[RP] The tides of fate

This is where the Kingdom of Fenia's main Inn is.

Moderator: Community Team

Post Reply
User avatar
Serafay
Posts: 89
Joined: Tue May 26, 2020 10:00 pm

[RP] The tides of fate

Post by Serafay »

The air floating in the capital was crisp and its sky was of a light grey colour just like ashes. Columns of white smoke rose in the air in straight line. There was no wind, Serafay noted, but it made the cold somehow only more penetrating; there was no hiding from it. Tendrils of a darker hue caught the corner of her eye. The blacksmith, no doubt, especially with sounds she could here coming from that direction. The hammer. The hand. The will. She remembered those and how, in that moment, it felt like he knew something she didn't about herself. What was it he saw? If he had so little faith in people in position of power, why was he trying to spare her from his grim prophecy? Zuan had been doubtful but his youngest sister carried a heavy weight in the pit of her stomach ever since she had meet him. A feeling of foreboding stalked her footsteps, an invisible enemy that could not be slain or escaped. A sigh drew a cloud from between her lips. She pat down her dress, under her cloak; both of humble appearance to avoid attracting too much attention. She extracted the folded piece of paper she was looking for. A quiet crumbling noise revealed some neatly written instructions. Her pale gaze swept the streets in a glance as her right foot was already in motion to carry her further along the path. She walked through merchants and craftsmen, whiffs of freshly baked bread, not paying mind to the very few eyes she drew to her, either in glances or longer. She took a sudden turn to her left where it was quieter. The street was still large, but the buildings were of a more residential nature with only three or four specialized shops sowed among them. A group of children were playing with dice, all coop together to stay warm.

Sera looked over the handful of signs, moving towards the one with books and rolls of parchment on it. The door opened with the tingling of a bell on a badly lit room. The aisles between the rows of bookcases were barely large enough to allow the princess to walk them. The shelves were heavy with an array of different tomes and volumes, old and new, most of them with a thin layer of dust. The young lady's fingers brushed on some of their spines, trying to make sense of the way they were classified. The floor creaked towards the back, alerting the brunette to a presence which, as it turns out, was already watching her. She inhaled sharply, startled at the sight of the silhouette that turned out to be nothing more -or less- than a middle aged woman in elegant yet austere clothing. Her drawling voice disturbed the strange peace of her shop :

"I don't like people snooping about. What is it you're looking for?" she asked judging her customer with a sharp eye.

"I didn't mean to, I apologize if I offended you, madam. I... I'm searching for a map. Older than a century, but I'm not exactly sure of a time frame yet. I've heard you have the best collection"

"I don't like flattery nor flatterers" she spat out before tightening her lips and making a small movement of her head. "This way. Do. Not. Touch any of them. I will get them out of the drawers. You look. You have to buy if you touch."

Serafay made a small smile and nodded lightly to agree to those terms. The librarian, or whatever she was, guided her more towards the back and proceeded to present maps. Each time, the princess looked them over carefully, searching for a trace of Windrip, to no avail... But it seemed that, the more they went back in time, the more the amount of villages -especially along the coastline- were fragmented... Until she saw it, plain as day. Her eyes lit up with excitement.

"Do you happen to have an almanac or some documents with ephemerides pertaining that year and a few after... Let's say between that map and this one" she specified pointing at two of them.

"I do, but do you have the coin? If you want to read, you have t..."

"Yes, bring me your selection"

Minutes later, three thick volumes were resting on the counter at the front. The woman made a pout while stating her price with the clear belief the young lass before her couldn't afford a tenth of one book. Serafay didn't even flinch and searched the purse resting among the folds of her skirt. She picked up a few coins and made sure the count was right before handing it out to the very surprised librarian. The brunette took out a piece of fabric to wrap the books in a bundle. The princess smiled once again and bid her goodbyes with a little nod as she walked out. The Winterbourne lass passed the children again, one of them following her with his eyes until she turned the corner to the right. On the bigger street, she tightened her grip on her precious acquisition, the grey of her eyes drawn again to the dark smoke of the blacksmith's chimney. The hammer. The hand. The will.
Image
User avatar
Serafay
Posts: 89
Joined: Tue May 26, 2020 10:00 pm

Re: [RP] The tides of fate

Post by Serafay »

Serafay sat on the rug near the fireplace. Night had clenched its fist on the Kingdom and most were asleep... But she couldn't yet. A maid came in, speaking softly and offering the teapot, full of pipping hot jasmine tea with orange rind. The princess instructed her to go to bed and to sleep soundly before turning her eyes back to the thick volume on her lap. She served herself a cup and enjoyed a small sip, setting aside to drink decidedly too hot for her still. Her slender index scouted the lines of text to find where she had stopped and continued the mind-numbing reading. It was the fourth day and still nothing of important to her search had been mentioned. One would've thought that an event of such measure, if she believed what Jacob said, would gather more attention but it was like it never happened. Perhaps that was exactly it. After all, he might be simply delirious or seeking to sow dissidence. Sera bit her lip in thought and got up, the blanket around her shoulder falling to the floor. She adjusted her nightgown and touched her cheeks the fire had turned pink. With the intent on getting fresh air, she unlocked the window. Ice had formed around it but with enough persistence it made a ripping sound and gave in. The wintery wind rushed in, throwing her dark locks backwards, snuffing the nearby candle. She came closer and looked down towards the capital that spread under her eyes, dotted with dim lights. Here a candle, there a torch probably carried by a guard. Few silhouettes moved along the streets that she could see. Inhaling the cold air helped refreshing her thoughts and cooled down the warmth of her face. The motion of a light ceased, drawing in her attention. Sera swore she could see the guard talking briefly to someone and resuming his stroll. The other, however, was still immobile. The lass leaned a bit forward in an attempt to make out more of what was barely more than a shadow. Somehow, she could feel eyes on her. In the spur of the moment, she lifted her arms with her hand open to greet the other.

"You're such an idiot. Your mind plays tricks on you..."

She stepped backward and closed the window, turning on her heels to rekindle the candle and go back to the book. The gust of wind had flipped the pages, she was sure. The drawings along the margin were different. Great! Now she would have to figure out where she had left off. Serafay lifted her cup to her lips, taking a long sip while her eyes flirted with a few random words. And there it was... plain as day. Windrip. She hurriedly set down her tea and looked more closely. Springtime reports... survivors... Windrip... So little of them. A battle. Crashing waves swallowing the coastline in their gaping maws. Fields flooded. Boats forever lost. Houses turning into ice sculpture. Granaries gone. Her fingertips went from her lips to gently pressing on the old paper, almost tenderly.

"I found you, Jacob" she whispered with a hint of sadness.
Image
User avatar
Jacob_Netter
Posts: 15
Joined: Fri Oct 30, 2020 9:22 pm

Re: [RP] The tides of fate

Post by Jacob_Netter »

Jacob always kept the faceplate of the heavy helmet firmly locked down as most guards did, something about being faceless justice and protection of the Fenian civilian population.
Meeting King Zuan Winterbourne in the tavern in the mysts had validated his doubts as to the reasoning behind this supposedly noble idea.
That fateful encounter had however lead to a far more interesting situation, a meeting with the young princess Serafay. His words seemed to impact her more than they had the king, enough that she had begun to look into matters.

Whenever he discovered her walking through the city he followed at a distance, doing his best to remain unnoticed or dealing with civilians if she looked in his general direction.
Few things of note happened during these first few days, other than she had visited some bookshop and bought several old tomes.
When he returned his equipment to the armoury that evening he bribed one of the servants to let him know if the princess left the palace again. As he hadn’t received word of the young boy by afternoon the next day he went to the bookstore himself. The librarians gaze burned into him the moment he entered and before he could so much as ask a question the old woman spat at him “tell your mistress that I have found no other books in my collection that refer to what she asked of me. Now leave me be thug!”
Jacob bowed towards the old woman thanking her for her service to the crown and smiled behind the faceplate, he knew enough.

He quickly made his way to the neighborhoods nearest the palace, scouting a location from which he could best keep an eye on the princess. Near the evening he knew exactly where her balcony was and what routes to patrol. He only had one final thing to do, making sure nobody in the palace would stop her before she discovered what she had to.
That evening after his shift, in his tavern room he set about to make a small homunculus, a tiny intelligent necromantic golem of a sort. First he cut of his left pinky finger, a new finger began to grow from the wound immediately. He bound the old finger in silver thread, giving it legs and wings like a butterfly and then begun to carve the correct runes into it. Once that was done he made a small cut in the palm of his right hand, dripping blood from it into the runes while whispering an incantation. After 10 minutes of careful work the little creation began to move as if its silver limbs were made of flesh and bone.
Then he took two mummified eyes out of his spell component pouch and fastened them into the center of the butterflies’ wings with more silver thread. He pressed the small fangs of a bat into the pupils and followed them with 2 drops of blood in each eye. The last element was to add luck, luck to stay hidden and luck for the princess to find what she needed. He ground a phoenix feather to dust with a mortar and pestle, and added some corpse dust. He carefully brushed the mixture over the tiny golem, and send his will into the tiny golem one final time to bind the entropy in the mixture to the tiny golem.
The next day he released the little golem in the depth of night and there it would sit in a shadow of her balcony door, listening and watching.

Then after 3 days she opened her doors and waved at somebody or something, was it him perhaps? Was she aware of his presence outside? The little golem flew past her towards the books near her fireplace, flapping its wings until the pages flipped to a random other page. She was already turning around on her balcony, it had to be good enough. The golem quickly hid under her bed and went completely still.
Jacob smiled as he observed what went on inside the room, the entropy spell had been enough.
Image
User avatar
Serafay
Posts: 89
Joined: Tue May 26, 2020 10:00 pm

Re: [RP] The tides of fate

Post by Serafay »

Serafay sat in front of the mirror, brushing her hair mindlessly. Earlier, a long conversation with Jacob had reveal more details that hadn't been recorded, probably because they were more of a personal significance than meaningful to Fulleria and its authorities. She had rushed back to the palace, interrupting some late night work her brother was doing to unravel the events she knew about. Zuan was more pragmatic than his young sister, however, and likely feeling less involved. The princess still didn't have a full grasp of the power she had contrary to her siblings. The King had seemed rather unphased and unimpressed by her narration and her arguments. With so much, so many obeying to his will and his wives', Sera realised, albeit a bit late, that only Mages themselves could make them shudder.

"Everything has a price. If the pendulum swings to one side, its bound to come back... By keeping them here, you're putting everyone and everything at risk. Hide them somewhere. Far. There's only so much I can do to hold back the dam that's about to rupture. I happened to be caught in the middle either by accident or fate but I'm unwilling to let it cause my demise" she had told him.

"The dam that is about to rupture? Dear sister, I assure you I can handle anything that might come our way - and if this fellow. Jacob is it? Wishes to extract some form of revenge, tell him to pick up a spear and meet me face to face. i am tired of illusions and riddles" had answered the King without batting an eye.

Dread had filled the pit of her stomach yet she couldn't pin the feeling on a source. Little icy fingers had ran up her spine as goosebumps grew on her skin. The fire in her eyes had dimmed as she thought some more.

"I doubt it'd be resolved that easily. Otherwise, it would've been done long ago..."

"Yet that raises it's own question no? Why now?"

Yes, why now? Serafay hadn't asked and she felt like a fool even now for not saying the right things. There was just something in Jacob that blurred the well trained socialite in her, something that always made another part of her bubble up to the surface as hard as she tried to repress it like she had been taught to. At that moment, she had summoned an answer born out of logic more than certitude :

"Because... he found them... he gathered enough power..."

"Then I will have to deal with him."

The words went through her like a sword. Panic made her heart jolt and she threw herself on her knees before Zuan could get away and close off this conversation definitively. She grabbed his hand and squeezed it firmly.

"Give me more time, brother."

"And what in the world do I get out of that dear sister?" he had sighed.

"Please, brother, I don't know what there is I could offer you... what there is to gain. I'm at your mercy yet I still ask you to give me more time"

He had finally agreed and released her. Sera had climbed up the stairs to her bedroom and had been sitting in front of that mirror ever since. She looked over her reflection with grief. She had obtain more time and she was yet to decide what to do with it. Neither parties would step down. It was a matter of pride and ego. Where was justice? Where was fairness in all of this? And where was it necessary to disregard parts of both in order to keep the peace? She broke down and wept for a minute, her face hidden in her hands before she suddenly threw her hair back and wiped her tears. She couldn't crumble down. She inhaled deeply, fixing the wall that had given way within her. The brush resumed its motion, going through each strand as she was letting down her hair, humming a foreign lullaby.

"Perhaps I should go see him tomorrow... He always knows how to make me feel good." she whispered, thinking outloud with a faint smile lightening up her face.
Image
User avatar
Serafay
Posts: 89
Joined: Tue May 26, 2020 10:00 pm

Re: [RP] The tides of fate

Post by Serafay »

"Your Highness, your bath is ready. May I help you out of your clothes?"

The princess continued gazing into the distance through the window for a few seconds, one arm across her chest and her other elbow resting on it with her hand on her lips. Her deep inhalation was followed by a small smile and a more relaxed stance as she turned to the lady-in-waiting. She shook her head and gestures for the door, silently sending her away. Serafay needed to be alone to take in all of the new information and the recent chaos to make sense out of it. Ever since Jacob had set foot in her life, it felt like control over herself, over her own life was slipping through her fingers like fine sand. Somewhere deep inside, she could sense how dangerous he could be without knowing exactly how. However, he had been nothing but kind to her even... protective. For once, she felt not so alone in her homeland. All of that made a perfect soil for affection to take root. As she started to undo her braid and remove her jewelry, the young lass shifted her thoughts from the strange bu enticing Jacob to her brother. On one hand, he kept saying her advice and opinions mattered to him, on the other, he was always quick to dismiss them to the benefit of others'. Tonight, he had completely disregarded her dignity and her sensitivity, dragging her name into his argument with Jacob with words that branded her as losing her mind, crazy and not worth enough for her predicament to be looked into and remedied. Sera had just sat there, not saying a word and not showing any pain. She had been trained to be like that.Tears were a weakness and the weak got trampled in this world. She already felt like she was meek enough in comparison to those surrounding her; better not to give them more weapons to their arsenal. Doom was looming over her head but there wasn't a lot she could do except trying to slow down the pace on the way there. Serafay was surprised that Jacob had proposed a truce for her sake... And the refusal had been even more surprising but this time not in a good way. It was a slap to the face, truthfully. The relationship with her family she had tried to strengthened since her return had taken a hard blow and it was now as if she was even more estranged to them as she was to begin with. She, the innocent and weak one, was left behind at the first occasion.

The lass realised that she had mindlessly undone her dress and was standing next to the tub with only her long shirt which she removed and threw on the floor, stepping into the hot water. She sat down, goosebumps forming on her skin as the cold disappeared from her skin and slowly slipped under the surface. Dark strands of her hair floated around her, every noise suddenly muffled. The world outside was shut down. She was alone in the caressing warmth of the water and for a few heartbeat, her mind was blank of all worries. The princess slowly opened her eyes under the water. The amber glow of candles danced in curvy lines, separated by the darkness of the ceiling. Her ears started ringing and she was suddenly taken by the vision of her in-laws massacre. Sending waves way above the lip of the tub, Serafay sat down in a hurry and looked around her in a panic. Nothing but the usual sight met her eyes as her fingers held tightly to the bath. Pain started to pulsate in her head, going into a crescendo until it subsided completely with no trace. The young woman pressed herself to get clean and soon moved out of the room, connected to hers, to get a new shirt and her night gown on. She dried her hair carefully, sitting by the fire and bushed it after adding scented oils. Tonight, her head was too full, she couldn't draw a plan for her next moves. Hopefully, tomorrow her mind would clear up and she would come up with something. A chamomile tea later, Serafay slipped under her blanket and snuffed the last candle, leaving only the fireplace to light up her bedroom. It didn't take long for sleep to come but the night... the night was to be anything by peaceful.
Image
User avatar
Jacob_Netter
Posts: 15
Joined: Fri Oct 30, 2020 9:22 pm

Re: [RP] The tides of fate

Post by Jacob_Netter »

Lines of worry creased Jacob’s face as he observed how Serafay had yet another restless night.
Things were moving so fast, the slowly awakening abilities, the ward of seal attempting to hold it back, their growing love, whatever was they were to come across on their journey
He sighed as he looked around his newly acquired home in the mysts. While still working as a guard in Fenia, this location allowed him much more freedom to work on spells and rites than a room at the tavern or a home in Fenia would.

The first thing would be to obtain a wraith, one strong enough to hold a warrior like zuan at bay for a few seconds. The creature would in life already need to be vile and fairly potent.
He pondered his options, one of the larger dire creatures perhaps, no too weak. A tree ent perhaps? He was loath to hurt one of those gentle giants and its body would go to waste in the process. Finally Jacob settled on the idea of a drake.

The first thing he needed was bait, which was easy enough to acquire, a cow could go for 50-80F on the market. Next was finding the territory of a drake and carrying all the necessary supplies to the location, which was easier said than done, and finding his way back after would most likely be even more troublesome. Serafay’s safety had to be ensured however and he would do whatever it takes.

He slit the throat of the cow in a clearing and began to work on a trap. For 3 long hours he waited, chasing away lesser predators from time to time, until a drake finally swept down out of the mysts above.
Jacob smiled and waited until the drake had taken 3 bites, before activating the magical trap by opening the palm of his left hand with his dagger and letting the blood spatter on dry and thirsty soil. The ritual circle came alive the moment the first drop hit it, bright red runes lighting up, the wicks on 17 black candles catching fire and the ground tore open in geometric arcane patterns, quickly spreading to the center of the clearing. When they reached the very center point under the drake, large tendrils covered in barbed spikes erupted from the ground and wrapped around the wings, legs and neck of the creature. The creature trashed and attempted to scream in fury, which only increased its torment as the spikes dug deeper through the tough scales of its hide and into the soft flesh underneath with every move the creature made.

He casually strolled up to the drake and joked I do believe I shall call you fluffy one and fluffy two, my scaly friend. Before smearing the left over blood on his hand, over the snout of the drake.
Then he set to work tormenting and torturing the creature far beyond the point of physical madness. For hours he rotted away its limbs only to regrow them and then let rot take to them again, the nearby ground and trees looking more desiccated and barren at the end of every cycle and carving an arcane symbol in its spine at the start of a new one.
In the end as a final act to push it completely over the edge he made large cuts in the scaly hide, while a fire was heating up metal plates, that he had brought, till they glowed red hot.
While the creature’s soul would serve its purpose as a wraith, he could well use the body as a guard for his new home, and the undead corpse would not be bothered nearly as much by having armor plates underneath its skin, as it would still living. Unable to trash, unable to screech or howl the drake died to the torture shortly after and a large furiously roiling black cloud rose up out of the drake, enraged yellow eyes glowing in its depth and clawed arms quickly taking form.
At this Jacob smiled and clicked in his fingers while saying Pahuyai Wraith, Áblai Acordai Serafay, Anai Serafay, Robertei Serafay.
At this the wraith turned towards Jacob and dove towards him, attempting to strike at the source of its torment, attempting to destroy the creature it thought little more than a pathetic mortal to vent its fury on. It never reached Jacob for the moment it started its dive the 17 candles doused at the same time and the second part of the trap triggered. The arcane symbols in the ground let out a horrible screaming sound and chains made of corpsefire flashed upwards wrapping around the wraith.
Jacob’s choir already knew what was coming next, and they screamed and sung their horrid songs in excitement. Jacob’s skin lit up as energy flowed through the arcane tattoos embedded deep in his flesh. He stepped up to the wraith and almost gently grasped its head. A battle of wills began at that, the powerful wraith against the reaper and his mad choir of souls. The wraith only managed to struggle for seconds until Jacob fully dominated its mind and once more stated his commands Áblai Acordai Serafay, Anai Serafay, Robertei Serafay.
Then he began to push with all the power coursing through his body while snaring the word Bondai over and over again, until he held a small mana chip in his hand.
Next he dispelled the trap with the command word Anáei, before breaking off the tip of one of the creatures’ large teeth which he pressed together with the mana chip. It wasn’t as elegant or stable as an enchantment and there was much work yet to do before it was ready, but it would suffice until he returned home.

He carved several symbols in the dried blood on the creatures’ snout and pushed his will into them. The symbols on the creatures’ spine lit up brightly and it slowly rose to its feet, awaiting its masters’ commands. Jacob dragged the last of the supplies he brought and tied them to the creatures’ neck with rope, before climbing on its back and commanding it to fly, guiding it with his will.

While they flew through the thick upper mysts Jacob could barely see several meters ahead, and most things that flashed by appeared as mere shadows.

Once arriving at this home Jacob got to work.
First he carved the piece of tooth into the shape of a blooming Gardena flower and attached a green manachip to it, made from the energy stored in one of his choir’s souls, shaping it like the leafs of the flower. Then he painstakingly began to carve spells into the flower and create a frame of silver and gold wire. Finally he placed the pendant in a small silver circle and fastened them together with a small piece of corroded rosegold wire.
The second pendant was a lot harder, combining his necromantic knowledge with knowledge about time magic from a book that varann had gifted him he created a, to him, wholly new spell, that would teleport Serafay to him. It took him several hours of meditation before he managed to turn the spell into a mana chip shaped like a fish of a gentle azure colour. Next he dropped a thread from Serafay’s cloak that he had taken from the tavern some nights before and a dried fleck of her blood that he had obtained during one of her seizures when he cleaned her face with his handkerchief. The colours inside the fish started to swirl and the fleck became a droplet barely visible in the exact center point of the fish. The right side was still coloured azure but the left side had taken on a soft pink, the two colours mixed the closer they got to the center of the fish. Again he created a frame of golden and silver wire, attaching it to another a small silver circle with a piece of slightly corroded rose gold wire.
Then he inscribed trigger spells on the silver circles, if Serafay were ever to feel endangered or threatened, the corroded pieces of rose gold wire would snap, the wraith would be unleashed and Serafay would be teleported to him.
He attached both of the pendants to a necklace made from rose gold, because it was her favorite material.

The next morning when he arrived at the armoury to get his uniform, he handed Serafay’s cloak over to one of the servants, stating that the lady had forgotten it in the tavern and that she was sure to want it back immediately. The necklace he had hidden deep in its folds with a note.
May this keep you safe, when I cannot be with you my love,
yours forever,
Jacob.
Image
User avatar
Serafay
Posts: 89
Joined: Tue May 26, 2020 10:00 pm

Re: [RP] The tides of fate

Post by Serafay »

Dawn was turning the horizon in hues of pink when Serafay opened her eyes. Nestled in Jacob's arm, her cheek pressed on his heart, she smiled running a hand on his shirt slowly. Soon enough, she knew she would need to leave his warmth behind and go back to her cold bed. It was becoming increasingly difficult for both of them to be apart and to resist the urges to consummate their love yet they had both held on, steadfast and true to their promise to wait after they were officially wed. It also gave the young lady some time to prepare mentally for the unknown and come to term with the end of her maidenhood. Her beloved had said a few times that patience made the heart grow fonder and she couldn't decide whether it was a poor attempt at reassuring her or to cool himself. Hoisting herself on one elbow, she looked at him with tender eyes and stroke his cheek gently, following to line of his jaw through his beard until the tip of her finger reached his chin. She kissed softly his immobile lips but, as she was moving away, a hand pressed on her hair to keep her close and reunite them, answering in full to her affection. When she was finally allowed to pull away, her hazy gray gaze meeting with steady emerald, every fiber of her being ached to go back to his arms and sleep some more by his side. Outside the window, timid bird songs could be heard and somewhere away from the bedrooms there was a faint noise of activity. The household was awakening and before they'd know it, the day would be in full swing for the servants. Sera leaned forward with a sigh. The pretty necklace she had received from him a few weeks back slipped out of her night gown, dancing in the morning glow. She pressed a kiss on Jacob's forehead, whispering in a pained tone :

"I have to go, my love, though I'd rather stay with you... What we endure now will be worthwhile once we're married."


Truthfully, she didn't know about that last part. She could only hope it would be true. To her, however, it was important to keep some boundaries up before they were wedded so there was a contrast to be experienced between their engagement, which had started with a contract, and their married life. The princess smiled and tore herself away from the bed, replacing the covers with a lazy hand after her. She took the candle she had brought with her, that was now nothing more than a few hard drops of wax on the candlestick, and walked silently to the door. As she went out, she sent a last glance at her betrothed and made an ultimate effort not to run back to his bed. Alone in the corridor, she sighed, her heart drumming in her chest and butterflies fluttering in her stomach. A few seconds steadied her resolve and gave her the courage to take the brisk walk to her own bedchamber from where she would emerge two hours later fully dressed and ready for the day. Her footsteps retraced their earlier path. The firm knocks she gave on the wooden door echoed in the corridor followed by a muffled voice beckoning her to enter. Jacob had left the bed but the curtains were still half drawn. The man was nowhere to be seen.

"Darling?" she risked calling.

"Come here"

With a smile, Serafay went around the panel where the necromancer kept his belongings including his clothes. She stopped dead in her track however when she saw he wasn't getting dressed at all but bathing. Her eyes widened slightly before she came back to her senses, a yelp escaping her lips as she spun around. Her cheeks aflame and a hand on her mouth, there was no doubt possible that she was quite embarrassed. The sound of water moving came to her ears but she could only guess what Jacob could be doing... If only she would allow her mind to go back to those images.

"What's the matter my love?"

"Yo... You're bathing... naked!"
she blurted out.

"I believe that's how it's suppose to be done, yes."

"Why did you allow my in!? You could've told me to come back later!"

"Why would I shy away from my wife, Sera?"

"What if it had been a maid? I just knocked! It could've been anybody. It could've been my brother coming to drag you to a duel..."

"I don't think your brother would've done me the courtesy of knocking" he answered with a clearly amused tone. "Did you wanted something in particular?"

"It can wait. Where you're proper, join me in the dinning room and, for the love of Mages, don't trick me again like this..."

A chuckle accompanied her steps out of the bedchamber but she could hear it in her mind even as she sat down at the long table and received a hot cup of tea in front of her. She instructed the breakfast to be served with a gentle smile and looked down to the map she held in her hand, tea in the other. On their way to Wahalla, they would need to follow more or less that path to arrive as fast as possible. Or... they could detour by... What was that shape reminding her of? Water, like a mirror under the faint light and... Jacob amongst the white tendrils of steam. For a moment, she had caught a glimpse of him and the sight had immediately been burned in her brain. She almost regretted holding on to her beliefs. It was obvious to her that she didn't do so out of strength but out of fear perhaps cowardice even. Sometimes she could forget all about their differences and lose herself in her love for him but then there were small details, minor events that showed plain and clear that he was many steps ahead of her on many subjects. Serafay put down the map and sipped her tea, regaining her thoughts just in time to hear the necromancer entering the room.

"We leave in five days. I've arranged all I could for us... But I want to double check with you to be sure I didn't forget anything. I've sent a letter to Fallon already so he'll meet us at the port."
Last edited by Zachrin on Thu Feb 25, 2021 12:17 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Request of Posted
Image
User avatar
Jacob_Netter
Posts: 15
Joined: Fri Oct 30, 2020 9:22 pm

Re: [RP] The tides of fate

Post by Jacob_Netter »

Jacob stood beside the coach they had brought them to Silvervale taking in the sights, as servants milled around him and serafay bringing their belongings into the castle. The beauty of the lands were undeniable, hills and plains stretching out until the horizon and on the edge of his vision a lush forest, all of this was only broken up by a gently flowing river and lights coming from a nearby village. The castle itself, while relatively small, was well protected by a large moat and high walls. It almost appeared like some sort of ancient obelisk, left by whoever lived here long before the Fenians ever did. It wasn’t however, it did not reach deep into the ground, and it had no strong roots. Why Jacob knew any of this he wasn’t sure and that unnerved him, knowledge never simply just appeared.
He took several deep breaths and let his eyes shift, he saw Serafay and the servants as they truly were, their souls naked without the husks that were their bodies, he saw the villagers in their homes in the distance, the last carts carrying rough silver ingots to the village to be purified further by capable craftsmen but he saw no animals in the grasslands. Surely there had to be life here. He slowly let his gaze go around again and then he saw it, something he at first simply ignored as chance, there were houses in the village where he saw no souls but which had fires roaring inside. Somebody or more likely something was shielding souls from his sight, but what? And where could such a being be hiding, usually such grand use of magic was more than obvious.
He shuddered, part of him was terrified and part of him relished the opportunities that could come from dealing with such a being.

Serafay must have seen him shudder for her voice cut through his contemplations I guess even you get cold my love. Some warm food and mulled wine will warm you up, let’s go.
Jacob blinked a few times, his sight returning to normal before turning to Serafay with a smile “that’d be great my sweet”
He turned and walked across the draw bridge, feeling more naked and vulnerable he had in a long time, and swore that before he left for Walhalla this matter would be settled.

At night he savored every hour spend with Serafay, rarely every truly sleeping, not having the need for it to the same extend she did.
The mornings he cursed for she had to leave him, at first he had asked if this nonsense was truly necessary but Serafay insisted on it, as it was proper, with some protestations he eventually relented. Instead spending the little time between when she left his bed and when the rest of the castle woke up working on two rings. One for Fallon and one for himself, an insurance incase either of them were to ever turn on Serafay. He did not expect the swordsman to break his contract but they were dealing with spellcasters of a kind he knew almost nothing off barring that they were lethal in battle and their wards or seals were uniquely complex and potent. So he wanted to be prepared for worst case scenarios.
During the days he spend time getting to know the locals. He bought 20 crates off the carpenter and after seeing the children play several puppets that came to his waist in the shapes of various monsters he had come across in his journeys with one small odd detail, that the inside of their limbs be hollowed out. These he would fill with the bone dust and coagulated blood of cows, and carved decorations in their limbs in which he hid small glyphs. This allowed him to control the puppets with a small part of his will and made the games of the kids in which they were heroes fighting of great monsters and villains all the more exciting.
The locals didn’t quite know how he had enchanted the puppets but the excitement of the children soon made the adults open up more to him, which eventually lead them to sharing old tales of the region with Jacob.

From this he managed to figure out that before the fenians lived here, there was a small tribe here that worshipped a nature spirit. The locals referred to these people as witches and warlocks and considered the worship of such a spirit as mere superstition for they were all proper mages worshipping folks in these parts.
Combined with research in the old archives of the castle he managed to find the location of the old village, which wasn’t far from the forest’s edge.
For several days he’d walk there, carrying several crates to be filled with the locations magically potent soil.
Such days would all start the same, he’d press a kiss on Serafay’s forehead and take the little excited puppy, which she had given him as a Yuletide gift, from her hands. For days he’d wonder if the local spirit would attempt to intervene with his work, he was well aware that he was taunting it with his actions.
Its answer came the 5th day.

While Jacob was on his way back from his daily labour the excited barks of his little companion suddenly stopped, and a second later the ground gave way under Jacob’s feet. Mere moments later his back hit cold hard rock and to make matters worse the two soil filled crates fell on top of him, knocking the wind out of him and shattering causing many painful splinters. While his heavy leather traveling garb managed to stop the worst of this, he heard a faint whistling sound and saw a large stone spear heading right for his head. He barely managed to roll aside in time and it shattered on the stone floor besides him, unlike the wooden splinters the pieces of rock were a lot sharper, harder and traveling at a far higher velocity and tore right through his jackets’ back, causing many painful and bleeding wounds. As he jumped to his feet he felt the last ward rings that he wore burnout from keeping spells at bay.
His vision swam, he was in severe pain and his choir sang begging to be unleashed against whatever threatened their tenuous and tortured connection to the world of the living, and for the first time while in Fenia he gave in and unleashed the full wrath of his reaper powers. With a single word the blood flowing from his back formed an arcane circle under his feet and the mouths of all creatures he had bound in his choir grew from his flesh all over his body their spiritual singing reaching a devastating Crescendo. For more than three hours the ancient spirit attempted to crush the reaper with the raw weight of its magical power, and the reaper fought back in a mad frenzy desperately trying to find a weakness in the spirits indomitable magical defenses.
And a tiny dog whined and cried in the corner in sheer terror till its vocal chords gave out.

By the end Jacob’s prodigious choir enhanced magical reserves had run almost out, and of his spell components only a few pieces of rotten dryad wood and ruby chips were left.
The spirit however, was not what it once was and was also showing signs of weakness, whatever was to come next both of them were potentially doomed if they continued this conflict.
Both were holding back trying to prepare for what the other would do next. This gave Jacob the chance to finally clearly see his opponent for the first time, or at least the form it had chosen to take.
It was a large legless humanoid being whose skin was made of rocks and sand, where its eyes should be glowed two sapphires the size of his fist, it had no mouth. Beneath it were 4 pools of water that were perfectly still.
To his soul sight the creature looked exactly the same but tendril of power reached out from the walls of the cavern as if they were the roots of trees, feeding it magical energy.
To his left the little dog lay partially hidden under some small rocks, the bow that Serafay bound around its neck every morning was filthy and even torn in some places. Tears welled up in jacob’s eyes when he saw this. He was here for Serafay’s sake, he thought he could bind the spirit to the seat of power of Silvervale and give her unmatched information and control over her domain. Yet here he was on the verge of his own and of its utter destruction. As for the spirit, to it he was an intruder, a vile magical blight, a monster that had to be either pushed out of its domain or put down like a rabid hound.
So he did the only thing he could think off, he collapsed to a knee and spoke.

Master of Silvervale, I am the guardian of the mistress of the castle, gaze upon her and see her state and you shall find her hurt by magic in ways that neither you nor I can work. In my desperation to protect her from all possible threats until I can heal her I sought conflict with you. I see now that in that I am as the rabid hound you consider me. I accept your judgement if you must destroy me, but ask your mercy for my small companion. That it may return to our mistress and live out its days in peace, it deserves not your ire for being my friend.”

The creature waved with one of its arms and the earth began to shake softly, sound arising from the now rippling pools of water.
Mortal, Misbegotten mad decaying beast. Once I lived in peace with your kin, even now some of them remember the old ways and pay me fealty. I fear not your hunters nor your armies for part of life is death. YOU HOWEVER bring magicks within my domain that can disturb the natural cycle. You call yourself a master of decay and entropy, yes I have seen this in your mind. However I remember well the era of reapers so long ago and the horrors they have brought upon these lands. Were you a simple necromancer you would not stand before me alive as of yet, you would be but a fading memory to your mistress.
You are not yet ready to perish a final and true death, you would destroy us both were I to strike you down in judgement. As I would you, were you to strike at me now. Do not lie to me vile one, what shall bind your hands in oath to never use your soul magic upon the creatures and peoples of Silvervale!


Jacob was confused for a moment, the spirit well understood the deadlock they were both in and was actually willing to negotiate, and furthermore it remembered the era where reapers walked the lands, how old was this spirit and how powerful had it been when the peoples of Silvervale openly worshipped it?
He gritted his teeth, there was a way out for both of them now but he would not be able to unleash his full powers if any being of Silvervale were ever to turn on Serafay. A price he’d have to pay, there was no other way.
Still kneeling but now looking up at the creature he said
my mistress is by the ruler of this kingdom and the loyalty of the peoples of Silvervale granted the rights to call this domain as her own. It is that which I seek to strengthen as it stands. Have parley with her and you have my oath, I will not reap any creature that belongs to this domain, any creature that you watch over. My magick when dealing with them shall be limited to death and decay as they are within the grand cycle. However if any dare invade this domain with the intention of harming her, you shall not deny me the right to fight them as I see fit.

Such was jacob’s exhaustion that the seconds it took before the spirit answered felt like days. His hearts pounded painfully in his chest, his wounds burned as if they were all infected with some horrid poison and his muscles had to fight for every second he attempted to remain even just kneeling.
Then the spirits answer came

do you swear it upon the blood you spilled on these stones?!


As Jacob nodded and mumbled that he did a soft breeze flowed into the cavern from above cooling his wounds lessening the pain and stairs began to take shape in the stone behind him.
Jacob carefully picked up the little dog and crawled out.
He heard the cave collapse behind him some time later.

He arrived back at the castle in the early evening, having regenerated enough of his wounds to have some degree of composure again. His little companion was asleep in his arms, he handed it off to one of the servants that rushed up to him and asked her to take care of it for him and asked the girl to get somebody to draw him a hot bath.

While tending to his remaining wounds he discovered two sapphires embedded deeply in one of them. They were about the size of his thumb and at first he shuddered before smiling to himself, it had made it clear it could read his thoughts. It had known Serafay was not his mistress but his beloved and that he was seeking to craft a wedding band befitting her. Jacob had sworn to keep his part of the agreement on his blood in that cavern. It without saying it had sworn it on Serafay’s and Jacob’s future.
Shortly thereafter he went to the dining room and ate more than he had any night previously, to such a degree that Serafay started to joke about him.
He smiled, this was the good life and he would enjoy every second of it until all too soon he’d march to battle for her again.

In the remaining days as he worked hard to refill his storages of spell components and attempted to spend as much time as possible with Serafay, to watch over her and cheer her up either through his games with the children, silly antics or just being there whenever she needed him. One thing stood out to him, the local hunters found less wildlife and those whose souls were hidden from his sight looked pale as if they hadn’t slept well for weeks. When first he saw this he mumbled to himself that all power and magicks had a price, even the spirits'.
Image
Post Reply