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๖ۣۜSαᴙαh
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Dec 17, 2013 08:00PM
((RP with approved characters ONLY.))
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There's never anything quite like the open road, that was how it had always seemed to the powerfully built figure, as he strode heavily own the abandoned coils of the undulating dust-dusted serpent that lay sprawled out both before and behind him. Had he not been a purifier o the Brotherhood of Purifying Flame, he could easily have seen himself as a waylander, a wanderer, traversing the varied thoroughfares of the vast continent of Xi'an, in search of whatever came to him, taking what life and the wide open spaces saw fit to deal him, and make his own way. Slitting his amber eyes against the sudden profusion of dusty wind, Zark shrugged his chainmail hauberk into position, encasing his powerful frame in a sheath of rings; as dragonborn, the notion of being overburdened did not occur to him, and the bulky armour was as much a nuisance as a silken robe from the elven havens of Challondra. Suddenly, he stopped, surely not? Suddenly aware of the twin scimitars upon his back, he strained to make out the source of the low, twittering sound. Wanderers perhaps, or ne'erdowells? Either way, he squared his powerful shoulders, and headed towards the source of the conversation, his scaly jaw set.
"Oh, boy, wasn't that the best feast you ever had? I mean, we always eat well and Brother Amos is such a fantastic cook, but they truly outdid themselves this time--that whole team in the kitchen!" Ama was rambling on as she and Edwin walked down the dusty road, eagerly setting out that morning on their adventure. Ama had packed her sack chock full of the leftover perishables that her small hands could grab before dawn and they had been walking all day but she was still so full of energy, talking the whole way, zipping here and there, to explore and return quickly. "I'm so excited to see the Plains of Woe," she sighed again, grinning from ear to ear.
Edwin shouldered his pack, he had packed more rationally, making sure to bring months worth of non perishables that were small but nourishing. "Yes Ama, it was quite the feast." He smiled and shook his head softly at his friend. Where she kept all that energy he'd never know. His own pack was slightly heavier than it should've been, as he had packed his favourite book as well.
Rounding the near bend in the road, Zark was met by the oddest sight he had thought to see; an elf and a halfling ambling down the road, their sandalled feet slapping happily upon the lightly grassed path. A low, rumbling sound that he recognised as his own laughter was heard, as he was tickled by their reactions; the diminutive girl staring open-outhed while the elf looked a little taken aback, which, upon quick reflection was not altogether an inappropriate reaction; dragonborn were by no means as populous as they once were in ages past, and so, seeing one now, seemingly out of the gently rolling hills must certainly come as something of a rude awakening. "Hail friends," Zark attempted in a would be cheerful tone, "Blessings of the wayfather be upon you, it would appear you have com a fair distance from you monastic domiciles, tell me, how is the way yonder? I am told Challondra fares well?"
Still gaping, Ama quickly fixed her stance into one that could deliver a swift kick if she needed to. "Who's asking?" she demanded in her strong, loud voice, her face quickly turning into a fierce scowl (or at least that was how she pictured it to be). She had never seen so large a... beast before and while she had to admit that she was in slight awe--this was it! Their adventures had begun!--she also remembered to be on her guard for Master had warned them of the perils of the open roads and she wasn't about to take his words lightly! Even if he was being super friendly....
Edwin would have stared in awe a little longer had Ama not reacted. "And also upon you good traveler. The way ahead is smooth and Challondra fares as well as she ever has, but tell me, nobel Dragonborn, what brings you out to our humble land?"
Such ferocity in one so small, truly wondrous! Zark raised a large left hand in a placating gesture. "Your pardon my lady, sir, it is well you stayed my address, I am Purifier Xarxavel or the Brotherhood of Purifying Flame, I am on my anta'khraj-mar my year long pilgrimage to the furthest extremes of this great land,to honour the father of paths." While he knew that they would doubtless be familiar with the deity in question, as something of fellow wayfarers themselves, not many had ever heard of the wandering homage performed by only the most devout of adherents. "I am bound for my homeland, in far off Kreegar, whither are you bound, if I may make so bold as to ask?"
At the man's further, cultured words, Ama glanced from him to Edwin and noticing that her partner seemed to think the dragonborn was okay, she slowly lowered her hands and placed them on her small waist, her fists bunched tightly together as she replied, "We are on an adventure ourselves!" At this statement, Ama couldn't help but become a little excited and her face split open into a grin as her slate blue eyes widened. "Your order sounds really complicated! We're monks. I'm Sister Nimble-Lindenbrook and this is Brother Alistair," she added, making the introductions. "Well, we were actually heading to the Plains of Woe," Ama told him, slightly disappointed all of a sudden that they weren't really going the same way. Of course, she should have figured this out since they were walking in opposite directions....
Edwin felt a pang of disappointment that the dragonborn was going the other way. He switched his staff to his other hand. "Yes, we are going to see how the Tiefling's live." He pushed his green hair off his forehead and straightened his tunic, not sure what to say, Ama was better in these social situations.
A dragon born smile is said to be a terrifying thing, reminiscent of a hungry creature just gearing up to eat an unfortunate in one gulp, and for just such a reason Zark,forewent that particular expression of joy, but instead channeled his emotion into a laugh, which sounded like thunder, but anyone would admit that thunder was preferable to a ravening giant bipedal lizard any day, that is, unless sounds did for you where faces did not. "It is well then," he said jovially, for it seems to me, that our journey shares a common way, for we are in Challondra, unless my wits desert me, and both my homeland and the source of your curiosity lie yonder to the far east." Pausing to regard the slightly uneasy elf, and the braced-for-anything halfling, he came to a crossroads. 'Might I suggest then that we travel together? The way is not an unfriendly one insofar as I know, but three might travel it safer than ,well one, two being perfectly adequate." he finished courteously, hoping they did not think his offer predicated upon an assumption that they were incapable as they were.
Ama's face split open again into a huge grin at Xarxavel's suggestion and nodding then, she was about to say something when she remembered that perhaps she shouldn't be too eager in case this was a ploy. "Well, we're not babysitters," the halfling told the immense dragonborn, clearly not daunted by his size. Everyone was bigger than her. So what? She could kick higher than anyone! Despite her small stature. "So, Mister Xarxavel. What do you have in the way of, um, protecting yourself that you can use should we have to fight down a group of goblins?" she questioned seriously, crossing her small arms at her chest, a determined glint in her slate blue eyes.
Edwin felt a thrill at the dragonborn's request. He straightened and shifted his tall walking stick. "We would be delighted to accompany you, however, if you make one move against my friend or I, we will have to attack you, and the same goes for us, I for one swear to the great Ehlonna that I will not harm you, and I can say the same for my companion." He shot Ama a glance, knowing she could be hyper and accidentally hit harder that she meant to. He had been on the receiving end of those little fists of hers before while practicing.
It amused him how anyone lacking felt the need to overcompensate, and Zark had to station a firm guard over his mouth so as not to allow the rolling pals of laughter to burst forth and instigate a flood of tiny-fisted, and possibly bladed retribution. "No you are not that for certain," he rumbled referring to hr strident statement that they were not going to baby him, " but I do not doubt either of you to be more than capable of fulfilling that role should the need arise, as for what I bring in terms of defence and offence, well..." His huge, knobbly, clawed fists closed with an audible cracking, "suffice it to say that I did not make it all this way from the Bight by virtue of my good looks." Someone with more pride might have taken offence at the elf's insinuation that he would attack them, but Zark merely revealed his teeth in a smile. "Truly, I would expect no less, to choose a travelling companion is like to choose a sword to put between oneself and one's enemies, but never let i be said that a paladin of the purefire ever attacked those as di no evil to invite his wrath." It wasn't complacency that did not see him reciprocate their peevish questions of him, but rather a recognition of their august order, and the knowledge that should his new travelling companions prove false, they would not live long to do him overmuch harm, but he tucked such unworthy thoughts away, and shifted his shoulders slightly, causing the twinned blades stowed there to clank ominously. "Well, what say you, shall we go hence then?"
Ama's slate blue eyes widened in appreciation--not fear--of Zark's weapons and when he finished his speech, she gave him her ear-splitting grin and replied, "It would be our honor, Paladin." Suddenly serious, she planted her feet firmly together and holding one small fist to her other tightened palm, she bent herself at the waist and gave him a bow, respectfully.
Edwin looked over the dragonborn's weapons and nodded. He copied Ama and bowed, his fist in his palm and both hands at his waist. "We would be honoured to accompany you noble dragonborn." He stood and smiled slightly at the paladin. "Shall we be off?"
"As you say elvanan, let us trace the wayfather's will together." Relieved at their acceptance of his rather large and unwieldy addition to their travelling dynamic, Zark could not help but be made painfully aware of the disparity between the three of them; it was small wonder that the holbytlan and the elf had been reluctant to admit him to their meagre fellowship, he was after all easily twice their combined weight and, he considered, about as tall as the two of them combined again, with the smaller woman atop the elf's shoulders. Nonetheless, this did not come as a surprise, for there were precious few who could match a mature dragonborn for sheer physical stature, at least not in those lands and days. "Forgive me, if I might enquire, my purpose is to see my home once more, but yours, why is it you seek those wastes to the north?" The question was directed at neither one of them in particular, but it did not surprise him to hear the "Sister" provide a response.
"We are on a quest to prove our worth as monks of our monastery," Ama piped in as she began to walk again on her small cloth shoes, her gait light and purposeful. "You know, it's funny, we almost chose Kreegar as our destination but we ended up deciding on the Plains of Woe because, well, we thought there might be more evil in those lands," she admitted truthfully with a shrug, not realizing how undiplomatic that sounded.
Edwin nodded. "Yes, we will wander the lands and help others in any way we can, and defend others, to prove ourselves worthy to our order. And of course, find some adventure." He winked at Ama and smiled, the last comment for her.
Having no eyebrows, the dragonborn's eye ridge rose slightly to under score his surprise. "So it is evil that you seek, sister, well I pray to the lord of paths that we might fiund no more than we can handle." The tone of his voice suggested he had meant it was a gentle jest, but his words carried an undercurrent of disapproval, but not that the fiery little halfling required his approval. "So this too is your ahh, I believe it is called "rite of passage" then? Forgive me, for I am ill-schooled in the ways of your order, but are you then not, ahh, fully fledged monks?"
"Well, not completely," Ama admitted even as she grinned back at Edwin. Adventures they would have indeed--look at the one that they were on right now! "We have our training completed but we must prove ourselves in the real world, and I guess you can call it a 'rite of passage,'" she confirmed to the dragonborn. "We seek out evil so that we can vanquish it," she explained, seeing that he seemed unclear on their journey's purpose.
"Exactly." Edwin said, agreeing with her statements. He gripped his stick tighter and began walking with the pair, mulling over some things in his mind. If there was one thing Edwin got distracted about it was brainstorming while walking. He could walk into a tree or off a cliff and not notice, which is where he relied on Ama's quick eyes.
"Then it is well that we have crossed paths, for your purpose could not be any closer to mine than if they were ensconced within the same womb of reason." Zark nodded approvingly. "I too am on a similar path, and covering the distance betwixt the sanctuary of my order to the ancestral home of my people serves as something of a gauntlet by which my worthiness shall be determined, or, wayfarer forbid, I prove unequal to the challenge." The sun had crept up curiously into the sky by that time, shoving the massing clouds aside as best he could to peer interestedly down upon the scene below.
"What does it take to become a paladin?" Ama inquired with intense curiosity as she stared up at the immense dragonborn with her wide, slate blue eyes. She reached out at the same time to stop Edwin from tripping over a small boulder two inches in front of him. Tightening her grip on his arm, she pulled him to a halt as she looked at him sternly. "Stop thinking so hard, Edwin," she admonished before glancing at up at Zark.
Edwin gave a start and looked at the rock he had almost fallen over. "Thank you Ama he muttered, blushing slightly. He looked up at the dragonborn questioningly, having heard Ama's question and wanting to here the answer.
"The temptation of the open road is to let one's thought fly away with one, I understand that to well." Zark rumbled as he paused to accommodate the elf's stumbling halt. "The same as I would imagine that it takes to become a monk, years of isolation, prayers, meditation, some magic, but mostly being really, really bored and trying really, really hard not to let it show, which is where weapon practice comes in very handy." There was a faraway look in the towering lizard-man's eye as he added. "Most folks think what we do is about vanquishing evil as though it was standing in front of us declaring its malignance, when a lot of the time, corruption, greed, very common flaws, prove to be the greater evils than convenient hordes."
Having been raised in the seclusion of a monastery, Ama wasn't sure that she understood what Zark meant about corruption and greed since all of her brothers and sisters were content with the simple things of life. However, she had seen it in the towns and villages outside of her monastery. Wasn't that why she had been abandoned after all? For selfish reasons that her parents must have been guilty of? She continued to listen to the paladin but kept an eye out on the road for both herself and Edwin. "How do you stop that from happening?" she asked in her curious voice.
Edwin walked in silence, mulling over the paladin's words. He thought of his own studies and how he had at first been bored like the dragonborn described, and then had been taken by the words on the paper and soon became enthralled with learning.
Gwen was on her last job for the day, determined to get it done and dusted so that she could do a little free flying to her favourite spot to relax before going home. She had tracked her way down here to get the ingredient that could be used to both forge a weapon and stew up a potion. Unfortunately most were a little chicken to go this far at this time, but she didn't mind, hence why she was assigned the job. She heard the rustle in the distance and muffled voices, wondering what people were doing this far out. She snapped to alert as she followed the noise, being sure to stay extra quiet as to not draw attention to herself. She landed on a tree brach with deathly silence, spotting the group ahead, but couldn't make them out. So she waited patiently to see what they were up to, bow and arrow drawn just in case.
"Well the key is vigilance," Zark said, only slightly aware of the secluded lives monks lead, as part of the Brotherhood, he had traveled beyond the confines of the citadel on more than a few occasions, due largely to the recognition of the world as it was, to balance the idealised side that saw it as it ought to be, giving the soon-to-be brothers, an idea of what they could hope to experience, the challenges, the resistance, and the ignorance. "But even then it is not easy, evil wears many masks, none more deceptive than the one of righteousness."He would perhaps have said more, but the explosive flight of a disturbed bird jerked his golden eyes up into the trees. "Archer!" he barked as his hands reached back for his blades. "I pray you, lower you bow, we mean no evil."
Gwen heard the bird before she saw it and cursed at their frantic little hearts at the slightest hint of danger. It took her a senses a moment to register that there was a dragon talking to her. She had no knowledge of a dragon being able to speak, but why were the other two escorting the hazardous creature around. They were not safe. She didn't have a very good take off point from the branch unless she wanted to veer right into them upon her escape if things got ugly, so she flittered down to the ground a few feet in front of them, exceptionally glad she had chosen to wear her wing shields. "I do not trust the word of a dragon." She barked, arrow squarely aimed at the dragons underbelly, having heard it is the weakest point, but this dragon seemed to be stupidly confident to be flashing such a vulnerable part. "Where are you escorting this beast?" She ordered the other two to speak, unless they wanted arrows in their hearts. She wasn't below shooting off three arrows at once. However, she wasn't going to be stupid, as she folded her wings firmly behind her back.
At Zark's shout, Ama was instantaneously alert and she had herself in an attacking stance with her back to Edwin's like they had been trained to do so, in order to keep eyes in both directions so as not to be surprised. She was facing the "attacker" and when the... was it an elf with wings? she gasped inwardly as she saw the girl fly down and land with an arrow pointed at her. Ama rolled her slate blue eyes at the elf's accusation and she quipped sarcastically, "He's not a dragon, he's a dragonborn," as if the girl should have known better even though she had been suspicious herself mere moments earlier. "And don't you know that dragons rule Xi'an? So why are you afraid of them? Also, we're monks. Arrows can't hurt us," she told the elf. This was only true for Edwin, but Ama could dodge projectile weapons like no one's business so it may as well be true.
Turning to see who their attacker was, Edwin's eyes widened. An Aviariel? he thought in amazement. Noting the danger however he quelled his awe and turned, after scanning to make sure no one else had shown up. He stood to Ama's left, so they could flank their attacker if the need arose. He pushed his green hair off his forehead and gripped his staff defensively, nodding at Ama's words.
"I assure you my lady that we mean you no harm," Zark rumbled in his most amenable bass he could manage, and even then it sounded like he was growling. Being called a dragon would perhaps have seemed an insult in the eyes of others, but given his racial proximity to the gigantic winged uber deities of Xi'an, and added to that the fact that the male dragon born's had something bestial about the rumble that represented their voice, he could easily understand the flutterfae's confusion. Raising his hands slowly, keeping his golden gaze upon the suspicious archer, he showed her his palms. "No need for violence here my friends, it is the mischief of Olidamarra that plays with our reason!"
Gwen did not like the situation that was brewing. She gave a steely glare to the women flanking the beast in question and her other friend was also suspicious. "Dragon, dragon born, this means nothing to me, they are of the same species and cause the same harm. Do no be so cocky girl, you are made of flesh and blood are you not, arrows can still do you harm whether you wish it or not, so can a blade." She ground out, not liking the tension in the air. She snapped her gaze to the dragon, narrowing her eyes in suspicion, arrow strung tighter. "I would hold your tongue dragon and do not move. You may have influenced these two but not me." She ordered, shifting her wings in irritation, still feeling the burn of the bite from years ago. "You boy, state your business. Where are you all heading?" She asked, thankful for knowing these parts due to her job.
Ama was getting irritated by the elf's insolence and with her patience wearing thin (even though she hadn't exerted much of it in the first place), she lowered her stance as she readied herself in action to dodge arrows or blades or whatever the woman wanted to throw her way as she retorted, "Well, there's three of us and one of you. So, how do you wanna do this, Missy?" she demanded angrily as she thought about how easy it would be to jump clear over the elf's head and land on the other side to freeze her pressure points, causing her to become immobile.
Edwin scowled at her use of the word boy, she couldn't have been much older than himself. "We are headed to the Plains of Woe if you must know, and if you even try to lay a finger on my friend, you will regret it, deeply." He lowered his staff aggressively.
Zark, while not unused to such an abrasive attitude, nevertheless felt the first itchiness of annoyance; his first resort had been, as ever,to attempt to reason with a would-be antagonist, often a potential enemy's judgement was clouded by some unseen social fact, which could be dispensed with using the appropriate constellation of words. "Friends, please, lower your weapons" he said evenly to the elf and halfling, " unarmed we pose no threat and I do not think my lady avariel is the sort to exploit those which offer her no violence in recompense."
Gwen narrowed her eyes considerably, wings flaring in anger at the thought of being underestimated. She felt her heart sigh in relief at the thought of them and the beast heading away from her home land but it made her all the more curious as to why they were going to such a dangerous place or so she has heard the stories. She snapped her gaze up, arrow still aimed as she inspected the tree tops for a blinding second. She didn't know why she hadn't realised it before but she did now and that was what mattered. She lowered her weapon, in fact put it away all together. "Fine. Although it still does not explain why you are escorting... A dragon... Or as you called it a dragon born. What Is the difference if you don't mind?" She could at least go back with valuable information as she snapped her wings behind her once more.
"He's a person, just like you or I," Ama quipped, still keeping her stance, even though she relaxed somewhat. That was the extent of her knowledge though and so she had to ask Edwin. "What's the difference?" she whispered to her friend, quirking an eyebrow.
"They don't live as long, and are much more civilised. Some say they are the children of dragons and human or fae women." He whispered back to Ama.
The fact that his kind bore a striking and unmitigated resemblance to the lords of the skies was often both blessing and curse, or, as it was at this particular juncture, a tenuous impasse. Indeed the winged elf's aggressive ignorance was contrasted by the little halfling's defence of his race and turned somewhat comical by her confiding with the elf. Though he could not discern the subhect of their discussion, for he was not given to favouring eavesdropping, he could guess the topic of whispered discussion rather easily. "You are not far off the mark my lady when you accuse me of being a razer from the heavens, for my kind and I were conceived during the time of troubles, during which the Gods, dragons included took human form, and walked among us, as we all know dragons are powerfully magical and can take human shape." There was a spark of amusement in his golden eyes as he added. "Even dragons have needs I daresay."
Gwen scoffed at their little description of what a dragon born was, not quite believing their words alone. She cocked her head to the side in flared curiosity. She lifted off the ground unconsciously in a flutter of wings, daring to come closer to the dragon born, not that he could hurt her. If he did so much as take a step forward all three of their little gang of misfits would be skewered in a net and it wouldn't take much to set it off either. She floated closer, eyes narrowed, coming face to face with this fraudulent creature, inspecting him, spotting he was grounded unlike a certain dragon she had seen. "Comical nonsense will get you no where in making me trust you in the slightest." She told him, eyeing his so called comrades, finding it pitiful they didn't know much about who they were with. The dragon must have a silver tongue. "So in truth you are the grounded spawn of dragons but a little more willing to talk now and attack later. However, I wouldn't recommend your journey, not that I am obliged to save your sorry hides. In fact I should kill you while I can but you'll be killing yourselves five times over at the rate you're going, so I'll let them do the job for me." She landed. "Are there more of you to come?"
"Watch your tongue, Missy, or I'll pound it out of your little face," Ama growled, narrowing her slate blue eyes. "You don't have to be such a bitch, you know," she told her, surprised then at her own choice of words as her temper flared, making her forget that monks were supposed to be patient and polite. "Did you roll out of the wrong side of the bed or something?" she added, unable to help herself, thinking that she was the rudest little elf she'd ever met.
Edwin sighed and shook his head slightly. "Of course there are more of them, they are an entire race. Don't you ever read?" He raise one of his green tinted eyebrows at the Avariel, he knew they were a rare and secluded race of his species, but this was almost to much, how could anyone stand to be so secluded that they didn't even know what a dragonborn was.
"Perhaps I was in error to offer a jest, my apologies, my good elf." From a potential impasse Zark felt the distinct possibility of their tenuous armistice disintegrating into hostility once more the way insults were being lobbed hither and thither, turning the mildly warmth of the day unseasonably warm. "If you will not accept my words, then perhaps you will understand this." Daring her to shoot him, the burly dragonborn slowly reached behind him and withdrew his twin irae blades, revealing the, I'm plain sight before letting them fall to the ground. "Let us not speak any further of killing lest our errors curse us forever."
Gwen narrowed her eyes at the two behind the dragonborn, wondering if they would be hauling such insults after what's she's been through. "Wrong monk!" She snapped. "If you had rolled out of the wrong side of a dragons mouth you wouldn't be feeling too friendly now would you to someone who uncannily resembles that which tried to kill you." She seethed. "And I'm not so stupid not to have realised there are more of his species, I meant are there more of your friends to come down this path?" She asked the boy in question, sparing a look at the dragon born who tried to defuse the situation, watching almost in slow motion as his weapons hit the ground. She took a step back and watched the trap ignite. The hidden net swallowed up his weapons and a giant log, hidden in the trees came swinging down to skewer what life form should have been in the net. "I rest my case. I will not have to get my hands sullied with you walking into traps like that. So have fun." She muttered, stepping aside, wings folded tightly behind her.
As the trap sprang and swallowed up Zark's weapons, Ama sprang into action, her reflexes far too fast to have been surprised. With a shout, she hopped nimbly up Edwin's shoulders like they had trained to do so and flying through the air, she pulled out her siangham, cutting the net at the top as she passed it in her somersault, releasing its goods as she landed on the opposite side of the elf, her weapon still in her hands but not held aggressively. "You best get moving--in the other direction--and we will do the same. Go on, now," she said in a steely voice, the mirth and excitement completely gone, the trained weapon in her the only thing showing at this moment.
As soon as Ama took off Edwin dove under the net and grabbed it before it hit the ground. He stood and threw the other end to Ama, just incase the elf didn't comply, in his other hand he had his staff ready.
Dragonborn were not built to be intimidated, but neither were they particularly given to speed either, however, at the very moment the thwip of the cunningly concealed trap cracked through the air, he fell. Ack onto his heels in a defensive stance, and managed to catch the descending tree trunk as the lightning fast halfling slashed his netted blades from under it. Not that such a crude trap would have damaged his starsteel irae blades in any case, but venting his stockpiled annoyance at the presumptuous timber, he hurled it as one might do a length of chain with an iron ball on the end during one of the four yearly competition held by human kingdoms. Breathing hard as the thrill of the moment trickled from him, he regarded the winged elf once again, her words endowing a fresh understanding. "If my likeness to one of the scourges of the sky has you wishing my death, then in have little to offer you but my apology, dragonborn I may be, but we are not them that wrought so much suffering and misery, you may have only my words to prove this, but if there is any way in which I may make amends, say it now, and that shall be my purpose." Gesturing to his companions, he bade them, in a calm voice to lower their arms. "Doubtless the trap was not of her making and she is not our enemy."
