Legends of Tyrrus

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Kara smiled, and curtsied to her "Lordship". "If the Lord is going to ask the opinion of a lowly servant," she began with a wicked smile, "then I think we should skip the meeting and see for ourselves what there might be. Between the two of us, I think we can handle anything out there." She winked, and strolled off in the direction of the forest, looking over her shoulder coyly. "Does his Lordship agree? Or shall we go back and share our adventures with the others?"

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Tessa smiled a little as Rayyad puttered around his small home; in a way he reminded her of herself. "It must be terrible, to be stuck here." She commented, sitting next to Conrad. Despite being upset over his earlier actions with the spiders, and confused at what kept pulling them together, she was comforted by the warmth his nearness provided. "I'm from a..forest, somewhere far away. I went to the town where the guild was because a flyer was left behind and well..." she sighed. "I'm sure you understand the loneliness that the forest provides. Although I've never been bored with a conversation with the deer." She laughed a little. "Much better then the birds. All they talk about are mates and how great they are."

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Bryce had been on his second helping of eggs when everyone else had decided to arrive. Well, that was unfortunate, because he wasn't about to save any for them. Then, just as he began his third helping of bacon, a strange man came in, and stole Aedan's food. Oh my god. Why would you do that to a man? Bryce was indignant for his companion, who began arguing with the stranger. Bryce responded by shoveling in one last helping of each of the food before dropping his plate to the ground and grabbing the pint full of...something. It was sweet and good and that was all that mattered. He chugged it down, wiping his mouth as he dropped the cup on the ground and smashed the pottery. "Another!" He shouted before jumping over his table and moving in to tackle the Night Knight.

"Unhand that man's portions! He needs to fatten himself!" Bryce yelled as he leaped towards the stranger.

 

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Darklight Disturbance
Darklight Caverns, Arak'Un
"Hmmm, if I remember rightly the Prophet Azjol arrived and lead the people of the kingdom further underground, through the mines, to find enlightenment. That's kinda why I'm scared to go any further down... I don't any enlightenment, I just want to live normally. Arak'Un worshipped the dark gods, particularly The Deciever, dark god of lies and secrets. Azjol was a legendary figure, champion of The Deciever. Honestly, not sure why they trusted him. Anyway that was hundreds of years ago" Rayyad lay down cups of tea for both of them "No milk, sorry. There aren't any cows down here" As Conrad mentioned sealing off the passage Rayyad shook his head "Impossible. The Hirokir have great powers of Earth Magic, they could get past most barriers. The only way to block off the passage would be to collapse it... but I wouldn't be able to bring myself to destroy the wildlife down here" Rayyad softly stroked a spider which had crawled onto his shoulder "As for the artifact... well... I'm not entirely sure. I've been around this whole city and haven't found it. It's a Totem of Binding, it's not the easiest thing to hide. If you find an eight foot tall chunk of wood with faces carved in it, do tell me" Rayyad requested with a chuckle. As Tessa spoke he nodded agreeably but did not reply. When Conrad mentioned the Darklight Caverns expedition Rayyad opened his mouth to respond, but was interrupted by a different voice coming out of his mouth "None from the heathen lands of Tyrrus may enter the caverns" Rayyad looked around the room in dread for a moment "I am the Webber Prince! I rule the ancient lands! I am so sorry, that was not supposed to happen" Rayyad shifted uncomfortably, and backed away to the other end of the room "It's nice that you're trying to help... but I can't let you. I made this plan and I have to, I want to, complete it"

Big Game Hunting
The Northway Inn
The Night was dark, and full of terrors. Well actually it was morning, but it would have to do. The Night Knight was surrounded by enemies once again, but he would not let go of his precious prize.
"Who are you calling young man? I'm 19 this month!" Flint pouted "Ooh, look at me! I dress up in plants!" he imitated Aedan "I have friends you couldn't possibly imagine! HA" The Night Knight snickered "Your imaginary friends are nothing, compared to ME, THE NIGHT KNIGHT! Legacy of the ancients! Descendant of Nekrus the Runic King! I am all powe-GAH!" Flint was suddenly tackled, spilling the bacon and eggs all over the floor "My food! You... you... you meddlers! I'll kill you all!"
"OI!" Yelled Gertrude. She promptly slapped Flint and Bryce "Kill them all outside, no fights in the inn. If you swing that sword around in here you'll probably smash the tables. And don't get me started on you" she prodded Bryce "Have you no manners, young man? These cups are expensive! Break another one and I'll get my husband to break your wrist" she pointed to a burly blacksmith behind the inn counter "Out! And take your Dragon Fruit with you!" Flint begrudgingly got up and walked towards the door "Oh by the way mister cup-breaker, I took all your money. If you want it back bring you've got to fight me!" Flint exited the inn laughing and stood outside, sword at the ready.

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"Well he seemed nice" Sanderson smiled "Nice to see a young lad with initiative... and apologies dear innkeep, some of my recruits need to be taught some self-control" Sanderson smiled as he turned to Aedan and Bryce "You shouldn't let anger get such a hold over you, it is the most horrible emotion and brings out the worst in us. Trust me lads, I know this better than most" though Sanderson grinned at his recruits, sadness could be seen in his eyes "Well... how do you want to deal with this conundrum? It's your possessions that were stolen. And worry not Aedan, I'm sure I can get Miss Gertrude to cook you up some more breakfast"

Darklight Disturbance
Ashten Village:
"Kara, Laurentinus" Shyra called out as she approached "Have you seen Conrad and Tessa? I've looked everywhere but I can't seem to find them!" Shyra, for once, did not look cold and distant as usual. She actually looked worried "Everyone else is accounted for, where are those two?"

 

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Kara sighed and crossed her arms at their leader's appearance. So much for making a clean getaway. Still, Shyra did seem worried. "I wouldn't bother." Kara waved her hand before strolling back towards Laurentinus, just in case he was thinking of bolting without her. "They're probably snuggling under another pine tree somewhere, further away from the rest of us." she grinned. "Given how rudely I interrupted them this morning."

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Tessa was on her feet the moment the strange voice came out of Rayyad's mouth. Her expression changed from one of alarm to one of sympathy as she crossed the room and knelt down in front of Rayyad, holding out her hand to him. "It's okay." She murmured, using the tone of voice that helped her calm down frightened animals. "What plan did you make? Perhaps we can help you, and then you can be free." She looked back at Conrad with a pleading gaze; whatever it was, they had to help him. No one deserved to be caged forever.

"Maybe if all three of us are looking for it, we can find the idol together. Or perhaps there's a spell or another item we can get to help you break the curse forever." She offered, turning back to Rayyad with a small smile. She felt for the forest man, she really did. Perhaps if fate had been just a little different, she could have been trapped, same as him.

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Bryce blinked for a moment, nonplussed. I had gold? His trance, brought on by thinking too hard, was broken by the innkeeper smacking him over the head. He managed to look properly ashamed as she yelled at him about breaking something or other. But he was stealing food. Bryce protested mentally. This shamefulness also ended, when the innkeeper mentioned his favorite fruit. "You have one?" he sat up excitedly, though when her hands were revealed to be empty, he hung his head.

"You're a liar." he responded to the innkeep mournfully, his mind going to the wonderful taste of dragonfruit. Then Sanderson started speaking, and boy did he use a big word. "Uh......I'll fight him. I need to make up for not having my dragon fruit." He told Sanderson before walking out the door, grabbing his battle ax where it had been resting helpfully by the door. "Good boy.' He told the weapon, kissing the handle. "Now we go play." And maybe there'll be a dragon fruit at the end of it.

 

Looking at the signpost Artie made a quick decision, "I'd say we should go right." It was the only path that had a marking on the signpost so at the very least there would be something at the end of it.

 

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Conrad listened to everything Rayyad had said answering his questions. An eight feet tall totem? Okay then, wait if he didn't like going deeper into the caverns, maybe it was down there? Seeing he probably hadn't checked there yet. He took the cup of tea and when Rayyad apologised that there was no milk, he smiled and said "That's alright, don't like milk in my tea anyways." His thoughts went over the totem idea again "Say, could it be possible they hid the totem deeper into the caves if they knew you wouldn't go there anyways because you didn't want to be enlightened?" He asked then it happened though, just like before the change in voice and Rayyad backed away, Tessa immediatly got up and knelt next to the shaman. She looked back at him, her eyes pleading him to help her, help Rayyad.

He carefully walked over a bit more guarded because of the change in voice, but it seemed that Rayyad himself had no intention of warning them. "We'll help you, Rayyad." He said to the man "We won't leave you here on your own." No man deserved to be trapped on their own, no wait there were a few of them like the worst criminals then again executing those was a lot easier and saved taxpayers money. He was glad that he wasn't on his own down here, eventhough he still partially felt left out because he didn't know what it was like to be so in touch with nature he wasn't alone here with Rayyad and he was glad he was here too not wanting to think about Kara, Tessa or Laurentinus ending up here alone.

 

Baldomar's rummaging discovered a broken off part of the sign, saying 'F'.

"Well, that's a good point." Kellan said, nodding in agreement. "We'll find out what 'M' is at least."

"What did you find there Baldomar?" Aston asked.

DM Message: When Baldomar shows everyone what he's found, confirm whether you want to go right or left. ​

[DOUBLEPOST=1455727275][/DOUBLEPOST]

Aedan bristled at the stranger's comments. His mocking attitude was most irritating and indicated a clear lack of respect. Obviously his parents hadn't paid much attention to this upstart's behaviour. Also, his name was incredibly silly. The Night Knight? He just seemed so... Underwhelming. And petty. Mostly petty. However, he did not have to act, for Bryce did the work for him. Unfortunately in the process, his breakfast was sprayed all over the floor and he even managed to break some of the cups. He grimaced. This was getting quite... Chaotic. Gertrude intervened at this point, but it seemed that all was not over because the so called 'Night Knight' had stolen all of Bryce's money. He was inspired to react, but Sanderson appeared before he could. Aedan bowed his head respectfully, demonstrating a level of shame for his actions.
"I apologise Sanderson, you are correct. I should have kept my composure." He couldn't help but notice that there was something strange in Sanderson's eyes. "In light of what you have said, I believe that I should refrain from aggressive actions. I will settle down and eat." Aedan took a seat again and looked to the innkeeper.
"May I have another meal please?" He asked respectfully. ​

 

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Darklight Disturbance
Darlight Caverns, Arak'Un:
Rayyad was calmed by Tessa, he sighed and began to explain "You see, I can't break the curse without having the totem, but I can transfer it. I wanted to capture someone and trap them in the caves to take over my job. That way I would be happy and The Gathered would be happy... but I expect the captive wouldn't... I'm feeling like that plan is a bit selfish and rude" Suddenly Conrad had a brilliant idea, the totem could be down in the mines, Rayyad gasped and grabbed the man by the shoulders "You are a genius!" He hugged the man tightly "Oh, but it's hopeless anyway, if we break the totem The Gathered will come after me, they'll want me dead... But wait..." stepping away from Conrad he stared at the two adventurers "You said you were part of an expedition, so there are others? Could you... help me? Protect me? Please! I'll join you! I'll do anything!"

Ashten Village:
"Dark skinned man? A Hirokiri? Curses, they're getting confident, I didn't expect them to be wandering out this far. Could this be because..." Shyra thought back to her last adventure "... no. No it's probably not. I'll speak to the regional guard around this place. We may have to go into the caves slightly early, In the meantime, I suggest you make good use of that money and get something from the village"

What's in the village:
Inn
Blacksmith
Bakery
Butchers
Guard's Garrison
Tailor
Grocer
Stables
Herbalist/Alchemist
Mage's Shop

 

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"You mean my money." Kara muttered, crossing her arms across her chest with a huff. She didn't want to listen to Shyra; quite frankly because of the solitary reason that the woman had taken her loot. "Whatever. I guess I'll follow you around, Hawk Eyes." She waited until Shyra had turned her back before sticking her tongue out at the older woman and turning towards Lauretinus, pouting. "Since you just had to go and let Miss Lady Legs over there ruin our fun."

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Tessa smiled a little at Rayyad's exhuberance, but her mind was stuck on his words. "You captured us....to trap one of us?" She asked, her voice a little off. To be trapped....forever. Her skin felt a little tingly, and her fingers went numb. "To keep us here in your place?" She felt the sudden need to sit down, and did so, pressing her forehead to the table. The room suddenly felt a little small. To break it, to be chased, or to be trapped. It was a horrible place to be, and she,or Conrad had almost been put into it, unknowingly. Now she felt sick.

"I need some air." she whispered, and pushed herself away from the table, heading towards the door. "I just need some.....air." She sat on the front steps of the house and pressed her face into her knees, struggling to force air into her lungs.

 

Baldomar looked around the fork of the road, doing a better job at it than Kevin who was just looking down the bloody road as if he had seen the Headless Horsemen down there. Some bloke said that they should go right because of the M on the signpost "Oy where's the M in the name Fogwarden keep? Honestly it sounds like an idiotic idea to go with that logic." Baldomar said, then his brown eyes caught something it was part of the other sign that had been broken it was marked with an F. "See we should go left, take a look at this" He said throwing the sign he found at Artie "F as in Fogwarden, I say we go left because it seems all the more sensible than going after a bloody M when our destination starts with an F."

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"So you were going to trap one of us down here? I mean I understand you want to get out of here and all but do you truly want to damn someone else to such a fate?" Conrad said indignantly, that was low especially since he had been playing so nice, pretending he didn't want to hurt them. After he had explained the plan Tessa walked out of the house saying she needed some air. She may not have caught what Rayyad congratulated him with. The totem would be down in the mines. "Yeah we'll protect you, might take the others a bit of convincing though, now if you'll excuse me..." Conrad said as he also left the house to go find Tessa, watching from the door opening he saw her sitting on the steps in front of the house, he walked over knowing she'd hear the sound of his armour and sat down next to her taking note of her difficulty breathing."Easy, easy, everything will be okay. " He said, the tone of his voice calm and soothing "It's gonna be alright, Tessa, no one is gonna be trapped here, alright? Not you, not me, not him. I won't let it happen" He said trying to reassure the girl. "The others are probably missing us now and are coming here, together we'll break the curse and everyone can go home." He looked at her his face showing confidence which was partially faked but he hoped she didn't catch on to that.

 

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Tessa wrapped her arms around her body, stiffening at Conrad's words. "You humans." She whispered, her voice muffled from underneath her hunched form. "Even Rayyad. I thought he was different, like me. I thought we had....I don't know what I thought." She corrected herself mid sentence. "But you're all the same. You all lie." She pulled her face up, and stared at him with hard eyes. "Rayyad lied, when he said he just wanted to show us his house. He was going to trap us here, you or me. You are lying, right now. You don't think we're going to get out of this. Why can't you just stop lying?" She got up abruptly, gritting her teeth.

"Why don't you two just go lie to each other then? I'm going to go find someone to talk to who doesn't lie." Granted, the only things down here might be spiders, or maybe a slug or two, but Tessa didn't care. Beneath the anger, she was hurt, and she felt stupid. Stupid that she thought she could have been the same, stupid that she could have trusted anyone else to not be human. Because that would be denying them their true nature.

Turning on her heel, she stomped off towards the forgotten city. A fair distance away, she broke into a run, and didn't stop running until she was out of breath, and well, truly lost. But that's okay.She thought viciously. Anything is better then being with them. She touched some of the old, moss covered stones, her breath coming out in small huffs. Anything.

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Kara sighed as Laurentinus began to give her the whole "Friends in danger, hero time, blah blah blah speech." But her expression changed, and her smile began to widen once more as Ren kept talking, until she was grinning by the time he mentioned dinner. "You know, would you believe it if I told you that I've never ridden a horse? A very drunken man once told me I had the perfect legs for it. He didn't think the same after those same legs kicked him in all the wrong places." She took Ren's hand and led him away as she spoke. "Besides, it would be an honor if His Lordship would do me the pleasure of teaching me a thing or two." She winked back at Ren. "About horses, I mean."

 

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Kara smiled sweetly, curtseying to Ren as she glanced at the stable boy. "Best do as he says, he's in a terrible mood." She whispered to the boy. "It was all Lord Arval could do to calm him. Bad year with the dragonfruit in the south." Turning her attention back to Ren, she winked at him before taking his hand and staring at the horse with as much courage as she could muster. "It's...terribly large." She laughed as she glanced back at Ren. "The horse, I mean."

She gently held her hand out to the creature, fingers curled slightly, hand steady in spite of her uncertainty. Always mask your fear. Animals may smell it, but humans will respect you for the lie. Hopefully you didn't teach me wrong. She sent the curse towards her old mentor as she waited, hand ready to jerk back in case the horse took badly to it. "So how do you....mount it?" she asked, slyly smiling back at Ren, despite her heart beating faster by the minute in her chest. It looked terribly far off the ground, for starters.

What she wasn't afraid of was that the stable boy would report anything they said; it wasn't uncommon for higher up lords to take lower born women, especially pretty ones, to their bed. And poor Kara might be, but she was not plain.

 

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Rayyad was shocked as Tessa and Conrad walked away and berated him for his actions "Wha... but... You can't judge me! You have no idea what it's been like!" Rayyad's lip trembled as Tessa ran away, calling him a liar. He was on the verge of tears, just when he thought he'd found friends... "Fine! Leave! Both of you! I don't care! I'll find the totem myself! Good luck finding your way out, because I'm not helping you!" Rayyad threw a tantrum and began to walk away. He didn't need them, they didn't understand... but they could protect him... he needed someone.

 

Conrad didn't exactly catch what she whispered after he had spoken, but he had noticed her body stiffening. This boded ill and when she started speaking his thoughts were confirmed. Just when he thought he had fully grasped the extense of their cultural differences another look revealed yet another divide. She looked at him with hard eyes, she had seen through his faked confidence. Then again he hadn't really been a great liar.
The question she asked he couldn't answer, as she clearly didn't understand the concept of a white lie... She told him to go and lie to Rayyad instead and she then stomped off into the distance. He called her name after her telling her to wait, to come back, but she kept on going. Meanwhile Rayyad was throwing a tantrum about how it was unfair that they had judged him for his plan and Conrad looked at him and said "While we do not know what it has been like what gives you the right to damn someone else to such a fate?" Tessa had broken out into a run and if he had any hope of sticking together he had to go after her now.

Stick together in an unfamiliar environment to improve your odds of survival. The lesson was simple and it had been hammered into him by his drill instructors, yet he was close to failure to comply with the lesson and it had been his own damn fault. He ran after Tessa calling out for her to wait up, while he had the endurance to keep going in the heavy armour for quite a while it still weighed him down and she was slowly but surely gaining on him, he pushed himself further and further willing himself to catch up to Tessa, but he was pushing too far and before long he stumbled to his knees feeling the contents of his stomach well up and spill out of his mouth. In the moments he took to throw up he had lost her and was left all alone, trying to get his heavy breathing under control.

He wiped off his mouth and cursed softly, his anger mainly directed at himself, he stood back up and walked to the closest ruin and sat back down resting, putting his back against the wall, pulling his knees up and while keeping his elbows on top of his knees his hands went to the opposite shoulder, his lower arms forming an X against which he leaned his forehead. Leona had been right, he was a poor excuse for a soldier that wouldn't do his comrades any good no matter what had happened or how they thought about him, he still saw them as his brothers in arms. He had lost his way in the chase through the city and lost the only familiar face around. To make matters worse the one guy that knew the way around this damnable place was now pissed at them. While before he had a little bit of hope of getting out of here alright, everything just seemed to fall apart. No matter what he seemed to do he'd always make that misstep somewhere along the line.

He had regained his breath and rested, thought the entire situation through. It wasn't a time to feel lost, he had been a soldier after all and technicly speaking he was on-duty and this was no way to behave on duty. Both Tessa and Rayyad may have been angry at him for different reasons but that still didn't mean that he didn't care. Tessa was a teammate and while she was mad about a white lie, he couldn't let her on her own, teammates always supported each other setting aside personal feelings but seeing he had lost her that was out of the question and perhaps for the best, since he'd do well to just let her anger cool a bit. In the mean time maybe he could help Rayyad out, after all the man said he had needed protection if he was gonna lift the curse of binding. He'd have to find Rayyad help him break the spell and then they could all go home, just as he had promised. This expedition was a test and he was glad Shyra hadn't been there to see him in that pitiful state. He'd prove her wrong, and not just her Leona as well eventhough she wasn't present. He got up with newfound purpose and tried to navigate the city back to Rayyad's place.​

 

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Kara giggled, her head suddenly full of all sorts of thoughts. Mostly how tall this horse was, and how impossible it seemed to get on such a creature's back. She took hold of Ren's hand, taking a deep breath before bunching her legs and jumping into the air. She resisted the urge to grab the horse's mane, relying solely on Laurentinus' strength to pull her onto the horse. Her faith was rewarded, and she settled into the saddle, uneasily keeping her eyes away from the ground.

Ren reached around her to grab the reins, and she recovered her smile, sitting up taller and trying to mimic his posture. "This...is a lot easier then I thought it would be." She admitted, gently touching the horse's black coat with the tips of her fingers. "You do have a royal air about you, after all. It's why I call you Hawk Eyes." She continued, her tone teasing as her fingers drifted over the mane, to the fringes of the saddle, exploring the stitching in the leather. Well, part of the reason.


"Only sometimes?" She gasped, before glancing at Ren over her shoulder with a smile. "I must not be doing my job right then. The mark of a true thief is making everyone fall in love with her with a single look." She fluttered her eyelashes before reaching back to pat Ren on the cheek. "Or maybe you're ensnared and don't even know it. Anyway," she turned back around, gripping the saddlehorn with both hands now, "remind me again how this was faster then walking?"

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Stupid. Tessa told herself, kicking another rock. Stupid stupid stupid. She wandered for a while, letting her rage cool as she examined the ruins. Once upon a time, she would have loved to live here. The rocky ceilings, the sounds and smells, it called to her spirit the same way that the forest did. Thinking of her own forest, her heart ached with homesickness, and she pressed her palms to her cheeks, squeezing her eyes shut until the pain had passed.

"This won't do." She decided, talking to a small rodent that rustled in the bush. "It won't do at all." She decided, kneeling down to watch the little thing scurry to and fro as it searched for food. "They're humans, they're going to act like humans. I'm a Tessa, so what does Tessa do?" She sat down, considering her options. "Tessa will do what she can for the humans. Tessa will try to understand." She decided, pounding her fist on her palm in order to keep from scaring the vole. "And I will help both Rayyad and Conrad." She stood up, and bowed to the little creature. "Thank you for your wisdom, small one. Blessings upon you." Then, Tessa started towards the darker part of the caverns.

After another good amount of time spent searching, she eventually found the entrance to the mines. She wiped the sweat from her forehead, and peered into the darkness. No wonder Rayyad was afraid to go down here. He must be terribly scared of the dark. She thought to herself, the sounds of her footsteps echoing off the walls as they became smaller, giving her less room to maneuver. "Well, I am not scared of the dark." She announced, her voice echoing down into the depths. Not at all. She reminded herself as she descended into the mines. Your worst enemy is your own mind, after all.