Estylwen

Tales of Eyreseum - The False King

"I hope you did not think to drink without me, my dear." 

Amusement lit up her gray eyes. "You couldn't have more impeccable timing, sir. I must compliment you on your entrance, all my other guests predictably use the door. Curious thing, shadows."

He praised the wine, and she nodded when he guessed correctly. She was aware of the fact he owned his own vineyard, but it surprised her that he truly was an expert in his drinks. Normally nobles didn't bother nowadays with knowing the in's and out's. Mainly their cares were only for how much money they could make, and who they could use to get there.

"But I do not intend to bore you and waste time with such irrelevancies. I am here to assist you in planning the heist, and my intelligence is at your disposal, mi'lady."

Evelyn followed his gaze as he sat opposite of her, a glitter in her eyes. "You're one of the few who could never bore me, my lord. But I would be grateful if you could sate my curiosity. Do we have anyone on the inside in Marceilles? Any friendly faces that could be bribed to keep doors open? Any secret entrances not recorded? Any events for the castle coming up?"

She pursed her lips, thinking up a list in her head. Her fingers absentmindedly stroked the satin edge of her second hood. "There's only a few ways I see of getting in. Either we sneak over the wall and quietly take out anyone in our way, or dress up as servants and blend in, or maybe someone stays the night due to poor weather and opens the door for my thieves when everyone's asleep."

Evelyn sipped at the last drops in her cup, mildly surprised she already polished it off. Of course, she'd never admit it but the heist worried her. That stress somehow trickled its way into her wanting another glass of wine, which she delicately poured for herself. 

"Fancy some more, my lord? It truly is divine." She said, holding the bottle out. If he wanted more, she'd pour for him. Eventually setting the bottle back on the table, she leaned back in her seat and enjoyed the fact she was allowing herself a second glass that night.

"This is by far going to be one of the most riskiest heists we've ever encountered as a team. If Agravaine knew, he'd be on his horse right now with an angry mob of peasants behind him. They do love their Baron, you know. Something about minimal fairness does that to simple folk, when really they're no better off than ours." Evelyn said, a slight bite behind her words. 

She blinked, a wolfish grin playing at her lips. "The most difficult challenge of this entire heist, however, is trying to leave. Removing all the wealth from within the treasury, and somehow transporting all that out without anyone knowing. Flawlessly and efficiently too? That's a puzzle..."

Elementals: Void Assault

@Scarlet: It was awesome. You totally deserve this. :3 //gives cookies

@Xzayler: Did you know the link to Scarlet's CS is broken? XD

Tales of Eyreseum - The False King

"It has. You may be off. I'll conclude this court gathering soon enough." 

Evelyn stole a step back and curtsied, smiling. "Thank you, Sire. It's been a pleasure, truly."

The moment she closed the great hall doors behind her, Evelyn leaned back, the happiness and generosity in her face replaced by fatigue and annoyance. If she had to look at one more snobby, two-faced noble she'd set him alight where he stood. Rubbing her eyes with a hand, Evelyn made her way through the stone halls. Her fingers pulled up on her hoods, and the Mage swathed her head in darkness once more. The fun and games are just starting, my dear.

Stopping in on the castle's library, Evelyn picked up a few documents and maps of the Marceilles area. The Court Mage's study was up a level, and she always enjoyed the fact she was close to the Throne room. Though it was a long walk from the Hall to her study, she could do it with her eyes closed.

Her study was just as quiet as when she left it. There were tall shelves from floor to ceiling filled with dusty books, a large desk stacked with documents and curious magical objects. Beside that were two large chests and an enchanting table with archaic spell books open on top. A red and gold embroidered rug brought colour to the center of the floor, laying atop the stone. In the corner were two red velvet chairs by a small round table, her favourite place to sit and contemplate. 

On the wall in front of her was another door that lead down a hall to her personal quarters and a room for the displaying of the auspicious artifacts from her adventures. It was usually locked, as it was tonight. 

Evelyn sat at her desk, putting the Marceilles maps to the side as she pulled out a fresh sheet of parchment from a drawer underneath. In elegant cursive, she made a note for the one noble she did a good deed for, Kester. She invited him to join her in the Court Mage's study early next morning, mentioning she needed help with something. Sealing the note with red wax and a stamp, she rung up one of the servants to run the note for her.

That taken care of, Evelyn poured herself on all the information she had on Agravaine and his abode, memorizing all the important bits with ease. She could see it in her mind, the Palace she used to visually store everything she ever learned, all by merely closing her eyes. A brightly lit diamond staircase led down into the Vaults, where rows upon rows of crystal shelves lined glass walls. From there, she simply imagined her new information as a book and placed it in the 'M' section.

Surprised Garthois hadn't arrived yet, Evelyn stuck her head out the study door. It was quiet save a couple servants moving cleaning tools down the corridor. The elf nodded to herself, closed the door, and found a bottle of wine in one of her chests. Popping the cork with a snap of her fingers, Evelyn conjured two ghostly crystal glasses in her other hand. She took a seat in one of the velvet chairs, filling both glasses halfway with red liquid. One she left by the bottle on the table, the other she raised to her lips. 

What a night it's been, my dear. Here's to your life, may it never be a bore. Evelyn thought silently, sipping to her toast. 

Elementals: Void Assault

She felt the pain long before she had the strength to sit up. They tossed her like a rag doll into a small metal cage, one she could barely stand up in. After they slid the bars closed, they locked it with an inevitable click that twisted her stomach. Cora heard her captors leave, and she passed out again shortly after. And here she was, some time later, aching all over and feeling a bit nauseous. No one had bothered to remove her handcuffs, which made movement awkward. Dried blood was spattered along the metal floor of her holdings, and she could feel more crusty yuckiness at the back of her head and under her nose. 

Someone had left a small bowl of murky water and an old rag in the right corner of her cell. The sudden thirst in her mouth wanted a drink. Thinking better of it, she soaked the rag and started wiping off all the dirt and blood from her body. It was almost healing, just being able to clean up. Cora wrung out the rag and set it by the bowl, freezing the nasty looking water it contained so it couldn't accidentally spill.

The crunch of dirt outside the tent brought Cora's attention to the entrance as its flaps were pulled aside. Vygorns she recognized from earlier walked in, one carrying a collapsed man on his shoulder. They placed him in the cell adjacent from hers, and she finally got a good look at his hat. She could recognize that fedora anywhere. Her first feelings were frustration, it was stupid for them both to come alone. But after realizing the only reason Will was at camp was because he followed her without waiting for the others, Cora felt a kindling of gratitude. Amidst the shame of failing her mission, and of putting someone else in danger, she felt grateful.

A human who looked like a caretaker reached through the bars of her cell, taking the cloth and bloody frozen bowl, refusing to meet her gaze. He left as quickly as he could, eyes down to the ground the entire time.

After they threw Will and locked his unconscious self in the cell, the Vygorns left. No one paid any attention to her. They simply stalked by her cell, left through the entrance, and it was dead quiet again. Of course, she never gave them the satisfaction that she recognized their second prisoner.

Placing an ice chip in her mouth, Cora sucked on it absentmindedly, looking around her new home. The military tent was a dirty beige, cloth roof about ten feet high. It was more of a long tent as it had two rows of cells lined against the walls, maybe ten in total. The cells had metal bottoms since the tent's floor was desert earth. Fluorescent tubes were wired in along the ceiling, flickering occasionally as they gave off light. 

"Cora?!"

She scooched closer in his direction, holding onto the vertical steel bars in her cuffed hands. "You're an idiot to follow me, you know." Cora scoffed, meeting his eyes for a moment before looking down at the metal in her hands. Her brows furrowed as she tried holding back the sudden emotion that tore at her chest. 

"I've fucked up, Will. There's not gonna be a parade home for me." Her voice cracked, and she pressed a hand to her eyes. "If they don't kill us after torturing every single bit of information we have, we sure as hell won't be seeing the light of day any time soon."

Hastily rubbing her eyes, Cora took a few breaths. She could feel the panic welling up inside her, the uncertainty and weakness that she always bottled away. But already she knew tears weren't an option, just a frustration she didn't have time to wallow in. Plus, the stress headache her emotions inflicted was enough to distract her in calming down. 

Cora stared dully at the ground, aware of the aching emptiness weighing on her chest. "Will... Why did you follow me alone?"

Elementals: Void Assault

Mad Scarlet said
Holy balls... what's happened since I got slammed by work?! DX I'm so confuzzled~!

The magic of friendship~! And a bit of hard jail time.

Mokeia said he winked at her and perked his lips together and began making horrifying kissy faces, while hugging himself. He turned around squirming his body. "Oh yeah Will, spray me all over, if you melt a girls ice so quickly there won't be anything left for Shida. Aerilyn will be so jealous too."

HOLY DAMN. That cracked me up so bad, haha. Scarlet, I'll give you a cookie if Aerilyn slightly non-lethally brutalized Shida. ;'3

Edit: Really enjoyed the backstory of your post, Mokeia. The way you described a computer was priceless. XD

Elementals: Void Assault

Hehehe, you know she loves to keep things interesting. XD

Elementals: Void Assault

I was debating that, actually. Either tonight or tomorrow I'll have a response for ya. :3

Btw, nice sig. Alcoholic, huh?

Ideas~

I'm very much drawn to your writing style, it's not often writers can get their words to jump off the page so well. I'd be very interested in roleplaying this with you, if you're still looking for someone. Probably a foster girl a couple years your character's senior. Did you have a CS template for this?

Elementals: Void Assault

@Xzayler: I wouldn't normally use it either, but when opposites come together they create the most unique things.

Posted! Twist to our story, Cora needs some serious saving. Who volunteers? XD
Edit: Yes, this plot twist is GM-Approved.

Elementals: Void Assault

Time passed, and it was quiet throughout the night. Cora took small breaks of walking between her full-out sprint down the cracked pavement of an old highway. Broken cars with rusted parts and busted in doors lay abandoned, creating a sense of loneliness, a longing for the past. She was no GPS, but she walked this path enough to know how close Riverdale was. In the distance she could see it blending in with the other heaps of trash. The modest military camp that was a set-up for Vygorns to try and find the remnants of Kyra. 

Their rows of tents and trucks were ringed by a chain-link fence, but actual activity inside the camp seemed quiet, from her distant view. Cora snuck close enough that she was only a 50m sprint from the side gate, her hiding spot an assortment of ancient refrigerators and cables with the copper picked clean. Her legs begged for rest; it felt as though she ran for hours, and that was likely close to the truth. The gurgle in her tummy was all she needed to convince herself it was time for a break. Filled with hunger and fatigue, Cora rested herself against a rusted steel door. 

A moment's release won't kill me. She thought as her hands pulled out whatever food she thought to stash away in her pockets. It wasn't much, but it would satisfy her. The flavor of the cheese stung her tongue as she chewed; she wasn't used to food being so delicious. But just as much as she enjoyed her meal, heavy thoughts rose in her mind. Coming here was a stupid idea, she finally admitted. Did she really think she could take the Vygorns on by herself? Did she really have that much faith in her new, barely used ability? 

Cora was aware of her skills in martial arts, stealth and weapons, but these weren't the normal bandits. They were aliens. Really, she couldn't wrap her head around that fact. She envisioned extra-terrestrials with black eyes and green skin, not evil overlords that looked the same as she. That fact scared her more than anything else, fighting an unknown intelligence that could shape its very appearance and knew combat on an interstellar level. 

But she was here, and the game required her to play. Her pride wouldn't let her back out now. Cora stood, sucked in a shaky breath, and pulled her large hood down over her head. The mask scarf hanging around her neck felt much better when the fabric was up snug along the bridge of her nose, granting anonymity. 

"God help me." She whispered, raising a hand to the dark sky. The smoggy clouds above swirled and bloated, becoming blurred behind a curtain of falling snow. It fell in soft, fat flakes -- the ideal kind of snow. Under the new cover, Cora made a break for the fence, making the metal cold enough to simply shatter apart in her hands. She ducked behind one of the first tents, looked around, moved closer to the center of the base. She could see a few figures coming out of the woodwork, gazing up at the snowy night view. They were dressed in black, far finer than those of worker clothes, and similar to the ones back at Nature's Haven. Vygorns, it has to be. They're not even reacting to the fact that it's snowing in summer.

Cora tiptoed to closer cover, leaning to peek around a truck tire as a group of silhouettes only metres away split apart from the center of camp, each headed in a different direction. They were looking for the Elemental responsible for this, quietly and efficiently. She retreated slightly, catching one all by himself. From the shadows she affected the air around him, making it below freezing in seconds. Increasing the chill, an ice choker snaked its way around the Vygorn's neck, and all he managed was a muffled grunt before it choked the alien out. He fell, the snow quickly collecting on his frozen body. One down, how many more to go? 

Movement on her left. She dove under one of the trucks as footsteps too close for comfort stalked by on the other side of the vehicle, unaware of the dead Vygorn. With his back turned, Cora pulled herself halfway out from her hiding place, creating a thick nail of ice in her hand. Holding her breath, she held the nail by her ear, lining up her sights. The icy nail silently buried itself in the back of the unaware Vygorn's head, and he toppled over, still as his friend. 

She shoulder checked just in time; two more shady Vygorns at 3 o'clock. They ghosted across the thin layer of snow, small blades raised. Not a word fell from their lips, which was all the alarm she needed. Clambering out from under the truck, Cora closed the gap between them, flipping out her collapsible baton at the last instant. She swept the first Vygorn's feet out from underneath him, slashing him again in the gut as he fell. With a side step she aimed the baton for the second Vygorn's head, but he blocked it with a pale hand. It was more of a touch than a block, however, as in the moment he connected with the baton, the air around his hand distorted. Her baton snapped in two, though the correct term would be the middle was deleted. 

She barely absorbed that fact before a punch to the face sent her reeling back. Finding her sense of balance, Cora used her falling momentum to handspring back on her feet, feeling drops of blood fall from her nose. 

She'd never seen someone move so fast with so much force. It scared her almost as much as the challenge thrilled her. Close combat would quickly be lethal to her against these aliens. The only way to win against them would be to overpower them (beyond her, at the moment), or catch them off guard with long-range surprise attacks. She hadn't seen them use speed yet, but judging from how fast their limbs simply moved it was something to be wary of. The new blades pressed against her back begged to be used, but she wasn't comfortable with that fighting style yet. 

The one Vygorn she knocked down simply got back up, showing little if her attack did any real damage. Cursing under her breath, Cora leapt back, putting some distance between her and the aliens. The snow quaked as urchin-shaped ice spikes exploded from under the Vygorn's feet, building off each new sharp bulge of ice in a chain-reaction that left a small mountain of spikes amidst the rows of tents. The aliens navigated the ice smoothly, leaping onto each spike branch as it was made, dodging so fast they ended up being on top of the mountain instead of being shredded up inside. 

A third and fourth Vygorn joined the battle, standing by their brethren atop the ice mountain. Cora could feel their eyes coldly observe her, as a human would an ant, wondering if squishing her was worth it. And strangely, she felt just as small as they perceived her.  

Only one smiled, a Vygorn with a red streak in his short black hair -- the one who punched her in the face earlier. If a wolf could smile, the alien imitated it perfectly, baring his teeth more aggressively than friendly. His eyes were coals, black and jagged. The mix was something out of a nightmare, and Cora froze up. 

That was the slip-up they needed. Instantly, the Vygorns surrounded her, blades raised. Cora growled, refusing to go down so easily. Ice dragons burst from the snowy ground, snapping their huge jaws at her assailers. It was a vicious battle of teeth and metal, combat moving at a blur to the human eye. Cora managed to pin one Vygorn by his head, and a second ice dragon ripped its throat out. But just as she thought she might have a chance, a Vygorn picked her up by the shirt and sent her rocketing through the air. 

She had enough time sailing across the field to see where it was she had been flung. Her ice mountain was alarmingly close, it and a million needles of ice. Not that death had occurred to her as being created from her own powers, or that her own death would involve being impaled on ice spikes. But as her fate was unavoidable, Cora squeezed her eyes closed and waited. 

The impact drove the air from her lungs and cracked her skull, knocking her half- unconscious. But in the agonizing moments after, she noticed her body fall and roll away from the mountain as opposed to sticking there, impaled. She couldn't feel any ice piercing her body, just overwhelming pain where the impact was. Strange, the mountain should be just riddled with spikes. And I with holes.

Cora remembered where her eyes were, peeling them open to a clear night sky; the snow stopped falling. She was lying on her back, aware of the low voices around her. Within arm's reach was the small ice mountain she was suppose to be impaled on, but on closer observation she could see the section she impacted was a concave wall of ice, no spikes whatsoever. Almost like someone deleted a chunk outta it.

A head stooped down into her weak vision, the red-streaked Vygorn with the evil smile. His finger pulled down the mask around Cora's face, exposing her skin to the stinging cold. Using the exact same wolfish face on her, he stared her down, flooding her veins with terror. His eyes gleamed malevolently, seeing the reaction he wanted.

"Take her to one of the cells. She'll bring us company soon enough, might know where our scouts are too..." He said, stepping back. There was more, but Cora found it increasingly hard to focus.

Hands with iron grip pulled her wrists together, snapping metal cuffs way too tightly on them. She vaguely felt herself being pulled up just above the elbows, her feet dragging helplessly behind her. Blood dripped from her injuries, colouring the snow as she was effortlessly dragged away. Cora struggled to see where exactly they were taking her, but her best attempt to stay conscious failed, and her vision faded to black.