The Great Ones Foreigners in Thagretis

[Jane]

"May the Blessing of Aionus be upon you!"

The words. Quick. Practiced. Through her hand now touching the Scaled King's back the Blessing flowed into him and he was off. Coiling his tail around the Masked Man's legs and sinking his cla--

AAAAHhhhhhhaaaaaa...! If only she was him if only she could trade places with the Scaled King right now why couldn't she be the one piercing Tytus's soft flesh with razor sharp claws and I'm sorry Astra and that was alright that was okay she could just watch she loved watching well not as much as she loved being the one doing the deed but the blood look at the blood it's flying around like little striiiiings and I'm so sorry Astra and what did the Masked Man say?

Jane was lifted off of her feet. Off of her feet and sent through the wall and sprawling down to the floor amidst the shower of dust and cheap plaster into the brothel foyer. She lay on her back with her arms splayed out wide. Eyes closed and smiling widely and panting heavily and her cheeks flushed deep red with an aroused intensity that she was far too enraptured in to properly add to her flagellation tally.

There were those disoriented guards. There were her weapons. There might even be the Scaled King or possibly Nate.

But right now, all Jane could do was lay and breathe and smile. With the occasional shuddering gasp.

Tytus Amladeris Tir'Coatl Nathanael McCallister Aivrid Celestia Szesh

 

[Celestia]

Celestia saw the ornate decor all around her, but nothing captured her attention like the depictions of dragons. She could see the dragon from Amol Kalit in many of these drawings, but nothing told her how to kill it. She thought about going through the doors, but they were all locked.

Looking around for a moment before spotting the door with a magical ward. Celestia could sense the magic even from here, and it was certainly powerful. She traced her fingers along the edges of the door, fearful of what might happen if she tried to open it.

Celestia stepped back slightly, staring at the door for a long moment. She closed her eyes for a moment, chanting quietly to herself, “I am a child of Drakormir….I am a child of Drakormir…” She said it repeatedly, letting it embed within her mind, allowing herself to believe in his righteousness. She allowed her thoughts to believe in his cause and feel the rage towards that would seek to harm him. She had to make herself believe it, even if just for this moment.

It was corruption to her mind and entirely against what she believed. She was tortured in her thoughts as she tried to push out the images of the dead bodies in the villages from her mind. She tried to forget the village chief and the others that hailed her as their saviour.

They deserved it.

Celestia stepped forth then, her thoughts twisted to focus on the very thin thread that would obey and submit to Drakormir. Without opening her eyes, she extended her hand forth and touched the door’s surface, grazing her fingers down and mentally willing it to open.

Tytus Amladeris

 

[Zeri Rekani]

Drakormir? Was that the name of the Black Dragon that destroyed Bhathairk? That killed her Ma? And the medicine man thought him to be a god?

Zeri started to feel incredibly uncomfortable. A distress that surmounted the physical pain of her bruises and the bloodied gash on her forehead and the creeping pain in her leg. Those dragons. The pictures of them and the statue and all the rest. Oh no. Where were they? Where was this city? Who were these people? If they thought that Drakormir was a god and Drakormir was an awful, murderous beast, then what...what were they going to do to them? Her and Szesh?

Fittingly, she did have some trouble breathing when the medicine man mentioned it. Slight, but trouble nonetheless, brought on by her mounting anxiety. Nowhere near the level of shock that nearly killed her, yet her chest tightened in that rigid and painful grasp nonetheless.

When the medicine man had gone, Zeri--that small half-orc girl covered in the grime of dirt and dust and ash of both mundane and Plague varieties and the dried curtain of blood smearing half of her face in dark red and her right eye constricted and beseeching and she looked the furthest she could possibly be from the girl who dreamed of traveling around the world by the strength of her own wits and skill and who dared dream furthermore of emulating those warriors of tale and legend that she so adored--looked to Szesh and said in a tiny, choked voice, "Szesh...I'm scared."

Then the Guard came in. Dragged the stool over. Asked his question.

And so beset with fright for their circumstance was Zeri that she could do little more than look at the Guard as if he were the herald of Neha, coming to finish her wicked work.

Szesh Tytus Amladeris

 

[Szesh]

The doctor left, and Szesh could see concern on his face. He thought he could read the word “plague” cross his lips many times in his conversations with the guards, but he could not be sure.

”Szesh… I’m scared.”

His attention returned to the orc girl. Her voice was tiny and raspy, and her open eye had grown several times its usual size. She didn’t need to say the words, everything about her broadcast fear. She had every right to be afraid, of course, but it would not do her any good now. He did not know what to say to her. Should he say they were safe? He didn’t know that for sure, and he did not think lying would be fair.

He settled on slowly lifting his tail so that it lay close behind her on the bed while he sat on the next cot over. Perhaps the closeness would be comforting.

The guard asked for their story. Did they not know what was happening? The city was tense, but the response seemed miniscule compared to what a whirling tornado of fire should have caused, let alone the emergence of a world-ending titan.

”Bhathairk… our city…” he found it surprisingly difficult to explain the situation. There were no words powerful enough to convey what had happened, what still presumably happened. ”...consumed by a black dragon. Big. Bigger than a mountain. Bigger than any mountain.” Zeri’s fear seemed to transfer up his tail as he recalled the horrific images. His mind had been diligently attempting to hide them, burying them for his own sanity, and here he was digging them up.

”It spoke…” he recalled. The crystalline fear in his chest crackled over him, spreading outwards as Her voice was remembered.

”It called itself… Neha."

| Zeri Rekani Kara Orin |​

 

[Tir'Coatl]

Before Tir'Coatl could even manage a counter-spell—or even be aware of what was happening in the first place, in fact—the Naga was thrust back by a wall of invisible energy, his body hitting the wall as it crumbled at the force of the impact.

Dust hung in the air, slowly drifting down upon the dazed faces of the Scaled King and his companion. A groan of frustration emanated from the reptilian warrior, anger bubbling within at Tytus' casual redirection of his blood magic. To think that his magic could be overpowered by some zealous, prone, lying rat afraid to show his own face...

Tir'Coatl rose to a standing position, taking in the new setting he found himself in. His eyes immediately went over to the disoriented guards that stood in the path of their weapons.

It was only afterwards that the Naga recalled his companion, who had remained prone on the floor since their arrival in the foyer. A cursory glance showed she had... Frankly, he didn't want to know. His bloodied claw went down to harshly pull her up, hoping to take her out of whatever euphoric stupor the prior moments had placed her in. "Get up, Skinned One. Your pleasure will get us killed if you keep on," he advised, his voice filled with a hint of frustration and incredulity alike.

Shortly after, Tir'Coatl turned his gaze towards the guards and rushed forward—his claws aiming to rip away whatever weaponry they possessed before they could react to their presence in any way that mattered.

Tytus Amladeris Tir'Coatl Nathanael McCallister Aivrid Celestia Szesh

 

[Nathanael McCallister]

Nate is gonna sigh and give Ryna thirty gold coins, "Sorry for wasting your time dear." He smiles, "But my partner in crime needs help." He chuckles and gives her a curious bow, "Go by yourself a treat with that." He tells her before heading back to the front desk, getting his sword out of the front desk and twirls it around before stabbing it through one of the soldier's chest.

He would take another one and stab him before throwing him out through the wall also, "No one fucking puts words in my partner's mouth!" He yells at Tytus and drives his sword down and up to his torso.

 

[Aivrid]

Tag: Tytus Amladeris

Curious...

---

​

Could there really be no aerial entrance? The island was enormous, perhaps he had missed it. Aivrid circled the island once more, searching for a way inside. He could sneak through the temple doors but he lacked the materials to polymorph once more, and being caught in his human form again would be irritating.

Aivrid drew the seeing rune once more and spoke the command word, "Ocuir."

Perhaps there was an entrance hidden by an illusion. Whether or not there was, the rune would allow him to more clearly see the other defenses of the hoard. Drakormir had already shown himself to be a powerful mage and he'd be a fool to only safeguard his treasures with only a few human guards.

If there was no other way, Aivrid would dive down from above to land at the center of the island, then begin to create a hole in the earth until he reached the hoard.

 

[Tytus Amladeris]

THE CLINIC

The guard that questioned Zeri Rekani and Szesh silently listened to their answers. His eyes widened at the mention of Neha by name.

“Neha? The priests are saying Drakormir is awake so… I guess it makes sense She’s awake as well,” the guard replied.

Then the guard asked after a pause, “What happened with Neha and your city?! Why was She there?!”

---

THE COME RIGHT INN

The soldier closest to Tytus got up quickly and rushed to the masked man.

“Captain!” the soldier said as he helped Tytus up and on his feet.

In the meanwhile, Tir'Coatl rushed forward to attempt to wrestle weapons from the guards. They all had swords in hand. As soon as claws touched the first guard’s blade, they gripped it with both arms and began to struggle to keep it in hand.

None of the guards were able to go after Jane in her predicament and were still too disoriented to counter attack Tir’Coatl.

Meanwhile, Fryna – already confused by the noise and explosion she heard – panicked even more with suddenly being given thirty gold coins.

Tytus saw the soldier struggling against Tir’Coatl get cut down by Nathanael McCallister and then the guard immediately next to him. As Nate charged at Tytus, the captain pushed the soldier that assisted him away with one arm.

With the other arm, Tytus removed his mask. It was obviously all metal – including the crest that stretched out from the forehead as almost like a two-pronged fork. Tytus would then grip the mask with both hands to use the forked crest as an improvised weapon to redirect Nate’s blade away and towards a wall.

His face revealed, the foreigners would see Tytus as a human with fair skin and blue eyes with slit pupils. His black hair was shaven to a buzz. His face was nearly clean shaven – perhaps just having been shaved a day prior. A faint scar stretched from just to the right of his mouth to his sideburns.

With a glare full of rage, Tytus’s mouth moved to say the following words, “And the ground quaked…”

The beginnings of a chant.

For Nate, Jane, and Tir’Coatl, they could stand and fight. Yet their deaths or capture would be certain if they chose this. The city knew Jane and Tir’Coatl were here. If they spent their time fighting, enough soldiers would appear to overwhelm them and even cut off all streets and alleyways.

Fortunately, Nate already heard rumors of a way to escape without the Portal Stone.

---

THYKLA PALACE

The door reacted with a buzzing noise as Celestia touched the edges of it. Even after brainwashing herself, the door would zap Celestia’s hand. It would be painful but bring no lasting harm. A simple warning in case the victim touched the door by accident.

The sigils’ hue shifted to a bright red, though.

Upon examination of the door itself, Celestia could have seen sigils all over the door. It would be similar to certain magical disciplines back on the two main continents – if Celestia could recognize it. On the main continents, these sigils were used for powerful lightning spells – the door’s deterrent – and for doors that required a specific spoken password to dispel the ward – the way in.

Celestia would be able to hear footsteps coming from one side of the hallway. The approaching figure remained unseen, for now. The clanging of metal came with each footstep. He came from the direction where Celestia would find the stairway down the palace.

The other stairways remained, as well as the bedrooms and other locked doors.

---

DRAGON THRONE’S ISLAND

As Aivrid flew around Dragon’s Throne Island, he would be able to confirm that it is massive.

If he looked away from the island and out to the sea, he would be able to see a warship every once and a while patrolling not too far away from the island. To the north just at the horizon would be arid land. To the west and south would be endless sea. Then to the east, Aivrid would once again see a bit of arid land that had formed the southern end of the gulf that Aivrid flew from.

Dragon’s Throne Island would be shaped almost like an elongated ellipse. Not perfectly, but it would be simple to draw on a map. The ellipse major axis stretched from west-southwest to north-northeast.

The entire island contained little life. Dirt and hills were all that greeted Aivrid. Only the base camp and temple displayed any signs of human activity. Nothing appeared out of the ordinary after Aivrid attempted to peer through any magical illusions that may exist on the island.

Once Aivrid moved to the center of the island, he would see that the hills quickly became a large valley. It could almost be described as a giant geological bowl.

Upon landing and attempting to dig at the earth, Aivrid would immediately find the soil after just a couple feet to be extremely compact. Almost as if a great weight sat upon the land for ages.

The digging would be extremely difficult from then on. And it would take days for Aivrid to find something, should he choose to continue. A risk as Thagretis knows Aivrid went west, and at least one warship would have seen him and know he loomed near the island.

 

[Nathanael McCallister]

Nate smiles as his sword was cast towards the wall, chuckling the hunter lets go of his sword when it lands in the wall, “Yah know, for someone who won’t even listen about our upbringings and cultures you are kind of hot, if I swung that way.”

The hunter would start to whistle and make little chirping noises, a little messege to Jane,

“There is a ship outside of the city to the west, it is setting sail later today. They called it the Neha ship, it is the largest one in the port. Get onto it, it is sailing west. I escaped these fuckers once I can do it again. Get through the city walls, they will be looking for foreginers coming in but not going out, do not come back into the city. Get on that ship and leave, no matter what.”

He finishes in a few seconds and licks his lips, he really didnt want to bite a jugular, he thought as the soilder that Tytus pushed out of the way prepared to charge him.

Nate really didnt but the soilder that assisted his captain came charging the hunter with his weapon not even drawn all the way. He looked two weeks away from retirement. The hunter seeing his foolish foot work kicked under his feet, spun him around and with what would appear to be incredibly sharp fangs. Blood filled his mouth and he tore out the soilder’s throat. The poor man gurgles blood as it sprays everywhere and he too falls out through the open wall and into the street.

“Thanks for the free snack human.” Nate chuckles nodding at Tir. If the dragon could smell him, the snake probably could. Licking his fingers Nate crouches and charges Tytus, using his flattened hands almost a blade due to his clawed gauntlets fingers. He would fight this man until he was captured or killed, being killed would take a lot.

As he attacks Tytus he would aim for his hand holding his metal mask and other parts of his body ina flurry of blows.

 

[Jane]

Red.

Wouldn't it be sweet if everything was red?

* * * * *​

The Scaled King. Talking to her. Get up, Skinned One. Hey, she was on her feet. She didn't even remember how exactly she got out here to the foyer. All she felt was the warm and tingling sensation she craved bubbling under her skin and the radiant throb in her thighs. Yet as seconds passed the world intruded further.

With a shiver, Jane seemed to come to. She glanced about as the Scaled King rushed some of the Thagretian guards in the brothel foyer and as Nate (that's the Nate she knew, having that habit of showing up out of nowhere) sent her a coded message via whistles and chirps--the little hunting language he'd taught her for cases much like this. She caught the vital particulars: Large Ship. West. Beyond the walls. Go.

"Nate!" she called out to him. Her grin actually...forced. Hiding something that did not come so naturally, something new and uncomfortable, eluding her ability to deal with it. "You...I'll see you there!"

She'd barely even said it when Nate went to work. Biting right into that soldier's--

Jane shuddered and let out a stuttering gasp and yet again she felt weak in the knees and her posture crumpled. Ahhhhaha...he better show up and he better show up with all that blood still on him.

But Jane--as much as she wanted to--couldn't linger. She loved a good show and the pleasures of the flesh and tongue and teeth and nails but all of that would have to wait. The talk with the Masked Man didn't go much of anywhere (sorry Tychan) and soon enough--now that they'd been found out--word would spread and an insurmountable number of soldiers and guards would descend upon the brothel. Small blessings, she did at least get her chance to catch her breath here. Even if...certain sights threatened to steal it away again.

As the Scaled King engaged some of the disoriented soldiers, Jane scurried to collected her weapons: her Celestial longsword, her heater shield, her cat o' nine tails. She sheathed her sword and strapped the shield to her left arm and hooked the whip to the back of her belt.

Jane ran outside. Glanced up quickly at the sky, at the sun, got a reckoning of direction, then shot a hurried look back to the Scaled King, her grin (this one not forced at all) wild and anticipatory. "Hey! King! This way!"

And with that, Jane took off running through the slums of Thagretis, heading west via what routes were most accessible.

Nathanael McCallister Tir'Coatl Tytus Amladeris Celestia Aivrid Szesh

 

[Zeri Rekani]

That...the Black Dragon...that wasn't Drakormir? Neha. That was Its name. That was the name of the monster that came from nowhere and took everything. The monster that finished what the Amalgamation started.

Zeri sat on the bed, the pillow in the small of her back, hands down by her knees. And a poisonous mix of fear and hatred swirled in her expression, the half of her face not streaked with the crust of dried blood. But maybe...m-maybe they didn't worship Neha like they worshiped Drakormir. Maybe Neha was as evil to them as she was to Bhathairk. Yet this she did not know for certain.

Emotion, however, washed over her. Zeri bowed her head and her lips trembled and she sobbed lightly--no tears from her dry eyes, only the hitching of her shoulders and sorrowful gasping breaths.

"Why?"

Zeri shook her head.

"There was no why. Neha just destroyed everything. Everything. She emerged from the ground. Beneath us. Tore apart the earth and it shook and ripped open and there was smoke and ash everywhere and my people were dying and I ran home and I--"

Couldn't save her.

Zeri brought a hand to her face. Covered her eyes--both the one she could open and the one crusted shut.

"If Drakormir is a god..."

Her hand fell from her face. And that sadness was replaced by something vicious and ugly.

Rage. And intense hatred. Both fueled by potent grief.

"Then Neha is a devil."

Tytus Amladeris Szesh

 

[Celestia]

Celestia could read the sigils, and she knew at once she needed more clues to learn the password. She could hear footsteps approaching, and she had to remember to relax. She was clad in the armor of a guard, so she wouldn’t rouse suspicion right away.

As the figure began to approach, however, Celestia ran out of time. With a curse, she turned and walked upstairs, marching to imitate a regular soldier on patrol. The decor was more ornate as she moved up, but she was desperately looking for any signs or clues on the password to the door.

For now, she had to blend in and appear as a part of the palace guard. Her heart pounded against her chest, not even wanting to think what could happen upon her being discovered.

Tytus Amladeris

 

[Szesh]

Szesh felt the hatred come off Zeri in waves. It made sense to him that she would feel anger and rage, they were the natural successors of sadness. The tears had run dry, and the only outlets,that remained were violence, vitriol, and revenge. It was how he had lived until recently, and despite its shortcomings it had kept him alive. Zeri’s advantage was that she had a target for the hate other than herself.

He did not attempt to comfort her as she said this. He would not tell her to let go of such dark emotions. It was up to her how to deal with her loss, and at least it was path for which he could act as a guide.

He had little to add other than to corroborate Zeri’s account. ”It had been underground. Nothing survived its emergence. Green fire burned everything,” he looked at the guard. ”We do not know why... I hoped you did.”

I know that you know was what he wished to say. Draco had not led him here by mistake, the portal stone had not activated on the eve of Neha’s emergence to bring them to a dead end. They were outnumbered, weak, and sick. They would need to act carefully.

 

[Tytus Amladeris]

As Nathanael McCallister attached Tytus’s comrades, this allowed the Thagretis soldier to finish his chant.

“… to swallow His enemies whole!” Tytus bellowed as Nathanael finally launched an attack at the soldier.

Spikes of earth shot through the thin-planked wooden floor. They shot up in the space immediately before Tytus first – serving to take a few of Nate’s swings. And more continued to shoot up. If none pierced Nate, enough of these earthen spikes would materialize around Nate to make moving difficult if not impossible. And each would harden in place – becoming almost like stone.

Tytus would take the moment to grab the sword Nate abandoned. More soldiers would come pouring into the brothel over time. If Nate failed to leave, his captured would be imminent at the least due to sheer numbers.

And with Nate continuing to engage Tytus and the incoming soldiers focused on a clear aggressor, this would allow Jane and Tir'Coatl the cover to escape. It would be easy for them to journey outside the city gates and to the port out west – provided they did not do anything to attract attention. A minimal disguise would help prevent any trouble from guards.

---

Hearing what Zeri Rekani and Szesh, the guard captain that was interviewing them frowned.

Looking to Zeri first, the guard captain told her, “I know you ain’t from here and it’s been a while since I’ve been to mass, but it’s not good to say that again.”

Then with a glance to both of them, he added, “In the scriptures, Neha isn’t one ‘to care for the mortal in her path.’”

With a gesture toward them, the man then said, “We can teach you what we know. The doctor even says you’re sick, so we can heal that. In exchange, we’d like to know about your home. Have you as guides, too?”

An offer for cultural exchange.

---

As Celestia moved further up the floors, she would eventually find a floor with a grand lobby. More gold. Red and black tapestry. Grand depictions of their dragon god.

On that floor would be two giant, golden doors. Two elite guards stood at attention to the sites of the door. Their uniforms were far more gaudier than the one Celestia “procured”. Neither reacted to Celestia’s presence. They would not react unless she displayed clearly suspicious behavior – such as trying to approach the door or talk to them.

Celestia could ignore this floor and continue further up – eventually to the roof of Thykla Palace. The way below still remained.

 

[Nathanael McCallister]

(Welp rolled a 3... Sorry Jane, blame the dice)

Nate gets pierced by the stone spikes in his leg as he tried to step out of its way causing him to yell in pain. Blood dripped onto the floor as it shoots into his side and one gets into his upper arm. Chuckling the hunter sighs taking a deep deep breaths speaking in a deep and calm voice:

Drekkr mjöđ mímir
Drinks Mimir mead
Morgun hverjan, af veđi ásagrimmr
Allt veit ek Óđinn
Hvar þú auga falt Óđinn
Í þeim inum mæra mímis brunni
Hvar þú auga falt Óđinn
Heitir
Grímr, ganglari, alföđr, valföđr, hangaguđ, haptaguđ​

Some more blood would start to pour from his wounds as he moves, somehow ignoring the pulsing in his leg and stabbing in his side with every breath. He looks at Tytus and smiles. Well this was odd.

His leg was incredibly screwed up with the spikes still in his leg, that would lead to one hell of an infection if it didnt kill him. One of his bones were broken that much was for sure but he was more woried about the bleeding. Same went for his arm... and maybe a rib.

“Instead of a fucking monster fucking me up this bad it has to be a fucking tiny potential one.” The wolf chuckles, Jane would probably be in heaven with his leg injury. Heh, she might even get to heal it without her holy magic. The sound of a bone snaping could be heard in the silence, oh yeah he didn’t want to leave Jane alone.

Knowing her she would probably move heaven and earth to get him back somehow. Well at least he has that comfort either way. Or might stir up her own trouble. Gods damn it though, if only he had moved fast enough. He would try to move his leg but find he couldn’t because of the stone in it but it didn’t hurt. Shock had started to set in it seemed. Touching the wounds in his leg and side he looks at his blood on his gauntlet. He heard a random cat hissing and yelling in the distance.

“Touché. Can’t fight if I’m a damn pin cushion. Hell cant even walk like this.” There was a look of acceptance in his eyes as he looked at Tytus. He was now a caged wolf. Hopefully Jane would get away he would hopefully figure his own way out of this eventually. His free arm hovers above his own chest as he waited and watched Tytus, “We both know I am probably the more dangerous one out of us foreginers, next to that fucking greedy and stupid dragon.”

Jane Tir'Coatl Tytus Amladeris

 

[Zeri Rekani]

...but it's not good to say that again.

Zeri sat in the bed and that catastrophic swirl of emotion continued to storm through her blood. And emotion did not listen to reason.

How could this man say that? How could this man look at her--the wretched state she was in with the blood and bruises and dirt and ash, all of it Neha's doing--and say that? Szesh had even corroborated her account, told of the raw and senseless devastation that Neha visited on Bhathairk and this man was worried about what Zeri called that monster? That devil? Why? Why??

"WHY? Is it not the truth! Neha is a devil! A devil! And I hope It dies for what It's done! Arethil could only be made better without that monster!"

She had completely ignored the captain's offer of a cultural exchange. For better or worse, as the Plague ran rampant inside her body.

Szesh Tytus Amladeris

 

[Szesh]

Zeri’s feelings were not surprising, but her outburst was a drastic departure from her shocked silent state. He could see the guards react to her words, see their slim window of opportunity closing.

They needed the knowledge this man promised. Knowledge of Neha and whatever Drakormir was, knowledge of the plague, and perhaps even more. The world hadn’t even whispered those names in living memory, but this city was built as a monument to them. What other secrets did they know?

Normally he wouldn’t care, but the parallels of faith intrigued him, and the blood in his lungs compelled him. He reached out a heavy hand and grasped Zeri’s shoulder just hard enough to convey his meaning and attempt to still her words. He, more than most, knew the benefit of remaining silent.

”Agreed.”

Zeri would have her time for anger. Now was not that time.

Truth be told, he was tired. Tired of fighting, tired of running. He was tired of the doubt and the fear. This place promised answers. Answers would be nice.

And if they somehow did not deliver on their promise, his home was destroyed anyway. He would guide them through the rubble for as long as they wished.

 

[Jane]

Jane ran. Heeled sabatons clanking smartly with each footfall upon actual paved surfaces--a multitude of half-finished projects of stone or brick as she fled through the narrow passageways of the Thagretis slums. And half-finished soon became quite scarce as she got further and further away from the proper red-light street and the Come Right Inn brothel, mostly hard-packed dirt becoming the norm.

A bit of a glance hazarded over her shoulder revealed that, good news, none of the soldiers seemed to be following her and, bad news, she appeared to have lost the Naga. They were probably known for that, right? Being slithery and slippery, sliding effortlessly out and away from danger. She wasn't particularly concerned with the Scaled King's well-being no, but what a tragedy to leave all of that lovely blood magic behind. But that was how it was going to be, at least for now. If trouble brewed in her general vicinity, then it'd be time to by Nykios pull herself up by her bootstraps and spill some blood of her own.

Hmm. Figure Astra was a having chat with Drakon right about now? This whole city of Thagretis was adorned with dragon-this and dragon-that, and such was his purview. Maybe Astra might be advising Drakon to make his people lay off. Calm down.

(Ohhh, but if she wasn't! Ohhh, but if Jane was attacked and made to defend herself!)

Jane slowed her pace after a while of running, slowed as the looming walls to the west grew bigger with proximity. She went from street to street, not going directly down one if it could be helped, traversing instead the lesser traveled alleys and cramped paths between even more cramped homes. There were elves and orcs about, others too, humans of course. The smell of the streets had a particular tinge of foreign newness, a pungent aroma whose specific kind her nose was not accustomed to. But the general squalor, the haphazard architecture, the pockets of dirtiness tucked into this corner and beside that wall and in front of that door and in a stretch across this street, oh all of these did so remind her of Cerak. At least the Cerak she spent all of her time in. As it would there, so did it here: her armor, with its shining steel and golden trim, the bright blue of her arming dress underneath, these all stood out amidst the drab of the slums and caught many of the eyes that witnessed her go walking by.

Well. Heh heh. Heh. Word can only travel so fast, right? The guards at the gate--especially if they were bored--probably wouldn't give two shits.

(Ohhh, but what if they did?)

Her breath still quickened to a moderate degree from having ran most of the way, Jane approached the large archway of the Western Gate of Thagretis. Kept walking toward it with a "Oh, ho hum, don't mind me, just passin through" demeanor, eyes forward and to the exterior lands beyond.

So, she'd need to get out of the city first. Right. Then the port should be nearby. And a big ship was a big ship--hard to miss. Get on board and hope that Nate fought like hell and broke away and came running and--Astra willing--would catch a ride before the ship set sail.

Nathanael McCallister Tytus Amladeris Tir'Coatl Aivrid Celestia Szesh

 

[Tir'Coatl]

Tir'Coatl slithered out of the Come Right Inn, as it was apparently called, as soon as the opportunity for a safe exit presented itself. As the Scaled King burst through the door, a clawed hand tightly grasped the ornate spear he had originally left beside it, returning the heirloom to its rightful owner.

He heard the voice of his companion ringing out, signaling for him to follow her westward. The Naga began to race forward, weaving as best he could from cluttered streets and dilapidated slums so as to follow her. Of course, the reason for this persistent tracking was less out of an altruistic desire to see her safe and rather a practical desire of learning how to actually leave this damned city.

However, somewhere along those winding alleys and pathways of Thagretis, he had lost her. He remembered her scent, if he could just get close enough to taste it once more—

As he considered his options, his journey through the alleyways brought him to a crowded and cramped street, exotic species abound. A cursory search revealed no sign of the cleric, nor of any soldiers trying to follow them.

Still, some discretion was in order. Lizardmen were clearly a disliked race here, and it seemed few could make the distinction between them and their civilized, royal-blooded brethren. The fact he was a wanted murderer with a rather distinctive appearance likely didn't help, either.

Tir'Coatl leaned down, picking a ragged tarp off the ground to wrap around himself as though it were a cloak, covering the signs of opulent wealth that adorned his body and much of his torso and neck. His serpentine snout was kept down as he began to slither down the street, vaguely making his way towards the Western Wall.

Nathanael McCallister Tytus Amladeris Tir'Coatl Aivrid Celestia Szesh

 

[Celestia]

Celestia could see the two guards ahead standing by the doors. She was out of ideas now, and time was running out. Desperate times called for desperate measures, and she had to hope any of her crazed ideas actually worked.

“THE PALACE IS UNDER ATTACK!” She shouted at the top her lungs, running into the grand hall. She pointed downstairs where some commotion could be heard from when she shattered the glass, “Back up is needed below!”

She beckoned for them to come with her and hoped she would pretend for a while and then come back here to unguarded doors. If this didn’t work, Celestia was fully prepared to engage in combat. Too many lives were being lost for her to waste a moment further.

Kara Orin