PM to join [The Warrens] A Duel Most Deadly

A stranger foolishly interrupts a battle to the death between two unhappy individuals.

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Built into the cliffs overlooking the Suvan Sea, Riverfall resides on the edge of grasslands of Cyphrus where the Bluevein River plunges off the plain and cascades down to the inland sea below. Home of the Akalak, Riverfall is a self-supporting city populated by devoted warriors. [Riverfall Codex]

[The Warrens] A Duel Most Deadly

Postby Kaie on February 9th, 2016, 9:11 pm

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43rd of Winter, 515 AV

It was all so very disappointing. Years ago the ethnocentric young Myrian girl had docked before the glory of the pounding falls of the city's namesake. Even to this day she could recall the superb wines, the progressively modern nature of the city's character, and the alluring weather that had made the experience thoroughly enjoyable. Yet Morwen did not cater to the fond memories of one single woman during what she'd expected to be her final visit to Riverfall. Instead the city was foully cursed with the most wretched winter Kaie had ever experienced since she crossed the Suvan Sea. Each day she left her domicile donning a winter cloak and buck skin legging that added to the warmth of her usual, tribal outfit. Part of her always longed for a day sitting idle beside a crackling flame, but the warrior heart that beat deep within her chest could not weather the idleness that activity called for. Thus, she entered the wintry streets plagued by ice and snow with the sole purpose to maintaining her physicality. Without her hunting partner around to take on the perils that awaited her outside the city's walls, she resigned herself to an activity more simple than a spar: running. It was perhaps a bit foolhardy considering the conditions, but in the mind of the savage woman, the challenges of the environment were merely more appealing.

So she ran, pacing herself with exhales of visible breath like a visualized breathing rhythm. Now and then she earned a strange look from those she passed by. Those had been the few who cared enough to over think the antics of a clearly crazed foreigner of course. Nonetheless, she continued on through the streets, dodging and slipping through clustered areas of travelling bodies as she went. Sometimes, at the last second, the Myrian would suddenly make a snap decision to turn a corner. Her boots would drift along with the harsh turn, hands often times dipping down to ensure she didn't make an embarrassing fall. Then it was off again like an arrow from a taught bow string. The rolling of a wheel barrow or a cart did nothing to slow the roll of the determined athlete. A swerve or a single-handed vault over the obstacle mostly did the trick. Now and then her athletic problem-solving on the move earned a "oooh" or "ahhh" of approval from her unintentional audience. Her path was anything but planned. New places and routes were being discovered as she went. Moving about the top of the city's tier, one new place caught the adventurer's eye in a tick and brought her continuing in its direction out of curiosity.

It was as if a great fist had pounded down well into the stone beneath the soil. A building built down instead of up. The Myrian approached it and slowed to stand over the depression. Carved into the stone was a lengthy, spiral staircase that seemed to taper off now and then at each level. At the very bottom there was mostly darkness with a bit of reflected light that led the woman to believe there was plenty of dampness as well. It seemed important, what with the slow moving torches that must've been held by some sort of patrol. Yet as she peered over the side, the torches that disappeared after a few rotations about the staircase disappeared for some time. A timed patrol? she deduced within her own head curiously. If that was the case that meant there was perhaps just enough time for the nosy Falyndar native to sneak around the mysterious insides of the place. Besides, the streets' challenges had gotten redundant. It was time for something new.

Kaie checked over both shoulders before making for the descending stairs below. She dared not to run down the stone steps, for each was gently covered in ice and snow. Lower steps, guarded by the cover provided from those above, seemed mostly clear from the wintry debris. However, the lower she dared to descend the darker it seemed to get. All that kept her from slipping and sliding in the darkness was the periodically placed torches along the inner walls. Figuring the interesting aspects of the establishment must've been more toward the bottom, the Myrian didn't bother with the first or second floors. Only on the third did she veer from the spiraling steps to investigate. A few steps into a better lit room revealed an impressive collection of stored food lining endless shelves. Had she been a thief, she might've made off good with at least a bottle of valuable wine. Given she had proven over the years to be quite the contrary, she moved on in the absence of torch-carrying patrols deeper into The Warrens. She could only pray whatever gift had been granted to her as of late would warn her if an emerging guard appeared to do her harm.


OOC:Word Count: 40,454/50,000
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[The Warrens] A Duel Most Deadly

Postby Kaie on February 9th, 2016, 11:54 pm

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The place was oddly eerie the deeper Kaie explored. The echoing drips of icicles and snow briefly melting above in the face of Syna's glow were enough to had the Myrian turning on her heels now and again. The wind howled strangely through the corridors like a macabre pan flute. Her steps were more conscious for the sake of stealth now. The heels of her feet were planted on the ground first before the next step brought her rolling to the ball of the first foot. Her hand lingered close to her side where her sword was hidden beneath her cloak upon her hip. A few more levels and I'll go back up, she reasoned with herself. Once she hit the fifth floor, logic warned she had indeed gone far enough. Her race wasn't lost on herself. No one ever let her forget what she was. The young woman wouldn't have it any other way, but with that pride came the dangers of her people's stigma. Most had been inclined to draw upon her and ask questions later. She would expect no less from the protective forces of Riverfall. Lhex never had patience for caution in his agenda. The echoing of angry voices somewhere below her prevented the wise retreat back above ground.

Must be Tukant, she thought begrudgingly to herself as she listened. The woman dared to lean over the side of the stone stair "railing" to peer below. Amber eyes glanced about but yielded no explanation for the noise. Thus, she had little choice but to continue her venturing below. Around and around she sneaked about in pursuit of answers. On what she counted to be the seventh floor, the Myrian planted her back against the inner most wall and peered into the room where the voices rang the loudest. Sure enough there were the two tall Akalaks facing off. Kaie need not understand their language to see just how the situation was escalating. Body language told a more detailed story than their words ever could. Blue and purple bodies were so close she doubted she could fit a full gladius length between their chests. Their hands were balled into fists at their sides, broad shoulders taught, and expressions hostile. They seemed thoroughly oblivious to their audience, raising their voices before the purple finally shoved the blue. The blue Akalak's body shot backward until his back slammed against a weapon rack. A few objects sprung from their hold and clattered noisily upon the stone floor. In anger, the blue man snatched an oddly curved blade from the floor. The purple man responded by withdrawing his lakan.

Go your own way, Myrian. Turn your back. Let them kill each other. It's none of your business and no good for a foreigner to be found at the scene of any slain citizen. A pathetic attempt at rationality from her logical mind produced no success. After a few swings and interceptions of metal upon metal, the Myrian found herself moving forward toward the fray like the fool she truly was.
"Cut it out!" she attempted to holler over the clash in Common. Well done, Kaie! Starting off strong with a pun about sharp edges while they're aiming with some for each other's throats. How witty. She shook off her internal critic with a grit of her teeth. The pair's eyes shifted, surprised in her entrance, but the hatred they harbored for one another kept either from adverting their attention for more than a tick. Rather than explaining themselves in Common to the self-proclaimed referee, they shouted what she expected to be obscenities at one another in Tukant. The purple combatant placed a well timed front kick into his opponent's chest, sending the blue fighter onto the ground. However, when the purple man moved in to capitalize on the weakness of a grounded target, the blue man exploited his arrogance with a scissor kick to his leg that send him back on his own rear. The two found their feet and then the battle resumed once more.

Gods dammit, she thought to herself before storming over as the pair dueled to the death. When the purple man rotated to parry a strike and knock blue backward with a strike of his free fist, effectively positioning himself recklessly with his back to a savage, Kaie intervened. Quickly, her right hand seized his right wrist and pulled it toward her while her right forearm positioned itself just above his elbow. Then, while applying pressure to the joint for the sake of coercion, Kaie spun the purple man down onto his stomach. Maintaining control and leverage by gripping the wrist, Kaie utilized both her hands then to pry the lakan free. Naturally, the blue man had recovered from the sucker punch by then and was reeling back with wide eyes at the turn of events. Yet Kaie did not wait to see if he would choose to strike his vulnerable enemy or the foreigner who dared to intervene. Bronze fingers wrapped tightly around the lakan and her gnosis burned something fierce upon her skin. Even her gift had been aroused by the violence, birthing a sense of paranoia. As the blue man approached with his sword swinging in a diagonal and downward, Kaie turned to halt his blade with the new one she'd just acquired from the purple man. The strange Akalak weapon successfully kept the sword at bay with the simple positoning, and Kaie punished the attacker with a left shin between his legs. The man crumpled with an agonized groan before her. The sword remained up in defense powered by will power alone. Yet even with the purple man disarmed and the blue man on his knees, her work was not nearly so easy as she hoped.

Behind her she could hear the sound of a temporarily humiliated man finding his footing. Please don't make this harder than it is. Please just petching don't. The paranoia appeared to demand her attention on both sides. Malice surrounded her now, and immediately her mood darkened. Of course. All she could do with get a quick roundhouse off to the side of the kneeling blue man's head before the purple man was upon her. The blue man collapsed and the sword slipped from his fingers as he hit the floor. The purple man, on the other hand, let brute strength and animal-like rage dictate his strategy. Her gift warned her to move from her center, but the Myrian simply was too late to move. The Akalak plowed her over and pinned her to the stone ground on her back. The end result was a firm mount atop her torso. His left hand worked to pin her lakan-wielding wrist down while his right hand attempted to control her by wrapping fingers about her throat. The Myrian strength of the woman made matters somewhat difficult though the far more muscular man had the clear advantage. That's when she turned the tables. Kaie wrapped her right leg behind his left and her left hand peeled away his choking hand at the wrist. Almost simultaneously, the Myrian then bucked her hips toward her right shoulder to send the Akalak off and land her on top for a change. Her left hand knocked his right hand away so she could send a hammer fist down onto his face. Though he still had her lakan-wielding wrist, from her new position, she turned the blade so its threatening tip was directed right upon his soft neck. The blue man moaned from where she had previously grounded him, but the pair had proven resilient. Slowly he was working himself back up again. Time was, now if not before, forever of the essence; and the Myrian certainly lacked the patience.


"Quit fighting me or I'll break your other eye socket!" Kaie growled, probably in vain, down at her stubborn opponent. He spoke something harshly in Tukant and then proceeded to spit in her face. The sound of uneasy feet searching for a solid stance on the stone ground came from behind her. The purple man reached up to lace his fingers in the hair just behind her forehead. She knew what would surely come next. Kaie let him have what he wanted, and let him pull her hair so she could do the counter-intuitive: slam the front of her skull into the bridge of his nose. He realized the mistake all too late before the sound of a snapping nose echoed in the weapon storage room. He released her hair. The purple man gave a shout while blood cascaded from his nostrils. Clumsy fingers searched for a grip on the curved sound laying on the ground. You again? The Myrian yanked her head up and capitalized on her position as quickly as she could. With his free hand dropping down reflexively to cup over his nose, Kaie sent another strike down upon his bruising face before looking for her feet. The ominous sense of approaching malice intensified, and yet the savage could not free the lakan hand in time.

OOC:Word Count: 41,968/50,000
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Last edited by Kaie on February 10th, 2016, 5:07 am, edited 1 time in total.
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[The Warrens] A Duel Most Deadly

Postby Kaie on February 10th, 2016, 12:42 am

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A giant blue forearm wrapped about her neck and wrenched her from the purple Akalak. Kaie had no choice but to relinquish her grasp on the lakan in order to keep her hand as she was dragged backward. Immediately the groggy purple Akalak reunited himself with his weapon and returned to his feet. The forearm wrapped about her throat became more firm with a tightened grip. The purple Akalak approached, breathing just as hard as the Myrian woman, with his lakan held tight in his bloodied hand. Glad I could bring the two of you together on something, she couldn't help but think sarcastically. Headbutt. A good elbow to the ribs. Then a throw should do it. The lakan moved into its sheath. The blue Akalak she'd put down for at least a chime with a kick to the head lumbered into her field of vision. Her brow furrowed. If you're there...then? Both of the previously dueling men lowered their gazes while whoever was restraining her began to speak harshly in their native tongue. The Myrian tolerated it all for a tick before she wrenched herself free at the slightest slack in hold's strength. No one moved to regain control of her. Kaie backed up a bit toward the spiral staircase until she could see all in view. The newest blue Akalak appeared far older than the one she'd defeated. Decked out in light armor and holding a bright torch, the best Kaie could assume was that he was one of the patrol guards.

I'm so petched.

The three had what seemed to be a heated exchange for the better part of a chime. Kaie could do nothing but stand like an idiot in their presence in perfect ignorance. Now and then the younger blue Akalak and the purple made angry gestures in her general direction, to which she met with either a fearsome gaze or a muttering of Myrian profanity with folded arms. Finally, the patrol guard addressed the savage in Common. "Explain yourself. Now." She scratched the back of her head. How much truth should she exactly tell? The beaten Akalak folded their arms with tight expressions.

"I heard yelling from up above," she began slowly with an index finger prodding upward in the air to signal the wider world of Riverfall she had come from.
"It sounded bad. I got curious and wandered down here. Found these idiots trying to kill each other. Guess I thought I'd do you all a favor. Heard a rumor you Akalak can't really afford to lose more than a few." The pair of beaten Akalaks began to murmur darkly in a way the Myrian couldn't tell if they were conversing to one another or just voicing their thoughts out loud in general. They were silence with the risen hand of the guard. "Since when are Myrians concerned with our numbers?" Kaie looked at him squarely with one raised eye brow. "We're not." His eyes narrowed and he pressed his lips into a hard line. She let him gaze upon her face, search her eyes for whatever he was looking to find.

He turned to his two brethren with a wicked downward curl of the corner of his lip. Storming toward the blue man, he gripped the sword in the man's hand and separated him from it with a rough shove to his chest. He snarled something and pointed down the fallen weapons scattered on the floor from when one of the pair was thrown against the racks. Both ducked their hands and trudged to the mess, returning each piece of weaponry to its proper place in storage. "The Warrens is more important than it looks, Myrian. It is not a playground." His voice turned to a growl again as he eyed the disgraces before him. "And it is neither a fighting pit nor a place to pick out a toy."

"What exactly is it? Some giant storage unit?"
"I guess you have discovered that by now...so yes. It is that exactly. Food, weapons, and everything else the city might need. Last I checked, our repository was not listed as a 'must see' tourist destination in Riverfall."

"I wouldn't know, I can't read." She flashed her teeth at him, but the hardened guard cared not for her antics. Instead he shouted something at the working Akalaks. They both returned to stand before him when the weapons were all returned to their rightful places. "Go back above ground, Myrian." He barked something in Tukant which prompted the blue and purple Akalaks to begin venturing with hunched shoulders further down the staircase to some level below. The guard began to follow behind him, but paused once to look over his shoulder at the foreigner. "I don't want to find you wandering around down here on my next walk through."

Kaie raised her hands before her peacefully before resigning to head the opposite direction. So up the stairs she went, back toward the world above from whence she had come. Each level brought her further out of the darkness she had begun to enjoy, but with the guard clearly far below, the Myrian couldn't help but duck into various levels along her way. By the time she'd reached the top, the purpose of The Warrens had become far more clear. Most levels seemed to hold one of three things: consumables, weapons, or gear necessary for a civilization's survival. Did the populace retreat down below here when the Djed Storm rocked the world? Did it function for them like the Syliran underground did for us? The notion was potentially worth pursuing, but questions about the tragedy would surely bring up more than just her own unpleasant thoughts of the losses incurred. All she knew was from word of mouth.

Razkar had seemed deeply troubled by the event, so troubled in fact that merely asking him what befell their nation was written pain across his face. Tsu'kai was tragic, too. He wasn't incredibly detailed, but he clearly implied that the storm had broken him and many others the two had known well back home. So broken he became that he abandoned their homeland out of spite and denounced their Goddess Queen in favor of a god named Ivak. She could only pray that he had proven to be the most extreme case, the only Myrian to stop being a Myrian all together in all but inescapable biology. The return seized Kaie in a way that had it harder to swallow. Everything was forced down beneath her own surface once more. After all, if she let it reemerged, there would be no stopping the damage of her own self destructive behavior. The past had proven just that.


OOC:Word Count: 43,089/50,000
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Kaie
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[The Warrens] A Duel Most Deadly

Postby Theo Popcampio on July 3rd, 2016, 7:26 pm

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To the victor...

Grades Awarded!

Kaie

Skills
    Running 2
    Acrobatics 1
    Endurance 1
    Intelligence 1
    Investigation 1
    Unarmed combat 2
    Scouting 1
    Intimidation 1
    Socialization 1
    Persuasion 1
    Logic 1
Lores
    Location: Riverfall’s Warrens
    The Warrens: A storage area
    Letting curiosity get the better of you
    Rhetoric: Unfortunate puns
    The Warrens: A shelter?
Rewards/Consequences
    Notes :
    I liked this thread a lot. Had a few twists and turns, although I wish Kaie's exploration didn't have to end so soon ;). I was totally expecting her to handle those two akalaks. My one critique would be that with the longer paragraphs my thoughts want to jump off the page, it'd be easier to focus on smaller pieces of writing(that could just be my attention span though). All in all, good grade. I did my best to give you the xp you deserved.

    You know the drill: Update your cs, mark the thread as graded in the request forum, let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

    Happy hunting!

    ...go the spoils.
    All my templates were made by the grace of the enchanting Aislyn Leavold.
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