A Lowly Wretch

O R I F L A M M E

---

It had been a strange voyage. It had been a strange time. She knew little of who she was with or what they truly had in mind. From what little she was able to gather from them they were here to save friends that had been abducted away from their home. There was talk of burning, always with the burning. Was fire the only means to an end with man-beasts? It truly left her to wonder if her purpose here was truly necessary or if they were just using her for her mysteries to achieve more death to their fellow man-beasts.

The grim, distrustful faces were no new sight to her. No matter where she traveled she earned curious yet wary stares, Eyes trained on her whenever her presence was known to them. Gone were the days where it was her eyes looking in on the wayward travelers lost in her lands. Now she was a stranger no matter the land. Despite the blood that was shed that day she missed the woods they tried to burn and the rain she brought down upon them. This air was not fresh, it reeked of old fish, salt and filth. The man-beasts were filthy with this muck, not even the one they sent along with her was exempt from this.

_
As she walked, head low and hood high as she shied from the gazes of those around, she twisted and bound fresh twigs in her hands. The wood still green in these slim picks made it quite pliable, ripe for her purpose. She was crafting charms, wooden icons enchanted with power as taught unto her by the Mother-Father. Part of what made her swamp so dangerous were these charms, some built to sunder and leech those nearby them and others crafted to curse those that would break them, traps for the foolhardy who thought they could outsmart them and simply break the charms on their way through.

These charms of hers were designed to leech warmth from nearby flames and convert it into rust upon any nearby metal. As she was taught the nature of flame came in two aspects: the ephemeral light of air made hot and the consuming darkness of flame's hunger. She was taught the essential nature to both of these and that while the dark hunger could consume without casting light there could be no light without food to feed it with, be it wood, flesh or even air itself. The spell she bound to the charm was to drain the light and spread the hunger's blackening touch upon their metal in what these man-beasts call rust.

The charm would work much slower than a spell directed from her of course but that way she could hide them and let them continue to work even while she is not present. Just one of the many strange magics of the swamp witches.

_
She walked alongside the man-beast they had her go with. They were to find where their friends were kept and to find a way to set them free without getting caught themselves. While she was not able to travel in complete anonymity the man-beasts around them did not seem bothered by their approach to the region her current guide was leading her to. They did not find fault in her eyes watching, seeing. She would watch and she would see.

And in the meanwhile she'd look for an opportunity to step out of sight, long enough to bury some of her charms near their precious metal tools and structures.

Soon she would steal their precious fires and change them blue with her witchcraft. A weak light that offers no warmth, only rust.

The Hourglass Order

---

So it would seem that this little experiment would come to a close and they would be escorted from the premises. A shame things had to conclude so soon.

While most others were running she was going at a relatively casual jog. Even still each step of hers amounted to at least two or so of her shorter schoolmates, ensuring that she was neither racing ahead nor lagging behind the overall group. All the while her face hadn't changed from the cold clinical deadpan stare that's been with her for a good majority of this mission. While not too much different from her resting expression her normal given face held less severity than it bore now. It was more stiff and that largely came from having to avoid wearing nothing but a general scowl.

As their serpent host confirmed this had all been an experiment, one that they'd of ironically proven correct had they not cut them off mid-way given how circumstances were developing. It wasn't her fault one of their members had a superiority complex and likely other issues best suited for someone else to diagnose but he was a part of their test sample nonetheless.

_
When they finally arrived it was decided they'd be given a parting gift for their participation. Given the protocol to not disrupt the technological progress of her species was still in effect that effectively meant that anything they were meant to take would amount to little more than the kind of chotchkes you'd find sold to foreigners by some street-side peddler.

No, Ismette had the right idea indeed.

"As it's not outside the purview of knowledge currently available to humanity I would accept my gift in the form of a basic introduction to temporal magic as well. Just enough to grasp the method behind drawing and containing it's particular strain of energy.

And thus, Trypano went off to hopefully receive this gift unto them. After all, what was she going to do with tech that they had no adequate time to describe nor detail the precise use and functions of?

_
Upon stepping out from the portal Trypano noticed something was immediately wrong.

"Ismette... Unless my eyes deceive me we are not in Ersand'Enise." She cast her stony gaze onto the yasoian woman. "Where are we?"

She then looked back out at the scene before them with the many soldiers and the hard-to-overlook dragons due to set upon them.

"And why are we now about to be set upon by dragons?" That last question was perhaps more rhetorical since it definitely didn't seem to be part of her plan unless her plan was some sort of convoluted scheme to dispose of them in such a way. Seeing one of the dragons set it's focus upon them she drew in and then slowly let out a long, truly drawn out sigh of tired melancholy, the light in her eyes quite thoroughly dulled as she was thrust yet again into combat without any consent or planning.

To avoid getting burned alive she drew apart the sand below her, reforming it into stone in the shape of a shaft running down at a seventy-five degree angle facing perpendicular to the path the dragon was approaching upon. This would not only make it hard for fire to reach her at the angle it's going to be breathed from but the stone prevents the sand from collapsing the tunnel so others can follow her as well. After reaching roughly five or so meters down she extended the top of her stone chute to form a shaped semi-cap to help prevent fire from making it's way down as well as offering some protection to anyone who decided to follow her down.

"If you wish to use this tunnel to escape direct fire feel free." She called up from her tunnel as she began work on creating a stone U-bend so that even if the dragon went so far as to press it's lips up against the entry to their tunnel and breath fire the flames would stop at the water she was going to fill that short portion with.

---

- Directly involved: @Force and Fury,@Th3King0fChaos,@dragonpiece.

O R I F L A M M E

---

By the end of it all she and the person who decided to carry her eventually found their way into the chapel proper where they were both given reprieve. As they sat they spoke, trading what little words they could all the while. Little was gained in understanding as duty interjected. He was still required to fight off other man-beasts and she would lend her aid to the injured, mending those wounded in the field of battle.

When evening rolled around the destruction was great but the fighting ceased. All was settled and all was quiet. The rain had doused the man-beast's attempts at burning both structure and tree leaving not but faint marks and echoes of whence the flame once remained. As for little Nettle she took refuge in this very structure, sneaking off into some lonesome corner and hiding herself against the terrain. In a bed of stone, shadow and cold she coiled up and rested.

_
Much later into the next day a drowsy Nettle rose from her slumber, undisturbed for none others could find her concealed form. She had slept long into the day for she had exhausted herself thoroughly the day prior. Looking up she saw the rays of the glorious Heron's Nest beaming down through the holes left in the roof of this artificial cave. The air smelt fresh, purified by the rain's touch. If it weren't for the very fact she woke up here of all places she'd of wondered if the day prior was naught but a nightmare brought upon by too much worry of man-beast's cruelty.

She was roused from her introspection when someone approached her. They spoke in words she was unfamiliar with and it simply left her confused. Eventually they clued in that she could not understand them and simply motioned for her to follow so she did.

_
Now she stood in a large structure, like the last one but with a big ornate wooden log the man-beasts all sat around. They were all speaking at length in words foreign to her so she stood by, waiting out of the way of foot traffic until somebody else motioned for her to follow. One thing was for sure however: She had no idea why she was still here.

Hadn't they already stopped the aggressive other man-beasts?

The Hourglass Order

---

The more things change, the more they remain the same.

She had hoped to get in more words to follow up on their answer to her question but she was spoken over as the discussion quickly turned towards thinly veiled attempts at seduction. Props to her colleagues for their flexibility but it was neither the time nor the place for that. The only real other merit was from her brief mentions of machines utilizing electric brains. This got her mind racing as to what possibilities such a thing implies. There was so much to learn from this place and yet she was naught but a proverbial child standing before the window of a sweets shop, tantalizing lures set within yet stuck unable to do anymore than watch before they are drug along by the arm off far from their heart's desire.

And thus she continued along after their meal, off to where they'd be staying for what qualified as 'night' in this subterranean locale. A single room with a single bed. How... Communal. While others might have more a more inter-personal/social dilemma regarding this her biggest issue was simply the lack of back support. Trypano honestly preferred to sleep while sitting or reclined, having spent many a night doing so while studying late into the evenings. Rather than join the others she slept with her back up against the metal wall, off the central platform where the rest had chosen to sleep.

_
Though it seemed their sleep was to be interrupted. Nine certainly hadn't been fully truthful with them, that much was obvious. For a species that claimed to detest death it seemed like they were quite familiar with it as they were marched as they seemed to conclude their plan and march on out to the armory. Seems this sort of conclusion is inevitable if people actually bother listening to Benedetto at any given point. How annoying.

Clad in snake armor which only seemed to loosely fit them, at least as far as their upper torso's were concerned. Even the weapons while designed for hands of a similar make to theirs were differently spaced based on the length of Sirrahi claws versus their own human fingers. Given these factors she decided to pick the weapon with the lowest skill curve out of everything presented. She didn't need to be overly familiar with either firearms or blades to lean on this tool's proposed 'highest fire rate' to compensate.

Once they exited the aura of effect these devices they used to cancel their magic it felt like feeling was returning to an intangible limb. At last she could start to feel the world as it had always felt to her, like it was meant to feel. Being a blood child she leaned a great deal more than most on her ability to understand the world through drawing. Already she was taking samples of the rock around them to better understand it's composition, to allow her to manipulate it like clay in the vast, multi-present hands that is her area of influence.

_
Already the snakes were lining them up as troops to assault the keep of their enemies, something so utterly human in circumstance it was as funny as it was pathetic. Still, Penny needed to be counted among those of theirs who return lest she be forced to admit her failure in keeping two members of their team alive, let alone the one.

"Nines, seeing we are already assisting in the extrajudicial assault on your opposing faction's facility, using weapons we're far less familiar with than our opponents, then even if you're required not to tell us how these emitters cancel out our mana functions could you at least tell us what the emitters look like so we're able to distinguish them? Perhaps even let us know what barriers limit their spread? Do walls even stop them or do they cover a designated radius?"

She levied her pointed questions to their reptilian host while simultaneously shaping the rock below up, using binding to reshape it into a waist high barrier for her to mount her gun upon. It was rather short for her, forcing her to kneel behind it in order to brace her gun properly, but her chest height was head height or possibly taller for the majority of her own colleagues and she intended for this barrier to serve others use as well, not just herself.

Waiting on their answer she waited to see what came from their facility, what targets might approach as well as what armaments they'll be returning fire with. With eyes narrowed but ever the still weary not with physical fatigue but a fatigue of patience for this mission she watched for a target to test this new weapon on.

Because Sirrahi surely detest violence right?

What a joke.

O R I F L A M M E

---

It was chaos. Creatures clad in hides and metal killing one another in a hectic fervor of violence. At least in the swamps the killing made sense. Something would die to nourish those who fed on death so that they too may die and continue the cycle. Out here in these strange forests, far from a true swamp in any degree, these creatures weren't even trying to eat one another. They were maddened and fought simply to fight. What the man beasts she was told to protect were doing was well and beyond her.

Then came the sharp stone shooters. They used wooden tools to launch their stones very fast, stones mounted on sticks to make them easier to hold and made sharp. Things were getting dangerous and she was quite uncomfortable with how close they were killing people near her. Then came the one-legged woman who moved about the trees on strange silk made of clinking metal, killing many archers and whoever else was in her way as she raged across the path ahead. Not wanting to be caught by more of these flanking rock shooters she stopped her song and hunkered low. Pulling the nearby shadows unto her as one might a cloak she fed upon the light to keep within the dark shadows of the ever growing canopy which had become far denser from the energy she had spent thus far. With the dark clouds swallowing the moonlight and the dense canopy blocking out what little light might of been able to escape these woods had become pitch black. Only the fires illuminated their immediate area, all else bathed in darkness.

Aside from subtly moving within shadows that were twisted to hide her dark form as she skulked like a salamander through the underbrush she also made sure to conceal her scent, using her cloak to break through the puddles of paralysap while pulling mud onto herself to mask her scent. Her magic use was minimal but effective while she employed all other techniques available to her, learned from a lifetime existing within the deep swamps back home. The beasts of her homeland had many senses designed to help hunt their prey, senses honed over their entire existence to serve that very purpose. They could not catch her and neither could these slow, unobservant beasts that ran about clumsily through the bushes and mud.

_
She was making her way to the mists that were crawling up from the waters onto the sides of the cliff, mysterious mists designed to conceal their boats. A simple trick really, their mists weren't even that mysterious. As proof of that she was going to head on over and hide behind the attacking enemies. While they struggle to fight their way into the forest they'll be moving away from her and thus be giving her ample room to work her magic. Even if they turned around to go find her she could slip into their own mists and evade them, further delaying them from continuing to harm those she was sent to protect. As she went along though something terrible arose. A great fire erupted, burning a chunk of the forest some distance away. She could hear shouting and detect more flame arising through her mystical senses, feeling the chemical exchanges arise and propagate.

Reckless! Stupid and reckless! she silently castigated them as she crept past towards the river. Fires were bad as they tended to spread, kicking toxic smoke into the air and threatening to enclose the very place you stood. They were not only going to get themselves killed but many others! She was going to show them the error of their choices. She gathered seeds from the ground as she continued, picking up a large handful as she eventually reached the river's mouth which spewed forth into the great waters beyond.

Seeing the cliffs that these man beasts used to jump up and attempt to rush through the forest from she took the many seeds and planted a dense grove right past the bridge over these running waters. With magic she plucked stones from the river's floor and piled them up as boulders. Thanks to the fires these fools were creating she had a plentiful source of easy energy, distantly pulling at the teeth of the flames to keep them from eating through the foliage while she built her dam.

_
Soon enough it was build. A wall of piled stones blocked off the river and she had even gone ahead and extended it past so the river wouldn't just overflow then run over another portion of the cliff. On top of making it harder for new man beasts to try and jump atop it served as a great dam for her to start what would be the beginning of a mighty flood, a flood that would swallow the man beasts and drown them in poisonous waters. Taking one of her remaining paralysap tree seeds she sat it atop the crest of her great dam. Within her palms she imbued it with great energy, sparking a chemical symphony within it's case and provoking it's germination procedure without the present of nurturing soil. All the nutrients it required she gave unto it in plentiful portions. As it extended it's roots she used her magic to shape them, adding mass along the angles she sought it to take. She did the same for it's branches, even using her crook to hook a branch as it ascended along the growing trunk, pulling her up along as the tree grew tall in mighty in very little time at all.

She clambered through the foliage of the tree until she was in a position both well hidden and not open to any sharp rocks suddenly flying through. She cast out a handful of strugglethorn briar clippings which scattered about the base of the great paralysap tree, a trap that once grown in would ensnare anyone foolish enough to attempt to climb her tree and hold them fast at the bottom of the building river which would soon drown those unfortunate enough to become stuck in their viny grasp.

With the energy she continued to pull away from the flames these beasts were spreading she pulled more of the mist up along the edges of the cliff around where she now stood. Now in the dark of night with mists about only a true fool would try to find her in the building waters which continued to grow as the river found itself bottled, the rain water agitating it's peaceful saunter into an aggressive rush. Hidden within the canopy in the growing grove of tightly packed trees she began to sing once again, this time pulling from both the chemical reactions begun by the flames as well as their surrounding heat to fuel the rain clouds she continued to sing into being.

Very soon this drizzle would become a downpour.

Very soon this downpour would become a flood.

And not long after these fire breathers would soon be breathing water instead.

---

Directly interacting with: @Th3King0fChaos,@Wolfieh&@Force and Fury.

The Hourglass Order

---

"Wvysen's dead, Penny."

Penny's irritatingly lengthy short version was met with an answer no less short, cold and precise than her very own scalpel. Even if it wasn't the original her scalpel was in effect no worse than the tool she was handed down by her tutor. Less sentimental perhaps but Trypano was no creature of sentiments.

"While your work thus far is appreciated in your absence our group was collectively ambushed by Black Rezaindians that the princess claims were agents of her uncle, the sitting king of Segona. Among them was an atomic specialist who killed Wvysen in their opening attack. While we ultimately killed every aggressor we were aware of Onarr was badly mauled by their kineticist and several civilians were caught in the crossfire between the atomic mage, Benedetto and Ingrid."

Finished with catching Penny up with what went on while she was captured Trypano turned, looking out to see Ingrid making her way over on a block of ice. Poorly, as it would seem. Taking everything mentioned so far into consideration she proceeded onwards, not even bothering to look over as she continued to speak.

_
"Once what remains of our group is gathered we will need to discuss our plan moving forward from here. The princess is determined to wage naval battle with the Maria Nera as she's convinced it now contains allies of her uncle on board."

She paused right as she was about pass Penny in grabbing the lantern from beneath the nearby stool. She was not blind to Penny's defensiveness. While it would be easy enough to dismiss it as her not taking the situation seriously enough she was well aware that she oft' off-put people with how clinical she was. It was simply hammered into her, both from those surrounding her throughout her childhood and her training as a nurse during her tutelage. She had always been introspective, removed even but even her brother could see how these things had pushed her to detach herself emotionally from everyone and everything. What he recognized however was that she could still feel them, well and far below the cold exterior. She was perhaps more passionate than anyone regarding the things she truly cared about. For but a brief moment she looked over to Penny, face remaining the same but with her tone ever slightly softer, less sharp than her words prior.

"We'll need to decide whether to back the princess's gambit or take what we have and exfiltrate ourselves. Consider what you now know carefully before you decide."

_
Her attention was then drawn away by Desmond's haphazard attempt to board the ship which resulted in them landing in a heap atop one another. This might of been funny or perhaps a little embarrassing to witness given Ingrid's state of dress for others. For her it was little more than a momentary distraction from the truth that most of their group was now assembled aboard the ship. There was little need for her to brief them. They knew what she knew and Penny was unlikely to bogart her info from them if she was so willing to divulge it to her. It was time to see to the last piece of this puzzle: The Lantern.

She procured the item out from beneath the stool and gave it a look-over. It's make was of a lamp old enough to fit the bill, a simple design with a mere candle within. She made sure to clear the interior out of any debris that might have found it's way inside during Penny's retrieval of it before drying the wick with her fingers and using a basic Arcane spell to light it. Given that Arcane was the chosen school of the god this artifact was in tribute to it was fitting to see if using such magic would provoke a response from it. All the while she was using her binding to monitor the amount of energy running through it's material form. If it truly was of divine origin and not just a relic given ceremonial purpose then it would undoubtably have a magical signature of some form. As a binder she was quite familiar with the art of crafting enchanted objects like so. Seemed this item shouldn't be exempt from the same principles.

But the only way to know for sure was to test it.

---

Interacting with - @Force and Fury,@Th3King0fChaos,@dragonpiece & @Bork Lazer

O R I F L A M M E

Strange Magic at Work

---

Nobody answered.

Not one person spoke to her in this field of shell-clad men and women clutching their shards, scurrying about their maze of tents. She instead kept to the sides of those who brought her here. They might not of acknowledged her either but wherever they might of been going is possibly where they might need her. Such is how she had found herself lead to the forest that stood upon these lands.

These woods were plenty but they were no swamp. The life here was soft, friendly trees with pleasant creatures abound. A lovely place to live but a terrible place to fight.

From what she knew most of the battle would take place down by the beach. She had overheard one of the men talking about how they're here to prevent any Eskandres, whatever those were, from sneaking through the woods and attacking the people they were here to protect. With that mind she got to work. She would make these woods tougher, a fine place to repel bipeds like them.

_
First thing's first was the ground. There was ground. A poor initial assessment as proper swamps were meant to be traversed upon the roots of the trees that call them home. She scattered about some Paralysap Tree seeds, a few here, a few there. She would hold off on the strugglethorn briars for now as she didn't want to bring harm to the others who may not have been very wary of what to watch out for in a good swamp.

After a suitable amount of these trees were planted she would begin her ritual. In order to bring the waters up and flood the ground so only swamp remains she needed rain. She produced from her satchel her censer and loaded it with a mixture to best invoke mysteries, lighting it within using a mote of flame carried upon her breath.

Amidst the many trees in the dense woods she raised aloft her crook and began to chant an unknown call in her native language. She drew from the heat in the air, the stones on the ground and the photosynthesis from the leaves around her, pulling from many sources as she anchored herself to the world, drawing on it's symbiotic network.

High up in the sky clouds began to gather. Slow at first but they built up greater and darker, the water weight within these great mixtures in the sky building as she continued to sing. Before long the sky over the forest was completely covered in clouds, brimming with the potential for a storm that laid within. All the while the trees around fed upon her drawing, growing taller and taller yet as the canopy thickened. Her new trees had already germinated and were swiftly rising up from sapling-hood into the new trees she wanted them to be.

_
With the first few drops the rain began. Even as the winds carried the storm clouds along their stream she continued to add to them, priming the ground to receive their rain while she built upon the storm she was brewing. Slowly she traveled as she continued her calls to the clouds above, invoking their mysteries through chants harkening to their place within the third egg that laid dormant in the dark, it's shell peaking through the night sky in the form of countless sparkling gaps in the great abyss through which it's light still peaks through. Her prayers unto the great dragon Father would slake this land as his saliva had done with all this world's water.

Though the rains were finally starting to pick up she heard a great crashing at the cliffs, a most unexpected place to hear such commotion. Though she continued unto her chant she could not help but look out, taking cover behind a tree that was now quite large, easily double what it was previously. Her paralysap trees were now oozing with a sickly yellow sap, the stuff being washed down by the rain and carried into the standing pools or else washed out into the many streams that were now roiling as the rains continued to build.

She kept her every sense, mundane and magical, keenly open for even though she might of been some distance away from the front of where the action was taking place with lady Talit or the others she could already feel magic that was apart from hers at work. They were bringing with them mists of their own. Were these aggressive enemy beasts to approach her she might have to create her own in order to escape a direct confrontation. She was already hiding save for a slight peak between chants to see what may be coming. She could only hope they weren't drawn to her song.

Still the sky did darken, the rain coming ever harder, the canopy ever thicker. Still she did chant.

---

Directly interacting with: @Force and Fury.

The Hourglass Order

---

She wasn't so occupied with healing Onarr that she wasn't able to also take in the conversation that was happening mere feet from her. It confirmed more or less what she had suspected, though the details differed. Basics remained the same however: Princess discontent with her lot flees to the pirate island in order to escape from under the thumb of her uncle's tyrannical rule. The biggest surprise was mostly just the fact that she had no connection to the Maria Nera itself.

Not that it mattered. Thrones passed hands all the time. She decries her uncle's cruel war-mongering yet she herself speaks largely of war. Each ruler uses the same language, speaking with passion and appealing to the crowd's pathos. In the end regardless of whether she reclaims the throne or her uncle marches on the world will continue on, unflinching as history churns forth.

Trypano looked on at her and her plea for them to aid them with an expression that was plain and simply unimpressed. While her normal expression was flat and unemotive this feeling definitely bled through her calm mask, an expression that looked as though she hadn't slept for days but she wasn't any less well rested. Plain and simply put their team bumbled into a flat out ambush which could have easily been avoided had they not outed themselves immediately, all to rescue someone who was only in danger thanks to them.

_
She cared not for the causes of royalty nor the promise of wealth. Two of theirs were dead, one more obviously so than the other. At least, that's what she thought. As soon as cannon fire rang out in the distance it alerted her to the presence of several ships out amidst the waters. Yelling through kinetic magic was Penny, previously MIA.

Oh good. Looks like while everyone else has been failing to maintain cover or make any decisive tracks towards finding the artifact Penny was off on her own doing a significant lot more it seems.

Trypano placed her left index and middle finger against her carotid artery she scanned herself for magical tampering. She believed her growing irritation had a fairly self-evident origin but it never hurt to confirm by eliminating the possibility of outside interference. She quickly checked her patterns on a material, chemical and even bio-electrical scale, ensuring that they were all operating as expected, no anomalous patterns occurring within.

"Now that her attempted abductors are slain one of our three tasks is complete. Only the retrieval of the artifact and the slaying of the captain remain. The latter is optional."

With that said she began walking away, looking out onto the scene of the battle and inexplicably moving towards the water's edge.

"Do not tarry lest we incur more casualties."

_
And just like that she began to descend into the ocean, one measured step at a time, not even bothering to look at those she was speaking to before her head disappeared beneath the waves. Now underwater it was time to get to work. She started drawing the water in front of her while creating water behind her in a manner not dissimilar to her movement through the ground. She was able to move fairly quickly through the water, much faster even than she was through solid earth. As she neared Penny's ship she drew a circular hole through the side, right where she was about to enter.

In a smooth motion the water forced her through the hole she had created, sliding across the floorboards as water splashed in after her. Now inside she simply turned and sealed the hole she had created, a flat mesh of wood fibers sealing off her entrance aboard the ship.

With a light splatting of her wet feet she ascended from the belly of the ship, moist step after step, until she was upon the deck. It was not an unfamiliar place to her, the deck of a boat. She walked with firm confidence, as though she owned the very vessel she stood upon. She cast her stone cold gaze upon their previously missing teammate, head held high and eyes fixed upon her with an analytical stare.

"Debrief me. Short version."

---

Interacting with - @Force and Fury,@Th3King0fChaos,@dragonpiece & @Bork Lazer

O R I F L A M M E

Nettle

---

Such a strange, frightening world that laid beyond the mire. There she sat, hands cuffed in metal with all her belongings save her robe stripped from her. Her cell was closely guarded, not that she was able to cast much without her tools let alone with her hands bound. What little she could do wouldn't help here. She was stuck.

In her misery she sat until the rough two-legged beasts threw open the hatch on this underground cage. They came clad in strange hides and metal scales bound together with leather.

"Up, you ??? ???, Time to stand before the ???!" The man beast barked at her. She recoiled slightly from the unpleasant thing but it reached down and lifted her up from the ground, dragging her with all the grace a Rodent of Unusual Size drags it's fallen prey back to it's burrow. She walked if only so that she wouldn't be dragged as their grip hurt her thin arm enough as it was.

It was a strange world. The building was a mix of grandeur and stuffy, illogical designs. It was like an elaborate cave, such a hut made of so much stone. It held many strange hides dyed many colors to form pictures of many sorts. These hides weren't like any she was familiar with.

The people themselves were a strange bunch too. They all looked very similar with what hides they adorned themselves with along with many different stones, some which glitter. Though they all dressed in one or two similar manners they came in many different shapes and sizes too. It was the one thing that reminded her of her siblings back in the shadowy swamps. No two really looked the same beneath all these bright, threatening patterns. With how fat many of them were she was reminded of the more dangerous caterpillars to call her swamp home.

_
There she stood, wrists dragged low by her heavy manacles giving her a hunched down posture as this Kang loomed over her short little body. Her large, wary eyes peered up through her mop of messy mossy hair at the imposing figure before her.

"Hhhh... Hhapologhees. I hh I hapohligize. Hno Punhish plhease. Pahy? Hhh, I p-pahy. J-just nho punhish."
*
Her voice was wispy, breathy and light. Her accent was thick, drawing out words creating strange pronunciations. She seemed fairly confused in general but especially in regards to payment. She was never taught the arts of the market in the swamp for there was no need. The siblings all shared what they owned so there was nary a need to pay or owe debt.

_
The king scowled. "You are as odd as I was led to believe." He shook his head, hesitating as another thought occurred to him, perhaps, but opting not to give it voice. "And no, girl, I'm not looking to punish anyone. You have broken a rule that we have out here: a rather important one, but you are very clearly ignorant of our ways and I am nothing if not a merciful and prudent ruler." He nodded, satisfied with his own answer. "However, I doubt you have much in the way of money, so you may instead pay with your skills." He scowled for a moment before softened his expression. She was but a child - and one of mixed blood - innocent in her own way despite her obvious talent with The Gift. Otto had a daughter of roughly an age with her and they were worlds apart. "There are some very bad people who wish to hurt some friends of ours. Help us protect them. Then, you shall owe me nothing and have gained a very powerful friend." More carrot, less stick. He was... oddly intrigued by this strange little creature. For all that she was a weapon and a potentially very useful one, a degree of fatherly instinct couldn't help but rear its head.
_
She nodded vigorously, trying her hardest to keep up with what the man was saying. It seemed closely approximate to the idea that she wasn't going to be punished which was good.

"Yehs! Yehs... Prot-hect frehinds. I- I wihll prot hect."
*2
She agreed eagerly, keen on not upsetting the man beasts surrounding her. The idea he conveyed was simple enough for her to understand. They wanted her to protect their own from other beasts. The Mother-Father had told them that these men would gather in herds and slay one another in territorial disputes, like ants from different colonies fighting to extinguish the other. This must of been it.

She didn't hold any of her prior belongings but she was so nervous being in a crowd of such violent creatures, all of them surrounding her with their gazes fixed on herself along with the other ones next to her, that she found her voice caught in her throat. She would do little aside from placating them until they left her alone.

_
"Very good then," declared the king. "It is settled." He smiled comfortingly at the strange girl, hiding any further evidence of being both unnerved and sympathetic.

---

Later, in the Relouse encampment...

---

It had been a long voyage. She had never been on a ship before nor on such a long voyage. It reminded her of the logs that would float in the mire of the swamp, only larger and somehow filthier. Still, they had given her back her belongings and thus she made do, eating the clouds to chase away the rain and tempting fish to the surface with conjured lures that bob along atop the water. The fish she fished up made for good eating indeed. Otherwise it was a fairly calm trip, albeit she still felt like a creature in a cage being looked in at from outside as she had been stranded aboard the vessel with many of these strange man beasts.

On shore things did not improve, not at all. Guided along by the other help the Kang had sent along she was taken to what they called a camp. Many of these creatures stayed in tents, great big hides held up with sticks. They reminded her of some makeshift hideaways she had made back home, useful spots to tuck away from predators and rest the while.

There were a lot of these creatures. Way too many for her to be anywhere near comfortable. Like a swarm of ants there were just so many of them, popping in and out of places as they went about their business. There were far more of the metal shelled ones too, like the ones the Kang ordered about.

Gathered as they stood she felt well and truly small amidst this crowd, so many man-beasts herded together as they called up prayers to their gods in preparation for their upcoming conflict. There was little she could do but dwell upon her own discomfort as she attempted to make herself small and unnoteworthy. Luckily for her they were so caught up in their Pranse's prayers even a creature like of her went by with only scant comments and glares.

She stuck to the metal hides Kang Otto had dispatched along with her and whoever was was along for the ride like a shy child to their mother's leg, keeping low and letting them handle all the fast word exchanges. Her Drudgunzean might of been rusty but her Parrencian was non-existent. Needless to say as she followed low along those from the boat she was unlikely to initiate introductions herself.

"Hhhhh... Hwhen do hwe prot-hect? A- An from who?"
*3

---

Present in post: @Force and Fury, @jasbraq, @Siber.

*:(Translation: "Uhh... Apologies. I uh, I apologize. No punish please. Pay? Uh, I pay. J-Just no punish.")
*2:(Translation: "Yes! Yes... Protect friends. I- I will protect.")
*3:(Translation: "When do we protect? And from who?")

O R I F L A M M E

Nettle

Nettle__ _ _ _ _

The Thorns of Denial.

15 | Female | Unknown | Essence, Blood & Arcane. | Witch__ _ _ _ _

C H A R A C T E R I S T I C S__ _ _ _ _

In Another Time

Her skin is pale unto the point of looking almost undead due to just how little sun one sees when living under the thick canopies of Lindermetz Swamp. Despite the vaguely deathly looking state of her skin it is without blemish, smooth and clear save for the stains of the materials she's worked with and the few callouses on her hands earned from climbing and working with plants. Though she typically keeps her head down and wears a mild-mannered expression her slim face tends to bring out her eyes that possess a deep dark nephrite green colour. Her hair which hangs down to the middle of her back curves with a modest wave and is a rich yet dark moss green colour.

Standing at one hundred and forty centimeters she is a rather thinly built person. Her physique would make a quail seem buff in comparison. She is not as wholly feeble as she appears but she is no physical powerhouse by any means.

For attire she dons a long dark brown robe, the darker color being ideal for concealing the many stains it has accrued both in the swamp and throughout her crafts. It has a big hood which is handy in rough weather. Her long abundance of hair is mostly tucked into the back though her front bangs hang out the front of the hood, covering her face for the most part when she has her hood up. For footwear she wears a pair of big hide boots that look several sizes too large on her feet. They were a gift from one of her fellow siblings, sewn together from the hide of a rat of unusual size that was strangled to death by strugglethorn briars. Hanging from her shoulder by a hide strap is a large bag crafted from a portion of the stomach of a large boar. She typically carries a long crook with her wherever she goes, this wooden tool having been treated with a special resin to keep it from decaying.

Having grown up in care of the Mother-Father in the Lindermetz Swamp she was bound to be a strange sort. With thanks to their enigmatic parent she along with eight others survived in a wild region where close to everything was poisonous and somewhat on the larger scale when compared to species found in tamer wilderness. The Mother-Father however was not a being with a terrifying lot in common with more... Conventional societies. Nettle has been raised with a great knowledge of plants, the swamp and magic but in exchange she's learned nearly nothing in regards to civilized society.

What some see as being distant and spaced out others might see as simply being a rather reserved individual. Both would probably be correct to some extent as far as that's concerned. She is quite mild tempered and takes most problems in similar stride. She prefers to think her way through situations rather than power through things. Nettle is not very outspoken either and she tends to remain distant in most matters. This attitude is not solely out of a fear of confrontation but rather her tendency to get absorbed in her own thoughts, often preferring to dwell on matters that pertain to her pursuits rather than on tangential matters. Some might accuse her of being antisocial but her lack of socialization with others is not out of an aversion to social interaction but rather an unfamiliarity with societal norms.

With having spent pretty close to her whole life in the Lindermetz Swamp she's most at home in the natural world. She's somewhat distrustful of the civilized world given what she's been taught of man by Mother-Father. Even still she's willing to brave any danger should it lead her closer to Mother-Father.

The Mother-Father gave her and her fellow siblings love on behalf of the gods that made them. She will do nearly anything to bring that back.

B A C K G R O U N D__ _ _ _ _

Her story begins before she was even born with her father, a wandering yasoi bard who spun tales and weaved magic with song wherever he went. Passing through a village on his winding journey he met Nettle's mother, bedding her on that fateful night before venturing onward to new horizons. As for her mother however she remained, living a simple life as a baker's daughter until after many months Nettle was born into their incomplete family.

Though she looked strange the village tentatively accepted the new member of their community. This would not last for long however as shortly after her first birthday Nettle was abducted during the night. Snatched away she was taken into a massive swamp not too far away. It's dense canopy and wet muck reached far and wide within the land of Lindermetz. It was there that she was raised by the mysterious figure that identified itself solely as Mother-Father. The Mother-Father was an enigmatic figure, a misshapen one that lurked beneath a thick cloak which was bound down in ropes, covering every inch of itself. The Mother-Father wore two masks, one for each of it's two identities spun into a singular entity.

Nettle was not the first child to be brought into the swamp. She was in fact the ninth, eight other children preceding her. They all held one truth in common: They possessed an uncannily strong magical potential.

The Mother-Father raised them all as their own, teaching them the ways of the swamp and of magic. They each learned to thrive within the swamp in their own special way, the Mother-Father guiding their lessons to best suit their talents. What the Mother-Father's intentions for them were were completely unknown to them and as far as they were concerned the Mother-Father was simply a caring, loving teacher and parent to them all. It taught them many things indeed, giving them knowledge in many subjects but distorting this knowledge in many ways. They were told they were shaped directly by the gods who created these lands, The Mother and The Father. They were given no understanding of reproduction aside from it's context in animals, being told that their own bodies were fundamentally different. This was only the tip of the iceberg in what was the children of the swamp's slanted education from the Mother-Father.

Then one day it simply vanished. The children searched everywhere but Mother-Father was nowhere to be found, no trace of them left behind for them to find. They were despondent, having lost such a beloved figure from their family with no trail to pursue. After much grieving a few of them were left crestfallen, returning to their usual business. Nettle and a couple others decided not to surrender to despair, each turning to different methods of trying to locate Mother-Father. One started searching deep within the land's caverns, losing themself in a fathomlessly deep network of tunnels as they explored deep within the earth for signs of where Mother-Father went. Another turned to a more scientific method, performing different magical experiments to try and perceive signs beyond the five moons of their Mother-Father's location. Nettle however decided to try and explore past the borders of the swamp, something that Mother-Father had warned them never to do. They were told that the world beyond was corrupted with hateful beings that were similar in appearance but entirely different from them in all other aspects.

It was dangerous, to be sure, but Nettle decided she would be the one to brave the dangers of the world if it meant finding Mother-Father. She set forth on a bold adventure into this strange new world...

And was immediately captured for trespassing on the kings land. She understood their language for the Mother-Father had taught them some basics in case beasts from the outer world attempted to try and steal away their homes. Still, she had no real clue what was going on or why, now a prisoner awaiting trial for her crime against King Otto of Lindermetz.

I N V E N T O R Y__ _ _ _ _

She carries:
A wooden crook treated with resin to keep from rotting.
A satchel wrought from a boar's stomach & sinew.
A small metal censer gifted unto her by the Mother-Father for use in casting and in prayer.
A pouch of inert cattle fly eggs.
A pouch of inert long-bottom roach eggs.
Several Strugglethorn Briar clippings.
A pouch of deadly Cottonwisp spores.
A stone knife for cutting & protection should all else fail.
Several varied pouches of assorted powdered curatives.
A dried leg of a rodent of unusual size, a species native to the swamp.
Several varied pouches of assorted poisonous herbs.
A bunch of seeds and acorns collected from trees she's passed.

T H E G I F T__ _ _ _ _

Blood Type: Greengrowth.
Wheel Rating: 4.55

Though she is only midway through the fourth wheel her power is respectable nonetheless though slow to build due to her blood of the green growth. She may still be young and with much to learn but she knows plenty of spells taught to her by Mother-Father. Due to her uniquely inefficient method of drawing she has been trained to utilize her environment, turning areas around her into a harsh swamp that can quickly become a death trap to those unwelcomed by her. Through deploying and empowering naturally dangerous flora & fauna, creating obscuring mists that can cover great distances and overall controlling the state of the environment with enough preparation she has the ability to swallow entire armies within the very swamp she naturally brings with her. She's also accustomed to twinning magic with her diminutive size to help her avoid predators, masking her scent with essence magic, dulling the heat of her body to avoid a serpent's gaze, dimming the light so she may creep in the dark and more.

Nettle also holds a fairly vast amount of knowledge regarding plants, weaving their effects unto living flesh to help mend and cure... Or poison and disable.

S T R E N G T H S & S K I L L S__ _ _ _ _

❖ Herbology: Her understanding of flora from her land is vast, her mind a veritable repository of knowledge regarding each plant, their properties and preferred conditions.

❖ Animal Ken: Having lived in the swamp all her life she's come to understand very many beasts, becoming familiar with the ways of wild creatures. She is not foolish enough to mistake understanding for friendship but she is able to tell much about even animals she's never seen before largely based on tells exposed through their behavior. The language of the wild is a vast medley but body language is a very common one. Even humans speak it, though they are often not aware of it.

❖ Wilderness Survival: There are many things that come with surviving in the wild. It is more than just knowing which plants are poisonous and how to start a fire. Being able to tell if a predator is stalking you, being able to avoid a beasts's keen senses, being able to move without leaving a trail to be stalked by, being able to seek food in whatever form it may lie, these are just a few of the things one learns when surviving in relative solitude out in the harsh wilds of the great swamp.

❖ Keen Learner: Nettle is among the most curious of her siblings, such is why she left the swamp to begin with. She takes to learning well, possessing an almost yasoi level of curiosity and focus. Hers is a keen mind and she picks up details with ready ease.

W E A K N E S S E S & F L A W S__ _ _ _ _

❖ Diminutive Stature: With her minute height and naturally feeble body structure she'd have trouble fighting off a rodent of unusual size, let alone a grown adult that works for a living.

❖ Sheltered: Having spent her whole life in a swamp being fed mixes of truth and lies about the world by a strange being it's only natural that she is poorly prepared to suddenly drop into society. What knowledge she holds of nature she inversely holds in the ways of things that lay beyond the swamp's borders.

❖ Half-Blooded: Being part Yasoi her appearance makes her stand out quite noticeably in public regardless of whether she stands amongst humans or yasoi. She is different no matter where she is.

❖ Set Up Caster: Nettle's casting is somewhat slow due to her inefficient drawing methods and thus a large part of her casting currently involves setting up the terrain to her advantage, laying traps and avoiding direct confrontation. While deadly to attack if she's in her element if she's ambushed or otherwise attacked before she'd had her chance to set up some defenses then she's at a firm disadvantage casting-wise.

C O L O U R C O D E & O T H E R__ _ _ _ _

❖ hex code:Green