Tales of Faerun

[Brutii]

Daud gave a small chuckle "I've never been a pirate, too be honest I think I'd get tired of the sea quickly... but profit, now that's my business. Blood for coin, easy, pays highly too. There's nothing more satisfying than slitting a mans throat before he even knows you're there... Or making some pompous fool jump at his own shadow. Haha, us mortals are so greedy aren't we? You could fill a lake with the amount of blood I've spilt for coin, and I reckon your not too dissimilar Tannin, killed a lot of people for profit... and pleasure. That comes with being a pirate, doesn't it." His voice had grown slowly darker and graver, before he tilted his head towards the Pirate and Nawen and smirked, his voice returning to normal"Mantis men and Drow... Just don't let me know if it happens, alright? My mind can do without THAT image." He gave a fake shudder as he said that, before leaning backwards and turning his attention to Aurora and Tak'we "Now this will be fun to watch."

[Quintatas]

Xundus woke late, finding it difficult to rise from his surprisingly comfortable bed of grass. When he finally rose, he made himself a small meal of bread, meat, some dried fruit, and water, then made his way to the others. He didn't arrive in time to catch any of the conversation, so he simply sat down at the edge of the treeline, waiting for orders, or for something to happen.

[josh900]

"Yes, boring." Tannin nodded. "After a year or two we decided to go after bigger targets than cargo ships. So we became a full out invasion force. Took ports, cities, forts, basically won a war with a couple ships. And after that, well..... events that led me to here." He said before looking to Nawen. "Course not my dear, the cooking is just one of many reasons why I would desire you." He said with a smile, giving her a squeeze with his arm before unhooking it from her.

 

When Daud revealed the extent of his stereotypical assassin attitude by proclaiming that there was nothing better than slitting someone's throat, Tannin let out a long sigh and put his face in his hands. "If I had a silver coin for every time I heard that line from some dumb child like yourself... I could have bought my old ship instead of stealing the bloody thing." He said in a frustrated tone. "Believe me there are loads of other things better than that, and if you haven't found something this late in your life then I do pity you greatly." He said before taking a bite of his breakfast.

"And do me a favor." He said after swallowing. "Don't ever compare me to you. I'm a completely different monster than you with a whole slew of different demons. This might be a bit of a cliche as well, but there's nothing similar about you and I, despite whatever opinion you've formed after hearing a few sentences from me." He then turned his attention to Tak'we and Aurora and laughed. "No way this could end well."

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When the spell wore off Lucas got back to his feet and chuckled. "I'll have to remember that one." His attention was briefly turned to Aurora as she called out to him, he watched as she walked away and felt his face start to turn red again as he tore his gaze from her backside and focused back on Rhaine. "Okay." He exhaled as he focused again. He rushed forward and made a typical upward cut before twisting his wrist at the last second to change the blades direction into a horizontal slash to the right.

Edited May 18, 2014 by josh900

[Brutii]

"I meant in murder" Daud said with a chuckle "I didn't mean anything past that. For a start you seem much more... Unstable. And I disagree, its intriguing, how weakly we're tethered to this world. Someone just comes along and snaps the cord and your soul goes off to the afterlife. We're so weak and yet we think ourselves so strong. Its not fun, by any stretch, but it is a feeling of power, even if it does become double edged after a while. So pity me all you like, it wont change my opinion. There's nothing left that I could think off to be any more satisfying and why should there be? Its pretty hellish here anyway, so why shouldn't the bad stuff be most prevalent. Its the best I can do, maybe life is easier when you live longer, in which case congratulations on being born right your high and mightiness. Honestly, there is a reason cliches and stereotypes exist, its because there is often some truth to them, even if its hidden in the false." Daud grinned as he looked away "And you aren't exactly clean of the sin of clichés yourself, so neither of us can talk in that respect now, can we?"

Edited May 18, 2014 by Brutii

[Deleted6317247User]

Shalena looked at both men before shaking her head. "Sure, stomping through the woods and rocky landscapes which happens to be a dragon's territory is much more fun than sailing the vast seas, discovering legendary treasures, battles in the open-" she paused as she realized that she got carried away, "I'll go and stand over there now." She said as she got up from her spot and walked over her crew. They had another camp set up not far off, but still away from their companions.

 

"Hey, capn' when are we going to leave?" One pirate asked, as he approached her, and stopped when he was inches away from her. Something wasn't right, she could tell. "We're tired of sitting in the woods and doing nothing, we followed them for the treasure. Where is it?" The question sounded almost threateningly, but thankfully they were far enough from the rest, so nobody could have heard it. Or at least she hoped no one heard them.

 

"If you washed your ears more often, you would have heard that we can't leave yet, but once we will, we'll get the treasure." Shalena responded seemingly not affected by the threat at all.

 

"Or maybe we should leave and go back to the decent pirating," the pirate said, "you're not as good of a captain as you were before we joined these adventurers, Shal."

 

Shalena smiled as she stepped even closer, and for a moment the pirate thought that she's going to kiss him - something that never happened before, but instead he felt the tip of a bolt pressed against his stomach. He looked down and noticed that Shalena was holding her hand-crossbow. He looked back at the captain, his hazel eyes meeting her brown ones.

 

"You will address me as a captain, or I will fill your worthless hide with bolts," she said as she pressed her loaded hand-crossbow even further, "we're staying. If any of you don't like it, leave. Try anything funny and you will see that I'm not to be messed with." She said and with that left her crew, and went into one of the cabins. She couldn't believe what she was feeling, but so far she was having fun, even if she has to spend so much time on a dry land, but she liked it, and even if she wanted to leave, she couldn't. Not while she reaches her goal.

===============================================

Nawen looked at Tannin, unsure what to say. Why did she have to be so bad at talking. She really doubted that anyone would find someone as awkward as her desirable, so she simply assumed that Tannin wasn't serious again, and while she knew how to reply to his words if he wasn't serious, Daud changed the subject, but she wasn't certain if she was thankful for it.

 

"Yeah, I'm so going to sleep with my eyes open from now on." She thought as she listened to the exchange between Daud and Tannin. She had nothing to say about finding something as killing satisfying as she never felt this way, she disliked killing, and was appalled by the idea that someone could like it, or why would he share something like this in the first place. He barely knows them.

 

"And you thought it's an appropriate thing to share that won't make anyone more careful around you... because?" She asked.

[Brutii]

Daud tilted his head towards Nawen "Well, because it's the truth." He rubbed his chin, maybe it wasn't such a good idea to talk about it "Of course, the truth isn't always the best to share, I guess. I didn't used to enjoy it if you're thinking I started killing people just because I liked it, over time it got easier but it didn't get to the point I enjoyed it until just a few years back. Then I realised that it wasn't just a job anymore, it was becoming more like a game. I'll admit I always found enjoyment in the fear of being caught, but never in the act its self. I ignored it a while, but in the end its what made me stop. I didn't want to go that way and I'm not going to. So be careful if you want to, I was just talking to Tannin. And he is right, we aren't alike and that's good, I didn't mean to make anyone uncomfortable" He turned his head towards Aurora and Tak'we, waiting for them to begin before adding a final comment "I do see your point though, I'll stop talking about murder and killing, it's probably not the best way to introduce myself to people." He gave a small smile and waited for Aurora and Tak'we to begin fighting

[AurianaValoria1]

Zorica and Weyland continued their sparring session, which went well into the next few hours. The half-drow tried to give the warrior pointers whenever she could, though it was obvious that he had far more battle experience than she did. Hopefully, though, he would take her lessons to heart - there were far more able dual-wielders than her out there, and the few times she made it through his defenses proved that he needed to be careful when in real combat.

 

Nearby, Dagny and Sybille's wrestling match lasted as long as Zorica and Weyland's spar, and in the end, there was no clear winner - by the time both gave up, they resembled something of a lopsided pretzel. Argyros watched them with no small amount of amusement, whilst Conall got up and walked around the lake, intent on staying out of Aera's way. As the paladin spent some time alone, he thought about Daud's words and frowned. Did Rhaine know about this man's lust for blood and gold? It was different than that of Shalena's pirates, that was for certain.

 

Meanwhile, Theia had settled herself down on the edge of camp in a nice bed of moss and was braiding a strand of a flowering vine into her hair. A few feet in front of the centauress, Kyli kept trying to sneak up on a napping Aodh to cast some weak spells on him, but the kitten Sir Meowsalot always interrupted her efforts with a playful jump, transparent claws extended. Smiling slightly at them, Theia finished with her hair and then dug around her bag for some small edible fruits and nuts.

 

Rhaine had fought several rounds with Lucas, each more intense than the last. He moved quite quickly and with surprising strength, and Rhaine found herself on her toes. The squire was very good, and yet he needed to hone his focus more...he kept getting distracted by something and the Doomguide was able to find openings in his defenses rather easily. Occasionally, though, he would feint rather cleverly and land a strike. With each round, Rhaine would instruct him and critique him, and then they would resume their mock battles.

 

At last, however, Rhaine noticed that it was already highsun, and she stopped the spar with a breathless, "All right, I think that will do...good work squire." She glanced up at the sun and squinted against the light before running her fingers through her dampened mane, "Gods above, the time escaped me. I'm sure you're quite hungry now, eh? Let's get something to eat."

[Flipout6]

Weyland found out over the course of their several hours of sparring that he needed to learn how to defend his flank better. He wasn't kidding when he said the rear of the right shoulder was the most vulnerable, but Zorica proved to him just how right he was when he sat down by the fire around midday and it was still throbbing with pain. She got a good whack at his shins once or twice too. While normally he'd be able to rely on armor to protect both of those parts of his body, it wasn't wise to have to do so, so he made a mental note to brush up on his defenses. Sybille sat beside him with a black eye, bloody nose, split lip and- as he discovered when she gave Dagny a lopsided, punch-drunk grin - two or three missing teeth. Yet she looked like she'd had the time of her life.

"You have as much fun as I did?" He asked.

"That and more." She laughed. He laughed too.

Marie, meanwhile, listened to Daud's ramblings without a word or a glare, but she felt anger building inside her as he went on and on about how much he enjoyed killing, and then she calmed herself down. No use acting brashly. She'd talk to Rhaine about it later. Little did she know that Amendale- who had finished practicing with Annette to sit down to lunch - had the same idea. Not that he needed to be close by, his elvish hearing could pick up every word he said even during practice.

 

Annette, meanwhile, had found her way to Theia by the edge of the lake. She watched the antics of Aodh, Sir Meowsalot and Kyli with a smile for a time before she sat down beside Theia. From across the camp, Marie kept a sharp eye on her sister, ready to draw and fire if necessary...not that she honestly believed it'd be necessary. But better safe than sorry. Especially with someone as unpredictable as a quintessential teenaged girl.

 

"You know, I've never ventured far from Westgate before." She said, uncertainly at first but then gaining confidence. "I don't have much in the way of knowledge and nothing in the way of experience for anything that goes on beyond, especially somewhere like out here. What's it like? Do you enjoy it out here?"

Edited May 21, 2014 by Flipout6

[tokyobiohazard]

Ianthe and Arva had slipped off from the group and been walking together all morning. Well, it was more along the lines of Ianthe wandering around aimlessly while Arva followed her like a lost puppy.

Ianthe spotted Theia sitting alone and smiled as an idea came to her, and she leaned over, picking a handful of little purple flowers from amongst the knee-high grass. Her fingers quickly worked as she wove them into a little headband. She then approached Theia shortly after Annette did and offered the woven crown to Theia, "I thought these would look pretty on you. I picked all the flowers over there or I'd have made one for you as well, Annette."

Arva was extremely wary, and watched the exchange from a distance, ready to jump into action in case Theia tried to hurt Ianthe. He got a bad vibe from Theia, which was probably just because of her attitude, but he watched from behind a bush with a hand close by his katana.

Aera found herself sitting as far away from Conall as possible as she watched the others spar. She found what Daud said to be unsettling, but trusted that he wouldn't hurt anyone in the group. He was outnumbered vastly, and if he wanted to kill one of them, he'd have at least attempted by now. She shrugged it off, and decided to spend the rest of the morning tending to her horse since Conall was nowhere near the horses.

She gulped thirstily as noon approached. It was getting hot, and the group seemed to be gathered around the water. She decided to brave it and walked to the water, picked up a bottle, and filled it up with water from the lake before sitting down next to Conall and looking at the ground.

"I... I'm sorry about this morning." she stammered, not daring to make eye contact with him.

[josh900]

"Well that's all very interesting." Tannin said as he got up to his feet. "But if you'll excuse me, I have some business to attend to." He said before getting up and walking away.

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After the sparing session Lucas was nearly out of breath. He had tried his best to put up a good fight, though Rhaine's experience gave her a huge advantage, putting her in a completely different league from him. "Sorry I wasn't that good." He apologized. "I never got much practice with the others. They rather that I stay and take care of the camp, or clean, or something. They never thought I was good enough." He said with an embarrassed shrug.

 

Seconds later Tannin approached the two of them. "Having fun out here? Good, Lucas you're over swinging, need to work on that, stop putting so much force into em. Rhaine, I need to speak to you in private about private matters that need to stay private mkay?" He said rather quickly.