Solo The First Encounter

Sarahai is harassed up the coast by an unsavory party...

(This is a thread from Mizahar's fantasy roleplay forum. Why don't you register today? This message is not shown when you are logged in. Come roleplay with us, it's fun!)

An inland sea created by Ivak's cataclismic fury during the Valterrian, the Suvan Sea is a major trade route and the foremost hub for piracy in Mizahar. [lore]

The First Encounter

Postby Sarahai on October 22nd, 2015, 6:21 pm

45th of Fall, 515, to the south west of Syliras in the Suvan Sea...


Sarahai watched the coast. There was something out there. The tall Svefra stepped off the edge of her Casinor and turned towards the cabin of her ship. Moving towards it, she took out a quill, a bottle of ink and some parchment. Her lanky frame moved outside and she settled, looking out at the sand, the ink and parchment resting on a wooden box. Gently, the Svefra dipped her quill into the inkpot and began to write.

"Flashes and glimpses. Like a dream. Colours of red and brown, and the whispers of their movements. I have heard stories about what I believe to be out there, but never in my seventeen years of life have I had the displeasure of meeting one. They are the Yukmen. Monsters cast up from Mizahar herself. They have been chasing me up this coast since almost dawn. But I still have yet to see one..."

She folded the parchment, the first quarter filled, onto the table. She tucked the quill behind her ear and put the stopper in the inkpot, placing it on the parchment and leaving it there on the box. The Svefra stood up and moved to the ropes connecting to her sails. Her knots weren't great, but they'd do. Her sails released and caught the breeze, propelling her ship forwards.

Sarahai jumped to the wheel, grasping the worn wood in her slim hands. She wasn't extremely strong, despite her size. Just above average for a man, really. But they were used to this wheel. Sarahai maneuvered the ship down the coastline. One eye was always on the trees behind the sands.

"There!" she said, somewhat loudly. She'd seen it. A Yukman's head had appeared, just for a second. A crown of pebbles had surrounded the head, the eyes were black and without any spark of life within them. The skin was broken and red, with blood dripping slightly from what appeared to be an open sore on its cheek. It sent a shiver of fear through Sarahai.

She quickly slowed the boat and moved to tie it, her hands botching the knot twice. She was shaking. Eventually, the sails stayed down.

Sarahai moved into her cabin. On the wall towards the back of her ship, her steel spears were sharp and pointed. Sarahai swallowed her fear and took them, wrapping them with string. She also took her wrist knife. It was tiny. Her palm's length twice, with half being the handle. It wouldn't stop a Yukman. It might blind one. If she was exceedingly lucky.

Feeling better armed, Sarahai moved back outside and looked down at the beach. She yelped and ducked.

Five Yukman. Crownhead was in the middle. They seemed to be following him. The others were very similar. One of them, however, was female, much slimmer and smaller than the males. Many were covered in small cuts or scratches. One had piece of its arm missing.

But the thing that really scared Sarahai was that three were armed. Crownhead, the female and a large male. All with clubs, only, but even that was more than Sarahai had ever heard them wielding. Were they their own make? If not, where did they get them? Sarahai was breaking out in a cold sweat.

So she went back out onto the deck, sat down, and uncorked the inkpot. Pulling her quill from her ear, she began to write.

"Five of them. They stand on the shoreline, watching. Four males, one of which I glimpsed earlier. One female. They follow one. I cannot tell why. He has a crown of stones jutting from his skull. Only half a finger-length long, but the effect still makes his presence here somewhat important. Do they follow him? If so, why?"

Sarahai watched the Yukmen. Crownhead began to pace, waiting for her to come ashore. Sarahai resolved to not come ashore. But she noticed the rest began to copy his movements. Half her page was full.

"I am scared in a way I have never felt. I am intimidated. I have never fought with the intention to kill. I wrestled with boys when I was a child, yes, but I never sought to hurt them. I think these mean to hurt me. I think these mean to kill me. I cannot tell why they follow me. Am I the first person they have seen in a time? Three are armed, including the leader. He began to pace, they followed. Do they copy him?"

She had one quarter of the page left to fill. Sarahai spent some time pondering over what she wished to write. She kept being distracted by the Yukmen, however, and eventually she decided to put their description to paper.

"Their skin is red, like it has been burned. It is cracked, like it is dry. Stones, rocks and pebbles stick out from some, like they have it inside of them. Some, I see, have pulled these stones from themselves, such as the leader. They bleed from these holes but I see no discomfort from them. The leader occasionally scratches his open wound. They are about the height of a man, but their heads are too large and their legs are very strange. They look like a mockery of a human. I am afraid."

Sarahai looked down at her page and nodded. She signed off, including the date, and went back inside her cabin. This time, she brought her quill, ink and paper. Opening the lockless chest, Sarahai placed the folded parchment on the large, neatly stacked pile. Her writings. She attempted to write at least a page a day, if not more. She opened a compartment of the chest and placed the inkwell inside. Finally, she tied her quill to the others she owned with a string and closed the chest.

Sarahai let her sails loose and sailed north, towards Syliras.
Sarahai
Player
 
Posts: 6
Words: 4958
Joined roleplay: October 20th, 2015, 9:20 pm
Race: Human, Svefra
Character sheet

The First Encounter

Postby Sarahai on October 25th, 2015, 4:31 pm

Sarahai kept an eye on the Yukmen for a while. They soon retreated back into the trees, but she could see them occassionally. Now that they had revealed themselves to her, she realized, they weren't trying to hide. Sarahai had to stay near the coast. It was too late in the year to head out into the Suvan Sea. And even then, her Casinor's rudder was ever so slightly damaged. Seaweed, she thought. Thanks to the Svefra's Oceaneaus gnosis, she had all the water she wanted and food literally fell into her lap, but she needed to make land to clear her rudder. She would lose direction otherwise.

One of the Yukmen had picked up a wheel. One of the unnarmed ones. As Sarahai sailed against the coast, he began to play with it, copying her movements. It did more than just unnerve her. What made it worse was the fact that this one wouldn't close its mouth, revealing what looked to be half a dead rat hanging from it. She observed the rat for a while, wondering if the next person to come across the Yukmen would feel terrified looking at a piece of her dripping from the repellent creature's mouth. But she couldn't think like that. She was going to make it. She was only seventeen. Her life hadn't really even begun. She had to survive this. She just had to.

The Yukman walked on the beach for a while, as if displaying that it knew what to do with the wheel, and then dropped it before disappearing into the undergrowth again. Sarahai watched the wheel as it lay on the sand, her hands shaking at her own. It was obvious the wheel lying on the beach was from a cart, but the symbolization still made her ill inside. She wondered if her Casinor's wheel would eventually end up being picked up by some mindless monster and played. Sarahai hoped not. By the gods she hoped not...

The land was starting to clear. They were coming out into a row of sand dunes. The Yukmen walked along the dunes in order. They had the three with the heavy clubs out in front. The Ratman, as she named him, was bringing up the rear. Crownhead occasionally tried to mimic what she was doing with the wheel, but soon it stopped. Or was it a he? The body was obviously male. So she decided that's what he was.

Sarahai looked ahead. She could see storm clouds ahead. Was she going to have to face the Yukmen, or the open sea? The Svefra's hands were shaking at the wheel. Death by drowning, desperately trying to save her worldly possessions, or death by Yukmen, beaten and devoured? Would she even be dead?
Sarahai
Player
 
Posts: 6
Words: 4958
Joined roleplay: October 20th, 2015, 9:20 pm
Race: Human, Svefra
Character sheet


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 0 guests