Gnomes, Kidnappings and Old-School Roleplay comrades

Last edited by Zay on Fri Dec 17, 2010 6:10 pm; edited 5 times in total

Hello, welcome to the board my friends, and we bid a warm welcome to our newest member (of this time =O) Aero Gorath.
Woot! Anywho, on with some reminders:
Please read forum rules, or know them, before proceeding to roleplay, they are under welcome to dragonscove and they may be different to standard neo rules, or adapations of pre-existing ones at least.
This roleplays powerplay and godmoding rules are normal, a no no, unless needed in which case permission required.
Remember, medieval folks! This means remember how medieval people act, remember how they behaved around different classes of people and that, okay, we're not to-the-bone strict here...but to convincingly make our forum medieval---keep these things in mind.

Now onto the plot, courtesy to Eldarwen Smile

Plot:

"'No! No! Let me go! What do you think you're doing!' and she kept screaming and I couldn't do anything about it. They'd tied me up in the closet. I'm so sorry!" she sobbed. The maid didn't know what else to say to make the Fairy King not punish her. She had been his favourite daughter and people had been punished for much less than this. The girl only had to lift a finger and everyone would jump to fulfill her every wish and it was a known fact that the King would do anything for her. This thus was a bad situation for the maid. "Get her out of my face!" the Kind thundered, waving at one of his bodyguards. The maid let out a tiny sigh of relief. At least he hadn't sentenced her to death, maybe she would get away with her life.

The Queen had so far been sitting in her throne, unmoving, not saying anything. Now, she finally stood up and walked over to her husband, laying a hand on his arm. "Don't take it out on her," she tried to soothe him. "We knew this was coming one day. We got careless." "I don't care! This should not be happening to her, to us!" The King roared, not wanting to calm down. He ripped his arm out of his wives touch and started pacing up and down the throne room. "Why is nobody out yet to find her?" The guards all seemed to shrink a few centimeters before finally someone dared to answer: "All available troops are out on the borders, fighting the gnome invasion, Your Highness." "Then call them back!! Get them to find my daughter!" He ordered. "Yes, Your Highness," the man replied and hurried out of the throne room, knowing full well that it could not be arranged and that the next rant would await him as soon as he would deliver the King's message to the royal war strategist.

The event had been planned carefully and very well for years. The King and Queen had been warned at the day of the birth of their daughter. It had cast a shadow over their lives since that day, though they tried not to let it show. They had protected and cared for their daughter in every possible way, surrounded her with servant people and guards so that she would not have to worry about a thing, making her life perfect. Until the prophecy had caught up with them, the prophecy they had been trying to forget and prevent for years. None of their other daughters had been cared for as much as the youngest and jealousy was a common feeling between the girls. The King was known as a strict and usually quite fair ruler as long as it didn't concern his youngest daughter. His people had lead happy and peaceful lives until recently the gnomes had started to invade the kingdom. Nobody knew their motivation, but they were fierce and merciless and they had come in huge numbers nobody had thought possible as gnomes, just like faeries were not the largest race and tended to keep to themselves rather than mix with other races.

The Royal Family was in shock. Not only was their kingdom being invaded, but the youngest member of their family had been kidnapped. Much was at stake for them now. Almost every man in the kingdom that was capable of carrying and using a weapon had been asked to keep at the ready in case the army needed reinforcements. In addition, the youngest daughter had been promised to a powerful duke of the kingdom to keep him in check and in the King's service instead of going on a rampage against the Royal Family. But now with her kidnapped, what was going to happen?

Setting:

The typical forest path. A few travellers on the road and what looks like a group of bandits, but in fact they were trained soldiers. In their midst a person wrapped in a cloak, hiding the person's face. It was impossible to tell whether it was a man or a woman and what the purpose of this disguise and procession was. Dusk was starting to crawl up over the tree tops, casting the forest into twilight. Shadows showed up everywhere, making the surroundings look a little spooky.

Post order:
Eldarwen
Zay
Rogue
Taj
Aero Gorath

Hiding her rather white face with the piercing green eyes and the long, wavy red hair beneath a dark green cloak, Siofra slowly made her way through the forest, a bow and arrows strapped to her back, a dagger fastened on the right side of her belt. She was dressed in dark clothes so as not to catch people’s eyes. With the twilight reigning around her, it would be easier not to be seen. She had heard rumours of gnome warriors being on the loose and she did not want to be in their way as nothing good would come of it. She had only once encountered a gnome and it had nearly ended in a sword fight to the death. Her sword was held in a beautiful handmade sheath, fastened on the left side of her leather belt. It had been a present from her lately deceased brother Ailill, the mysterious circumstances of his death never explained and the body never recovered. It hurt her to recall his face, any memory related to him. They had been close, despite their differences, and she missed him terribly.

Stalking through the forest, the half-elf's ears suddenly pricked up as she heard noises ahead of her. It seemed like human voices. Male and female, arguing. Slowly, she made her way forward, pulling the hood a little further into her face, so as to hide every single feature of her face. Quickly, she scurried amongst the trees to see whom the voices belonged to. When she had nearly reached the people arguing in front of her, her attention was caught by yet another sound. Several feet marching through the forest. The noise was accompanied by the threatening sound of weapons clanking against each other and it felt like a forced march. Something was not right about this, Siofra thought as the men came into view. There were seven of them, all dressed up like bandits. But bandits did not wear such sophisticated weapons as these men did. This was not how it was supposed to be. Then her eyes fell on the hooded person in the middle. Were these royal messengers? War bringers? She retreated further back into the shadows, feeling uneasy about this, but then her foot got caught on a tree root, making her stumble. She tried to grab a hold of the tree but couldn't get a grip and came crashing to the floor with more noise than was needed to alert everyone in her vicinity.

The men immediately looked into her direction, and despite the dark clothes that should conceal her, they had seen the movement and several of them hurried over. Siofra hastened to get back on her feet but somehow her foot was now completely entangled in the loosely lying about roots. Her hood had fallen back a little through the abrupt movement and was revealing a bit of red hair and a black velvet band strapped across her forehead. Frantically, she was working on the roots with her dagger but knew that the men would reach her before she could get out of harm's way.

Last edited by Zay on Fri Dec 03, 2010 5:55 pm; edited 1 time in total

So many many times he had seen this scenario...The down casted shadows that moved down in the forest encloaking it calmly as the firey sun of day was subdued by oncoming night. Naturally, it was his favourite time of the day. Night was when the real stories happened, when the more interesting things emerged, unseen to the untrained eye and rose up to walk the forest. When the forest took on a new form, either a secure haven for it's residents, or the stuff of nightmares and bad tidings for the village folk and children.
Don't go out in the woods tonight my dears, there may be something waiting to kill you.
And it might not be what you expected at first either.
Terrible teeth, wicked smiles, claws like knives, roars of thunder and fast as lightning.

That was incidently, just the thing Zartear sought after. Those horrifying beasts people paid handsomely for to be slain, heads detatched, bones dislodged, skin to be cut and flesh to be burned...Whatever they wanted he could do, he relished it too. Dragons were arguably his favourite prey of them all, spectacular features to then mount upon the walls and great points of focus for his grandiose stories to tell. But oddly, tonight, he was not seeking these reptilian monsters (or gold mines, if you prefer) no he'd heard word of stranger happenings in these lands. What exactly, he did not know, he'd only entered these lands very recently and out of sight from all people for days. But now the strong, fully armoured form of Zartear Straten was walking calmly, yet precisely, through the wood, his weapon as of now invisible to the eye, it's un-used form of a black stick bound to his right side. Save the dramatic first impressions, he didn't want to communicate the wrong ideas---however true---right off the bat.

Scenarios when he didn't fully understand or know of needed a more careful hand to gain knowledge of and later control if he still wanted to come off the victor...Whatever being the victor meant in this case. Hopefully, more gold, more favours, more anything. That was what drove his every move, spare the compassion of a genuine motive such as restoring peace where now war was to be set.

Sadly, being human did not include the attuned hearing of an elf, the detection of a dragon or lightness of a feline...He might try to employ this but so far, his senses had failed him. Or at least, nothing was to be found yet. Then it came right then! Sooner than expected, he'd only been surveying this forest about one hour and a half, and he heard a stirring. The unmistakable sound of metal upon metal, more than a lone warrior's worth too.
He looked left, right, behind and forward. Nothing-yet. Now more cautiusly he walked, through the twilight of a dark forest drifting to sleep, but now his mind more primed than ever. His interest had been captivated.

Last edited by Rogue on Fri Feb 27, 2009 5:49 pm; edited 1 time in total

Bouncing cheerily through the thick woods, the brightly coloured Hone sang to the trees as she weaved her way through the trunks, dancing slowly from one leg to another with a hop and a bound. Her tail swayed in wide curves, occasionally thumping a tree and making, at worst, a large dent in the trunk as her blade unintentionally attacked it. Her cerulean eyes peered through the trees and sparse undergrowth as dusk fell over the land, ears swivelling in opposite directions as she picked up the quiet sounds of the wood.

She slowed for a moment as she heard a difference in the low rumble of footsteps she had heard, but taken no notice of, assuming it was part of the forest noises. Apparently not. She raised herself a little higher into the air, balancing carefully on her back legs like a predatory dinosaur and looking through the trees towards the direction of the now-erratic sound, curious.

Deciding to act on a whim, as she had done many times before, Hone turned towards the sound, speeding up through the trees to a faster pace than before, her crimson feet pounding against the ground in a regular pattern as she settled into the pace. She knew she had a way to go, as the noise had been very faint and fuzzy, but despite this slight setback for her appearance at the scene, she still relished the feeling of being able to spin through the trees at a faster pace than many other dragons- and most humans!

Flaring her wings a little, Hone was taken by surprise as a tree loomed in front of her quickly, leaping to one side to avoid the black-bleached trunk. Her tail snaked out, balancing her after completing her manoeuvre, but catching half the trunk with her curved blade and giving the tree a nasty scar for years to come. “Oops.” She thought resignedly, hoping that the same thing wouldn’t happen later that night- And definitely not with a living animal!

Ever so quietly, the grass crushed together as they were trodden on by the feet of a young girl. Eighteen to be in fact, so maybe not that young. Every movement came with the small price of noise, but it was so subtle that it was barely audible by a human ear. But…a gnome? That was the main thing on her mind at the moment. Sandy’s curls were forced backwards from her face slightly as the cool wind gently brushed her skin. Her pupils were large, as they tried to take in as much light as possible, making her eyes look blacker than usual. But they weren’t exactly one of the most visible things about in the on-coming darkness anyway.

But what was she doing here? A girl armoured with just a sword, walking about in a forest such as this at night. No, she was not insane, or just wanted to go on a leisurely walk, she did in fact have a reason for being here. That reason including the many rumours, being whispered around by all sorts of creatures. Creatures of the day, and of the night. Sandy wasn't alone in the forest, and she was probably certain about that more than anything else.

Thoughts were rushing through her head as her black eyes scanned the movements in the forest. Flicking left and right, like a cat, watching it’s pray. And for once, she wouldn’t actually be the one being hunted. For it was her turn to try and help someone…someone who seems to have been captured by gnomes? At least, that’s what the rumours said anyway. So why not check it out? Her conscious would probably get her back later anyway if she didn’t, only if she found out that the stories had been true. True enough that a member from the Royal Family had been kidnapped. No, Sandy wasn’t the type of person who would listen to something and forget about it a few minutes or hours later. She was more head than anything else. She would always think things over and over, debating whether or not to do something...and she had to do something.

Then suddenly, her feet stopped moving, and she stood still. One arm tightly by her side, whilst the other was moving slowly towards the sword inside her sheath. The necklace around her neck stopped swaying from side-to-side and fell still against her neck. Footsteps. As clear as anything. But not just one, quite a few more, but they weren’t as subtle as she had expected them to be...they were moving at a somewhat rapid pace. As if on the move with a purpose – like herself?

Nevertheless, she couldn’t see where they were coming from. The darkness didn’t help with this either, or the trees in fact. She was glad now, that she wasn’t wearing clothes that stood out, that the dark colours camouflaged her more than she could hope for.
Then they came into sight. Hooded figures, whether they were human or not, she couldn’t tell. But they hadn’t noticed her, which was good. But it was as if they had noticed something else...Sandy held her breath as she realised what they were doing. Very near to the ground, was a person, who seemed to be stuck in the roots...

This forest was creepy. Scratch that; extremely creepy was a much better description. Mai glanced nervously around, the shadows dancing and making her jump every time a twig cracked. It was true that she had always wanted to travel, but she might be reconsidering her life-long dream if this is what it was going to be like all the time. Plus, she was so far away from home and her family. It might not have always been the nicest place to live -in the dredges of the city- but at least it was familiar. Waking up to the cry of a younger sibling who’d had a nightmare, tripping over various things in the too-small huddle that they called a home, dressing for the day, the warm welcome of the produce vendor owner, and the backbreaking work of moving all of his wares before most normal people started showing up for the market. All of it was a routine that she’d gotten used to and learned to at least like enough to not want to complain every minuet she could spare her breath for.

But this was something completely different. It wasn’t hard work, it just required the speed that a winged being could bring; delivering some mail. Then one might ask what said winged being was doing walking on the ground. The answer was actually pretty simple: Mai had terrible night vision. Twilight marked the beginning of her decent into blindness for the night, a common ailment that almost all of her family shared. She had also learned that trying to fly during this time was basically asking for a bunch of bruises and a possible broken bone or two. Not that she wasn’t accustomed to bruising, but she’d rather not break a bone. They usually spelled bad news for the hollow-boned avians.

So due to night blindness, she was walking along this creepy road in a creepy forest getting creep’d out more and more with every step she took. Her wings twitched nervously against her back, itching to take to the sky where it was less creepy. A couple times she almost gave into that inclination, but was always prevented from doing so with the threat of pain upon attempting to land. Mai twisted the silver ring on her right ring finger back and forth, as if the motion could somehow lessen the impact of this situation. Should she have stopped in the last village for the night? Though, she couldn’t exactly afford to take unnecessary stops. Her employer had given her a set amount of money for food and board on the journey there and back, and it wasn’t much. Would there be another one ahead she could stay at? Hopefully there would be someplace cheap…

So completely absorbed in her thoughts, the young winged woman was nearly able to forget her fears for a bit, and was completely oblivious to the oncoming march of troops. She didn’t notice them until the metal clanking jammed though her financial worries, and by then she was well within sight of the force. Instantly her face paled, entire body stilling. “Oh feathers..."

Last edited by Eldarwen on Sun Feb 08, 2009 5:56 pm; edited 1 time in total

Why won't this darn dagger cut?? Panic was creeping through the whole of her body, a sensation that had not been hers for a very long time. Siofra very rarely panicked, being trained as a cold-blooded killer, in addition to the fact that she had stopped feeling like a trapped animal at a very young age. Sometimes she had considered having lost the ability, but that was a good thing, right? When she had been a young girl, some children from her village had cornered her, wanting to beat her up or worse when her brother had come to her rescue. It had been the very last time she had ever really felt like she was having a near-death experience, despite the various assassination maneuvers and attacks she had had to deal with in her still rather young life.

Nothing in comparison to this though. She might have been unaware of attacks at times, even though she usually was paying close attention to her surroundings. However, now... it almost looked like there was no way out. The roots would not cut as if the forest wanted her to finally get pay-back for all the deeds she had done so far, and maybe even the last she would ever do? The men were moving ever closer, drawing their swords on the way. Siofra watched the scene as in slow motion - the men were putting one foot in front of the other, taking as much time as needed to find the perfect spot on the ground for sure footing, the swords slowly sliding out of their sheaths, catching a bit of light on the rays of the sinking fireball in the sky. It was surreal.

So was this what the last moments were like? No regrets? No nice memories? Simply the very plain fact that she was going to die soon? The half-elf was almost disappointed. She had known this moment would come - how could it not with her life style?! - but she had always imagined it to be somewhat more spectacular. Maybe a prince on a white horse trying to rescue her, holding her in her arms while she was drawing her last breaths after a long, hard battle? No, that was ridiculous, she was definitely not the kind to even waste a thought on a childish idea like this. Her death, in her mind, should have been.. What would it have been? A dent in the history of her people? An unwritten on piece of paper finally getting its story? Maybe she had really imagined it would be a breathtaking event everybody would want to remember? But who was she kidding.. Not many people would remember her and those that would probably prefer forgetting they'd ever met her.

A sigh escaped her lips as she was now forcing herself to calm down, controlling the heaving and lowering of her chest as much as possible. The dagger moved back to its place on her belt and she had decided on the vulnerable female approach, wanting to make the men feel bad for scaring her to death. She was not sure whether it was going to work, whether she could pull off the sweet and innocent far enough for them to believe and release her from the wooden trap. Probably not, considering that she was fully armed and had never been able to pass for a delicate woman, the independence always shining through somehow. It would be worth a try, however. You never knew..

Although he didn't know it, there was much more than just the troops themselves dwelling here...And now he were beginning to hear the tiniest of sounds in the background becoming more prominent but they still kept themselves disguised...Avoiding recognition from his human ears. As he neared the...risky...issue, he pushed the leaves and bushes aside trying to stay as quiet as was possible in all the crisp leaf-lined grounds and among the thick rustling foliage. Peering around the next gnarled witch-like tree from his distorted view of the scene he could see no familiar figures...Shady looking types, the troops were easy to see but also a hooded ....something... figure was there. Couldn't see very much of this at all, and with his limited knowledge he had no idea what this was about except that it wasn't a meeting for pleasantries.

For now he could do little except watch, he wasn't exactly about to run in there with no idea of this and demand some answers however tempting the to-the-point option was, it might not be the wisest in the long run. Instead with the utmost caution he lowered his body and crept around so he was now behind the rally of troops, hidden behind the natural forest cover, and seeing straight ahead at what they beheld too. The anonymous hooded thing.
Now he realised from what he could see of...it...it was tense, as if trying to escape and the troops were closing in. Was he about to see something that, well, most would rather not see? Would this turn into a fight, or would the matter be quiet and lawful?

From what he could see looking over the form, despite having already encountered "it" (which in fact was a her of the half-elf race,) he did not recall her. Maybe it was the fact that he thought no other race besides human was worth a penny for thoughts. The troops types of armour and uniform colours, he wasn't familiar with them either, this all made for an odd thing to be watching. All this consideration, just to find out...
Then he could here the pronounced sound of stronger but nimble footsteps, and he looked sharply to his left into the wood, and he caught a flash of red in his eye of a reptilian...Softly he slipped back into the deeper covered area away from view, half attention upon the trapped one...and half upon the supposed-dragon that was lurking in this wood, instinctively his hand reached to the un-used form of his weapon, restrained only by the pure fact it'd be stupid to start up something now.

Observing however useful could be so restricting too, he saw only the slight outline of a face underneath the hood and he couldn't get close enough to hear any of their voices without being caught. So content with what he had found for now of the soldiers (he'd only be able to truly find out about them in a city, most likely) he recoiled from the edge by them, uttering a nod to himself catching a small glimpse of the shadowy figure's eyes. Now he swiftly worked his way around so he was behind the trapped thing, hidden by dense forest cover staring straight ahead and laying in wait, looking for anything specific to pick out, none yet.
The dragon re-entered his mind, it hadn't been your plain night-walking dragon, the colour of it's red was simply too striking. Of course, it had nothing to do with this so keep it out of your mind and stay focused. He told himself, but still, legs tensed, this was to be an unpredictable moment.

Last edited by Rogue on Fri Feb 27, 2009 5:49 pm; edited 2 times in total

Sliding to an ungainly stop with a skittering of leaves, Hone listened carefully once more to the forest sounds around her to determine the new placing of the trooping rumble, her head lolling slowly to one side as she perked two ears more than the others. In a bound, she decided on the direction, and turned off towards it, more cautiously this time, not wanting to run into any wanderers (or even worse, a group of mercenaries) unexpectedly. Her silver claws dug a little way into the soft earthy ground as she trotted hesitantly towards the sound, stopping every so often to pinpoint her directional course and change it slightly, heading in a smallish curve back towards the direction that she had came from. One of the perils of having speed greater than many- You always overran distances. Or at least, Hone always did…

Peering carefully through the darkening underbrush, Hone’s eyes looked searchingly through the tree trunks for a glimmer of armour or the snap of a foot on a twig. As her head swayed a little with her gait, she caught the faint sheen of metal through the trees. She stopped in her tracks, eyes narrowing in concentration. Her heart beat fast as she saw many shapes moving through the trees, thin glimmers of metal revealing themselves to be swords, all pointing in a similar direction.

In a thoughtless action, she lifted her head up a little to give herself maximum airspace, and gave a loud bugle, the noise deafening and shrill in the relative quiet of the evening. Well, if that didn’t make the human shapes come and investigate, not much more than rushing them would!

Closing her mouth sharply to cut off the noise, Hone lowered her muzzle to its normal height, cocking her head a little to once side and looking towards the earlier flashings of sword blades, wondering whether she should start running. She decided against it, reasoning that if she needed to get out of sight quickly, she could climb into a tree. She blinked twice, waiting for a response through the trees from the figures in tense excitement.

Guest

"Whaa-? It wasn't me, I swear!" Blinking back her blurred vision, Talina struggled to free herself from the branches until she arrived upon the realisation that she had been dreaming. Glancing around sheepishly, she hoped furtively no one had seen her ridiculous attempt at escape. During her long sweep of her surroundings, a flash of colour drew her eyes. What was this? Another dragon? Curiosity once again bettering what little sensibility she possessed, the black and white dragon snaked her head down beneath the boughs, peering at the intruder to her sleep. Curling her tail around a sturdy branch, Talina strained to get a better view. Ah, so it was another dragon! Now… What to do?

While pondering her course of action, she caught a few faint noises. Well, those certainly weren’t dragons. Snuffling at the brightly coloured dragon, she nodded a greeting. For once, she chose not to speak straight away; what were those curious noises? Exhaling in a whoosh, Talina withdrew to her current leafy dwelling and extended her sore neck.

Bracing herself against the toughened bark she ascended the tree nimbly, poking her head up above the leaves in a vain effort to seek out the strange noises. Failing miserably, she haruuumphed and slithered back to the bottom boughs. Somewhat content to watch the on goings, Talina wriggled further along the branches, balancing precariously amongst the frailer branches. Swaying up and down, she glanced down warily. Perhaps she should have chosen someplace more stable…

Sandy held her breath for a split second as she saw the soldiers advance onto the helpless woman even quicker. But then again, was she so helpless? For it seemed that wondering about in the forest at night, like herself, wasn't such a good thing. But it was as if the dark hood was there for a reason - to blend in, and she just happened to have a dagger handy on her? Her thoughts began to escalate now.
Sandy was known for the amount of thought she put into her actions beforehand. Or even just the thoughts without any form of action. Either way, she hardly ever jumped to conclusions without thinking. But then again, was she jumping to a conclusion now? No...she was being ridiculous. She didn't even know who anyone here was. The soldiers, the woman, the dragon...wait, what?
Sandy rubbed her eyes gently before re-opening them and peering back to a gap inbetween the trees where she swore she had just seen a flash of colour. That came no doubt from a dragon.

But, where had it gone? Had it seen her? Did it know what on earth was going on? Was it just out hunting? Out hunting for food? The category that she fit into so easily for such creatures?
She shook her head lightly, before taking a quick glance down at her blue necklace. If the dragon was out hunting, she knew how to keep out of harms way, and if the worst came to the worst, she knew how to fight a dragon and get away easily. That was the least of her worries for now...

Once again, she had been distracted, quite easily. Her focus was soon upon the scene in front of her. All the while, she was thinking whether to go and help or not. Well, of course she would got to help if needed. But at this moment, she wouldn't have the element of surprise on her hands. If she could just wait until a little later on. Or if the men...creature...things did attack, then she would go with her conscience and go to help anyway.

Now, Mai was no genius or anything, but she knew trouble when she saw it. And oooh boy, did she see it now! Well, the fuzzy outlines of it, anyway. Though, the lines were getting less fuzzy, which meant that these rather scary men were coming her way. Oh, joy. Well, on the bright side, at least she would be able to identify them, right? Yes, now they were close enough for her to make out the details, and she wasn’t really all that happy to have seen them.

She saw the clothes that looked like they had been worn a little too long between adventures and washes, the scathing looks on the men’s faces, the rather elaborate swords at their sides or axes slung across their shoulders. Two of the men had diverted their attention from the noises in the woods to inspect the very obvious traveler who, as far as they might have known, could fly off any minuet and report to whoever it was she was employed by. You had to come to a conclusion that she was indeed employed by somebody, because sane normal folk just didn’t go trouncing off into dangerous forests like this unless they had a good reason, especially right at the fading of twilight, the witching hour as some cultures had it. Of course, if one made the assumption that she was indeed employed by somebody, then she had someone who needed her to return, who she would probably tell about the bandits wandering around in the woods decked out with the latest weapons.

As for poor Mai, she just thought these men were plain old bandits, the longer she got to inspect them. Having never been out of the city, she didn’t quite put raggedy clothes and high-class weapons together and get four. Her wings twitched nervously, upsetting the tiny pack lying between her brown wings, making the small jingling sound of coins clinking together. Of course she really didn’t have much, but she hoped that these men would just take the money and let her get on her way. She didn’t want to loose the letter delivering job; it was her best-paid find yet, after all. Having your cargo stolen by a bunch of nasties on your first job didn’t really sound like it was a good start to her career, either.

“Good evenin’ sirs. I ‘ope I ain’t intrudin’ on anythang ‘ere.” Mai said when they were within a few feet of her, her very heavy accent coming out in her nervousness. She spoke a little louder than intended, and winced slightly, twining her fingers in the fabric at the hem of her shirt.

Last edited by Eldarwen on Sat May 30, 2009 8:25 am; edited 1 time in total

With the men still advancing on her, the half-elf suddenly felt very exposed, as if there were several pairs of eyes locking on her, observing her every move. How can that be? The men were not focusing on her specifically but on the general situation, which could not provoke such an intense feeling. A shudder went down her spine as her eyes caught a rapid movement of something crimson behind a few bushes. Something was lurking there, probably waiting for its chance to jump and feed on them. Hurriedly, her eyes flew back to the men that had stalled their movement a little, checking their environment. Two of them, still stopped dead in their tracks were now paying attention to something or someone further up the path. Two more pulled out their swords and positioned themselves around the hooded figure, whereas the rest were now quickly crossing the last bit of distance between themselves and the half-elf.

Siofra gulped, trying hard not to fall back into her panic. What is wrong with me? She usually didn't react like this. Tiny pearls of sweat were already protruding on her forehead, giving her supposedly innocent and carefree attitude much less credibility than she had hoped for. However, the men did not act as she had expected them to, not in the least. Sure, they did point a sword at her throat, threatening to kill her should she make a false gesture but one of them immediately cut through the roots that had trapped her, and then held out his hand to help her up. Has the vulnerable female part seriously worked?! Siofra wasn't sure whether she could trust this judgment, especially since there was still a tip of a sword pointed at her throat. Her eyes darted back and forth between all the bushes around, as the observed feeling was persistent. Is it my imagination or did I hear footsteps? Clearing her throat, she did not speak however, neither did any of the men.

Not daring to try and get to her weapons with so many soldiers around and her still being nervous, Siofra waited for what they would do next. Usually, she was pretty quick, especially with the bow, but she didn't want to risk it just now. On top of this, she was curious about finding out what was going on here. There was too much movement at this time of day in a forest like this. And way too many apparently interested in what was creating this scene. The half-elf shortly turned her attention towards a person standing not far from them in the middle of the path, frightened and very obviously so. Luckily, her hood had not fallen off completely, still concealing the greater part of her features, so she could peek out behind it, observing the other hooded figure that was now on its guard as well, having pulled out a huge shiny broadsword with runic markings along the middle of the blade.

And that was when it hit her. There were not many swords with that kind of marking... Turning her head as much as possible without hinting at the soldier, who she now guessed was a personal bodyguard, that she was any threat whatsoever, she now openly looked at the hooded figure trying to see the person's features. She simply had to know. The look of surprise intermingled with shock on her face could not have been greater, as the figure suddenly started laughing lowly, immediately recognisable to Siofra's ears. "P-Prince Atleon?!?" she breathed incredulously. Wasn't he supposed to be dead?!!

OOC|
Firstly, very sorry for the huge time for me to reply! D=
But even then I lost the reply TWICE and it all kinda went horribly wrong, I also apologize for the lack of, hum, action in the post...Still there's always next time Rolling Eyes

Zartear had been ready to watch, take it all in, and then get down to doing what he did best. Namely, leeching, manipulating and slaying...Whichever of the three or the mix of two or more were needed. Of course him needing to do his "research" was being prevented by the rather obvious presence of all these creatures that seemed to pay little heed to the importance of this moment but simultaneously were in stalemate, nobody directly conversing with the other (or confronting...)
And damn it, just as the one previously trapped had been freed surprisingly, her stutter of the prominent figure's name was blotted out by the tree shaking bugal-call of that loud and persistent lash dragon drenched in crimson scales, that as he figured would look a far length better woven into armour. Or practically anything where the dragon would not be alive
The interruptions didn't stop there, as his luck had it.
Low and behold a lost (or maybe hapless?) looking Avian stepped in, her thickly accented voice cutting the air with it's nervous edgings --despite this the soldiers seemed to totally blank her altogether though from his sight she seemed like she had just made an obvious faux pas. You couldn't expect too much from an Avian anyway, from his viewpoint there was a lot more use in an Avian's wings serving as banners rather than alive and left to carry on in their ways. Of course, "their ways" were never the right ones from what he thought.

It was amazing the man wielding the no less than lethal looking, gleaming broadsword hadn't taken any notice of these sounds and movements--especially at this time...Creatures at night weren't always hopelessly stupid as much as vicious and nothing to laugh in the face at.
He tried to regain his focus, to try and make out and identify him from the markings upon his sword but they bore nothing he could recall.

Zartear cursed under his breath again silently, eyeing up the trees now, another rustle...Seeing flecks of black and white through them he then caught sight of it's eye even through the narrow view he had. Soon he'd step out, as soon as this man of apparent importance stated anything that could give him a lead, he'd pounce on the chance without a second of delay but in natural Zartear-esque manner, he'd behave calm, negotiable and open at first, even though he actually waged a hard bargain--- this would be disguised with some guile and the appearance of a genuine faced stranger extending a hand of assistance. If he even got to that point...

Still looking at the dragon in the trees he then shifted carefully away, maneuvering around them, so as not to provoke any action, at times like this, it might have been useful to have more than two eyes. Even then, there was something else impending, again just had to -wait- for now.

Having not heard a response to her bugle, in the form of an answering cry from another dragon (which she did not expect), or the snapping and crashing of feet that meant something on the ground coming to search her out, Hone frowned a little and swished her tail, her head swaying a couple of times in rhythm with it to try and find a better watching place through the tree trunks that obscured her view. As she continued to watch carefully, adjusting her head now and then, her sensitive ears picked up the faint sound of another traveller that, from what she had heard, had just encountered the same soldiers that she herself was watching. Not having seen this new traveller, Hone drove her attention towards her for a moment as she spoke, listening to the rolling accent that the obviously female voice had adapted. Her face screwed for a moment, searching for a trace of her own accent in the words of the other, and then not finding any, returning her features to their normal, unwrinkled shape.

Still interested in the speaker of the words, she stepped carefully closer towards the track through the woods, sliding close past a trunk like a scarlet flame. Her eyes widened slightly as the speaker came into her view, and her tail flicked in interest. An avian- This was not an everyday occurrence, meeting such a person. One set of her ears flickered in her direction, listening for more, while she turned back to watching the other woman on the ground, her other ears switching to flicking around her surroundings.

With a further scrunching of her features, Hone realised she had missed some of an exchange between the woman and the now-stopped hooded figures. One ear flickered towards the scene, but she didn’t pick up very much that was of interest to her. Even still, she decided to move a little closer to the scene, hoping to maybe, if there was any more excitement to come, to be involved in it- This was not a dragon easily swayed by dangerous adventures!

As her ears were now all separated and carefully picking up the conversations she wanted (meddlesome thing that she was) Hone started to look around the surrounding trees a little more, curious to know if there were more living things around- If there were the amount she had discovered in this area already, there was bound to be more, she reasoned. Scouring the darkening underbrush around, Hone quickly found the pale shape of a face between the trees, focused on her own form. Her eyes widened quickly, and she ducked behind a trunk, muzzle poking out slowly again as she stood behind the tan trunk as she looked at the dark-armoured man for a longer period of time. What a curious place to find a knight!

Guest

Wait a second... Wasn't that Hone?!

Doing a double take, Talina focused on the dragon, realising that it was indeed. Clinging tightly to the now unusually bent branches, she wriggled backwards carefully, trying not to snap them. Success at last! Leaping onto the ground with a quiet patter, the young black and white dragon lolloped lightly towards where she saw the other dragon disappear.

"Hone?" she whispered, poking her head between trees. She really didn't want to miss out on whatever fun Hone was having, even if it did mean disrupting her slumber. Catching a glint from through the trees, Talina paused, silent and still. Oh my! Something shiny! Curious and excited, she danced on the spot, eager to obtain whatever this shiny thing was. She really would have to find a new hiding place for her rapidly growing collection. Stopping shortly, she remembered what she had woken to, and ventured deeper into the trees to seek the adventurous dragon. Doing so, she heard the voices more clearly, but was once again distracted by the shiny thing. Zeroing in on said object, she noticed the human attached to the shiny thing which she now recognised as a sword. Well, that was inconvenient; taking an unattended sword was one thing, but one being wielded by a human was another. Disappointed, she slumped heavily against a tree. Perhaps that man would let her examine the gleaming sword...

Ooc: Sorry it took so long, and sorry for the length; I didn't realise I'd have so much schoolwork. >.>

Mai’s ears perked up when the dark spot in the bushes that the other bandits were so interested in spoke. She only caught the word “Prince-!” before the rest of her exclamation was drowned out by a loud bugle that flooded the forest with sound and caused the poor nervous avian to cry out with a muffled shriek in terror before she could stop the cry. Now there were big giant monsters in the woods too?! Oh! How could this night get any worse? It already looked like these people would be taking everything she had on her, but to be eaten by some nameless terror too? Her wings twitched and her feathers rose in irritation, her face blanching as the horrible scene of her tiny body getting ripped to shreds by some nameless terror played through her much too-imaginative mind.

But wait!

Her eyes darted from the downed person in the bushes to the cloaked figure that had been addressed at ‘Prince’. Could it be that these weren’t bandits at all, but a battalion of retainers in disguise? Where her imagination had been conjuring up blood before, it was now turned toward a much more fantastical setting. An exiled prince on the warpath to reclaim his throne? Maybe he was just out on a walk or tour or something, and these people were just trying to scare her off? Oh, the possibilities! She became much calmer now, only taking a few steps back from the advancing soldiers to keep a respectful distance. Then again, there was still the dangers of the creature in the woods… New tactic! She would play along with their scary disguise and pretend to be the damsel in distress. Maybe if she traveled with them until dawn, she wouldn’t be eaten alive by the monsters in the woods!

Of course while she was making this plan mentally, she was completely oblivious to the others who were hiding in the trees. Without her keen sense of eyesight to aid her, she was completely unaware of the possible danger lurking all around.

Upon a short head movement of the Prince's, the soldiers moved away from Siofra, leaving her clear to do whatever she wanted to. Their stances did not relax however, as they grew more and more aware of the fact that there were far too many other creatures - whether human or not - around for this time of day and they were nevertheless bound to do their duty.

Atleon's face was still hidden within the cowl of his hood but Siofra knew him well enough to be able to gather from the way he was now talking to her that he was smiling. "I hope my men didn't scare you," he teased, "but you have to understand that I have to take every necessary precaution and I wasn't sure if it was really you or not." The half-elf nodded in agreement, still a little shaky and unsure what to reply. The feeling of being observed was persistent, making Siofra all the more uneasy, not to mention the weird figure that was still standing a bit further up the path, who was now very obviously frightened as her wings started to shiver and she let out a tortured cry in response to .... Yes, to what?

The prince seemed completely unimpressed by the happenings around him, which Siofra only slowly started to notice now. Even though she had drowned out the noises the dragon had previously made, she detected a black and white dragon slither through the tree trunks to catch up with the crimson beast she had noticed moments ago. But still those were not the source of the uncomfortable feeling that was sending shivers down her spine now. She tried to ease up but the tension was too much and her fingers started itching towards her bow. Atleon, noticing the gesture, tensed his muscles and the grip around his sword. In turn, he knew the half-elf long enough to be able to interpret the tiny and apparently meaningless movements she made.

In a sudden outburst of tension, Sifora called out: "Why don't you just all show yourselves, whether friend or foe, and stop hiding like children behind bushes and tree trunks?!" The words had not even come out entirely, when she already regretted it. It was so unlike her to lose her cool in situations like these. Even Atleon raised an eyebrow but didn't comment. He underlined her request, by settling his shining broadsword in the sand and earth of the forest path he was still standing on. The half-elf stood completely still now and quietly observed their surroundings, the winged woman in the corner of her eye to take in her reactions should the dragons, and whoever else was present, dare to reveal themselves completely. Now let's see what surprises this will bring us..

Last edited by Zay on Fri Apr 16, 2010 12:26 pm; edited 1 time in total

Well, now looked like the time to step forward, there was no use in waiting any longer, it'd only arouse suspicion and the human (or was it an elf...?) had given him the perfect lead to avoid what could have been a more awkward introduction. It probably wasn't what he would have liked, but it'd do. He blotted out the woodland soundtrack of clumsy feet, cautious beasts and anxious muddling through the leaves, if there were any threatening monster it would probably have made a much softer, maybe inaudible padding of feet... So there was blatantly nothing to fear here, except the obvious.

Hmmm what to say? He had seconds to think and it had to be somewhat believable, he even had quite a few alert ears curious about the odd meet, and each other for that matter. Maybe if he just behaved like he had been caught by surprise and was there all along, it'd make this be less uncomfortable, a risk to take, fair enough.

He rose from the spot, his face with a look of innocent attentiveness, his voice sounding a little unsure with an inflection of concern...All that was needed to maybe convince them no, he wasn't actually watching them the whole time from behind the bushes and no, he was no kind of a threatening (or odd) person . So, he spoke to the human (-elfish-) person.
"Sorry? It's just, I thought it'd be best..." He looked over to Prince Atleon and his troops. "If I didn't, well, get in the way." Zartear took a few seconds to look out of the corner of his eye to the Avian, disguising his inherent hatred of all things inhuman with a mere look of surprise and a small raise of the brow.

What of those reptiles, scurrying through the wood? Something like this would be nothing interesting to them, he thought.

From a further direction, a little way away from where one ear was pointing Hone heard her name whispered from a familiar face- turning her head from the man she had just focussed on, she looked behind her to see a slightly incredulous Talina leaping from a tree, her black and white patterns glittering like shadows and dapples beneath the darkening sky. She flicked her tail high in greeting, another loud shriek bursting from her lips into the air before she could silence it, cutting into the quiet of the forest to the quick.

Dipping her head slightly and passing a clawed finger across her lips as in a bid to silence herself, she turned back to the direction she was first facing, her eyes searching through the darkening gloom for the figure of the armoured man she had seen through the trees before. Before she could find him however, a voice carried through the trees to her, asking for a revealing of her presence (and any others hidden as well). She fluttered her wings a bit, raising her head with wide eyes to Talina to show her intention, then leapt into the air with a bound, bursting onto the road with a skidding of feet and a flaring of head fins and feathers, another cry renting the air at her attendance. Well, she did like to make dramatic entrances! Behind her stood the avian she had had an ear turned towards, in front the other larger gathering of humans and a spattering of horses (who didn’t enjoy her entrance one bit).

Hone didn’t say any more, but instead waited for Talina to catch up.

Telalia had watched the last of the light disappear from the sky as the sun had set. She had been in this unknown forest for a few days now. Most nights everything was quiet at night as a blanket of stars had covered the skies; it was so peaceful. Though tonight was not the case. Her ears perked up several times at the sounds of several different creatures running about this way and that. What on earth could be causing such a commotion?
Telalia decided it might be worth checking out what was going on. She kept herself low to the ground as she tail flicked back and forth slowly. She was still a relatively young dragon, at the age of 18, and new things sparked her curiosity. Upon coming closer to all the noise a familiar noise rang through the air; the roar of a another dragon. How exciting! She bobbed her head side to side as she quickly tried to get to the noise she heard. She stopped abruptly as a glint of something caught her eye.
Her ears perked up again as she tried to listen to see what was going on. She saw men in armor looking concentrated on a small women. There was also a strange, confused looking Avian fidigiting around. She looked around for a few more minutes to see a human lurking in the shadows. None of these people really interested her, she was looking for her fellow dragon.

Mai had been all ready to be "taken prisoner" by the strange soldiers, even walking along peacefully between them as they guided her back to the main group to be properly dealt with. When the woman in the trees called for all the hiding beasties to make themselves known, fear began to worm around in her stomach again. Why in the world would she want a bunch of angry hungry rabid animals to come out into the open and attack? But that wasn't to be the end of her terror, oh no.

When Hone jumped out of the trees in a spectacular display of color and noise, Mai very nearly fainted after a ear-piercing scream was ripped from her throat. She was simply not made of very tough stuff, the poor avian girl. She fell to her knees where she stood, looking in terror at the dragon, her entire body shaking and eyes wide, locked onto the blurred shape that she was sure was going to eat her. Curse her sight! If it had been day time, she probably wouldn't have been as scared, but as it was, she could only imagine what the beast looked like, instead of taking the dragon for what it really was. So occupied with this, she didn't even notice the dark armored figure walking out of the tree line. She was consumed with wondering what the beast was doing just standing there. Why wasn't it attacking them? Was it just going to stand there, playing mind games with them? She didn't know how much of the uncertainty she could take! Oh! If only she could fly. She would have felt infinitely safer in the air than trapped here on the ground, surrounded by possibly violent men with a possibly violent beastie standing just down the road about to come and kill them all. To make it worse (if that was at all possible) there were MORE of them lurking around!

In a few short minuets, the normally composed avian girl had been reduced to a quivering mass of nerves. She really hated this postal trip.

Somehow, Siofra still thought it had not been the greatest idea to ask all the creatures who were sneaking around to reveal themselves, yet she preferred knowing what she would have to face, should it come to it. The movements in the corner of her eye brought her attention momentarily to the woman, escorted by Atleon's minions, and the half-elf very quickly assessed that she was already scared enough as it was. Sure enough, as soon as more beings came to step out of the bushes, the winged girl started panicking. In a way, Siofra did pity her, having experienced a momentary lapse of composition only a few minutes earlier. Surely though, the girl would be able to keep her wits.

Alas, it seems that had been too much to ask. Even before the first creature revealed itself, she was cringing, distracting the half-elf from properly examining the black-armored man that had suddenly stepped forward. He seemed friendly enough, a tad insecure even, and he made no indication of wanting to attack and kill them all on the spot. However, something about him did not quite please Siofra, though she could not put her finger on what it was. At least, it's good to know that I'm back to my usual paranoid self.. She did not even have to force herself not to reply to his statement, when already the crimson shadow she had glimpsed earlier suddenly made its appearance, rather loudly, onto the forest path. Another cry was piercing through the air when the avian girl completely lost her wits and yelled as if her life depended on it. Even though she had almost expected this, Siofra jumped at the sound and lifted an eyebrow in annoyance. The dragon was a quite imposing one, very colourful and very loud - stating the obvious - yet it was not the seemingly expected dangerous monster. "So you're the one that's been making people uncomfortable with your shrieks," Siofra chuckled with a sideways glance at the Avian girl, who seemed to have completely lost it and was now on her knees, any attempt of the soldiers to steady the girl completely lost on her.

Through all of this, Atleon had remained silent, keeping his imposing, yet relaxed stance, observing all of the happenings, however, without commenting. This seemed odd to Siofra, who had known him before, but she was pretty sure he had his reasons. A small smile started playing around the prince's lips as he beckoned his soldiers to try and pick up the avian from the ground and hold her steady until she could manage on her own again. "As for you," he turned to face Zar, "you wouldn't have interfered. On the contrary, it would have been a nice gesture had you come either shown the intent to help this young lady, or to reveal yourself instead frightening the hell out of this poor woman." His voice proved his words wrong. Though Atleon did have a strong feeling towards such gentlemanly behaviour, he did not expect random strangers to act on such instincts and thus, he did not make it sound as if it was a reproach. "Now then, would you mind telling why you all found it necessary to sneak up and spy on us?"

Siofra noticed that a cutting edge had crept into his voice at this last question. No doubt he did not want people to hear of his whereabouts and this very open reunion of many different creatures was not going to keep him undercover for very long. Which also brought her back to the question why there had been rumours of his death, if he standing in front of her, very much alive.

Yes, because THAT would make sense wouldn't it?
Zartear almost sighed, exasperated, if he had really just came along out of nowhere and started helping it might have looked even stranger. Though, he kept his thoughts to himself, choosing to respond to the final tone the man took.
Suddenly, it didn't sound quite so...quite so inviting, was that just the smallest tinge of aggression in his voice?
"Spying?" Zartear's face looked slightly offended, taken aback. "Pardon me Sir, Miss. But a gathering of this size in the wood...lead by yourself...is equally challengeable."
He then sighed, calmness taking it's place, looking to his left, to his right.
"You can count on this though, I have no idea who these dragons are...This is a pure coincidence Sir." Zartear smiled, "If you'll be needing any assistance though, or the Miss, I'll gladly offer you mine...You appear to be, busy."

Making light work of the conversation, he felt more sure in himself now. Gracefully dodging the man's sharper question and now, he was almost equally interested in what the other folk here would have to say. It seemed so far he'd made the first move in speaking to this person. Now he was looking for leads to make something useful of this night, one way or the other he couldn't leave what had started as a hunt- empty handed.

Trying to suppress her squeal of laughter, Hone was pleased by the reception to her entrance. After all, having humans (or now she looked closer, avians) fall at your feet in terror was not an everyday occurrence! As for screaming at her, well…
“If thew really want ta sound like a dragon, ah can teach you, you’s know. I think thew need more practise- It’s more of ah squeak at the end.” Not understanding the noise as a scream, Hone instead took it for a shriek, unused to the human noise, realising only after that maybe it wasn’t what she took it to be. However, by then her attention had been lost, instead looking eagerly around at the rest of the humans gathered along the road- the black-clad man that she had been following; many soldiers; a half-elf, who was chuckling at her entrance (she ruffled her head feathers at this); a commanding, scarred man; were there more? By this point Hone had already confused herself, distracted by the half-elf’s comment, and just gave her a warm smile, revealing sharp white teeth between her red and purple markings.

Now the male human began to speak, the one who seemed to be most in charge; or at least that’s the impression that Hone got. But she wasn’t very good at the whole “human behaviours” thing. She kept quiet, realising that the question wasn’t directed at her, but at the other interesting looking man in black, the like of which she had never seen before, even when creeping around the desert cities for food. Even the way he spoke was interesting, unusual! She decided that he would be a most interesting person to converse with, although she did pick up some of his lack of expression towards herself, which was unusual, given the normal reaction towards a dragon. His words seemed like a question, so she answered it, albeit haphazardly;
“Ars Hone. Wh’ista?” She gushed, excited to learn more about the humans (and especially the avian!) “I was adventuring, but got lost in the woods an’ figured it mebby fun ta follow everyone else.” She gave another innocent grin at the end.

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