Roleplay Group Forum Medieval Fantasy World

I am called Kaylein, daughter of the great Warlord Jonshai Drake. My father leads an elite group of warriors and mages against the tyranny of the ruling families. The name of my father spreads fear throughout the five kingdoms and through all social classes. My own name, however, is still relatively unknown. I mean to change that. I have left my fathers encampments unaccompanied for the first time in my life. With the skills I have learned at my fathers side, I will spread my own legend, and I will start in this kingdom.

For character reference:

I haven't done this kind of thing before, but here goes nothing.

My people call me An'tavrou, or strange one. We are children of the elements.
We inhabit plants and rocks in the southern hills. Of course, not every rock or plant has a spirit, so I like to inhabit more than one thing and mash them together. I'm not very strong, however, so I can only inhabit a handful of rocks and weeds, a few flowers too. I do have a rock the size of a goblin's head and I'm kind of proud of that. My ancestors are said to do this and I've heard that they were strong enough to affect mountains, but their culture has long since disappeared, so I'm kind of alone. I've recently overheard passing travelers talking about creatures akin to my ancestors living to the north-west of here. I don't know more than that or even if it's true, but I've decided to travel there in the hopes of learning more about my heritage.

Note that the crystal is the "heart and brain" of An'tavrou and his people. It's exposed because it acts as an eye. Many others don't usually move and are more in tune with nature, so for them, sight isn't important and their eye remains concealed. An'tavrou exposes his because he's on the move and doesn't have the luxury of adapting to nature as he travels.

For Reference:

I was walking down the country paths that lead into the city of Ampter, my strides sure and true. Nobody I would meet on this road would frighten me, of that I was sure. I was trained in both weaponry and the powers of the mages. I kept my eyes up, almost cockily, almost daring anyone to challenge me.

Until, that is, I saw something I had never seen in all the days of my eighteen years. What was it? Some kind of... Creature? My first thought was a creature sprung from dark magic, like you might find among the marshlands. But no, I did not feel the jolt to my system that I would if encountering dark magics.

Approaching it, I withheld calling forth weapons or defenses of any other nature. I was curious about this strange creature and decided to investigate rather than attack. A habit my father loathed... Could it communicate, I wondered as I wandered close?

As I drew nearer to the creature, it seemed made of the dirt and stone of the ground, yet it moved about freely on its own. Now, I had certainly seen objects be moved by the force of someone who wielded power, but this seemed unlike that. This seemed almost like it gad son essence. Yes, I confirmed for myself as it looked at the crystal in the center of the largest stone. It surely had an essence.

My curiosity only piqued by the strange, yet seemingly living, thing before me, I reached out to touch it. I had never had a healthy sense of fear, and this case was no different. I felt no trepidation as my fingers brushed against the largest stone, near to the sparkling crystal, only an avid interest.

I was walking down the bazaar of the second town I've been to since my journey began, trying to ignore the glares of those frightened and disgusted as I didn't want an encounter akin to the one I had in the last town where I was attacked by a distressed man wielding an iron bladed weapon.

I stopped many times along my way, looking at the odd and mysterious objects that I presumed were being bartered for when something strange happened. I felt it on the side of my head. It wasn't the slashing of an iron blade, but gentle and it rolled against the loose grains of dirt on my rocky surface. It was four... no five points of sensation that briefly coursed down my head. I was used to the glares and I was used to people running from me, but when I rotated my head to see what it was, I instinctively jumped away from it and half-deformed into a pile of rocks as I realized that it was the touch of a human.

This one appeared to have no fear, but it was more than that. Curiosity? I could sense that this one had some kind of training. It was brave enough to approach and touch me, but I knew that it was wary of me, not knowing what I am or what I might do.

I didn't want to waste this opportunity to familiarize myself with these people's customs, as I'm sure that there were many more constructs such as this town and that dealing with them in the future would be unavoidable, so I mimicked what I had seen one human do when interacting with another. I regained my original form and shook my pebble-arm from side to side rather rapidly, hoping for a less than hostile response.

I quickly backed up when the creature jerked away and crumbled. Interesting... It had to be some kind of magic, since the stones seemed otherwise just like plain stones. Then it reformed into its original shape and began shaking its... Arm, I guess would be the word. It took me a moment to figure out what it was doing... Shooing me away, some kind of greeting, I wasn't sure.

I stood still for a moment, my head slightly cocked, my dark hair falling over my shoulder, when suddenly I realized what this gesture was supposed to communicating. With a laugh of amusement, I held up my hand until it stopped shaking its rocky limb. Then taking the stone hand in my own, I finished the handshake a bit more sedately than it had been shaking.

"Good day," I managed to greet the creature, still curious on if it was its own essence or being controlled by a sorcerer. I briefly wondered what my father would think of such a strange being, but continued my greeting, "I am Kaylein Drake."

In an attempt to mimic another human gesture, I rolled my head in a vertical cycle, a gesture which was meant to convey confusion, in response to the laughter. I didn't understand the meaning behind the hand-contact, but the human appeared to be smiling, so I presumed that my efforts were met with its appropriate response.

The human used words both common and uncommon to those in the southern hills, and the syntax appeared to be the same, so thinking on it, I understood most of what it said. Never having actually used spoken words before, I attempted to speak to it in response. "Hello this is day." The words were almost completely bass but a soft background noise akin to crackling lightning sounded as well. "I am be An'tavrou." I added, with no better quality in sound.

I took a step back from the human and looked around at the passersby as something caught my attention. Most were gawking at the interaction between the human and I, but I noticed one person standing on the roof of a tall building, some kind of odd thing in its grip. I recognized it from when I still lived in the hills. Humans used it to kill animals. Surprisingly though, it wasn't pointed at me, but at the human next to me.

I quickly backed away from the stone creature, no longer amused as it pulled its stone blade free. In a move that surprised me, the creature did not turn the blade on me, but instead threw it at an archer who sat atop the roof nearest to us. An archer who looked like he had been aiming for me.

I drew my blade, fury replacing my curiosity that some coward would attack me from afar. "Thank you," I told the creature, whose name I couldn't recall in the moment, and started toward the side of the building where the archer had fallen.

The archer yet lived, though injured, with his leg bent at an odd angle and the white of bone breaking through the skin of one wrist. Gripping my sword tighter, I approached the man as he reached for his quiver of arrows. I kicked it from his reach and brought my iron blade to his throat.

"Who sent you?"

The man's response was in a language I did not recognize, but as he grasp one broken head of an arrow still lying within his reach, I did recognize the sharp fiery pain as it cut into the flesh of my calf. My blade sliced through his throat effortlessly as I hissed in pain.

The fact he continued to try an injure me even after being so seriously injured himself worried me. For the first time, I wished that I were not out here on my own. I could use my fathers council on this one. But, if the archer had come for me, then he had likely known I was the daughter of Jonshai Drake. Who would be willing to incur his wrath by attacking me?

Glancing over my shoulder, I saw that my new stone friend had followed me over.

I followed Kaylein around the building to where the man had fallen to the ground, only eight seconds behind her. He bled like any other animal, but it didn't howl or wail. Just as I had thought this was unusual, Kaylein slit his throat. I thought it was an odd thing to do under the circumstances and rotated my head accordingly, but I then noticed a twig protruding her leg.

I approached Kaylein and took the twig out, but then she too started to bleed. I said "An'tavrou sorry is." in a more coherent sound and I was about to put it back in when I noticed something strange on the metal that stuck to the end of the twig. It resonated with my being and I knew it to be of a river plant. I've seen its effect on a family of foxes before, and knew it would kill Kaylein unless I did something.

I thought long and hard about how I could fix her, and I finally thought of an idea. I detached myself from the rock that acted as my head, and all the rocks that acted as my body fell to the ground with it with great thuds and clacks. I hovered a short distance away and buried myself in the ground through a crack in the cobblestone path. It didn't take long before a black thorny plant sprouted and grew to maturity, and soon enough, a handful of dark purple fruit grew from it.

I rocketed out of the ground and reclaimed my head and body, returning to my original bipedal form. I walked towards the plant and took one of the fruit that it grew, and then I approached Kaylein and squeezed the fruit in my rocky hand. When it became mush, I layered it over her wound and said "Poison was.", hoping she would understand.

I almost cursed at the creature when he pulled the arrow from my calf, but stopped myself, he seemed to be trying to help anyway. I figured when you're made of rocks, you probably don't understand things like skin and muscle. Hell, maybe he didn't understand pain... that would be a useful trait in life. Again I wondered what thus strange creature was.

As I sat on the ground to tend to my leg, the creature crumbled. I nudged one of the rocks with my toe in surprise and just a bit of regret, I had liked the strange being. But when a plant began growing from nowhere and then the creature reformed to rub it on my wound, my curiosity returned on what exactly his powers were.

Those thoughts vanished when the creature said, in its strange voice, "poison." Poison, I thought in horror? Jerking my leg to me, I looked at the wound, not seeing any of the redness that I would expect with poison. "Are you sure, An?" I asked him, though he seemed sure, and he seemed to be again trying to help.

It would be humiliating to die of a poisoned wound my first day out of my fathers encampment. Calming myself, I thought of how I could help myself. The Mage powers I had begun to learn had healing within them, but I was not that advanced. "Will this fruit take away the poison?" I asked, because if not, I would have to return to my father where they could heal it. My adventure of independence cut pathetically short.

Looking at Kaylein, I rolled my head, doing what I thought to be a nod. "Poison was." I repeated, "Poison will was, short time well." I added, trying to experiment with words to better convey the desired message.

"Thank you, An," I told him with a grin. Rising to my feet, I tested putting some weight on the injured leg, which burned, but would hold. Someone had tried to kill me, had been waiting for me, which means somebody had to be watching me to even know I was on this road headed for town. I had told no one my plans; I hadn't even had any plans... So now I would have to figure out who wanted me dead. I glanced at An, "Which way are you headed?" To myself, I wondered what a stone creature even did with their time.

I looked to the sky, at the star and then to Kaylein. With my hand comprised of pebbles and small stones, I pointed to the North-West and said "Far." My head span sideways and then I mimicked Kaylein's words. "Which way are you headed?" in a screechier version of her own voice.

I watched his stone hand point off to the sky. Wow, that sounded like an adventure. I turned back to 'him' maybe... he seemed like a him anyway, "I was heading into town, looking for something exciting... though I didn't really have a plan." I admitted that with a small smirk, so maybe my adventure wasn't well thought out. But it was going well so far; I met a stone man, almost got shot by an arrow and poisoned, and this was my first day. If that wasn't adventure, I'm not sure what is. "I guess now I'm going to have to figure out who wants to try to kill me."

Listening to Kaylein, I rolled my head forwards again. "If first, second may. I protect... will?"
I let her lean on the arm which no longer had the stone blade and helped her to sit on a nearby crate by the side of a building.

Afterwards, I took the sheet off another group of crates and waved it awkwardly, trying to clear the dust out of it, getting it stuck between the rocks of my body because the wind kept changing directions.

I finally managed to get it unstuck and wrapped it around Kaylein's leg so it doesn't become infected. I believe I failed to do this because I have no knowledge of knot-tying, so I looked at her and rolled my head to the side and said "Fix?"

I looked down at the cloth he had wrapped around my leg and knotted it so it would fit tightly against the wound in my calf. "You want to protect me, An?" I asked with a grin, of course he did... everyone in my life wanted to protect me. Why should a man made of stone be any different? Standing, I put some weight on the leg. "You're right though... if I go into town and see what I can stir up, that will likely uncover some lead as to who sent the archer." I shot him a grin, "At least, I think that's what you meant."

The sky had begun to darken. I turned to Kaylein and rolled my head backwards. "I go. Can't... wait.."

I started down the street, looking for an exit to the city.

I followed An into the the city, watching the suspicious and fearful looks he gathered from the townsfolk. It honestly surprised me a little bit... Still I followed him though, not sure where he was heading or if he knew where the was heading. But he seemed to have a destination and I had nothing better to do.

I did, however, keep a watchful eye on the rooftops as we went, not wanting to chance any more poisoned arrows. Up ahead, it looked like there was a group gathered in the street. I slowed my progress, my hand resting a little more purposefully on the hilt of my sword. "An..." I cautioned quietly.

Approaching the group, I halted, noticing each of them had some sort of weapon. I don't know if they were here for Kaylein like the man with arrows was, or if they were a group of disturbed city-dwellers. I took a step backwards and one of the group jumped off the cart he was resting on, wearing a red bandanna and a dirk skillfully being played with in his right hand, his left hand resting on the hilt of a rapier. I couldn't really tell the difference between the two weapons, only that one was longer than the other.

The bandanna man shouted, his face contorted and spitting. "Hey, you those people! Tenko saw you kill my cousin, you ain't leavin' here alive, I can tell ya that straight! He was goin' places! Our pride! He was so high up in the chain that kings knew his name! He had friends everywhere, but you dying here! You dying now! Clackers, kill them!"

Before he had finished his words, the 14 people around him took out weapons and charged at Kaylein and myself, some staying behind as to not cause complete chaos. I doubt I could take on more than four by myself without being caught in the eye, but if I kept my eye hidden and attuned myself with nature, I could probably take care of all of them at once, I thought, but at my level of power, it would take far too long to gather the concentration.

Thinking of no other way, I decided to attune with my eye exposed, a half-way point. I would receive only a fraction of what I may be able to do if I were attuned completely, but more than double my un-attuned power, the only problem would be that I would need to be motionless for at least two minutes before it kicked it.

I drew my sword as the men charged, not sure what An was doing, only knowing that he was. Glowing and had asked for protection. So... I'd give it to him. I charged the men, the arrow wound in my keg long forgotten.

Pulling in the power of the air around me, I shot a blast of wind at the men that knocked a few of them backwards. Then leaping up, I brought my iron blade down, sinking through the throat, past the collar bone, and into the chest cavity of the man nearest to me.

The next man swung his blade, aiming to take off my head. I ducked low, making his blade sink into the skull of his dead comrade instead. While his blade was caught, I turned and gave him the death he had intended for me.

Once more, I tried to pull up the elemental powers I had begun to learn from the mages in my fathers camp, but I was still a novice, and my access to power diminished with its first use. It was going to be a struggle to get out of this alive...

My reach expanded to three meters from my body, indicative of my eye's creeping glow. Only one was in that circle and his throat was already slit. I could attempt to attack the others with projectiles, lifting the boulderous stone tiles and launching them, I thought, and while this would slow my range, I thought it better than nothing.

The ground around me rattled and began to destabilize and then finally collapsed on itself, small rocks replacing the nice horse-trodden path.