2020-01-31 - Return of the Prince - Arkadius Hogg
Jan 31, 2020 2:09:41 GMT
Ian (Menace) and Merla, the Daughter of Summer like this
Post by Deleted on Jan 31, 2020 2:09:41 GMT
The wind was howling, whirling briskly around Arkadius and finding it's way into his hood to bite at his face, warmed by the alcohol resting in his blood-stream. He was stood on one of the wooden piers of the Port Ffirst docks, staring out into the ocean, the only noise the waves lapping beneath him. Through his telepathic link with Ida, he thought the words, I've been staring at the edge of the water, for as long as I can remember, never really knowing why. Yesterday, I worked it out: I was jealous, of Wil. The ocean and the water seem so... Calm, and angry, and wild, and... Emotional. Fire knows only one emotion, and that's anger. And the air, it's bitter and cold. The water is mischievous, and has a mind of it's own, and... That's his domain. And you have to find happiness where you are, right?
Ida was sat next to him, barely concentrating on what he is saying, half-asleep next to his feet on the dock. It was late, and she was mildly concerned that he was still out in the darkness that night, alone... More or less. Arkadius' cloak dropping to the pier brought her out of her tired lapse of concentration just in time for her to see his wings folding in as close to his back as possible as he dives off the pier into the cold, unforgiving ocean. She bolted to her feet with a single squeak of utter surprise, leaping for the edge of the pier to peer over the edge, into the water.
One more swig of Fire Whiskey, and Arkadius had nearly drank a whole bottle. It had certainly gone to his head, as he raised to his feet and exclaimed to the whole bar around him, "Hey, hey. Listen up, my fellows... I have a story to tell." He waited for a moment to see how many heads were turned, and the whole room had gone quiet. He smiled, and strummed his lyre, with a mystical tune, introducing himself. "Not a day or two ago, I took a notice off the notice board, right here..." he gestured at the rumour board hanging on the wall, pointing to the spot where the notice had been hung, "And as I took it, gasp shock and horror! A sign was etched into the skin on the back of my right hand. Would it be permanent? Would I ever find out where it came from? Does it mean something? Well..." he balled his right hand into a fist, and coughed into it. "My... throat is a little dry. Perhaps... another whisky to wet the whistle?"
A snifter of Fire Whiskey made it's way into his hand, which he downed as quickly as it appeared. "Well! Let me tell you, of course it would prove to be deathly important! But that's a few steps ahead of where we are. The instructions of the advert said meet my dear friend Wil at the docs at the waxing crescent, which I did promptly, ready for an adventure. There was Taz talking to Wil as I arrived, and we were swiftly joined by Sheryl, Mace and Bones. Names you will, of course, recognise, for they are mighty, fearless and impressive adventurers!" He grinned as he made this point, now leaning on the bar, the group in the inn around him in a semi-circle, hanging on his every word.
"Out of the foggy darkness of the ocean stretched... a big, huge ship! The Drunken Mermaid was her name, as well as the figurehead sitting pride-of-place at the... the front, I'm not a sailor, I don't know the terms," he exclaimed, waiving a hand in dismissal at his own lack of knowledge. "Not important. There was a figurehead, and it fit the name. It was as quiet as the night, and unless you knew it was coming or were looking in the right direction, you'd completely miss it. As it sailed past, a minotaur assisted us with boarding, and it would turn out to be none other than one of our own's... close acquaintances," he continued, raising and lowering his eyebrows rather suggestively to punctuate his statement. A few of the less drunk, more aware patrons around him chuckled a bit as they realised the hidden meaning of his words.
"We sailed for a few hours, and eventually found our way to our destination, the 'land with no roots' as we would find is a travelling island. As we approached, we saw what we were there to assist with, an onslaught of... undead, and creatures of the unknown attacking the island. It was not a pleasant sight." He left his words hanging for a moment. "The good news is, the captain had laced the ship with magics to prevent them from seeing us for now, and the one that did accidentally stumble into us was... incinerated, by yours truly!"
Arkadius punctuated this sentence by emitting a flame from his palm, using the cantrip Produce Flame. He let the fire stay there for a moment, the patrons ooh-ing and aah-ing, before closing his fist and letting the flame die away. "Alas, we had to hurry. We made our way to the island to meet with what I presume is Wil's people. Associates or friends of some kind, at least. There, they charged us with protecting this... egg. What is inside? Well... Wouldn't you like to know,", Arkadius tapped his nose, with a wink and a grin.
"Our targets were a fire elemental and an air elemental. Now, as you might be able to tell, I'm rather partial to the air," a flutter of his wings to make his point easily, "And perhaps my use of fire earlier might be a big hint that it's one of my specialities. So that doesn't bode well for me. But hey... I'll do what I can to help a young, resting and defenceless unborn child," he paused for a moments, eyes closed trying to remember the rest of the evening. "Ah yes! The big battle happened next! We were charged by the water and the earth elementals to protect the egg from their guardian bretheren, who had been driven mad following their ancient task to the letter. A sad end, but an admirable one. There were three points of the island requiring support, and six of us. Guess what? We all split up. Me with Bones, Wil with Sheryl, And Taz with Mace. Bones and I rained down hell among what found it's way out of the water towards us on one of the beaches, of course. I myself managed to wipe out eight of the blighters with one fireball. One of my... proudest moments, may I say."
He buffed his own fingertips, all six of them, on the front of his shirt. "After a while, we were summoned back. I will... allow my dear associates to regale you with their own stories of the events elsewhere on the island, I couldn't retell their story, give them their due! We travelled back to the cave where the two elementals resided, only to have... disaster befall us! The fire and air elementals finding the cave too!" He gasped dramatically, joining in with the crowd. "The earth elemental shielded the egg, and Sheryl and Taz went in to fight. I stayed back, providing magical encouragement from behind, and taking firey force potshots. Four firey rays striking the air elemental and it's associate standing between them and the fire elemental... did I not mention them? Huh. How thoughtless of me, perhaps I forgot them because of how meaningless they felt. They seemed to vanish pretty quickly, the coward."
He stood quiet for a few moments before one of the patrons yelled Well? What else? Come on, man!
Arkadius grinned. "Well, more fighting ensued before the air elemental passed away, and I fired another spell at the fire elemental, and..." he closed his eyes, thinking over the events of the day, every moment carefully playing out in his head. "...Long story short, it became dust. The egg hatched, and that's the end of the story. I do apologise, I have... somewhere else to be."
He quickly moved to pick up his coat from the back of the seat where he had left it hanging, Ida stirring where she was lay in the inner left-hand pocket. You're done drinking? That's early for you, she murmured through their telepathic link. Yep. I have some... thinking I wanted to do, clear of the haze of the inn.
She could just about feel Arkadius' mental touch in the ocean beneath the pier as he flexed his body, swimming along with the current for a good few moments, just to the outer limit of their link, before looping in a circle back closer to her. She knew he was safe, a small squeak of relief and a soft roll of her eyes as he began swimming in loop-the-loops below the pier, clearly now showing off. Well, there you are. When you're ready, I'd like to go home, please don't drift off too far, she said, climbing into the warmth of the hood of his abandoned cloak and shuffling into a comfortable position to fall asleep quickly.
Ida was sat next to him, barely concentrating on what he is saying, half-asleep next to his feet on the dock. It was late, and she was mildly concerned that he was still out in the darkness that night, alone... More or less. Arkadius' cloak dropping to the pier brought her out of her tired lapse of concentration just in time for her to see his wings folding in as close to his back as possible as he dives off the pier into the cold, unforgiving ocean. She bolted to her feet with a single squeak of utter surprise, leaping for the edge of the pier to peer over the edge, into the water.
One more swig of Fire Whiskey, and Arkadius had nearly drank a whole bottle. It had certainly gone to his head, as he raised to his feet and exclaimed to the whole bar around him, "Hey, hey. Listen up, my fellows... I have a story to tell." He waited for a moment to see how many heads were turned, and the whole room had gone quiet. He smiled, and strummed his lyre, with a mystical tune, introducing himself. "Not a day or two ago, I took a notice off the notice board, right here..." he gestured at the rumour board hanging on the wall, pointing to the spot where the notice had been hung, "And as I took it, gasp shock and horror! A sign was etched into the skin on the back of my right hand. Would it be permanent? Would I ever find out where it came from? Does it mean something? Well..." he balled his right hand into a fist, and coughed into it. "My... throat is a little dry. Perhaps... another whisky to wet the whistle?"
A snifter of Fire Whiskey made it's way into his hand, which he downed as quickly as it appeared. "Well! Let me tell you, of course it would prove to be deathly important! But that's a few steps ahead of where we are. The instructions of the advert said meet my dear friend Wil at the docs at the waxing crescent, which I did promptly, ready for an adventure. There was Taz talking to Wil as I arrived, and we were swiftly joined by Sheryl, Mace and Bones. Names you will, of course, recognise, for they are mighty, fearless and impressive adventurers!" He grinned as he made this point, now leaning on the bar, the group in the inn around him in a semi-circle, hanging on his every word.
"Out of the foggy darkness of the ocean stretched... a big, huge ship! The Drunken Mermaid was her name, as well as the figurehead sitting pride-of-place at the... the front, I'm not a sailor, I don't know the terms," he exclaimed, waiving a hand in dismissal at his own lack of knowledge. "Not important. There was a figurehead, and it fit the name. It was as quiet as the night, and unless you knew it was coming or were looking in the right direction, you'd completely miss it. As it sailed past, a minotaur assisted us with boarding, and it would turn out to be none other than one of our own's... close acquaintances," he continued, raising and lowering his eyebrows rather suggestively to punctuate his statement. A few of the less drunk, more aware patrons around him chuckled a bit as they realised the hidden meaning of his words.
"We sailed for a few hours, and eventually found our way to our destination, the 'land with no roots' as we would find is a travelling island. As we approached, we saw what we were there to assist with, an onslaught of... undead, and creatures of the unknown attacking the island. It was not a pleasant sight." He left his words hanging for a moment. "The good news is, the captain had laced the ship with magics to prevent them from seeing us for now, and the one that did accidentally stumble into us was... incinerated, by yours truly!"
Arkadius punctuated this sentence by emitting a flame from his palm, using the cantrip Produce Flame. He let the fire stay there for a moment, the patrons ooh-ing and aah-ing, before closing his fist and letting the flame die away. "Alas, we had to hurry. We made our way to the island to meet with what I presume is Wil's people. Associates or friends of some kind, at least. There, they charged us with protecting this... egg. What is inside? Well... Wouldn't you like to know,", Arkadius tapped his nose, with a wink and a grin.
"Our targets were a fire elemental and an air elemental. Now, as you might be able to tell, I'm rather partial to the air," a flutter of his wings to make his point easily, "And perhaps my use of fire earlier might be a big hint that it's one of my specialities. So that doesn't bode well for me. But hey... I'll do what I can to help a young, resting and defenceless unborn child," he paused for a moments, eyes closed trying to remember the rest of the evening. "Ah yes! The big battle happened next! We were charged by the water and the earth elementals to protect the egg from their guardian bretheren, who had been driven mad following their ancient task to the letter. A sad end, but an admirable one. There were three points of the island requiring support, and six of us. Guess what? We all split up. Me with Bones, Wil with Sheryl, And Taz with Mace. Bones and I rained down hell among what found it's way out of the water towards us on one of the beaches, of course. I myself managed to wipe out eight of the blighters with one fireball. One of my... proudest moments, may I say."
He buffed his own fingertips, all six of them, on the front of his shirt. "After a while, we were summoned back. I will... allow my dear associates to regale you with their own stories of the events elsewhere on the island, I couldn't retell their story, give them their due! We travelled back to the cave where the two elementals resided, only to have... disaster befall us! The fire and air elementals finding the cave too!" He gasped dramatically, joining in with the crowd. "The earth elemental shielded the egg, and Sheryl and Taz went in to fight. I stayed back, providing magical encouragement from behind, and taking firey force potshots. Four firey rays striking the air elemental and it's associate standing between them and the fire elemental... did I not mention them? Huh. How thoughtless of me, perhaps I forgot them because of how meaningless they felt. They seemed to vanish pretty quickly, the coward."
He stood quiet for a few moments before one of the patrons yelled Well? What else? Come on, man!
Arkadius grinned. "Well, more fighting ensued before the air elemental passed away, and I fired another spell at the fire elemental, and..." he closed his eyes, thinking over the events of the day, every moment carefully playing out in his head. "...Long story short, it became dust. The egg hatched, and that's the end of the story. I do apologise, I have... somewhere else to be."
He quickly moved to pick up his coat from the back of the seat where he had left it hanging, Ida stirring where she was lay in the inner left-hand pocket. You're done drinking? That's early for you, she murmured through their telepathic link. Yep. I have some... thinking I wanted to do, clear of the haze of the inn.
She could just about feel Arkadius' mental touch in the ocean beneath the pier as he flexed his body, swimming along with the current for a good few moments, just to the outer limit of their link, before looping in a circle back closer to her. She knew he was safe, a small squeak of relief and a soft roll of her eyes as he began swimming in loop-the-loops below the pier, clearly now showing off. Well, there you are. When you're ready, I'd like to go home, please don't drift off too far, she said, climbing into the warmth of the hood of his abandoned cloak and shuffling into a comfortable position to fall asleep quickly.