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Thread: Molyneux Rising

  1. #11
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    “We are able to harness the Tap. We are bound to one another in a way even we don’t truly understand. We have always fought for change and prosperity, and now we are free of the Forgotten One who made us this way our hearts remain on the same task.”

    The captain looked back and stared intently at the swordsman. He turned the wheel a full rotation and began to steer the ship in a wide arc towards the shore. Gulls circled overhead, a sign that their brief jaunt onto open waters would soon come to an end.
    “Forgotten One?” He had heard the name only in passing but found himself intrigued.

    “Old evil, now dead. He made us puppets and through us controlled the fates of millions. We broke free, just like you did of your fate in the tower.”

    “Hey, now, I was never in danger there.”

    “We all were. If we were a second late with the helmet the city wouldn’t be standing. Moments like that must change you. Don’t you wonder about it?” Arden tried to sound sincere but only made himself more condescending.

    “No. Never.” Killian sighed. “That was what, thirty years ago? I’ve done, and seen so much since one brush with death blurs into the next.” He grits his teeth. “Living a long life doesn’t make you any more or any less of a man than I.”

    “That’s not what he’s suggesting, Killian.” Lilith struggled to find the right words, but remembered something her absent sister said to her in times of trouble. “We might be immortal, but it’s only through the songs people sing and stories they tell of our lives that make us truly ageless.”

    “Will you tell my story, if I did?”

    Arden chuckled.

    “Captain Jeremiah, scourge of the Innari will be our best play yet!” He spread his arms in dramatic style.

    “Don’t be cute, we’ll come up with something far more highbrow if you die here today.” Lilith, sincerely worried about the captain’s mood changed the subject. “We wanted to run through our plan before we land. We’ll need to send a raven to Starr too. He won't like having to get involved.”

    Killian nodded and clapped his hands. The attentive, silent knight behind him stood to attention and approached. Green eyes glimmered from behind the veil of his steel, shining helmet.

    “Fetch a raven, Jakor, and tell your men we make landfall in two turns.”

    Arden mouthed ‘what’s a turn’ to Lilith, and she returned a silent gesture of ‘an hour’ before Killian turned back to them.

    “Go on, then. What does the Hound wish for his pack?”

    “Less word play, for one.” Arden rolled his eyes. “Fire ship, pincer movement, once defeated we travel south to rear charge the siege encampment.”
    Last edited by Arden; 12-27-2017 at 05:30 PM.

  2. #12
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    Killian gave the plan some thought as he locked the wheel of the ship in place with a reinforced bar. The crew of the Liliana came to life as word spread that they’d soon land, and Lilith watched them scuttle around like rats with a bemused expression. Arden folded his arms across his chest expectantly. He had seen Killian’s concerned behaviour before and awaited profanity.

    “You see,” he began, setting the bolt across to secure the bar against the wheel’s supports. “I’m fairly sure I told you to never burn down on of my ships again.” He glared.

    “This isn’t your ship, though.”

    “Technicalities won’t get you out of the fact you want to use the Queen’s epitaph vessel as a decoy.” He prodded an accusing finger at the swordsman. “You need to find another way.”

    “Then bring us another ship,” Lilith interjected. She turned back to the duo and slipped from the crate. Upright, she was an imposing visage of beauty and sincerity. “The Innari aren’t going to welcome us with open arms if they see a fully armed and manned war ship moored of the coast of their territory.”

    “They might.” Killian rummaged in his pockets for his pipe. “Not everything has to be quite so dramatic.”

    “How do you figure?” Arden watched the captain empty and refill his pipe and set it alight with a flick of his forefinger and thumb. The faint smell of parlour magic briefly filled the air.

    “Well,” he took a deep drag and exhaled some rings. “What’s the one thing the Innari hate more than everything else?”

    The siblings looked to one another for inspiration but could only muster a mutual shrug.

    “Themselves.” The captain said flatly.

    “Oh.” Arden raised an eyebrow. “Oh I don’t like where this is going.”

    “Starr has always been reluctant to get involved in his own affairs. Some shite about being a scholar, not a warrior. But if he wants peace amongst his people he’s going to have to prove his worth.” Killian continued to smoke as he waled to the stairs and descended them with gusto. The duo followed close behind.

    “Killian…” Lilith murmured.

    Lost in a train of thought he barked orders at any sailor foolish enough to not look busy and those he commanded disappeared below deck. He stopped at the edge of the cargo hole and watched the hatches raise and slam sideways. A dark abyss greeted them.

    “Killian,” she repeated, a little louder as her concern raised.

    “Watch.” He pointed the end of his pipe into the shadows.

    Lilith and Arden edged closer, wary of the growing ruckus from below. Shouts and cries in a medley of familiar languages broke away to the ravaging cries of something not human. The assassin’s gut instincts told her that the thing being raised from below deck on a pulley was the very thing they were trying to save.

    “How the hell do you have Skein onboard?” Arden roared when he realised the shapes cowering in the iron cage were members of Starr’s clan.

  3. #13
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    “The Knight-Commanders agreed that we should have a contingency plan.”

    “These are our friends!”

    “No, Arden. Look closer.” Killian waved at the oarsmen and the cage swung sideways and dropped with a thud onto the deck.

    Inside, four creatures on their haunches scrabbled wildly at the bars. Each looked like an Innari, but as Arden looked closer he began to see signs that something was different. Though the ears were pierced with bronze rings and bones, and their clothes were adorned with the fetishes of a shaman, their eyes told another story. Red. Crazed. Glistening with hatred for all things.

    “They’re…Skar?”

    “Starr warned us that the death of Skarrgo would cause a schism in the Innari. Some would return to sanity, others would lose it. These were found running with the army that besieges our walls and were foolish enough to let themselves be captured whilst trying to infiltrate the city through the catacombs.” Though Killian enjoyed getting one up on the Hand, he sounded bashful, as though his moral sensibilities were tested.

    “Bait.” Lilith saw beyond the rhetoric at the practical use.

    “Bait that doesn’t involve burning my livelihood,” Killian corrected.

    “Why ask us for advice if you had your own ideas all along?”

    “Your strategy is sound it just required a little fine-tuning. We can use our friends here as mock prisoners of war. We should draw the ire of the frontier scouts and anger them enough to come rescue their ‘friends’ and kill their captors.” Killian banged on the cage to quieten the rabble, then made several gestures to have the cage lifted closer to the port side, where the crew would then be able to lower it onto the shore.

    “And if that doesn’t work?” Lilith unsheathed the Spider and twirled it between the fingers of her right hand. She began to work a spirit-ward around it’s blade to probe the minds of the Innari for signs of hope – for signs that their souls could be stilled, and they could return to their people…or pierce their throats and send them to their ancestors.

    “Then,” Killian grit his teeth. “And only then do I want to smell smoke.”

    “I have a bad feeling about this.” Lilith drew kanji in quick succession with the tip of her weapon, it’s purple aura blurring the air as the providence of her own ancestors swelled to life around her.

    “I want you to set tinder barrels in the stern and around each mast, ready if things take a turn for the worst.” Arden offered a concession but couldn’t reasonably risk everything on the captain’s whim without a back-up to their back-up.

    Killian ummed and ahhed.

    “Alright. Make whatever preparations you have to before we land, I doubt we’ll get much reprieve before we find out how much of a shit storm we’re really in.” He didn’t wait for objections and marched off to round up the crew. They clambered down rigging and appeared from behind cannons at his call, and quickly formed a moot around him and a red headed boatswain who looked like he’d seen better days.

    “He’s a strange man,” the swordsman muttered to his sister. They stood side by side, looking out at the encroaching shoreline and the slither of green atop the imposing rocks. “Trustworthy, though.”

    “Who, you or Killian?” Lilith let lose her spell and waited for the magic to seep through the cage and into the Innari’s minds. She smelt lavender and incense, and a brief whiff of jasmine before the sea air stole it away again.

    “Both, probably.” Arden shrugged. “I guess I was taking a heavy-handed approach.”

    “You? Never. You’re the modicum of restraint.”

    “That’s something that’s never been true about me.”

    “Compared to Ruby’s little smouldering tantrums you’re a saint. Stop beating yourself up and let’s work on our friends here…see what their spirits can tell us about our enemy.”

  4. #14
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    Lilith reached out with her mind and touched the nearest Innari. The connection was rough, but she broke through and found a world of anger and hatred surrounding a smouldering ember of foresight. She could see that the transformation was recent, likely induced when she, her sister, and Philomel had carved out the heart of the Innari god. A pang of guilt threatened to drag her in too deep, so she bit her lip to remind herself that she was outside the soul, not within.

    Arden watched, fascinated with the process and regretting his decision to walk a different path. Still, he could test the creature’s emotions by stealing strength from the oni that smothered his own heart, draining the fire from within to his fingertips and sending it out in lashing waves. Behind them, the crew got their orders and cast their votes on who should stay behind to keep the Liliana ready to depart, and whom should join the Knights of Brae in their skirmish.

    “They’re not beyond saving,” Arden said with a grimace as the creature’s aggression snared his lashes and started to pull on them. The pit of his stomach churned, and his body temperature began to rose as he drew on more and more of the dragon’s power to keep himself rooted.

    “It’s beyond us,” she whimpered. She cut the connection and rocked on her heels. Arden felt her leave and did the same. “Starr, perhaps, could guide them bac to his people.”

    “It’s his mess, so he’d better had.”

    “You know that’s not true Arden.” Lilith pouted. She considered the eyes of each of the captives then turned away. “He was only trying to do the best for his people. It was leave, or be hunted down and killed.”

    “Power corrupts all.” The swordsman sighed. “Let’s hope whatever magic that imp still possesses can help.”

    “Imp?” Lilith smirked. She yawned too, the swirl of emotions they had been through on their journey finally wearing her thin. “A fox, an imp a hound, and a clapped-out horse. We make quite the party.”

    “Don’t let Killian hear you call him that.”

    “A loyal horse, then, you can’t fault his dedicated to the city but it’s going to get him killed.” She reflected on his unease, his physical health, and the constant need to prove himself. All the signs of an ageing hero who had somehow come through the worst and best of times and survived.

    “You’re beginning to sound like Duffy.”

    “Piety gets to us all,” she sheathed her tanto.

    “We can only do our best to keep him out of harm’s way, though I’ve seen what he’s like with that bastard axe he lugs around like it’s a toy.” He had seen him fight atop the flaming tower and again in the civil war. He was as much a legend amongst his own comrades as he had become to the citizens of Scara Brae since.

    “Maybe he can teach you a thing or two about fighting like a real man.”

    Arden raised an eyebrow but when he turned to retort, the assassin was already on her way to join the crew and weigh in on the decisions they’d all have to make, difficult or not before the sun set.

  5. #15
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    “She’s turning into her sister…” It was his turn to pout.

    He wandered towards the unwashed rabble, their once pristine uniforms torn and muddied. Beards and tattoos peppered the crowd, telling the swordsman that they were a mix of free folk and former naval officers who had left for richer climates but flocked bac to the docks in defence of their homes. He had to admire them. The five duchies that made up Scara Brae society were always taking pot shots at one another, but when a common enemy appeared there was no greater strength of unity to be found in the world.

    “So that’s settled then!” Killian clapped appreciatively. He looked around for signs of trouble, a forgotten comment slipping untimely from nervous lips. When nobody had anything else to say he looked around and caught Lilith’s eye. “Lady Kazumi?”

    “No objections here.”

    Arden pushed through and raised a hand.

    “Maester Janelle…” Killian furrowed his brow, warning the swordsman to mind his tongue.

    “I’ll need two good fast men for a little errand.”

    Nobody rushed to put up their hand.

    “What for?” The captain found two names immediately from the roster in his head.

    “To light a signal fire from the outcrops once we’ve emerged victorious. It’ll let the city know that reinforcements are on the way and that they can muster their counter attack.”

    “Away from the fight?” Killian chuckled. “You’ll get no volunteers for that, so I’ll send Bran and Durma.”

    Two sailors swore very loudly, but returned to their dutiful attention when the captain clocked them. They looked like siblings. Durma’s long blonde hair couldn’t hide the fact that she too was a veteran and they were covered in scars earned only by misfiring blasting charges. Miners, and more than used to running the long tunnels between deposits.

    “Thank you,” Arden tried to hide his smile. “You’ll get your chance when we retake the walls.”

    She glanced at her brother and mumbled something that Arden could only assume was aimed at him. He looked to Killian and nodded.

    “Good. That’s everything, then?”

    Nobody said a word.

    “Right.” He turned to the shore and clocked the distance. The wind had carried them quicker than expected. “Land ho! Get that rigging down to drifting speed and polish your weapons.”

    The roar that erupted made Lilith flinch, and before either of them could draw their weapons the crowd dispersed, and the ship returned to it’s bustling self. Men and women climbed up and down rigging and descended into the hold to retrieve the arms chests with the zeal and excitement you only found on the dawn of conflict.

    “Any more pious words Little Fox?”

    “You had all that time to think of a comeback and you disappoint me.” Lilith embraced Arden and hugged tight, retreating only when she felt him tense uncomfortably. “You’re losing your touch.”

    “I half wish I hadn’t found my voice again…” He stuck out his tongue.

    “Well, now’s the time for action, so is there anything else you want to tell me before we get to it?”

    “Oh, no, I’ve learnt my lesson.” He unsheathed his sword and rested it on his right shoulder. “Do you need to pray?”

    Lilith nodded.

    “It will do us all good,” she paused to tighten her oni and remove the trapper hat from her head. She handed them to her brother and, now better dressed to commune with the Kami, she left his side to find a quieter spot at the front of the ship. Arden found himself alone, his thoughts growing too loud to drown out and the dragon in his heart too restless to fight back. Rage, anger, and strength took over the calculating mind of its master – his sword hummed, eager for blood.

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