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Song of Shattered Blades
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<blockquote data-quote="Arcturion" data-source="post: 3743903" data-attributes="member: 54632"><p><strong>1.2 Hommes Optare</strong></p><p></p><p><span style="color: LemonChiffon">The dark aelf found that her dress was more form-fitting than she’d liked, the fabric of the skirt hampering her movement while she darted after the Captain and his mysterious ship’s surgeon just as they reached the doors. Caring not the least for courtesy and decency given the circumstances, Eltera paused long enough to wipe the blade of her proffered dinner knife free of gristle upon the rich green satin, leaving dark stains at her thigh before slipping the sharp tip through the top of the skirt with care and slicing downward. The fine material parted like water and tore open softly with a sigh as she cut a slit along the left side of her dress.</span></p><p><span style="color: LemonChiffon"></span></p><p><span style="color: LemonChiffon">Rentiki glanced over his shoulder and flashed a grin of approval. “I never liked that color anyway,” was his only retort.</span></p><p><span style="color: LemonChiffon"></span></p><p><span style="color: LemonChiffon">Satisfied that her mobility would no longer be hindered, Eltera followed the two men after the doors were thrown wide open and the trio emerged headlong into the pitch black night. A chill breeze greeted them all, Rentiki taking the lead with Terwase moving at his right and the dark aelf at his left. Before them stretched the main deck of the Argus, its planks as dark as the waves over the sides while the raised quarterdeck loomed just behind them, flanked by wooden steps at the gunwales. A fog had begun to form over the murky waters of the Ebontine, misty fingers curling around the ship. The pitch and roll of the deck made Eltera feel slightly queasy and she idly wondered if she could stand to keep down the food she had eaten just earlier.</span></p><p><span style="color: LemonChiffon"></span></p><p><span style="color: LemonChiffon">Several sailors had formed a ragged ring around the center mast nearly 15 feet ahead, some armed with long knives whose steel blades glinted in the pale moonlight, others with blunt wooden belaying pins. Eltera counted no more than five of the grizzled mariners, and one of their number lay upon the deck clutching at the bloody stump where his right arm used to be.</span></p><p><span style="color: LemonChiffon"></span></p><p><span style="color: LemonChiffon">“Mercy! Awino meant no offense!” pleaded one sailor in some foreign tongue that was unfamiliar to Eltera and yet she understood every word just the same. The man was scared out of his wits. “T’was just harmless touchin’, see!”</span></p><p><span style="color: LemonChiffon"></span></p><p><span style="color: LemonChiffon">“Ta hells take Awino!” cried another, sounding just as panicked. “He be ta one dat did ye wrong! Take ‘im n’ spare us!”</span></p><p><span style="color: LemonChiffon"></span></p><p><span style="color: LemonChiffon">As the terrified sailors backed away from the mast, the dark aelf was greeted by the sight of a woman clothed in the simple homespun garb of a peasant, the hem of her skirt and the woolen cloak around her shoulders still stained with mud from travel. The hood fallen from her head exposed long, white hair that was greasy and unwashed. When the woman turned to face Rentiki’s intrusion, the unkempt tresses framed a blood-spattered face that was no longer young and yet she would not have been painful to look upon were it not for the cracked, blackened skin, as if she was exposed to extreme cold and finally succumbed to frostbite, so discolored as it was. The dim firelight of a lantern that hung upon the mast overhead was reflected by the unnatural gleam in her golden eyes, casting dark shadows even as it banished the gloom of night. Eltera was reminded of cat’s eyes, though the expression the female bore seemed blank and devoid of any emotion or sentience. Clutched in her left hand was the mariner’s right arm torn from the socket, the severed limb bent limply at the elbow while a slick pool ran red at the woman’s feet.</span></p><p><span style="color: LemonChiffon"></span></p><p><span style="color: LemonChiffon">A human, or once had been, that much Eltera was certain, and yet her uncanny resemblance to a Svari dark aelf was disconcerting all the same.</span></p><p><span style="color: LemonChiffon"></span></p><p><span style="color: LemonChiffon">“What in ye god’s name,” Rentiki swore, shocked at the scene before them.</span></p><p><span style="color: LemonChiffon"></span></p><p><span style="color: LemonChiffon">Terwase gaped as he hung back at the double doors, the speechless shaman’s gaunt, trembling hand reaching up toward his throat to clutch at a feathered talisman that had been previously hidden beneath his robes. With his other, he traced symbols of warding in the air before him, mouthing words to an unspoken prayer no one but he himself and his god could hear.</span></p><p><span style="color: LemonChiffon"></span></p><p><span style="color: LemonChiffon">Gripping the silver wire-wrapped hilt of Amurisil even tighter, Eltera beckoned the sword to bestow its blessing upon herself and her newfound companions. As the eog-forged blade did so, a feeling of righteousness washed over them, bolstering their courage and raising spirits high. Accompanying this came another emotion, that of dread. Neither living, Amurisil whispered. Nor dead. Nothing, the last word echoed in Eltera’s mind. Though it possessed the ability to detect both the vitality of the living and foul aura of the undead, the sword could sense nothing from the creature. The one called Awino was near death, however, his wound threatening to cause him to bleed out. Orpheus itself registered as undead as well.</span></p><p><span style="color: LemonChiffon"></span></p><p><span style="color: LemonChiffon">A second body fell over the side of the gunwales at the forecastle above and splashed heavily into the black waters of the Ebontine below. Narrowing her eyes, Eltera saw another figure ahead standing upon the raised deck at the ship’s bow nearly 30 feet away, separated by wooden steps that flanked the sides of the ship. This one was an old crone, her stark white hair the color of bone and her clothes mere tattered rags. The wrinkled skin of her aged face was likewise blackened and cracked, though contrasting with the other woman, the hag’s golden eyes burned with hateful malevolence. Leaping up onto the rail and peeling back lips stained crimson in a feral snarl, the crone spat out a bloody chunk of quivering flesh. It landed with a wet smack upon the deck near the center mast, further scattering the frightened men. Eltera realized that the hideous morsel had been the man’s throat torn out by the hag’s bare teeth.</span></p><p><span style="color: LemonChiffon"></span></p><p><span style="color: LemonChiffon">“Nine Hells, Cap’n!” one sailor shouted with more conviction in his voice than the others, wielding a belaying pin like a club. “This be devilry, it is!”</span></p><p><span style="color: LemonChiffon"></span></p><p><span style="color: LemonChiffon">“Orders, sir?!” yelled out another beside him, this one sounding less certain despite brandishing a naked blade in his fist. Shrieking, his face drained of all color at the sight of the hag looming above him.</span></p><p><span style="color: LemonChiffon"></span></p><p><span style="color: LemonChiffon">“Orpheus!” Captain Rentiki bellowed instead. At this, the skeletal snake reared up and bared its teeth just as the lower jaw extended. Instead of striking at the nearest woman, Orpheus bit deeply into the bare skin of its master’s broad shoulder. Rentiki winced visibly in pain but gave no cry, the muscles of his own jaw clenched tightly. The vertebrae of the serpent’s spine aligned themselves down along the outer length of his left arm, its curved ribs encircling his flesh in an articulated sheath of bone. Eltera watched as the remainder of its body lashed at the air before Rentiki like a flensing scourge while a pale cerulean flame ignited along the inside of his familiar’s hollow core to cast a garish blue pallor around him. If the eldritch fire burned him at its slightest touch, the Daoshan Captain gave no indication, nor could Eltera feel any heat being given off from Orpheus as it attached itself to its master. “Stand back and flee!” Rentiki roared. “Take the wounded with you! We’ll handle this!” The crew did as they were commanded.</span></p><p><span style="color: LemonChiffon"></span></p><p><span style="color: LemonChiffon">The one sailor that had cursed Awino threw down his knife like a craven, turned and ran toward the plank that led onto the Dracian quay just at Eltera’s left side. At this, the peasant woman dropped her bloody trophy upon the deck and lunged after him with a surprising grace that defied the rictis and shambling gait one would normally expect from the walking undead. With bare hands balled tightly into fists raised up high over her head, the woman brought them down heavily upon the back of the man’s skull with terrible force, shattering bone with a sickening crunch. Gasping audibly, the air was driven from his lungs as he fell forward face first, dead before he even hit the deck to lay sprawled at Eltera’s feet. Amurisil confirmed his death without a shadow of a doubt.</span></p><p><span style="color: LemonChiffon"></span></p><p><span style="color: LemonChiffon">Standing up behind her latest victim, the woman regarded Rentiki and Eltera with vacant eyes of molten gold. The sudden violent movement and ferocity of her attack had cracked the tender, unfeeling skin at her face, and thin streams of what appeared to be blood at first glance instead glistened like rivulets of silver in the moonlight.</span></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Arcturion, post: 3743903, member: 54632"] [b]1.2 Hommes Optare[/b] [COLOR=LemonChiffon]The dark aelf found that her dress was more form-fitting than she’d liked, the fabric of the skirt hampering her movement while she darted after the Captain and his mysterious ship’s surgeon just as they reached the doors. Caring not the least for courtesy and decency given the circumstances, Eltera paused long enough to wipe the blade of her proffered dinner knife free of gristle upon the rich green satin, leaving dark stains at her thigh before slipping the sharp tip through the top of the skirt with care and slicing downward. The fine material parted like water and tore open softly with a sigh as she cut a slit along the left side of her dress. Rentiki glanced over his shoulder and flashed a grin of approval. “I never liked that color anyway,” was his only retort. Satisfied that her mobility would no longer be hindered, Eltera followed the two men after the doors were thrown wide open and the trio emerged headlong into the pitch black night. A chill breeze greeted them all, Rentiki taking the lead with Terwase moving at his right and the dark aelf at his left. Before them stretched the main deck of the Argus, its planks as dark as the waves over the sides while the raised quarterdeck loomed just behind them, flanked by wooden steps at the gunwales. A fog had begun to form over the murky waters of the Ebontine, misty fingers curling around the ship. The pitch and roll of the deck made Eltera feel slightly queasy and she idly wondered if she could stand to keep down the food she had eaten just earlier. Several sailors had formed a ragged ring around the center mast nearly 15 feet ahead, some armed with long knives whose steel blades glinted in the pale moonlight, others with blunt wooden belaying pins. Eltera counted no more than five of the grizzled mariners, and one of their number lay upon the deck clutching at the bloody stump where his right arm used to be. “Mercy! Awino meant no offense!” pleaded one sailor in some foreign tongue that was unfamiliar to Eltera and yet she understood every word just the same. The man was scared out of his wits. “T’was just harmless touchin’, see!” “Ta hells take Awino!” cried another, sounding just as panicked. “He be ta one dat did ye wrong! Take ‘im n’ spare us!” As the terrified sailors backed away from the mast, the dark aelf was greeted by the sight of a woman clothed in the simple homespun garb of a peasant, the hem of her skirt and the woolen cloak around her shoulders still stained with mud from travel. The hood fallen from her head exposed long, white hair that was greasy and unwashed. When the woman turned to face Rentiki’s intrusion, the unkempt tresses framed a blood-spattered face that was no longer young and yet she would not have been painful to look upon were it not for the cracked, blackened skin, as if she was exposed to extreme cold and finally succumbed to frostbite, so discolored as it was. The dim firelight of a lantern that hung upon the mast overhead was reflected by the unnatural gleam in her golden eyes, casting dark shadows even as it banished the gloom of night. Eltera was reminded of cat’s eyes, though the expression the female bore seemed blank and devoid of any emotion or sentience. Clutched in her left hand was the mariner’s right arm torn from the socket, the severed limb bent limply at the elbow while a slick pool ran red at the woman’s feet. A human, or once had been, that much Eltera was certain, and yet her uncanny resemblance to a Svari dark aelf was disconcerting all the same. “What in ye god’s name,” Rentiki swore, shocked at the scene before them. Terwase gaped as he hung back at the double doors, the speechless shaman’s gaunt, trembling hand reaching up toward his throat to clutch at a feathered talisman that had been previously hidden beneath his robes. With his other, he traced symbols of warding in the air before him, mouthing words to an unspoken prayer no one but he himself and his god could hear. Gripping the silver wire-wrapped hilt of Amurisil even tighter, Eltera beckoned the sword to bestow its blessing upon herself and her newfound companions. As the eog-forged blade did so, a feeling of righteousness washed over them, bolstering their courage and raising spirits high. Accompanying this came another emotion, that of dread. Neither living, Amurisil whispered. Nor dead. Nothing, the last word echoed in Eltera’s mind. Though it possessed the ability to detect both the vitality of the living and foul aura of the undead, the sword could sense nothing from the creature. The one called Awino was near death, however, his wound threatening to cause him to bleed out. Orpheus itself registered as undead as well. A second body fell over the side of the gunwales at the forecastle above and splashed heavily into the black waters of the Ebontine below. Narrowing her eyes, Eltera saw another figure ahead standing upon the raised deck at the ship’s bow nearly 30 feet away, separated by wooden steps that flanked the sides of the ship. This one was an old crone, her stark white hair the color of bone and her clothes mere tattered rags. The wrinkled skin of her aged face was likewise blackened and cracked, though contrasting with the other woman, the hag’s golden eyes burned with hateful malevolence. Leaping up onto the rail and peeling back lips stained crimson in a feral snarl, the crone spat out a bloody chunk of quivering flesh. It landed with a wet smack upon the deck near the center mast, further scattering the frightened men. Eltera realized that the hideous morsel had been the man’s throat torn out by the hag’s bare teeth. “Nine Hells, Cap’n!” one sailor shouted with more conviction in his voice than the others, wielding a belaying pin like a club. “This be devilry, it is!” “Orders, sir?!” yelled out another beside him, this one sounding less certain despite brandishing a naked blade in his fist. Shrieking, his face drained of all color at the sight of the hag looming above him. “Orpheus!” Captain Rentiki bellowed instead. At this, the skeletal snake reared up and bared its teeth just as the lower jaw extended. Instead of striking at the nearest woman, Orpheus bit deeply into the bare skin of its master’s broad shoulder. Rentiki winced visibly in pain but gave no cry, the muscles of his own jaw clenched tightly. The vertebrae of the serpent’s spine aligned themselves down along the outer length of his left arm, its curved ribs encircling his flesh in an articulated sheath of bone. Eltera watched as the remainder of its body lashed at the air before Rentiki like a flensing scourge while a pale cerulean flame ignited along the inside of his familiar’s hollow core to cast a garish blue pallor around him. If the eldritch fire burned him at its slightest touch, the Daoshan Captain gave no indication, nor could Eltera feel any heat being given off from Orpheus as it attached itself to its master. “Stand back and flee!” Rentiki roared. “Take the wounded with you! We’ll handle this!” The crew did as they were commanded. The one sailor that had cursed Awino threw down his knife like a craven, turned and ran toward the plank that led onto the Dracian quay just at Eltera’s left side. At this, the peasant woman dropped her bloody trophy upon the deck and lunged after him with a surprising grace that defied the rictis and shambling gait one would normally expect from the walking undead. With bare hands balled tightly into fists raised up high over her head, the woman brought them down heavily upon the back of the man’s skull with terrible force, shattering bone with a sickening crunch. Gasping audibly, the air was driven from his lungs as he fell forward face first, dead before he even hit the deck to lay sprawled at Eltera’s feet. Amurisil confirmed his death without a shadow of a doubt. Standing up behind her latest victim, the woman regarded Rentiki and Eltera with vacant eyes of molten gold. The sudden violent movement and ferocity of her attack had cracked the tender, unfeeling skin at her face, and thin streams of what appeared to be blood at first glance instead glistened like rivulets of silver in the moonlight.[/COLOR] [/QUOTE]
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