Re: Intense Struggle Season 2! (Round 3: Castle Suterrea)
08-12-2011, 03:27 AM
Originally posted on MSPA by GreyGabe.
Marcus grunted as Reudic charged off.
“Whelp. Looks like the twig finally snapped.”
<font color="#400080">Karen’s hands curled into fists. “Now isn’t the time for jokes!”
“Nope. It’s time for action.” Marcus reached down and hauled Lloyd up by the front of his robes. “You go on ahead, I’ll catch up along with these two in just a minute.”
Karen frowned. “Are you sure? Your leg…”
“Just scratched. Big momma or whatever she was couldn’t go through my armor that easily.” Marcus shrugged. “I’ll spray it with disinfectant, but that’s all it really needs right now.”
Karen nodded, satisfied, and ran off after Reudic.
Quickly, Marcus pulled out a canister of anti-septic spray, and let himself have it. By the time he was done with his myriad cuts, the can was mostly empty. He stuck it back in a pouch and turned to his two charges, neither of whom looked to be fit for a high-speed chase. Lloyd stood unsteadily on his feet, and Sarika had slumped down onto the ground, cradling some sort of metal ball.
Marcus shook his head (Which had been slowly developing a whopper of a head ache since… the fight? What had made him flip his shit like that? It wasn’t like him, that was certain…). He gathered up Sarika, who grumbled but didn’t put up a fight. With his free hand, he made sure he had picked up all of his weapons, before grabbing Lloyd by the arm.
“Okay, let’s go…” Marcus set off at an easy run, pulling Lloyd behind him. The elf/wizard/bookworm stumbled a few times, but managed to keep up.
He had to stop once to adjust his hold on Sarika. It was a bit awkward carrying her in one arm. “You know,” he muttered, “We have really got to stop this kind of thing. People are going to start talking…”
Sarika, for her part, ignored him, her attention focused on the metal ball.
Marcus shrugged, and silently hoped he wouldn't take a wrong turn.
</font>---
“…Do you mind if I tell you a story?”
<font color="#C68E17">Lillian shook her head. The voice didn’t sound mean, at least not for the moment, but that didn’t mean she was safe. She hoped if she let it talk it would let her go, or maybe someone would come find her.
The presence sighed. “Good… good. It’s not a long story, but it is… eventful.”
“Long ago, back before dark magics and beasts had engulfed this castle, this place was inhabited by darkness of a more… mundane sort. This place was the home of a king, a king both great and powerful, a formidable warrior and skilled ruler. For all of his ability, though, he was a man both petty and cruel. The slightest fault, the slightest dissent, earned torture or death. What he wanted, he took. But what he wanted most could not simply be taken, oh no. For what he wanted, more than anything, was an heir.”
“Now, he had a queen, the most beautiful woman in all the land, or so it was said. But there was a problem; twice she had borne him children, and twice she had borne him daughters. He wanted a son, though, a young man who could learn the arts of war and conquering. So he delivered his wife an ultimatum… she would bear him a son within a year, or she would be disposed of along with her two daughters, whom she loved fiercely.”
Lillian listened, rapt. Her captor trailed off for a few seconds, and Lillian interjected, “What happened next?”
The voice chuckled. “She bore him a son. Just not the kind of son he had been hoping for. Together with her daughters, she had hatched a plan… a plan to do away with the king, and make sure he would never be able to hurt them or anyone, ever again.”
“The queen… my mother, with the help of a powerful wizard once wronged by my father, made a pact with forces of darkness unknown on this world for aeons. In return for the power to destroy the old man, she would grant the darkness a vessel so that it may walk the face of the world.”
A hint of madness was creeping in at the edges of her voice, and Lillian’s hand moved to her bare wrist. She felt vulnerable, truly vulnerable, for the first time in her life.
“You should have seen Father’s face, before we killed him, in front of all his little nobles. I will cherish that memory until the day I die. We unveiled our little brother, our master, and how the little humans screamed! We fed well that day, better than any time before or since.”
“It wasn’t enough, though, not for my dearest brother. And so we kept eating, and eating, until there was nothing left, and still it wasn’t enough. And then, well… you know how it is with old, empty castles. They attract monsters like flies to rotten meat. That combined with the call of my family’s unique power… we built quite a little dominion. And then you arrived with your little friends.”
Suddenly, Lillian felt herself tipping, and she fell face first onto a cold, hard floor. She scrambled around, pressing her back to a nearby wall and rubbing at her chin, which she had struck in her fall. Wherever she was, it was dark, but not nearly as dark as where she had been before. She could see the last of the shape-shifters, standing a few feet away, grinning at her with its wide mouth and sharp teeth.
“For some reason, your presence has caused my brother to stir…” The room rumbled with a deep, thundering growl, as if to punctuate her statement. “He does get quite hungry when his slumber is disturbed. Hopefully your companions will prove an ample meal for him. But you… you have potential. With my mother and sister gone, I would be ever so lonely… So tell me, Lillian; Would you like to be my new sister?”</font>
Marcus grunted as Reudic charged off.
“Whelp. Looks like the twig finally snapped.”
<font color="#400080">Karen’s hands curled into fists. “Now isn’t the time for jokes!”
“Nope. It’s time for action.” Marcus reached down and hauled Lloyd up by the front of his robes. “You go on ahead, I’ll catch up along with these two in just a minute.”
Karen frowned. “Are you sure? Your leg…”
“Just scratched. Big momma or whatever she was couldn’t go through my armor that easily.” Marcus shrugged. “I’ll spray it with disinfectant, but that’s all it really needs right now.”
Karen nodded, satisfied, and ran off after Reudic.
Quickly, Marcus pulled out a canister of anti-septic spray, and let himself have it. By the time he was done with his myriad cuts, the can was mostly empty. He stuck it back in a pouch and turned to his two charges, neither of whom looked to be fit for a high-speed chase. Lloyd stood unsteadily on his feet, and Sarika had slumped down onto the ground, cradling some sort of metal ball.
Marcus shook his head (Which had been slowly developing a whopper of a head ache since… the fight? What had made him flip his shit like that? It wasn’t like him, that was certain…). He gathered up Sarika, who grumbled but didn’t put up a fight. With his free hand, he made sure he had picked up all of his weapons, before grabbing Lloyd by the arm.
“Okay, let’s go…” Marcus set off at an easy run, pulling Lloyd behind him. The elf/wizard/bookworm stumbled a few times, but managed to keep up.
He had to stop once to adjust his hold on Sarika. It was a bit awkward carrying her in one arm. “You know,” he muttered, “We have really got to stop this kind of thing. People are going to start talking…”
Sarika, for her part, ignored him, her attention focused on the metal ball.
Marcus shrugged, and silently hoped he wouldn't take a wrong turn.
</font>---
“…Do you mind if I tell you a story?”
<font color="#C68E17">Lillian shook her head. The voice didn’t sound mean, at least not for the moment, but that didn’t mean she was safe. She hoped if she let it talk it would let her go, or maybe someone would come find her.
The presence sighed. “Good… good. It’s not a long story, but it is… eventful.”
“Long ago, back before dark magics and beasts had engulfed this castle, this place was inhabited by darkness of a more… mundane sort. This place was the home of a king, a king both great and powerful, a formidable warrior and skilled ruler. For all of his ability, though, he was a man both petty and cruel. The slightest fault, the slightest dissent, earned torture or death. What he wanted, he took. But what he wanted most could not simply be taken, oh no. For what he wanted, more than anything, was an heir.”
“Now, he had a queen, the most beautiful woman in all the land, or so it was said. But there was a problem; twice she had borne him children, and twice she had borne him daughters. He wanted a son, though, a young man who could learn the arts of war and conquering. So he delivered his wife an ultimatum… she would bear him a son within a year, or she would be disposed of along with her two daughters, whom she loved fiercely.”
Lillian listened, rapt. Her captor trailed off for a few seconds, and Lillian interjected, “What happened next?”
The voice chuckled. “She bore him a son. Just not the kind of son he had been hoping for. Together with her daughters, she had hatched a plan… a plan to do away with the king, and make sure he would never be able to hurt them or anyone, ever again.”
“The queen… my mother, with the help of a powerful wizard once wronged by my father, made a pact with forces of darkness unknown on this world for aeons. In return for the power to destroy the old man, she would grant the darkness a vessel so that it may walk the face of the world.”
A hint of madness was creeping in at the edges of her voice, and Lillian’s hand moved to her bare wrist. She felt vulnerable, truly vulnerable, for the first time in her life.
“You should have seen Father’s face, before we killed him, in front of all his little nobles. I will cherish that memory until the day I die. We unveiled our little brother, our master, and how the little humans screamed! We fed well that day, better than any time before or since.”
“It wasn’t enough, though, not for my dearest brother. And so we kept eating, and eating, until there was nothing left, and still it wasn’t enough. And then, well… you know how it is with old, empty castles. They attract monsters like flies to rotten meat. That combined with the call of my family’s unique power… we built quite a little dominion. And then you arrived with your little friends.”
Suddenly, Lillian felt herself tipping, and she fell face first onto a cold, hard floor. She scrambled around, pressing her back to a nearby wall and rubbing at her chin, which she had struck in her fall. Wherever she was, it was dark, but not nearly as dark as where she had been before. She could see the last of the shape-shifters, standing a few feet away, grinning at her with its wide mouth and sharp teeth.
“For some reason, your presence has caused my brother to stir…” The room rumbled with a deep, thundering growl, as if to punctuate her statement. “He does get quite hungry when his slumber is disturbed. Hopefully your companions will prove an ample meal for him. But you… you have potential. With my mother and sister gone, I would be ever so lonely… So tell me, Lillian; Would you like to be my new sister?”</font>