Heckno12@RedUponTheBed Sad to hear, maybe join the discord and we can come up with something togerther? :)
Raylah
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6 yrs ago
Currently super swamped by work and having cold on the top of it, so posts will be delayed
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@Aerandir Well it seems like I cant stay away :) And you have @Chiro to thanks for that, because after reading that song, I couldnt think about anything else but how badly would Eva want to torture anyone who would dare to sing it :D I have made just some slight adjustments to the sheet to match the templates, but otherwise it is the same as in the original RP.
@Aerandir :) Im checking it out here regularly to see what people come up with, but Im not sure if I will have time to join. Ill see how it goes with the magic and orcs and stuff like that, I was maybe going to bring back the inquisitor character, but Im not sure it would fit into this new world.
@Liv You can join us on discord to debate the ideas, so you dont have to read everything - some of the characters arent active.
Hey there. I'm thinking of making a royal medic/healer for Exodus.
She has her own...motives, and I think it'd be fun.
Well sounds exactly like what we already have to me, but lets see what you will come up with :D
Thyrri
Thyrri felt like she was surrounded by a thick mist. There were people around her, shouting, fighting, getting injured or dying but to her it was all one big blur. In her current ‘detached’ state she barely realized what is happening. Why are all these people here? Why is she here, lying on the cold ground, soaking wet? Why are parts of her body and dress covered in this sticky red substance that looks suspiciously like blood? She somehow felt that not knowing answers to these questions was better.
Suddenly the weight holding her down disappeared, and a pair of strong hands lifted her off the ground and half pushed, half carried her somewhere. A strange face appeared in her field of vision, a very pale man with long white hair. How unusual. Thyrri felt like she should know him, but her brain refused to cooperate and provide her a name. The face was talking to her, but the words made no sense to her. Something about princess? But she wasn’t really a princess, it was always Aamaya, who was the ‘real’ princess, while Thyrri being just a tolerated guest in the palace.
The hands let go of her an she was left standing in the middle of the street. A few shaky steps brought her to one of the buildings, where she slowly lowered herself back to the ground, leaning against the wall, her arms hugging her knees tightly. There was a weird and annoying clacking noise that stopped her from falling back into lethargic state. She looked around, but the bodies nearby weren’t really moving, which for some reason made her feel sad and guilty, but it also meant that the sound didn’t come from them. Only moments later she realized the noise was in fact caused by her teeth chattering wildly, which was strange, because she didn’t feel cold. Her head rested against her knees, she just wished everyone would leave her alone, so she could sleep.
But the images of the carnage around were persistent, trying to get through to her, replaying on the inside of her eyelids. Her numbness began to fade away, revealing everything that has happened in the plain brutality.
She failed.
One of the bodies on the street caught her sight and she slowly crawled towards it, ignoring the blood and dirt covering her clothes and arms. It was the young soldier that tried to ask for her help earlier, his arm still extended towards her, his eyes giving her an accusing look. ‘Why didn’t you help me?’ There was no doubt that his wounds were lethal, he was sentenced to death the moment that monstrosity touched him, but still…
She didn’t even try.
Her trembling hand reached to boy’s face, softly brushing over his eyelids to close his eyes to give his soul peace, but also to hide from all the accusations. Her dirty fingers left war paint marks on his cold skin. ‘Why did you let me die like this?’
Sobbing softly, she knelt beside the body, no doubt looking like a person who just lost their loved one, but it was worse than that. She had lost herself. She had failed not just as a member of Exodus royalty, or even as a healer, she had failed as a person. Just once her beliefs and principles were put up to a test and she failed miserably. Maybe it would have been better if the monster had killed her as well, getting the world rid of one useless coward person. She blinked towards the street where the fight still continued, but some Earthicans joined with warriors from Primfira took over and a redhaired madman was jumping around the beast, avoiding its strikes and waiting for a chance to deliver the final blow. Thyrri frowned upon missing her chance.
More and more people were running in, soldiers, healers, people who just wanted to help and the usual amount of rubberneckers. Someone brought a pile of dry cloaks and started to distribute them amongst the wounded, as the rain continued to pour down, washing the blood off the street. Thyrri saw Aamaya’s bodyguards in the distance, accompanying the princess and heading towards the now dead beast. Thyrri panicked, guilt and shame nearly overwhelming her. Grabbing one of the cloaks, she hid under the hood and quickly disappeared into one of the side alleys. She wandered the city aimlessly for an hour, no idea what she was going to do. One thing was certain – her actions cast a bad light not just on the royal family but on her entire country. There was no way she could go back into the palace. That part of her life was over.
Finally, she stopped at one of the cheaper inns near the port, where guests from poorer kingdoms were accommodated and paid a few coins for a small room, hot bath and clean clothes. The hostess gave her a strange look, but the money convinced her. The bath was steaming hot and later Thyrri curled next to a small fireplace in her room, so close that her new dress almost caught fire, but no amount of heat seemed to be able to stop her from shaking or make her feel warm.
Thyrri
Thyrri just rolled her eyes when she saw that her advice will probably be completely ignored. Dalious and Mahita were giving sidelooks to each other, smiling and winking. “All right you two, I will be going. Just don’t die, please,” she said to the Luthran and headed out of the house.
To her surprise it had started to rain, tiny drops falling on the ground and rooftops. The streets were nearly deserted, the light downpour sent everyone either home, or to continue their celebration in one of the many taverns. Thyrri frowned as she stepped into a puddle – normally she wouldn’t mind a bit of rain, but this looked like she will be soaked wet and trembling with cold before she gets back to the palace. There was an option to go back to Mahita’s house, she could always sleep there, but the walls were a bit too thin there to be able to get some rest.
Sigh escaped her lips, as she ventured the main avenue, the palace walls still far in the distance. She walked fast, not giving any attention to her surroundings, just watching the ground so she wouldn’t slip on some muddy patch. At first, she didn’t notice the distant screams, her brain dismissing them as unimportant part of the tournament celebrations. But when she nearly got knocked out of the street by a bunch of guards rushing towards them, she finally realized something is not quite right. Those weren’t screams men would give out when fighting in front of a tavern, but rather screams of pure horror and incredible pain. She stopped to think what she should do. The palace was so close, its warm hallways ready to welcome her, dry clothes ready in her bedroom, warm drinks available in the kitchen. She was already shivering, not a single spot of her body and clothes dry anymore. But what if someone there needed her help? Another tortured scream pulled her out of her thoughts and she started running towards the noise, following the group of Exodus warriors.
She slipped while taking a turn, ending in the dirty water on the ground, not even noticing what happened as she stared on the street in front of her. It was a scene like from the worst nightmare, blood everywhere, injured men yelling, screaming and begging for help, trying to crawl away. And in the middle of it, a creature from the deepest place in hell, swiping its sharp claws at the men around, throwing them away like dolls. And blood. Blood everywhere, turning the rain puddles red, splashing on the houses around, creating abstract paintings.
Thyrri was lying on her side, eyes and mouth wide open, completely petrified. There was a tiny voice in her head that told her she should get up and help the wounded, but it was quiet and unconvincing, compared to the urge to run to her bed and pull the sheets over her head like she did when she was a little girl. Something touched her hand and she screamed out and jumped up, nearly falling again as she stepped on her dress. When she looked down, she saw an Exodus soldier, still a young boy, looking at her, begging for help quietly. Thyrri moved to help him, but then she saw the huge cut on his abdomen and his entrails stretched out like some horrifying snake, maybe three or four feet behind him. She shook her head in shock and stepped away, shaking and mumbling some indifferent words, maybe prayers, maybe begging for help, maybe just repeating ‘no, no, no’ over and over. The man on the ground gave her a desperate look and used his hands to pull himself to her. She could see how his innards got stuck on some stone sticking out of the street and the whole bloody chain stretched more and more, before finally ripping in half. They both let out a tortured scream, Thyrri just sobbed and took a step back and the man extended his arms towards her, a silent ‘please’ formed on his lips before he finally died.
Thyrri didn’t even notice that the boy was not alive anymore, she just continued to back away from him, terrified that he would move again and ask her for help which she should have given to him. As her eyes were glued to the guard on the ground, she didn’t realize that she was in fact moving towards the monster in street, in her panicked state she just wanted to get away from his accusing look. Suddenly something big flew towards her, knocking her against a wall. When she opened her eyes, she saw another Exodus guard lying next to her, covering her from another attack. Sobbing, she mumbled thank you and moved so she could look into his face. It took her a few seconds to realize, that there in fact was no face, that the man’s head had been brutally ripped off and his body tossed away like a broken doll. She screamed, trying to push herself away, but the weight of the dead body prevented her from moving. Her conscious mind finally gave up and she just curled next to the dead soldier, her eyes closed tight, her hands covering her ears, sobbing and trying to imagine that this was all a very bad dream, that she was in her bed, hidden under covers so the monsters could never get to her, and her dad will come and chase them all away like he always did.
Aziza
Aziza left the king, tiny bottle carefully tucked away in one of her secret pockets. Her heart was beating faster, her hands tremble from excitement, but she stopped and calmed herself with a few deep breaths. As thrilled as she was to finally get some action, she could not let that influence her work. There could be no mistakes from now on, this was finally an important task for her, perhaps the most important one in her life so far.
The hallways were filled with people, the festival guests were searching for their rooms, or standing around chatting, discussing the tournament. For this brief moment the servants stopped being invisible – none of the nobles wanted to spend their time wandering aimlessly through the palace in search for their chamber. And why would they, when there were dozens of people ready to fulfil every single one of their whims. Aziza had to hide an impatient frown when a man stopped her and demanded to be guided to his room. A thought of killing him creeped into her mind, dangerously tempting, but she shook it away. He was drunk, and it would take no effort to shove a blade into him, but a discovery of another body might take the attention off the events the king had planned.
She helped him into his room and disappeared into the kitchen before anyone else could stop her. At least the short detour gave her time to think about her plan. First item on the list was finding the Exodus soldier, who struck the bodyguard of princess Evangeline. She needed to identify him and get him somewhere isolated, but without anyone noticing him leaving with a woman – the king demanded that it would look like he was trying to escape. The fact that the Earthicans were supposed to be blamed for his death also limited the choices of a murder weapon – it could not be a knife or a spear, but rather an axe or a sword, or maybe even a bow. Aziza had a small crossbow, but that was too unusual weapon for such task and the arrows were too short to be mistaken for the normal bow arrows. Sword it was then.
With that thought, she snuck out of the kitchen and headed to the armory of the arena. As she expected, some of the weapons were still stored there, their owners being either in the infirmary or relaxing in the spa. The spear with the decoration was one of these weapons, such luck. Aziza quickly scribbled a short note on a piece of paper, attaching it to the spear handle so that only the owner would notice it. One of the shorter Earthican swords disappeared under her gown and then she turned back to the palace.
“I saw you attack the redheaded bitch. The barbarians will go after you. Don’t tell anyone, the king would have to punish you, even though you have done nothing wrong. Meet me in the stables three hours after sundown, I can help you. Burn this.”
Few hours later she was hidden on a beam under the stable roof, almost invisible in her black leather attire, fingers tightly wrapped around the hilt of the stolen sword. Her heart was beating slowly, no sign of nervousness or excitement, just a perfect predator waiting for her prey. Of course there was a chance that her plan wouldn’t work, that the soldier would just ignore her note or even show it to someone, but she instinctively knew that it was the right thing to do. The warrior was just a boy, no doubt excited about being able to join the royal guard and not wanting to tell anyone about his inability to follow the tournament rules. The Earthican warriors probably scared the hell out of him, their fierceness and recklessness in a fight going beyond the expectations. Him coming here was the only logical solution to his situation.
One of the horses nickered quietly as the palace back door opened, briefly illuminating the stable and showing a shadow of a man who quickly entered and closed the door behind him. Aziza looked away from the light, to keep her eyes adjusted to the dark. The man coming from a brightly-lit hallway into nearly complete darkness fumbled around, trying not to hit anything. “Hey!” he whispered. “Are you here?”
Aziza quietly jumped down in front one of the occupied boxes. “Over here,” she replied quietly, changing her voice that in nearly sounded as a male one. She wouldn’t have to, but it will be better not to raise suspicion now. The man made a few careful steps, still not being able to see much. “Come here,” she whispered to guide him into right position just at the entrance to the box. The horse inside was saddled and there were some coins and supplies for long travel prepared in the saddlebags. ‘Make it look like he was running away,’ her king said and so she did.
The man stumbled and nearly fell down, stopping right beside her, squinting at the horse. “I don’t…” he started, but never got a chance to finish his sentence. Aziza snuck behind him, one hand covering his mouth, muffling the desperate sounds, and the other shoving a sword right into his back. She held him for a few seconds, just until he stopped squirming and then carefully laid the body on the ground next to the horse, who was looking at her completely uninterested. The sword remained in the corpse, although it would be nice to plant it in someone’s chambers, running around the palace with a bloody weapon was probably not a good idea. Plus, she had another job to do.
Thyrri watched as Eve and Laurel left the room, the princess clearly wanting to help and support her friend, but their social status not allowing her to do so. Laurel still seemed a bit dizzy, but with some rest, she should be all right the next day. And the healer knew that Eve will make sure that Laurel gets enough rest. There was a strange dynamic to their relationship, as she had noticed before, something they both tried to hide, but must have been obvious to anyone who saw them.
Her lingering thoughts about the Earthican princess and her bodyguard were interrupted by a commotion in the main infirmary room. The defeated warriors were just returning from the arena, their loud voices breaking the peace and silence. Thyrri didn’t really pay much attention to what they were talking about, but she had overheard enough to know that some Earthican warrior had won the tournament.
The champion himself entered the infirmary a few moments later, after someone yelled for a healer. Thyrri ignored it, as she had her hands full, and the voice didn’t sound desperate or in great pain, just angry and impatient, something she was used to. Some men just thought the world revolves around them entirely. She smiled at the warrior when he apologized, slightly surprised that the annoying voice before came from Earthican king. The royalty should have better manners. “Everything is fine,” she replied calmly, examining his wound. “This is nothing serious, I will have one of my assistants clean it up and bandaged.” She summoned one of the girls and gave her instructions, turning to the other warriors who filled the room meanwhile.
There were undoubtedly some political schemes behind all this – she had noticed that there were no veterans amongst the Exodus and probably also Primfira contestants, while Earthica and Luthra seemed to have sent their best and brightest into the tournament. She had no time to wonder what the king and queen wanted to achieve by that, as she had her hands full treating the wounded warriors. Fortunately, most of their injuries were just minor, save from one or two broken bones.
She didn’t even notice that her Luthran patient left his bed and walked into the room, he seemed too weak and in pain to even get up by himself. But nevertheless, he was here now, yelling at some of the more impatient men.
"Let me help you," he said to her and before she could say anything, or even think about any response he started to examine patient’s wound, deciding it wasn’t worth treating and sending the man away, proceeding to wipe a cut on another warrior’s arm with a dirty piece of cloth. And what was even more shocking, his mouth didn’t stop moving for a second. Thyrri just stood there, not knowing whether to be angry or to burst in laughter. She was used to overly polite people around the royal family, and while she spent a lot of time amongst the ‘common’ people of her kingdom, most of the Freyjans were still pretty uptight and proud of their flawless manners. This man was probably the opposite of all that, babbling about being a famous sea captain and asking her one question after another before she even had time to respond.
She finally gathered herself a bit when he finished his ‘treatment’ and sent the Exodus warrior away, still bleeding from a long cut, with blood smudged all over his arm. “No, wait,” she stopped his from leaving, directing him to sit on an empty desk. “I’ll stitch it up for you, just give me a second.” She turned to Dalious, who was now sitting on a bed, casually sipping from a wine glass. Thyrri opened her mouth to say something to him, but only a long laugh came out as she realized the absurdity of this situation. ‘What a weird day it is today,’ she thought.
“I am very pleased to meet you, captain Durendail, my name is Thyrri,” she said to him when she finally stopped laughing. It was surprisingly refreshing to talk to a person like that. “I appreciate your efforts, but please, do NOT help me anymore,” she told him calmly and turned to the wounded warrior, cleaning his injury and preparing needles and thread for stitches. “As for the ‘dot’ as you call it is called bindi and long time ago, it used to have big religious significance,” Thyrri talked, as she made tight knots on the stitches. “Nowadays it is just a tradition and a fashion accessory for some people. All right, you are all set,” she told the warrior, who was throwing evil looks in Dalious’ way.
”Ah, tradition!” Dalious said. ”So, it is like my tattoos, sort of. Not really.” He pulled down his collar to show one such design. ”That’s a shark, got it to remind me of the one I killed many years ago. They are rare these days.”
The infirmary was now empty again and Thyrri lowered herself on another free bed, sitting there with her back leaning against the wall, grateful for some rest. “So, what is one of the most famous sea captains of this era doing in an Exodus arena?” she asked him, ignoring his questions about how and why she became a healer, as it was none of his business. He was kind of cute, but she knew his type. These men would do anything to seduce a woman, hiding their true self behind a cover of flattery and boasting.
”I wish I knew, love,” he replied, sipping from his wine. ”Lost my ship. Exodus threw a party. One thing led to another, now I’m here. Stabbed and hungover, I’m having a lovely time.”
He rechecked the bandage and then sat up against the wall from his bed as well. ”Thank you, by the way. You’re very good at what you do. I’m only good at killing. Which is why, after I down this wine, I’m going to go find that scum bloke who stabbed me and slit his throat! An eye for an eye, my way of life.” He took a few more sips, realizing he was saying more than he should. ”I mean, I jest of course! Ha! I’m going straight to bed, as you instructed. Maybe you could take me to that place you mentioned earlier? What was it again? I’ll follow your lead, Thyrri. A lovely name, by the way. Feels right on the tongue. Not, not you...I mean, never the mind.” He finished his drink.
Thyrri giggled. Maybe it was just her brain being exhausted, but she was actually starting to like this guy. “Hmm, are you even a captain, if you don’t have any ship?” The talks of killing people made her feel uncomfortable. With other people she would believe they were just dark jokes, but this man was from Luthra and even though he tried to hide it, there was a cold steel look in his eyes when he said it. He meant every single word and the thought sent shivers down her spine. She wasn’t even surprised that someone stabbed him on purpose – the wound didn’t really look like an accident in the first place, and this man looked like he was good at making enemies, even if it were just by his dumb jokes and tendency to speak before he thinks.
”Of course I am! I’m just, in the ship market.” he quickly added in before she continued.
“I wanted to take you to my friend for the night, she is… well, she really likes men and she would love to provide you with accommodation for the night. But you will have to stop drinking, at least for tonight. There is currently not that much blood running through your veins and replacing it with alcohol is really a bad idea. Unless you want to wake up dead tomorrow morning, which would be a great waste of my skills and time,” she tried to sound serious but failed as a brief smile appeared on her lips. She moved closer to check his bandage, which looked good, there were no signs of blood. Still, she was surprised that he was able to sit and talk like this, let alone walk around. The people from Luthra seemed to have surprising amounts of strength hidden inside.
”She sounds lovely,” he said, now walking with her toward the destination. ”Ah, I wouldn’t worry too much about it, alcohol has little effect on my kind. However, I will obey your words. No alcohol tonight, deal!”
As he followed her, he couldn’t help but to think of her friend. ”Is she a whore?” he spoke bluntly. ”I suppose I could use one right now. Is she expensive? I’m afraid my coin pouch is empty at the moment. I thought they would give me coin for participating in the tournament, cheap bastards! Most expensive kingdom in the world and they can’t even shed off a few meesley gold pieces!?”
”That Earthican princess seemed to really like you, and really despise me. Royalty’s sort of always been a pain in my ass. Though, I’m sure if she got to know me she would give in. What do you think of her and her bodyguard? Are they together? Seemed pretty close to one another to my eyes. The Father and I are close as well, but more in a ‘if you fuck up again I’ll murder you’ kind of way. He’s swell.”
Thyrri lead him through the town, which was still celebrating – a lot of drunk people wandered the streets, singing and cheering, some of them arguing with citizens of other kingdoms, some trying to befriend them. Even under normal circumstances, the streets of Exodus were busy, flowing with life, but the festival brought it to a higher level. She chuckled, when Dalious asked if her friend was whore. ‘Wow, there is really no beating about the bush with these people.’ “She considers herself more of a companion, but it is true, that she expects gifts from her patrons.” ‘So yes, she is a whore, but you were the one who said it, not me.’ “So I suggest you wouldn’t use such words as she might get offended.”
[”Of course, some like to be called prostitutes…” he quickly shimed in.
Thyrri was glad that they left the palace and servants stopped offering Dalious free alcohol. That man had almost mysterious power to summon them to his proximity. She thought what to answer to his remarks that royalty doesn’t like him. It was no surprise to her, he was a bit of pain in the buttocks, his blunt and brutal honesty and straightforwardness must drive people, who are used to tight manners, lies and political intrigues, slightly crazy. “I wouldn’t worry about princess Evangeline and her bodyguard, as long as you manage to stay out of their way.” ‘Which by the looks of you won’t last long,’ she thought.
“All right, here we are.” They stopped in front of one of the houses and it was just in time. Dalious, even though he didn’t show any sign of weakness, was pale and barely standing on his feet. Fortunately, the servants recognized Thyrri and took them into one of the luxurious rooms. “Only water for this gentleman,” she instructed a maid, who, no surprise, appeared bringing a glass of wine to Dalious. ‘That surely must be some sort of magic,’ she shook her head.
”Water!?” he was to protest but thought better of it.
The lady of the house appeared a few minutes later, dressed in a beautiful semi-transparent gown, that left very little room for imagination. Thyrri grinned when she saw the spark in Mahita’s eyes and a seductive smile that followed. “This is my friend, captain Durendail, a very important member of the Luthra delegation. There have been some misunderstandings in the palace, and I was hoping you could provide him with accommodation for the night. I will pay for your expenses of course,” she grinned at her friend, knowing that no payments will be necessary.
“Of course, that will not be a problem. As you know, there is plenty of room around here.” Mahita positioned herself in a comfortable armchair next to Dalious.
“But accommodation only. Strict doctor’s orders – rest and a good night sleep. For both of you,” Thyrri added, giving Mahita an important look.
”Emphasis on ‘good night’,” he said, looking Mahita up and down with a grin. ”...for both of us.”
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