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 Posted: Mon Jun 22, 2015 6:34 am
This Quest is for Virain who is striving to become a Spirit Worker.
 OOC
||. The quest prompt must be answered with a 2000 word reply (can be more).
||. Respond to the prompt given with an adventure of your own creation as long as it meets the requirements of the specific tasks.
||. NPCs may be used as long as they advance the quest in an interesting manner.
||. You cannot include any playable characters other than the quest taker.
||. Your responses will be graded with a Pass or Fail. Those who fail will have to continue with assistance from the staff.
||. Questions about quests can be asked here.
IC
Virian's mother had finally tracked him down; while trying to convince him to see reason and come home. After arguing for a long while, she had accidentally let slip that he was not of her blood...
"Why did I ever take in such an ungrateful boy? After all these years of caring for some one else's child!"
Why does she keep trying to take him home when he's not even her own son? And if he's not her son.. just who's was he?
Quest Tasks
||. The quest should start with Virain's mother finding him and arguing with him to come home and see reason.
||. At one point in the argument she lets slip that he is not really her son but her brothers, whom she stole just moments after he was born.
||. The quest should include how he reacts to this knowledge.
||. Finding him even more unwilling to return Aemae attacks him, trying to forcibly bring him back home, and eventually to heel.
||. The quest should end with the results of the conflict between "mother and son".
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Posted: Mon Jun 22, 2015 1:59 pm
Virain stood in the middle of the well worn path, toes nervously digging into the earth. His Master had been a little upset at him when he'd returned the next morning instead of that night, but meeting the others and seeing faces both familiar and new had been exciting. For a few hours he'd been able to completely forget the strife in his heart over what to do about his family situation. But now? Now he was worried that he'd messed everything up. Kybell had pinched the tips of his ears, unwilling to truly hurt him by twisting his earfins like he'd wanted. The pain was sharp and quick and lingered in an unpleasant way, but it drove home the point. He was an adult by all rights and the fighting he was doing was important. It meant that he was growing up in more ways than one.
But that didn't mean that it was okay to just leave things they way they were. Aemae had tracked him down somehow, an impressive feat for someone who'd never left the service of her Masters, her slavers, who was dainty in everything she did. She'd told Kybell a story of some sort that the man refused to repeat, calling it sludge of the blackest sort. Her lies were bitter on his tongue and the earthling refused to deal with her. He'd been given an ultimatum. Deal with his mother in some way, any way, that would get her to leave him alone, or Kybell would stop training him. Virain refused to give up, to give in to his mother and giver her the satisfaction of knowing that she could call him to heel at any time she wanted. Which is how Virain found himself here, waiting where the path was open and airy and his master could watch from a distance should he need help.
Virain hoped he wouldn't need the help, but some of the tension in his stomach had lessened with the knowledge that it was there should he need it. He took a deep breath and let it out, fingers on one hand clenching and unclenching on the hem of his shirt. His other hand gripped the smooth shaft of his weapon so tightly he couldn't feel the tips of his fingers anymore and his knuckles ached. Finally after what felt like hours of waiting, most of his nervous energy sapped by unseemly fidgeting, he spied the figure of his mother hurrying down the path.
He heard her cry of relief the moment she spotted him and her movements quickened until she was throwing her arms around his shoulders and trying to smother him in her bosom. He flinched but held still until she'd had her filling of touching him, assuring herself that he was who he appeared to be, and pulled back to peer into his face. An unhappy frown marred her fine features, causing the crows feet at the corners of her eyes to lighten. He was used to seeing them deepen as his mamae was always happy. It was a blow of sorts, to know that he was the reason she was so unhappy.
"Guppy, Guppy please stop this nonsense and come home." Aemae begged, tugging on his wrists, her grip tightening with each failed attempt to move him. "The world is dangerous outside, you've seen it, I know you have. Look, you've already been marked!" She released one hand to press trembling fingers against the scar on his neck, the one he'd gotten from Phaedra when she was attempting to threaten him. "My Guppy, my sweet Guppy. Do you see now? Your father and I have been trying so hard to protect you from everything. Please. Please come home with me and forget everything you saw. We're sorry you had to see it, we're so careful usually."
Virain just had to shake his head and try to tug free. Her grip on him tightened until he could feel the bruises forming. "Mamae no, what you're doing is wrong." He attempted, voice wavering a little despite his attempts at keep it firm. "If you don't like someone you don't try to kill them, you don't...you don't poison them for Ome's sake! Mamae what you're doing is wrong, made doubly so if it was because of me." He shook his head twice rapidly, tiny braids slapping at his face with the motion. "How do you think I feel, knowing that I'm the cause of all their suffering?"
Oh how the Obans he lived with suffered. The serving staff who were always cruel to him, his masters who, in the beginning, were cold and mean, and now towards the end were beginning to be nice. He always thought that it was the illness changing them, knowing that their death would be coming any day that made them realize just how they were acting. But now he knew better. They were probably putting two and two together and realizing that their pain doubled whenever they were being nasty. To him specifically.
But, if that was the truth, why hadn't they taken action against his parents? His father was technically a slave still, only with fancier wording and pay that went right back into his master's coffers.
"Guppy, you were never supposed to find out. Those people, our Masters-" Aemae spat the word out with such venom that Virain was taken aback. "Grow sicker with every dose. They'll be gone soon. Her exaltedness Lady Viviketoria will be first, she was spitting up blood last night and soon will drift off in her sleep. It's a merciful death you see Guppy. Once it reaches this stage she'll just....sleep and it will all be over." Her cold trembling hand brushed against his cheek and he flinched back, eyes wide and filled with tears.
"How can- How can you even talk like that Mamae!?" Virain demanded to know, finally wrenching himself free. He skittered back a few steps, putting distance between the two of them. His skin crawled where she'd touched him and it took all of his willpower not to try and brush the feeling off. He shuddered, curling one arm around his chest. "You talk about murdering someone so easily, as if it were about the weather! Or-or what color someone is wearing or what you had for lunch. That's not right Mamae, not right at all."
Aemae frowned at him, her gentle features twisting in disgust once it dawned on her that nothing was going to plan. That her gentle, curious, obedient son was going against her will. "Virain, you will stop this at once and come home. I will not have years of my life wasted on raising you, you ungrateful child!" At the look of mulishness on his face she seemed to snap, "It was a mistake to take you. I should have just left you where you were with my no good excuse for a brother." She snarled out, then said softer, almost to herself, "Why did I ever take in such an ungrateful boy? After all these years of caring for someone else's child!" She gave herself a shake and took one threatening step forward. "One last chance Virain, come home with me, we'll make things right. Everything is almost in place and we'll be nobility! We will be the ones living in luxury while others break their backs toiling away for our pleasures. Never again will you have to wonder when the lash will fall or if they did break something inside this time with that beating." She reached out again, hands open and spread. "Please, Virain, Guppy, please. Don't leave me and your father alone."
Virain could only stare at her in shock, mind latching onto and stalling on only a few of the things she’d said. What? Just....what? He wasn't...he wasn't her child? But...but they looked so similar, they passed off as family and...and it made sense in a twisted way. Thinking back on it he realized that the snide comments about his heritage wasn't just because he was Matorian. He didn't look anything at all like his Papa, even though he had some of his personality. Of course that could just be a quirk of having been raised by the man. But his Mamae? No, Aemae. She lost the right to being called Mother with all of her dishonesty.
Virain looked similar enough to Aemae that he'd never thought about it at all, and no one had given him enough hints to put it all together. He'd heard from the serving staff, the nicer ones, that Aemae had done the impossible when he was little, but now. Now he had to question it. They'd said that her son had been stillborn, or had been born sickly and had been whisked off to some unknown place with her. When she'd returned her son had looked much healthier, but she'd never said who she'd gone to see, or just what she had done.
His mind stumbled over the same set of questions. Had...had she given her sick baby to someone else and gotten him in return? Had she...had she stolen him from someone else? His Uncle? It had to be a lie, it had to be! But before he could open his mouth to shout his denials, Aemae had had enough of waiting for his answer. Lips pressed into a thin line she darted forward, closing the space between them quicker than he could imagine his mother ever moving. Her fingernails left bloody marks along one cheek as she slapped him before using the momentum to grab hold of the neckline of the half shirt he wore. Startled Virain yanked against her grip and felt a line of hot pain along the back of his neck right before he heard something tear. His shirt fluttered down around his waist, held up by the belt and sash he wore. Small thuds against his skin signaled the destruction of the necklace he'd come to cherish, the shells and beads falling harmlessly to the ground.
At that moment Dashika raced out of the underbrush, snarling and snapping. The dark colored Snaptrotter screamed at Aemae and bit out a chunk of her leg when she refused to back down. Crying out the woman took a few unbalanced steps back, dropping the handful of beads and shells she still held, the telltale green glow of healing magic already curling around the wound. Tears welled on those familiar eyes but a certain stubbornness kept them from falling. Dashika wound his way back around Virain, body half curled around his feet and legs in a protective manner. The reptile was still making that low snarling sound, spines spread, waiting for Aemae to make a threatening move towards him. But the woman knew when it was better to retreat, and with one last indescribable look, turned and headed back towards town. Deshika made a sound that could almost be described as annoyed and disappointed, before the snaptrotter slunk off into the underbrush.
Virain stood there, legs shaking as shock settled firmly in. His mother had...hurt him. She'd gotten violent just because he questioned her, denied her the lie she wanted to live. All for what? Some grand perceived plan of being raised to nobility on the graves of her former masters? It was so absurd that he would have laughed had the situation not weighed so heavily on him. Slowly he sunk to the ground, staff clattering as he let it go, vision blurring as the tears finally came.
He wasn't, he wasn't his parents son. The people he'd come to know as family were nothing better than desperate thugs disguised as healers, pretending to be good people for what? Something that would be taken away as soon as others found out what they did. His fath- his, Taha had taught him so much that Virain just couldn't wrap his mind around it. But Taha was so mild of manner, beaten and broken that it didn't take Virain long to cling desperately to the hope that Aemae was behind the plan. That his father who wasn't his by blood was somehow innocent in it all.
As he wept he heard the underbrush rustle and a warm hand fell on his shoulder. Kybell squeezed it, offering him silent comfort. Virain knew that the words spoken between himself and Aemae had unsettled the man, but he didn't know just how the leaf earthling would take it. "We'll deal with her if she tries to come after you again." Kybell said, voice gruff and laced with an emotion that was too dark for Virain to identify through the fog of grief and shock. "We'll also figure out who your real parents are. Come on, sitting here crying isn't going to make things look any better." It took a couple tries but Kybell was able to get him back onto his feet and moving away from the path. In the dirt, discarded, lay the broken necklace that had meant so much to a younger him.
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Posted: Mon Jun 22, 2015 9:27 pm
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Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2015 10:05 am
Class Quest Result
Pass!
Virain has passed and received a rank of Spirit Worker!
Congratulations Virain!
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