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Welcome to the world of Fortuna, a land of fantastic proportions. This is an original fantasy roleplay that takes place in a world developed over nearly a decade of work and collaboration. We aim to encourage all participants to have a hand in the stories of the characters here, and the world around them. Your choices are key - so make them with pride. You decide who wins the wars, you decide who becomes King, the world is ours, and together we will bring it to life!
Post by Markus Woodrow on Dec 14, 2016 15:02:04 GMT -7
The Middle of the Night on the 12th The Scales of Judgement, 5152
The Guest Office The Woodrow Estate in Eersaeb, Submiere
While the doctor had advised that Tehodis' arm needed to be amputated, Woodrow had refused to allow him. He wouldn't admit that it wasn't for Tehodis' sake, but... It wasn't for Tehodis' sake. It was for his. He didn't want her to lose a limb on his account. Was that the kind of thing one could ever be forgiven for? He could imagine himself attempting to win her favour, and her simply seething that she'd assent only if he could get her a new arm.
He didn't want to take that risk, even if the doctor thought that she was dying.
So instead, he focused on what she had said. Artemis. Who was Artemis? Holding... Well, after working on it in the second office - this one was near the entrance, nearer to Tehodis - he realized what she'd meant. In the sparsely decorated guest office, he'd reviewed prisoner files, and saw a mildly familiar name. He'd summoned servants to go to the SSPB and retrieve one "Artemis White". Perhaps it wasn't what she had meant - but she had arrested this mystery man. He had read about it in the missives about her he had requested be sent while away.
By the time the servants returned with a chained boy in tow, Tehodis looked worse. Her hand was completely black, and the colour gradiated up her arm. The doctor reiterated what needed to be done, he insisted it was the only way to save her life -- Woodrow refused. Not until he heard what this Artemis had to say. As he heard the door, he left the room, closing the door cautiously behind him, and following the servants into the office he had been using.
The servants - well, three servants, and one SSPB guard as was protocol - sat the boy down roughly on a plush loveseat. Woodrow had set up a high-backed, eagle-footed chair for himself... But he couldn't bring himself to sit. Instead, he paced before the boy - before the boy he knew as Artemis, not knowing that before him sat Endless Laeretti: friend to Tehodis, brother to Vincent.
He let the boy sit in silence for a moment, and then finally stopped his pacing and looked at him. As he observed the boy, it struck him how his features felt familiar, but how the boy had such a strange air to him. A moonborn, he realized. Perhaps the boy had finally found his purpose in saving Tehodis. ...But in the next moment there was another pang of memory, the only time he had ever seen a moonborn before... The only time he had seen this boy before. "The thief," Woodrow mused aloud, curious as to what purpose this boy could possibly serve now that he knew he was a criminal. A criminal who had escaped his grasp once.
"Artemis White. Tell me something. Can you think of any reason that an officer of the SSPB would ask for your aid when in danger?" He played coy with the information, not trusting this boy. Doubting that he had the right Artemis. A part of his hoped he did, that this boy was the one he needed, that Tehodis was saved. The other part of him hoped that he would not be forced to turn to criminal scum for aid. He wasn't sure which part was louder.
Post by Endless Laeretti on Dec 14, 2016 18:56:55 GMT -7
Endless was scared. It was the middle of the night and people had suddenly come for him.
Endless had just been growing used to the cell he was in, starting to feel like maybe it wasn't the worst place in the world. Sure, he was eager to get out still, but Tehodis was working on lowering his sentence, and she'd been visiting him daily. Over the last week he'd gradually come to forgive her for this, not seeing the point in holding a grudge against her for doing her job, especially when it would wipe his slate clear if he just stuck through this. They'd gotten to chatting, she'd told him about her job, he'd told her about his life, and things were going well.
But now there was a trio of people in fancy dress and an armed guard, who had come to his cell out of nowhere while he'd been sleeping, and had told him he was being brought to see Woodrow.
This was terrifying. Endless did not want to see Woodrow, Tehodis had never told him any of this would happen, Tehodis had said she wasn't even going to directly report this incident to Woodrow, since it was just a run of the mill arrest! So Endless really couldn't fathom why he was being sat down in this office, and why the Lord of Eersaeb himself was now standing before him, looking down at him as though he was rubbish. Something about that look really bothered Endless, and it was enough to make a feeling of contempt rise up in him despite his fear.
This feeling only magnified when Woodrow called him 'The Thief'. So, he did remember him, then. Endless wanted to speak up and say he was't a thief; it had been one time, it had been a desperate situation. He hadn't committed a theft again. He'd turned himself in. He held his tongue on all of this, having enough sense to know that this was not the sort of man who probably cared about his reasoning.
It was when he asked his next question, though, and spoke the fake name Tehodis had given him, that he actually received a clue as to why he was here. There was only one SSPB officer who had even spoken to him since his arrival in Jail - Tehodis. Who else would have ever bothered asking for Endless's help in anything? Did that mean that Tehodis was in trouble? Did she ask Woodrow to get him to help her?
He blinked. "...I'm not sure. I guess that would depend on what kind of trouble she's in. It's, uh, Tehodis, right? Tehodis Kitai?" Endless didn't know that Tehodis was a very common name, but it never hurt to clarify. He leaned forward, a worried look on his face, and ignored the way the armed guard twitched at the motion and instinctively reached for his weapon. "Is she hurt? What happened to her?"
Post by Markus Woodrow on Dec 14, 2016 19:32:59 GMT -7
Well, the boy certainly knew just what Woodrow was talking about. That was a good sign for the side of him who wanted to help Tehodis more than maintain his pride. He didn't give the boy an answer though, just continued pacing as he thought of how best to deal with this situation. He was never one for magic. He didn't know what to do.
"She's grown quite ill," He sighed eventually, motioning for the servants and guards to leave the room. He still didn't sit, he still couldn't sit. He watched for the boy's reaction, hoping it meant something to him, sparked something immediately, but with only worry on the moonborn's face he knew he would need to be more specific. "Magically ill, of course, being what she is. After I... Before she fell unconscious, she requested I find you. I want to know why."
Post by Endless Laeretti on Dec 15, 2016 20:08:30 GMT -7
When Woodrow told him Tehodis was ill, Endless's first thought was to wonder why she had asked him to summon Endless, and why Woodrow was talking to him now when he should have been getting her a doctor. When he excused the servants, and then told Endless she was magically ill, and that she had specifically asked for him, Endless felt his filter leave him - especially without the intimidating, trigger-finger guard standing nearby - and he wound up saying more or less exactly that.
"If she asked you to get me then why are we wasting time sitting around here?" he demanded. "You just said she's unconscious! How much time has passed while you've been pacing around looking down on me?"
Endless glared at the manacles on his wrists - the things he hated so much - and tried to think about why Tehodis would have asked for him. It was a magical illness, something that affected Kina... why would she think he would have any idea about that? He didn't know anything about magic, or about curing magical things, or stopping curses- wait. He didn't know anything about curses or magical maladies, but he knew someone who did, and Tehodis knew that.
"Simon," he said, the realization coming to him. He looked up at Woodrow. "My friend, Simon. He knows about this stuff. I can take her to him!"
Post by Markus Woodrow on Dec 19, 2016 7:47:49 GMT -7
He scowled as the boy thought he could lecture him, him. He wasn't going to take it, that was certain. Not for Tehodis, not for anyone. As the boy chided him, saying How much time has passed while you've been pacing around looking down on me? Woodrow closed in on the boy in seconds, not unlike a shark. His hands found a place around the boy's neck, taking easy advantage with the cuffs that kept him prone. "You don't think she's been with a doctor all this time you petty little child?" He seethed as his thumbs pressed and his teeth grit.
But then the boy had an answer, and such a think deserved a loosened grip - even if it didn't dissipate it completely. His face was only an inch from Endless', their breaths intermingling as Woodrow glowered over the Moonborn. "Where is this Simon?"
Post by Endless Laeretti on Dec 19, 2016 13:58:32 GMT -7
Even with Woodrow's hand around his throat, Endless continued to stare at him defiantly. It was uncomfortable, with his face so close and his grip so tight, but the situation rang oddly familiar. Endless felt as though he'd been in this kind of scenario before, standing up for Tehodis to someone who was more powerful, more intimidating than himself, but defying them regardless. And Endless felt like whomever he was standing up to in that fragment of a memory was far more terrifying than Markus Woodrow. He wouldn't cower before this man. He refused.
Woodrow lightened the grip, his breath hot on Endless's face as he asked where Simon was.
"He lives in Niseca. Just a few hours by ferry and then another couple hours on foot to reach him. His home isn't in any village or town, but it's near Boiss. He knows all about potions, charms, and curses. He'd be the one to know how to help Tehodis. But if she's really in danger, or ill, then we should probably leave now."
He wanted so dearly to push Markus away from him. To use his gifts to get the man off of him with a push, bury him under his own desk, and go rescue Tehodis himself. But he wasn't going to be the person Markus clearly thought he was. He hadn't resisted arrest, and he hadn't attempted to break out of jail, even though he'd grown more and more sure by the day that he could pull it off with his power. He wasn't going to slip up now.
Post by Markus Woodrow on Dec 20, 2016 7:56:18 GMT -7
Woodrow removed his hand completely when he got the information he needed, and immediately sped to his desk and began writing a missive. "Good, it will be far faster with my own methods of transportation. We'll ride to the docks, and take my fastest sail boat to cross the waters. I'll have steeds awaiting us on the other side. We'll arrive by the m--"
Woodrow's scribbling was interrupted by an ear-piercing scream. The two knew it was Tehodis from its mere presence - no other woman would be screaming in Woodrow's house at this hour - and Woodrow's face went pale. He dropped everything in his hands and rushed to the door, flying it open in the faces of servants who were coming to get him. The guard attempted to grab Endless as he followed, but Woodrow had enough of a moment to wave the guard off. Endless had offered information. That was worth enough to Woodrow right now. The door to the parlor was the next to fly open and the screams had not stopped. The reason why was clear within seconds.
Tehodis lay on the couch, weighed down by the doctor's assistant holding her shoulders. There was a piece of wood on the ground with teethmarks on it, likely having fell from her mouth. Her eyes were wide and flashing white on and off. Her left arm was tied off at the shoulder... And the arm itself, was gone. There was no blood, Kina of course had no blood. But there was a white mist that was escaping through the stump left behind, and it seemed to be hurting just as badly as she screamed, as she whimpered, as tears ran down her face.
Woodrow pulled out his rapier and slashed at the doctor in rage, no longer thinking, just knowing that he had told the doctor not to amputate, only knowing that this was an irreversible decision, knowing that Tehodis would always think of him as the man who had lost her an arm. He thought briefly of the seeress. "What have you done?!" His yell pierced through Tehodis' scream and echoed through the room as the doctor took a gash to the face from the rapier. The doctor was on the floor - his assistant having hidden himself - and was backing away on his knees - "P-please sir! I am only trying to save her life! The blackness was spreading and..."
Tehodis' screams had faded to whimpers, but a gasp caught their ears and both Woodrow and the doctor looked over to see that where the blackness had once only been in her arm, it was now crossing the threshold the tourniquet had created, entering the rest of her body. Woodrow turned back to the doctor and wanted to slice him to ribbons, wanted to kill this fool, but instead he summoned the guard who had been attending Artemis White.
"Arrest this man," Woodrow seethed. The guard hesitated, and Woodrow repeated himself with a reverberating shout, "Arrest this ungodly fool!"
Last Edit: Dec 20, 2016 7:57:06 GMT -7 by Markus Woodrow
Post by Endless Laeretti on Dec 21, 2016 9:58:53 GMT -7
It was relieving when Woodrow finally released his neck, and the man seemed to have finally put aside whatever personal grudge he was holding against Endless in favor of setting to making travel arrangements. He was speaking quickly and with purpose, talking with "we" as his choice of words, so Endless felt better about the likelihood that he would actually be brought along for this. Good, he thought. Simon may have been a businessman who would feasibly accept any customer, but Endless was still paranoid that without him there he might be less willing to help Tehodis if Woodrow brought her to his door.
Everything stopped when they both heard a scream. And a with a clamping feeling around his heart, Endless knew immediately that it was Tehodis.
Woodrow jumped to his feet and stormed out of the room, leaving the door open wide, and Endless didn't even think about hopping out of his chair and following. The guard outside noticed and tried to stop him, but apparently Woodrow had decided he wanted Endless there, because he stopped for an instant to wave the guard away. It was a good thing he had, because worried as he was, Endless was literally seconds away from just blasting the guard away himself. He was hot on Woodrow's heels as they made their way back through several unfamiliar hallways and eventually arrived in a parlor room.
He froze in his tracks at the sight before him. Tehodis's arm was gone. She was lying in agony on the couch, and some black substance was coursing through her stump of an arm, white wisps trailing from it. There was chaos then, Woodrow was furious, the doctor had nearly had his face slashed, and in moments Woodrow was calling for his arrest. Endless stumbled his way over to Tehodis side, falling to his knees and looking at her stump. The sight was horrifying. He couldn't even use his hands as they were still bound, but he didn't know what to do with them even if they were free.
He grit his teeth.
"She's a Kina," he said, his voice hot as he turned his attention on the terrified doctor. "She's a Kina! She doesn't even have blood, you idiot! All you've done is make it worse!"
Once upon a time, Endless might not have even known that himself. He'd only read about the Kina people years ago because of his meeting with Tehodis to begin with. On a logical level, it's not like he could have expected just everyone to know that, and he knew the Doctor just wanted to help, but he didn't care right now. The Doctor had just carelessly, pointlessly disfigured her, had exacerbated her problem, had weakened her body's natural immune systems by damaging it. Of course, Endless also had the presence of mind to realize that it was Woodrow who had called this doctor to begin with, that Woodrow had been the moron who had called a mortal doctor for a Kina.
But he couldn't afford to turn his venomous attention on Woodrow, not when he needed Woodrow to let him get Tehodis to some help. Woodrow's officers had gotten over their stunned silence, and potentially had even been spurred by Endless's declaration that the doctor had done something so idiotic, and they were dragging the man away. Endless couldn't even feel bad about that one - the Doctor had committed malpractice as far he was concerned, and that was a perfectly arrestable offense. He turned his gaze back onto Tehodis, his brow immediately knitting in concern again.
"We need to get her to my friend, as soon as possible," he said, but he was also thinking. He had to be collected here, since Woodrow was already hysterical enough. "We need her stable first. The... The magic shop owner. He trades in this stuff, he should know any doctors in the area that specialize in curses," he said, thinking on what Tehodis had told him of the town. His mind was racing with all the magical knowledge he had picked up from her; she had chatted to him about how she was an avid reader on the subject, even if she couldn't use much on her own. He had read a bit himself, while he'd been studying Kina. "We need a transmuter, maybe. They might be able to change her physical properties a bit and pause the infection for a while. That might get her stable enough to move her."
He wasn't looking at Woodrow, merely watching Tehodis's face as she gasped and moaned, and he could only hope Woodrow was listening to him.
Post by Tehodis Kitai on Dec 21, 2016 10:11:37 GMT -7
Tehodis had felt pain many times in her life. Even if her memory of the circumstances surrounding those pains had long since dissipated into the ether of her mind -- she knew the pain. She could remember the stabbing in her mind - from more than one source, and in more than one place. She could remember so much that had gone wrong. But this was above and beyond anything she could remember, or anything she could have imagined. It was like dying.
She screamed out, and moments later she could hear the sounds of yelling from one familiar voice, and the sounds of concern from another so close to her. She reached out for the one near her, recognizing it as something good, but she couldn't. She couldn't move her arm, she couldn't touch who she was trying to touch. Her vision flashed in and out, giving her only brief moments of sight to allow her to realize what had happened. Woodrow was holding a weapon to a man, a man who looked so scared. There was something strange sitting not far from her. Something familiar, but something she had never seen from that angle before. When she realized what it was, she screamed again. It was her arm. Her arm. Her eyes filled with tears as her vision left her again, and she tried to move, to get up, to run to the disembodied, limb, but she was gripped by the blackness that seeped through her soul.
Her vision came once more, and there was Endless. She had never been so happy and so pained at the same time. She lunged forward, managed to get up enough to grab hold of him with her untouched arm. She was all tears, and gasps, and groans, and she buried herself in her friend, even if he was a mess of white light and blurred splotches of color. "Endless--" Her voice was hoarse and quiet from the screaming, she was in so much pain, but she was so happy to have Endless here, to be touching him, to be with someone who knew how to help. "P-please, don't leave--" She managed to get out, her existing arm almost a vice grip around him, her knuckles taut as she gripped to his shirt. If was going somewhere, she would be going with him, that was all there was to it.
Post by Markus Woodrow on Dec 21, 2016 17:04:05 GMT -7
He cared about what Endless was saying - he really did. But at the same time, he hated the way Tehodis had wrapped her arms - arm - around him. It was as if she was saying that this criminal was better than him. As if saying that he could comfort her better than Woodrow could. Perhaps she got what she deserved.
No.
He shook the thought from his head with a scowl and sheathed his rapier before kneeling next to Tehodis and the criminal. The one who's hands were chained, but who was holding Tehodis. Who Tehodis was holding. Woodrow reached out and ran a hand over her back, and she flinched away. Flinched. She flinched. She was holding this criminal and she flinched away from him. "Maeve," Woodrow called, and one of the servants came running forth, "If I recall correctly, you're a transmuter, yes?" Maeve nodded, explaining that she only used it in the kitchen and that she didn't know if she could help -- but Woodrow's stare silenced her. She nodded, and slipped in between the mess of bodies that Woodrow, Endless, and Tehodis had created. She laid a hand on Tehodis' arm -- Woodrow had to hold Tehodis still, as she flinched at Maeve's touch, too... But not the criminals. Did she love this man? Should Woodrow kill him? He supposed he should wait until Tehodis was better. But he desperately wanted to kill this man.
Maeve's hands began to glow with a blue light, and as she focused her energy, Tehodis' arm stump began to turn to wood. "That's about all I can do, sir, but it should stem the damage... For a bit, if the young sir here is right." She nodded towards Endless, and then stepped away. Young sir. Woodrow grimaced.
"We've no time to spare then. Let's go." Woodrow stood, and then stooped to try and pick up Tehodis.
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