~~~~~ Gods~~~~~~
The scenery in Ivellios rarely changed unless it was in the immortal’s desires and often it reflected their current mood. Their mood must’ve been positive for the sunlight flooded everything it touched, from the white marble structure trimmed with gold to the greenery dotted with spring flowers that overgrew their beds, leaving little in darkness or gloom. However one little Goddess didn’t reflect this. Duuri’s green eyes stood fixed upon the board and fixed upon the scene playing out in the tavern, her arms pillowed under her chin where her red head topped with an unruly mess of curls and fuzzy. She sighed softly to see Alaira hadn’t reacted to Mei’s words. Merely, her pawn just brushed off the encounter and stared at her mead mug without anything more than a crude word. Duuri didn’t think that was much fun, her head tilted to hear the approaching taps of feet then tensely whipped her head about only to relax when she saw Ren.
The darker skin man strolled idly toward his sister and on noticing her sudden reaction, let a gentle, brotherly smile flicker over his lips. It was an attempt to make her relax and seemed to have done the trick. Duuri returned it with her own grin which shortly faded, her body turned back to the board and frowned deeply.
“Now what’s happened?” Ren inquired, his body now placed beside and sky eyes tilted to absorb the cause of his little sister’s serious expression. His muscles stretched and flattened with his lean to better see over Duuri’s shoulder. It all made sense sudden when he took in Mei’s confrontation with Darius, a recent addition to the game, among many, sitting beside the red haired monk. To the God, a fight’s early brewing was shimmering under the surface but he hadn’t the complete facts. A matter he aimed to fix using Duuri.
“This woman,” Duuri started only to be corrected by her inner wrath, hate and other negative emotions, ‘Bitch’,” is picking on Alaira. And worse, my pawn’s not fighting back!”
Ren sighed. His mind absorbed the little tidbit then asked another questions, his curiosity looked deeper for more information and formed a few options. “Start from the beginning.”
Duuri lifted her head up, only to nod and began.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After the explanation, Ren had his back settled against the table’s edge and arms crossed over his chest in deep thought. His right leg was slightly stretched out before it finally pulled back underneath him, stating silently he was done. “Interesting.”
His body turned back to the board. Eyes sought Meirn’s form’s current location then settled there, his gears ticked into how to shift Duuri’s focus from one pawn to another. Usually he didn’t take much care for what pawns his sister took, but with her last choice, he had begun to become concern. Namely since Duuri, unknown to her, had started to mimic Alaira that started with fights with Xiah and now even Aarem. He couldn’t allow that to continue. At least this mortal, Mei, held some control over her actions and even held traits Duuri admired. Now he just had to make her see it.
The God inhaled deeply then exhaled. “Rather brave of her to stand up to Alaira with her temper, isn’t it?”
Duuri’s eyebrow perked upward, her eyes fixed on her brother in a narrowed way. “I guess?” ’Fucking should’ve gotten her killed, it should’ve.’
Ren ignored the mental projection in his head and continued. “It’s not easy to stand up against someone as reckless or thick headed as the Halfling, namely for the sake of others. Something that is very admirable, don’t you think? Even worth taking on as another pawn?”
Duuri’s head snapped back to Mei’s form, her head lowered slightly, and then bit her lip in hesitation. The action made Ren smile inwardly, his words still going on. “You know, we’re able to have more than one pawn and I would say Mei would make an excellent pawn.”
“Then why don’t you chose her?”’Take the bitch rather than pawn her off on me…
Ren shrugged then lied. “I’ve already chosen another one and must wait another four days before I can take another.”
“Who?” ’Liar!’
He frowned at Duuri’s mental cry and his hand pulled out to point at Ssarak. “I’ve been considering this one for a while now, and there he is, right there.”
Duuri’s head turned to see the golden outline about the Esyire, a clear and recent claim on the new pawn. Ren was rather disappointed he was forced to make his words true but it wasn’t a total loss. Ssarak had several traits Ren found appealing and the potential was endless with the leadership qualities, though if it was for the best or worse for Tiien was yet to be seen. He felt Duuri’s eyes on him now. His head twisted to look into hers, seeing the question and uncertainty lurking there, and reflexively his arms want to hug her. However he forced himself to stop. Too much affection toward one immortal, a Goddess in particular and one with Duuri’s history was bound to end in the worst way. He knew she had suffered enough. His fist clenched tightly but made no move to farther comfort, his heart a rocky sitting in his chest because of it. A silence settled between the two. It seemed to span for ages, yet it was finally broken by Duuri herself.
“Alright.”’Fine…’
Ren smiled softly, Duuri’s choice now visibly shown, and added. “Excellent. You might also want to remove the armor’s…blessing.”
At his thoughtful choice of words, Duuri’s frown returned, her voice a whiny tone in her protest. “But, why and do I have to?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t want to!”’Why the hell would I?’ Duuri’s head turned away, her eyes averted Ren’s stern look, and shifted nervously. Her arms had crossed over her chest giving her a childish appearance in her temper.
Too bad Ren had seen this before. His voice became slightly louder and more demanding, firm but kind, in his insistence while he moved about her in order to force Duuir to face him. He dropped to one knee and looked into her casted down face. “I don’t care what you want. You will do what you’re told, or I will.”
Duuri pouted a bit more then sighed, her foot stamped a bit. “Fine.”
For once, Duuri’s inner voice was silent in reply to Ren. He stared a little longer then rose back to his feet, his body pulled away and created space between. “Good, now go play.”
Duuri’s mood brightened immediately and in moments, her body had practically leapt to the door and was skipping away out of sight. Ren watched for several moments then turned back to the board. He scanned over current events playing out, from Eania’s and Djarkel’s latest min war near the border where their lands clashed to the many groups scattered throughout Tiien. His vision finally settled on Auriel and her current group, the students and guide seemed to be trying to recollect each other after the Roc’s first appearance. Part of him hoped they were up to the task while his logic felt they would fail. He himself had the Roc placed there to balance out Aarem’s last creation made to solely plague and killed the Foreas. It had nearly worked if Ren hadn’t intervened but now, the Roc’s task was done. He slowly leaned over Auriel’s image on the board. Though Auriel wouldn’t see or hear him, she would likely feel the sensation of something powerful watching her that would fade.
“You need to watch yourself or you’ll be consumed by the Roc herself, little one.” With those words left in the air, Ren turned on his heel and left.
MarHer eyes saw yet she failed to move, her vision unable to tear away from the undead corpse’s approach. Mar hadn’t seen Coco’s body crumble from the head blow, Leith’s bicep bearing half a spear point now, Grey and Althalus still working on the door, or the guide’s attempt to help. She was obvious to everything around her and felt entangled within a web of invisible thread, each piece fixed her in place. The child stumbled once causing the Naga’s heart to climb into her throat and sat there strangling her.
Each time Mar tried to reason it wasn’t Lyn, her emotions seemed to rise up then lash out against the logic. In moments, the child with the unsettling grin, her hand firmly about a scythe, would be on her. Then there was little she could do to defend herself.
Suddenly something skirted into her vision. It was transparent yet murky as it zipped across the air, then smacked right into the child’s head. Her hair darkened from where the water hit, her knees gave out from under her and immediately she tilted off balanced right back into the dirt. The droplets flew off into a scattered pattern while the weapon fell from her fingers. It skittered and slid out of her reach, her eyes lifted long enough to glare at Leith’s direction after she determined where the water ball came from.
“Stupid face,” she spoke with a frown in a way she would’ve in life, her voice flooded into slightly tearful sobs that mixed with anger, “Why can’t you just die!?! I wanna sleep… to be with mama again…why won’t you just die?”
Mar blinked when she was slightly caught in the splash, flickers of droplets landed on her face stirring her from the spell. Her skin had become paler and stained with her own blood, dried slightly into the dulling brown, from the earlier slash wound. Seeing the child’s reaction jarred her into action and back to the present. She whipped about to spot the biped, Leith she recalled, who was looking at her while he asked a simple question. “Mar! Are you okay?”
Despite her shock, her mind felt a slight irritated swell in her at the shorten version of her name being used so casually. Now an emotion better than fear was presented and instinctively Mar’s mind latched onto it before she was crippled again. It boiled and surged, heat of her rage filled her core for several moments while her knuckles tightened about her bladed weapon until they were white. For once, Mar felt rather grateful to have something to jar her from her shaken emotions. Her eyes flashed toward the albino man, filling with anger, confusion and bitterness that quickly faded.
“No… I’m not.” She wasn’t all right when she considered the truth. Already her emotions had cause problems when in the past it would’ve never gotten in the way and now she was forced to face a bitter truth. Even worse, she hated it.
Her voice spoke in a firm manner at Grey and Althalus, her head looked over her shoulder for a brief moment. She motion for the guide first then followed with the others. “You, guide, bring Coco… the plant creature, a Foreas, to the door. Grey, Althalus, that door better be open shortly. Leith, I believe, I’m going to use my tail to take many in a wide sweep but it leaves my torso exposed. Any that gets too close, take them out and watch my body language. I’ll look your direction before I swipe out, watch for it or risk getting hit.”
Without farther warning, Mar’s eyes looked at Leith a moment then her tail lashed out sending the first few undead flying backwards. Thankfully, the guide had already pulled Coco clear when Mar attacked, but didn’t have any time to warn Leith if he failed to hear Mar’s warning.
----GM----GreyIf Grey had been working on the door the whole time, he would come to notice a few things. First, the wood was weakening. Already the framework creaked and splintered in protest against his great strength pushing against it, the middle bowed inward enough someone was able to punch through it. Althalus stood edgy while his head jerked to Mar then back to the door, unsure if he should help the Mar or simply end the brat within the house’s life immediately. If Grey could spot the weakened middle, then it would’ve been easy to punch through there and fit his hand inside. Once inside, his fingers might find the very board holding the door in place and could easily toss it aside. The door would easily push open allowing the group to file in with their wounded, unconscious, and other fitter fighters. However the door would only hold some much before it would crumble then they would be over ran by undead charging in….might be a good idea to begin a barricade to buy more time.
Member
Oso
Konan375
Sep
Echotech71
BrokenPromise
Fetzen
mickilennial
Force and Fury
