The Otter

ArrowFell: The Wizard Queen's Court

Posted. I really need to get around to those NPC sheets. If I haven't done one for at least Minuette by the end of tomorrow, yell at me, lol.

@Click This

so, about how that "end of tomorrow" was yesterday...

ArrowFell: The Wizard Queen's Court

i can yell instead if you'd prefer

ArrowFell: The Wizard Queen's Court

ArrowFell: The Wizard Queen's Court

Yelling at Click is easy tbh, just ask Psyker

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

Esben Mathiassen

---

"Ah, sirs, please—"

Esben pushed his way to the front of the group, wincing as his movements elicited twinges of pain from the parts that were still sore despite the healing by Neve and Miina. Luckily, taking the extra time to clean up aboard the ship before they all set foot on the docks was likely to prove a good decision; as he faced the guards with a smile, he looked for all the world like a young noble's son out on tour. "There's no need for any hostilities, I assure you." Indeed, in some sense, he was, though the slightly drawn, pained manner of the smile was far outside the norm.

Given that he clearly wasn't any sort of seasick that could lend to it.

He raised one hand, gently pushing down on Izayoi's arm, though at the same time careful to make sure that the both of them were still between the guards and Neve. "I'm Esben Mathiassen, son of the Baron Cadon of Skael. I've been out travelling lately, and have managed to accrue this...motley crew of escorts." He gave a wry grin at the guard in the lead. "Miss Shadesbough included." He subtly emphasized the correct pronunciation of her name, sure that the sergeant wouldn't miss the insult implied.

Better to settle their places as soon as possible. It wouldn't make the man happy, but—nobleman and guardsman, employer and rival employee. Dynamics that could never be forgotten for any act like this one to work.

"Truthfully, she has proven invaluable. Why, just the other day we were beset upon the waters, and it's thanks to her that I'm even up and moving right now, rather than being carried in a litter! By all means, we'll be happy to go and meet with the Grovemasters; I would love to meet the ones that taught our white mage so well, if only so that I can give them the thanks that they're due for having her so well prepared. I'm sure my father would appreciate me taking the chance to see about opening up a new line of business in this port of yours, as well. Ah, but..."

His smile turned apologetic. "Given that I'm the one that's currently speaking for her employment, and given that I am also her patient, I'm sure you can understand why we wish to accompany her. I'm sure the Grovemasters and I can sort out some sort of arrangement..."

He looked skyward once, before shutting his eyes and smacking his forehead, the remnants of the burns on his hand being just visible to the sergeant.

"Ah, silly me—you'd like to see my papers, I'm sure? I should have the signet ring somewhere as well...you do have someone who can verify the authenticity of all of it, of course?"

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

Esben Mathiassen

---

He grasped on to the larger girl's ankle, pulling himself up rapidly towards her. Dagger first—and the blade sank deep into Siren's side with barely any resistance. Before he could draw the blade back, he rapidly found himself bound by the woman's long, cerulean tail, barely keeping his left arm free of it as she turned his way, releasing Eve and letting her float back a short distance. Thus far step one of the plan had been a resounding success—now came step two, where he had to fight to keep himself alive long enough for Eve to actually get back in the game.

Siren's lascivious grin didn't deter him in the slightest. Whatever she may have tried to worm into his mind, he was confident he could resist, both prepared for it and long past trained to resist all sorts of techniques of persuasion, interrogation, and the like, mundane or magical. If anything, it was encouragement enough to know that she'd underestimated the team she'd been called to come and fight, and so long as he continued to play at her game, she would likely continue to underestimate him until it was entirely too late for her.

Right hand still firmly on his dagger as Siren twisted to face him, he reached out, grasping at her hip and thigh with his left, pulling her in. The dagger sank in again, each wrapped in the other's deadly embrace—sharp as it was, he knew he could continue to hurt her just with the bit of movement left in his wrist, cutting and twisting as Eve regained her strength—



Esben's teeth ground together hard enough that he began to worry one might crack as every muscle seized instantly. His nerves erupted in fire, enough that he barely felt as Siren's tail and grasp tightened around him, involuntarily moving to crush him rather than just hold him in place. Her wailing buffeted past the cotton he'd stuffed in his ears to drown out her song, tearing away at whatever damage had only just begun to heal that the undead warrior deep in the desert had done to his head not even two weeks prior.

He dimly registered something cracking under the forced contraction of Siren's tail. A rib, maybe; hopefully not his arm. His own grasp on her tightened as well, fingernails easily breaking through her skin as the line of sight between them was broken for the moment by a stream of bubbles as his and her muscles both forced the air out of his lungs, past his clamped jaw. Aether welled up around his hand, the warmth of it striking against her cold skin; spurred on by the energy threatening to burn them both out his hand clenched tighter, fingers themselves digging in.

Easily.

Too easily.

Her pallid thighs gave way to his blade and hand both without nearly the resistance he would've expected. He latched onto the thought, forcing his mind to follow the singular topic despite the wailing and the pain. Whatever had been done to give her the appearance of liveliness and youth, there was no mistaking how shockingly easy it had been to deliver some harm her way. The skin was smoother than it should have been, but growing up on the coast, Esben was more than familiar with the sort of macerated flesh he encountered here.

A corpse!

As the surge wore down and he could reassert some control over his body, he twisted his dagger immediately, widening the wound it had made beyond what their convulsions had already caused it to do. Jaw still clenched tight enough to hurt all its own, the look in his eyes had shifted; brows drawn down, eyes narrowed, Esben's face was a mask of cold, righteous fury at the abomination that still held firm against him. Even as he struggled to stay focused, vision starting to grey and blacken at the edges, he was utterly convinced of the need to destroy what floated before him, regardless of whether Eve still entertained any thoughts of trying to 'rescue' one of her fellow experiments.

She was barely different from what they'd run into out in the desert. A drowned corpse, reanimated with power that should never have been handled in such a way as Valheim felt itself entitled to do. Filthy draug, even if you drown me you're not swimming away from here either!

Fingers wrapped around his free arm, unnoticed, as he let go of Siren's thigh; while her body may not have been the turgid cadaver he'd seen growing up, it was entirely too close for comfort. He struggled to pull his dagger free as his vision blackened, his only thoughts on finding whatever kept her from dying outright and making sure she would die for good—

The pressure around his face and body released, and where they'd been floating, now he could feel he was falling. He coughed, vision rapidly returning as he breathed deeply. Weight hung off of him, far more than his clothing—he could see again just in time to catch sight of Siren's limp form falling below, landing in the water beneath them.

Beneath?

He still held his dagger in a vice-like grip, and despite the protestations of pain all over his body he brought it back to its sheathe.

"H-...heavy!"

"Eve?!"

They were flying. He was hanging, nearly limp, from one arm, Eve struggling to keep them aloft.

The waters had been parted around them, he could see; they weren't terribly deep to begin with, but whoever had gotten the abyss away from them certainly gave themselves quite the margin of error. But the displaced water was rapidly filling back into the space it had just been forced out of, and even as close to the surface as they were, that was still making for the equivalent of a ten foot wave ready to strike them.

He tried to pull his body up a bit, to curl in and take up less space, and cursed as his muscles spasmed, erupting in new pain and driving the breath back out of his lungs with a pained growl. He could feel blisters already starting to well up in his hands; likely everywhere he'd been in contact with Siren he'd sustained some sort of electrical burn. Wherever he didn't, he was still aching and fatigued, muscles slow to respond like they should.

This must be what getting hit by lightning is like.

Still, the plan had gone off fairly well, minus the unexpected electrical intrusion. "Well, that was shocking, wasn't it?" he joked weakly, speaking quickly, eyes on the water that was quickly moving to meet them from both sides. "Get us up over this if you can, I'd rather not risk getting crushed a second time. You can swim back to the ship or we can both float and wait for one of the others to get out to us, ja?"

ArrowFell: The Wizard Queen's Court

I like to think that this is all happening while Callum and Anabel are just riding hard trying to make sure they don't miss the departure date.

Because then it'll be really funny if Callum learns that Raiden was spotted on a dragon while he was out.

Thinking of, played a musical last week, have this week free until Sunday, and then it's another musical. I really gotta remember to add to my bit with Est before that next one starts up.

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Fionn MacKerracher

---

"Please behave yourself," Fionn muttered as Gertrude passed by on her way around the others and out of the room. As of yet, he had no clue what sort of effects (if any) the summoning might have on him, given the nature of his relationship with Fiadh. However, he certainly didn't want to risk anything bad happening, or Gertrude's attitude causing problems once the Niyar actually showed up.

In another moment, though, he had his hands on Tyaethe's shoulders, holding her down lest she start rocking or bouncing to match the happy smile on her face. "Bit south for Rozenalt, isn't it?" he mused; while Rozenalt was still a popular enough subject of various tales and stories to make it into whatever novel Renar had been discussing with princess Elisandre, as far as he knew from the myth Rozenalt was at least slightly more likely to stay in Velt. If it was going to be dealing with the wild hunt, surely Thaln had more than enough of its own disgraced and villainous noble or royal figures to show up in the lead.

Either way, he at least had to figure out a way to keep Tyaethe's unhidden enthusiasm for fighting the hunt under control, to try and avoid sending any of the servants into a panic. "Either way, if he or someone else should show up at the head of a Hunt, I'm afraid I have to insist that you let your loyal forces protect you, my lord."

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

Esben Mathiassen

---

Esben nodded back at Arton as the latter decided to take over the duty of protecting Neve and Ciradyl; even though there was little else that he could see himself doing to contribute for the moment, he knew he wasn't much of a guardian either. He just puled his sword belt off, handing the sheathed weapon over to Neve. "Pass this to Rudi if he makes it on the deck, would you?" he asked, rushing her along.

After covering Neve enough that she could see herself to Arton's protection, he retreated towards where Éliane had set up her gun emplacement. He fired twice, each taking down one of the false dragoons as they flew. That left him with one round left to use in the purloined rifle, and far too many targets to consider using it on.

As he brought the rifle up to one, he heard the Edreni turncoat calling out, and—rather than risk anything unfortunate happening—instantly took cover, bracing himself against the railing as the deck began to be buffeted by a torrent of water spewed by the aberration they'd brought to aid them. In a moment, he saw Rudolf in the air, bearing down on one of the false heads raised out of the water, and another snatching Eve away while the remainder tried to wash them off the ship.

So Rudolf hadn't been able to reach the pseudo-Eidolon in time, then...or hadn't been able to do anything about it.

Mumbling curses to himself, Esben reached into one of the well-worn pockets of his travelling clothes, yanking out tufts of cotton and stuffing his ears with them as a precaution. He quickly turned, raising the rifle at the traitor dragoon—

Iðar, guide my aim...

And fired, before quickly turning again and throwing the rifle like a spear into one of the nearby, opportunistic Valheimer, who folded over it and lay unmoving on the deck. With any luck, something that by all rights he had a surplus of, Valon would find himself either wounded or shocked enough for Izayoi and Galahad to make some real headway in dealing with him. Then, with little else to do, he drew one of his daggers, and let the torrent of water wash him overboard.

He descended quickly, a small stream of bubbles escaping his nose as he righted himself. Despite the slight sting of the salt water against his eyes, he quickly caught sight of Eve, wrapped up in her "sibling's" embrace not far away. The false Leviathan seemed distracted for the moment, focused as she was on Eve and turned away from where Esben had hit the water.

Esben kicked hard, moving quickly through the water. As long as the false Eidolon was turned away from him, he couldn't pass on the slim chance he had to at least break Eve free so that she could pick the fight back up. Once close enough to reach limb or tail of the fake Leviathan, he reached out, one hand to grasp and the other viciously sawing and stabbing at her with his dagger.

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

Esben Mathiassen

---

Neve barely had time to try and peer into the turbulent waters before she was yanked backwards by the collar of her robes. "He can handle himself," Esben said firmly as he pulled Neve way from the railing. "Think now, worry later—we can't afford to have anybody else go overboard when we're getting swarmed like this!" He released her as quickly as he'd dragged her back, pointed back towards where Ciradyl stood, playing to counter whatever song had tried to worm itself into the Kirins' minds and hamper their fighting ability. "Stay by Ciradyl, I'll keep you covere—"

He cut himself off as he caught the glinting reflection of a rifle turning their way; he smoothly stepped around Neve, placing his buckler in the path of fire; his hand almost instantly went numb as the bullet ricocheted off, the small shield twisting slightly from the impact. The false dragoon lunged after that, a jetpack-assisted rush to try and impale the both of them on his bayonet. Esben slapped that aside as well, seizing the barrel of the rifle with his hand and yanking hard to free it from the grasp of its airborne wielder.

The Valheimer soldier spun off to one side, releasing the rifle so as not to lose all control in his flight. He righted himself quickly, turned to face Esben and Neve with his sidearm drawn, still airborne—

—Only to find that Esben had been quicker to bring the rifle to bear, chambering a new round and blasting a hole clean through the soldier's chest and out through his jetpack. It exploded almost instantaneously, some shrapnel of metal and bone lodging itself in the deck boards. "Damn," Esben muttered to himself. "Should've gone for his head, that way I could scavenge some rounds off of him. Move, Neve, I've got you covered!"