The Henge of Denravi - Meet near the fountain and share stories!

[Renn the Dreamer]

*the silly kitty purrs* >^..^<

[Vincalis Ktath]

Awesome stuff you two! I'm afraid I don't have any short stories to add to the thread right now, but if I get inspired you know where I'll come

/salute

[Silverwyng]

*cooks the silly kitty*


come and get it! fresh and hot!

[Renn the Dreamer]

nyuuuuu!

[Kalidri]

I hear assassin is much more tender than cat anyhow and has far fewer parasites to worry about. Not to mention assassins are plentiful. Not near enough kitties.

[FinnFerral]

20k words is the limit to this thread, but I think its 20k characters in reality, so I've had to split this up into parts. Here's the first chunk, and the final part or two following once I've airbrushed it. It's an idea I have had for quite sometime, but I've fleshed it out with a couple of well known characters on these forums. I'd like to thank Army indirectly for giving me the original idea, she started a trend some time ago about creating characters that weren't allowed to access storage until completion of a campaign, and I remember a conversation about how much effort it could take to generate the funds to create decent armor under those self enforced conditions. We see similar things ourselves, like at the supermarket. It's so much easier and much more civilized to buy things prepacked than it is to harvest them yourself.

Charr Hides
Part 1

Finn Ferral stood alone before the giant bonfire, the long mane of his fair hair blowing in the cold night sky as he watched the flames dance and crackle before him. The barren dust of the Ascalon ground at his feet glowed under the erratic pulses of the fires light, casting shadows against the rocks and troughs amongst the infertile soil. The ranger puffed out a deep sigh, as he watched the flames with poignant steel in his grey-blue eyes and listened to the popping and spitting fury of the pyre.

Finn held his hand out before him, opening his grip to stare down at the single claw that he held, and studied it briefly with a distant look of memory in his gaze, before he closed the talon firmly within his grip once more and continued to look out into the fire. The clearing that held the fire was all that mattered to him at that moment in time, and where the light receded and the darkness waited beyond was where all his cares and concerns ended. The circle of illumination inside the clearing was his world, the shadows its walls.

“Finn? Finn Ferral?”

The ranger’s deep contemplations were broken as he turned to stare out to his right towards the direction of the voice. At first, in his dazed state of reverie and with the dancing motion of the light playing tricks on his mind, it seemed like a shimmering apparition was materialising from the dark edges of the clearing. Slowly the apparition revealed color and a shade of autumn rose appeared to take shape around the slender face of a beautiful woman. Finn watched, his mind distant yet his view fixated onto the spritely figure, noting the leather strappings and skirt that was often seen on female rangers. The woman approached carefully, sensing his confusion with a look of great concern within her eyes.

Finally, Finn relaxed, with any thought of reaching for his bow fading as recognition slowly dawned upon his face. “Tavari Tinde?”

The female ranger smiled widely, showing great relief that the ranger before her had acknowledged her properly. From beside her, a great lynx, with chestnut and maple stripes streaked across its flank, came into view. Its feline eyes viewed the male ranger from behind a soft snowy muzzle and a gentle growl was produced from its throat that Finn recognised as a means of self-introduction from the animal companion.

“You remember Shadow Paw?” Tavari smiled, indicating her pet as her eyes continued to study Finn’s from across the clearing.

Finn smiled, and Tavari noted an element of sadness in his expression. “Of course,” the male ranger replied. He looked back up at the woman, his eyes showing more awareness of his surroundings at last. “How did you know to find me here?”

“I was in Piken. Some of the Armsmen mentioned you had passed through earlier. And then I saw the woodfire.”

“You came looking for me?”

Tavari’s look of concern deepened, and Finn noted that she was almost acting cautiously, as if she was carefully choosing her actions and words. Tavari looked past Finn and to the burning pyre beyond, at the centre of the clearing. “I had sensed something was wrong,” she replied, looking back at the ranger with apprehension, “even before I had arrived at Piken.”

The distant glaze in Finn’s eyes returned and he stared out into the fire, his gaze wide and unblinking as if he was immune to the glare and temperature of the flames. “There’s nothing wrong, T. I’m fine.”

Tavari sighed, her hand reaching down to knead at the soft hair behind Shadow Paw’s left ear. She followed Finn’s direction of view towards the large fire. “Where is Unguis?”

Finn’s expression tightened, his dour look grimacing as his eyes tightened into glowering slits. Immediately, Tavari regretted her words, and her understanding of the situation came clear as she stared widely at the funeral pyre before her. “Oh Finn, I’m so sorry.”

Finn snorted, as he looked down at the sharp talon in his hand. “You always did have a synopsis with him.”

Tavari began to approach, to comfort the ranger before her, but she sensed his anger and impetuous self-brooding that made her stop short. “That bear was like a brother to you. And you have always been a good friend of mine. Of course I had an empathy with him.”

As Finn turned to look at her, Tavari could not distinguish what feelings showed as more prevalent within the soup of emotions fighting towards the surfaces of his eyes. Anger, regret, loneliness, there was so much confusion, so much pain. “You had that much empathy,” the male ranger spoke, “that you came running to find out what was wrong?”

“Finn...,” Tavari pleaded for his human nature to return, “I came looking for you. I knew something was troubling you. Somehow, I just knew.” Her honest emotions were displayed across her eyes, her genuine concern for the man before her flashing reflections from the burning flames nearby.

“That bear had been by my side for six years, Tav. Six years. I saw him grow from a young pup into a loyal, stout companion.” Finn opened his palm for Tavari to see the claw in his palm. “And now he is gone.”

A tear escaped Tavari’s eye as she looked at the talon in Finn’s hand. She looked down at Shadow Paw, the lynx’s composure had softened in a similar fashion, its sense of awareness reflecting within its manners, as if it had detected the mixed emotions from the two humans nearby. Tavari imagined just how heartbroken she would feel if she ever lost her cat. She could only imagine what pain Finn was going through right now.

“How….how did it happen?” Tavari asked delicately.

Finn let out a sarcastic laugh which reminded Tavari just how erratic Finn’s sanity was right now. There was an unpredictable nature about the man beside her, a man that she had always known so well. But she sensed the high levels of despair and manic instability within him that kept her cautious and uneasy about her long-trusted friend.

“Charr,” Finn almost appeared to laugh again, as if his current plight was a source of private humor. “Isn’t everything the fault of those mongrels these days?” It was more of a rhetoric question, as if Finn was addressing the singed lands around him more than the female ranger at his side.

“We were a few days north of the Breach,” he continued, without any further prompting. “There were reports of renewed efforts by the Charr to claim territory towards the square. We had slowly pushed their forces back and it was clear the cause for battle was slowly fading in their ranks. The Charr are all but beaten now, Tavari. Their main army has been pushed back to the borders of their homeland. It’s not like they can cause much more damage is it? Most groups of Charr we encounter these days are just warbands separated from the greater force, struggling for survival. But this was a more concerted effort, something the Armsmen hadn’t had to encounter for quite some time.

“I was tracking what we thought was a lone group. There were a few Armsmen nearby, but as usual I preferred to work alone. I had located tracks leading towards a valley just east of the lowlands and I knew we had them trapped. There was no access north into the Gullet, and we had them right were we wanted them. I called a few of the Armsmen to me and we headed out.” Finn’s distant view towards the fire was broken and he turned to look into Tavari’s eyes as if searching for forgiveness. “We all wanted revenge, T. It seems like a natural trait for an Ascalonian to have a vendetta against the beasts. Like we have no other clear ambitions anymore, other than to reclaim what we have lost by taking the heads from their pitiful shoulders.

“Shortly after we entered the chasm they came at us. Dozens of them, all around us. They were organized, Tav. They had waited for us, barking their laughter at us, calling us meat. We tried to fight, but our monk fell almost instantly and there was nothing to do but retreat. I saw another Armsman fall, he couldn’t have been much more than seventeen, T. And I could do nothing.”

Tavari reached out to touch Finn on his shoulder, but he vaguely acknowledged the expression of care. “We fought for our lives, fighting the Charr that were blocking our escape. The moment we found a gap, we fled, but the beasts were at our heels. I sensed Unguis was no longer at my side and I turned around to see he had taken the fight to the Charr. I called out to him, to run from the battle, but he didn’t listen. He didn’t respond, Tav. He didn’t listen. And the armsmen dragged me away from him.”

The fire spat flares into the night sky as Finn prised open his fingers once more, looking down at the talon. “We returned later that night with the full force of the guard. The beastmen didn’t stand a chance against our full brigade. I found Unguis dead amongst a pile of the beasts. He had slain half a dozen Charr and had helped us escape. He had sacrificed himself so that we could live.”

Finn stepped away from Tavari then, as if shamed by her touch. “And it was my fault.” Looking down at the claw of his lost pet, Finn released a roar of self disgust and threw the talon towards the funeral pyre with anger, before turning away to shield himself from the light that revealed his emotions. Tavari watched with aghast as the last remaining memory of the bear flew across the clearing towards the pyre.

There was a silence that was only interrupted by the crackle of the flames and a soft moaning growl from Shadow Paw. Finn was faced away, towards the darkness, his hands brought to his face as if he was holding his sanity in place. Tavari approached slowly, noting the several days growth of facial hair against his chin, the subtle streaks of grime against his cheeks that hinted of dried tears and the windswept tangles of his long blond hair.

“How are you doing, Finn?” Tavari asked, gently. She had always remembered the ranger as being full of laughter and joy before. It was so disheartening to see him this way.

The male ranger laughed manically again. “Despite the fact I’m broke, I’m homeless and petless? Despite the fact that the Armsmen don’t trust me to lead their scout groups anymore? Despite the fact that I hate myself?” He sighed and swept his hands through his hair, checking the bow at his back and ensuring his slender belt pouch was secure. “But, there’s no point dwelling in the past is there? That’s all I have been doing these past few months.” He turned, preparing to walk away.

“Where are you going?” Tavari asked.

“To Ascalon. I need to get my life back on track. I need food and money.”

“I can help you,” Tavari pleaded.

“No. This is my mess. I can do this alone.”

Finn turned back to look at her squarely in the eyes. Then his view roamed around her face, and he absorbed the beauty of her pixie like face and the cascading cinnamon hair that cuddled her head. “It’s good to see you again, Tavari,” Finn smiled, before turning to look at he lynx prowling at her side. “And you Shadow Paw.” Finn looked up at Tavari again, and the female ranger sensed that Finn wanted to take the conversation somewhere, but he paused as if to think otherwise. And then the burning flames caught his attention.

“Take care of your companion, T,” Finn finished, as he turned to head away into the darkness. “They know things about us more than we tend to realise.”

Tavari watched the tall ranger disappear into the darkness, towards the direction of Ascalon. Shadow Paw released a high-pitched whine as he disappeared. “I know, love,” Tavari muttered to her cat. “Don’t worry. We’ll keep an eye on him. If I know Finn, he’s just about to get himself into more trouble, isn’t he? Let’s make sure we don’t lose track of him, huh?”

Shadow Paw purred with agreement before padding towards the edge of the clearing that Finn had exited from. Before following, Tavari Tinde turned to look at the funeral pyre and noted the object that lay in the broken ground nearby. Carefully she approached the fire, protecting her face from the heat with the use of a leather-bound gauntlet. She reached down to grasp the object on the floor, and lifted the large bear claw from the ground. She clasped it firmly in her hand and a slow, sad smile of remembrance reached her face.

~*~

The crumbling remains of Ascalon City surrounded him as Finn approached the stone compartment, built into one of the eastern walls of the fort. The ranger paused, bringing the torn parchment in his hand towards him.

Tracker wanted. Two platinum. Seek Lady Aranoia for details.

Finn had torn the note from an advertisement post in the centre of the market sprawl. Further questions he had directed at passers by had led him to this place. Sighing at his situation, he looked at the closed wooden door before bolstering his approach. He stepped forwards and knocked against the wood with his gloved hand.

Seconds later a young man pulled the door wide from the inside. The man was broad at the shoulders, dark haired and pale skinned. An effort to grow a beard had produced a semi-successful state of dark, wiry strands around his chin. His eyes gloated with self importance behind heavy, drooping eyelids. The man stared at Finn with a look of disgust, his gaze looking the weather-bruised ranger up and down and his nose furrowing in scorn. “Yes? Can I help you?”

Finn’s dour expression didn’t change as the boy beheld him. “I’m here for work. I found this note at the market.”

The young man looked Finn up and down once more, as if hesitating slowly. For a moment Finn expected the boy to turn him away, but the door was wrenched open further as an older, middle-aged woman pushed past the boy to stare at the ranger with enthusiasm. Her hair was long and black, with signs of royal grey, her eyelids heavy in a similar fashion to the younger man beside her. She brushed a thick eyebrow and swept her hair over her shoulder as she forced her way to the perimeter of the door.

“A ranger? Perfect.” She smiled.

There was a look of similar surprise then, as the woman surveyed the tall man at her door, and Finn witnessed the same look of disapproval as he had done from the younger man at her side. “Well,” she hesitated, “well. I was expecting someone more…heroic I suppose. But never mind. I’ve been waiting hours for someone to respond. I’m glad you came. Please, make yourself welcome.” She turned away leaving the young boy to look at Finn with contempt. Finn raised his eyebrows towards the boy, challenging him to speak his mind, but the boy just stepped aside and Finn ducked through the doorway to enter the abode.

“My name is Velanoir Aranoia,” the woman introduced herself as Finn followed her into a modest entrance room. “This is my son, Leonard.” The young boy pushed past Finn to follow her, then looked outward with disgust as he realised he had made contact with the ranger, his hand reaching up to brush at his shoulder with a sneer.

Finn was more interested in his surroundings. A number of mannequins lined the room, sporting several layers of tailored garments. Many were unfinished, with drapes of cloth or fur hanging loosely at their sides. Needles poked from several of the humanoid shapes, with the tails of cotton threads hanging from their ends. It was almost like a comical torture room to Finn, as if several giant sized voodoo dolls were staring at him from across the chamber.

Lady Aranoia turned and smiled as the ranger took stock of the surroundings. “As you may have guessed, I am a tailor. One of the finest in Ascalon. I am also blessed to be married to one of the better blacksmiths in town. You may have heard of Banoit Aranoia’s work.” She looked up at him expectantly.

Finn paused to remember. “He makes the reputed Ascalon armor at the market.”

“Very good,” the woman smiled proudly, before repeating her introspection of the ranger’s attire. “Some of his best work has gone into Ascalon’s proudest battles. There is no shortage of Charr hides these days, and they do make the best padding for our warriors, if I do say so myself.”

“Velanoir, I am…”

“Lady Aranoia,” the woman corrected.

Finn paused, a grim look in his face. “Lady Aranoia,” he offered with impatience, “My name is Finn Ferral. I am here for work. Something about tracking?”

“Of course,” she replied, her eyes hovering over the dirty leatherwork of Finn’s breast guard. “Please forgive me. I should have known you wouldn’t be interested in the finer arts of tailor ship.”

She approached a mannequin at the far side of the room, with Leonard coming to stand beside her. Finn noted that the size and shape of the doll was equal to the broad frame of the young man. Several clasps of broiled leather had been worked into shoulder pads and girth-shaped frames around the mould of the mannequin, as if the beginnings of a great suit of armor had been borne from its shape. Lady Aranoia reached out to touch the suit of armor, stroking it gently with pride before reaching out to her son and holding him across the breadth of his shoulders. “Many fine armors we have made, Mr. Ferral. Always a work of art. Our standards have reached a level beyond even our own expectations.”

Finn began to fidget again, wondering if he had made a mistake and was wasting his time here. Sensing his impatience, Lady Aranoia continued faster. “But the time has come for Leonard here to receive his first suit of Ascalon armor, and I am determined that for my son, we will make the finest armor Ascalon has ever seen.” Leonard raised his stance proudly as his mother launched into an animated declaration. “Something different, something spectacular, something that will make my Leonard look like the real warrior that he is.”

Finn turned a bemused look at the young man by the woman’s side. Somehow the notion made him want to laugh, and Leonard sensed the look of ridicule in the ranger. “Go on,” Finn encouraged Lady Aranoia to continue before Leonard responded to his look.

“As you may well know, Ascalon armor is made of Charr hides, but it has come to my attention that a small warband of Charr have been attacking several caravans to the west. You may have noticed a slight food shortage in town recently? They have been stealing the goods inbound from Kryta.”

“I live off the land quite comfortably,” Finn lied, sensing the hunger rumble in his stomach. “What concern should I have for the food levels of Ascalon City.”

“These Charr are albino!” declared Lady Aranoia, her eyes sparkling with glory.

“Albino?” Finn paused for a moment, wondering what importance the color of a Charr’s fur could mean to him. Albino in a Charr was certainly rare. In all the years of fighting the beasts, the ranger had never encountered anything other than the tawny, brown or fiery red haired type. He could not recollect ever meeting one with white fur and pink eyes.

“Don’t you see?” smiled Lady Aranoia. “We have had many alchemists come to us, offering white dyes and various other color infusements, but whatever we have tried, nothing has worked the way we want. Nothing has been good enough for our Leonard’s armor.” The woman turned to stand behind her son, her arms reaching up to Leonard’s broad shoulders again as the young man smiled arrogantly back at Finn. “But with the finest Ascalon armor made from the rarest albino charr hide…..”

Finn looked back at the mannequin, with the multitude of pins and needles projecting from its torso.

“…my son will look legendary.”

[Silverwyng]

Finn's greatest adventure yet: to wipe that smug and arrogant smile off Leonard's face and revenge for his companion!

it's clobberin' time!

[Tavari Tinde]

Awww thanks for putting Tav in this story... you make her sound so awesome ^^

I love the emotions you portrayed. We finally get to see the more serious side of Finn, rather than the one who hides behind smaller rangers :p.

As for the Lady... *shudders as images of Cruella DeVil comes to mind*

Poor bear =(

[Sjeng]

Hi, well, I'm absolutely a first time writer here, so I think this fits best in the "little bits of fiction around the fountain" category, which is here ^^
I've written a little bit of bio background for all my characters, but for my first character, Sonya Fireheart (guess which profession she's got ^^), I've written just a little bit more. So here it is:

At the age of 12, Sonya was living a peacefull life on a farm in Ascalon, in Lakeside County near Ashford Abbey. She spent a lot of time exploring the lands around her home, and came to take a liking to the snow-covered mountains of Wizard's Folly. Her parents often worried about their adventuring daughter, and warned her about the dangers of the mountains. There had been rumours of great golems made of ice and stone, that would sometimes attack an innocent traveller if provoked.
On an exceptionally foggy autumnday, Sonya had been exploring quite a lot, and discovered a mysterious tower in Wizards Folly. Dispite the warnings of her parents, she went to investigate. She couldn't see far in the thick fog, so she moved slowly and carefully towards the looming tower. It was a great double spire, that looked as if it had been made of ice. At the top, there seemed to be some sort of chamber, but she couldn't find an entrance anywhere. She imagined it to be the home of some great wizard, who had conjured the stone and ice elementals that were wandering the lands.
All of a sudden she heard shouting. She froze in place and looked around for the source of the sound, but she couldn't see anything but fog. She heard it again, and this time she thought she recognized her mother's voice. She jumped, and ran back the way she came, taking great strides to avoind tripping over rocks. She ran into a little clearing, and to her shock she saw her mother standing against a mountain wall, surrounded by 2 gigantic shapes. Her mother screamed in fear as she saw her little daughter, who she had been looking for all afternoon, and tried to run to her, but the ice elements were blocking her way. "Run Sonya! Run home!", she yelled, but Sonya couldn't do anything. She panicked and looked around for something to distract the ice elementals with. She threw a rock at one of them, but it just bounced off it's icy back. They closed in on her mother, who now crouched in a ball against the base of the wall. Sonya felt the fear of losing her mother creeping in her mind, and she desparately wanted to save her and scare away the golems. She picked up a long branch lying near a tree, and ran screaming at the nearest golem. Blind with fear and anger she swiped it at her foes. The elementals turned around to face her, seemingly surprised by this interruption. But instead of attacking her, they stood motionless and she continued waving her branch around. Sonya closed her eyes and screamed: "Run, mother, run!". She felt a sudden heat blazing up inside of her, and feared she would die at that very moment. She braced for the impact of a great icy arm, holding her branch out in fromt of her. Then there was the sound of a great thunder, and a flash of red she could see even through her closed eyes. Then silence...
When she opened her eyes, she didn't see the golems anymore. She saw her mother staring at her unbelievingly. No, she wasn't staring at Sonya, but rather at the branch she was holding. Sonya moved her eyes from her mother to the branch, and saw it was completely charred and smoking. Only then did she notice the puddles of steaming water at her feet.
It wasn't long after that her parents decided to take Sonya to the Nolani Academy, and ask the scholars there what it could have been that she had done that day. The scholars looked extremely happy after hearing the story, and told her she had an extraordinary gift: the gift to manipulate the elements. She learned she had unwittingly cast a fireball with her makeshift wand, instantly melting the ice golems. They offered her a scholarship, in return for her aid to the King in times of need. She quickly accepted, as she was overjoyed at hearing she had the makings of becoming an elementalist, just like the wizard in the great tower of Wizards Folly.
It had been 7 years at the Academy, when Sonya graduated as a Fire Mage, and the King had decreed that every man and woman able to fight the Charr threat must come to Ascalon City to enlist in his army, and so it was that Sonya traveled to Ascalon City.
After having served the King during the Great Searing, she cofounded a guild called the Limburgse Jagers, and gained many friends over time through this guild. Fellow adventurers, warriors and wizards of all kinds, joined her and with the aid of her friends of the Limburgse Jagers guild, she has since defeated the Undead Lich that threatened Tyria, and Shiro in Cantha, and is now on her way to fight Abaddon's forces in Elona.

[the forests wisper]

As for the Lady... *shudders as images of Cruella DeVil comes to mind*
Poor bear =(

i agree, it is cruella devil like, but this is char we talking not puppies so im all gd with it.

as for the bear bit it was an "awwww" moment

*regains manly composure*

EDIT: ohh another fic to read :D ill read that now