Gray
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 124
Registered: Jul 2, 2021 10:00:37 GMT -5
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Post by Gray on Aug 28, 2022 6:51:16 GMT -5
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Gray
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 124
Registered: Jul 2, 2021 10:00:37 GMT -5
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Post by Gray on Aug 28, 2022 6:51:44 GMT -5
He was the Master of eyes-and-ears, so he waited. Calmly, his hands resting by his side. He stood on the edge of midnight, unmoving, as two shadows crossed the length of the moon-dusted beach in his direction. One was big, the other fragile and lanky. He wasn't expecting them. Unconsciousness, the Master had yearned for. But he had woken up with the sensation of something breaking in his chest, and so he waited. Nightmares, he was used to; this was different. Gentle. Hazy. He had walked some length of the beach to escape the feeling. He had returned; fed the fire, telling himself that it was nothing to worry about. Even as the Clocktower was stirring. He was simply going insane. He had lost his magic, so surely it couldn't be-
Nina. His eyes focused sharply on the thinner figure. That tense, shaky gait, that empty gaze of someone who'd been battered inside and out – he'd had his own people brought that way before. More so before establishing himself. He focused on the man by her side. It was rare that his people'd be brought in by the same person Gray suspected wanted to prove their point, and even rarer that, if this was the case, there was little Gray could do about it. The man recalled his earlier fight with his New Isran counterpart, and felt a pang in his chest. Some things were beautiful because they could never be repeated quite the same.
He was who he was, so he waited. People always talked to him. People always talked, in the end.
“I 'nvited 'im to 'inner.” Nina mumbled.
Still verbal. Good.
By then the two had made their way across the rocky shore towards the campfire. To their left, glimmered tide-pools and the glass roof of the Tower's remains. To the right, lurked the narrow mouth of a cave, against which Gray stood. They were close enough that he could tell Nina didn't spot him with her eyes, mainly, but with a deeper sense.
“Dinner is ready.” The spymaster spoke softly.
He led his apprentice? and Alden to the polished logs that had been used as benches during the Seminar. He stood too close; watched too intently. He only moved to the cave to bring a blanket to put over the girl's shoulders, to slide her bag off her shoulders, but Nina didn't register that. He could tell, as he knelt by Nina's side, that she couldn't see him.
“How bad is it?” He whispered.
“Dun't 'no'.”
“You have to.” Nina shuddered. “Nina.”
He spoke of a staircase, and of breathing, and it would sound like magic to most, and to him as well, for nothing was more magical than the mind. Up and down that usually atonal voice flowed, matching the sound of the waves and, grounding itself in the waves, the girl's breathing slowed down too.
The man poured a bowl of fish soup and handed it to Alden, with a spoon – the only bowl that was there. The evidence led away from him for now, but one could never be too careful. He reached into Nina's backpack, and used her own cup-bowl to hand her the food; before turning back to Alden.
“It's not poisoned.” Gray said. “That would be a waste.”
“The green beans are from Nina's garden.” The girl's face lit up for a moment. “The herbs are from the glasshouse.” He said, with a tilt of the head toward the building on the shore, and the last word painfully quiet. He shifted his foot around to reveal something rock-like on the ground. “There are chestnuts in the ash. Smoked peppers. Also something more,” he said, moving away while peeling off his gloves, “but it will have...”, he said, pulling out a large, writhing fish from one of the tide-pools, and onto a flat rock, “to be...” The needle entered the back of the fish's skull smoothly. “Prepared.”
The fish was roasting on sticks around the fire before it even realized it was dead.
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Alden
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 266
Age: 53(?)
Appearance: The reference image is a commissioned piece and is accurate.
Alden is 6 even, with shoulder-length messy black hair, and several days worth of beard stubble. He is handsome, with a powerful jaw, mid-set cheekbones, and a perpetual grin that makes him seem younger than he really is. His bright green eyes, constantly sparkle with barely contained mirth. He has the lithe well-muscled body of a swordsman, and he moves with considerable grace and dexterity.
If one were to do a more thorough examination of Alden's eyes they may notice a further detail. Around the outside edge of his iris, there's an intricate series of minuscule grey runes.
Underneath his shirt, Alden's skin is a mass of scar tissue. Starting from just below his neckline, there is very little space that does not sport some relic of a past injury. A particularly observant person may also note that among these scars, some are a bright scarlet. These scarlet scars form an intricate series of runes hiding amidst the rest of the scars.
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Equipment: Alden's general loadout when he goes fighting consists of the following:
A twin set of enchanted shortswords. The simple straight blades are unnatural dark, absorbing rather than reflecting light. Giving the enchanted steel an appearance closer to cold iron. The guard has the Isran sun emblem emblazoned in a medallion shape just above the guard, which is wrapped in simple leather. The enchantments increase their sharpness and durability, as well as being able to ignite the blood of anything that he has pierced with either blade.
Numerous braces and hidden throwing knives all over his body. At one point, these were also enchanted but when the calamity struck he didn't have time to grab his original set. So these are all well-made but ultimately mundane weapons. Still, with his strength and skill, they can be quite deadly.
Unfortunately, at present, he is also missing his armour. His preferred armour is leather dyed in mottled black and greys, with strike plates sewn between layers for added protection. His old set was also enchanted for increased protection from physical and magical attacks.
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Skills and Abilities: Alden is, for lack of a better term, a weapon master. He has been trained to use almost any weapon you can think to name. Relentless daily training with each, with extraordinarily demanding expectations on performance and harsh incentives for failure giving a level of skill with most of them that make him formidable.
However, his preferred style involves twin short swords. While he is skilled with all of his weapons thanks to training, he discovered a natural talent with the blade. His level of skill when wielding his short swords is on another level entirely, nearly transcendent in his skill.
On top of that, he is a living magical enchantment. Carved into his body are a variety of runes that grant him numerous innate abilities. He is inhumanly strong, around three to four times stronger than a man in a similar state of physical fitness would be. This also applies to his endurance, speed, reflexes, and other physical traits. He also has regenerative abilities exceeding human normal, able to heal from even broken bones in a matter of days rather than weeks.
In addition, he is immune to most poisons and resistant to the rest. The runes etched into his eyes ensure he can see the same no matter the level of light and reveal magical auras to him. Runes along his back make him impossible to scry on directly and provide him a measure of resistance to magical attack. This, combined with training, also makes him immune to magical mental influence. Finally, runes on his feet dampen any sound he might make taking his already considerable stealth abilities to another level entirely.
Speaking of his training also included all of the skills one would think an Assassin should have. He knows how to mix poisons, move without being seen or making noise, scale walls, lie or disguise himself, pick locks, pick pockets, just for starters. He is also quite skilled at clerical work and he has some diplomacy ability after thirty years leading the Sun Marshals.
Beyond all of this, Alden also possesses an incredible amount of willpower. If Alden decides that he will do something, there is very little that can stop him from doing it. In fact, at present, the only thing that could deter him from a course of action is Captain Naoki. The former Empress is the only person he has any loyalty to and he often values her judgement on matters above his own.
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Biography: Alden was born to a small farming family in an out-of-the-way village. His parents named him Toan and until he was five his destiny was most likely to live and die on the same farm he was born. However, that all changed when Pride arrived.
The leader of a criminal group known as The Set, Pride offered his parents a sum of money that would make any poor farmer's heart stop. Enough money to change their lives forever and all he wanted was Alden, one of nearly a dozen children. A child that wasn't even old enough to help with chores around the farm yet. And the man as so nice, he wanted a ward that he could train to be a retainer how bad of a life could that be?
The answer to that question was basically Hell. Pride was a potent alchemist, enchanter, and scholar and he had but one goal in mind. To create a superior warrior. Alden was subjected to hellish daily training along with six other children. Forced to learn to fight with every weapon, against any foe, in any condition. His limbs were broken deliberately and he was forced to continue to fight and train in constant agony. And this was among the mildest of the ways he was trained.
The culmination of the training came when he was twelve. When he and the six other children were locked in a room and told that the only one who got to leave... was the only one to survive. Of course, surviving was hardly a reward.
Once Pride had only the strongest of the children left he proceeded to the next step of his plan. Alden's memories and identity were seared away as Pride carved runes into his flesh and his very soul. Transforming the young man into a living magical artifact and keeping him on a drug that suppressed all of his emotions.
From there Alden became the new Wrath of the set, a weapon meant only to slay those he was told to. That may have been all he would be but Pride made a miscalculation, Alden's runes helped him to build an immunity to the dosage meant to keep his emotions in check, a weakness made worse by Pride having let him keep his anger thinking it would make him a better weapon. Eventually, events conspired and Alden snapped when the only member of The Set to be kind to him, Sloth, was killed for threatening to expose Pride.
Alden, driven into a deeper rage than ever before killed Envy, Lust, Gluttony, and even disembowelled Pride. Greed manage to escape and Alden slaughtered everything in his path trying to catch the man. Eventually succeeding in his goal. Bereft of a target for his rage and the chase having left him in the middle of nowhere Alden finally collapsed the trauma and coming off of the dosage causing him to bury most of his memories.
He wound up in Isra where his talents and skill soon earned him the eye of the then, criminal Madam Naoki. She recruited him as one of her enforcers a role he continued as her power expanded and grew until she finally became Empress. His reward for his loyalty? Appointment to the head of The Sun Marshals her special police force, effectively making him her right-hand man.
During this time he also uncovered his own past and learned that Pride had survived, the man had made preparations for such an eventuality and his death only saw his soul moving to a phylactery as he became a lich.
Pride created a new Set, this time making each member just as he made Alden. Eventually, this culminated in Pride attacking Isra and his eventual, final defeat.
Decades have passed since that time and Alden, whose power kept him at his prime for years continued to serve Isra until the new calamity took him to The Island of Mists, his empress reduced to a captain and he now serving as her first mate.
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Allegiances: Naoki and Port Argentum
Place of Residence: Port Argentum
Registered: Mar 21, 2021 13:21:25 GMT -5
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Post by Alden on Sept 3, 2022 8:34:55 GMT -5
Alden had accepted the invitation to dinner in part because he wasn't if Nina would return to wherever she made her home without some help. For him, the time in the mist had been rather confusing. He'd not been plagued with images of the past, forced to relive his most haunting memories. Even if he had, what difference would that have made to him? They were always there whenever he closed his eyes, after all, he needed no reminder of his sins.
Mostly he'd just wandered in the mist stubbornly looking for Nina. While at a certain point he'd realized that he was going in circles that had been not deterrent to him. He'd entered the mist with the girl and would have died before exiting without her. Literally, though it was doubtful it would have come to that since the mist almost certainly would have burned away with the sun as they always had.
The fact that she led him to a camp by the beach surprised him slightly. He'd half expected that Naoki would have given Nina a house by this point, the empress was doing her best to see everyone get one after all. But perhaps she hadn't or had and Nina had rejected it. It didn't really matter in the end he supposed. The conversation between the two was in clear enough language but that didn't mean he understood it. It was clear as the ticking of a clock that there were things going on with the two that he did not yet understand, might never fully understand.
"I do not think you'd be satisfied beating me in that way."
Gray's attention had turned to Alden and he had accepted the soup without hesitation. Even if the other man had a poison that would be effective through his runes, well, it was just as Alden had said. They were both the sort who could ignore pride or honour for the sake of pragmatism, but Alden got the sense that there was a mixture of the two that could leave only one path forward. Settling down next to the fire he took a spoonful of soup and blew on it before taking a taste. He enjoyed it but he wasn't a particularly picky eater. The green beans were nice though and swallowed a mouthful.
"I'll admit."
Alden said slowly.
"I am not the most skilled at small talk. Though I am not sure if there is a good way to coax out the story that I suspect could be told here."
Alden did not think he was entitled to their story, yet it was hard to ignore the obvious questions the current situation provoked. The gears of the situation they were grinding too loudly to be ignored, the underlying mechanics begged him to ask questions. But he had not the tongue to tactfully ask the two for a tale that he suspected would be quite terrible, he was as certain of it as the ticking clock was certain of the time.
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Gray
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 124
Registered: Jul 2, 2021 10:00:37 GMT -5
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Post by Gray on Sept 10, 2022 5:24:25 GMT -5
“I am thankful that you brought back...my...protégé...”
The words were too fragile to share.
“Stories.” Gray repeated. “I was always better suited for listening, than telling.” He watched, as Nina lifted the shaking cup of soup to her lips. Her sleeve slipped, revealing strangely-shaped bruises. “But I suppose I shall have to do for now.”
Gray slipped into the shadows near the cliff edge.
“Welcome to the Azure Coast.” His voice could be heard moving around. “Three hundred sixty-three years ago – plus, minus five thousand, for what that's worth in the Mist - the Emperor Eternal, His Majesty Oren the Second, Chrysanthemum of the Gods, decreed the land on which stood the Tower of Timely Regrets would become the inalienable property of the Azure Dynasty.” He returned to his place by the fire, with a smaller cup that he used to scoop soup in for himself. “In other words, he was exiling the whole lot of them beyond the edges of the civilized world. They'd wished His Majesty had afforded them the dignity of death instead.” His face, that Alden would have remembered as deathly white, now was a terrible sunburn. Gray left the scoop in perfect alignment on a flat piece of rock, and pointed towards the glassy glimmer on the shore. “That is the Tower. Part of it. Under a different name. And the Azure Dynasty is...” No longer, he felt it in his bones. “Not here.”
That hollow would always be there.
“Now.” He tilted his head, his gaze passing Alden in turn. He wondered what shall he do if the man killed Nina. The Laws of the Clocktower, Gray thought. He could not afford to kill him back. They would have to work together. “Azure Coast. Population, two people and an octopus.” A hundred souls, too, but that was secret. “Main trade items, rope and magic. No current plans of waging war.”
His eyes of slate and glass gave nothing away.
“I have enough work trying to disprove that an octopus should be my co-national.”
Silence stood for a while. A half-hiccup, half-wail sound escaped from Nina. The girl had spent the conversation looking hollowed out, seemingly not aware of the food in her hands beyond its warmth.
“Superficial.” She gasped.
“It's superficial.” She was shaking so much that she was barely able to put down the soup before it spilled all over. She pressed her fingers over her eyelids.
“The paths are still there.” She was crying.
For she could remember when the paths of magic weren't there. When she had burned them out by reaching too far. When Gray could have helped but did not, for Nina being blind and vulnerable fit better to his purpose.
“Your eyes should recover.” She heard him as if through water. She didn't see, as many would not have seen, his relief. “It won't be like last time. You will recover. Now rest. Nina. Eat. Rest.” Something leaf-wrapped and small was pushed in her hands. “Have this.”
“Magic can be a heavy burden to bear.” She heard him say, and wasn't sure for whom it was meant. Leaf by leaf, she unwrapped a piece of crystallized honeycomb. It tasted like life.
“I saw...” Nina hesitated, and was suddenly aware of the two shadows she could not see, of the many ways she could die.
“The paintings!” She exclaimed. “Do you think that this land is the afterlife? That we're being...judged? Right now?”
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Alden
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 266
Age: 53(?)
Appearance: The reference image is a commissioned piece and is accurate.
Alden is 6 even, with shoulder-length messy black hair, and several days worth of beard stubble. He is handsome, with a powerful jaw, mid-set cheekbones, and a perpetual grin that makes him seem younger than he really is. His bright green eyes, constantly sparkle with barely contained mirth. He has the lithe well-muscled body of a swordsman, and he moves with considerable grace and dexterity.
If one were to do a more thorough examination of Alden's eyes they may notice a further detail. Around the outside edge of his iris, there's an intricate series of minuscule grey runes.
Underneath his shirt, Alden's skin is a mass of scar tissue. Starting from just below his neckline, there is very little space that does not sport some relic of a past injury. A particularly observant person may also note that among these scars, some are a bright scarlet. These scarlet scars form an intricate series of runes hiding amidst the rest of the scars.
-------------------------------------------
Equipment: Alden's general loadout when he goes fighting consists of the following:
A twin set of enchanted shortswords. The simple straight blades are unnatural dark, absorbing rather than reflecting light. Giving the enchanted steel an appearance closer to cold iron. The guard has the Isran sun emblem emblazoned in a medallion shape just above the guard, which is wrapped in simple leather. The enchantments increase their sharpness and durability, as well as being able to ignite the blood of anything that he has pierced with either blade.
Numerous braces and hidden throwing knives all over his body. At one point, these were also enchanted but when the calamity struck he didn't have time to grab his original set. So these are all well-made but ultimately mundane weapons. Still, with his strength and skill, they can be quite deadly.
Unfortunately, at present, he is also missing his armour. His preferred armour is leather dyed in mottled black and greys, with strike plates sewn between layers for added protection. His old set was also enchanted for increased protection from physical and magical attacks.
-------------------------------------------
Skills and Abilities: Alden is, for lack of a better term, a weapon master. He has been trained to use almost any weapon you can think to name. Relentless daily training with each, with extraordinarily demanding expectations on performance and harsh incentives for failure giving a level of skill with most of them that make him formidable.
However, his preferred style involves twin short swords. While he is skilled with all of his weapons thanks to training, he discovered a natural talent with the blade. His level of skill when wielding his short swords is on another level entirely, nearly transcendent in his skill.
On top of that, he is a living magical enchantment. Carved into his body are a variety of runes that grant him numerous innate abilities. He is inhumanly strong, around three to four times stronger than a man in a similar state of physical fitness would be. This also applies to his endurance, speed, reflexes, and other physical traits. He also has regenerative abilities exceeding human normal, able to heal from even broken bones in a matter of days rather than weeks.
In addition, he is immune to most poisons and resistant to the rest. The runes etched into his eyes ensure he can see the same no matter the level of light and reveal magical auras to him. Runes along his back make him impossible to scry on directly and provide him a measure of resistance to magical attack. This, combined with training, also makes him immune to magical mental influence. Finally, runes on his feet dampen any sound he might make taking his already considerable stealth abilities to another level entirely.
Speaking of his training also included all of the skills one would think an Assassin should have. He knows how to mix poisons, move without being seen or making noise, scale walls, lie or disguise himself, pick locks, pick pockets, just for starters. He is also quite skilled at clerical work and he has some diplomacy ability after thirty years leading the Sun Marshals.
Beyond all of this, Alden also possesses an incredible amount of willpower. If Alden decides that he will do something, there is very little that can stop him from doing it. In fact, at present, the only thing that could deter him from a course of action is Captain Naoki. The former Empress is the only person he has any loyalty to and he often values her judgement on matters above his own.
-------------------------------------------
Biography: Alden was born to a small farming family in an out-of-the-way village. His parents named him Toan and until he was five his destiny was most likely to live and die on the same farm he was born. However, that all changed when Pride arrived.
The leader of a criminal group known as The Set, Pride offered his parents a sum of money that would make any poor farmer's heart stop. Enough money to change their lives forever and all he wanted was Alden, one of nearly a dozen children. A child that wasn't even old enough to help with chores around the farm yet. And the man as so nice, he wanted a ward that he could train to be a retainer how bad of a life could that be?
The answer to that question was basically Hell. Pride was a potent alchemist, enchanter, and scholar and he had but one goal in mind. To create a superior warrior. Alden was subjected to hellish daily training along with six other children. Forced to learn to fight with every weapon, against any foe, in any condition. His limbs were broken deliberately and he was forced to continue to fight and train in constant agony. And this was among the mildest of the ways he was trained.
The culmination of the training came when he was twelve. When he and the six other children were locked in a room and told that the only one who got to leave... was the only one to survive. Of course, surviving was hardly a reward.
Once Pride had only the strongest of the children left he proceeded to the next step of his plan. Alden's memories and identity were seared away as Pride carved runes into his flesh and his very soul. Transforming the young man into a living magical artifact and keeping him on a drug that suppressed all of his emotions.
From there Alden became the new Wrath of the set, a weapon meant only to slay those he was told to. That may have been all he would be but Pride made a miscalculation, Alden's runes helped him to build an immunity to the dosage meant to keep his emotions in check, a weakness made worse by Pride having let him keep his anger thinking it would make him a better weapon. Eventually, events conspired and Alden snapped when the only member of The Set to be kind to him, Sloth, was killed for threatening to expose Pride.
Alden, driven into a deeper rage than ever before killed Envy, Lust, Gluttony, and even disembowelled Pride. Greed manage to escape and Alden slaughtered everything in his path trying to catch the man. Eventually succeeding in his goal. Bereft of a target for his rage and the chase having left him in the middle of nowhere Alden finally collapsed the trauma and coming off of the dosage causing him to bury most of his memories.
He wound up in Isra where his talents and skill soon earned him the eye of the then, criminal Madam Naoki. She recruited him as one of her enforcers a role he continued as her power expanded and grew until she finally became Empress. His reward for his loyalty? Appointment to the head of The Sun Marshals her special police force, effectively making him her right-hand man.
During this time he also uncovered his own past and learned that Pride had survived, the man had made preparations for such an eventuality and his death only saw his soul moving to a phylactery as he became a lich.
Pride created a new Set, this time making each member just as he made Alden. Eventually, this culminated in Pride attacking Isra and his eventual, final defeat.
Decades have passed since that time and Alden, whose power kept him at his prime for years continued to serve Isra until the new calamity took him to The Island of Mists, his empress reduced to a captain and he now serving as her first mate.
-------------------------------------------
Allegiances: Naoki and Port Argentum
Place of Residence: Port Argentum
Registered: Mar 21, 2021 13:21:25 GMT -5
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Post by Alden on Sept 18, 2022 12:02:35 GMT -5
"Of course, she required help the events of the night were quite draining for her."
Alden responded with a slight shrug of his shoulders. He didn't think there was any real need for thanks, it was the right thing to do so he'd done it. Listening to the story as it was laid out before him there was quite a lot he did not understand. In particular, The Tower of Timely regrets. He'd looked where Gray had pointed but he'd spotted it long ago. Magic was visible to him as it was to Nina and his vision painted it as a mass of concentric circles all spinning around in elliptical patterns. Each one ticking forward at different paces as the whole thing swirled. But there was something wrong with it, he could see that as well, blackness in the center that sang of the void of a piece removed. Perhaps having to do with the missing Azure Dynasty.
There were quite a few follow-up questions he could have asked then. Clarifying this detail or that, trying to understand more about the swirling mass of magic on the horizon. Of how this place could be the Azure Coast, a place that sounded as though it existed in a way that wasn't congruent with his understanding of how things typically pieced together within the material realm. But he was more interested in the octopus.
"Is it sapient? If it can communicate I see no reason to deny it citizenship."
The baseline Alden held when it came to personhood was sapience. If he could communicate with something and have it communicate it was a person.
Nina and Gray shared a few words and Alden continued to consume his meal. The bowl of soup was mostly depleted by the time Nina exclaimed her question to him. It was an interesting one, enough to make him pause and frown in thought for a moment.
"No. While I might be bound for some kind of purgatory there are many in these lands that would have gone somewhere better if they died. I also met the ghost of a friend of mine who was quite a lot older when they passed on than they were when I last saw them. My understanding of these matters is vague but I know there are different planes, realities and worlds. If we imagine that they are all islands in a sea, then I think this place is one where the dregs and debris from other islands wind up."
The waters of the ocean dragged them from their safe homes, the currents dragging them to this place where the float sam of the endless ocean between worlds was eventually dragged to drift ashore as so much drift wood and debris.
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Gray
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 124
Registered: Jul 2, 2021 10:00:37 GMT -5
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Post by Gray on Oct 4, 2022 13:29:51 GMT -5
“What happened.”
It was not exactly a question. Gray was not used to being denied his answers regardless.
He told a whimsical story, in a manner of any host introducing their home to new neighbours, true – it had to be true – and likely causing Alden to doubt his sanity1. It was as much of a tool as the many weapons – too many, too heavy – hidden in the folds of Gray's clothing. Drawing attention away from the protégé that he was carefully ignoring.
For a moment, something in him folded, as if the spymaster had no strength to carry the discussion that he himself had started. Searching his mind for ideas he used to own, was like walking through a palace where the windows had been smashed open, and the smell of damp soot, the only thing remaining.
“If there is no voice, is it because no one talks, or no one listens?” The man eventually spoke. And all this for a blob of tendriled goo that would go well with garlic, he thought. “If communication is what makes a person, a person, then personhood is not innate. It is built. Some,” he paused, “go far with that idea, deciding to claim trees and beasts and – no,” he inhaled, “I draw the line at 'some rocks',” he paused again, “– as fellow people.” His eyes were blank, like pieces of ice shoved through your face. “To be fair, language, and the absence of, is a useful tool in breaking people, so I suppose I should not be surprised of it doing the converse. Sapience has to be more, however.” He ate little. Not because talking distracted him, but because talking distracted him enough to eat. “Intelligence - I have planned several experiments to assess the matter.” He raised an eyebrow at the waves. “Unfortunately, the octopus seems to have stolen my experimental box.”
Gray couldn't shake the feeling that it wasn't the octopus's personhood that he was testing.
Naturally, Nina took advantage of his hesitation to utterly ruin his plans.
“Do gods have to be bound to our understanding? To our mercy?” Under the blanket, she looked small and cold. Se didn't seem assured by Alden's interpretation, although it was by no means heterodox. “Some speak of hands in the mist...” Her chin jutted up.
“That dog...!” She stared at them, with unseeing eyes. “It saw you. It saw you.” She was shaking.
“When you speak of 'you', Nina, you mean-” Gray's voice cut like a shark fin through the waves.
“Yes.”
Gray thought that he had taught her too well.
“Was it similar to anything you encountered before?”
Nina twitched. Is the Clocktower behind it, is what Gray was asking. She hesitated.
“It seemed to respond to my thoughts,” Nina said quietly. Dread knotted her stomach. The taste of honey on her lips anchored her to the present. “When I asked for Alden, we were reunited.” The Clocktower was bound to obey her. “Might be coincidence.”
A short, sudden chuckle left the girl under the blanket.
“Unless...I was hallucinating. I may still have the spores in my blood.” She grabbed her shoulders, as if expecting sickly, fungal wings to sprout out. She supposed she would never know if the masked doctor's treatment had cured her, or merely delayed the moment she would jump off a cliff.
“There was a girl. She died of a preventable disease. Skin turning blue. Ribs broken.” Nina didn't realize she was speaking until the words had already left her lips. “There was a girl. There was a fight. Many. Too many. She took poison. It was her only way out. There was-”
Nina folded into herself, and tears streamed down to her knees.
“Why?” She sobbed.
1 Gray has no doubts about his own sanity. He was definitely mad.
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Alden
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 266
Age: 53(?)
Appearance: The reference image is a commissioned piece and is accurate.
Alden is 6 even, with shoulder-length messy black hair, and several days worth of beard stubble. He is handsome, with a powerful jaw, mid-set cheekbones, and a perpetual grin that makes him seem younger than he really is. His bright green eyes, constantly sparkle with barely contained mirth. He has the lithe well-muscled body of a swordsman, and he moves with considerable grace and dexterity.
If one were to do a more thorough examination of Alden's eyes they may notice a further detail. Around the outside edge of his iris, there's an intricate series of minuscule grey runes.
Underneath his shirt, Alden's skin is a mass of scar tissue. Starting from just below his neckline, there is very little space that does not sport some relic of a past injury. A particularly observant person may also note that among these scars, some are a bright scarlet. These scarlet scars form an intricate series of runes hiding amidst the rest of the scars.
-------------------------------------------
Equipment: Alden's general loadout when he goes fighting consists of the following:
A twin set of enchanted shortswords. The simple straight blades are unnatural dark, absorbing rather than reflecting light. Giving the enchanted steel an appearance closer to cold iron. The guard has the Isran sun emblem emblazoned in a medallion shape just above the guard, which is wrapped in simple leather. The enchantments increase their sharpness and durability, as well as being able to ignite the blood of anything that he has pierced with either blade.
Numerous braces and hidden throwing knives all over his body. At one point, these were also enchanted but when the calamity struck he didn't have time to grab his original set. So these are all well-made but ultimately mundane weapons. Still, with his strength and skill, they can be quite deadly.
Unfortunately, at present, he is also missing his armour. His preferred armour is leather dyed in mottled black and greys, with strike plates sewn between layers for added protection. His old set was also enchanted for increased protection from physical and magical attacks.
-------------------------------------------
Skills and Abilities: Alden is, for lack of a better term, a weapon master. He has been trained to use almost any weapon you can think to name. Relentless daily training with each, with extraordinarily demanding expectations on performance and harsh incentives for failure giving a level of skill with most of them that make him formidable.
However, his preferred style involves twin short swords. While he is skilled with all of his weapons thanks to training, he discovered a natural talent with the blade. His level of skill when wielding his short swords is on another level entirely, nearly transcendent in his skill.
On top of that, he is a living magical enchantment. Carved into his body are a variety of runes that grant him numerous innate abilities. He is inhumanly strong, around three to four times stronger than a man in a similar state of physical fitness would be. This also applies to his endurance, speed, reflexes, and other physical traits. He also has regenerative abilities exceeding human normal, able to heal from even broken bones in a matter of days rather than weeks.
In addition, he is immune to most poisons and resistant to the rest. The runes etched into his eyes ensure he can see the same no matter the level of light and reveal magical auras to him. Runes along his back make him impossible to scry on directly and provide him a measure of resistance to magical attack. This, combined with training, also makes him immune to magical mental influence. Finally, runes on his feet dampen any sound he might make taking his already considerable stealth abilities to another level entirely.
Speaking of his training also included all of the skills one would think an Assassin should have. He knows how to mix poisons, move without being seen or making noise, scale walls, lie or disguise himself, pick locks, pick pockets, just for starters. He is also quite skilled at clerical work and he has some diplomacy ability after thirty years leading the Sun Marshals.
Beyond all of this, Alden also possesses an incredible amount of willpower. If Alden decides that he will do something, there is very little that can stop him from doing it. In fact, at present, the only thing that could deter him from a course of action is Captain Naoki. The former Empress is the only person he has any loyalty to and he often values her judgement on matters above his own.
-------------------------------------------
Biography: Alden was born to a small farming family in an out-of-the-way village. His parents named him Toan and until he was five his destiny was most likely to live and die on the same farm he was born. However, that all changed when Pride arrived.
The leader of a criminal group known as The Set, Pride offered his parents a sum of money that would make any poor farmer's heart stop. Enough money to change their lives forever and all he wanted was Alden, one of nearly a dozen children. A child that wasn't even old enough to help with chores around the farm yet. And the man as so nice, he wanted a ward that he could train to be a retainer how bad of a life could that be?
The answer to that question was basically Hell. Pride was a potent alchemist, enchanter, and scholar and he had but one goal in mind. To create a superior warrior. Alden was subjected to hellish daily training along with six other children. Forced to learn to fight with every weapon, against any foe, in any condition. His limbs were broken deliberately and he was forced to continue to fight and train in constant agony. And this was among the mildest of the ways he was trained.
The culmination of the training came when he was twelve. When he and the six other children were locked in a room and told that the only one who got to leave... was the only one to survive. Of course, surviving was hardly a reward.
Once Pride had only the strongest of the children left he proceeded to the next step of his plan. Alden's memories and identity were seared away as Pride carved runes into his flesh and his very soul. Transforming the young man into a living magical artifact and keeping him on a drug that suppressed all of his emotions.
From there Alden became the new Wrath of the set, a weapon meant only to slay those he was told to. That may have been all he would be but Pride made a miscalculation, Alden's runes helped him to build an immunity to the dosage meant to keep his emotions in check, a weakness made worse by Pride having let him keep his anger thinking it would make him a better weapon. Eventually, events conspired and Alden snapped when the only member of The Set to be kind to him, Sloth, was killed for threatening to expose Pride.
Alden, driven into a deeper rage than ever before killed Envy, Lust, Gluttony, and even disembowelled Pride. Greed manage to escape and Alden slaughtered everything in his path trying to catch the man. Eventually succeeding in his goal. Bereft of a target for his rage and the chase having left him in the middle of nowhere Alden finally collapsed the trauma and coming off of the dosage causing him to bury most of his memories.
He wound up in Isra where his talents and skill soon earned him the eye of the then, criminal Madam Naoki. She recruited him as one of her enforcers a role he continued as her power expanded and grew until she finally became Empress. His reward for his loyalty? Appointment to the head of The Sun Marshals her special police force, effectively making him her right-hand man.
During this time he also uncovered his own past and learned that Pride had survived, the man had made preparations for such an eventuality and his death only saw his soul moving to a phylactery as he became a lich.
Pride created a new Set, this time making each member just as he made Alden. Eventually, this culminated in Pride attacking Isra and his eventual, final defeat.
Decades have passed since that time and Alden, whose power kept him at his prime for years continued to serve Isra until the new calamity took him to The Island of Mists, his empress reduced to a captain and he now serving as her first mate.
-------------------------------------------
Allegiances: Naoki and Port Argentum
Place of Residence: Port Argentum
Registered: Mar 21, 2021 13:21:25 GMT -5
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Post by Alden on Oct 16, 2022 12:23:32 GMT -5
Alden listened to the conversation, the ebb and flow of it as Gray and Nina conversed. He'd been in this situation many times before, people well acquainted falling into a patter that he couldn't quite discern. Knowing the words counted for only so much when two people could communicate more than just their meaning in the utterance. It was as though they occasionally slipped into another language, another form of communication, more meaning conveyed than Alden thought should have been possible. Yet the two seemed to know exactly what the other meant.
Meanings and double meanings, references to events, locations, and people he didn't know could all combine to create a tongue that was as foreign to Alden as a different language. It wasn't often that he felt included in such things until Nina touched upon something he did know. His gaze snapped to her with an intensity he'd not shown up until that point. No matter what had been said or faced up until that point he'd seemed detached, as the world held little interest to him and he was simply going through motions toward whatever he thought was the best thing to do. But Nina cracked through the fugue that consumed his thoughts when she spoke of a girl drinking poison.
"You saw that?"
The question came with a sharpness Alden didn't normally have, an intensity she'd not seen from him. Even when he'd slapped her at the ball, his annoyance had been contained and his voice calm. What emotion had to hold of them at that moment was hard to tell but those strange magical eyes were narrowed, his features pulled into a mask of intense focus. Honestly, he wasn't even sure what he was feeling but he felt wrong. She had seen one of his sins, a spectre of failure that weighed on his shoulders to this day. It felt wrong that someone else would know of that burden, one of the man's examples of his pitiful life being purchased at the expense of others.
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Nina
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 289
Registered: Apr 4, 2021 10:46:08 GMT -5
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Post by Nina on Oct 22, 2022 15:08:08 GMT -5
“I-”
Nina's mind went blank. A stupid question, a tiny voice in her head argued. It's not as she would have said it if it wasn't true. But the greater part of her sensed the change in Alden's voice, and braced as if for thunder after lightning strikes by.
“I lived it. For a moment.” Nina finally replied.
Once more, she felt like the air in her lungs had been burnt. Seconds seemed to stretch and stretch and- The girl spoke, if only to feel alive for a moment longer before Alden reached out and snapped her neck.
“It was not your fault.”
Pieces of words came out from between sobs. She wiped her face with her sleeve, worrying, worrying so terribly, about not getting snot and blood on the blankets, because Gray already wouldn't use them and she'd gone to so much trouble to get them and surely it couldn't be healthy to sleep on bare stone, could it?
Her heart fluttered in a strange way. Magic, she thought dizzily. She'd used too much. Days. Days of magic. Jolts of pain went through her, rippling from her chest to her fingertips, along the silver wire that Gray had put in. The Clocktower was ensuring that she did not die.
“I don't know how you feel about it now.” Nina shut her eyes tight, and breathed through her teeth. It wasn't normally this sudden. “I...may have said too much already.” She let out. On the side of her opposite to Alden, Gray seemed to have retreated into his shell. The slightest bit of self-consciousness sneaked in Nina's voice. “But it wasn't your fault.”
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Alden
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 266
Age: 53(?)
Appearance: The reference image is a commissioned piece and is accurate.
Alden is 6 even, with shoulder-length messy black hair, and several days worth of beard stubble. He is handsome, with a powerful jaw, mid-set cheekbones, and a perpetual grin that makes him seem younger than he really is. His bright green eyes, constantly sparkle with barely contained mirth. He has the lithe well-muscled body of a swordsman, and he moves with considerable grace and dexterity.
If one were to do a more thorough examination of Alden's eyes they may notice a further detail. Around the outside edge of his iris, there's an intricate series of minuscule grey runes.
Underneath his shirt, Alden's skin is a mass of scar tissue. Starting from just below his neckline, there is very little space that does not sport some relic of a past injury. A particularly observant person may also note that among these scars, some are a bright scarlet. These scarlet scars form an intricate series of runes hiding amidst the rest of the scars.
-------------------------------------------
Equipment: Alden's general loadout when he goes fighting consists of the following:
A twin set of enchanted shortswords. The simple straight blades are unnatural dark, absorbing rather than reflecting light. Giving the enchanted steel an appearance closer to cold iron. The guard has the Isran sun emblem emblazoned in a medallion shape just above the guard, which is wrapped in simple leather. The enchantments increase their sharpness and durability, as well as being able to ignite the blood of anything that he has pierced with either blade.
Numerous braces and hidden throwing knives all over his body. At one point, these were also enchanted but when the calamity struck he didn't have time to grab his original set. So these are all well-made but ultimately mundane weapons. Still, with his strength and skill, they can be quite deadly.
Unfortunately, at present, he is also missing his armour. His preferred armour is leather dyed in mottled black and greys, with strike plates sewn between layers for added protection. His old set was also enchanted for increased protection from physical and magical attacks.
-------------------------------------------
Skills and Abilities: Alden is, for lack of a better term, a weapon master. He has been trained to use almost any weapon you can think to name. Relentless daily training with each, with extraordinarily demanding expectations on performance and harsh incentives for failure giving a level of skill with most of them that make him formidable.
However, his preferred style involves twin short swords. While he is skilled with all of his weapons thanks to training, he discovered a natural talent with the blade. His level of skill when wielding his short swords is on another level entirely, nearly transcendent in his skill.
On top of that, he is a living magical enchantment. Carved into his body are a variety of runes that grant him numerous innate abilities. He is inhumanly strong, around three to four times stronger than a man in a similar state of physical fitness would be. This also applies to his endurance, speed, reflexes, and other physical traits. He also has regenerative abilities exceeding human normal, able to heal from even broken bones in a matter of days rather than weeks.
In addition, he is immune to most poisons and resistant to the rest. The runes etched into his eyes ensure he can see the same no matter the level of light and reveal magical auras to him. Runes along his back make him impossible to scry on directly and provide him a measure of resistance to magical attack. This, combined with training, also makes him immune to magical mental influence. Finally, runes on his feet dampen any sound he might make taking his already considerable stealth abilities to another level entirely.
Speaking of his training also included all of the skills one would think an Assassin should have. He knows how to mix poisons, move without being seen or making noise, scale walls, lie or disguise himself, pick locks, pick pockets, just for starters. He is also quite skilled at clerical work and he has some diplomacy ability after thirty years leading the Sun Marshals.
Beyond all of this, Alden also possesses an incredible amount of willpower. If Alden decides that he will do something, there is very little that can stop him from doing it. In fact, at present, the only thing that could deter him from a course of action is Captain Naoki. The former Empress is the only person he has any loyalty to and he often values her judgement on matters above his own.
-------------------------------------------
Biography: Alden was born to a small farming family in an out-of-the-way village. His parents named him Toan and until he was five his destiny was most likely to live and die on the same farm he was born. However, that all changed when Pride arrived.
The leader of a criminal group known as The Set, Pride offered his parents a sum of money that would make any poor farmer's heart stop. Enough money to change their lives forever and all he wanted was Alden, one of nearly a dozen children. A child that wasn't even old enough to help with chores around the farm yet. And the man as so nice, he wanted a ward that he could train to be a retainer how bad of a life could that be?
The answer to that question was basically Hell. Pride was a potent alchemist, enchanter, and scholar and he had but one goal in mind. To create a superior warrior. Alden was subjected to hellish daily training along with six other children. Forced to learn to fight with every weapon, against any foe, in any condition. His limbs were broken deliberately and he was forced to continue to fight and train in constant agony. And this was among the mildest of the ways he was trained.
The culmination of the training came when he was twelve. When he and the six other children were locked in a room and told that the only one who got to leave... was the only one to survive. Of course, surviving was hardly a reward.
Once Pride had only the strongest of the children left he proceeded to the next step of his plan. Alden's memories and identity were seared away as Pride carved runes into his flesh and his very soul. Transforming the young man into a living magical artifact and keeping him on a drug that suppressed all of his emotions.
From there Alden became the new Wrath of the set, a weapon meant only to slay those he was told to. That may have been all he would be but Pride made a miscalculation, Alden's runes helped him to build an immunity to the dosage meant to keep his emotions in check, a weakness made worse by Pride having let him keep his anger thinking it would make him a better weapon. Eventually, events conspired and Alden snapped when the only member of The Set to be kind to him, Sloth, was killed for threatening to expose Pride.
Alden, driven into a deeper rage than ever before killed Envy, Lust, Gluttony, and even disembowelled Pride. Greed manage to escape and Alden slaughtered everything in his path trying to catch the man. Eventually succeeding in his goal. Bereft of a target for his rage and the chase having left him in the middle of nowhere Alden finally collapsed the trauma and coming off of the dosage causing him to bury most of his memories.
He wound up in Isra where his talents and skill soon earned him the eye of the then, criminal Madam Naoki. She recruited him as one of her enforcers a role he continued as her power expanded and grew until she finally became Empress. His reward for his loyalty? Appointment to the head of The Sun Marshals her special police force, effectively making him her right-hand man.
During this time he also uncovered his own past and learned that Pride had survived, the man had made preparations for such an eventuality and his death only saw his soul moving to a phylactery as he became a lich.
Pride created a new Set, this time making each member just as he made Alden. Eventually, this culminated in Pride attacking Isra and his eventual, final defeat.
Decades have passed since that time and Alden, whose power kept him at his prime for years continued to serve Isra until the new calamity took him to The Island of Mists, his empress reduced to a captain and he now serving as her first mate.
-------------------------------------------
Allegiances: Naoki and Port Argentum
Place of Residence: Port Argentum
Registered: Mar 21, 2021 13:21:25 GMT -5
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Post by Alden on Oct 23, 2022 17:09:06 GMT -5
Nina was not suddenly grabbed and broken, her words did not twist his face into a mask of hatred, when she finished he just hung his head. A long slow sigh left his nose as she tried to assure him that it wasn't his fault.
"I'm sorry you had to experience that."
Then he shook his head as he looked at Gray, then at Nina. The former was shrinking in on themselves while the latter was clearly in some kind of intense pain.
"The events of the day have clearly taken a toll on you Nina, is there something that I can do to help?"
Alden said as he left the matter of his past and her viewing of it behind them. She was wrong, or more not entirely right, he had his share of the blame for what Nina had seen and more horrors beyond that. There was always a choice and he'd made ones that had ended in the deaths of those unworthy more than his fair share of times. When push came to shove, he'd always done what he needed to survive and that was his greatest crime. The least he could do with the life he'd earned with other's blood was help when he could, even if it was just helping Nina to bed while Gray was out of it.
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Nina
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 289
Registered: Apr 4, 2021 10:46:08 GMT -5
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Post by Nina on Oct 25, 2022 13:58:33 GMT -5
Her laughter was like a hiccup.
“Me?” It leaped like a flying squid across a sea of tears. “You've been, you've been stuck there, for so long, and you ask about me?”
It all felt raw. She clenched her fists, ashamed.
Yet Alden was asking what he could do for her.
“I don't think...” Nina gasped. “The magic...You can't control it-” She shook her head, with her forehead still pressed against her knees.
She didn't see Gray looking into the fire. She didn't see the man standing up, or reaching for his blade. The large, one-and-a-half-hand sword slung across his back, that Alden might remember from a certain meadow.
“Don't move.” He whispered, and went for the draw.
It was only in that moment that Nina remembered Gray's bonds, the oaths that had shaped his magic, and how the man had nearly killed her because of getting into secrets she wasn't meant to have.
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Alden
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 266
Age: 53(?)
Appearance: The reference image is a commissioned piece and is accurate.
Alden is 6 even, with shoulder-length messy black hair, and several days worth of beard stubble. He is handsome, with a powerful jaw, mid-set cheekbones, and a perpetual grin that makes him seem younger than he really is. His bright green eyes, constantly sparkle with barely contained mirth. He has the lithe well-muscled body of a swordsman, and he moves with considerable grace and dexterity.
If one were to do a more thorough examination of Alden's eyes they may notice a further detail. Around the outside edge of his iris, there's an intricate series of minuscule grey runes.
Underneath his shirt, Alden's skin is a mass of scar tissue. Starting from just below his neckline, there is very little space that does not sport some relic of a past injury. A particularly observant person may also note that among these scars, some are a bright scarlet. These scarlet scars form an intricate series of runes hiding amidst the rest of the scars.
-------------------------------------------
Equipment: Alden's general loadout when he goes fighting consists of the following:
A twin set of enchanted shortswords. The simple straight blades are unnatural dark, absorbing rather than reflecting light. Giving the enchanted steel an appearance closer to cold iron. The guard has the Isran sun emblem emblazoned in a medallion shape just above the guard, which is wrapped in simple leather. The enchantments increase their sharpness and durability, as well as being able to ignite the blood of anything that he has pierced with either blade.
Numerous braces and hidden throwing knives all over his body. At one point, these were also enchanted but when the calamity struck he didn't have time to grab his original set. So these are all well-made but ultimately mundane weapons. Still, with his strength and skill, they can be quite deadly.
Unfortunately, at present, he is also missing his armour. His preferred armour is leather dyed in mottled black and greys, with strike plates sewn between layers for added protection. His old set was also enchanted for increased protection from physical and magical attacks.
-------------------------------------------
Skills and Abilities: Alden is, for lack of a better term, a weapon master. He has been trained to use almost any weapon you can think to name. Relentless daily training with each, with extraordinarily demanding expectations on performance and harsh incentives for failure giving a level of skill with most of them that make him formidable.
However, his preferred style involves twin short swords. While he is skilled with all of his weapons thanks to training, he discovered a natural talent with the blade. His level of skill when wielding his short swords is on another level entirely, nearly transcendent in his skill.
On top of that, he is a living magical enchantment. Carved into his body are a variety of runes that grant him numerous innate abilities. He is inhumanly strong, around three to four times stronger than a man in a similar state of physical fitness would be. This also applies to his endurance, speed, reflexes, and other physical traits. He also has regenerative abilities exceeding human normal, able to heal from even broken bones in a matter of days rather than weeks.
In addition, he is immune to most poisons and resistant to the rest. The runes etched into his eyes ensure he can see the same no matter the level of light and reveal magical auras to him. Runes along his back make him impossible to scry on directly and provide him a measure of resistance to magical attack. This, combined with training, also makes him immune to magical mental influence. Finally, runes on his feet dampen any sound he might make taking his already considerable stealth abilities to another level entirely.
Speaking of his training also included all of the skills one would think an Assassin should have. He knows how to mix poisons, move without being seen or making noise, scale walls, lie or disguise himself, pick locks, pick pockets, just for starters. He is also quite skilled at clerical work and he has some diplomacy ability after thirty years leading the Sun Marshals.
Beyond all of this, Alden also possesses an incredible amount of willpower. If Alden decides that he will do something, there is very little that can stop him from doing it. In fact, at present, the only thing that could deter him from a course of action is Captain Naoki. The former Empress is the only person he has any loyalty to and he often values her judgement on matters above his own.
-------------------------------------------
Biography: Alden was born to a small farming family in an out-of-the-way village. His parents named him Toan and until he was five his destiny was most likely to live and die on the same farm he was born. However, that all changed when Pride arrived.
The leader of a criminal group known as The Set, Pride offered his parents a sum of money that would make any poor farmer's heart stop. Enough money to change their lives forever and all he wanted was Alden, one of nearly a dozen children. A child that wasn't even old enough to help with chores around the farm yet. And the man as so nice, he wanted a ward that he could train to be a retainer how bad of a life could that be?
The answer to that question was basically Hell. Pride was a potent alchemist, enchanter, and scholar and he had but one goal in mind. To create a superior warrior. Alden was subjected to hellish daily training along with six other children. Forced to learn to fight with every weapon, against any foe, in any condition. His limbs were broken deliberately and he was forced to continue to fight and train in constant agony. And this was among the mildest of the ways he was trained.
The culmination of the training came when he was twelve. When he and the six other children were locked in a room and told that the only one who got to leave... was the only one to survive. Of course, surviving was hardly a reward.
Once Pride had only the strongest of the children left he proceeded to the next step of his plan. Alden's memories and identity were seared away as Pride carved runes into his flesh and his very soul. Transforming the young man into a living magical artifact and keeping him on a drug that suppressed all of his emotions.
From there Alden became the new Wrath of the set, a weapon meant only to slay those he was told to. That may have been all he would be but Pride made a miscalculation, Alden's runes helped him to build an immunity to the dosage meant to keep his emotions in check, a weakness made worse by Pride having let him keep his anger thinking it would make him a better weapon. Eventually, events conspired and Alden snapped when the only member of The Set to be kind to him, Sloth, was killed for threatening to expose Pride.
Alden, driven into a deeper rage than ever before killed Envy, Lust, Gluttony, and even disembowelled Pride. Greed manage to escape and Alden slaughtered everything in his path trying to catch the man. Eventually succeeding in his goal. Bereft of a target for his rage and the chase having left him in the middle of nowhere Alden finally collapsed the trauma and coming off of the dosage causing him to bury most of his memories.
He wound up in Isra where his talents and skill soon earned him the eye of the then, criminal Madam Naoki. She recruited him as one of her enforcers a role he continued as her power expanded and grew until she finally became Empress. His reward for his loyalty? Appointment to the head of The Sun Marshals her special police force, effectively making him her right-hand man.
During this time he also uncovered his own past and learned that Pride had survived, the man had made preparations for such an eventuality and his death only saw his soul moving to a phylactery as he became a lich.
Pride created a new Set, this time making each member just as he made Alden. Eventually, this culminated in Pride attacking Isra and his eventual, final defeat.
Decades have passed since that time and Alden, whose power kept him at his prime for years continued to serve Isra until the new calamity took him to The Island of Mists, his empress reduced to a captain and he now serving as her first mate.
-------------------------------------------
Allegiances: Naoki and Port Argentum
Place of Residence: Port Argentum
Registered: Mar 21, 2021 13:21:25 GMT -5
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Post by Alden on Nov 4, 2022 12:15:52 GMT -5
It was a mark of how little time Gray must have spent dealing with people that would challenge his actions that it didn't occur to him that someone might take objection to him drawing a blade. Before the weapon could even begin to clear the scabbard a half-finished bowl of soup was soaring through the air with expert aim, the wooden object would smash into the older man's face if he didn't react in time.
Even as that was happening Alden was surging to his feet chasing the bowl he'd just thrown, closing the gap between himself and Gray. His exact follow-up would depend on a few factors but his goal now was to separate Gray from his sword. Alden didn't know what, exactly, was happening but that could be sussed out after he had exerted control over the situation once again.
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Gray
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 124
Registered: Jul 2, 2021 10:00:37 GMT -5
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Post by Gray on Nov 7, 2022 15:51:47 GMT -5
'One thing-'
Sparks flew. Ash scattered.
'-at a time,' Gray thought.
Nina's blanket shifted with the force of Alden's movement.
One thing at a time. That was all Gray's mind could manage now. All else was reflex.
The bowl flew past his ear. It was almost as if the man hadn't moved at all. He moved as if in a dance, as if in a dream, the log he had been sitting on being kicked back as he sought a better position. But Alden was fast. Elbow to the face, Gray imagined. Pommel to the throat. There was a rattling of steps.
Too fast.
Somehow they ended up with Alden holding the hilt of the sword, and Gray holding the blade. A white eyebrow raised. It was a wide enough blade that he could grip it tightly without cutting himself...assuming, of course, that he perfectly predicted every move that his opponent would make.
It was a heavy blade. Surprisingly so. Thicker than a normal longsword, and heavier still, for a reason Alden might not be able to tell. A reason that had to do with Alden's sense of magic being suddenly blurred out.
It wasn't as if Gray thought it was a good idea to hold a naked blade. He just found he couldn't let go.
In the background, he could hear Nina whimper that she couldn't see, and were they fighting? One thread of thought at a time. His gaze lifted from Alden's eyes in the reflection on the blade, to the real thing.
“So you were made, too.” He said.
It didn't always come to him in the right order.
“Your trouser leg is on fire.”
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Alden
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 266
Age: 53(?)
Appearance: The reference image is a commissioned piece and is accurate.
Alden is 6 even, with shoulder-length messy black hair, and several days worth of beard stubble. He is handsome, with a powerful jaw, mid-set cheekbones, and a perpetual grin that makes him seem younger than he really is. His bright green eyes, constantly sparkle with barely contained mirth. He has the lithe well-muscled body of a swordsman, and he moves with considerable grace and dexterity.
If one were to do a more thorough examination of Alden's eyes they may notice a further detail. Around the outside edge of his iris, there's an intricate series of minuscule grey runes.
Underneath his shirt, Alden's skin is a mass of scar tissue. Starting from just below his neckline, there is very little space that does not sport some relic of a past injury. A particularly observant person may also note that among these scars, some are a bright scarlet. These scarlet scars form an intricate series of runes hiding amidst the rest of the scars.
-------------------------------------------
Equipment: Alden's general loadout when he goes fighting consists of the following:
A twin set of enchanted shortswords. The simple straight blades are unnatural dark, absorbing rather than reflecting light. Giving the enchanted steel an appearance closer to cold iron. The guard has the Isran sun emblem emblazoned in a medallion shape just above the guard, which is wrapped in simple leather. The enchantments increase their sharpness and durability, as well as being able to ignite the blood of anything that he has pierced with either blade.
Numerous braces and hidden throwing knives all over his body. At one point, these were also enchanted but when the calamity struck he didn't have time to grab his original set. So these are all well-made but ultimately mundane weapons. Still, with his strength and skill, they can be quite deadly.
Unfortunately, at present, he is also missing his armour. His preferred armour is leather dyed in mottled black and greys, with strike plates sewn between layers for added protection. His old set was also enchanted for increased protection from physical and magical attacks.
-------------------------------------------
Skills and Abilities: Alden is, for lack of a better term, a weapon master. He has been trained to use almost any weapon you can think to name. Relentless daily training with each, with extraordinarily demanding expectations on performance and harsh incentives for failure giving a level of skill with most of them that make him formidable.
However, his preferred style involves twin short swords. While he is skilled with all of his weapons thanks to training, he discovered a natural talent with the blade. His level of skill when wielding his short swords is on another level entirely, nearly transcendent in his skill.
On top of that, he is a living magical enchantment. Carved into his body are a variety of runes that grant him numerous innate abilities. He is inhumanly strong, around three to four times stronger than a man in a similar state of physical fitness would be. This also applies to his endurance, speed, reflexes, and other physical traits. He also has regenerative abilities exceeding human normal, able to heal from even broken bones in a matter of days rather than weeks.
In addition, he is immune to most poisons and resistant to the rest. The runes etched into his eyes ensure he can see the same no matter the level of light and reveal magical auras to him. Runes along his back make him impossible to scry on directly and provide him a measure of resistance to magical attack. This, combined with training, also makes him immune to magical mental influence. Finally, runes on his feet dampen any sound he might make taking his already considerable stealth abilities to another level entirely.
Speaking of his training also included all of the skills one would think an Assassin should have. He knows how to mix poisons, move without being seen or making noise, scale walls, lie or disguise himself, pick locks, pick pockets, just for starters. He is also quite skilled at clerical work and he has some diplomacy ability after thirty years leading the Sun Marshals.
Beyond all of this, Alden also possesses an incredible amount of willpower. If Alden decides that he will do something, there is very little that can stop him from doing it. In fact, at present, the only thing that could deter him from a course of action is Captain Naoki. The former Empress is the only person he has any loyalty to and he often values her judgement on matters above his own.
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Biography: Alden was born to a small farming family in an out-of-the-way village. His parents named him Toan and until he was five his destiny was most likely to live and die on the same farm he was born. However, that all changed when Pride arrived.
The leader of a criminal group known as The Set, Pride offered his parents a sum of money that would make any poor farmer's heart stop. Enough money to change their lives forever and all he wanted was Alden, one of nearly a dozen children. A child that wasn't even old enough to help with chores around the farm yet. And the man as so nice, he wanted a ward that he could train to be a retainer how bad of a life could that be?
The answer to that question was basically Hell. Pride was a potent alchemist, enchanter, and scholar and he had but one goal in mind. To create a superior warrior. Alden was subjected to hellish daily training along with six other children. Forced to learn to fight with every weapon, against any foe, in any condition. His limbs were broken deliberately and he was forced to continue to fight and train in constant agony. And this was among the mildest of the ways he was trained.
The culmination of the training came when he was twelve. When he and the six other children were locked in a room and told that the only one who got to leave... was the only one to survive. Of course, surviving was hardly a reward.
Once Pride had only the strongest of the children left he proceeded to the next step of his plan. Alden's memories and identity were seared away as Pride carved runes into his flesh and his very soul. Transforming the young man into a living magical artifact and keeping him on a drug that suppressed all of his emotions.
From there Alden became the new Wrath of the set, a weapon meant only to slay those he was told to. That may have been all he would be but Pride made a miscalculation, Alden's runes helped him to build an immunity to the dosage meant to keep his emotions in check, a weakness made worse by Pride having let him keep his anger thinking it would make him a better weapon. Eventually, events conspired and Alden snapped when the only member of The Set to be kind to him, Sloth, was killed for threatening to expose Pride.
Alden, driven into a deeper rage than ever before killed Envy, Lust, Gluttony, and even disembowelled Pride. Greed manage to escape and Alden slaughtered everything in his path trying to catch the man. Eventually succeeding in his goal. Bereft of a target for his rage and the chase having left him in the middle of nowhere Alden finally collapsed the trauma and coming off of the dosage causing him to bury most of his memories.
He wound up in Isra where his talents and skill soon earned him the eye of the then, criminal Madam Naoki. She recruited him as one of her enforcers a role he continued as her power expanded and grew until she finally became Empress. His reward for his loyalty? Appointment to the head of The Sun Marshals her special police force, effectively making him her right-hand man.
During this time he also uncovered his own past and learned that Pride had survived, the man had made preparations for such an eventuality and his death only saw his soul moving to a phylactery as he became a lich.
Pride created a new Set, this time making each member just as he made Alden. Eventually, this culminated in Pride attacking Isra and his eventual, final defeat.
Decades have passed since that time and Alden, whose power kept him at his prime for years continued to serve Isra until the new calamity took him to The Island of Mists, his empress reduced to a captain and he now serving as her first mate.
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Allegiances: Naoki and Port Argentum
Place of Residence: Port Argentum
Registered: Mar 21, 2021 13:21:25 GMT -5
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Post by Alden on Nov 11, 2022 17:19:35 GMT -5
Gray managed to keep a hand on the blade which Alden didn't think was the smartest choice the old assassin had made. Then again, drawing the blade in the first place fell in that category as well so it was just an evening for those kinds of choices.
"A little bit."
Alden said, he could feel the heat of the campfire against his leg and he wasn't sure if the cloth had actually caught yet. He decided to check by bringing the leg up and slamming his foot toward Gray's chest. If the kick landed the old man would probably be knocked to the ground and Alden would use that backward momentum against Gray to tear the sword from his hands. Either way, the most relevant question had to be asked.
"Why did you try to draw a blade without warning?"
There were plenty of reasons that Alden could think of but if Gray answered with any of those then Alden would be quite upset with the old man. He'd let Gray live during their first encounter because Alden hoped the old man could do better but if he'd decided to execute Nina for no reason then Alden would have to take back his mercy.
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Gray
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 124
Registered: Jul 2, 2021 10:00:37 GMT -5
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Post by Gray on Nov 22, 2022 14:16:00 GMT -5
There was no reply.
A silent stare was all that Gray deigned to share. When the man moved, once more, he moved deceptively little.
Too little, this time. Alden's kick sunk in, its force limited, though not avoided, by Gray turning his body to the side. The white-haired man winced a touch.
His gaze had move closer, somehow, like washed-out blue lightning.
Not fast. Not when compared to the superhuman Alden.
It was more as if he had been expecting the hit. Perhaps as if he'd baited it, even.
Perhaps as if he was going to move even if Alden didn't, trying to use the one hand he had left on the blade to push the handle towards Alden's chest and wrangle it away while his opponent was surprised.
Who knew? Gray for sure did not. He stared.
His mind was the assassin's most valuable asset, and he had
Lost
Control
Of it.
“Wait! Both..., wait!” Nina cried, from behind Alden. Oblivious to the scene in front of her, she half-stumbled over the log she had been sitting on, and got tangled in the blankets. Suddenly they seemed too heavy, and too light at the same time, and the girl leaned onto her fists as she felt both too cold and too exhausted to shudder. “Thunderstrikes, you've done s'mthing.” She gasped.
“Gray. Focus.” The word rung as much for him as for her. She shut her useless eyes. “Is the reason you didn't answer...earlier...because you thought the question made no sense?”
“Yes.”
“Because you gave a warning.”
“Yes.”
“Why did you draw a blade?” Nina repeated.
There was a pause. Nina felt a chill, as she realized that the who men could have killed each other within an arm's reach of her without making a sound.
“It seemed like Alden's magic was bothering you.” Gray quietly answered. “I thought I should deal with that.”
“WAIt!” Nina shouted, then had to gasp for the air she'd pushed out. “Gray...Gray, Gray.” The girl seemed uncertain whether to laugh, cry, or fall asleep. “Could you specify, please, that you were not planning to kill anyone...”
She paused, having run out of air. A droplet of blood ran down the executioner sword.
“Right now.”
Pause.
“Even if it's a stupid question.”
“Of course not. It would be a waste.” Gray frowned.
Nina seemed to be satisfied with the answer, or at least too tired to fight it. With a smile and a nod, she slipped awkwardly over the log onto the rocky shore. Se heard as if from far away Gray suggesting she wrap up properly, before she couldn't move anymore.
Gray gently let go of the blade, and analysed the twin lines running across his palm and the inside of his fingers. The later was barely a scratch, the former deep enough to barely miss tendons and nerves. A droplet of blood gathered on the underside of the double-edged blade. He clenched his hand. Functional.
Another might have lost their hand. Not good enough, he thought.
'You were made better,' is what he had wanted to tell Alden, earlier. His heart ached.
“Better if you keep the blade near you for now.” He said, in the end. If Alden didn't stop him, he would step to the side, and kneel by Nina's side. Making sure that the girl was bundled up properly, and as close as she could be to the fire without any risk. He kept his injured hand behind him. The girl sleepily mumbled whether he was all right, but thankfully not coherently enough to demand an answer.
“I'd rather you stayed.” He told Alden, looking over his shoulder. “It's been a while since she pushed herself this far, and I don't know how hard this world will be on her recovery. I may need a source of magic if she stops breathing.” He added, in the same equal tone. “All the same, boiling a river to get it to move when it's already running dry is a strategy that I would keep as a last resort.”
He looked intently at Alden, suddenly aware of the secrets that had been thrown between them and feeling, in an uncomfortable way, naked.
“You didn't believe Nina, earlier.” He said in the end.
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Alden
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 266
Age: 53(?)
Appearance: The reference image is a commissioned piece and is accurate.
Alden is 6 even, with shoulder-length messy black hair, and several days worth of beard stubble. He is handsome, with a powerful jaw, mid-set cheekbones, and a perpetual grin that makes him seem younger than he really is. His bright green eyes, constantly sparkle with barely contained mirth. He has the lithe well-muscled body of a swordsman, and he moves with considerable grace and dexterity.
If one were to do a more thorough examination of Alden's eyes they may notice a further detail. Around the outside edge of his iris, there's an intricate series of minuscule grey runes.
Underneath his shirt, Alden's skin is a mass of scar tissue. Starting from just below his neckline, there is very little space that does not sport some relic of a past injury. A particularly observant person may also note that among these scars, some are a bright scarlet. These scarlet scars form an intricate series of runes hiding amidst the rest of the scars.
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Equipment: Alden's general loadout when he goes fighting consists of the following:
A twin set of enchanted shortswords. The simple straight blades are unnatural dark, absorbing rather than reflecting light. Giving the enchanted steel an appearance closer to cold iron. The guard has the Isran sun emblem emblazoned in a medallion shape just above the guard, which is wrapped in simple leather. The enchantments increase their sharpness and durability, as well as being able to ignite the blood of anything that he has pierced with either blade.
Numerous braces and hidden throwing knives all over his body. At one point, these were also enchanted but when the calamity struck he didn't have time to grab his original set. So these are all well-made but ultimately mundane weapons. Still, with his strength and skill, they can be quite deadly.
Unfortunately, at present, he is also missing his armour. His preferred armour is leather dyed in mottled black and greys, with strike plates sewn between layers for added protection. His old set was also enchanted for increased protection from physical and magical attacks.
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Skills and Abilities: Alden is, for lack of a better term, a weapon master. He has been trained to use almost any weapon you can think to name. Relentless daily training with each, with extraordinarily demanding expectations on performance and harsh incentives for failure giving a level of skill with most of them that make him formidable.
However, his preferred style involves twin short swords. While he is skilled with all of his weapons thanks to training, he discovered a natural talent with the blade. His level of skill when wielding his short swords is on another level entirely, nearly transcendent in his skill.
On top of that, he is a living magical enchantment. Carved into his body are a variety of runes that grant him numerous innate abilities. He is inhumanly strong, around three to four times stronger than a man in a similar state of physical fitness would be. This also applies to his endurance, speed, reflexes, and other physical traits. He also has regenerative abilities exceeding human normal, able to heal from even broken bones in a matter of days rather than weeks.
In addition, he is immune to most poisons and resistant to the rest. The runes etched into his eyes ensure he can see the same no matter the level of light and reveal magical auras to him. Runes along his back make him impossible to scry on directly and provide him a measure of resistance to magical attack. This, combined with training, also makes him immune to magical mental influence. Finally, runes on his feet dampen any sound he might make taking his already considerable stealth abilities to another level entirely.
Speaking of his training also included all of the skills one would think an Assassin should have. He knows how to mix poisons, move without being seen or making noise, scale walls, lie or disguise himself, pick locks, pick pockets, just for starters. He is also quite skilled at clerical work and he has some diplomacy ability after thirty years leading the Sun Marshals.
Beyond all of this, Alden also possesses an incredible amount of willpower. If Alden decides that he will do something, there is very little that can stop him from doing it. In fact, at present, the only thing that could deter him from a course of action is Captain Naoki. The former Empress is the only person he has any loyalty to and he often values her judgement on matters above his own.
-------------------------------------------
Biography: Alden was born to a small farming family in an out-of-the-way village. His parents named him Toan and until he was five his destiny was most likely to live and die on the same farm he was born. However, that all changed when Pride arrived.
The leader of a criminal group known as The Set, Pride offered his parents a sum of money that would make any poor farmer's heart stop. Enough money to change their lives forever and all he wanted was Alden, one of nearly a dozen children. A child that wasn't even old enough to help with chores around the farm yet. And the man as so nice, he wanted a ward that he could train to be a retainer how bad of a life could that be?
The answer to that question was basically Hell. Pride was a potent alchemist, enchanter, and scholar and he had but one goal in mind. To create a superior warrior. Alden was subjected to hellish daily training along with six other children. Forced to learn to fight with every weapon, against any foe, in any condition. His limbs were broken deliberately and he was forced to continue to fight and train in constant agony. And this was among the mildest of the ways he was trained.
The culmination of the training came when he was twelve. When he and the six other children were locked in a room and told that the only one who got to leave... was the only one to survive. Of course, surviving was hardly a reward.
Once Pride had only the strongest of the children left he proceeded to the next step of his plan. Alden's memories and identity were seared away as Pride carved runes into his flesh and his very soul. Transforming the young man into a living magical artifact and keeping him on a drug that suppressed all of his emotions.
From there Alden became the new Wrath of the set, a weapon meant only to slay those he was told to. That may have been all he would be but Pride made a miscalculation, Alden's runes helped him to build an immunity to the dosage meant to keep his emotions in check, a weakness made worse by Pride having let him keep his anger thinking it would make him a better weapon. Eventually, events conspired and Alden snapped when the only member of The Set to be kind to him, Sloth, was killed for threatening to expose Pride.
Alden, driven into a deeper rage than ever before killed Envy, Lust, Gluttony, and even disembowelled Pride. Greed manage to escape and Alden slaughtered everything in his path trying to catch the man. Eventually succeeding in his goal. Bereft of a target for his rage and the chase having left him in the middle of nowhere Alden finally collapsed the trauma and coming off of the dosage causing him to bury most of his memories.
He wound up in Isra where his talents and skill soon earned him the eye of the then, criminal Madam Naoki. She recruited him as one of her enforcers a role he continued as her power expanded and grew until she finally became Empress. His reward for his loyalty? Appointment to the head of The Sun Marshals her special police force, effectively making him her right-hand man.
During this time he also uncovered his own past and learned that Pride had survived, the man had made preparations for such an eventuality and his death only saw his soul moving to a phylactery as he became a lich.
Pride created a new Set, this time making each member just as he made Alden. Eventually, this culminated in Pride attacking Isra and his eventual, final defeat.
Decades have passed since that time and Alden, whose power kept him at his prime for years continued to serve Isra until the new calamity took him to The Island of Mists, his empress reduced to a captain and he now serving as her first mate.
-------------------------------------------
Allegiances: Naoki and Port Argentum
Place of Residence: Port Argentum
Registered: Mar 21, 2021 13:21:25 GMT -5
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Post by Alden on Nov 25, 2022 17:44:36 GMT -5
It was a dance between the two of them Alden was beginning to realize. Master and apprentice caught in a beat of the music that only the two of them could truly understand. Moving to a beat that was as mechanical as the ticking of a clock, but shifted as quickly as the beating of a heart. As much information was shared in the pauses between heartbeats as delivered in the steady ticking of the clock.
Alden kept his hand on the sword as his gaze went out to sea, to what he was beginning to understand was the source of the madness that had hold of the two. The Clocktower, the last fragment of what they served. Was it worth it? Alden tracked his gaze back to Gray and Nina, the old man at the young woman's side tending to her as best he can. The apprentice seemed to be trying to do the right thing when and where she could. That was something that Gray hadn't stamped out of her, perhaps the old man had cared about it too once upon a time enough that Gray had tried to be better than whoever taught him.
Were the gears of the clock slowly winding down? Alden had no way to say but he knew The Clocktower was power and that power never came without suffering. While it existed there would be no true peace for either Gray or Nina, he knew little of what it was but he knew that in his bones.
"There is no such thing as a stupid question if the question was said in earnest."
Alden said to Gray as he took his seat again. He laid the executioner's blade across his lap, it was dampening his powers somewhat and recalling what Nina had said about how Alden's runes had looked to her, he could see how that would help.
"Someone trying to alleviate their ignorance on something shouldn't be treated with contempt. If you have a question, ask it."
Gray had stated much but asked nothing, yet it seemed to Alden that Gray was probing for some information. But Alden was tired of games and if Gray wished to learn then he'd find it was a simple thing though simple and easy weren't always the same, they knew that better than anyone else. After all, taking a life was as simple as could be but it was rarely easy for one reason or another.
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