand drew the elf's sidearm from its sheath. She twisted the small dagger about in her grip and with a cold efficiency, drove it into the elf's neck right underneath the lower jaw. She pulled the knife from the elf's corpse and lowered him to the ground before rounding about into the foyer and lobbing it into the spine of the other guard.
The sharp, yet hauntingly short cry made the other two freeze, then their gaze shot to the woman holding the sling-bow. In the span of time it took for the guard by the door to crumple to the floor, Chandra had sent her Daaven-points across the room, two shots in rapid succession. The projectiles were lodged in their chests, though they were not made to suffer long. Chandra walked up to the two elves with agony etched upon their faces and put an end to their lives with two more shots to the skull from pointblank.
She had toppled a few other Royal Arms fighters on her way to the foyer. She heard the shouts from elsewhere, followed by the snapping retort of slings going loose. "About time," Chandra muttered to herself. Her eyes drifted to the pit in the fireplace, and she arched a brow curiously. "Now what's this?" she wondered, nudging one of the elves out of the way with her boot.
"Ah. The fireplace. So there is where you hide your secret stash."
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Re: Lore of Leyuna RPG (FRPG)
by Hopeflower » Thu Jul 14, 2016 3:53 am
"I've been trying to find closure since I was fourteen," Vix replied softly, after some consideration. She stuck her hands in her pockets, watching Arsenic and Rowan without really seeing them. Her mind was with the moment she'd realized she was utterly alone in the world, covered in mud and a drying layer of blood that both was and wasn't her own. Running had been her only concern then. Grieving had come later, when she was beginning to stop jumping at every shadow, every raised voice. Part of her felt every wound, physical and emotional, as though she was still that scared little girl waiting for the next blow to land. "We could end up finding nothing at all, I know that. I just want to believe it'll be what I've needed."
"Gotta have a little sadness once in a while so you know when the good times come."
"Talent is a pursued interest. In other words, anything that you're willing to practice, you can do." ~ Bob Ross
"The future is always uncertain and painful but it must be lived." ~ Unknown
"Talent is a pursued interest. In other words, anything that you're willing to practice, you can do." ~ Bob Ross
"The future is always uncertain and painful but it must be lived." ~ Unknown
- Hopeflower
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Re: Lore of Leyuna RPG (FRPG)
by C S » Thu Jul 14, 2016 11:45 pm
Baaz stepped over the body in the passageway and entered the foyer after she and Valeria were sure that the last of their enemy were on the floor and bleeding out. The other soldier was behind her, her eye staring past the walls of the house into a distance only she could perceive.
The ranger in red saw Chandra huddled in front of the fire place and it made her narrow her eyes. "Really, now?" The mission derailed so badly and the only thing on the squad leader's mind was that it was a bit chilly inside? Baaz spoke with an air of irritation, "After action report: we came to find out what these guys' next move was, a little bit of what they have on Elias; ended up massacring them all without finding out a thing."
"On the contrary, Walgruuf. We've found something quite invaluable." Chandra looked over her shoulder with a wryness that Baaz thought out of place on someone of Chandra's prim and proper, clean-cut role model tendencies. Baaz braced her back against a wall, and stared evenly at Chandra. Valeria walked across to sit in one of the couches in the foyer, next to the table where the coats were piled up. She rested her sling-bow in her lap and was quiet.
"Alrighty. Lay it on me," Baaz replied to Chandra after a short wait, baited by Chandra's smugness. Just what had her in such a mood, Baaz wanted to know without the patience for banter.
Chandra pushed the elf behind her aside a little more and shuffled out of the way of the fireplace. Baaz saw the wooden case with the golden clasps and the decorative vine motif of the Royal Arms. Inside, there were a whole bundle of documents, a treasure trove of insight into the organization of the elven involvement in this fiasco of a snipe hunt.
"... Ah," was Baaz's only response to that. "Am I wrong to assume we're going to be taking--"
"You know the answer to that question, Baaz," Chandra replied and then went back to sifting through the case. In the paragraphs upon paragraphs of official writing she saw the name Elias appear a few times. This was the burning coal needed to turn this cold trail hot again. "Without a doubt, we'll be needing to carry this out of here and back to Urlox and Matthias."
"I've always wanted to play messenger hawk," Baaz said offhandedly. It was a joke, but a moment of extra thought had her asking, "So am I going to be using this rope to string it onto myself or...?"
Chandra looked up from the papers and hummed. "Not a half-bad idea. While you've got your thoughts going, any idea as to how we're going to dispose of the... evidence we've left all over this house?"
"Could always... you know... burn it down." Baaz's inflection was supposed to be joking, but she recalled her final meeting with the Jewel Stalker and how it ended. "Yep... just let it all go up in smoke."
"And fire," Chandra was sure to add, taken with the idea. "We have more than enough to start a blaze going with their coats over there. Furs. As good a kindling as any."
"We don't have any fancy robes for good measure?" Baaz considered asking. The clothes in the closet upstairs probably counted towards that, she figured before she opened her mouth. Another tangent had her feeling a bit more introspective. They were about to start a fire in a city without regard for others, just to burn away the bodies of their enemies by proxy of circumstance, and she was thinking of wisecracks.
She pondered just how much farther she had to fall to match that vile reptile in awfulness. "Not too far, after this."
"Walgruuf?" Chandra did not stop going through the stacks, nor did she turn her head from them.
"Nothing." Baaz walked over to Valeria and kneeled in front of her, a comforting hand on her shoulder. "How're you holding up?"
Valeria was unresponsive at first. She just stared off into the far corners of the room until she pulled in a labored breath. "This is what I've been training for. Did I do well?"
"You move like swift death," Baaz said. "Everyone in the force back home would be proud of you."
Baaz noted that her words did little to ebb that impression of numbness she got from the young warrior. That wasn't much of a surprise. With a hint of sadness, she mused that she could relate. Every soldier in any army could. They were all rookies once, and they would all remember the first mission where they actually had to kill another person.
"Look, Trupont, it's going to hurt a lot after we leave this city and start heading back. It's going to play havoc with your waking thoughts, and it won't leave you when you sleep. How long this thing sticks with you goes hand in hand with how pure a conscience you have, and if you have a pure conscience you are going to do everything in your power to lose it."
Baaz stopped herself, fearing she would say a little more than what she meant to. She took in an easy breath and continued with a ghost of a smile, "Whatever you do past this mission is all your decision, so long as you do everything in your power to get out of this hole alive. Your body is yours, and there are many ways to wreck it in dealing with the guilt. I'm not going to be the one to tell you not to down every drink you can get your hands on, and not to bed anyone willing to give you the time of day. But I am going to ask you to think of me every time the urge comes over you."
The ranger squeezed on Valeria's shoulder and chuckled. "Don't make my mistakes. They aren't the ones you come back from easily."
Valeria nodded her head idly. Baaz cocked her head, thinking that most of what she'd said had gone over the young soldier's head. Then hindsight told her this was something she should have expected. She started to stand up, when Valeria said, "You lied, didn't you?"
"Lied?"
"You're the one who moves like swift death. I just stood there and waited for an opening." Valeria folded her hands over the bow.
"Heh. Sharp as a nail, you are." Baaz took a seat next to her.
"You're not as bad a person as you think you are. I think so, at least."
Baaz shrugged her shoulders. She found that one a bit hard to believe, knowing herself as well as she did. "Let's see if you still feel that way once we put this behind us, huh?" she replied simply.
The ranger in red saw Chandra huddled in front of the fire place and it made her narrow her eyes. "Really, now?" The mission derailed so badly and the only thing on the squad leader's mind was that it was a bit chilly inside? Baaz spoke with an air of irritation, "After action report: we came to find out what these guys' next move was, a little bit of what they have on Elias; ended up massacring them all without finding out a thing."
"On the contrary, Walgruuf. We've found something quite invaluable." Chandra looked over her shoulder with a wryness that Baaz thought out of place on someone of Chandra's prim and proper, clean-cut role model tendencies. Baaz braced her back against a wall, and stared evenly at Chandra. Valeria walked across to sit in one of the couches in the foyer, next to the table where the coats were piled up. She rested her sling-bow in her lap and was quiet.
"Alrighty. Lay it on me," Baaz replied to Chandra after a short wait, baited by Chandra's smugness. Just what had her in such a mood, Baaz wanted to know without the patience for banter.
Chandra pushed the elf behind her aside a little more and shuffled out of the way of the fireplace. Baaz saw the wooden case with the golden clasps and the decorative vine motif of the Royal Arms. Inside, there were a whole bundle of documents, a treasure trove of insight into the organization of the elven involvement in this fiasco of a snipe hunt.
"... Ah," was Baaz's only response to that. "Am I wrong to assume we're going to be taking--"
"You know the answer to that question, Baaz," Chandra replied and then went back to sifting through the case. In the paragraphs upon paragraphs of official writing she saw the name Elias appear a few times. This was the burning coal needed to turn this cold trail hot again. "Without a doubt, we'll be needing to carry this out of here and back to Urlox and Matthias."
"I've always wanted to play messenger hawk," Baaz said offhandedly. It was a joke, but a moment of extra thought had her asking, "So am I going to be using this rope to string it onto myself or...?"
Chandra looked up from the papers and hummed. "Not a half-bad idea. While you've got your thoughts going, any idea as to how we're going to dispose of the... evidence we've left all over this house?"
"Could always... you know... burn it down." Baaz's inflection was supposed to be joking, but she recalled her final meeting with the Jewel Stalker and how it ended. "Yep... just let it all go up in smoke."
"And fire," Chandra was sure to add, taken with the idea. "We have more than enough to start a blaze going with their coats over there. Furs. As good a kindling as any."
"We don't have any fancy robes for good measure?" Baaz considered asking. The clothes in the closet upstairs probably counted towards that, she figured before she opened her mouth. Another tangent had her feeling a bit more introspective. They were about to start a fire in a city without regard for others, just to burn away the bodies of their enemies by proxy of circumstance, and she was thinking of wisecracks.
She pondered just how much farther she had to fall to match that vile reptile in awfulness. "Not too far, after this."
"Walgruuf?" Chandra did not stop going through the stacks, nor did she turn her head from them.
"Nothing." Baaz walked over to Valeria and kneeled in front of her, a comforting hand on her shoulder. "How're you holding up?"
Valeria was unresponsive at first. She just stared off into the far corners of the room until she pulled in a labored breath. "This is what I've been training for. Did I do well?"
"You move like swift death," Baaz said. "Everyone in the force back home would be proud of you."
Baaz noted that her words did little to ebb that impression of numbness she got from the young warrior. That wasn't much of a surprise. With a hint of sadness, she mused that she could relate. Every soldier in any army could. They were all rookies once, and they would all remember the first mission where they actually had to kill another person.
"Look, Trupont, it's going to hurt a lot after we leave this city and start heading back. It's going to play havoc with your waking thoughts, and it won't leave you when you sleep. How long this thing sticks with you goes hand in hand with how pure a conscience you have, and if you have a pure conscience you are going to do everything in your power to lose it."
Baaz stopped herself, fearing she would say a little more than what she meant to. She took in an easy breath and continued with a ghost of a smile, "Whatever you do past this mission is all your decision, so long as you do everything in your power to get out of this hole alive. Your body is yours, and there are many ways to wreck it in dealing with the guilt. I'm not going to be the one to tell you not to down every drink you can get your hands on, and not to bed anyone willing to give you the time of day. But I am going to ask you to think of me every time the urge comes over you."
The ranger squeezed on Valeria's shoulder and chuckled. "Don't make my mistakes. They aren't the ones you come back from easily."
Valeria nodded her head idly. Baaz cocked her head, thinking that most of what she'd said had gone over the young soldier's head. Then hindsight told her this was something she should have expected. She started to stand up, when Valeria said, "You lied, didn't you?"
"Lied?"
"You're the one who moves like swift death. I just stood there and waited for an opening." Valeria folded her hands over the bow.
"Heh. Sharp as a nail, you are." Baaz took a seat next to her.
"You're not as bad a person as you think you are. I think so, at least."
Baaz shrugged her shoulders. She found that one a bit hard to believe, knowing herself as well as she did. "Let's see if you still feel that way once we put this behind us, huh?" she replied simply.
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C S - Bae Fish
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Re: Lore of Leyuna RPG (FRPG)
by The Kingpin » Fri Jul 15, 2016 12:33 am
"Considering what we have uncovered so far, I doubt we will go back empty-handed. Especially considering the company you keep. Three of the most stubborn people in Aster. If anyone will find something, we will," assured the Knight half-jokingly. "We just need...a little bit of guidance, a bit of persistence, some optimism... and plenty of trouble-making," he stated cheerfully.
"Ah yes, organised chaos. the sign of a clever but ever-busy mind. To the perpetrator, a carefully woven web of belongings and intrigue, but to the bystander? Madness!"
–William Beckett, Lore of Leyuna RPG
–William Beckett, Lore of Leyuna RPG
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Re: Lore of Leyuna RPG (FRPG)
by Hopeflower » Fri Jul 15, 2016 2:02 am
The innkeeper smiled, a soft and genuine expression that lacked the weariness that sometimes dragged at her. "No doubt we'll have them all," she said, looking up at Andruil. "I'm glad you're with me on this. It means more than you can imagine." Once the words were out, she wondered if she'd been too honest - left herself too vulnerable. She tried to think of a way to recover quickly, and came up with nothing.
"Gotta have a little sadness once in a while so you know when the good times come."
"Talent is a pursued interest. In other words, anything that you're willing to practice, you can do." ~ Bob Ross
"The future is always uncertain and painful but it must be lived." ~ Unknown
"Talent is a pursued interest. In other words, anything that you're willing to practice, you can do." ~ Bob Ross
"The future is always uncertain and painful but it must be lived." ~ Unknown
- Hopeflower
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Re: Lore of Leyuna RPG (FRPG)
by The Kingpin » Fri Jul 15, 2016 3:11 am
"My dear Vixen, I would have it no other way," responded the Knight, smiling warmly as he squeezed the Innkeeper's shoulder.
"Ah yes, organised chaos. the sign of a clever but ever-busy mind. To the perpetrator, a carefully woven web of belongings and intrigue, but to the bystander? Madness!"
–William Beckett, Lore of Leyuna RPG
–William Beckett, Lore of Leyuna RPG
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The Kingpin - Webmaster
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Re: Lore of Leyuna RPG (FRPG)
by Hopeflower » Fri Jul 15, 2016 2:08 pm
There was more that could be said, and maybe should be, but now wasn't the time. Vix wasn't sure when the right time would come, if ever. For now, she reached out to touch Andruil's cheek, gently stroking an old scar with her thumb. "Thank you. For everything."
No regrets this time, Vix promised herself then and there. Even if things started to go sideways, these memories wouldn't cut her the way the ones of Sami did. She wouldn't let them.
No regrets this time, Vix promised herself then and there. Even if things started to go sideways, these memories wouldn't cut her the way the ones of Sami did. She wouldn't let them.
"Gotta have a little sadness once in a while so you know when the good times come."
"Talent is a pursued interest. In other words, anything that you're willing to practice, you can do." ~ Bob Ross
"The future is always uncertain and painful but it must be lived." ~ Unknown
"Talent is a pursued interest. In other words, anything that you're willing to practice, you can do." ~ Bob Ross
"The future is always uncertain and painful but it must be lived." ~ Unknown
- Hopeflower
- Titanium Shortcake
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- Joined: Mon Mar 12, 2007 7:17 pm
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Re: Lore of Leyuna RPG (FRPG)
by The Kingpin » Fri Jul 15, 2016 7:12 pm
"No need to thank me, dear," responded the Knight as he wrapped his hand around her own, giving it a gentle squeeze, nudging Pyranex to put some distance between them a moment later as his grip slipped. The gryphon tilted his head for a moment, taken by surprise, but did as he was asked. A moment later, the Knight had swung himself off of the beast's back and was standing beside the Innkeeper. "Like I said, I wouldn't have it any other way," he stated as his arm wrapped around Vix.
"Ah yes, organised chaos. the sign of a clever but ever-busy mind. To the perpetrator, a carefully woven web of belongings and intrigue, but to the bystander? Madness!"
–William Beckett, Lore of Leyuna RPG
–William Beckett, Lore of Leyuna RPG
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The Kingpin - Webmaster
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Re: Lore of Leyuna RPG (FRPG)
by Hopeflower » Fri Jul 15, 2016 8:24 pm
"Even so," Vix replied, sliding her arm around Andruil's waist and squeezing gently. She let herself relax against him, made herself stop thinking about Sami. For everything she'd lost, she'd gained something just as precious. It wasn't something she was about to let herself forget. "I don't want any of you to feel I take your support for granted."
"Gotta have a little sadness once in a while so you know when the good times come."
"Talent is a pursued interest. In other words, anything that you're willing to practice, you can do." ~ Bob Ross
"The future is always uncertain and painful but it must be lived." ~ Unknown
"Talent is a pursued interest. In other words, anything that you're willing to practice, you can do." ~ Bob Ross
"The future is always uncertain and painful but it must be lived." ~ Unknown
- Hopeflower
- Titanium Shortcake
- Posts: 18702
- Joined: Mon Mar 12, 2007 7:17 pm
- Location: NY, USA
Re: Lore of Leyuna RPG (FRPG)
by The Kingpin » Fri Jul 15, 2016 9:28 pm
"We don't," assured Andruil, letting his head rest against the Innkeeper's own. "I, least of all. I'm simply grateful you value my presence as you do."
And he was. The Trial had done much to test the fabric of his character as a leader... but if there was one thing unrelated to that that he came away with, it was a greater appreciation for those he held dear. Vix, even with all the power and position and responsibility that her Trial self had shown, was a mere shadow of the real thing, and it made him grateful to be here now, beside her.
And he was. The Trial had done much to test the fabric of his character as a leader... but if there was one thing unrelated to that that he came away with, it was a greater appreciation for those he held dear. Vix, even with all the power and position and responsibility that her Trial self had shown, was a mere shadow of the real thing, and it made him grateful to be here now, beside her.
"Ah yes, organised chaos. the sign of a clever but ever-busy mind. To the perpetrator, a carefully woven web of belongings and intrigue, but to the bystander? Madness!"
–William Beckett, Lore of Leyuna RPG
–William Beckett, Lore of Leyuna RPG
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The Kingpin - Webmaster
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Re: Lore of Leyuna RPG (FRPG)
by Hopeflower » Fri Jul 15, 2016 10:23 pm
Vix hummed quietly, content to take advantage of Andruil's warmth for a little while. Even if Arsenic and Rowan didn't seem to feel the cold - as was evident in the fact that they were still chasing each other around - she would be glad to get inside again. After the assassins had burned off their excess energy.
"It's only right," she said, almost speaking to herself. Her grip tightened the slightest bit, as though reassuring herself that he wasn't about to disappear. Vix coughed to clear her throat and added more lightly, "After all, charging off into some crazy adventure on a whim wouldn't feel the same without all of us."
"It's only right," she said, almost speaking to herself. Her grip tightened the slightest bit, as though reassuring herself that he wasn't about to disappear. Vix coughed to clear her throat and added more lightly, "After all, charging off into some crazy adventure on a whim wouldn't feel the same without all of us."
"Gotta have a little sadness once in a while so you know when the good times come."
"Talent is a pursued interest. In other words, anything that you're willing to practice, you can do." ~ Bob Ross
"The future is always uncertain and painful but it must be lived." ~ Unknown
"Talent is a pursued interest. In other words, anything that you're willing to practice, you can do." ~ Bob Ross
"The future is always uncertain and painful but it must be lived." ~ Unknown
- Hopeflower
- Titanium Shortcake
- Posts: 18702
- Joined: Mon Mar 12, 2007 7:17 pm
- Location: NY, USA
Re: Lore of Leyuna RPG (FRPG)
by C S » Fri Jul 15, 2016 10:33 pm
Chandra hefted the last coat into the pile stuffed into the alcove of the fireplace. She pressed it down with her hands before standing up and stomping her boots into the mess of clothing, making sure everything was densely packed to catch a flame, and then some. "There," she said to herself when she was satisfied. Her hands went for the small glass case atop the hearth and pulled the stick of black flint and the rectangular blade for steel from within. Chandra was used to more complicated methods of starting a fire, survival tactics with knives and split timber, and the struggle to find dry tinder, which had defined her days of "graduation" in her training days. That was a rainy winter, rather than a snowy one, and her week in the forests of the Boldrim was, looking back on it many years later, a sign of things to come. She bested the elements and her fellow soldiers, taking all adversity in stride.
Holding the most household means of spreading warmth gave her a moment of unexpected pause in this bloodsoaked affair, however. No memories of struggle or the grit of a warrior in the making. Her thoughts, for a fleeting moment, went back to her home, her childhood. "Hmm," Chandra murmured at the memory of being much smaller, being told to light the fireplace by her parents. It had been around this same time of year, though very long ago. What a way to be reminded of the celebrations she'd be missing. "Oh well. The mission comes first, above all else." An even reminder that overtook the distraction without contention. Such discipline kept this ranger alive through many a hardship. It was draconian and unyielding, and suited for one who held the lives of others in her hands with every order she gave. Chandra had not lost anyone yet in her decorated career. She was not going to have holiday memories be the reason for anything otherwise.
"Walgruuf?" Chandra looked back to the fidgeting ranger.
"Just about got it," Baaz said a bit too quickly at the prompt. She tugged hard on the rope over her shoulder and the case buckled loudly against her figure as she fought to keep it secure on her back. "Just about got it."
Valeria, despite the gloominess that had descended over her, assisted Baaz with fitting the case onto her person, holding it higher so that its broadside was flush with her shoulders so that the ranger could tighten the rope and keep it from flailing about. She'd gone through the motions of having her sling-bow strapped to her own back, and was waiting for the order to leave. The longer she stayed among the bodies, the more uneasy she felt. The walls themselves were pressing on her psyche, but she fought to stay strong for the mission. The best she could do was carry herself with a shellshocked rigidness, but at least she wasn't frozen in place and inconsolable.
"Right, got it. Thanks, Trupont."
Valeria's response was a reserved, mumbling tone to the extent of don't mention it.
Baaz caught herself thinking a strange thought. She considered how ironic it would have been if the rookie had fed her a white lie of herself. You're not as bad a person as you think you are. I think so, at least, in exchange for, You move like swift death. The two of them giving each other false hopes in these morose days. "Boy," she thought, expression blank and contemplative.
"Baaz," Chandra's voice pierced the haze, "stay with me. I can't have you zoning out on me now."
She shook her head. "I wouldn't still be alive if my focus wasn't where it was, when it needed to be," Baaz responded in her quick witted way without giving it much thought.
"That's a new one. The Walgruuf I helped train would have been indignant at being caught slipping," Chandra said, and almost immediately regretted it. Why would she ever call that temper upon herself? She leveled her expression for the greatest presence of professionalism and braced for Baaz's worst.
"Who says I'm not? News flash: people don't fly off on a teeth-gnashing tirade for every upset. And, believe it or not, I'm not that kind of person." Yet, Baaz noted internally.
"Ah, there is my Buschniet," Chandra replied, though she couldn't pin what had brought this new face of her ranger out.
"On the subject of new things..." Baaz wondered, for how long exactly, had Chandra kept this nickname for her. Bull, in old Daavenian. A language derived from the western dialect of elvish speech. To Baaz, it was an especially bitter taste, saying such a thing amongst the dead agents.
"Let us waste no more time," Chandra stated in response to the questioning looks sent her way. "The guards and bucket-bearers will be upon this place when it goes ablaze. Let us be away, far away, by then." And with that, she struck the steel against the flint, scraping off a brilliant spray of sparks into the fire place. She did this a few times until the first tendrils of smoke started to rise, then motioned for the others to make their innocuous escape.
Holding the most household means of spreading warmth gave her a moment of unexpected pause in this bloodsoaked affair, however. No memories of struggle or the grit of a warrior in the making. Her thoughts, for a fleeting moment, went back to her home, her childhood. "Hmm," Chandra murmured at the memory of being much smaller, being told to light the fireplace by her parents. It had been around this same time of year, though very long ago. What a way to be reminded of the celebrations she'd be missing. "Oh well. The mission comes first, above all else." An even reminder that overtook the distraction without contention. Such discipline kept this ranger alive through many a hardship. It was draconian and unyielding, and suited for one who held the lives of others in her hands with every order she gave. Chandra had not lost anyone yet in her decorated career. She was not going to have holiday memories be the reason for anything otherwise.
"Walgruuf?" Chandra looked back to the fidgeting ranger.
"Just about got it," Baaz said a bit too quickly at the prompt. She tugged hard on the rope over her shoulder and the case buckled loudly against her figure as she fought to keep it secure on her back. "Just about got it."
Valeria, despite the gloominess that had descended over her, assisted Baaz with fitting the case onto her person, holding it higher so that its broadside was flush with her shoulders so that the ranger could tighten the rope and keep it from flailing about. She'd gone through the motions of having her sling-bow strapped to her own back, and was waiting for the order to leave. The longer she stayed among the bodies, the more uneasy she felt. The walls themselves were pressing on her psyche, but she fought to stay strong for the mission. The best she could do was carry herself with a shellshocked rigidness, but at least she wasn't frozen in place and inconsolable.
"Right, got it. Thanks, Trupont."
Valeria's response was a reserved, mumbling tone to the extent of don't mention it.
Baaz caught herself thinking a strange thought. She considered how ironic it would have been if the rookie had fed her a white lie of herself. You're not as bad a person as you think you are. I think so, at least, in exchange for, You move like swift death. The two of them giving each other false hopes in these morose days. "Boy," she thought, expression blank and contemplative.
"Baaz," Chandra's voice pierced the haze, "stay with me. I can't have you zoning out on me now."
She shook her head. "I wouldn't still be alive if my focus wasn't where it was, when it needed to be," Baaz responded in her quick witted way without giving it much thought.
"That's a new one. The Walgruuf I helped train would have been indignant at being caught slipping," Chandra said, and almost immediately regretted it. Why would she ever call that temper upon herself? She leveled her expression for the greatest presence of professionalism and braced for Baaz's worst.
"Who says I'm not? News flash: people don't fly off on a teeth-gnashing tirade for every upset. And, believe it or not, I'm not that kind of person." Yet, Baaz noted internally.
"Ah, there is my Buschniet," Chandra replied, though she couldn't pin what had brought this new face of her ranger out.
"On the subject of new things..." Baaz wondered, for how long exactly, had Chandra kept this nickname for her. Bull, in old Daavenian. A language derived from the western dialect of elvish speech. To Baaz, it was an especially bitter taste, saying such a thing amongst the dead agents.
"Let us waste no more time," Chandra stated in response to the questioning looks sent her way. "The guards and bucket-bearers will be upon this place when it goes ablaze. Let us be away, far away, by then." And with that, she struck the steel against the flint, scraping off a brilliant spray of sparks into the fire place. She did this a few times until the first tendrils of smoke started to rise, then motioned for the others to make their innocuous escape.
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