Open A Cursed Tenday Indeed (Open)

Syka's residents gather for the first tenday of pring 522.

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Syka is a new settlement of primarily humans on the east coast of Falyndar opposite of Riverfall on The Suvan Sea. [Syka Codex]

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A Cursed Tenday Indeed (Open)

Postby Antelokes on March 21st, 2022, 4:05 am

Antelokes stood near the edge of the Tenday crowd, eyes darting across the myriad of attendees, many of them afflicted with some form of malady or another. To be honest, he didn't quite trust that someone wouldn't stand up and get violent. Strange things were happening in Syka, and it wasn't out of the question that something could happen to make one of the peaceful residents dangerous.

Antelokes just hoped he wouldn't be the one to crack and hurt someone. Ever since he'd landed here he'd been seeing things. Visions, messages from his god Ivak. The only problem was that they didn't feel quite right. Antelokes wasn't anyone to tell a god what he should or shouldn't show his followers, but the things he'd seen were harsher and crueler than he had come to expect from his patron. Antelokes had just about decided that either he had finally gone insane or the god had. The fact that weird things were happening to other people provided an attractive third option. It was the world itself who had gone insane.

He listened quietly as people presented their problems one by one. They were a sorry lot--that was for sure--and it put Antelokes' situation into perspective. He might spend a couple minutes every day a little unsure whether or not he would be burnt to a crisp, but at least he knew for sure what genitalia he would have when he woke up in the morning.

The hugging Isur spoke, and Antelokes considered his words, considering possible causes and solutions. This Crylon Stonecraft seemed much more knowlegable about this sort of thing than he himself was, but every bit of knowledge would help. He stood, nodding to Crylon and raising his voice.

"My name is Antelokes, I also came with the Veronica, Just in time for the excitement, looks like. As for what I have, I've been seeing things. It's not all the time, but every day so far I've received a vision from the gods. At least that's what they seem like, but I hope for all our sakes they're just part of this craziness. If it turns out they're all true I might just swim right out into the ocean until I find a shark hungry enough to oblige to eat me. It'd end faster that way." He shifted nervously.

"It's possible these visions could make me act strange, and if they do then you all have my permission to slap the sense back into me. Just... do it gently if you can.
As for where this all comes from, I didn't see anything out of the ordinary on the ship except for a few children, but I wasn't looking for anything either. I agree that that would be a good place to start. I don't know anything about any divine testing or playing or if we could do anything about it, but just in case that this is something we can fix ourselves I think we need to find out everything we can about how to do it."

Having said his piece, Antelokes quickly strode back to the outskirts of the group. There was an uneasy twist in his stomach, a gut feeling that told him that if he was wrong and if these visions were valid then talking about them was just sealing his doom. He swallowed back the fear and tried to immerse himself in cool rationale. Whatever was happening here was hurting people. Hurting children too. He could deal with his own fears.

He hoped.
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A Cursed Tenday Indeed (Open)

Postby Ialari Pythone on March 22nd, 2022, 8:26 am

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Ialari avoided most of the Ten Day gathering by keeping to herself and avoiding most of the others who were there. Her newfound “condition” left her feeling more out-of-place than normal which was saying something. Instead, she stayed to the side and watched while trying, rather unsuccessfully, to ignore what she was experiencing with her own body. She watched as people seemed to move about with uncertainty and none of the cheer that would otherwise be found during what was normally a celebratory time. While she had wanted to cover herself more, she found added clothing to be extremely uncomfortable due to the same condition. So she kept to wearing her skirt and chest wrap even though it only added to her awkwardness.

When Randal, looking even more out-of-place than Ialari felt, called everyone close, Ialari remained somewhat to the side yet close enough to hear. As he spoke of the obvious problem at hand and others shared the individual experiences with whatever it was that was that was wreaking havoc throughout the settlement, Ialari quickly realized just how widespread it had gotten. She listened as people spoke of seeing things that weren’t there, having unusual cravings, being forgotten by close friends, physical transformations, strange visions and changes in personality. Everyone seemed to have something different happening to them; some more pronounced than others. She took particular note of one of the newcomers to the settlement, an isur and member of her clan. Something he said got her mind reaching out in all directions as she began searching for patterns and connections to what was going on; the mention of possible divine ties.

After several people had shared their thoughts and experiences, Ialari reached for a strong beverage on a nearby table and downed it quickly. As she swallowed the last gulp of the fruity drink with a bite to it, she steadied herself before speaking up from the back of the crowd.

“Ex..Excuse me.” Her voice was a bit shaky at first but she quickly found her focus despite her senses fighting against her with every word. She spoke slowly and tried to enunciate her words in the human tongue despite her accent.

“Some of you may know me while others I am new to. My name is Ialari Pythone. I am a occasional visitor and sometimes resident here; most recently as of last winter.” She noticeable fidgeted; glancing down at her hands every so often and rubbing her nose as if to wipe away something that wasn’t there.

“As with the many of you, I too have been affected by whatever this is…” She paused for a moment before continuing.

“As I speak, my senses have been twisted and changed. Although you may not see anything too unnerving, I see myself as a corpse that has been left to the jungle for too long…” Her voice started to shake again.

“My skin is rotted and it looks as though something has been chewing on me. There are holes in my gut where it looks like something had been feasting on my insides. I can smell the decay with every breath, taste the putrid foulness with each movement of my mouth.” She paused again and wiped her nose where she felt an invisible dripping of disgust.

“I can feel the maggots crawling around inside me and hear their burrowing in my skull. While I want to think that none of this is real, everything about it feels terribly wrong. If I hadn’t experienced worse things in my life, I’m afraid I would have already gone mad.”

Putting her non-metallic hand behind her back in a pointless gesture of hiding the rotted, bone-exposed fingers, she said, “Like the rest of you who have been affected, I don’t know exactly what is going on. Yet, after hearing what you all have been going through and some of your thoughts on what may be happening, I think I may have some ideas.“

Ialari scratched lightly at her ear as she tried to gather her thoughts before continuing.

“I have some experience in dealing with all manner of strange magic as well as the games the gods play on people. I feel that what is happening could be caused by either. Syka is a beacon that attracts no small amount of strangeness. Magic surrounds us and weaves through this settlement in so many ways. It could easily be that someone has stumbled upon or has been playing with something they shouldn’t. This place is also a place that draws divine attention. It could also be that some god or someone or thing tied to one is doing this. Whatever the source, after listening to what you all have had to say so far, it sounds like we are suffering from a curse of some sort.” Ialari had not considered that possibility at first. It wasn’t until hearing the details of the various afflictions people were suffering from and then Crylon mentioning divine games that she started to think of being cursed.

Gritting her teeth, she clenched her metallic hand while struggling with the sound of the maggots just inside her ear.

“The reason I believe we are somehow cursed is based somewhat on my experiences dealing with those who have been cursed; cursed through their own misdeeds or by angering a greater power. What you all described individually feels similar although I can’t imagine what any of us could have done to bring such a thing upon ourselves.” Ialari coughed into her hand, looked at it and wiped it on her skirt.

“That is what I believe is the “what” of all of this. As for what is causing it and why, that I think is more difficult to understand. I do suggest though that we look at it as one would a puzzle…I believe that is your word for it. We already have identified some of the pieces. To begin, there seems to be some agreement that this started a few days ago, just as Winter gave way to Spring. Unless someone knows of something else, the most significant event was the return of the Veronica with new people and supplies so whatever the source is could very well have come along.” She paused in consideration before adding, “I guess it is still possible though that it came from within the settlement or somewhere in the jungle but that is a less…defined…piece.”

Taking a moment to look for another drink, Ialari found one and gulped it down in a futile attempt to wash the taste of rotting infection from her mouth. Even as she struggled with what she was feeling, her mind continued with the pieces of the puzzle it was presented with.

“Next, this curse or whatever it is, doesn’t seem to spread from those who are affected to those who are not. If it did, there would be more of us suffering from the effects. That tells me that there is a single source; a person or object, an animal or even a god that is doing this…” She stopped abruptly, leaned behind a nearby table and vomited; the smell of her own decay overwhelming her. Wiping her mouth, she straightened herself before turning back to the group.

“My apologies…Now, whatever the source of all of this, be it magical or divine in nature, such things rarely distance themselves too much from what is going on. If it is magical, we all had to encounter it and most of us haven’t gone too far from the settlement recently so it should be nearby. If it is divine…well, in my experience, no matter the god involved, they tend to like to watch the results of whatever they are doing. They tend to do so either directly in a different form or through people or objects but they are always relatively close. To put it simply, I think the source of all this is close by.” Noticing a maggot that nobody else could see crawling out of a nasty tear in the skin of her arm, Ialari brushed it off.

Her mouth was still feeling dry from speaking her thoughts as fast as they entered her mind and the taste of dead blood and the stiff feeling of desiccation was starting to get to her.

“I would suggest we start…how do you humans say it…retracing our steps? Think back to where you were when you first started feeling strange or started seeing strange things. What were you doing before that? Where had you been? Do you remember anything that seemed normal at the time but thinking back, seems strange now?” Ialari waved her hand as if to shew away the flies buzzing around her that only she could see.

“Finally, whatever we all decide to do about this, whatever the source is, we have to find it and somehow stop it. Also, consider that whatever started this, if it is capable of thought, knows that we are slowly putting the pieces of this terrible puzzle together…” Ialari could no longer maintain her composure through her own morbid stench, the buzzing flies and the crawling maggots. She quickly excused herself for a few moments to get herself together. She found some water and tried to splash it on her face only to find little relief. Stepping back from the spotlight of attention did however allow her to focus more on dealing with all that she was feeling and a short few moments later she was able to return and hear the continuation of the group discussion.

Vocalizing her thoughts to the group did allow her to form an idea of her own on how she would try discovering the source. It was not something she wanted to share with everyone though as it would not only involve too much complicated explaining, it would also mean that whatever it was that was doing this to her and the others would be made aware of what she was going to try.

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A Cursed Tenday Indeed (Open)

Postby Reve Ashworth on March 22nd, 2022, 10:31 pm


Well, Reve mused to himself. At least I am not alone in being plagued by some…issues. If anything, learning the fact that many others had afflictions pushed him further into unease as he tried to compute any type of understanding from people speaking about their curse they had been saddled with. He felt as if he was grasping at straws as he unconsciously scratched his hand, almost feeling the rough texture of rusted iron ghost across his fingertips.

A quick shake of his head sent the feeling of degradation scattering. It was just his mind playing tricks on him, only metal suffered under the curses touch, not flesh or other matter. Briefly, he wondered what metal content would count as metal enough for the curse’s teeth, could he turn it into some ore detecting boon?

The image of him running around and slapping stones to see if they rust and reveal metal briefly flickered through his head.

Another shake of his head. He was getting distracted. His mind was on flights of fancy because as terrible as this occurrence was it was also terribly interesting. Though he kept that thought to himself as he worked his way through the crowd.

For Gods sake, there was a girl that was going through entire life cycles in mere moments! The energy or djet requirement to consistently cycle like that must be astronomical yet here she was, not bursting into flames as her body warped in a way that would make any master morpher drool. Then there was a man, Isur, and a young boy who all had their mental states warped from addictions to compulsive hugging to…whatever was wrong with the pink-haired boy.

Nothing made sense. It was too varied of effects to just be one person, in his opinion. The curses also settled in too quickly to be the work of some clever mage. Unless there happened to be a mage that can simply ignore overgiving and had mastery of enough disciplines of magic to affect an entire settlement. Even if that was the case what would be the motive? What did Syka have that a person like that could not just simply take?

He let out a deep sigh as he kept his hands firmly in his pockets and away from anything metal. This was outside his area of education. He knew the astral body and how to link portals to the other side. Curses were not in his portfolio. Yet he had the feeling as the season continued on they would quickly be added to his portfolio.

He calmed his thoughts as he listened to the Isur woman give her thoughts on the matter. Her curse seemed one of the more devious ones with her thinking maggots and rot were eating her from the inside, yet she almost brushed it off as if it was nothing. Just what could she have gone through before that makes something like this bearable? She did give the idea of retracing Syka’s steps and starting from the beginning. Which was the logical place to start.

As she stopped talking, Reve struggled up to stand on a chair near one of the tables and spoke.

“Hello,” He gave a wave and a tight smile. “My name is Reve Ashworth. A few of you might have seen me around even though I haven’t been a larger part of the community. I plan to change that fact and this…event just accelerated that task up the list.” He clasped his hands in front of him, emulating his Master way back in Lhavit when he was lecturing.

“A demonstration of what my special…trait is this season,” He spoke as he bent down and extracted a newly cleaned and sharpened knife from his boot and he held it in front of him for all to see. The tingle in his palm came back as a ripple only he could see ghosted across the knife. The metal grew warm to his mind as the edge of the knife dulled and chipped, a wave of rust surged from the hilt to consume the blade in a flurry of rust. Before the rust climbed to eat the whole blade he let it slip from his fingers and clatter at his feet. “It only affects metal I am touching with my hands, no other part of my body does this, and it requires skin-to-skin contact. As such cloth stops the curse from degrading the metal. I plan to get a pair of gloves post haste.” He forced a small smile out, it was better to try and remain upbeat in the face of a frightening event.

“I also discovered that the curse tags along with my astral body when I Project it to touch the world around me. I don’t know enough about curses to tell if that is normal or not, it was not a topic I covered while in Lhavit.”

“Perhaps that shows that it's not just physical but also embedded in my soul and that's why it tags along with my projection. As startling as that sounds it's also a good thing, it gives us a place to look. Knowing where to look is half the battle when trying to solve a mystery.”

He took a breath as the tingling in his hands faded. The marching ants of the curse’s effect finally faded from his mind as they no longer hungered for the metal that was briefly in his hand.

“I could only assume that this has something to do with the trinkets and abilities we were given last season. Perhaps that is the place to start our search?”

And without further notice, Reve stepped off the chair and was back level with the crowd.

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A Cursed Tenday Indeed (Open)

Postby Gossamer on April 4th, 2022, 1:41 am

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One by one the other residents got up and reported their issues. It seemed only Mathias and Stu were unaffected. Indigo claimed she got lost out in the Wilderness, so she was temporarily renting one of the Overwater Ranchos until she could figure out what was going on. Uta had developed magnetism, so she was having a hard time working her herbs unless she used only glass items.

Juli claimed she now heard sound as colors and she was most usually useless if there was a lot of noise because it blinded her. Jansen, the doctor, seemed to fall asleep all the time - at the oddest times - and that was true because Kami who had walked over to the gathering with him had to elbow him awake in order to get him to go up and speak. Her problem, it seemed, was that she couldn't remember anyone's name. She knew everyone... but she just had no idea what their names were.

Rainmere, the local firedancer, was completely afraid of the dark now. Artik was experiencing extreme hair growth, and Gracelin had gotten the shakes so much that she was having problems using her hands at all.

Duncan, who had once been blind but had developed sight and had actually proposed to the Konti at the Outpost that had healed him had abruptly lost his sight again. Buraga was affected by crippling muscle cramps that made it hard for him to do his job at all as the head of the Rangers. Tony killed plants when he touched them. It was a problem because he was the primary farmer for the Isuas plants in Syka.

His wife Dawn had developed a severe allergy to Isuas itself. So she claimed she was going to have to turn all the weaving of it over to Naadiya who could actually handle the fiber. Nesra claimed she was extremely clumbsy and dropped almost everything she tried to hold onto. Lars was super forgetful...he'd walk into a room and forget why he walked in. He had people reminding him to eat because he would forget meals routinely. Ken, the Kelvic Jungle Fowl had turned into his animal form and hadn't been able to transform back. Xander had developed extreme arthritis while An'un a local Witch had completely forgotten the language of Nura.

It grew weirder and weirder. Tegan said that shadows talked to him, telling him to do horrible things... while Zayne claimed that food all appeared rotten to him... that it was hard to eat or drink anything without it looking and tasting spoiled. When Sorian was around fire, it tended to jump out of its boundaries... be it a candle, a campfire, anything... and spread. It had lit several job sites on fire and he was cautious to proceed with any building until his issues were solved.

Nora claimed birds hated her and would routinely attack which was demonstrated when Ken saw her and started acting like an offended rooster. Randal, with his bestial features, secured the Kelvic jungle Fowl under his arm and took him to where Nora was out of sight.

And finally... Michaela claimed she heard voices in her head. The voices told her to hurt herself. She said the children hadn't shown any signs of afflictions, and she was resisting the urge to do any self-harm so far.

It was quite a lot... there was almost no talk when people slowly got up one after another and talked about their afflictions.

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A Cursed Tenday Indeed (Open)

Postby Tazrae on April 4th, 2022, 1:47 am

Tazrae sat off to one side, quietly, by herself and simply took notes. There was nothing else for her to do. She wrote down everyone's name and wrote the affliction next to it rather impersonally. She included that Stu and Mathias weren't affected. Then, once Michaela had spoken, she added in that the children had no affliction either.

She did have a question though. "Excuse me.... I was wondering... if Stu and Mathias know if they have anything in common which might indicate why they aren't affected by this? Are they eating odd food? Taking medicine? Have they had a sickness in common? Have they been recent to the same place? Just curious if there was anything in common?" She asked.

If anyone answered, she'd keep writing, taking notes for those that couldn't remember and because she planned to pass the information on to someone who might be able to help.

When she was done with her list, she'd copy it and post a complete list at The Mercantile, The Protea, and anywhere else she thought it might help.

The List :
Anyone may have a copy of this list if they find one hanging about Syka.


Mathias - Unaffected

James - Has lost all sense of direction

Randal - Has become bestial in his features

Cleon - Has Extreme Cravings

Faye - Ages 5 years every day, when extremely elderly, ages to a newborn

Oralie - Chased by a violent dark shadow that hurts her

Naadiya - Sometimes becomes a male then becomes a female

Tazrae - No one remembers her

Shade - Wakes up knowing a new language each day fluently but forgets all other languages

Moritz - I think he lies? Uncertain... for he tells tall untrue tales

Crylon - Spontaniously hugs people

Shiress - Haunted by a violent ghost of a person she killed

Antelokes - Gets visions from various Gods

Ialari - Flesh rots off her and she sees herself decaying

Reve - When he touches metal it rusts, rots, and decays

Indigo - Gets lost after only a few steps

Uta - Is magnetic

Juli - Hears sound as visual color

Stu - Unaffected

Jansen - Narcolepsy

Rainmere - Afraid of the dark

Artik - Extreme hair growth

Gracelin - Tremors in her hands

Duncan - After regaining vision has gone blind again

Buraga - Crippling muscle cramping of random muscles

Tony - Plants die at his touch

Dawn - Allerigic to Isusas

Nesra - Constantly breaks things

Lars - Extremely forgetful

Ken - Assumed his kelvic shape of a fowl and hasn't regained his human shape since

Xander - Extreme arthritis for his young age and immobility in his digits

An'um - Loss of the use of Nura language which is divinely granted by her gnosis of Caiyha

Kami - Cannot remember people's names though she knows them

Zayne - Food appears rotten, tastes spoiled, often vomits up perfectly healthy meals

Sorien - Fires spread around him... burning candles set things alight, campfires escape their fire rings

Michaela - Voices in her head tell her to hurt herself



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A Cursed Tenday Indeed (Open)

Postby Shade on April 4th, 2022, 2:25 am

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Shade shifted growing restless. Shiress was taking too long to return. He didn't like her being alone even with her son because he'd caught her cutting herself and claiming a ghost had done it... but yet he'd seen her struggle like she'd been being choked out but no one had been there choking her. So when she left to clean up Ian, Shade had a certain number of chimes he thought was reasonable for her to be gone.... then back.

And she hadn't returned. It was odd. She could have just walked Ian over to the kitchen and used some of the water available there. But knowing Shiress, she wanted to change the boys clothing or something she couldn't do close by. He listened to everyone talk, noticed she missed most of the denizens of Syka speaking about what was wrong with them... and still hadn't returned.

At that point, he took off at a jog back towards The Protea Inn paying close attention along the way to make sure there was no sign of Shiress between here and there. He kept an eye out for Ian's toy as well. That thing made him uneasy and he swore its toy eyes watched him when he wasn't seemingly paying attention.

Darting up the steps to the Inn a few minutes later, Shade turned right down the hall and headed to Shiress' room. He heard Shiress cry out and what sounded like a slap. He pushed through the doorway in time to see Shiress go down with blood pouring from her mouth and chin. She jerked like she was struck in the side by a vicious kick but no one was there.

Shade halted over the top of the woman, looking around for what was attacking her, and saw nothing but what he thought was the toy monkey turned into a rather huge baboon male. He paused, not sure what to do because he knew most Baboons would kill a child Ians size and eat them for food.

Not wanting to take a chance, Shade lashed out with a foot, intending to roundhouse kick the baboon away from the boy. The baboon took the hit in the head like Shade intended and sent it flying across the room where it struck the wall hard. Shade reached out trying to grab Ian and pull him back to Shiress where he could defend them better with them both being in the same place. But when he reached out, the Baboon was on him like stink on a skunk and striking out with both fists.

The Baboon caught Shade in the face with a one-two punch that sent the monk flying backward, hands lifted to defend his face. The man stumbled, recovered, and kicked at the beast again, trying desperately to keep it away from the boy. Shade missed his kick horribly, and the Baboon came at him again screaming in an inhuman voice. He punched Shade in the ribs, once, then twice, causing the Monk to back up, tripping over Shiress, and going down.

Shade cussed loudly, rolled to his knees, and tried to rise. The thing screamed and launched itself at him, biting brutally into Shade's shoulder trying to take a huge chunk out of it as it grabbed onto the Monk and chomped down fiercely.

"Shiress... " the man screamed in Eypharian. "Get up... Get out.... Get Ian safe." He hissed in Eypharian, raising his fists to bring them down on the thing's skull. He put all his force into it, the creature's teeth digging down into his bone.

Shade's fist connected and he dealt the creature a huge punch to its jaw, getting it to break loose and back off. Then he looked around for a weapon, finding nothing and hoping Shiress would do as he said, grab Ian, and get out and away from the baboon.

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A Cursed Tenday Indeed (Open)

Postby Shiress on April 5th, 2022, 1:34 am

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Shiress's ears rang in the sudden silence that descended into the room a tick before he was there.

He had come.

Shade burst into the room and stood over Shiress, chest heaving. Shiress slumped to the floor, grateful, her own chest heaving, briefly wondering how the monk would explain how she had inflicted these wounds on herself. The respite, however, was short-lived when Shade's form suddenly moved, and Eenie let out an enraged bellow. Shiress had forgotten that Ian's monkey had taken on his corporeal, beastly form to protect her son, and now she watched mutely as Shade attacked the primate.

Before Shiress could react or say a word, her attention diverted from Shade and the enraged monkey to where her son sat when Ian let out a loud, terrified sob and crawled across the bed toward her. Shiress scrambled across the floor, head and ribs screaming a painful protest, and stretched out her arms, one a bloody mess where sutures had torn and had just pulled Ian from the bed, when Shade backed into her, sending all three of them rolling across the floor.

The monk let out a series of curses, none that Shiress recognized, and Eenie let out a shriek that would have cracked the windows had Protea's Inn had any. Ian cried out with another sob, and Shiress pulled the toddler tighter against her. The doctor's eyes lifted, her gaze tracking the monkey's rage twisted features and its gaping maw, saliva streaked and exposing long, sharp yellowed teeth. Teeth unlike any Shiress had ever seen before. Eenie's mouth was nothing but fang, and each one was much sharper and longer than it should be, and they all were aimed directly at Shade's throat.

"Eenie, stop! Ian, tell it to stop!" Shiress screamed, "No!"

Shiress lashed out with her hand, managing little more than a slap to the side of the monkey's head, but that slap threw off Eenie's projection enough that his massive fangs sank into the monk's shoulder and not his throat.

Shade let out a scream, Shiress vaguely recognizing it as Eypharian from her time with Sayana, but she couldn't understand what the monk was saying.

"Ian," Shiress said, attempting to soothe her son by running a hand across the top of his downy hair, "tell Eenie to stop. Please, baby." but Ian continued to sob, tear-streaked face buried in Shiress's chest.

The monk's fist slammed against the monkey's face, disengaging its teeth from Shade's shoulder, and sent the baboon looking thing stumbling back. Shade's gaze left his attacker, undoubtedly looking for what Shiress knew was a weapon.

"Ian, please, please, baby!"

In the instant Shade's head turned away, Eenie raised what should have been a hand with fingers that ended in blunt, rounded nails but, instead, raised a dark hand with elongated fingers armed with long, sharp claws, and they were poised for a strike that would gut Shade.

Letting out a scream, Shiress did something she would have never dreamed herself doing and, until her dying day, would never forgive herself for. Shiress hurled Ian around and, with a sob, threw her son into Shade's lap, thwarting the monkey's attack.

"Make him stop!!"

Ian's little hand came up, palm out, and he said, "No, Nene!"

Eenie's hand came down, and the monkey took one step backward.

Shiress pulled Ian from Shade's lap, hooked an arm under the monk's uninjured shoulder, and started dragging them toward the door. Shiress cried out in pain as her abused ribs protested Shade's weight, but the doctor didn't dare stop until she had Shade and Ian both down the steps of the inn.

All three slumped to the sand, Ian wrapping around Shiress's middle as she started ripping at Shade's bloody shirt to expose his shoulder. Gaze trained on the window of her room, Shiress pressed the remnants of the monk's shirt against his shoulder, grabbed Shade's hand, and placed it over the makeshift bandage.

"Hold this here. Press hard." she ordered, forgetting the cursed man wouldn't understand. She pulled Ian up and onto a hip, hissing as a throbbing pain up her side nearly sent her back to the ground.

On unsteady legs, Shiress retraced their flight up the stairs to the window of room two and slowly slid back the curtain. The room was empty. Returning to Shade's side, Shiress lowered her son back into the monk's lap, grabbed his arm, and wrapped it around Ian's middle, pointedly. The little boy lifted a small hand and patted Shade's shoulder gently, a toddler's attempt at soothing.

"It's okay, S'ade," he said, then slid a thumb between his lips and rested his head against the monk's chest.

Hand curling around her side with a grunt, she straightened and headed for her room again, taking the stairs measuredly. Shiress rounded a corner, slowly approached the room's door, and peered around its threshold. Seeing the space was still empty, she hurriedly crossed the floor, grabbed her and Ian's bag from the bed, and turned on a heel back for the door. Once down the steps, she dropped Ian's bag into the toddlers awaiting arms and dropped herself down beside Shade, gently peeled back the bandage from his now bloody shoulder, and frowned down at the two rows of very deep and seeping punctures.

Grabbing the waterskin from her bag, wondering briefly how old the water was in the skin as she unstoppered it, then upended it over Shade's shoulder, observing as the water ran from red to pink to clear. Returning the now empty waterskin back to her bag, Shiress grabbed a clean bandage and repeated the process of pressing it against Shade's shoulder, then securing it with the monk's hand. The doctor took a minute to catch her breath, hand still wrapped protectively around her side. When that breath remained elusive, She rested her head on the part of the monk's shoulder devoid of injury.

"Shyke, Shade, I think one of my ribs is broken," she complained, panting, despite knowing the monk wouldn't understand her.

Attention turning to Ian, Shiress straightened with a grimace, rummaged around in her bag, then traded her son a pair of blunt forceps the toddler was constantly attempting to run off with for his bag. One quick look down into the inside of Ian's bag let Shiress know she had waited long enough.

"I'll be right back." Shiress said, catching Shade's attention. Then, to make sure the monk knew what she wanted, Shiress lifted a hand palm out, indicating for him to stay put.

Glancing around, Shiress spotted what she was looking for, tucked Ian's bag under an arm, grabbed Ian by the hand, and limped in that direction. The closer she got to her target, the more people Shiress had to avoid, every one of them letting out some form of shocked gasp or sharp, surprised intake of breath as she passed by. Shiress knew she must look a sight with blood smearing her face and clothes, her arm leaking blood, but she ignored them all, keeping her eyes locked straight ahead on her target.

Stepping up to one of many bonfires dotting the area, Shiress stilled, watching the dancing flame, wondering -hoping- she was doing the right thing. It was about Ian, all about Ian, and the desire to keep her son safe. Shiress didn't care about herself as long as her son was safe. She kissed Ian's forehead, plunged a hand into the toddler's bag, and withdrew the toy monkey that Rhysol, God of Chaos and Evil, had gifted him, drew back her arm, and threw the toy into the flames.

Shiress turned, laid a loving hand over her son's head that rested on her chest, and followed the same path she had taken, returning to Shade's side without a word.

"Come on," she said, voice gentle, "Let's get your shoulder seen to." Remembering the monk couldn't understand a word she said, Shiress wrapped slender fingers around an arm and sedately led Shade toward The Panacea, where she knew the medical supplies that she would need would be readily available to her.



Word Count - 1431

Last edited by Shiress on May 12th, 2022, 2:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Moonlight drowns out all but the brightest stars

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A Cursed Tenday Indeed (Open)

Postby Shade on April 7th, 2022, 2:21 am

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The woman was insane. The child was in true danger staying with her. And she was screaming at him in a foreign language and then yelling at Ian in that same language. And he was an idiot allowing Hadrian to talk him into watching over her. At the first moment he was able, the monk was going to write his ‘friend’ a letter and explain he needed to get someone else to do it. He was at his wits end and now there was a crazy baboon endangering the child that the child seemingly controlled. And now she was dragging him out the door. She put pressure on his wound went back in.

Shade turned circles, wanting to scream at the woman. He lifted his hands in a ‘what the heck’ motion. A baboon just tried to rip off his shoulder and left a huge bite mark in him, and the woman was running back into the building where it was after dragging him outside. Then she was back, thrusting her son into his arms, and she was off again. Gods he was done with this whole mess, and let out a string of perfectly acceptable Nykan Curses in Eypharian.

And here she was bossing him around like he was some sort of servant. She wasn’t paying him. She didn’t mean a thing to him. He was doing this because he owed Hadrian, and not anything more. And now she was marching off doing what only the Gods knew what. When she returned his face was a mask, and he narrowed his eyes at her gentle voice. She grabbed his arm and tried tugging him to go with her.

There was an important meeting going on, and they were missing it. And he still had no idea why? Shiress left to clean up her son, hadn’t returned, and he’d went to find her only to find a wild animal in her room cornering her son? And the kid controlled the animal? This was absolute shyte. He shrugged off her grip and shook his head. The whole time he’d been holding his shoulder, but he wasn’t worried about a stupid animal bite. He’d gotten worse and as long as it was freely bleeding, he would be fine. He wasn’t going anywhere with her. She could take her son and hop the next boat back to wherever it was she’d come from. He wasn’t a child, and though he had no idea what she said, he wasn’t taking lightly to the fact that she was talking to him like he was one.

Shade left them. He just left them. The child was obviously marked by a God, one that Shiress said was evil, and now he controlled baboons. Shiress had said she’d been a slave once, maybe always… Shade was a little iffy on the story. But he could by the Gods clean his own wound, rub some booze in it, and it’d be fine. He couldn’t stand this back and forth, the tears, the drama that seemed unnecessary. People in this godforsaken place were crazy. This place was crazy. And he was getting fairly fed up with it and he’d only been here a day.

He ignored Shiress' assistance on wherever it was she wanted him to go, and he headed straight back to the meeting.

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A Cursed Tenday Indeed (Open)

Postby Cleon on April 7th, 2022, 3:25 pm

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Cleon did what most do in times like these and sought out a familiar face. He found that in a few he recognized off hand after everyone had gotten their chance to speak their piece, and he took the time to go over to the nearest when the time allowed. Guiding Faye gently along by her arm, he went to the first of these people, a woman he had struck up a mild acquaintance with.

“Naadiya! What do you say to a smoke and a drink after all of.. This?” Cleon said, waving his hand almost dismissively as he shook his head. “What do we even call this anyways?” He mumbled, then continued on as if he hadn’t said anything at all.

“I’m running low on Blue Vision, but I’ve got plenty of Syliran tobacco if that’s fine.” He said, taking out his pipe and tamping the last pinch of his Blue Vision into the bowl before topping it with Syliran tobacco. Then hesitating for a moment, he looked over at Faye and mouthed an apology before giving an almost helpless shrug. He extended the pipe towards Naadiya. “I don’t suppose you have a way to light this on hand?”

Whether or not she did or they went off to find a light and drinks, the time would eventually roll around to the moment he had been both waiting for and dreading.

“So what do you think about all of this? Do you have any inkling what could be behind it or are you just as lost as the rest of us?” Cleon asked bluntly as he didn’t feel particularly like coating his words in that moment with all that had already been said. “Not to say you should mind you, but.. Petch, its like I’m grasping for anything at this point. I just want to make sure whatever this is, we put an end to it.” He groused.

“So do you have any ideas on where we could start?” I was thinking about poking around the outpost for answers, seeing if anywhere else had experienced something similar.” Cleon said, figuring it was as good a place to start as any. Perhaps he could find a book about people who had similarly been afflicted elsewhere.

He paused to give Naadiya a chance to respond, and Oralie too if she’d decided to come along with them, and he would do his best to listen carefully, although it was hard to with his stomach growling. He hoped someone would break into the food soon so he wouldn’t feel guilty about doing so first.

There was then a suggestion, well a question actually from someone not far off that did pique his interest as he turned to see who it was. When he couldn’t tell off hand, he decided to speak his thoughts loudly

“I don’t know either of them well enough for that, butt..” There was that trickle of an idea, something Naadiya had mentioned the other day off hand about Stu that seemed to be the only thing occurring to him at the moment, although it didn’t seem very applicable to their situation. “But I don’t know about Matthias but maybe Stu’s god or goddess is protecting him?” Cleon asked as much as said as he turned the thought over in his head.

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A Cursed Tenday Indeed (Open)

Postby Gossamer on April 10th, 2022, 2:18 am

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Mathias and Stu quickly moved together. They held a discussion that was rapid fire while everyone else was speaking their minds and mingling around uncomfortably. Stu looked up and heard Cleon's question and nodded.

"Mathias and I were just discussin' that." The local barkeeper and brewer said. "We do have one glaring thing in common, and no one else that we know of here has a similar situation. Both myself and Mathias are priests. That means we both have three gnosis marks from the same god. In Mathias' case, his marks are from Xhyvas, who is a close friend of his. Mine are from Sivah the God of Summer, Celebration, and Excesses." Stu said with a grin. "The Tidepool is his temple and we celebrate in excess quite often." The brewer said, laughing lightly.

The crowd laughed uneasily with him. Stu had tried to lighten the mood, but no one really wanted to hear it, truth be told.

"Anyhow... a free drink to anyone who offers up a prayer of thanks to either of our deities in The Tidepool for the rest of the day. We think the fact that we have powerful divine magic at our beck and call protects us." He added, then nodded at Tazrae and Cleon for both bringing up those issues.


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