emollientfirr

[emollientfirr]

It wasn't often that Afon regretted joining this merry band of pirates. The people were kind, the bounties they stole great, and the crew often treated them like they were part of the family. There was very little to complain about, especially when there was ample incentive for the pirates to provide the dragon with as much soft upholstery as they could find - after all, spots in the draconic cuddle pile were a coveted commodity, and more plush pillows meant a more enjoyable experience. Today though...today was one of those days. The sort of day when the pirates get mischievous. Because today, somebody remembered they have "toe beans." Afon tried to hide, but dragons don't fit into many small spaces. They tried to look busy, but the good Captain decided to sabotage that effort. They even tried being all grumbly, but for some godforsaken reason the pirates began to compare them to an overgrown cat. Again. They had even tried to get Avis to help them escape, but the damned druid didn't view them as akin to the gods of their home, and thus they were of no help at all. It was for this reason that they decided to join one of the non-human additions to the ship. Apparently toe bean appreciation was not enough to supersede giant spider aversion - not all the time at least. "You seem to be quite popular," the drider said, watching as yet another pirate waved goodbye to the two of them. Afon grumbled noncommittally in response, something about everybody poking them. "That does seem mildly irritating." Ser seemed a bit too amused for the dragon's liking, though there was a genuine note of concern as they asked a question. "You do understand you can tell them to stop, right? You are able to set boundaries." "I am fully aware of that," Afon replied, and followed it up with more grumbles. Something along the lines of "what even are toe beans?" "So why don't you?" The drider asked. When they did not receive a coherent answer from the dragon, they decided to draw their own conclusions. "You secretly enjoy the attention, don't you?" "I do not." "Mhm," Ser chuckled softly. "Of course. How foolish of me to suggest such a thing."

[emollientfirr]

Elsbeth was seventeen. Barely considered an adult by some, considered a child by most. But her father, her Captain, just sent the Duke to his death over an insult. Words, not even a punch to the dick like the last guy. The crew has had enough yet no one wanted to fight the bear of a man. So, they did something… in some sense equally as cruel. They elected Elsbeth to be the next captain, it is her duty to openly challenge the current Captain and commit to a duel. There are no rules in this fight beyond that it happens during the day, on deck, and you cannot leave the ship.

The election happened in the evening while her father was passed out from too much drink, this was not traditional, though she doesn’t blame the crew. Her father would have killed anyone trying to hold an election to usurp him. She now must try and sleep with this pressure on her shoulders.

She is curled up in her hammock when the Duchess approaches her. The Duke was her brother, she was the one who called for a vote after the events of the day. Even though she is a year or two older than Elsbeth, they’ve always been close, the Duchess has been on the ship for the past five years, joining as a scullery maid, nearly a child slave under her father. The Duchess hesitates and climbs into the hammock with Elsbeth, silently leaning against her. Her face is blank, but Els knows that beneath she wants to scream, to cry, to wail… she hugs the Duchess, fiddling with one of the tight braids on the slighter woman’s head, her dark hair beaded with gold. She never takes off her jewelry except to bathe, and Els only knows that by accident… a rather happy accident according to the Duchess. Els isn’t sure how she felt about that day, but she is happy the Duchess liked it and would be willing to make her happy again, she thinks… if she ever gets the chance that is, while she’s alive anyway.

She untangles the chain that runs from the Duchess’s nose to her ear from her shirt buttons so she can tilt her head up to offer a kiss which the Duchess accepts. She melts, beginning to cry, then to sob silently into her shirt. The Duchess and the Duke were close, hardly seen without the other, she can’t imagine how it must feel to lose someone that close.

“Kill him.” The words are whispered, though they crack like thunder to Els. Another reminder of what will come in only a few short hours.

“I will.” She doesn’t know if she can. “I promise I will.” Her slight accent is barely there as she whispers. She hates her accent; it’s a reminder of where she comes from. The McHammond clan in the northeastern tundra chased her and her father out after the death of her mother. That’s when everything went to shit or at least did so noticeably for little six-year-old Elsbeth. She barely remembers anything positive from that time, but the betrayal is still somehow fresh… maybe it’s her accent, or maybe it’s her name… only her father and those around him call her Els or Elsbeth. Her mother called her Beth, claiming it was more inviting…

“If- when I win tomorrow, call me Beth, please. I’m done with him; I will be my own captain.” “… understood, Beth.”

[emollientfirr]

Over eager. Over confident. Over ambitious. Each of these qualities on their own could get a pirate crew killed, and Evelyn Shaw had already deduced that this group of would be attackers suffered from all three. Her weapons expert stood off to one side, awaiting orders. "You know the plan Rise, business as usual. I doubt this lot is any more capable than the last." Rise nodded dutifully, and Evelyn caught the faintest hint of a smirk on her face as she went to grab the others. She knew the moment the other boat started trying to board her vessel there would be a group on standby prepared to thwart the attempt. Had to make a show of wanting to keep the pirates off their ship, had to make them want to lean into offense.

As the boat approached, smaller and faster than her own, she reached for her weapon. The bow she grabbed was one of only two of its kind. Rise, the creator of both, had the other, and while her's was a more practical thing the captain's was beautiful. She had scolded the weapons expert at first for choosing to add aesthetic gilding to the bow - she was loathe to sacrifice practicality for prettiness — but over time she grew used to the feel of it, and she had to admit that she took pride in taking care of it, making sure the gold shined bright. Besides, the bow was massive, and whatever extra weight was added by the gold was comparatively negligible.

She carefully bent the bow back, drawing the string up and over the notch of the bow, having to use much of her body as leverage to do so. It was similar to a longbow, except...longer. Rise had somehow managed to increase the draw strength even further, making it particularly deadly indeed. Evelyn slung her quiver of arrows over her shoulder, making sure the arrows were well within reach at her hip, before ascending to the deck. Pulling one arrow from the quiver, her eyes scanned the deck of the other ship, searching for one person in particular. When she saw a man barking orders to the others, she shrugged off the heavy cloak she wore, bringing the arrow up to the string of her bow as she inhaled, then drawing it back as she exhaled. She took a moment to aim before loosing the arrow, and when she fired it flew through the air before slamming into the man's chest.

Before he had even hit the ground, she already had a new arrow placed against the string of her bow, but she did not fire immediately. The death of their leader would throw whatever plan they had into chaos, but she already knew they would try to attack nonetheless, and she wanted to loot that boat of whatever stolen riches it had. They were greedy, and already she could see a second in command begin to take the lead. She patiently waited for the ship to get too close to retreat, and couldn't help but notice how often the second in command stood still.

[emollientfirr]

The mouse had not heard the stories that were whispered about this place. It had not heard of the cave with a gaping maw that ate all who entered, nor the dungeon from which none returned, but even if it had it wouldn't have cared. Humans are strange, and their stories even stranger. This place was dark, sure, and to the two legged "rulers" of these lands it was probably quite scary, but that just made it all the more appealing to the mouse. After all, the mouse had a bounty of bread, and it did not want those greedy things to kill it for stealing something so small. As it scampered deeper into the darkness, the mouse found... nothing. This was concerning, and perhaps something more wary or wise would have turned and left; there was no life here, and there was a wrongness in the air. A smarter creature would have heeded this warning. This particular mouse, though, with its mouth full of food, knew that no living creatures meant no disruptions to its evening meal. Thus it continued onwards with little fear in its tiny heart. The mouse settled into a dark corner, set down its bread, and admired its treasure for just a moment before digging in. It had found quite the delicacy, for this bread came with cheese. The humans hadn't even noticed it was missing, and- A sound. Something akin to...well, the mouse wasn't sure. It had not heard a sound like this, not ever in its admittedly short life. It looked this way and that, not quite willing to abandon its bread just yet. It did not hear a noise, but that wrongness seemed to surround it on all sides. It didn't even get a chance to process what was happening before the starving creature caught it. There was a spike of pain in one leg, followed by a numbness that spread throughout its body even as the dark sludge enveloped it. There was no time to cry out or run. In one moment, there was a mouse, one that was about to enjoy one of the better meals of its life. Then there was a mouse's corpse, twisted and broken. Then finally there was a mouse's soul, which was just hearing the first of the myriad screams.

[emollientfirr]

This place had never seen snow before, Inowe was certain of that. They'd read about deserts, and they'd always imagined them looking like where the Nightmares roamed. It was different though; a lot more sand, a lot less danger, and a bit more life even if it wasn't immediately visible. It was probably hot too, not that Inowe noticed... though their travel companions certainly did. Their travel companions consisted of ten soldiers - all minor Chosen of Conquest - and Camedyr, the diplomat. The soldiers were pleasant enough, all armed with halberds. They joked and spoke of home with each other, and even if they hardly interacted with the mage they weren't unkind. Camedyr however, was cold. He hardly spoke except to give orders, and he wouldn't even look at you unless he required something. During the day, when it was too hot to continue traveling, everybody would stay close to the child of ice. During the night, everybody would be back on the move again, and the others would avoid them as the air got cooler. Inowe wasn't sure how to feel about this arrangement. They were glad to be useful of course, and they were uniquely suited to aid their allies in this environment, but they knew that the closeness wasn't…..warmth? They didn't know how to describe something they've never experienced. Inowe decided that they wanted to return home. As lonely as the libraries were, at least they were familiar.

[emollientfirr]

There was something following her. It was large, a long thin body with too many limbs grasping at its surroundings. It was hard to tell details from a distance, but Wren knew three things about this creature; it followed her everywhere and watched her every move, it was incredibly hostile, and it was too much of a coward to actually confront her. She knew this last thing was true because it always stayed as far away from her as it could while still being able to watch her. Today she hoped to learn more about it.

Wren had a plan of course, and it was more complex than simply walking towards the creepy thing. She already tried that and it hadn't worked. Taunting it had also been tried, though to be honest that was more because she thought it was fun to make rude gestures in its general direction and less because she actually thought it would work. No, her plan today was to walk in a really big circle, and see if the creature left behind any evidence.

Weirdly enough, the plan worked. She hadn't expected that.

When the giant circle was completed, Wren found the things the creature left behind. For the most part it was just the normal stuff; broken branches, places where long thin hands grabbed at the dirt, flattened grass. There was something else though, a strange viscous necrotic black sludge that she found traces of here and there. It stained the earth where it fell, seemingly draining it of color and life. She also found a bird, lying dead on the ground and rendered in monochrome greys. It was a tiny little thing, and Wren took her time burying it, making sure to add a few colorful leaves and a flower she had found.

As Wren stands and glances behind her, she sees the silhouette of the creature. She can feel it staring at her from afar, and she can't help but wonder if it knew what she was doing all along. Wren lifts a hand to the sky, deciding to send it a message as well. Just one finger, a bird for a bird.

[emollientfirr]

A quick glance at some of the names that will come up frequently!

(Quick distinction, Druids and Soul Druids are two separate things. Druids are a race of people that live on Floras and Soul Druids are humans that use soul magic for peaceful purposes)

Beth/Elsbeth McHammond(human pirate captain)

The Duchess(human pirate)

Val(tactician owlkie)

Leere(ex soldier werewolf)

Avery(sassy half vampire farmer)

The Moon(literally the moon god)

The wind(literally the wind god)

War(literally the god of prolonged conflict)

Stray(Druid performer)

Tiikri(silver Druid)

Kenyon(blind Druid)

Vol(dragon centaur wizard)

Meg(half Druid pirate)

Flor(white dragon “god”)

Azure(fire wyvern elder)

Lapis(dead for now fire dragon)

Callie(last noble satyr)

Bluebird/Hans(human carpenter pirate)

Heather(Soul Druid)

Jasper(Soul Druid)

Dusky(Soul Druid)

Felidae(ex Blood Warrior)

Ohd(Soul Druid city guard)

Haflin(Soul Druid city guard)

Gaz(Soul Druid innkeeper)

Knight [31014] (human (disowned)knight)

Knight [29084/Atticus] (human knight)

Ray(werewolf, bastard)

Avila (Totraven Knight / general badass)

Afon (Dragon pirate)

Avis (Druid pirate)

The Phoenix (literally just a phoenix ._.)

Ida (ex soldier werewoof)

Wish (Demon Lord)

Alida (ex Princess)

Rhyfel (ex Knight, ex War puppet, ex human, blind dragon)

Valeur (Dragon, alchemist, o l d)

Ser (Drider pirate)

Conquest (God of tactics and "aesthetic" war)

Subterfuge (God of (???), mentioned by Conquest passingly)

Alina (Firefly demon)

Achlys (Lich, bastard)

Camedyr (Ambassador for the Citadel)

Inowe (very cold magic user)

Flae (very warm magic user)

Julia (bonded to scorpion, soul magic user)

Annette (bonded to spider, soul magic user)

Evi (bonded to lizard, soul magic apprentice :D)

Ex (emo lizard bonded Soul Druid)

Crim (protective lizard bonded Soul Druid)

Rise (weapons expert under Evelyn)

Evelyn Shaw (aka the Admiral, Captain of a pirate ship)

The Sun (literally the Sun)

Polaris (god of navigation/navigational constellations)

Ennui (warrior of War, psychopath)

Wren (strange traveler :D)

Six (Magical cat assassin)

Thorn(ex knight now werewolf(woof))