From Tried's Mouth to the mysterious Tower, the waters around Scalvoris and the island itself hold a vast array of secrets, just ripe for discovery. Here are landmarks, jungles, mountains, forests and islands of note.
Patience was indeed a virtue, but Maxine was anything but virtuous. Her lover had spent his time meditating under that pointy rock dripping water for what felt like an eternity. He'd focused his thoughts with the dripping of the water upon his head, each tiny cascade of the element like a voice in his head reprimanding him for his transgressions. The conversations between the mage and his elements were something she'd never be privy to. Truth be told, she didn't care what words were exchanged between them. All that mattered was that Mercedes had been left diminished in power without their presence. For as long as they continued to abandon him, he was half the man he'd been before they'd been cast down into Slags Deep. That had to change.
The last time Max had broken Mercedes' focus to test whether his friendship with water had been restored, had ended in utter disappointment. He'd earned a cutting elbow to his head rather than an old friend to protect him, and his subsequent breakdown in light of his failure had only won Maxine's ire. Still she refused to leave his side. He had asked for her support. More importantly, he'd commanded her to continue beating him until he'd proven himself worthy of Defiance once more. If nothing else, the marked woman would oblige him that without hesitation.
Maybe she was enjoying the process far too much. Above, it was always Maxine on the receiving end of his harsh criticism and unstoppable potency in combat. Now it was Mercedes in the submissive role. Like her, recent events had left him temporarily broken and battered mentally and physically. He'd shown her little empathy when she'd cracked beneath its weight, and now was simply the time to continue returning the favor. She'd allowed the man more time to meditate and sit with his environment. What was it? Breaks? One? Five? She hadn't a clue nor any indicator in this darkness. All the while he'd sat there, she'd had a meditation of her own.
No longer was Earth Mask such a fixation. That demon, while still a bane she loathed to remember still survived out there in the world, no longer haunted her nightmares. No longer did the very thought of him drive her toward insanity on par with the Scalvoris Town riot against the Elements. When she thought about it, she hadn't felt fear at all since that woman caressed her on her way to the prison, her fingers lingering a strange amount of time upon her scalp. The temptress was one that instilled terror in the guards that had escorted her. Yet when Max had gazed upon her and felt her invasive touch, she'd felt...relieved. The existential fear that had driven her to her wit's end had been sucked away with such a simple, curious gesture. And she hadn't felt it since.
Unbothered by the idea the Guardian might return to bring her a whole world of fright-inducing pain, Max strode toward Mercedes where he rested. This time he would not be roused. There would be no passionate kiss to bring him back from his breathing cycle. Instead she focused on moving quietly toward him in the dark. Her bare feet gingerly tested the ground before her, and when she felt not uneven stones to make noise, she would only then press her step down upon the earth. Her approach turned decidedly disruptive as soon as he was within range.
Without warning, Maxine shot a foot out directly toward the place she believed Mercedes to still reside in the dark. Her feel aimed for his chest, it would be yet another test to discover what progress he'd made with his mundane tactic.
"Come out, come out, Earth!" the marked woman teased him darkly as her attack moved through the air with total commitment. In a trill, both of them were about to discover if the very element that surrounded them would come at his beck and call.
Mercedes felt the need to move several times over the course of the events that took place. Firstly he asked Max to beat him virtually to the death if the elements would not protect him. The sorcerer needed to ensure that he would be protected by the elements. The earth continued to shake as he made yet another attempt to force an interaction between himself and the element. The elements gave him a difficult time to begin with, and continued asking the same question repeatedly. “Why should I trust you” the earth continued to beckon the former-defiance practitioner. Mercedes could come up with no answer, and thus he elected to mumble in return to the shaking ground. “Because I am better than that, I am far beyond the reaches of suicide, Earth!” The sorcerer could be heard in an argument against the very element he wished to seize control of again. Never before had he been in such a position; one in which he had to beg for forgiveness.
The sorcerer killed a multitude of people in the past. Mercedes slit throats, burned men and women alike alive, and stole from the poor. He betrayed The Kennels for the insults given by an elderly man. He killed in the name of Max's honor, and had gone to war with himself multiple times before. The sorcerer nearly committed suicide, and launched a pebble through his skull. However, for some odd reason the elements themselves intervened and stopped him short of dying. Why had he been the subject of such undeserved torment; not only from the elements, but from Max. Why did she seem to enjoy the fact that the elements shamed him, and take advantage of her command. She was after-all meant to be the one who enforced the rules in regard to his order.
The words that exited his lips were the law from her perspective. Not only was he a lover to her, but a leader. However, he would soon come to regret his decision to give her authority to strike him as she pleased. The elements would never again come to his rescue, or so he began to think. The violent stirring of the elements beneath him continued to take place, and his concentration had never been broken. There were several more breaks that passed as he sat in this position. The entirety of his prison robe had been drenched by mere droplets of water from the ceiling. He rested in a puddle of water, with damp hair, and soaked, cool, clammy skin.
“Water... Hear me. My promise to you, my proclamation to you is that I will swear an oath. Even if it means that I am to die, I will never betray your interests again. You are the element that has shaped, and will reshape Idalos. All of this is your doing, and I shall treat you with respect.” The sorcerer mumbled into the ever-silent air that surrounded him, and just as quickly as he made the proclamation Max attacked.
The sorcerer heard something whistle in the once silent room. His eyes snapped open instinctively, and although he could hardly see anything. The sorcerer did see a heel rocket toward him, and elected to raise his forearm. His right forearm reacted, and he parried the blow successfully. Although he sustained quite a bit of damage from the attack the other half of its force rolled away from him.
Max taunted the earth, and in the process of such a thing made an attempt to provoke it to strike. The sorcerer smirked and spoke aloud to his lover. “Good.. Give me a bit... and then do it again, but harder this time.. Faster. “ The sorcerer concluded his speech and carried on.
She wasn't sure what had peeved her more: the fact that earth failed to come forth or that her kick had been harmlessly parried. Neither mattered in the grand scheme of things. Mercedes would eventually win in this endeavor. It wasn't that she merely wanted to believe that outcome. She had to. If he didn't, the likelihood of their dual survival rested far more in the balance than before. Those unfavorable odds were ones she wasn't capable of accepting.
For now they weren't quite dead yet. Mercedes was free to sit and meditate some more, contemplating and reaching toward the voices that continued to reject him. Elsewhere, Max had elected to make the most of her time. Ran'dar had finally conceded to an exercise that didn't involve good odds of fatality. It was a simple one intended to help her better understand the concept of fighting without her eyes. With hands on the front of his shoulders, the Ithecal and the marked woman were engaged in an odd sort of dance. Where he moved, she followed. Her foot work mirrored his, her hands on his shoulders reading the subtle movements that indicated future action. It was an early phase to a much larger lesson.
The next involved her forearm pressed to his, but more true to the unyielding reptilian's nature, that was true threat of injury present. In his hand he held a bone dagger. The object of the dangerous game was simple: predict his movements, and of course, don't get cut. Maxine stayed locked to him with each attack he made. It started slow at first, the jabs and thrusts toward her body. Even blind it was easy to keep up. She could feel the muscles and tendons in his arm tensing, moving to offer a tell to where he'd attack her next. The violence and speed of the drill picked up as each bit moved by. Before long, her life very much depended on whether she had been retaining what she'd learned. All the while, the mage remained quiet in his state of inner dialogue.
Maxine returned to Mercedes with a few fresh cuts to sport. No doubt he could smell her before she'd made her way toward him, the scent of his failures fueling a rage deep inside that was as feral as any wild animal. With her hand she swiped some of her blood from her shallow cuts. Her fingers swiped a confusing trail about the darkness, coloring stalagmites and walls without pattern or logic. It wasn't much, but it would be enough to get the man's attention.
"Which do you want more, Mercedes?" Maxine challenged her lover again from her hiding place in the darkness. "Blood? Or redemption?" Her airy voice bounced around the chamber he sat in, echoing through the surrounding tunnels as little more than a whisper. "Think carefully. The elements are watching." And no doubt they would use what path Mercedes chose as an indication of whether he was worthy of their attention. The moment she heard so much as a scuffle to suggest he'd risen from his seat, Max would come for him without mercy.
Sprinting at him from the darkness, she'd seize a hold of him by the front of his drenched robe, turn her back to him, and hurl him over her hip to slam him upon the floor beneath her. It crossed her mind that a throw onto the hard ground might not have been enough to please Mercedes' need for real danger. Thus, her next move would be taking her heel and slamming it down toward the pretty face she adored.
“Master, she charges. “ Spoke Gildres as she loomed around the circumference of Mercedes' body. She would never allow him to be unguarded to such a degree that the situation would become lethal. Max not only followed orders, but she remained true to them when he mentioned that she had permission to kill him. However, there were obvious differences in their strengths. Maxine had always been weak in comparison to ranged magical fighters, and never before would she attack so viciously. Typically she would react with fear at the sound of his voice, but he was weak. She had every opportunity to abuse him, and she certainly would take it. For all of the abuse he put her through, and all of the times he nearly slaughtered her much like he would a bandit. She was no different than an enemy at the very moment, but something strange overtook him.
Already in an altered state of mind by attempting to maintain a meditative stance; she attacked him. The sorcerer called upon the earth again to protect him, and it rattled, shifted, shook but refused to rise for him. Mercedes reacted in the only fashion that he could, and battled against his berserk state. The scent of fresh blood that emanated from Maxine caused his teeth to grit against one another. The sorcerer ground his teeth until he felt pain from each of them, and fought every bit of his instinct to slay her. This was the predators blood-rage, a mutation developed following his reaching of competency in Becoming. Destruction would be all that could possibly come of this. The sorcerer refused to dodge her attack, and made an attempt to deepen his meditative state.
However, he ended up failing time, and time again as Gildres interrupted him with her incessant and repetitive talking. “Master, she comes..” The phantom spoke again whilst Mercedes refused to open his eyes. Whatever she had coming for him would simply come, and he would allow it to take place. The elements did not leave him because of his inability to speak with them. The elements left him because he refused to trust them when he needed them the most. The punishment being delivered to him by Maxine had been nothing in comparison to the incredibly loud torment from the earth. He spent several breaks in meditation, and Max understood just as well as he did how important this was.
The elements needed to come back, and if they did not Mercedes would certainly become dead weight to her. However, she was passionate about the return of his rise to power; it was a critical portion of their mission. They needed to escape, but how could they if Mercedes could not slaughter the prison warden? How could they defeat opponents, if Mercedes were not physically powerful enough to beat them bare-handed. The weight of the world rested upon his shoulders, and he could not be strong enough in the moment to bare it all.
Max grappled him, and indeed did toss him at the hip, however the landing upon hard “Stone”. The earth cushioned the blow beneath him by softening to the texture of sand. However, the second strike came in the form of a stomp. Had the earth not protected him he would have certainly been killed. A large spiked dome of earth entombed the sorcerer, and trapped him beneath it puncturing the flesh of Max's heel.
The earth protected him, but only because he had been in such a deep meditative state. The earth needed to spare its master pain whilst it worked to rekindle the relationship.
Earth spoke to the defier in a voice that seemed to echo throughout the entirety of the dome.
“I saved you. Give me a reason to keep you alive.. If you remain here.. You.. die... No.. Air.. Sorcerer” Earth yelled at him in all directions, the sorcerer regained his meditative position. With his legs crossed over again, and his heart still racing from the berserk state. The sorcerer had no choice; learn to command the earth again or die beneath this dome.
There was something strange in the air. Like all things, Max couldn't see it but she could feel it. It wasn't something that felt especially dangerous. It was a presence nonetheless, and given it didn't belong to Ran'dar or Mercedes, it was not a sensation that she welcomed. A voice, airy and echoing as those spoken by more than one filled the tunnel. At first it was impossible to decipher the words. Soon enough she came to understand that they were meant for Mercedes: the one they called Master. Her memory drifted back to when her lover had talked about a ghost connected to a Pirate Lord of Scalvoris that was linked to him somehow. While she hadn't believed him fully then, she was starting to come to terms with this supernatural being's existence now.
Last season she might've reacted to the discovery with fear. Now there was only irritation and curiosity, but more so irritation so long as Gildres continued to tattle on her advances. Was it too late to find out if the elements would accept the offering of this nuisance in exchange for their return to his side?
I can see this getting annoying. Very. Quickly.
Rather than satisfy Gildres with any acknowledgement, Maxine focused only on bringing her foot down with true intention. Her heel came down with full force. In the back of her mind she'd been praying for Earth to answer his call, or at least that he'd move rather than let his face get crushed. At the same time there was a more sinister piece lurking deep, deep in the background. It was that spitefulness that had become a true part of who she was. It was that part of her that relished in the thought of bringing him just a fraction of the pain he'd wrought upon her time and again. Hearing the crack of his orbital bone would be like music to the ears, the briefest experience of satisfaction before true guilt and remorse set in like drowning anchors. That dark part of her was never fed. Instead the Earth stirred from its stubbornness to protect the mage.
Her heel slammed down upon nothing but stone, rebounding the marked woman from the capsule that protected Mercedes roughly. Her brow rose and quickly she returned to kneel beside the place she'd struck. Her hands shot out to wander around the mass, finding for certain what she knew already to be true. An element had finally responded to the mage...but she wasn't sure if this was really the response they'd been after. Earth didn't just protect Mercedes from her blow. It imprisoned him. And by the looks of it, it wasn't letting him go.
"Mercedes?" she called into the stone, feeling stupid but concerned all the same. She licked her lips and pounded on the surface with a hammer fist to test its depth. Max quickly backed away and found her feet, turning to run in the direction of the pickaxe. Should too much time pass, the only thought she'd have on her mind would be breaking through to him. Literally.
The sorcerer continued to make attempts to reconnect himself with the earth fully. The sudden imprisonment as to protect him from any further outside distractions had been crucial. The way earth reacted to her attacks showcased that earth cared. The earth had not yet been finished with Mercedes. This was the reformation of the mage once reckless and relentless in the way he went about the use of the elements. While some may have called it abuse; it was simply a master-slave relationship as opposed to a friendship. Had he been more friendly to the elements, and less demanding they might not have given him such a hard time. The elements treated him as if he were simply too strong to have been pathetic. His old relationship with them had simply been entirely too tyrannical. They would forever see him as nothing but a man with tenacity. Strength was not a measure of physical power, but a measure of how one refused to fold in the face of adversity.
Power was simply how much tenacity an individual had when given difficulty. The trial that Mercedes made an attempt to take his own life forced the elements to reconsider him. They fled him for fear that he would be too foolish to put them to proper use. When they could have helped him; he abandoned them and reacted emotionally. Rather than splitting the owl in two with a gust of wind, or allowing fire to cook it from the inside out, or filling the animals gut with water, or crushing it beneath a boulder he elected to kill himself.
The sorcerer had come to a mutual understanding with the elements and why they punished him. The earth shook violently as he forced more ether to channel through the entirety of his body. The simultaneous reactions were the shifting of the stone that surrounded the dome of earth. This imprisonment of stone would allow no presence within a five-foot radius as the earth surrounding it shifted rapidly. Anyone who approached too closely would be thrown violently across the beneath. This was the rekindling of the hypothetical “Flame” that existed between himself and the earth.
Mercedes could be heard audibly speaking incoherent words to the earth. Sweet whispers of nothings to the very ground he sat upon. Beneath the dome-structure, no one and no being knew anything about what went on within its confides. The earth and Mercedes were left to tango, and his ether intermingled with the natural properties of earth over the course of two more breaks. A dance between man and element continued for a third break, and if he remained trapped for another break he certainly would die of oxygen deprivation.
The air had practically been non-existent within the dome of earth, but it had become obvious Mercedes had been working to free himself. The earth and he simply had an extensive, and long conversation. The result had been a violent reaction, tremors, shifts in shape, size and structure of the stones that surrounded him, and a change of some of the rock formations surrounding the dome.
Knowledges
Deception: Confusing Scent with Blood Patterns
Detection: Muscle Movements Can Indicate Next Attack
Detection: Predicting the Next Strike by Maintaining Contact
Detection: Tension Often Precedes Action
Leadership: Motivating Your Allies with a Challenge
Stealth: Testing For Sturdy, Quiet Footing Before You Step
Stealth: Attacking Your Opponent Under the Cover of Dark
Unarmed Combat: Downward Stomp
Loot: N/A Injuries: N/A Renown: N/A
Points 15
Merces "Mercy"
Knowledges
Meditation: Remaining focused on the task
Meditation: Do not break concentration
Meditation: A state of deep thought
Discipline: Fighting the Blood-rage
Discipline: Resisting the Berserk state
Endurance: Teeth-grinding pain.
Discipline: Resisting the urge to kill.
Discipline: Do not move
Loot: N/A Injuries: N/A Renown: N/A
Points 15 - these can be used for Defiance
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Oh! I've been curious about how people play out defiance; definitely interesting. Max cracks me up while simultaneous makes me feel really nervous. I enjoyed seeing the slight conflict of wanting to get back at him but knowing that if she was as successful as she wanted to be she'd regret it. Merces was definitely in full struggle mode. Trying to focus on connecting with the earth while also being attacked by your wild girlfriend? Not really how I'd go about it haha, but the earth rising up to protect him and push him farther was great. Hopefully he doesn't, you know, suffocate. That would be a bummer way for a defier to die.
