A meeting in the wilderness

Introductory post

A thread for RP (duh). Here, side RP for The Other Side can be done (apart from the main RPs we do, namely royalty, travel and military); for example, the continuation from the session Mizu and I began. It also provides newcomers with something to read on to get a taste for the setting.

I suggest marking posts with character name and location (if location is a bit unclear, use something that's come up in-RP as a description, for example "Muddy ditch in Ivellea" or "Battlefield", since it's unusual for two RPs to take place in similar locations at the same time. Feel free to keep character name hidden.)

And by all means, DO feel free to participate, even if the massive walls of text in each post look intimidating. We don't ask for these kinds of posts from everyone.

Marrin the Scholar
Travel outpost west of Elthern

The tavern remains rather quiet; the two travellers in the corner continue discussing quietly about the bounty on bandits they mentioned earlier, but a loud ruckus outside disturbs the quiet; horses slowing down, and men dismounting; judging from the sounds, it is a large group of riders. An authoritative voice calls out loudly shortly after; "We seek information about a certain man who reportedly passed through here a couple of days ago! He likely presents himself as a scholar, but he has caused great havoc in Elthern, and must be subdued!" Marrin raises his eyebrows ever so slightly, and looks at his companion. "It would appear my cue to leave has arrived. I regret having to part with you so soon, but I am most pleased to have made your acquaintance." He stands up, with a very calm and pleasant expression, readying to leave.

Travel outpost west of Elthern

The pale giantess by the pseudonym of “Sphinx” had long since finished off her meal, and was now savoring the melodious quiet of the arid tavern. She sipped her drink not out of thirst, but for the sake of pleasure, as she watched her companion, Marrin, with wolfishly carnivorous eyes: as if expecting him as a second course.

The two would-be bandit slayers were still chittering away about would-be glory and would-be wealth, and the other patrons of the bar were equally shiftless as they drank their booze and burned their tobacco in the hazy confines of the sun-baked pub. It was a relaxing, albeit somewhat suffocating atmosphere - but the nonhuman felt comfortably at home.

Gradually, however, something began to pick up on the giantess’ keenly sharpened ears - a sound that was distinctly independent of the chattering and clattering of the tavern. Spinx leaned back in her chair to listen. It was like a distant rain: a faint army of footsteps that promised to wet the throat of a parched landscape. She liked the idea of that. Rain seemed an unlikely, yet welcomed stranger in a place like this. A cool rain to subdue the heat and trap the dust of the road seemed a pleasant boon to a sun-hating traveler like her.

But as time went on, and not very much time at that, the ambiguous pitter-pattering of what was thought to be rain soon began to force Sphinx to reconsider her conclusion as it grew nearer. The pounding upon the earth became far too loud to be a simple storm, that much became clear, and each individual thump soon hit the earth with such furious determination that neither raindrop nor hailstone could ever hope to match its strength. This wasn’t the only sound, either: Soon came the clattering of metal against metal - clangs, pangs, rings, and pings - alongside the frantic shouts of riled men. Something interesting was indeed about to happen.

There was an absolute cacophony from outside the tavern as what could only be a large band of riders slowed their mounts to a halt - weapons and riders almost as loud as the horses that carried them - as they kicked the topsoil to the sky and left the road awash with a noise that pounded against the walls of the tavern like a great, intrusive fist. Every patron of the bar stopped what they were doing - merchants lowered their pipes, waitresses froze in their ruts, drunks fumbled their beers, and for a moment, all was silent. Sphinx watched with her ears.

Leather slid against leather as tens of men dismounted at once, and soon the ears of everyone who could hear were ringing with the gruff, dominating voice of the man in charge outside: the voice of a soldier.

“We seek information,” he shouted into the building, commanding the attention of all who were unfortunate enough to be caught inside. “about a certain man who reportedly passed through here a couple of days ago!”

Sphinx’s curiosity was peaked. It wasn’t rare to find a criminal in a tavern - thugs were to bars as rats were to sewers - but this must be a criminal who had done something particularly rotten if he’d got the army to follow him all the way out here like a hound to contraband. Sphinx wondered who - out of the many grimy faces, thuggish muscles, shadowy cloaks, and shady stares - was so important to the military. It couldn’t have been her - she was by no means a spotless citizen (or a citizen, for that matter), but she’d never done anything to piss off the gods-damned military before.

“He likely presents himself as a scholar,” the outside voice warned. “But he has created great havoc in Elthern-!”

Sphinx didn’t need any further description to know exactly who it was to whom the man referred to. It wasn’t the grimy-faced punk playing dice in the corner, it wasn’t the thuggish brute downing liquor at the bar, and it wasn’t even the drifty-eyed grifter tallying coins in the nearby booth - no, Sphinx turned directly to her companion, the innocent brunette, the “scholar”, and gave him the biggest, toothiest, and most wolfishly conniving grin anyone could ever receive in a lifetime. “Well, this is quite the twist,” she tittered.

The rest of the announcement was lost on the two as Marrin gave the slightest tilt of his brow and made his own sly announcement to his companion: “It appears my cue to leave has arrived,” he said calmly and politely, like a roguish little fox, his silver words attempting to blanket the gravity of the situation. “I regret having to part with you so soon, but I am most pleased to have made your acquaintance.”

With that, a nod, and a cordial curl of the lips - everything but the old tip of the hat - Marrin stood up with clear intention to slip away before things went south.

“Hold it.”

Marrin was halted, mid-turn, by the raptorial grip and mischievous grin of his giant of a companion. Her hand was smooth like a lady’s, but it held his forearm stronger and rougher than the iron jaws of a hunter’s trap - she clearly intended him to move nowhere.

“Now you’re not just going to peak my curiosity and then wriggle away, are you?” she chuckled. “How dreadfully rude of you.”

Sphinx clutched tight and brutishly yanked the man towards her, knocking him lightly but firmly into the table that kept the two apart, upsetting the drinks that lie atop it. She brought the pair of them face to face before speaking. “Here’s another riddle for you,” she said with a humorless gleam in her eye. “What’s bigger than you, stronger than you, and has you in a deadlock?”

Travel outpost west of Elthern

The self-proclaimed scholar leaned onto the table, resting his weight upon his free arm. "I must say this is a very refreshing situation," he said, and smiled at his companion as though the sudden change in his situation amused him. "A riddle that must be answered within limited time. You have given me a most excellent idea for later, my friend."

The two bandit hunters in the corner looked up as a small group of the soldiers entered the tavern. The closest of the hunters, a red-haired woman armoured in dark scalemail, was quick to put up an innocent smile to the soldiers, while her companion, a white-haired man recognisable as wearing the equipment of a Knight of the Arcane Church, looked disinterestedly at them, as though their presence were of no greater significance than that of a fly. The other patrons inside slowly shifted their attentions to the newly arrived law enforcements, staring at them through a drunken stupor. "Wuh.. What's the dam'd soldiers doin' here, in no man's land?" one of the patrons mumbled out, his eyes nearly crossing in his drunken stupor. A soldier sent a glance at the patron, and the mumbling patron quickly sought shelter from his stare within his ale mug.

Marrin showed no outward signs of hesitation or worry. He looked at Sphinx, as a small trace of curiosity  his expression, no longer smiling. Within her grasp, Sphinx could feel his pulse, playing an only gradually quickening rhythm within her grasp; more like an animal readying itself for a fight than a stressed and worried human. Behind her, the soldiers spread out to those within the tavern, three of them approaching her and her companion. A wry smile played across Marrin's lips once more. "Alas, dear Sphinx, I do not possess the answer to your riddle, so I believe you have won our game." He took a moment to look up at the advancing soldiers, offering a polite smile to them, before returning his attention to Sphinx' eyes, staring into them.

"Help me escape, and you may claim what you seek in victory," he whispered, raising an eyebrow while maintaining his smug expression, as though the offer was more a teasing remark than a plea for assistance.

Three soldiers stopped next to their table; only a ringmail surcoat offered any protection beyond their dusty leather tunics. Atop their heads were simple metal helmets, while their light bucklers and shortswords did not make them particularly intimidating - these were clearly mere law enforcers and guards, not experienced knights. Two wore masks before their mouths and nose - a fine protection against the dust of the roads in these parts - while the third had removed his mask, exposing his face as he spoke. "I know your face, 'scholar'." He looked at Marrin in contempt, whose face now looked back at the soldier with a politely confused expression.

His arm still locked in Sphinx' grip, Marrin looked at the soldier. "Well, dear me, it would appear I have been found, at last. I fear I must disappoint you; my lovely companion is rather uneager to let me leave her side." He chuckled amusedly, smiling innocently to Sphinx.

The soldier turned his gaze to Sphinx, clearly intimidated by her size. He stuttered for a moment when he finally looked properly at her, before clearing his throat. "The city-state of Elthern would be honoured if you relinquished the villain you've caught into our custody, good lady. Although I have been asked to retrieve him by force if need be, I can tell when I am outmatched. The decision is apparently yours." The soldier without the mask remained facing Sphinx, whilst the other two fanned out to be ready for hostilities.

“I know your face, ‘scholar’,” said the unmasked soldier, scorn clearly visible on his lips as he and his fellows halted their search at their quarry’s table. Marrin gave them a quick smirk, but Sphinx was too busy giving Marrin a contemptuous look of her own, for his previous answer to her obviously rhetorical question, to be able to greet them. She could feel his pulse struggling for breath beneath her iron vise of a grip, and she enjoyed the feeling in spite of herself; he felt like a fox in a trap, willing to go as far as chewing off his own leg to get out.

“Well, dear me, it would appear I have been found, at last,” Marrin chuckled as if he were a comedian telling a joke. “I fear I must disappoint you; my lovely companion is rather uneager to let me leave her side.”

Sphinx felt a pulse of boiling anger pump through her veins towards the impudent little mythomaniac as all eyes turned on her - but she held her tongue in consideration of her own foolishness in letting herself become involved. Thinking now was not the time to make eye contact with the guards - who seemed to suppress gasps upon looking at her - she instead kept her attention firmly locked on Marrin: as if looking away would cause him to vanish from her grip like a thin vapor.

Sphinx considered what Marrin had said earlier, before the guards had reached them: ‘help me escape, and you may claim what you seek in victory’. What that meant, Sphinx had no idea; it all seemed rather cryptic, and Sphinx didn’t exactly know what direction he was going in. What she did know however, was that the whole thing was making her blood boil.

The leader of the men cleared the stuttering of his lips with a cough, before speaking to the nonhuman with a clear underlying intonation of fear and expected defeat: clearly, the man was convinced that engaging with her, and perhaps even the criminal in her grip, would surely result in failure - yet the man remained resolute in his purpose: “The city-state of Elthern would be honored if you relinquished the villain you’ve caught into our custody, good lady,” he wavered with the most courage he could muster, nervously feeling the hilt of his weapon. “Although I have been asked to retrieve him by force if need be, I can tell when I am outmatched. The decision is apparently yours.”

Sphinx took a long, deep, and very much exaggerated breath - signalling a great many dark, brooding emotions - before she cast her almost reptilian eyes towards the officer. The contorting muscles and microexpressions of his face told her that this unnerved him even more, so she took extra care to make her gaze as nonthreatening as possible - this was a delicate situation, and therefore tone and mannerism were crucial.

“Well, gentlemen,” Sphinx finally began cautiously, her tone soft and at ease, after a moment of mutual silence between the two parties. “I would be lying if I said I didn’t admire your determination. Facing a member of my people isn’t something most people take lightly.” She blinked slowly, as if even that counted as a sudden movement, while she kept a soft expression whilst she spoke. “Your commanding officers would be proud of such bravery and sense of duty in the face of danger.”

The men remained tense and apprehensive - at this point, no compliment was great enough to put them at ease.

“However,” she then continued carefully, knowing full well how thin the ice was, as she took on a more assertive tone. “I’m afraid I cannot allow you to take this man away to Elthern.”

Sphinx heard the gradual, reluctant murmuring of weapons that would rather remain at rest inside their scabbards, feeling an air of despair fill the eerie silence of the room - not even the drunks mumbled anymore. However, she held up a hand to the men - her free hand - to indicate that she wasn’t finished speaking: “Please, gentlemen, that was by no means an invitation to carnage,” she chuckled grimly. “I’m merely telling you that I’ve beaten you to it.”

The officers exchanged a few mixed looks, cocked eyebrows, and confused stares before the leader of the bunch voiced what all of them were thinking: “Ma’am?”

Sphinx stood up from her chair, the wood creaking as its burden was finally lifted, and, given her stature, she unavoidably uprooted Marrin from his seat whilst she did so - dragging him onto the table like a fish ready to be gutted and sold at market. Most of the drinks hit the floor with a wet clattering that reverberated throughout the pub. “Forgive me,” Sphinx apologized, giving a shallow bow with her hand to her chest, fingers splayed, so that she was at eye level with the leading officer. “What I mean to say is that this man is as much a criminal to my kind as he is to the people of the state of Elthern,” she cast her merciless eyes to her captive, by no means giving him the same polite look she gave the officers, before she rose from her bow to once again look down upon the present company. “This,” she hesitated, giving the effect of heavy distaste, “‘scholar’, has made the unfortunate mistake of offending the Grand Archon of my family.” She paused for a moment to gauge what the officers were thinking, but it was difficult to discern - they seemed on the verge of bafflement. Despite this, she continued to explain: “Our society possesses elements of familial oligarchy, so as you can understand, offending a family - or ‘clan’, if you will - is nothing to scoff at. Especially, if said clan is one as easily provoked as mine.”

Sphinx yanked on Marrin’s arm in order to lift him up towards her eyes - though the distance was too great, so he ended up short a few feet. “Although I would delight in seeing what the people of Elthern have in store for this little wretch, I’m afraid his offence is simply too great to ignore - my lord would be furious if I were not to deliver him, and I’ve come too far and gone through too much trouble to just let him slip away.” She then scathingly addressed Marrin personally, viciously displaying her teeth as if they were a knife to his throat: “You’ll pay for what you did to those priestesses, scholar. Not even the worms and the crows will find anything left to eat.”

Sphinx looked back to the officer and stretched her free arm out towards him from beneath the blanketing shadows of her cloak, as if intending to hand him something, before pointing her fingers down and raising her wrist in order to expose her plain palm to the clearness of his vision. All at once, the markings and sigils and alien words upon her pallid arm and face began to twist and slither organically like a great black swarm of patternless snakes and thin worms, migrating with rising purpose towards her hand, before melding themselves together in a small, compressed dot of pure blackness in the center crease of her hand. Before the officer could give a proper response, the dot expanded into a great circle that encompassed the entirety of her palm - laced with words of a foreign language and a massive ‘X’ through the entirety of it - it was a simple, yet imposing design. “As you can plainly see,” she said calmly. “This is my badge of authority - as you no doubt have yours, this is mine.”

Elthern soldier, Eagan the Arcane Knight, Marrin the 'scholar'
Travel outpost, west of Elthern

Marrin, the 'scholar'
Marrin's eyes flicked from Sphinx to the soldiers, then returned their gaze to Sphinx. Dark amusement glinted in his eyes for a moment, fully aware Sphinx' attention was turned to the soldiers for the moment. Then Sphinx rose, dragging Marrin over the table and spilling their drinks in the process, a wet stain coming upon the table. A wet stain spread across Marrin's chest as he was dragged into the spilled drink. Though displeased, he made no moves of his own aside from lifting his chest off the table, resting his weight on his free arm instead. At this point, the cards were in Sphinx' hands either way. "Forgive me," Sphinx said with a polite bow, directed to the soldiers. "What I mean to say is that this man is as much a criminal to my kind as he is to the people of the state of Elthern," she continued, giving him a gaze bearing a promise of much suffering. His own expression grew darker in response, and a grin spread across his mouth. "This... scholar," Sphinx said, with perfectly feigned disdain, "has made the unfortunate mistake of offending the Grand Archon of my family." A quick glance in the soldiers' direction informed Marrin that they were caught unaware of this sudden development, much to his advantage. Their surprise would serve well to enhance Sphinx' deceptive words. "Our society possesses elements of familial oligarchy, so as you can understand, offending a family - or 'clan', if you will - is nothing to scoff at. Especially," she made certain to emphasise this, adding intimidation to surprise, "if said clan is one as easily provoked as mine."

Sphinx yanked his arm up, forcing him on his feet. A mug clanked as he hit it with his left foot, spilling yet more drink. "Although I would delight in seeing what the people of Elthern have in store for this little wretch, I'm afraid his offence is simply too great to ignore - my lord would be furious if I were not to deliver him, and I've come too far and gone through too much trouble to just let him slip away," Sphinx said, still addressing the soldiers. Marrin took this moment to wipe his jacket of still lingering liquids, feigning a lack of interest in the conversation. Then Sphinx turned to him, and he put on the arrogant grin once again. She bared her own teeth at him, perhaps in response to his smug expression, and her voice was full of hostility as she spoke. "You'll pay for what you did to those priestesses, scholar. Not even the worms and the crows will find anything left to eat."

As Sphinx turned back to the soldiers, she opened her palm and displayed something that, from Marrin's point of view, was out of sight. However, the marks and patterns on her arm began twisting and moving towards her hand, and judging from the expression of the soldiers, appearing as though they had just fallen into the sky and landed on a moon, this clearly was not ordinary in this area. He bowed his head and chuckled soundlessly, amused by his companion's skill at deception and misleading. "As you can plainly see," Sphinx said with perfect calmness, "This is my badge of authority - as you no doubt have yours, this is mine."

------

Elthern soldier
The leader among the three soldiers found his jaw hanging slightly at the sight before him - the display of what was obviously magic of an unknown kind. He collected his wits and straightened his face as quickly as he could, sending a glance at the giantess' captive. That smug expression on the scholar's face awakened his suspicions as well as his ire, but he and his two men were in no way ready or able to take on the creature before them. His fellows were filled with doubt and worry, and they both looked to him for guidance and leadership.

The entire tavern's attention was focused on them. He had but to make one wrong move, and there was no telling what would be left of this tavern afterwards. While some here did seem capable of handling themselves, others were practically defenceless, such as the tavernkeeper. Of no aid was the fact that the creature before him was entirely new to him as well; to his credit, he did handle himself better than his fellows, who were still staring at the giantess' tattoos, their mouths agape. However, he knew that better men than him had gone up against the unknown - all Elthern children had been firmly indoctrinated in the belief knowledge leads to victory, and he was no exception - and lost horrifically. The option of bringing Marrin to Elthern was now left impossible to him, and the creature DID display a badge of authority rivaling his own, even if its medium was different. The decision was clear.

"I accept that your judgment of this vermin comes before ours. I relinquish Elthern's claim on him, that your clan may do what you deem appropriate to him." He moved his hand away from his sword hilt and made a polite bow. The other two shuffled nervously on his flanks, but he kept calm. "I am certain that the family whose mansion he ruined would appreciate the opportunity to thank you in person. If you find yourself in Elthern after handing..." He leered at Marrin again, whose smug grin was quite grating. "This smug bastard over to your clan, ask a guard for direction to the Harael mansion." Something moved behind him, but he could not afford to avert his attention. He nodded once. "And, might I ask, in the interests of my superiors, if you would be willing to aid our true scholars with understanding your people? I myself have never heard of anything such as yourself, but there might be an entry in the libraries of Elthern." Good, he thought. Show interest, act politely, make no offensive moves. Control your fear and do not appear as prey. He kept his attention locked to the giantess, awaiting an action from her.

It was at that point a chilling feeling crept through him. Although similar to the feeling near the magical focus tower in Elthern, this was stronger. He gasped for air as the feeling overwhelmed him, dropping to his knee and struggling to maintain consciousness. Beside him, his fellows fell unconscious on the floor. His sight disappeared, and surprise and terror ran through his mind before he too fell face first on the dusty floor.

------

Eagan, the Arcane Knight
"Say, do you think this Marrin fellow has any idea where to find some treasure?" Thallia asked, brushing her red hair away from the sides of her face. Shaking his head, Eagan looked away from the giant clutching the fake scholar's arm. Opposite him sat his very mercenary-looking companion, her facial features giving away mild amusement. "I doubt that. He is no true scholar, after all, judging by what the soldiers are saying. Only a liar."

 with a certain wariness in his expression - his eyebrows ever so slightly lowered and his lips curling somewhat inwards. "He makes me uneasy. I know he is there, but one of my senses is not registering him." He spoke quietly, almost whispering. Thallia looked mildly confused as a result, one of her eyebrows rising in response. "That is strange, but we should not get involved with authorities, after what happened in Fallathern." She folded her hands in front of her, closing her eyes and straightening her back in a refined manner - a peculiar little detail Eagan had noticed about her. Nevertheless, his concerns with the false scholar were alarming.

While the giant was just as new to him as the scholar, he did not feel anywhere near as uneasy about her as about him. It was curiosity that caught his mind about her, while he felt genuinely afraid of the captured liar. A fear as primal and deep dwelling within him as what had made him become an Arcane Knight in the first place, though the scholar looked harmless.

"Look, the soldiers are yielding! If only you were that terrifying!" Thallia mentioned with a grin. "Think of the possibilities!" she continued, her glee made evident by her tone. Eagan shot a cold stare at her, before turning around and looking at the soldiers. Indeed, the leader was bowing to the giantess, and the other soldiers were backing off, moving their hands away from their sword hilts. In response, Eagan loosened his sword from his back and fixed his gaze on Marrin. The scholar looked completely harmless, hanging by his arm from the giant's hand, but he remained smug. Even as the soldiers did their best to keep the unknown giant calm, he acted as though there was no danger for him there.

Eagan rose to his feet. "Let us see if this scoundrel is so tough when facing an Arcane Knight." He mustered his magic-tapping energy into his right hand, holding his special issue greatsword in his left, resting the tip on the floor. Knowing Thallia, she would be right behind him if it came to blows, but she remained seated for now. Then, he unleashed his energy, draining magic from Marrin and all those around him.

Except, the deceitful weasel was completely unaffected.

------

Marrin, the 'scholar'
Marrin's attention changed - while the soldier was terrified of Sphinx, the Arcane Knight in the corner clearly was not. Right now the Knight had turned halfway around in his chair and was glaring at him, as though Marrin was some heretic to his ways - most Arcane Knights did expect that of everyone at one point throughout their career, as Marrin had learnt. Not that Arcane Knights were particularly logical about their ways. The soldier said something that Marrin cared little for, about the Harael mansion or what have you, when the Arcane Knight stood up and drew his sword, while his red-haired companion looked at Marrin with a knowing smirk. The Arcane Knight pointed his right palm towards Marrin just as the soldier took a step back. The soldier dropped to one knee, yet Marrin felt nothing. Of course, Marrin thought; the Arcane Knights were notorious for draining other creatures of magic, and their fellow humans were ridiculously weak to it.

What truly did interest him, however, was how Sphinx would react to having her magic power drained. He was quite certain that the tattooed giant did not react kindly to such an act. Either way, this Arcane Knight had offered him a chance to escape.

«Don’t tell me you’re here to collect this one too.» The giantess’ indifference puzzled Eagan, as magic in her area was currently gone. The effect on her species might be less effective than on a human, however, and Eagan felt what magic power flowed through her disappear. Still, his gaze was fixed on Marrin, who almost too calmly hung from the giantess known as Sphinx’s hand, smirking in return. That smirk filled him with fury and fear at once.

«No», Eagan said. «I am not here to collect him.» He pointed his right hand straight at Marrin now, and still Marrin showed no signs of discomfort, even if Eagan had drained more magic than would ever be required to almost kill a human. With a glare, Eagan lowered his hand, and the flows of magic returned to normal. Still Eagan’s instincts would not calm, and only the discipline he developed in his training stopped him from striking out at Marrin to end this threat. Glancing at Thallia, he realised she was more threatened by Sphinx than by Marrin, and turned his attention to her.

An armoured finger pointed at Marrin, revealing the detail of Eagan’s armour; thin, silvery patterns, though matted down after years of wear, were visible all over the gauntlets covering his hands. Eagan looked up at Sphinx, his eyes partly obscured by his headguard. «I would not clutch him any longer, were I you. That is no human you hold in your neck, and whatever it is, something is very wrong with it. That… creature… eludes the flows of magic.» Eagan looked at Sphinx, studying the giantess’ unusual features. Tall as he were, Sphinx was considerably taller, and for a moment, he felt a similar instinctual fear for Sphinx as he felt for Marrin, but he managed to shake it off and look back at her with hard eyes. As Eagan awaited her answer, Marrin began chuckling, even with Sphinx’ hand locked around his throat.

A smug, wicked laughter came from the false scholar. «I am pleased that there are some among you who can detect an impostor, Arcane Knight, and more pleased yet that someone is bold enough to raise his weapon against me. It is a pity all humans are not as fine adversaries as yourself, but men like you are one in a million.» Marrin’s mouth spread in a twisted smile. «Of course I am not human. It is a wonder that a weak and frail race such as you could ever become the most dominant species in the world.» Once again, he laughed, but this laughter was cold as ice - Eagan felt a chill down his spine, hefting his greatsword instinctively. When Marrin continued, his voice was smooth. «You are doing exactly what I hoped you would. I did at some point in life wish for a large, terrifying non-human in a small human settlement, and I have that just now. When these soldiers wake, they will automatically assume my dear Sphinx tricked them and cast a spell upon them, allowing me to escape. That will be similar to prodding a stick into the ant’s nest that is Elthern. It is so pleasant to see a wish come true, without me doing more than initiate a little conversation and steal a few gems.»

Eagan readied his greatsword to impale Marrin, but Thallia stopped him. «Let him continue to talk big. I’m certain our new giant friend won’t take kindly to being used by a lowly worm such as him.» She smiled to Sphinx, innocently this time. Eagan lowered his sword slowly, full of anxiety. «Very well.» He looked from Marrin to Sphinx, waiting for one of them to act.


Marrin, however, was not waiting for Sphinx and Eagan to do as they pleased with him. He was intent on turning the situation further to his advantage. «I must advice you, Sphinx… Even if you have now heard that by circumstance, you became a valuable instrument for my plan, I would not recommend retaliating against me. I would like to make up for using your trust as I did, and I can do so by getting you safely away from these lowly humans who would harm you out of fear, and bring their wrath down upon another race.» While his voice was again smooth and calm, he was not smirking anymore, as though his goal in angering the Arcane Knight and his companion was fulfilled. «What say you? As the good Arcane Knight can attest to, I am no human, and my powers can be of aid to you in the future.»

The sudden release from Sphinx' grasp came as a pleasant surprise to Marrin. It was clear that more words would only bring Sphinx' anger for humans upon himself, however; her expression said more than a hundred words. He straightened himself and dusted off his jacket; it was time to take his leave before the soldiers regained consciousness and attempted imprisonment another time. "I apologise for my offensive words. I will trouble you no more, Sphinx, be sure of that." He brought up his money purse and presented her with no less than three gold coins. "This should cover for our meals as well as compensate for the troubles I have brought you."

What exactly went through the Arcane Knight's head never truly was made clear to Marrin - whether it was fear of the unknown or a strong hatred for his arrogant nature, or another reason altogether, never mattered - what mattered was that the knight's greatsword came upon his shoulder with full force. The very arm he held the gold coins in came off at the joint, struck precisely by a trained warrior, and landed on the floor, twitching already. The surprise was evident on Marrin's face, despite his best attempts at staying calm. No sooner had the arm hit the floor, before the blade came again, tearing into his side and carving through his flesh. Biting his teeth together, he felt a boot placed against his back and the sword drawn out, just as he was kicked forward. "How... unfortunate.." he sighed out, his vision blackening. His knees gave way underneath him, and as his face dived nose first towards the floor, Marrin saw no more.

The red-haired woman shook her head; the scholar's blood was as red as any human's, and she failed to see why her companion had killed him; far more despicable, lowly criminals had been shown mercy in the past. The scholar was even struck from behind; highly unusual for a knight, even for the largely ruthless Arcane Knights. That was a flaw of his; his training went deeper than normal soldiers, and even without his order's control, it was hard to escape it. Gazing upon him, she saw his armour and white tabard spattered with blood. "Surely you could have allowed him to defend himself or even escape. He was unarmed." He showed no sign of responding or even having heard her; breathing and quivering as though he had seen the very essence of the magic lurking at the far corners of the world. But again, this was unusual. Even the most vicious magicians he had defeated, he had defeated without fear or doubt. Her eyes looked away from him, and up at the tall non-human before her.

Her smirk was gone when she spoke. "The scholar is dead." She knew this was obvious. Why did she say it? She glanced at the being's armoured left arm; the black scales and their red trim, the claws which no doubt had claimed lives before, and the twisting runes covering her bare skin; if this being hated humans, then she had caused the death of one human already. "There is the human blood you seem to seek." Her tone was hesitant. Lacking its usual confidence. "Whatever grievances he caused your people are now avenged. Is your business with our kind completed?" She put on a stern face, taking a mental note of her lacking skills at diplomacy, and glared at the towering non-human.