Nightly Tales [open]

[Trios]

Spring 90
OCC: Did a kind of a flashback for the tale just for fun.

“Calm nightly waters was all that could be found as the old ship Empty Night to which I was raised sailed. If my memory be still in tack we were somewhere so far east that me and the other cabin boys were wondering when does east become west on the world.” Growled Trios in his usual maner. The bearded Isur had recalling an interesting event in his past as a cabin boy. It was a warm spring night in the city of the Drykas and the self titled Captain had found his way into a pavilion tent belonging to one of the Drykas clans. Which one it was the Isur didn’t care, but what the man did care about was the prospect of getting a following or some sort of notoriety within the horse clans. Trios wasn’t a moving or thrilling story teller that was clear but it was a mediocre tale which Trios had hopped to bring him some coin or meal for the tale. But compared to regular story tellers in Endrykas Trios did have something different. He was an outsider of a different race compared to the Drykas that sat round the pavilions table and therefore his presence brought more intrigue than the story. And even though Trios hated to admit it alcohol that had been previously consumed was a good reason why the Drykas didn’t mind the tale so much. “So there I was on the main deck doing my regular chores that befit the title of cabin boy or whatever rank I was back then ….” As Trios told the story the memories brought him back to when the Isur had concluded was just a young lad of twenty. “And if I come back and you haven’t repaired each floor board, we will be using your heavy ass as a anchor” Barked a very wide and burly human with brown trousers, white shirt that seemed to match his pale white shoulder length hair which ruffled in the calm night wind. The young Isur noticed that the large human was sans his equally large hat that shielded him from the sun. Benny the carpenter of the ship as Trios knew him by was less scary when you could see the man’s face. Having one’s face enshrouded by darkness seemed to amplify the intimidation that the man seemed to possess. But even without the hat the human known as Benny, was still intimidating as hell. Trios also found it completely unfair that him being three foot nothing and pale blue among a crew of six-foot giants was a sick joke brought on by the gods. He had long forgotten about his upbringing as a different racial being and now thought that simply living with these tall giants would grant him the same appeal. “Ya Ya, Replace damaged boards on Quarter deck, use big nails into support beams while giving very small space in between boards to allow for breathing of wood than treat wood” complied Trios in common. The young Isur’s common was getting almost fluent now, in the few years on a ship of common speaking humans it was almost impossible for Trios not to pick up the language. This remark apparently satisfied Benny, as man nodded his approval begrudgingly before returning to whatever his own tasks lay before him during the night work-shift. Trios gave a sigh of relief at he looked over the many damaged boards on the deck. But luckily the Isur had found something very interesting about his left arm. It was becoming more like a rock every day, which was very handy when one didn’t have any tools. Trios thought he could wince his way through using his arm like a crowbar slash hammer for this situation. After what felt like an hour Trios’s hands, especially his left were throbbing at the nights work. All of the planks had been replaced so all that was needed now was to apply to waterproof coating. But first the young Isur thought a break was required. So the young boy pulled himself onto the ships railing to lookout into the endless ocean that sprawled out before him. But there was something odd that took a few moments for the young boy to comprehend. Small fragments of light from beneath the dark oceans slowly drifted upward to the surface in countless numbers. They started out as small as pebbles due to their depth in the water but they slowly grew to sizes as large as life rafts. They were like jellyfish yet these ones broke through the waters surface and hovered a few leagues above. They seemed lighter than air itself as they glowed and danced during the calm and cloudless night. The image from the memory faded and Trios was trown back in the warm and cozy tent of a Drykas pavilion tent. The Isur looked around at his small audience, an arrogant smile cracking the cold exterior of his face. “And call me a liar but our ship had unfortunately found its way into a skylillies breeding ground. I also know what your thinking that we must have been joyful as kings that day due to the beauty of the view but the truth was that them things hurt just as bad as any jellyfish. There wasn’t enough urine to go around once we finally found our way form that infernal place.” Trios barked drinking to the memory as some of the men burst into drunker laughter at the conclusion of the story.

[Trios]

“You expect us to believe these tales Isur, I’ve never heard of such a creature.” Blabered a semi-intoxicated Drykas as he slammed his tankard into the table pointing angery at Trios at the prospect of the Isur telling lies to his clansmen. Trios didn’t personally know this particular Drykas. In fact most of them looked the same to the Isur. All of them had arrogant faces with long flowing hair and strange black tattoos that covered their bodies. The only differences in the Drykas people was purely cosmetic like clothing, for instance this Drykas was wearing bright green leathers to convey some sort of belonging to some faction. “Calling me a liar Horsemen?! Than I guess by your logic when you talk of hunting strange Grassland beasts I can call you a liar since I never seen em eh?” Barked Trios slamming his fist into the table causing a decent noise through the tent. It was a good turn of events that Trios used his right hand for the gesture, the black gem like right hand would have caused a huge dent into the carved wood. You could cut the tension with a cutlass as silence fell through the pavilion. Trios hated the lack of faith the Drykas had given him in his tale. But what pushed him over the edge was just the lack of logic behind the claim. The simple reason was just that you’ve never heard of something doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. This notion was what made Trios gaze coldly at the offending Drykas male. Unblinking the Isur didn’t want to be the first one to flinch or show any sign of weakness or guilt at the situation. “Well since I am in a nice moodn’all I let it slide. And If you were to kindly offer an apologetic meal after this next tale I’d forget this insult…” Grinned Trios returning an arrogant expression to give the entire Drykas race a run for their money. It was half not wanting to beat the offending Drykas male to a pulp and half the idea that he could use this in a attempt to pry a free meal form the human. “Now where was I….” Trios growled reaching for one the mugs of Ale a drunken Drykas had provided as appreciation for the last tale. With a long swig of the amber liquid Trios took a few moments to enjoy the liquid before recounting another interesting event when he was sailing the seas as a boy to a young adult. “Ahh ya…I…..*hic*’ember… We was in Falyndar…I think the western coast of it...now this ain’t one of them running from the Myrians stories…Capn’t heeded them warnings of all the legends about them so we stayed so close to the coast we could run to the sea out at any inkling of trouble….” Started Trios thinking intently on his past. Once again Trios displayed his amateurish storytelling ways by tacking small pauses to remember certain aspects of the story before continuing the tale. But to the Isur it felt like he was a young child of fifteen starring at the immense wall of jungle that encircled a small cove. “I hate this place….feels like something watching me from that jungle every time” Trios grumbled to a older cabinboy as they dragged bundles of large red leaves to the sand to dry out in the intense jungle sun and heat. Whatever these plants were Trios knew that they sold for a good price in ports which was why the captain would return to the place every summer season to collect these plants. “Sandals tried one of these he said that it looked like the world was swirling into one giant ball of colour….than he was tossing his stomach into the ocean for a full two days…10 gold if you eat one!” Gums as Trios knew him was the oldest of the trio of cabin boys that worked for the ship Empty Night. Gums looked was tall for eleven year old and even though younger than Trios, Gums looked older thanks to his human race. Trios eyed Gums’s mischievous face before giving a rather rude gesture tossing more leaves onto the sand to dry. It was pretty easy to read for a child to know when another child was up to no good. So the small Isur looked up to the child shacking his head as he spoke. “Get Sandals to eat’em then, I like to keep my meal in my belly ya idiot” Trios barked attempting to sound more intimidating than he actually was. The young Isur learned early that the best defence was to appear stronger than your opponent. “Fine than I guess you’re a weak coward like I suspected” Shrugged Gums mirroring Trios by spreading out more of the jungle leaves to dry. This comment was not received well by Trios as his faced slowly turned into something that would befit a frustrated child. “I JUST DON’T WANT TO GET SICK…..WOULD A COWARD DO THIS” Trios thought of the only thing that could prove his bravery here. It was to face something that all the men on the crew were cautious about. It was to walk briefly into the jungles of Falydar to prove to Gums that he wasn’t a coward when it came to dangerous things.

[Trios]

Trios took a swig from a tankard that had belonged to a Drykas who either was to drunk or ignorant to notice that his cup was being drained by another. In all honesty the Isur was starting to feel good with reason and restraint slowly leaving him at each drink. It was like the Isur’s sourness and stone hard personality was just an alcohol dissolvable shield. “It’s a shame I say……A SHAME…that my old company abandoned that product after three harvests! That the red leaf plant we smuggled made so much income…..I tell….*hic*….If you Drykas were to find that cove again you’d find that place overrun with that smoke-able gold. A toast… to profit on human indulgence!” Growled Trios raising the adjacent Drykas’s mug and emptying it contents in a single pull. Falyndar gals aint geting no call They eat you if you don’t treat them fine They throw the remains into the sea sprawl And they float up and down all along the shoreline O I wish for a bed to call me home But since I have neither I guess I’ll simply roam Trios barked out a very badly sung rendition of a song that reminded him of his companies’ illicit doings in Falyndar. That song seemed to have been brought forth with the memory of tip toeing around those hostile in search for their hidden growing operations of that strange red plant. The best rule the captain had said to smuggling was you don’t use the same cache to often or the same product over and again. After three times you move onto something and somewhere new. Repetition will get you killed easily in life. “So….what did you see in that….jungle…Isssssuuur” Slurred a burly Drykas who’s head was resting tenderly against his shoulder. The flickering fire to which the men sat near reflected drunken and blissful smiles at their conditions. “I’ll was getting to that….Did I say not say I was getting to the end of the tale!” Blurted out the Isur as if he was insulted that the Drykas thought he would even consider not finishing a tale once begun. Drunkenly Trios had to regain his mind and memories for a few moments before finishing his tale. “The brush in that hell whole is so thick that the only sun you’d only see small beams of light coming down from the canopy above…” Started Trios remembering the adolescent event again. Memories of looking at trees that seemed to touch the heavens and humid air filling his lungs as he moved deeper into the jungle. “Damn this jungle is thick” said a bemused the young Isur trying to find laughter in something that was clearly terrifying to him. How many paces would prove his bravery to Gums? Trios thought if he was to retrieve a token of some kind to further prove his bravery. A flower or jungle bug might do it. But as Trios argued internally about what to retrieve, he was unaware of a rather tale human over tacking his path and footsteps. A firm hand was placed on the child’s shoulder which as a result caused the Isur to get whiplash in his neck from turning so quickly to face it’s owner. Fear, relief than more fear was the flow of emotions that sparked within the Isur. Fear of a unknown assailant was quickly replaced by relief to the fact that Trios knew the man. But that relief was quickly turned into more fear as it was the captain of the company who halted his quest. Captain Harper was a tall and stoutly middle aged human with long flowing black hair. His brown and saggy clothing was clean to the fact that he was simply overseeing the harvest of plants in the jungle. “I don’t recall ordering this trip….do you?” Harpers voice was calm but held a lot of weight due to his position of Captain. Trios was more than aware of how much trouble he was in so absolute obedience was now a must least the punishment be worse. “Sir…no…not this one” Trios stammered. This was a rare occasion to be speaking to the man one on one. In three years the boy could only recall maybe three incidents of this occurring. “Well I guess the only the only thing to do with you is to show you something for your foolish bravery before I have you fill every crack in the hull in response to the same foolish bravery” Shrugged the captain pushing the Isur deeper into the jungle. Regret filled Trios as filling the cracks with resin was a very messy, smelly and tedious job that took days to accomplish fully. The last person sent to do this task was covered from head to toe in the sticky substance that stiffly hardened. There was no use in washing it off, you’d have to let your skin naturally peel off the residue. It was a small walk deeper in the jungle till the duo came to a place where the crew members were cutting and hauling the red leaves back to the shore. But the two didn’t stop they continued to move past the workers to a nearby area where they had apparently planted more of those odd plants. The leaves were not fully grown yet but at the center of each massive plant rested a giant blue explosion of a flower. But that wasn’t what was impressive to the Isur, what was impressive was the stream of butterflies that flowed like a river around, on and overtop of the plants. Their numbers had to be in the thousands as they all tried to get at the nectar in the flowering plant. “I’m not much of a philosopher boy, but I find it odd that this place has such a harsh and bloody reputation and history yet every time I see this place I can’t help but think what kind of wonders us mortals are blind to see due to danger. Smuggling and survival tip number two…. Fear is simply a warning kid ya have to take proper considerations for them and ya keep going. Otherwise you don’t get to the rewards…..O and Rule number one is don’t get caught if you were also wondering” Chuckled Harper calmly leading the quieted Isur back to the beach to finish his work. “How do ya….like….that story….you drunken Drykas! I just gave you a story with a lesson to it. So you better give me something for my generosity!” Grumbled Trios setting his hat upside down on the table in drunken hopes that it would be overflowing with gems and coins.

[Lariat]

Experience:
Storytelling: 5
Intimidation: 3
Singing: 2

Lores:
Making “friends” with the Emerald clan
Telling a story for food and other things (Basic)
Spinning wild tales repertory:
Tale of the skylilies
Tale of venturing in myrian coastline

Thoughts: Interesting thread. I gave what skill points I saw to give out, if you think I missed anything don’t be afraid to shoot me a pm.