Jollan

The Vanishing Kingdom

Hey! Thanks for stopping by. I will mention if you are reading the more recent posts that some of it is on discord and has yet to be copied over. From time to time we utilize discord for social and rp based chat, and to make quick conversation or battle posts since its more convenient when there is less to post about or posts are better suited for quick short replies. I'll try to get things copied over so its not jumbled up for ya. It also helps if there is ever a problem in a post, helps get things sorted out faster if there js a problem. If you want a discord link or have any questions, just let me know! @deia876lat

Vanishing Kingdom recruitment (update: pending full)

"A new king rises. The Grandis Empire has returned."

link for the RP OOC:
https://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/177333-the-vanishing-kingdom/ooc

Hey all! I was just tossing an interest check up to see if anyone might be interested in joining my rp. Lost a few members over time and after discussing it with a few of the players, we have come to the conclusion that we may need more players. The main reason being is that with the lower number of players, we have lost a lot of the interactions that were being built. Being that while this RP does have combat in it, it is a character building and interaction heavy based RP, the lower numbers have started to slow down progress.

If you have an interest to join, just let me know! I usually check this website a couple times a day and try to answer any questions I can. We are looking for about one to two more people. If you missed the tag though, I do want to go ahead and state that this is a 18+ rp, and while it stays fairly sfw, its more of a warning for adult themed content. The regular stuff like suggestive themes, heavy violence, strong language, drug/tobacco use, and terrible puns! So you have been warned!

The Vanishing Kingdom

Kallen's spell did the trick, and he could even see a faint trail left behind by the eyepatch. Though it was weaker here as the trail was older. Too much longer and the trail would most likely be gone. It did, however, seem to go into a few other rooms and then out a window, the trail getting stronger as it went towards the market. In the far distance, a dim light shone where his eyepatch was. Strange though, the market should have been mostly closed right about now.

Rather than waste any time Kallen immediately grabbed his staff and hand crossbow to set out for the place in the market where he sensed his eyepatch should be. It disturbed him greatly that anything could be stolen from him so easily. The only times he could go without wearing his eyepatch were when he was sleeping or when he was using the power of his Eye. Otherwise he'd be constantly risking putting himself into mana fatigue. The magic required to create a new eyepatch of a good enough quality to seal the leaking magic power was not easy to complete due to the intricacies of the seal itself. He really didn't want to make another backup.

Kallen would find himself at the market stalls, which for now all seemed closed. Some were out in the open air while others were inside a larger structure in small pocket rooms, each shuddered closed. In one of the rooms, the glow of his target can now be seen behind and under one of the counters, just below the shudder... and in pieces. It seemed like it wasn’t locked, but on closer inspection, the lock seemed to be broken off. The air was strangely cool close to this particular stall.

Entering an empty market left Kallen with an odd feeling like he was looking at something he shouldn't. He slowly approached the location he was detecting as his eyepatch hadn't moved since he located it. He approached the shutter with the shattered lock and when he touched it frowned at the unusually cool air. Whatever caused this was fairly strange, and as he wracked his memory he could only think of some Tundral magic being the source of this cool. The difference in temperature left a fair amount of condensation, leaving a perfect environment for a spell he could use to prevent a runaway situation.

"Mesh and fold. Mix and meld. Stand and hold. Mud wall." Kallen chanted quietly. As the spell took hold and formed a wall of mud behind him mixing the water from the condensation with the sand. Anything would have difficulty moving through it while it lasted. With his spell complete, Kallen opened the shudder to confront the thief.

A familiar satyr made his way down into the bar. He sniffed the air before frowning. "Damn, no time for breakfast. She never got back here." He sighed and made his way to the door. Unusually, he was not bringing his spear. He felt comfortable enough that people wouldn't want to steal it, and even those that would try would be easy to hunt and find given how unique the design was for this area. He stepped out into the morning air and began his search. Sniffing, listening and looking, he started to piece together Nix's movements from the previous night. They were mostly erased, but she did leave enough traces for him to find himself entering the market.

In the market he saw someone familiar. He had long since forgotten the name, but he did note the scent leading him to the same place. So, he let out a loud whistle to warn the man for the sake of not sneaking up on the poor guy and nodded to the stall. "Bet the wolf girl is in there. Her scent is quite strong. She probably got herself into some trouble, so if you will, let me handle her. Why, pray tell, are you out here this early?"

Unfortunately for Kallen, there wasn't nearly enough water in the slight condensation to supply the dirt with enough water to make a mud wall as he would like, so it mostly just formed into compressed sand instead. However, it seemed that Kistal was able to make his way inside before it was sealed off. As Kallen opened the shudders, he would instantly hear growling from Nix as she was inside, poised to strike, but waiting to see if he left her alone. The shop inside was a bit of a mess, obviously she had gotten into many of the things in search of food, very little of it interested her though.

One of the pieces of the highlighted material then moved from under the counter, on the back of a small creature that scurried behind Nix, but it was too hard to make out from behind as it moved into a pot. Nix stood her ground, hoping to intimidate the 'intruder' away. He smelled different than the regular people around here, and she could barely smell Kistal from him. In fact, Kistal's scent seemed to be getting stronger. This didn't make her lose focus, however. Whoever this man was, even though she could now hear Kistal, Kallen still had her cornered with no alternative way in or out of the stall.

---

Allanon would have met a sylve woman at the counter. Suzune was already awake and tending to stoves just in case anyone was hungry in the morning. "Oh, Allanon, right?" She reminded herself with a slight bow in greeting to him. "Not many shops open now I'm afraid, but you may be able to get some leather from the blacksmith and I can fashion you something. He shouldn't be far from the square, just before you get to the market. Hurry back though, breakfast will be ready soon."

Allanon shook his head. "It's not so much of an issue that I need to rush out right now. I'd just like to know where I can buy a belt when the stores do open up." He took a seat at a table and stood his blades against the table. "What's for breakfast?"

“Flatbread with falafel, humus, black beans, cucumber sauce , potatoes, however you wish to prepare it. Eggs, sausages, cheeses, and soon some steam buns. I couldn’t get a red bean paste imported in, so I tried making a filling with dates. I hope they come out alright,” she finished distractedly, leaning her weight to one side and crossing her arms as she looked at the steamer skeptically. She then looked back to Allanon, “my husband eats just about everything with a smile on his face, I can never count on him to get an unbiased opinion on my cooking,” she said with a smile.

Bidzil seemed to stir at the smell of food, leaning forward in his chair and catching himself before his head hit the table. He gave a good stretch and a yawn, the sound of a few joints popping could be heard, much to Bidzil’s satisfaction. He looked around dreamily, noticing that he didn’t make it back to his room last night, probably being more worn out than he realized. “Guess I dozed off a little early,” he said with a sleepy smirk, “Never slept that hard in my life, especially not at a table.” He looked out to a window and noticed the sun was out. “Missed the whole thing. Huh?” he mentioned, feeling a little down for missing it.

Allanon smiled as Suzune explained the list of food that would be available. "I'll be sure to give my honest opinion."

He turned his head to the waking Bidzil and quietly listened to him muse about missing the festival. "Good thing you're in a more trustworthy city. In Portea in the wrong bar you might have been robbed... or worse. Anyways, now that you're awake let's work up an appetite and train outside shall we? I'd like to see how you practice your swordsmanship."

Tali came down a few minutes after Kistal's departure, Chihiro close behind. The naga made a beeline for Suzune and put her hands on her hips. "Smells good. I'll take three portions. Two for me and one for Hilde." She leaned casually on one leg. She obviously wanted to keep her disguise up, despite her needing to use her full strength to fight a few days before. She left all but one fan up in her room, preferring to keep it around, just in case.

Tali, meanwhile, contented herself with settling in at the bar, leaning on one arm, quite unabashedly putting her cleavage on display. After all, she was still a succubus trained in all manner of seductive arts, so she felt no compunctions about showing off her goods as it were.


Suzune smiled to Chihiro. "Should I make some extra steam buns for the road for you two as well?" She asked playfully, already somehow knowing what wasn't even asked yet. She turned and gave Chihiro a wink.

Bidzil laughed lightheartedly, "As long as they don't touch my swords, or my jacket, I'll be fine." When Allanon mentioned practice, the young man's eyes seemed to light up, "yeah, sure! But where is a good place?"

"We do have a sparring arena in town," Suzune suggested as brought out the eggs from the pantry. "I doubt anybody is using it at this time, so it should be perfect if you want to use it. It's on the north edge of town." She then redirected her attention to Tali.

“Perfect, but uh, to be honest, I don’t really have much of a practice routine,” Bidzil admitted to Allanon. “Anyway, let's check out this arena,” he said excitedly heading to the door.

"Hey, I wondered where you wandered off to, and then you showed up last night. Everything alright? You weren't hurt during the attack were you?" she asked. Despite not knowing the woman very long, Suzune was known to be quite hospitable and caring for anyone who came to the inn. Not so much for anyone that caused trouble though. So far, Tali always seemed well mannered, and her dancing last night was quite a show to be admired. Suzune, despite her dexterity, never took to actual dancing as well as anyone like Valia or her students, though Allard seemed to like that she was a fighter. Thinking of which, Valia did seem to retire early last night and only briefly visited Dorran’s send-off, she wondered how she was taking it.

[Maeve enters with above post]

The Vanishing Kingdom

Kistal’s drinking game went on for quite some time, though eventually, he was the obvious winner. Being a satyr gave him the ability to do it with ease, however, knowing this, it didn’t stop some of the people of Kalla from wanting to do it just for a good time. Some of Valia’s students tried, but they couldn’t handle the alcohol as well to keep going. Valia giggled as she watched her students attempt to take on the challenge, wishing she could have a go as well if it weren’t for her injuries. She knew she wouldn’t be able to outlast a satyr, but she knew that she could outlast any of the current competitors, and with a little flare as well. No, instead the only person that seemed to be able to last the longest was none other than the young blacksmith. His work gave him just enough a steady hand to have a slight edge on other men that attempted the challenge, and he was able to outdrink any of the dancing girls with ease, leading him to the much coveted second place to the satyr.

Speaking of dancers, Tali’s display did not go unnoticed. Many watched with wonder, including the other dancers and again, Valia herself. Seeing some very familiar moves as well as some foreign to them. Valia wasn’t sure as to where they were from, not knowing that Maeve may recognize a few of the steps, but she did take note of some of the style differences and the effects on the crowd. Dance was her specialty after all, even though she hasn’t traveled the world, she always would have liked to see the ways others express themselves through movement. For her, even though she couldn’t risk dancing, Tali and Kistal both were able to entertain and inspire her greatly.

Allanon would find himself left alone to his thoughts, though the sounds of celebration went throughout the night, plans for the next day to be used as a day of rest and grieving after Dorran’s send off. Kallen would have found plenty of people to make acquaintances with, especially with people in such high spirits. If he ever needed access to kallan specific produce or armaments, he would always be welcome to do business there.

Some wondered why Ingoleth mostly sat back and watched. He had an instrument yet didn’t seem keen on playing it at the moment. It was normally just something noticed in passing however as the locals shrugged it off and continued themselves. If he chose to play at any time in the night, he would definitely gather at the very least a small crowd to listen to his music. Maybe even a few moments of what one could call center stage attention if he really got into it.

Lynn’s wandering didn’t go unnoticed, as Valia was able to wave the girl down to come back and sit with her and Maeve. SHe seemed a lot healthier than before, and the night was a far more comfortable atmosphere for the poor girl. She drew a lot of attention among the locals, much like when Tali first arrived, due to how different she was. Many of them had never before seen anything like her, having not left the desert. Lynn eventually noticed said attention and became a little self conscious about the stares, to which Valia would try to assure her that it was simply curiosity of the unknown and maybe even admiration of her beauty mixing into something that they couldn’t take their eyes off of. This only made her blush more and made her more self conscious it seemed, but at least she knew it wasn’t a bad thing.

At the end of the festivities, as the sun began to rise, The town came out to watch as Dorran’s body was set on a self driven fire skiff, pointed towards the sunrise. After a brief farewell, the skiff was pushed off to set sail towards the sunrise. At some point in time, much later, the fire that drives the skiff would eventually engulf the skiff itself where it would burn and become one with the sands. Some of the people that retired overnight had woken up early while the others had stayed up long enough to bid their previous chief one last time, and taking this next day as a day of mourning and reflection.

Valia kept to herself at home. She couldn’t bring herself to watch the final ceremony. Some in the town knew that she had reserved feelings for Dorran, and there were few rumors as to why. It was always a mystery why the woman never settled down, even. Today, however, once the celebration of Dorran’s life had concluded, she had distanced herself for some time.

Allard’s family took some time to themselves as well after the final ceremony, but left the rooms open for their foreign guests, so everyone had a place to stay at the inn, save for Lynn who they let sleep in the oasis once more. Vog and Neev stayed at the temple, which claimed the young girl that Allanon brought back under their protection. And lastly, Bidzil was still asleep at one of the tables in the tavern portion of the inn.

As everyone would wake up, some may find some things to be missing. Allanon is missing a belt, Hilde lost a hairband, the tiny ribbons on Maeve’s shoes disappeared, Sev would notice some missing shirt buttons, Kallen’s eyepatch is nowhere to be found, Ingoleth lost four of his lyre's strings, and Kistal would be missing a patch of fur from his left calf. Oddly enough, Nix, Tyreal, Lynn, Chihiro, and Tali weren’t missing anything, though some other townspeople could be heard muting about something going missing here and there.Though, they just chalked it up to a wild night for the most part.

Activity would be pretty low at this time, making it easy to get around and get organized, or even visit around, but most of the shops and stalls would be closed. It is a couple hours till noon.

The Vanishing Kingdom

"Dad!" Hilde stressed as she heard the amount of healing he needed. "That's much worse than you made it sound!"

Allrd chuckled and scratched the back of his head, "Aye, I s'pose so, but better men than someone else. Not sure if many others here could hold out as long." He turned and looked to Maeve. "I guess we should prepare for tonight. I'll make sure you and the others get only the best we can offer. My wife's cooking!" he said with a hearty laugh as if he hadn't been on a hospital bed hours before. "Hilde, we'll see about Neev getting ya fixed up, I'll round up the family and try to get our kitchen into overdrive," he said before leaning down and cradling his daughter's head in his hand. "Your mother and I are very proud of you," he doted on her with a kiss on the forehead, "no go get some rest, we'll be over there with you soon." With that, Hilde was taken to the temple for healing and Everyone started to part ways to get everything prepared

-----

When Nix awoke to the sounds of them arriving at Kalla, she seemed spooked. Not only were there more of those same kind of people that took her before, but there were a lot of them, making all sorts of noise. True, they were also there with the people that found her, but now with the numbers so great and all the sounds they were making, she was uncomfortable, even with Kistal right beside her. She darted off the skiff and nimbly scaled the wall of one of the houses, perching herself on the roof, looking down at everyone. If it weren't for the positioning of her hands, low and helping her keep balance as she crouched on her haunches she would be flashing the town as she glared warily at them. Luckily, her lack of decency was lost to the crowd as they celebrated those returning home, nearly all ignoring her or not caring.

She stayed on those rooftops as well, following along wherever Kistal would go, keeping him within eyesight. She avoided other people, even though some did try to coax her down, she only would take their food when they would bait her down and then climb right back up. Eventually she was left alone, as she wanted, keeping low to lower her profile on the roofs. Even when the feast started, she hadn’t yet come down.

-----

Bidzil had made his way to Allard’s inn, taking a seat in the tavern and trying to relax and recover a bit after the fight. The biggest thing on his mind wasn’t even the treasure that he wasn’t able to get, but that he was unable to sort out just what had happened with his own body. It seemed that out of sheer will, something took ahold of him as he dashed in to save that girl, and whatever protected him had drained him completely after absorbing the strike, leaving him incredibly fatigued. He had revealed his wing before when he was younger, but this was way different. He had no idea where to begin with whatever strange abilities he had or who would know anything about it. The only one that might know something was that snake woman. She did say that she knew Krogan, so if she had been around that long, maybe she knew something about it. Bidzil sighed, leaning back in his chair. Too bad she was in a meeting of sorts or he’d ask. Maybe he could just wait down here, after all, he was way too wiped out to try to partake in the festivities, no matter how hungry he was. He felt like he could just drift away.

Which he did, with his head hanging nearly upside down and arms dangling beside him, snoring away.

-----

Lynn slowly woke back up when the sun started to set and the celebration was starting. She floated her way up to the top of the water to take a look around noticing that Tyreal was missing. They probably dropped her off here while they did their own business. The two guards that were next to the bathhouse noted she had poked out. The female one gave a friendly wave before telling her that her friend was out and about, left the bath house a while ago and should be wandering around.

Floating out of the water, manipulating it so that she came up dry , she stepped out onto the sandy bank and looked around. She hoped that she would still be able to recognize the person. While Tyreal was large, so were quite a number of people here, and she still didn’t have the best notion of how she looked.

------

The feast would be one for the books. For any of those that had the energy, it would last long enough to see the first light of day, though obviously not everyone stayed up the whole night. Allard had been given an intricate pendant, marking him as the new chief, followed by a show of dance from Valia’s girls, to which she was giddy to see them perform all on their own, letting out some tears of joy at their progress and the fact that they were even still here to continue their dance. Neev had recovered enough by the time everything started that she was able to heal Hilde, who stayed close to her family through the night, both her and her mother dwarfed by the giant man. It seemed his son was smaller too, but given a few more years, he may be quite sizable himself even as a half Sylve. If Chihiro desired, she’d be welcome to a spot next to them as well.

------

Ingoleth would have arrived in Kalla after nearly a week’s worth of travel. While the Red Saints accepted his ‘donation’, they did say it didn’t bother them if he was there, they were on the way anyway. In fact, they seemed a little glad to have another person tagging along with them, especially one that played music. The traveling crew only consisted of two armed guards, two healers, and the driver of the healers’ carriage. They were being sent out to change out with Neev and Vog, following the rotation schedule mapped out for the faction’s traveling aid.

When Ingoleth would arrive in Kalla, it would be just nearly in time for the celebration to start, and upon seeing another musician, he was happily invited to play alongside them if he wished.

The Vanishing Kingdom

Valia smiled at the two as she finished drying off and started putting her clothes back on. In truth, she didn’t know if all her students would arrive, but she remained hopeful and wanted her currently wrecked home to not hold any sign of trouble. She felt her students had been through enough, and worrying about her wouldn’t do them any favors. As she dressed, that was when the alarm was sounded but in a much less threatening manner, indicating it wasn’t an attack. For the people, they knew that this was a sign of the incoming skiffs. Valia nearly had to catch herself from running out immediately, or hobble in her case at the moment, making the final adjustments to herself before looking back to the other two. “They’ve returned!” she said excitedly before doing what she could to briskly walk out of the bathhouse.

The skiffs pulled in and there were many cries of joy as people were reunited with their loved ones, however, it was painfully obvious who the missing face was that the torch was lit for. Dorin, wrapped in white cloth and on a stretcher, was lifted and taken through town to be prepared for his departing ceremony. Quite a number of people couldn’t hold back tears seeing the white silhouette of their strong leader slowly being taken from the skiff, but maybe none with such a heavy heart as Allard. He watched on as they lifted the stretcher onto their shoulders, and carried his life-long friend, a brother if he ever had one, away. The large man quivered for a moment, but stoically tried to keep face, though the pain was evident. He gripped the head of the great axe he currently used as a makeshift walking stick and he closed his eyes, taking a deep shaky breath. When he looked up again, he saw Chihiro with Hilde, also on a stretcher. His mind quickly raced to the worst outcome but quickly cast it aside when he noticed that she was alive, just injured.

“HILDE!” He called out, easily moving people out of the way in the crowd to get to his daughter before they made way for him. Despite it being hard for him to move without pain, he seemed to be able to hobble over fairly quickly. “My girl, I had… I was worried ta death, my child,” he told her as he got close, taking her hand, knowing better than to embrace her. “What happened to you?”

Hilde seemed just as surprised seeing her dad in such a critical state, covered in bandages and using his axe to help walk. “F-Father!? Its nothing, I couldn’t just let them go on without me, I needed to go, I-”

“No, no, none of that. I know why ya left… Truth be told, when I was yur age I woulda done tha same, but I’m worried about you. Your wounds...”

“My wounds? It’s just some ribs here and there, but you. Are you alright.?” She asked worriedly.

“Aye,” he said trying to calm down, “We were attacked.” He then lowered his voice to a low grumble, “But it takes a lot more than some flimsy mercenaries and their little magic tricks ta stop yur ol man, eh?” He looked up to Chihiro, “Thank ye for taken’ care of her. Don’t know what I woulda done if I lost ‘er.”

Allard then turned around looking to the other foreigners that volunteered, “In fact, all of you. If I haven’t extended tha offer, yur all welcome ta stay at my inn till ya get back on yur feet.”

Valia didn’t have much time to reflect on Dorin’s passing. Her shock was replaced by a wave of girls running to their teacher. For a few good minutes, Valia could be found in what could only be described as a pile of her students. After they had embraced their own families, it seemed like she was their next target. She could be seen in the middle of all of them crying tears of joy as not a single one of her students were left missing. It seemed that the mission to rescue them was played out just in time. The time to say goodbye to an old friend would come soon enough, for now, she wanted to cherish what she still had.

---

As the day moved on, many of the people of Kalla had a lot to prepare for. With the death of their leader, yet the arrival of the young women taken from them by the bandits, there was a bittersweet feeling in the air. The townspeople were quiet for some time, licking the wounds of their invasion, rebuilding, and making sure everyone was medically taken care of.

While the adventurers rested and cleaned up, a feast was being prepared. A semi-circle lontable, made by placing many smaller tables together, lined three quarters of the town center, with the disrupted stones now re-leveled, and the monument was still in need of repair. As the light faded over the horizon, many torches were placed as well as a great fire in the middle of the plaza. The smells of cooking meats and vegetables as well as various specialty dishes started to fill the air from houses all around. Local musicians tuned their instruments, taut their drums, and joined together to plan out entertainment. Madam Valia’s students, those that weren’t taken and knowing their master was still recovering, decided to practice on their own. For tonight, was cause for celebration, of both lives saved, and of lives past.

The Kallan people believed that while the passing of a loved one was indeed tragic, and mourning was an important part of the process of healing, a celebration of their life and the effect on others was worth remembering, honoring the deceased and giving thanks for their life. There was also the celebration of the heroes that defended their home, and the ones who took the fight to the bandits that stole their loved ones away. They wished to honor those who not only put themselves on the line for their people, but honor the ones who, not even being from this land, chose to stand beside them to seek this justice. And finally, a new leader had to be chosen.

As the sun was setting a line of drummers, a few wooden flutes, and some simple stringed instruments came out to start warming up together to play, quickly finding a groove and starting to play. The dancing girls waited, as it wasn’t their time to perform, and instead helped with laying out the long table with food. Chairs were set, though there were obviously more people than chairs, it was common only to sit when eating or if someone couldn’t stand for long periods of time such as injured, elderly, or mothers that were taking care of young or still expecting. Some would even just take a hunk of meat with bone and remain standing to eat. Within about half an hour, everything was set and the celebration was about ready to begin.

The Vanishing Kingdom

"Yes, not quite often, but one can always see someone's true spirit when on the battlefield. He loves this land and his people more than anything, only his family taking precedence before it. He'll defend it violently so that we can live happily. As for travelers, even a succubus as yourself, we hold our judgment on an individual's actions, and Allard is no different in this case," Valia explained. She sighed as she sunk into the water some more. "I can't say I wasn't a bit jealous at first, but seeing him happy with his family at that tavern of his makes me glad I didn't interfere." Her mind wandered further but she didn't continue, instead she stood up from the bath and stretched.
But that's another story I'm afraid, I should probably be making sure that my home is a bit more... presentable when the girls arrive home," she said changing the subject a bit as she got dressed in a simple white gown after drying off. When Tali asked her questions to Maeve, however, she couldn't help but silently wait for Maeve's answer while purposefully slowly drying off so she could listen, curious about her life in the snowy kingdom of Tundral.

The Vanishing Kingdom

“Well,” she said somewhat excitedly, repositioning herself to get comfy for the story. She stopped only for a moment to wave at the newcomer as she arrived, giving her a little smile. “Just in time for a story, glad to see you stayed safe during the raid. Was just about to tell a story,” she said to Tali before looking back to Maeve. “Wwe have had our run-ins with the Scar a few times, mostly from wandering bandit groups thinking they can try to raid other areas with mixed results, though that leads to scout parties from the Scar searching to clear the rest of those bandits out. They know of us here in Kalla, but they can’t as easily tell us apart from enemies if they find us in the sands, after all, I’ve heard they will claim to be from here to gain foreigner trust. This led to an unavoidable scuffle between a Scar raiding party and one of our scout groups, and Allard was there. The thing about Sylves is… well, they are quite dextrous compared to the normal Kallan warrior despite the difference in durability and strength. They actually incapacitated most the scout party rather quickly, save for Allard. He was able to fight them off, wounding some of them quite heavily, cursing how nimble they were, just as they were cursing how he could keep up. That’s when one of their group stepped forward, cloaked and sinister. It looked unarmed as it rushed in on the wind only for weaponry to appear out of the folds of its cloak seemingly from nowhere, as if it materialized weapons as it fought. It was none other than some of the Scar’s finest, the Reapers. That, is our Suzune.”

“Their battle was told to last for the better part of an hour,and despite any wounds Suzune inflicted on Allard on the rare times she was able, he never seemed to let up, though it was nearly impossible for him to even touch her, her stamina seemed to be letting up, but neither seeming to win over the other. Too tired to move or too injured to move, that was what the battle was going to come down to. However, while they were distracted with each other, the actual bandits that both parties had been tracking tried to take them while their numbers were low. Suzune was hit with an arrow to her left thigh, luckily missing an artery. Allard then fought the bandits off after that, even though he suffered some more wounds after being worn down for so long, he still was the victor. Upon their return to Kalla, the town offered shelter to the Sylves, and well… Allard and Suzune hit it off. It would seem that while they should have been recovering they had instead become quite intimate. He was enchanted by her beauty and her strength in battle, and she was charmed by his honor that big dopey smile of his. Plus, around here to us anyway, he was just about anything a woman could ask for in her husband and a lovable giant to boot. They got past their first impressions and hung around each other long enough during their recovery and Suzune decided to stay! Their marriage was within the next few weeks even. Better part of a year later and Hilde was born” she finished with a giggle. “Suzune may look small and frail, but no enemy has ever made it two steps into the inn during a raid, and that’s if they sneak by Allard,” she said with a sigh, “he had us worried with that last one though… fighting magic honestly isn’t something we are used to. I heard Suzune has been worried sick making sure to visit most the day while their son keeps the inn tidy while she is out.”

--

Sev’s efforts would not go to waste. His assumptions were correct in that he was able to feel out a spot to place his point of reference. There was nobody in the family room, a lot of the excitement keeping most people at home for the moment. Through it he could see three large tubs, quite a bit bigger than the ones like what he sat in, built for families with walls between the tubs, normally for couples or parents with young children, giving them some privacy from the other tubs. But for now, it was pretty clear, as well as the image in the water for him. Looks like it worked! A small water ball, relatively the size of an eyeball floated in the room, allowing him to see, though with about as much depth perception as one eye could provide since there was only one ball.

--

Tyreal would fin Lynn in the oasis just outside the bath house, he would see her a few feet deep into the water, resting, but being watched still by the two guards at the bath house steps. They recognized Tyreal from when they responded to the ship coming in, so they knew that was Lynn's companion and didn't bother him. Lynn seemed really relaxed and in much better health than before.

Kalla Outskirts

Hilde gave a faint smile and a sigh, “if you insist, but you better not run off before then,” she said blushing a bit. It wasn’t terribly often she got compliments on her looks. Most men were afraid of being scrutinized by her father for being flirtatious and when she did receive them it was usually Vali, though it usually accompanied how she wished Hilde would at least take some dancing lessons with her. Hilde always said maybe one day, she did love the fancy clothing, but she always seemed to keep herself busy with other things besides dancing.

It wasn’t long before Hilde fell asleep, which was probably better for her than fighting back the pain she felt in her ribs. With everyone else there, she figured she would be safe enough to doze off with the injury, not that she wasn’t already exhausted to begin with.

As for Kistal, every now and then, he could hear a small whine from Nix, or her body tense up in her sleep, the air around her surging with cold and a faint crackling of ice in the air around her, but it never amounted to anything more. Nightmares, one could guess. Whenever he would pet her or scratch behind her ears, it seemed to calm her down a bit, soothing her in her sleep. Once in a while, it would wake her and her ears would flick. She would resituate herself slightly and try to doze back off, her tail thumping against the floor of the skiff till she fell asleep despite her trying not to physically show she liked it.

Star Wars: The Aftermath (A post-Battle of Endor RP)

Eira's was in the middle of finally giving the creature somehead rubs and ear scratches when Luke arrived. Her eyes seemed to only light up even more when the creature started to talk. "OH! It can talk too!? That's adorable!" she said excitedly. Who knew such things existed? As Luke and the kushiban spoke, she returned to Dremmick's side, still watching the Kushiban intently like a child seeing any new fluffy creature for the first time.

"Sensed me coming, huh? Well, so much for completely flying under the radar till we got here," Dremmick slightly muttered to himself in thought before continuing. "Look, I don't know about being touched by the force or anything, I've always just done what I needed to get by. If the force wanted my to use it, it definitely would have come in handy beforehand," he said, trying to brush it off as probably just a Jedi overanalyzing something. Surely, if the force was with him it would have presented itself much sooner, allowing him to help some of the people he's lost along the way. If it were true, it was almost enough for him to be a little bitter about it.

When asked why he was here, he kept his answer simple. "To serve. My home was ransacked by the Zann Consortium. After fighting to take it back and instill the will to fight back in the people of my town, and saw them do it successfully without me, I wanted to take the fight to them. I know they probably aren't the republic's number one enemy, but I figured they may be on the radar, so to speak." It was the truth, though parts were left out like his desires to locate and destroy the artifacts. Sure, he knew that in the right hands they could do wonders, but good hands always seemed to be outnumbered by bad, and eventually he felt that they would end up in the wrong person's control. Either they find it first or take it by force. In which case, it would only be better to destroy them and deny their enemies the chance.

After telling Luke and the Kushiban hopefully what they wanted, he nodded to them almost like a half bow, "It was an honor meeting you," he told Luke as he turned to follow the escort.

"Both of you!" Eira added as she happily waved to both Luke and the kushiban before turning to follow Dremmick.

The Vanishing Kingdom

The ride back to Kalla from the camp was relatively quiet. Small conversations here and there were made between various people, but the loss of their chief was heavy on their minds. As Kallen thought about the strange puppet that was faced, he may start to remember hearing stories of people Calibris disliked vanishing. Sometimes it wasn’t even anyone he particularly didn’t care for, as whenever he had a curious streak and started locking himself away in his study to not be disturbed, someone always seemed to go missing as well. There was actually a surprising number of people in his service that wore masks under well covering clothes, and maybe this was just a glimpse at what was happening behind closed doors.

As for Allanon, Irene simply thanked him, telling him she would have an idea of what to do when they reached Kalla, but she seemed too worn out to continue. Meanwhile, if he looked to Bidzil, he seemed to have a distant look in his eyes. While the sight was normal for people who had seen their first real battle, Bidzil’s saving grace seemed to be that he was at least able to fight in the face of something new to him. What may have been odd, however, was the air of irritation around him instead of the cold acceptance of the realities of battle.

Hilde laid comfortably as she could in the stretcher, admittedly basking in the attention Chihiro was giving her. She chuckled despite the bit of pain it caused, “Beefcake? My, my, Chihiro, are you complimenting me or my father?” she asked with a smile, teasing her right back. When she spoke of the fight, the girl thought back. “I sensed something was not right while fighting it, and I didn’t expect it to launch an attack so close even to itself,” she started. The fact that the girl got away with a few broken ribs was a testament to the Varuk blood within her, even if she was only half blooded. “I could hear it crying when I got close to it… Something wasn’t quite right. You called it a puppet?” she asked a bit confused, “which may mean that it was being controlled, but what kind of person would do such a thing?”

Nix was wary the whole time of all the different people, though she didn’t outright run from any of them, she just kept her distance. Ever so slowly she would be closer to Kistal, taking a particular interest in him since he freed her and his scent reminded her of a place close to home. She didn’t say much, and she surprisingly didn’t prod for more food, but she did start to follow closely, even sniffing at the chains that he ground into the sands. Eventually, once they were on the skiffs, she didn’t leave his side, opting to be closer to him than any of the other strangers, even to the point to when when she finally passed out, she was curled up in a ball next to him, her back pressed up against his leg where he sat.

The hours would pass and the sun would just start to begin its descent into the afternoon when one of the Kallan warriors spotted the town. “We’re home,” he announced before taking out a signal horn. He took a deep breath before sounding off on it, calling out to the other skiff which in turn took out its own horn and repeated the call. The other horn was set to a different tone to make sure which skiff was which, though when moving in only a pair, identification by tone was less necessary. “Light the torch, let them know we have lost some of our own, give them a moment to prepare themselves,” one of the men said as the other nodded. Upon seeing one skiff light a torch at the front, the other followed suit. From the town, they could hear another horn sounding, responding to them and acknowledging their arrival.