A Warm Welcome to Sunberth (Complete)

[Tawk]

Tawk sighed with relief when the Nuit attacked Wrenmae. It seemed like the Nuit had found more value in him than any of the others. Tawk frowned when the Nuit mentioned the 'prospects'. Maybe it wasn't over. Before he could say another thing, he was cast down by some unstoppable force and his blade was flung away. He squirmed on the floor in front of the Nuit, shouting obscenities at the robed figure.

Pain.

Tawk tried to shout. He couldn't. Tawk tried to cry. He couldn't. Tawk tried to jerk away. He couldn't. The pain had rendered him completely lifeless, a bag of flesh. He felt as if he was naked, paralyzed and up for display. He could feel tentacles or limbs penetrate his skin and search around in them. The pain only grew. He panted heavily and managed to let out a weak whelp. He squinted and opened his eyes. He saw something.

No, no, no no no NO!

Tawk looked around terrified. The Nuit had his soul. Instincts kicked into Tawk and clashed inside of his meatbag of a body with the pain. He thrashed around on the floor, staring at the Nuit with eyes that radiated fury and hatred. He roared confidently and raised his back and his chest with all his strength before collapsing again and the pain enveloped him again, albeit weaker now. He could hear the voices of the Nuit, the boy, Wrenmae and Ysabel around him, inaudibly. His vision faded rapidly and he could barely feel the ground. His senses seemingly dissipated.

Tawk lied there for what seemed like a millennium. He slowly opened his eyes, and his vision slowly came back to him. No longer was the bright ball that was his soul hovering above him. He let away a relieved sigh and a slight chuckle. His happiness was shattered by the gravelly and filthy voice of the Nuit. Tawk tried to stand up, but could barely move any of his limbs. He prayed for his body to recover as quickly as his eyesight. -"Pweash.. donnot take... them..", Tawk whispered softly, most likely inaudible to the others.

Tawk heard the dread voice of the Nuit gloat and boast about his victory. He heard the jingle of Miza's and his eyes lit up like fire and followed the trail. A small book laid in front of Wrenmae with a large pouch of coin. He grunted displeased. Before he finished, a heavy pack was tossed on Tawk's chest. He raised his head and snarled before falling back down, digging his fingers into the ground. Tawk closed his eyes when his head hit the ground and sighed deeply. He opened his eyes to see a boulder above his head. A chill electrified down his spine. This could very much be the end. He heard the Nuit recite over Ysabel.

-"Ysabel...", he whispered before loosing consciousness.

[Ysabel]

When the nuit allowed her to be free even for a moment she rushed to Tawk's side where he had passed out. She sat down and put his head in her lap begging silently in his ear to wake up. She wanted to say goodbye to him properly, while he was awake. Silent tears slid down her face as she brushed his hair back from his closed eyes.

"I'm here Tawk. I'm not going anywhere." She whispered with trembling lips.

She'd be lying if she said she wasn't scared. She hated not knowing what would happen when the nuit takes her. She had no idea who this Shancke was but she figured that he was just as evil as the nuit. If he wasn't a nuit already. She wanted to spit in the nuit's face and fight and struggle against him taking her but she knew that none of that would happen. He would probably kill her if she were to do that.

Who was she to him anyway. Nobody. Ysabel was just a means to get a body that wasn't rotting to the nuit. Would her body be a host to this Shancke person? Or would she just be a simple slave to him? Why did the nuit keep mentioning her curves? Was it just the nuit appreciating a fresh body? Ysabel had so many questions most of which would be answered with patience.

I'm so sorry mother. Ysabel thought. She regretted ever leaving her home but yet she didn't because otherwise her boy would have died in that cage and she would have never met Tawk. So in a way if she were to die right now she wouldn't have a problem with it.

Hunched over Tawk's head Ysabel repeatedly kissed his forehead praying that he would wake up before the nuit got bored and took her away. The boy curled up to her side and hugged her waist his tears moistening her thin dress. With her other hand she ran her fingers through the boy's hair hoping that it would provide some form of comfort to him. She wanted to comfort him while she could. She didn't know if they would be separated when the nuit traded them to the mysterious Shancke. She savored every moment she could have with the two males who she had gotten close to in the short amount of time they had together.

[Wrenmae]

The force that caught him by the throat held him with an unmatched sort of force. Shroud coughed against it, invisible fingers clutching his throat. He couldn't concentrate, couldn't think, instead only lashed out with his Djed at the bind across his throat. There wasn't any thought to the form, only defense only shields, only some sort of barrier to alleviate the pressure against his trachea. Something rose inside him, twisting on a path more of desperation than practice, but whatever it was shattered between his throat and the Projection, leaving him hissing in muted anger. Tawk rose from the ground, caught by the same invisible force and Shroud watched, amazed, as his soul was pulled from his body to writhe in the air beside its prison of flesh. In one stroke it was an amazing display of magical might, some manner of art he had no knowledge of. The nuit blathered about strength and power, making a more valuable soldier. Coughing, Shroud gasped beyond the power of the Projection around him, "A stronger soldier eh?" He coughed, spitting to the side violently, "Does it come with a collar? Give a slave power and it'll use it on its handler." The coins that bounced off his chest caught his eyes, glittering in their dark depths. Prudently, he remained silent, noting the crazed edge of tone curving up the nuit's voice and nodded at both the boy and the girl, especially when Tawk fell to the ground, prone and unmoving. "I don't suppose you have a name for what you did to him, do you?" Shroud asked, quietly, his voice barely rising over the edge of Ysabel's sobbing. "Take the girl and the child, I'll handle the male." But not for long He grinned, sickly, wan, spread across his ash-pale face. "This is Sunberth girl, nothing here is as it should be. Where are you from? Some place nicer? A place with walls and guards and family? You'll find little of it here. Sacrifices are the price you pay for life here, and such high ideals as justice and love and family will only hurt you." He coughed, the force of speaking painful. He considered hypnotism on the nuit, but thought better of it. Not with such an unbalanced personality. "A slave is only a slave so long as it accepts its master." And he was quiet, clutching the coins and falling back on the ground.

[Ysabel]

Ysabel lifted her head from Tawk's still face. Her eyes were stain from tears and her eyes were red and bloodshot. She glared silently at Wrenmae. She brought her head back down as if to ignore his taunting and blunt truths. She brushed Tawk's hair away from his eyes stayed silent for a few moments. Contemplating his words.

"A slave doesn't accept their master. A slave tolerates there master." She said gritting her teeth in anger. She didn't want the same fate as her mother. She wasn't about to become someone's property, but right now it seemed like she didn't have a choice. She didn't have an esape route. From her viewpoint she wasn't even sure if she would still be alive tomorrow.

It's a scary thing not knowing if you'll live to see tomorrow's dawn. It makes you regret things you did or rather didn't do. But it also makes you appriciate the things you had. For Ysabel she treasured the time she had with her missing mother all those years ago. She was grateful of Tawk for saving her and the boy from the cages. She might have even been grateful for Wrenmae for keeping them alive - even if it were only a few more moments.

Her boy clutched at her side. His eyes were tearing up. Ysabel lifed her hand and curled it around his weak, dirty frame. She began rocking him back and forth hoping that it would comfort him in some way. She hushed him and hugged him closer. He lay near her breast for the longest time. She stopped rocking when his convulsions stopped. Boy looked up at her with wide eyes.

"What will happen to us Ysa?" He asked in his childlike voice. Ysabel pursed her lips together, torn. She wanted to tell him that everything would be alright but yet she didn't want to spew words she knew could very well be lies. She rested her cheek against the top of his head.

"I don't know." That may very well be the least comforting words she could have said but she couldn't think of anything else to tell him. Anger raged through her. Why did this have to happen to them? What did this innocent boy do to deseve a life of servitude? She looked back at Wrenmae accusingly.

"How can you live with yourself? Selling an innocent child into slavery?" She asked venomously in a whisper. She didn't care if she were to go but a child? Someone who had just barely started his life?

[Wrenmae]

Staring up at her, venomously, Shroud pulled Djed from within himself to weave its way through his eyes. Hypnotism was a magic that persisted itself only in subtle secrecy. Grand illusions were not its specialty, but certainly fell into the purview. To Ysabel's mind, an image would come, whirling down the avenue of her mind and piercing her grief-striken aura with sudden intensity. She saw herself, the child, and Tawk, cornered by leering guards. They threw yokes of chains and ropes around all their necks, dragged them from the alley and across the bloody Sunberth ground. Behind them, the Nuit laughed, cackling as he was paid by one who remained. Shroud watched from the mouth of the alley, his face grave, and his dagger sheathed. And suddenly they were back in the alley again, as it had been before, Tawk unconscious and Ysabel still above him. The nuit was smug in the back, his sunken face imprinting itself on Shroud's mind. The fool had said a name, had mentioned intent. He wouldn't get far. Next time he wouldn't let the damn thing get the drop on him. "Sunberth is a place of death and slaves, girl," Shroud rasped, spitting, "How can I sell a child into slavery? How can you ask me that? If events had gone the way I planned, that child would be safe and the both of you would need only to work for a season to earn your freedom. To refuse this...creature, would consign you all to slavery once more. Two in chains or three? I choose the lesser of the number, but please...persist in your pointless moral complaints." He gasped, tugging at the empty air. "As you can see, I am no longer in control here."

[Ysabel]

Ysabel stayed quiet after Wrenmae finished speaking. Maybe he was right. Isn't saving one better than saving none? She made peace with her fate aad vowed to protect the boy as best as she could with this new life. If they were separated she would pray for him every moment that she could. She leaned down and kissed the boy on the forehead. He looked up at her with wide innocent eyes. She smiled at him before looking at Tawk.

He was still very bloody and looked like he was in pain. It pained her to see him in pain when she had the training and possibly the resources to help him. Ripping the cleanest part of her dress off she turned back to Wrenmae.

"Do you have any whiskey or alcohol nearby?" She asked as she stretched the supposed-to-be white material to fit all the way around his arm. She wrapped it tightly to cover the wound protecting it from any air bourn bacteria that could fester his wound. She wanted to use the alcohol to numb any pain that he might be feeling right now. That would hold him off until Wrenmae could get him to a doctor that could treat the wound. As it was she didn't have any disinfectant or even completely clean wraps but she needed to get rid of all the oxygen in the wound so that it wouldn't fester.

[Tawk]

Tawk's heart pummeled in his chest. In his lifeless, limp body, he was fighting to retain that last spark of life. He had been regaining consciouncess for just mere seconds before dozing off again. He pried open his eyes and while squinting raised his head a tiny bit, before collapsing back into the ground. He heard Wrenmae speak, before the darkness enveloped him again. Seconds, minutes or hours passed, Tawk did not know when he gained second wind again. He opened his eyes slowly to feel Ysabel gently caring for his wound.

He gritted his teeth, and fought to keep awake. The wound was taking it's toll on him aswell. -"Aay.. Aaah.. Thank youu...", he whispered quietly before collapsing again, all his energy lost.

[Wrenmae]

"Does it look like I have the means to help you?" Shroud spat, struggling against the invisible weight, "Besides, I didn't bring alcohol with me. You'll have to make do." He was mostly helpless at this point, barely held together by the semblance of will he exerted to keep himself together. His other sides scrabbled at the gate, defenses to the situation that even the most forward of Wrenmae's selves couldn't solve. "Whatever you do, hurry up," he snapped, "We can't lay here in the alley all day." He offered a grimace and glare to the nuit, angry enough to spit but lacking the moisture in his mouth. He wasn't sure what the nuit had done to Tawk, but it had assured him it made the man stronger. Shroud would use that strength if he could.

[Ysabel]

Ysabel frowned. She needed to help Tawk. If not for his well being than her own. Ever since she was little she had always had the need to help an injured person. Even if said injury only required a small bandage around the finger. There wasn't much she could do for Tawk but she had to do something. She couldn't just leave him here with the trader while knowing she could have done something.

Carefully Ysabel wrapped her small hand around the skin of Tawks wound. She would use the gift that Rak'keli had blessed upon her to save him in anyway that she could. Her eyes closed and her brows furrowed in concentration. She could feel the infection flow back through his veins to the wound. A sickly green tricked out of the wound and onto the ground below them. She smiled slightly knowing that this was all she could to with what she had. Ysabel had cleaned the wound but the cut was too deep for her to continue any further. Ysabel turned to the trader with desperate eyes.

"Please get him to a healer as soon as possible." She pleaded getting up from her spot on the ground, picking the boy up with her. She could see the Nuit getting impatient as he stood and watched them from afar. She had taken enough time already and didn't want to make the Nuit even more put off. She touched her hand affectionatly to Tawks forehead before retreating to her fate. Her hand gripped tight to the boy's hand and her eyes were wide with fear.

[Archelon]

"Epilogue:" With the goodbyes said, and the lamentations of the women heard by all. The laughing nuit slowly drug Ysabel and the boy away with unseen hands, as they seemed to vanish from sight. Leaving only an exhausted Tawk and Wrenmae behind. She would be dragged, where and when she wouldn't know as darkness took her sight, but in the end, weary and exhausted she would feel herself passed roughly into the hands of the depraved Schanke. A man who would take one look at her form and sneer a smirk that was chilling to her bones. She would find herself roughly thrown into a small room. Trading one prison for another as it were. And what of Tawk and Wrenmae? Well they would be left in the slums, and the good Tawk should count himself fortunate that the healer of a konti had healed him with her mark to stave off infection. Otherwise, the sordid ailment causing power lying within Wrenmae would have caused the arm to fester and rot... All in all though. It was just another day in Sunberth. A very warm welcome to those new to the city. And a warning to those who were still old. oocFeel free to start that thread we discussed about Ysabel for the 'rescue' if you haven't yet already.

Thread Award "..." And the Results!!!!: Ysabel : SkillName 1-5 How/why? Medicine 3 Running 1 Swimming 2 Brawling 2 Iron pipes count Observation 4 Lores: Tawk(partial) Tawk : SkillName 1-5 How/why? Observation 4 Running 2 Swimming 1 Shortsword 3 Projection 1 To start you off Lores: Ysable(partial) Initiated the hard way into Projection Spoils: "Protecting a nuits investment" 100 gold mizas Wrenmae : SkillName 1-5 How/why? Observation 3 Rhetoric 4 Longknife 1 Intimidation 2 Lores: A profitable eye for slavery. Spoils: "Sale of slaves": 600 Gold mizas Would you like some extra turtle sauce ? : Interesting thread, you look like you're starting off on the right foot.