Tristan Thalavar - Revelations

For out-of-game events, wrapping up in-game adventures and rumours.
User avatar
Obsidian Sea
Posts: 699
Joined: Mon Nov 16, 2015 3:09 pm
Location: London, UK

Tristan Thalavar - Revelations

Postby Obsidian Sea » Thu Apr 20, 2017 7:33 pm

It was a cold night. A murderous one.

There was ice in his brain, but his heart churned like a different substance.

Where was Margaux that evening? Not near to Tristan Thalavar, regardless. Whim would keep her in the city, though what little other company he had for the day's journey had vanished into the night. Hadn't it?

The snow touched his cheek, stinging his senses to become present. This was good, for the hours of night might have continued to pass as he stood before the sea, adrift in the dark ocean of his mind all the while. It would not be the first time that the sea had so hypnotised him. Brother Garrmin's restorations may correct the improprieties of past excursions, but there was nothing to be done for Tristan's hatred of the cold. His constitution could endure as much as any other man's, but like another man it would only be so long before the cold would slip underneath the skin. Even now his hand was shaking, and though any other man could write off that behaviour as a symptom of the cold, Tristan was not so sure. His attire was wet beneath the waist from wading in the waters.

How wisdom had fled from her, quick to be replaced by the baser urges he knew well. Her folly was thinking he had ever been wrong - and his had been to indulge that insubstantial wisdom. Friendship was the stone around his leg; it would be the dagger in his back. Even she had told him that much. All the ropes they tried to tie to him, and failing that? Death. Bend then; kneel to another's beliefs, and therefore be called a friend. Aye, that way goes the game. A hollow heart? Why so? Had he placed a higher bet at morality's table than the Vlasta Slasher? But forgiveness would not be his, for his lot in life was to be loved, and to be loathed.

That streak of independence in Aleira Nemesk had charmed Tristan Thalavar: that line of colour in her portrait that streaked to the border of the canvas, seeking escape. But independence was not the trait that defined her. No, she had just enough independence in her to thwart him and no more. With such certainty did she walk the world. The solid earth beneath her feet bearing her true. The backs of men did not make for such easy footing. Tristan had known from an early age that this was the terrain he was destined to walk.

What would happen now? Betrayals? If he could reach the city before she took it upon herself to draw her bow, then at least they would both suffer wounds in the battle of cloak and dagger. The water looked black in the darkness of night, and all the darker still for those white pearls of snow that fell to fill the backdrop. There was a withering crosslight between the silvery light of the moon and the pale reflection of it upon the water, which both caught between the dark skyline created something deathly and morbid to define the world that night. And here he remained muted a moment longer, dwelling upon a question for which the answer should have been easy, and yet for which he felt unexpectedly unprepared: would he?

Tristan turned his face towards the south, but from Ogre's Cove the sea cavern was already distant enough in the night to scarcely be a silhouette. He would not return there. His plea had been heard, or it had been thwarted. There was nothing for him there any longer. To Sarshel he first would go, and Felik's Functionals therein. From there he needs must go onward to Thelnam, where his blood would quicken to know how his quest would end: with progress, finally, or the dooming certainty of eternal discontent.
Heomar Bloodstone

Previous Characters
Aryen Caladras
Tristan Thalavar
Nathaniel Askovar
Elizabeth van der Lowe

User avatar
Obsidian Sea
Posts: 699
Joined: Mon Nov 16, 2015 3:09 pm
Location: London, UK

Re: Tristan Thalavar - Revelations

Postby Obsidian Sea » Fri Apr 21, 2017 7:27 pm

Not trusting that the known address of Lev Balakov at Sceptre's Court would prove reliable, Tristan Thalavar commissions that his missive be delivered to The Sailor's Star instead. Instructions are left with the deliverer that it be explained to the staff of The Sailor's Star that only to Lev Balakov should the letter be relinquished.



Lev,

Not knowing how long you intend to suffer the region, I will not waste time penning explanations that might never reach you. There are no guarantees in this letter, but answers may follow. It was you that first wondered at the reason for our powers, and I know something of when and where our questions might be answered. If it pleases you, come alone to Thelnam when you next can - I cannot promise that the opportunity shall wait upon you.

Tristan

21st Tarsakh; The Claw of the Storms




The quill was set down, and the messenger given his instructions. When the door of The Smelly Catfish creaked shut, Tristan's shoulders fell a little. He squinted out into the morning light, and pondered at how the sun pulled past the clouds to colour white the surface of the sea. Every shade of blue was spread in unmeasurable directions, their textures and fabrics most expensive. He raised one hand towards the window, hovering. From here, he could blot out the sun, and there was only the sea rocking back and forth. Each rush of water against the shoreline sounded like a whispered word. The sea's foam caressed the land, kissing the earth like pearls.
Heomar Bloodstone

Previous Characters
Aryen Caladras
Tristan Thalavar
Nathaniel Askovar
Elizabeth van der Lowe

User avatar
Copper Dragon
Posts: 537
Joined: Tue Dec 01, 2015 12:11 pm
Location: GMT +1

Re: Tristan Thalavar - Revelations

Postby Copper Dragon » Sat Apr 22, 2017 12:07 pm

On Thelnam's shore, the morning sea was greeted by a dozen hard-working hands. Fishermen and their wives toiled here diligently, staying well away from Tristan Thalavar, the elusive, impeccable man in their midst; the marble pillar of excellence among the craggy sea rocks. He did not belong here, at least not among them, but they had no courage or right to say so.

The wind grew louder and stronger, and the foams of the crashing waves were carried farther and higher. The sea was displeased, or eager, or tempting; who was to say? The locals knew that she demanded a song, and so a song was sung by one of the fishwives.

"Oh, how lonely she may be
The old but young, soft blue sea
Pearly her foams, gentle her waves
Rhythmic purring, all enslaves.
Oh, how lonely she may be.

Feel her caress when on boat
Her sunlit smile, never remote
On her back your ship may dance
From her perfume, reach a trance.
The ever-shifting great blue sea."

Two more women joined the song as they worked on fixing nets, cleaning fish and pouring crabs into large wooden buckets.

"Hurt she was once, long ago
By human love, wouldn’t you know?
He claimed to want only the sea
And all he sought she gave for free.
Man’s betrayal she’d not foresee.

Mortal man came soon to doubt
Women’s warmth he’d lived without;
Life was more than th' azure muse:
Hills and hearth and hundred hues.
He left her in a sudden spree.

Hurt she was then, long ago
Her depths in pain came stark aglow
She boiled there, so left behind
Alone! Alone! She cursed mankind.
Oh, the mournful Umberlee."

The wind had picked up, and as was often the case on coasts of all kinds, the weather grew from sunny to dark clouded in a heartbeat. Flecks of light returned, but there was an abrupt silence in the song nevertheless. The fishwives reached out to their nearest neighbour to grasp their hand and clench it tightly. Only one girl continued the Ballad of Umberlee, and a chorus of wordless voices joined her.

"To this day her pain is there
Storm and tides are her despair
Arouse her anger: will be your doom!
Her embrace will be your cyan tomb.
Her heart now cold, without a plea."

Together, all the women sang last:

"Oh, how lonely she may be
The ever-shifting great blue sea.
Man’s betrayal she’d not foresee:
Love left her in a sudden spree.
Oh, the mournful Umberlee...
Her heart’s now cold, without a plea.
"
Plays:
Artemis D'Assanthe, Dawnmaster
Udhana, the Kinless
Dhovainithil, Silver Elf
Jhasira of the Bai Kabor, Dawnbringer (deceased)


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 10 guests