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Kingdoms of Kalamar; Rancor of the Unholy - Act 1: Scene 1
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<blockquote data-quote="narayan" data-source="post: 7541002" data-attributes="member: 6677509"><p><strong>Saryf, Anoria</strong></p><p></p><p><img src="https://i.imgur.com/ZyFXCzIh.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /><img src="https://i.imgur.com/xY2izKjh.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p><em><strong><span style="font-size: 12px">Eastern O'Par, Elfen Lake; Fireday of the month of Snowfall, 1044 Y.K.</span></strong></em></p><p></p><p><em>As remote as it was lovely, a narrow string of pools of crystalline water known as Elfen lake set low in stony, mossy, tree-dotted hillsides in the Kakapela hills of eastern O'Par near the Ryakk woods. Most of the day beneath the winter sun the lake was hidden largely in shadows, and silence. Only the wind or occasional eagle's cry disturbed the stillness. Today was not such a day.</em></p><p> <em></em></p><p><em>These regions of Northern Kalamar were cold enough for snow, yet not so frigid to warrant blizzards, the likes of which decimated the armies of prince Fulakar during his campaign against the Fhokki barbarians. Snow drifts around the lake were somewhat sparse and rarely more than a foot deep. Within the brush, high up in the bare trunks of past-autumn trees or the needles of still-green pines, Tellene's natural creatures observed the violence without judgement.</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>When it was over, two lovers stood on a small stone beach, one soaking wet. The man had long black hair, tanned skin and the lean, proud features of the Dejy. The woman appeared elvish, petite, pale as the snow with golden-brown locks and delicate, porcelain features. Fresh tears dripped down her cheeks, flush red with emotion.</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em></em><img src="https://i.imgur.com/wIIequY.jpg?1" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /><em></em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>Saryf embraced Anoria, the beautiful, mysterious, 'lady of the lake.' Within his arms she trembled with a deep sense of relief. Behind her, the corpses of three of her assailants lay stiff and smoldering, felled by Saryf's Eldritch blasts. Meanwhile the rest of the group who attempted to capture her retreated away with haste, back towards the Eagles Peak monastery where their caravan was presently encamped.</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em><strong>Anoria:</strong> <span style="color: #800080">"I though they killed you!" </span>She gasped clutching him tighter, ignoring the chill of his wet monkish robes.</em></p><p> <em></em></p><p><em><strong>Saryf:</strong> -Whispered- <span style="color: #008080">"So did I." </span>He answered, remembering the feeling of life slipping away as those slavers cut him down and threw him into the lake. <span style="color: #008080">"Somehow the magic of the lake saved me. I felt cold, darkness, pain. For the first time, for what I believed was the last time, I prayed. I could not bear to loose you!" </span>He paused as his voice choked up. <span style="color: #008080">"...A voice in the depths of my soul gave me the strength to keep fighting."</span></em></p><p><em><span style="color: #008080"></span></em></p><p><em><strong>Anoria:</strong> Smiled. <span style="color: #800080">"You rose out of the water again, whole and healed! I couldn't believe it. It's a miracle!"</span></em></p><p> <em></em></p><p><em><strong>Saryf:</strong> <span style="color: #008080">"It was the will of Yelajod, The Guardian. In the instant I heard his voice, I promised to swear my soul to the battle against slavery, tyranny, and oppression. I must protect you!"</span></em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em><strong>Anoria:</strong> Squeezed him with joy. <span style="color: #800080">"You have! I love you!" </span>She beamed.</em></p><p> <em></em></p><p><em>Saryf smiled. He could not have been happier. Anoria was very special, and until just that moment, he did not feel worthy of her love.</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em>As a rare offspring of fey and elf, Anoria was unique. Her bloodline was the source of more than breathtaking beauty, it also possessed a rare destiny. Elfen lake had deep personal significance to them both. Anoria's mother served an important role in the Seelie Court. One gateway to that court was Elfen lake. She used the gateway fairly regularly to communicate messages from her father, King Sendir of the High Elves of Cilorealon.</em></p><p> <em></em></p><p><em>Anoria's role as an unofficial intermediary remained an unspoken secret in Sendir's court, but was rather well known among the fey on Tellene. Saryf first observed her here at Elfen lake speaking with the fey ten years ago. It took a few months after that before he worked up the nerve to approach her and introduce himself. For him also, the lake was a sacred place for his Dejy tribal ancestors, and a place to escape the duties of the Eagle's Peak Monastery nearby.</em></p><p> <em></em></p><p><em>Saryf had been living as a monk for nearly a decade, but his original purpose was to spy as an agent of an informants network within Bet Bireli, the capital city of O'Par. For a Dejy, such a life went against everything his parents taught him as a young boy. It was not a path he would have chosen for himself. Truthfully he had little choice. Events of the past were completely out of his control.</em></p><p> <em></em></p><p><em>The ancient tribe of of Dejy who roamed these hills suffered a great deal in recent centuries. As a consequence, many abandoned the old ways moving into Kalamaran cities and towns that offered more safety and opportunity. This weakened the tribe until at last it lacked the strength to survive the attacks of evil humanoids and slavers that finally overwhelmed them. The attacks forced the tribe to disperse and scatter. When the survivors found each other again it was determined that Saryf's father was killed and his mother taken.</em></p><p> <em></em></p><p><em>As per tribal custom, the responsibility to look after Saryf now would fall to his oldest living relative, which happened to be his uncle Jaresh. A man who abandoned the tribe decades prior. Rumors hinted that Jaresh may be living in Bet Bireli.</em></p><p> <em></em></p><p><em>Not long after that, Saryf was reunited with his uncle in the so-called City of Ears. Jaresh began tasking him as a messenger and at the age of ten. Saryf learned the streets and the people quickly. A few years after that, his training as a spy began in earnest. In some ways the dark alleys were no different than the wilderness of the hills and canyons he grew up in. Survival depended on remaining alert, expecting danger everywhere at any moment. Yet despite his aptitude, Saryf grew cynical about his purpose and his future. Informants and spies were rarely trusted for long. Betrayal and death were often their fate.</em></p><p> <em></em></p><p><em>Out of fear, and constant pressure from Jaresh, Saryf had adopted the worship of Dotogyr, The Unseen One. Not long after that, associates of his uncle and leaders of the House of Knives recognized Saryf's potential as a Warlock, and someday, as an assassin. These abilities were developed and trained in secret as much as possible.</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em>After several more years, when Saryf was a man close to twenty, Jaresh decided the time was right to introduce Saryf to an old man in a mansion. No names were spoken, but Saryf believed it was Perekay the Swift, spymaster of Duke Gadadik himself. The old man gave him a task. He was to go to the Eagles Peak Monastery who were suspected of harboring freed slaves. Though the monastery itself was little more than a library in a hills passage, rumor was the abbot may be a highly positioned priest of The Face of the Free.</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>Perekay promised no rewards directly, but hinted strongly about valuable patronage and an important role to come if he successfully investigated these rumors. Saryf agreed and listened carefully to the cover story they had prepared for him. To be as convincing as possible, Saryf was stripped of his possessions, beaten to an inch of his life and brought near the monastery in chains. Malnourished, with iron manacles still clasped upon his wrists, he appeared at the monastery doorstep with a sad tale of kidnapping, slavery, and escape to account for it.</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em>The monks took him in. Saryf begged them for shelter and a place in their order. He pretended to re-learn how to read and write. He attended long lectures and spoke at length with as many monks as possible. Whatever he learned, he communicated back to Jaresh.</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>Weeks passed, month's, and finally years. Much to his chagrin, nothing suggesting truth to the rumors of harbored slaves was evident to Saryf. In his last communication to his uncle Saryf asked permission to leave. What was the point in wasting anymore time in the cold monastery, bored out of his wits? He grew slower, weaker, with nothing to do but read in the library.</em></p><p> <em></em></p><p><em>At first he despised himself for his weakening of purpose. Before long he also despised his uncle and everyone from his organization. The temptation to flee and return to Bet Bireli nagged at him day and night, but such a move was out of the question for fear for his life, and likely his uncles. Once tasked by the Duke's own spymaster there was no going back. The other monks noticed something eating at him and offered counsel. Saryf played along, making up more details about his cover story to explain his moods. In so doing, issues plaguing his heart opened up. Saryf was unconsciously relating early memories of his tribe and his dear parents into his cover story.</em></p><p> <em></em></p><p><em>These new feelings of guilt, anger and remorse bothered Saryf so much he started taking leave of the monastery to go on long walks. Else wise he would surely crack under the scrutiny, even though the other monks genuinely only wished to help. While on these walks, he was surprised to recognize a great many trails and landmarks throughout the Kakapela Hills from his early childhood. That's when he remembered how to find Elfen lake, and that's when he laid eyes on Anoria for the first time.</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em><strong>...To Be Continued </strong></em></p><p><em></em></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="narayan, post: 7541002, member: 6677509"] [b]Saryf, Anoria[/b] [IMG]https://i.imgur.com/ZyFXCzIh.png[/IMG][IMG]https://i.imgur.com/xY2izKjh.png[/IMG] [I][B][SIZE=3]Eastern O'Par, Elfen Lake; Fireday of the month of Snowfall, 1044 Y.K.[/SIZE][/B][/I] [I]As remote as it was lovely, a narrow string of pools of crystalline water known as Elfen lake set low in stony, mossy, tree-dotted hillsides in the Kakapela hills of eastern O'Par near the Ryakk woods. Most of the day beneath the winter sun the lake was hidden largely in shadows, and silence. Only the wind or occasional eagle's cry disturbed the stillness. Today was not such a day. These regions of Northern Kalamar were cold enough for snow, yet not so frigid to warrant blizzards, the likes of which decimated the armies of prince Fulakar during his campaign against the Fhokki barbarians. Snow drifts around the lake were somewhat sparse and rarely more than a foot deep. Within the brush, high up in the bare trunks of past-autumn trees or the needles of still-green pines, Tellene's natural creatures observed the violence without judgement. When it was over, two lovers stood on a small stone beach, one soaking wet. The man had long black hair, tanned skin and the lean, proud features of the Dejy. The woman appeared elvish, petite, pale as the snow with golden-brown locks and delicate, porcelain features. Fresh tears dripped down her cheeks, flush red with emotion. [/I][IMG]https://i.imgur.com/wIIequY.jpg?1[/IMG][I] Saryf embraced Anoria, the beautiful, mysterious, 'lady of the lake.' Within his arms she trembled with a deep sense of relief. Behind her, the corpses of three of her assailants lay stiff and smoldering, felled by Saryf's Eldritch blasts. Meanwhile the rest of the group who attempted to capture her retreated away with haste, back towards the Eagles Peak monastery where their caravan was presently encamped. [B]Anoria:[/B] [COLOR=#800080]"I though they killed you!" [/COLOR]She gasped clutching him tighter, ignoring the chill of his wet monkish robes. [B]Saryf:[/B] -Whispered- [COLOR=#008080]"So did I." [/COLOR]He answered, remembering the feeling of life slipping away as those slavers cut him down and threw him into the lake. [COLOR=#008080]"Somehow the magic of the lake saved me. I felt cold, darkness, pain. For the first time, for what I believed was the last time, I prayed. I could not bear to loose you!" [/COLOR]He paused as his voice choked up. [COLOR=#008080]"...A voice in the depths of my soul gave me the strength to keep fighting." [/COLOR] [B]Anoria:[/B] Smiled. [COLOR=#800080]"You rose out of the water again, whole and healed! I couldn't believe it. It's a miracle!"[/COLOR] [B]Saryf:[/B] [COLOR=#008080]"It was the will of Yelajod, The Guardian. In the instant I heard his voice, I promised to swear my soul to the battle against slavery, tyranny, and oppression. I must protect you!"[/COLOR] [B]Anoria:[/B] Squeezed him with joy. [COLOR=#800080]"You have! I love you!" [/COLOR]She beamed. Saryf smiled. He could not have been happier. Anoria was very special, and until just that moment, he did not feel worthy of her love. As a rare offspring of fey and elf, Anoria was unique. Her bloodline was the source of more than breathtaking beauty, it also possessed a rare destiny. Elfen lake had deep personal significance to them both. Anoria's mother served an important role in the Seelie Court. One gateway to that court was Elfen lake. She used the gateway fairly regularly to communicate messages from her father, King Sendir of the High Elves of Cilorealon. Anoria's role as an unofficial intermediary remained an unspoken secret in Sendir's court, but was rather well known among the fey on Tellene. Saryf first observed her here at Elfen lake speaking with the fey ten years ago. It took a few months after that before he worked up the nerve to approach her and introduce himself. For him also, the lake was a sacred place for his Dejy tribal ancestors, and a place to escape the duties of the Eagle's Peak Monastery nearby. Saryf had been living as a monk for nearly a decade, but his original purpose was to spy as an agent of an informants network within Bet Bireli, the capital city of O'Par. For a Dejy, such a life went against everything his parents taught him as a young boy. It was not a path he would have chosen for himself. Truthfully he had little choice. Events of the past were completely out of his control. The ancient tribe of of Dejy who roamed these hills suffered a great deal in recent centuries. As a consequence, many abandoned the old ways moving into Kalamaran cities and towns that offered more safety and opportunity. This weakened the tribe until at last it lacked the strength to survive the attacks of evil humanoids and slavers that finally overwhelmed them. The attacks forced the tribe to disperse and scatter. When the survivors found each other again it was determined that Saryf's father was killed and his mother taken. As per tribal custom, the responsibility to look after Saryf now would fall to his oldest living relative, which happened to be his uncle Jaresh. A man who abandoned the tribe decades prior. Rumors hinted that Jaresh may be living in Bet Bireli. Not long after that, Saryf was reunited with his uncle in the so-called City of Ears. Jaresh began tasking him as a messenger and at the age of ten. Saryf learned the streets and the people quickly. A few years after that, his training as a spy began in earnest. In some ways the dark alleys were no different than the wilderness of the hills and canyons he grew up in. Survival depended on remaining alert, expecting danger everywhere at any moment. Yet despite his aptitude, Saryf grew cynical about his purpose and his future. Informants and spies were rarely trusted for long. Betrayal and death were often their fate. Out of fear, and constant pressure from Jaresh, Saryf had adopted the worship of Dotogyr, The Unseen One. Not long after that, associates of his uncle and leaders of the House of Knives recognized Saryf's potential as a Warlock, and someday, as an assassin. These abilities were developed and trained in secret as much as possible. After several more years, when Saryf was a man close to twenty, Jaresh decided the time was right to introduce Saryf to an old man in a mansion. No names were spoken, but Saryf believed it was Perekay the Swift, spymaster of Duke Gadadik himself. The old man gave him a task. He was to go to the Eagles Peak Monastery who were suspected of harboring freed slaves. Though the monastery itself was little more than a library in a hills passage, rumor was the abbot may be a highly positioned priest of The Face of the Free. Perekay promised no rewards directly, but hinted strongly about valuable patronage and an important role to come if he successfully investigated these rumors. Saryf agreed and listened carefully to the cover story they had prepared for him. To be as convincing as possible, Saryf was stripped of his possessions, beaten to an inch of his life and brought near the monastery in chains. Malnourished, with iron manacles still clasped upon his wrists, he appeared at the monastery doorstep with a sad tale of kidnapping, slavery, and escape to account for it. The monks took him in. Saryf begged them for shelter and a place in their order. He pretended to re-learn how to read and write. He attended long lectures and spoke at length with as many monks as possible. Whatever he learned, he communicated back to Jaresh. Weeks passed, month's, and finally years. Much to his chagrin, nothing suggesting truth to the rumors of harbored slaves was evident to Saryf. In his last communication to his uncle Saryf asked permission to leave. What was the point in wasting anymore time in the cold monastery, bored out of his wits? He grew slower, weaker, with nothing to do but read in the library. At first he despised himself for his weakening of purpose. Before long he also despised his uncle and everyone from his organization. The temptation to flee and return to Bet Bireli nagged at him day and night, but such a move was out of the question for fear for his life, and likely his uncles. Once tasked by the Duke's own spymaster there was no going back. The other monks noticed something eating at him and offered counsel. Saryf played along, making up more details about his cover story to explain his moods. In so doing, issues plaguing his heart opened up. Saryf was unconsciously relating early memories of his tribe and his dear parents into his cover story. These new feelings of guilt, anger and remorse bothered Saryf so much he started taking leave of the monastery to go on long walks. Else wise he would surely crack under the scrutiny, even though the other monks genuinely only wished to help. While on these walks, he was surprised to recognize a great many trails and landmarks throughout the Kakapela Hills from his early childhood. That's when he remembered how to find Elfen lake, and that's when he laid eyes on Anoria for the first time. [B]...To Be Continued [/B] [/I] [/QUOTE]
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Kingdoms of Kalamar; Rancor of the Unholy - Act 1: Scene 1
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