• Graded • Comeuppance

[Mature]

With the escalation of hostilities between Etzos and Rhakros, a series of small walled towns is being established as a network of early warnings and defenses against Rhakros' reprisals. Only the very bravest and most formidable of characters should risk themselves on the Witches' Wilds frontier.

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Yanahalqah
Approved Character
Posts: 656
Joined: Sun Jun 19, 2016 5:21 pm
Race: Yludih
Profession: Knight Captain of the Iron Hand
Renown: 341
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Comeuppance

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Cylus 26 Arc 717


Sometimes you could read a person’s mind from their face. Expressions were like the pages in a picture book, conveying meaning without the need for words. Sometimes the changing lines and shadows on the face, the muscles pulling and pushing beneath the skin, displayed a series of changing expressions that were so clear that one could just hear what they were thinking, the workings of their mind perfectly captured on their visage.

The man in the chair twitched slightly, his fingers curling themselves around the armrests for a moment, his shoulders and neck tensing up. His head rose, chin being lifted from its spot on his chest, a bit of drool tracing a thin line down. His eyes were opening, lids still feeling heavy with sleep. Still tired. Exhausted even. It was too early to wake up, but the light of a lit candle fell on his face. It stood too close to him to ignore, deliberately placed to rouse him.

It blinded him, the flame catching his attention and stealing away the details hidden in the dark. He blinked a couple times, unsure where he was. Why he’d been sleeping in a seated position. A yawn tore his lips asunder, the thread of saliva brushing against his chin. He raised a hand to wipe it away—

Or at least he tried to. The man was unable to lift his hand from the armrest. He frowned, confused. Eyes drifting to his arms, he tried again, now feeling something holding him in place, thick coils of rope binding his wrists to the armrests of the chair. He tensed, muscles in his neck, shoulders, and arms bulging and straining against the rope. No dice.

Panic.

Again and again he tried, rocking his body in an attempt to get out of his shackles. By trying to use the rest of his body, he now noticed his ankles were tied to the legs of the chair in a similar fashion as his wrists, and more rope held his torso secured against the seating and the back of his seat. Still, that only served to double his efforts. Breathing quickly now, heart beating loudly in his chest, pulse throbbing in his temples. He could hear the blood rushing through his veins, he could feel the itching pinpricks of cold sweat under his armpits, his nethers, and his throat. He rocked harder, using every part of his body to try and loosen the binds just a tiny bit, swinging the only part of him that wasn’t bound –his head—back and forth wildly.

The chair’s front legs lifted off the floor, then slammed back into it as he gained momentum, until eventually he toppled, knocking over the small table with the candle on his way down. He hit the floorboards hard, cheek impacting the wood with a sickening smack, but the pain was only an afterthought. The sconce clattering metallic on the floor. Still lit, it rolled away a few feet, hitting a leather boot, then it stopped.

A red-spotted leather glove came down to grab it, fingers curling around the candlestick. His eyes followed the flame as it was lifted higher, illuminating more of the figure who’d been hiding in the dark. Clad in the same spotted leather as the gloves and boots, reminding him of a uniform of sorts. There was a rounded shape to the hips, a swell to chest; telltale signs of a female body.

He didn’t care about any or that. He probably didn't even register any of it.

Anger colored his face red.

“WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU? WHERE AM I? RELEASE ME! NOW!”

The candle now lighted up her face, showing an eyepatch and a hollow smile. She approached as he yelled, and calmly pushed the table back upright. The candle was placed back on to it mere moments later. Then his chair was slowly lifted onto its four legs. Her calm silence shut him up, and for a moment he thought that maybe, just maybe, he’d been yelling at the wrong person. Perhaps she’d undo his shackles and—

“It’s good to see you so energetic this early in the morning,” she beamed at him, a cold smile that sent shivers running along his spine. He recognized this face. He’d seen her before. “You’ll need it if you plan to resist.” Her head cocked to the side, a loud cracking sound coming from her neck. Then the other side did too. As did her knuckles. She was standing close enough that he could see her uniform in detail. The spots on her leathers were irregular shapes, splotches of red.

He swallowed. His eyes went wide in realization.

Yesterday wasn’t a bad dream, was it?

His head turned as he slowly scanned the room, spotting a chair right in front of him, only a couple meters away. With his eyes no longer blinded by the candle, he could clearly see the outline of a figure sitting in the chair—no, not sitting. Hanging. He was only held in place by the ropes, else he’d probably already have collapsed on the floor. The person didn’t move. Around his feet was a large puddle.

The man cried. He only realized when he felt the hot tears stream down his cheeks. He sobbed, in part for his friend, in part for what he knew would follow.

“Please…” he begged, “Please… don’t…”

She ignored him, balling her hands into fists, loud scraping and cracking noises coming from her knuckles. She stuffed a ball of fabric in his mouth, then wound another strip of cloth around his head, covering his mouth. He gagged, fear striking him hard in the gut, its icy tendrils spreading all through his body. He wanted to wake up. He wished for this to be a dream, just like he had the trial before.

“Let’s get started, shall we?”
Last edited by Yanahalqah on Thu Mar 15, 2018 8:00 pm, edited 1 time in total. word count: 1000
"Speaking" - Thinking - "Others speaking"
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Yanahalqah
Approved Character
Posts: 656
Joined: Sun Jun 19, 2016 5:21 pm
Race: Yludih
Profession: Knight Captain of the Iron Hand
Renown: 341
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Wealth Tier: Tier 1

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Comeuppance

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Yana closed her book loudly, the sound made the man in the chair flinch. She placed it on the table, and slowly stepped closer to her helpless victim. She could see him twitch when she took the first step. The second made him squirm in his seat, trying to get her within his vision. The third pace brought her right next to him, and he looked up at her, his breaths coming out of his mouth as if someone had dumped ice water over his head.

The Yludih waited until she had positioned herself right in front of him, in full view, to redon her gloves, sliding her fingers into them without much flourish. There was a readiness to it, a sense of foreboding. The man in the chair mumbled something incomprehensible, though despite not understanding, Yana knew it to be the same thing he’d been saying for a while now. He was begging. She ignored it, calmly pulling her other glove over the illusion of flesh. His muttering grew quicker, more urgent. Yana ignored the pleas, instead simply opting to push against one of the fingers of his left hand. He screamed, forcing all air out of his lungs in what would have been a brutal roar, if not for the gag which drowned most of it out. All that remained was a dull and muffled groaning.

She pushed harder, and his screams swelled into a crescendo, body straining against its bonds, back arching as much as it could, arms tugging at the rope that held them in place. The involuntary motion also pulled at the nails hammered through his flesh into the armrest, wedging the heads deeper in his arm and eliciting more and louder wails of agony from the Ne’haerian.

He stopped to gulp some air, and Yana removed the pressure, letting the damaged digit move back to its previous position. A moment passed, then two, and then the Yludih undid the gag and took a step back. She didn’t say a thing. He just sobbed. More moments ticked away. She closed in once more.

“Please,” he panted, voice hoarse and raspy, “I have… already… told you… everything…”

“Everything?”

She sniggered. Then, like a snake springing to action, one hand grabbed his throat, pinching down hard to seal his air away. Her heel smashed into his broken and bloodied toes. She could feel bones snap and break. The man wanted to roar in pain, but with his windpipe blocked, all he could do was wheeze and whimper.

“All you’ve given me is names. I want descriptions. I want addresses.”

Her grip lessened. He gasped for air.

“You think you can win this? You think you will die before you give me any more information? Like your friend?” She clacked her tongue as she shook her head. “Unfortunately for you, he was just a test run. Disposable. You are not.”

Yana smiled at him. It didn’t reach her eyes. Not that it mattered, really, it hadn’t been a smile of glee. Pity was more accurate, though not entirely so. The man didn’t speak.

“As you wish.”

Within the span of a few moments, the gag was back in place, and Yana leafed through her notebook, taking her time to carefully read over the entry she’d made on the other Ne’haerian while the alive one silently prayed for mercy and strength.

It was too bad though. Despite his hope and desperation, his prayers wouldn't be answered. This was Etzos after all.

To be continued...
word count: 595
"Speaking" - Thinking - "Others speaking"
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Whisper
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Posts: 1779
Joined: Thu Feb 05, 2015 10:36 pm
Race: Prophet
Profession: Storyteller
Renown: 394
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Yanahalqah


Awarded Points

10
These points can/cannot be spent in magic


Awarded Knowledge

Intimidation: the threat of torture
Interrogation: Gleaning information through torture
Torture: The basics
Torture: practice on a spare target first to get the hang of it
Torture: Inflicting pain to force compliance
Torture: Can take a while


Awarded Extras

Loot & Losses Injuries
None None
Renown Devotion
None None
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Comments

Wow! I think I've very much missed a crucial part of Yana's story here! What happened?? I'm glad I've already placeholdered the next one but wowee I think I need to go back in time to see what's going on? Things are dark!


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Thank ye.
word count: 137
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