I love you, goodbye
She had seen it in his eyes the moment he left the battlefield. He had won, but things were only going to continue downhill from that point on. In the brief hours that followed before the arrived home, she had clung desperately to the hope that a path forward would reveal itself, that clarity would come with time. And she supposed it had. He had made the call to appoint the next heir, despite half their eldest children being gone, viable candidates for the position overlooked because he, too, could sense the end was nearing. The thought had rung hollow in her head when she had sat beside him to watch the healers tend to his wounds, while he had called for the pride. She had sat dutifully by his side, trying to ignore the heavy weight of reality pressing down on her. She had chained herself to a man that could only bring about destruction. It wasn’t his fault. Not really. It was just who he was, the essence of his very soul crafted so expertly to bring pain and devastation. He wasn’t meant for this softness of this world, and as hard as she had tried, she had not been able to keep him from the edge. From crossing those unforgivable lines.She had spent the months in Andal suspended in a sense of dread, fearing what would happen if Morrigan had been successful in taking his life. In the end, though he had won, the man that returned to her had been consumed by his demons. He was lost to her in the end, anyways. This could only end in death.His life, or the lives of every child that bore their name, their blood. Her life, the lives of the other women who had been foolish enough to love him, too. A choice had to be made, and she was the only one with the strength to make it. He was too far gone to see the mess they were in, and Recluse’s words hadn’t done anything but push them both further in the wrong direction. She led him to the edge of the watering hole, halting their march towards the Plains. “We should take a moment. Rest, and gather your strength.” She urged him softly, hovering a few paces back from the shoreline. Though she felt the tense anxiety writhing within her, she forced herself to sit, to relax her posture. To not give him any reason to suspect her. “What will we do now? Once our children are home again, with no allies in all of amaryllis… What will we do?” She knew what the answer was, what it had to be. A price needed to be paid for peace, but that was not the route he would opt for. He would pave all of the land in blood, or die trying. And as much as she would have loved to revel in that glory at his side, they did not have the strength he seemed to think they did, and Renfri would not die fighting on the losing side.@Aeistrios |
When @Renfri had come to him, Aeistrios had wanted to shoo her away with nothing more than a pained grunt from his lips. His wounds had just started to close, hardly, and that was largely due to the constant healing and bandaging he was forced to endure from his lead medic. Truly he was lucky, but Aeistrios was blind to the appreciation he should be giving Iofiel, and more highlighted on the way he felt. Selfish, as always, and ignorant too. |
It's obvious. Even before he said the words, he knew what they would be. Death to them all. It was not an outcome she necessarily disagreed with, but if Morrigan had been resurrected once, who was to say it couldn’t be done again? And what did the Saxe have in terms of securing their own immortality? An aging healer that only came to them because he was devoted to the land they had claimed, a handful of unskilled, untrained children with a desire to learn more about herbs and healing. Too many bridges burnt in the name of vanity, and she had gone along with it, fed into it. Had believed their unity would be enough to usher them through the flames, perhaps a bit singed, but intact. The walls were pressing in too closely now, could feel the inevitability of their grizzly end if she didn’t do something to try and correct the course. To try and at least give her children a shot at salvation. Gods, when had she decided they were more important than herself? That she would be willing to place her own life on the alter to give them just the barest hope of a slightly less bleak future. His back was to her, his broken, wounded body so relaxed in her presence. So trusting of her, even after all of it. Would he understand, on some level, why she had to do this? Would he ever find a way to forgive her for the sin she was about to commit, and all that would have to follow? “I guess it was always inevitable, wasn’t it?” Her voice was softer than normal, more somber than it should be when discussing the elimination of their enemies. She stood slowly, watching him. Taking in the sight of him there, and knowing these would be their final moments together. She wanted to savor it for a moment longer, wanted the moment to drag out for a short eternity. But their children’s lives hung in the balance, and she could not let this opportunity slip past her. Nor could she let it go unseen.She raised her head, letting out a call that she hoped would reach the farthest corners of the island. A call for Aesitrios’ death. Let this be the end. She leveled her gaze on him once more, unsure how much time passed after the sound of her voice faded from the air. She was moving towards him before she was aware of her own limbs, her body functioning on its own accord. She aimed for his mangled limb with parted jaws, trying to cling to memories of the night he had tried to rip her own limb from her body. To meet him with the same brutality he had shown her in the wake of the raid. Because that was what was needed to lead the Saxe. She could not be weak, could not falter, but if she failed, she only hoped that her greatest betrayal would be enough to buy her children a chance in this world.for Death Round 1 / 7 Hits: Rolling 4d20: 5 + 15 + 1 + 11 Dodges: Rolling 9d20: 14 + 8 + 1 + 9 + 20 + 4 + 5 + 19 + 11 Luck: Rolling 5d20: 20 + 10 + 5 + 14 + 9 |
She'd watched Aestrios attack Alaric during the Ecrosia war, and it had boiled her blood, she'd raged at the thought of losing someone she'd cared about foe so long, and she was dying to see the purple bastard bleed to death with no friends or family to aid him.
That's what had her shifting directions, quickly making her way to where she found the two, head tilting a bit, the lioness was familiar but unnamed, Astarte didn't care, didn't give a rats ass about who she was. She let out a supporting roar, before another loud roar is called to everyo.r who should get to see the bastard die.
+5 Observe a fight (Aeistrios vs. Renfri)
I guess it was always inevitable, wasn't it? Her voice is softer as his trickles his ears, but he doesn't pay mind to the difference, too distracted by the way the water cooled his dry throat, and gave his body some much needed hydration with all his wear and tear. His drinking slows and droplets fall from the torn edges of his face, but it is the call from Renfri that seems to still even the water in place as it rings out.
A call for his death, from her lungs.
There is a shock that washes over his body, a cold sensation that traces along his spine like a cruel karma, laughing at him. A flashing pain of hurt crosses over his features, and his heart pulls; dropping to the bottom of his chest. He sucks in a harsh breath, as if she had already physically hurt him. He realizes then that her words had held a double meaning, a meaning that struck to the heart of Aeistrios while her betrayal broke what fragments might of made up the blackened organ. He had given so much into her, he had poured his dignity into her, laid all of himself at her paws when she held control of the Brook. When she had shown her loyalty was without question. Aeistrios had shown Renfri things no other had ever seen in him, things no one else ever would - and that was when he realized they had done it.
Amaryllis had done it - his enemies found victory.
They'd turned the one person he'd never thought against him, broken her loyalty with whispers of death that she was too scared to fight against. He had just killed Morrigan, proven his strength, his power - and instead of praise, she wants to end him? His mind reels back to the night she was freed from the Summit, the same day he and Morrigan had put the pact in place between their families. She hadn't been grateful to him, hadn't seen what he sacrificed for her. And now, now he had sacrificed his own life and more, and it was not enough.
The other half of him applauded her. She managed to lure him out here under the false claims of freeing a daughter of theirs from the Plains - only to really seek and make it his graveyard. How fitting, that she chose his favorite land in Amaryllis. How fitting, that she chose when he was near-death to look and take him out.
Maybe the part that angered him the most, was that a piece of him knew she had the ability to. That this wasn't a senseless plan; Renfri was never the one to act without thought, without detailed analyzation to make sure things sway in her favor. This wasn't because she was scared - this was because she wanted power. She saw him at his lowest, the weakest he'd ever been before; and she struck. With him out of the way, she could have it all, and maybe more.
He'd lost the Plains to Violarum when he was weakened by poison; which felt minor to what state he was in now. Now, he stood alone, facing death once more and yet this dance was far more dangerous with Renfri. He'd never feared Morrigan before - but he had his wife. She had been everything and then some, but he'd never expected her reach of power to go this far. She had united them only to break them, and Aeistrios was enraged by how easily he'd been played.
"We are the same." He mocks aloud then, finally letting his voice take to the silence that coated his throat. "A beautiful lie. What did they promise you, Renfri? What are they giving you for my head? Or was this your plan all along - fool me until you had the perfect chance to steal everything i've built?" She barrels into him then, and it is the physical blow that seems to make it all become so real to him. This wasn't a dream he was having, a thought in the wind or a worst case scenario thrown aloud from thoughts. This was reality; and neither of them had immorality.
One of them was going to die here today, there was no fixing what Renfri had just done.
His limb is secured in her jaws and she tears - she tears so much that in one single move upon him, she had torn his paw from his ankle, severed and maimed him with such ease that her lethal skills became even more apparent. This was no fair fight, and the dawning fact that this is exactly what he would have done to someone else hits home. She was Saxe, so much so that it poisoned her blood and truly made her a pureblood devil, for she was willing to go to hell in order to secure his death, so unafraid of him that no other blood but Saxe could be within her veins. He'd influenced her so much that he had built his own fatal demise.
"What of our children?! You are ruining them!" A seethe as he understands the severity this will have upon his young Saxe. His children - his children would be here to see this soon, no doubt. He knew that roar stretched for lands, knew they would come to their parents call; and what were they to think of all this? Had Renfri considered that? His family was the whole reason they were in this mess, with how much he cared to protect them endlessly as well as abide by their strength and instinct. This... this was cruel, and Aeistrios realized Renfri was no better than Reah, she abandoned him even worse.
Defying all odds, Aeistrios feels a surge of faint adrenaline, and it is enough to get the pain to fade, his mind able to urge his jaws downwards. They splay, and his fangs attempt to sink into the back of Renfri's neck, his hold anything from tender and gentle. He looked to destroy, bitter from her treason, and scared she might actually succeed.
for DEATH
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Hits:
Dodges:
Luck:
((DMs waive wounded rolls))
She watched as the last pieces of the man she knew fell away, but no.. That wasn’t right. She did know this version of him, had plotted his demise once before. It was the man she loved that was gone. All that was left of him were the parts that refused to see her as the salvation that she was. For him, for their family. They had done well under her leadership, had known was it was like to breath without threats constantly looming over their every step. It may have been too late. She had no way of knowing if this would be enough, if this would only further seal her own fate, but she had to try. It must look like a manifestation of her greed and ambition, but above all else, Renfri was a survivor. If she had her way, Aeistrios would have belonged to her forever. Sacrifices had to be made sometimes, and she wouldn’t shy away from what had to be done.He speaks, his words like knives in her heart. She wanted to explain, to tell him why, but it wouldn’t make a difference. He wouldn’t understand, he didn’t want to. Besides, she had to become his villain if this was going to work, to be worth it. “There were no promises. The Saxe will be eradicated under your leadership- they will be mine to wield.” His blood was her own, his children- hers. The Saxe were hers.As she flies towards him, she meets her mark, teeth sinking deep into his already shredded flesh. She can taste the lingering remains of the healing ointments she’d watched Iofeil spread on his wounds, the very same ones the healer had begun to teach their daughter. (Gods, would she be okay after this?) His paw separated from his body in her jaws, glee and disgust mixing in an odd combination of emotions. She felt his own fangs sink into the back of her neck, and the severed paw fell from her jaws to the ground as she let out a hiss of pain. A paw flew up, aiming to gouge her claws across his maimed face.for Death Round 2 / 7 Hits: Rolling 4d20: 10 + 19 + 7 + 1 Dodges: Rolling 9d20: 11 + 10 + 12 + 20 + 15 + 8 + 5 + 14 + 19 Luck: Rolling 5d20: 18 + 19 + 3 + 12 + 14 |
It was such a turn of events to see her enemies turn against themselves. How ironic it felt to see the purple idiot being challenged for death by his own family. Karma was a thing she was very aware of, and it seemed it was the bastard's turn to perhaps get what he earned. To have all the bad he had done against himself. And of course Zahra wanted to be there to watch her enemy perish.
She arrived, but being no idiot, she had washed her scent and poisoned her claws, ready for battle should it come to it. But otherwise, she used the vegetation to hide; she wasn't just doing to expose herself. She simply wanted to watch life, asking for payback.
((Zahra is attempting to hide))
1 is failure, 2 is success
+10 Successfully stay hidden for the duration of a thread
+5 Practice speed or stealth
+5 Practice covering your scent
her stomach plunges and she wants to howl. the snakes and vultures that follow her are surely ill omens, each body placed across the land as if waiting for death to happen. olympia is ashamed of her lack of usefulness right now, but she knows she cannot stop them either. it hurts her, to see her husband and a sister-wife fight like this.
[open for minor maims and dom matches!]
A thief - she was going to steal it all from him.
It was maddening, the overwhelming sensation of the emotions he felt. They hit him all at once, unrelenting and merciless as he feels the full effects of what was happening here. The bruising fact was that she held the advantage, and the upper hand against him in more ways than one as they clashed into battle. There were no promises, no lures for her to turn against him; this was all her doing, her doing as a Saxe.
He was the Saxe King, he was the one who made her a Saxe.
He would be the one to take it away from her, and her life as bonus.
Renfri's paw reaches upwards and gouges at his maimed face, one of her sharp talons digging deep and shredding large portions of his flesh away. A sound of agony exhales from his lips - unable to find the energy to block out all his pain. Everything in him was thrown into this fight, using all of his reserves - what little he had left from defeating Morrigan. The logical part of him knew it wasn't going to be enough - but the Saxe side assured him that greater glory was beyond after her death.
Jaws sink into her neck, and he aims to tear back roughly, hoping to remove the piece of flesh from her altogether in his hold. His weight shoves forward, and he looks to try and force her downwards to the ground with his positioning.
for DEATH
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Hits:
Dodges:
Luck:
((DMs waive wounded rolls))
Fights for the death seemed to be a common occurrence in these strange lands. For her had only seen these kind of fights in the short time she had been in these places. Yet there was a morbid wish to watch, to see them despite the potential of how gruesome they could end up being. But for Celestis death was just part of life, and many times she had seen it up close. Way to many for it to bother her anymore, and that alone made her nearly insensitive with watching someone losing their lives. Again as she had no previous knowledge about these lions, she wasn't able to understand the reasoning behind this. But that didn't bring a major inconvenience, all of these lions meant nothing to her. She hides and watched in silence. Washing her scent I'm a nearby river she users the foliage to hide and hopefully watch in peace. ((Celestis is attempting to hide)) +5 Practice hiding your scent +5 Infiltrate a group thread without getting caught +10 Remain undetected in a large thread (5+ characters) |
