Danforth
Mercenary
Posts: 2
Profession: Farmer
Affinity: Anima
OoC Alias: Marc
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Post by Danforth on Sept 11, 2019 16:30:10 GMT -6
Desperation can make a man do funny things. It can take an otherwise upstanding individual and turn him into the greatest hero or the vilest villain. For Danforth, it had taken a farmer and clumsily forged him into a wannabe mercenary. He felt a little foolish standing in the city center of Santaruz, looking the way he did. His armor was little more than some bits of leather his brother used to hunt and his sword had been a ploughshare days earlier. If it weren’t for the fact that he was clearly a grown man, he would have looked like a child playing at being a knight. Still, a couple of decades of hard farm work had made Danforth a strong man. Even if he couldn’t swing a sword with any amount of skill, he could swing it really, really hard. This had yet prove to any mercenary he had met that he was up to task.
Danforth had been in Santaruz for several hours now and he had already visited every guild establishment and tavern in the city, searching for someone to help him rescue his wife and daughter. The answer, if not the reasoning was always the same: No. Most of the guilds he had visited had either set their price tags insanely high. They had livings to make, and even the promise of the numerous bounties on Durza’s Boys was not enough to sway them. “The bounties are our bonus, not our wages,” one mercenary captain had told him, laughing uproariously in his face. A few of the other guilds had extended him their sympathies but were already stretched far too thin dealing with the monster crisis to offer him any help. And of course, one gods-damned guild had implied that dealing with Durza’s Boys was beneath them. Danforth had left cursing their names, tears stinging at the corner of his eyes.
So now, he found himself in the center of the city, frustrated and no closer to rescuing his family than when he had started. He flopped miserably against the wall of a tavern, practically on the verge of breaking down in public. His eyes turned skyward. Danforth had never been a particularly religious, but if the prayer of a desperate man could sway the gods to send someone his way, he was willing to try. Please, he pleaded, I don’t know what I did to deserve this, but I swear if you send someone to help me, I’ll say my prayers every night and donate more to the temple. Please, just give me my family back!
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Aeos
Dragon
A Nabatan Dragon in human guise, with a love of food and traveling.
Posts: 441
Profession: Wandering Dragon
Affinity: Light
Dragon Element: Air
Profile: Aeos Profile
OoC Alias: Twilightfairy
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Post by Aeos on Sept 16, 2019 18:41:36 GMT -6
How long had it been since he last hit civilization? Weeks? Months? He left Bern in the most difficult way possible. He took to the mountain ranges in an attempt to better his own magic. He figured the mountains with their vast range and inhospitable conditions would be perfect for his growth. He hunted like a wild animal. Ambushing all sorts of mountain animal in his half dragon from, for it's meat and fat. He flew through the air at night. In order to help rebuild his wing muscles. The constant climbing up and down the mountain ranges to gather resources helped to bulk his body back up. He wasn't quite at the shape that he was prior to the shipwreck. But, he was no longer a skinny, starving, looking stick of a man. Unfortunately, for him, the mountain ranges of the world do not link up with one another. In order to reach the next mountain range he needed to descend the mountains of Bern and cross through Lycia a little. And that's what got him here.
And now that he was here, he needed to tone his magic back. Humans didn't like dragons. And Humans also didn't like strangers. Especially, strangers who looked and probably smelled like a wandering hobo. But, he needed to cross through here. He needed to restock his supplies. He needed to take a bath. Like.. a real long one. With hot water and soap. He had little in the way of human funds. But, the dragon knew how to work with his hands. He knew how to fight. He knew that he could find work in some way. He approached a tavern, hoping to find some sort of notice board for work, or a farmer in need of a few extra hands. What he found was a sad sight. Of a man staring up at the sky. Looking desperate. He decided to distract the man for a moment. Perhaps his words may snap him out of whatever sad thought he was thinking.
"Excuse me." The dragon in human guise spoke to the man. His voice was horce. Sore. Sore from all of the wind breath he had practiced up in the mountains. He'd gotten better at it.
"Do you know if the tavern is hiring?"
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Danforth
Mercenary
Posts: 2
Profession: Farmer
Affinity: Anima
OoC Alias: Marc
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Post by Danforth on Sept 23, 2019 17:07:48 GMT -6
Danforth sat against that wall for what seemed like an eternity. In all of his desperation, the world he knew seemed to be slipping away from him inch by inch, and for the life of him, he knew not why. All of his life, he had tried and tried to be the best man that he could be. The best son he could be. The farmer he could be. The best husband, father, and brother that he could be. Sure, there had been times where he had faltered. Blossom was something of an unruly child and, as much as he loved her, he had once or twice raised his voice at her. There was also that time, three or four years past. The harvest had been rather rough and Danforth had, if only slightly, overvalued his crops in order to get his family through the winter. It wasn’t like the produce had been spoiled, though. It had just been of a lesser quality than he usually brought to market. Surely, that wasn’t enough of a sin for him to be punished like this.
If it wasn’t his sins that had brought this tragedy upon him, perhaps it was fate moving pieces into place. There were plenty of books that his father had collected that had stories of this sort. A young hero, faced with some overwhelming catastrophe, takes up their sword and faces evil head on, gaining allies and strange new abilities along the way. The only difference here was that Danforth was not a young hero. He was a farmer well into the middle of his life, with little more to defend him than a homemade sword. Additionally, he had yet to find any talented accomplices or gain any astonishing powers that heroes in those books often seemed to have. So, in fact, this was very much not like those books his father had collected after all.
He very likely could have stayed lost in his thoughts against that tavern wall for the rest of his life, were it not for the stranger that approached him. His words snapped Danforth back to clarity, his head floating gently back down to meet the stranger’s gaze. “You won’t have much luck in there, I’m afraid,” he replied, glumly hooking his thumb backward in the direction of the establishment. “Unless you’re lookin’ to fight some monsters or somethin’.” Danforth was about to let him leave and resume his wallowing when the realization hit him. This stranger was looking for work, and judging by the look of him, he wasn’t trying to tend bar or clean tables. Danforth leaped to his feet and maneuvered in front of the stranger. “B-but, if, y’know… if it’s work you’re lookin’ for, I may have a job for ya. It- It’s mah wife, y’see. And mah daughter too! They’ve been kidnapped! By some real awful types. Ah… I don’t have a lot of money, but the people that took ‘em all have bounties on their heads. That’s oughta be worth somethin’! Please! Ya gotta help me! I’m desperate! Everyone else turned me away…” The desperation in Danforth’s voice was evident as he struggled to get all of the words out in a cohesive order, tears barely restrained in the corners of his eyes.
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Aeos
Dragon
A Nabatan Dragon in human guise, with a love of food and traveling.
Posts: 441
Profession: Wandering Dragon
Affinity: Light
Dragon Element: Air
Profile: Aeos Profile
OoC Alias: Twilightfairy
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Post by Aeos on Sept 23, 2019 17:39:25 GMT -6
Aeos waited patiently for the man to answer his question. And when he did, the dragon in human guise seemed slightly disappointed. It seemed that the only work that remained were that of a fighter. And while Aeos himself was no stranger to fighting, he was simply, tired of it. Fighting, meant that he would have to work with humans. And fighting meant that he would have to tap into the powers of his dragon stone to fight off other humans or monsters for something. Which.. meant he needed to be cautious of his own power to protect the people he would inevitably be forced to work with. And.. he.. was tired of that. At least for right now. The months up in the mountains did wonders to help hone his craft. The mountains granted him a certain sort of freedom with his magic that would be lost if he had to work with humans. But, if that was the only sort of work left, then he would have to do it.
"Yes then? Thank you sir." The dragon in human guise dismissed the man. He was about to walk past him and make his way into the tavern when he was stopped. It seemed that the human had more to say. And so, he listened. This poor family man was going through a terrible hardship. His wife and daughter kidnapped by bandits ruthless enough to have a bounty on their heads. And Aeos could hear the desperation in his voice. This man didn't seem to be lying either. Even though he needed gold it didn't feel right, to take it from this man. Even if it was earned.
"What.. can.. you offer that is not.. money?" He spoke. And by the gods did it hurt him to speak.
"Food? Bed?" He then made a motion to his throat.
"Hot drink?"
Aeos sighed softly. He did not receive a suitable response from the man. He wanted to help this sir reclaim his family. He really did. But, he couldn't do it for free. The dragon was already tapped out of his own resources and was in a desperate need to reclaim them. He dismissed himself from the stranger's presence and went on his way.
(Leaves thread)
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