The First Blight: Curse of Dumat [RP/Closed]

[ShadowFolk]

She looked like a halla frozen in place by the light of a lamp. That was a hand. A hand offering to help her to her feet. Did that sort of thing ever really happen with anyone outside her race? And she thought she heard the human suggest to call him by his name. Informally. A few seconds passed before she realized she was on her feet considering these things and that is had been in silence as she stared forward at him. When they said equals, they actually meant equals.

"Sorry, Ser." Finally, she was able to drop her head and curtsy properly. "Oh. Sorry. Ser Komnenos." There was an awful battle going on in her as she tried and failed to drop honorifics and pleasantries. "Thank you for your kindness. It is...unexpected. I am Sulahn'nehn. You may call me what you wish, Ser."

 

[Rosen2012]

Ulrin's jaw clenched as he listened to Diocles relay to them what had happened. The news did not sit well with him. They were joined to the Darkspawn? How was that better than death? He did not ask for this- nor would he ever! He shook his head as the female elf sputtered out her responses to him.

"I don't need to be one of you to tell a magister how I feel about them... Nor do I need to be one to tell you!" He pushed up form his seat, only to stumble still a bit disoriented. "You- you lying! Human bastards! Y-you- you promised me death! Not to be cursed!" Ulrin continued to shakily make his way to the edge of his cell and Diocles, determined to force the archer to shoot him or to steal his bow and do it himself.

 

[FortyThree]

"Sulanne-anne? I'll try to remember."

The archer deepened his frown once more as he turned his head to the other elf, the poor thing struggling to stay on his feet. It almost would be a kindness to put him down, but all hands were needed. He hoped the male elf (He was male, wasn't he? Still shapely though) would come to his senses before he turned Thaedrin and spilled his blood all over the floor.

"-I- promised nothing.. For what it's worth, though, I am sorry. Still, I cannot see how a life of monster hunting could possibly be inferior to death. Perhaps you are simply afraid to face the darkspawn?"

 

[Rosen2012]

"Afraid!" Ulrin stopped walking, he put his strength into stand up as straight as he could manage. "I do not fear Darkspawn. But I do not want to be one with those monsters!" He glared at the human his mouth tight with anger as he studied him. "And your blood mage promised us death. I am a criminal. A murderer. Is that not what I deserve? Instead he tricks us, curses us to serve you in battle. I'd rather be dead."

He knew just from the few feet he manged to walk, that he was in no condition to steal his weapon. And he doubted the archer felt threatened by his weakened appearance. Still, he would not idly sit back and listen to him tell him that this life was better than death. They had to think they were fools to believe that this was truly a better life for them.

 

[ShadowFolk]

"Sulahn'nehn...It is often a difficult name for the human tongue. Many do not bother. I am used to being called many things. 'Girl', 'elf-girl', 'you'. Any that you see fit, I will respond to." She had hoped things would have settled down after what the lot of them had gone through just hours ago. Yet there was one who still had a literal death wish. It was the elf who had spoken to her, the same one who chose to give up his life rather than go through the Joining voluntarily. "Why are you so eager to die? You have tried, Serah. The Creators have given you a second chance. Perhaps you have something you must do. I am grateful to still breathe, if I am meant to help...I will do what I can to atone."

A deep rumbling came from her stomach and she placed her hand over it as if it would suppress the sound. She did not want to overstep, or interrupt Diocles, but they had been promised a meal at some point. "It is not my place to ask and forgive me for my forwardness, but I feel the need is dire. If it is not too much trouble...M-Might...I have a bite to eat?"

 

[Cinnonym]

"Water."

Ghil stretched her legs and sat upright. She'd been awake for a short time, listening to the drivel nearby... But if the skinny man was going to fetch meals for the knife-ear, he may as well only make one trip.

"The taste is still on my tongue," she turned her head and spat, as if to illustrate the point, "And I have, in my head, the feel of a million teeth biting."

 

[Rosen2012]

Ulrin now turned his attention to the outspoken elven girl from earlier. He was somewhat surprised to see she had survived. She did not look the type suited for battle in his eyes. Though he supposed none of them did after the walk here. "A second chance?" He scoffed at her shaking his head. "The Creators have kept me alive for punishment more likely..." The elven criminal gave Diocles one last angry glance before turning his back to him to return to the wall of his cell.

He put his hand on the wall and used it to steady himself as he took a seat. "Perhaps you are happy with the knowledge that this is now your life. But for me, this is a fate worse than what I desired."

 

[FortyThree]

"Sulain'nein, yes, my apologies."

Diocles eyed each of them in turn, keeping his eyes on the giantess for more than a moment. She could still be a threat, even now. Still, she seemed.. Calm. Remembering his own Joining, he nodded at the reasonable requests, leaving to fetch rations and water-perhaps some mead, if he could find it.

"I'll be back in a moment with sustenance."

 

[Cinnonym]

Ghil glanced through the bars at her neighbors before snorting in disdain; it was all she did besides continue to sit.

 

[ShadowFolk]

She thought Ulrin a fool and was utterly amazed that the Wardens were so desperate for able bodies that they did not oblige the elf's insistent pleas for death. The Creators truly had purpose for him if he was still standing, of that she was sure. When he himself would see that was beyond her. Maybe he did not believe in them or something occurred that shook his faith in the elven gods. She would have pondered this for some time if her stomach wasn't so empty. It felt like she'd been waiting for Diocles' return for hours.

 

[FortyThree]

Diocles edged back into the room, holding a basket he had filled with salt fish, hard bread, and root vegetables in one hand and in the other a flagon of small ale. Without ceremony he passed both to Sul. She was easily his favourite of the new recruits, though he'd like her to trade outfits with Ghil.

"Here, share these, sorry for the lack of cups. And be wary of the orange bits, they taste suspiciously like real food, which worries me to no end."

 

[Cinnonym]

The woman scowled at the archer before pulling herself to her feet. A hand through the bars jerked the flagon free of Sulahn'nehn's grip easily enough.

Ghil withdrew from the bars and took a seat on the stone bench within the cell, legs apart, elbows resting on her knees. She eyed the flagon warily for a moment, but there was no need for these men to poison her now. Whatever they had done to her already had left her alive, and she'd been out long enough for them to have slit her throat.

"I know why I am in bars," she said between long pulls of the ale, "The sons of whores who did this fear I will take their heads. But these next to me, what is their danger to armed men?"

 

[ShadowFolk]

The human trusted her to share. It was a strange thing. Trust and human did not always go hand in hand, unless there was a knife or rather a whip in the other. Sulahn'nehn would have been happy to take a sip of whatever liquid they'd been given if she ever got the chance. She thanked Diocles, looking in the basket. It looked like food. Actual food. She was so sure that they would be given slop and told to think of it as a feast. Taking a paltry amount, lest she incur the wrath of the barbarian. It was the most difficult thing she had to do to date, passing the basket along to feed the others when she felt she would die at any moment from hunger.

As soon as the food touched her tongue she didn't care about anything else, eagerly shoving as much as she could fit into her mouth without choking. She would have continued on this way had she not recalled that others were around and that chewing often prevented choking. Her face reddened and she turned away from the bars to eat quietly.

 

[duckflesh]

A voice began to echo down the hall; Trajan Vorenus.

" . . . . cells, right now holding the new initiates, but they'll normally be empty. We don't take Darkspawn prisoners. However, once these Wardens are set up in a barracks, you'll be bringing food to them should they be unable to make it to mess..." turning the corner, he glanced at the basket of food being passed around.

"That is, assuming one of my Wardens doesn't decide that he's a better elf slave than you are."

An elderly elven woman who had marched here with the others was nodding at everything he said, and now he dismissed her with a wave of his hand. "Go see to the babe, then, if you're so sure you can care for it atop your other duties."

She scurried off. Delphina and Alrik arrive just behind Trajan. Delphina, after taking a quick look around, took several quick steps forward.

"All rise in the presence of the Warden Commander!"

 

[Cinnonym]

Ghil lingered on the bench, seeming to be debating her options as far as that order went. There wasn't much she could do from within the cell, not unless one of them moved too closely, so it would do her no favors to be difficult now. The woman pushed herself up and tossed the empty flagon to the floor as she crossed what little space there was to the bars. Her hands wrapped around the iron and she leaned against the bars, eyeing the three of them. Two she remembered very distinctly, but the woman was new. Her gaze lingered on Delphina, sizing her up.

Though she'd done as asked, it seemed somehow less than respectful.

 

[ShadowFolk]

Oh, of course. All rise now that she had just taken a bite that was much too big. She did was commanded, getting to her feet and trying to get her food down in a reasonable gulp without choking. Having nothing else, she wiped her hands on her dress and stood closer to the bars, hands folded politely in front of her.

 

[FortyThree]

Diocles was quite certain he made an excellent elf slave, excepting of course his lack of the two defining characteristics. Nevertheless, he reflexively went to attention, turning most of the way towards his superiors (So as to keep the new recruits in his peripherals, just in case) and throwing up a crisp Tevinter salute with the speed and perfection only repeated troublemakers ever have the dexterity and practice to manage.

 

[Rosen2012]

Ulrin had barely begun to eat the hardened bread that had been past to him when the trio arrived. He had very little interest in what the Commander had to say to them, yet he still forced himself to his feet once more. He did not stop chewing on his hunk of bread however. If he was going to be forced to live, he wasn't going to do so on an empty stomach. A fully belly and proper rest was on his mind now. Anything to regain his strength and escape. He had fled from servitude before, he'd do it again. He approached the bars, his face still bitter as he chewed.

 

[duckflesh]

Trajan nodded with satisfaction when all three rose-- he hadn't expected it to be that easy.

He approached Sulahn'nehn first, looking her up and down.

"Your name?"

Delphina noticed Ghil's gaze but did her best to ignore it, keeping her eyes on the Warden Commander.

 

[ShadowFolk]

Alarms had gone off in her head, this was the man in charge and it would serve her well not to upset him. She greeted him as she would a magister or anyone who was not a slave for that matter. "My name is Sulahn'nehn, messere." She kept her head down and remained crouched in a curtsy hoping her politeness would overshadow her earlier outburst.