• Closed • Another Man's Treasure

[Tio Silver]

The Buckle & Chain, Almund
5th Ymiden, 718

"Dammit! Get off of me feather-brain!"

It had been five days now since Tio had received the blessing of Tarouz; a set of intricate wing styled tattoos on his forearms that he swore seemed to rustle in the breeze. The actual mark was pretty cool looking, but the spirit that accompanied it was turning out to be... difficult to live with. Diva was an apt name for the peacock shaped spirit, since the feathery little git just would not stop acting like a complete drama queen! Whenever he tried to step outside of the house with so much as a hair out of place she would swoop down out of nowhere in a torrent of flapping and fury to relentlessly peck at him until he fixed his appearance! It was so annoying! Even now as he sat on the roof of the Buckle & Chain, swigging from a bottle of rum under the light of the midday sun, the infernal avian would not leave him alone! It pecked at the collar of his jacket, straightening it even though there was literally nobody else around to see him, and sending an unending stream of disapproval through their mental connection as it lamented being assigned to someone so scruffy.

"Look, if you don't want to be seen with me then go... I don't know... scout around the area? There must be something interesting going on that you can watch. Go flap you wings or something!"

With a huff the spirit took off, flying away over the rooftops of Almund. Now the distraction had gone Tio returned to what he was doing; trying to make sense of the faded treasure map flapping gently in the sea breeze. It had been in his possession for a long time now, ever since he had won it from the ghost of the Dread Pirate Roberts about an arc ago (and what a night that had been.) He'd always meant to follow it one day, but had never quite gotten around to it due to the fact that the place it led to was bloody terrifying!

Off Topic

A Description of the Map
Time had taken its toll on the old piece of parchment. Vibrant colours had turned dull, clear black lines reduced to pale shadows, and crisp corners had curled and dried like gnarled old roots. But despite the effect of the ages the map had yet to loose any of its presence. Drawn with a neat, practiced hand and illustrated with fanciful drawings of shadowy monsters, the map was more of a work of art than an effective guide. It detailed Scaltoth Jungle in all its savage glory, with a thick red line cutting through the trees to reach a bloody X somewhere in the deep forest.

Yet as terrifying as Scaltoth had been during his past visits, the thought of the treasure awaiting him within continued to pull at his mind like a fisherman pulling in a catch. Every day time dulled his fear, and without it the urge to seek out the awaiting fortune grew stronger. It had reached the point now where he kept thinking about it whenever he had nothing to occupy his mind, and with his piracy raid completed for the season he now had little else to think about. He was going back, it was all but decided. Now it was just a matter of when.

A squawk rang out from high above in the sky, and Tio rolled his eyes as Diva came swooping back down towards him. Dear lord what was it now? Could he not get a moment's peace from this feathery fashionista?

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[Navyri]

"What if I fall?"

Oh but darling
What if you fly?

5th of Ymiden, 718

Music played in the bazaar, bright and jaunty with gitterns and drums. Navyri moved wildly across the small opening, twirling and jumping, each beat of music flowing through her body with a powerful urgency. Onlookers clapped and cheered, some spurred on by her shameless display and joined her, mostly Biqaj, and together they danced.

Dark hair curled beneath the hot suns, sweat building upon the nap of neck and small of her back. She felt a tickle between the slope of her breasts as beads of perspiration rolled downward, seeking haven on her tanned stomach. Someone grabbed her hand.

A man.

Navyri grinned, sliding beneath his arm and allowing him to twirl her, great wings opening and dipping in graceful reception. The song began to slow, its ending nearing and she pulled free, gave a great beat of her wings and lept, the wind pulling her up and into the skies. The air currents circled around the shopping center; audible gasps of relief from overheated citizens sounded as the breeze washed over them and it pleased her. The Naer spun pirouetted in the air and came landing down just as the sound stopped, much to the approval of the crowd.

Having been dancing for fun, Navyri did not expect the coins that came popping out of pockets, thrown at her feet in appreciation. She was taken aback and then laughed, offering a row of theatrical bows.

“Stick around for another song?” she looked up to see one of the musicians speaking, his own instrument case being filled with money. Apparently her participation didn’t only affect her.

She began to say yes but an urgent image flashed in her mind, followed by a powerful sense of curiosity. Curio stood perched on the roof of a shop, staring into the distance at a creature soaring through the skies. No, not a creature…

A bird. A familiar.

The woman jerked to look behind her, spotting it just as it dipped over the horizon and she gave a dismissive wave towards the bard, “I have to go now.” She dropped to the ground and greedily snatched up her new money, shoving the coins into her pockets and racing to grab a few shopping bags from earlier in the day.

Racing through the crowd, she felt her lungs burn from all the physical exertion, Curio soaring after. He kept eyes on the bird and while she could have flown, with such encumbrance, it proved challenging. Luckily, it didn’t take long to reach the target’s destination. She rounded the corner just as it landed before a blonde man on the roof and Navyri’s stomach dropped.

Delroth?

Breathless, she took a step forward, barely revealing herself and then stopped, noticing the Tarouz mark on the man’s arms. Not Delroth. He looked up, speaking to the bird, and the Naer spotted his face. Tio Silver. A cold disgust gripped her chest, “You,” she whispered, fists clenching tighter around the bags in her hand, “You….”

The gold eater. The smug one. The man who had stolen from her. Hot fury reddened her cheeks and she took the skies, the details of his blessing becoming clearing the closer she came, “If it isn’t the competitive gentleman.”

The sound of bags being dropped to the rooftop sounded, Navyri swooping downward like a righteous Valkyrie, trying to snatch at the mans shoulder with sharped claws, “You owe me,” she hissed, her blue eyes burning, “You-”

Delroth had marked him?

Jealousy. That was it. This unfamiliar feeling, “That spot was mine. Mine! What did you do?"

[Tio Silver]

Diva perched herself down on the chimney nearby, remaining uncharacteristically silent for once. Tio was just about to ask why she'd come back when a shadow crossed over his face. He tried to look up at what was casting it, but his one good eye couldn't stand to look so near to the sun. All he could make out was something coming towards him. A bird? It certainly had wings, but the silhouette didn't look quite right...

"If it isn’t the competitive gentleman."

His eye finally adjusted to the light just as figure spoke, and Tio was suddenly struck by a strong feeling of familiarity. He knew that voice! And that face!

"Bird-lady!" He cried happily, blissfully unaware of how peeved off with him she was. Or at least he was unaware for about a second, until he noticed the thunderous scowl on her face. In the blink of an eye she was right in front of him, clawed hands grasping onto his shoulder tightly, and Tio couldn't help but yelp in pain.

"Ack! Yah, get off me! You know you were a lot nicer when you were a bird!" He hissed, trying and failing to lever his arm free without getting it lacerated. What was it with Delroth and his followers grabbing him in the vulnerable spots during polite conversation? "I didn't do anything! You're the one who moved my orb into the right spot! Fate had decided that I needed to be in the final round, that's all!"

He finally managed to wiggle his arm out of her grip and retreated a few steps backwards, raising his hands in a placating gesture. This lady looked about ready to kill him, and while he usually found that sort of thing strangely attractive, the fact that they were on the roof of a rather high building made him not want to push his luck this time. "You know you honestly might have dodged an arrow in this case. The final round was messed up! Seriously! I mean it was a lot of fun, sure, but there were talking whales, city-wide graveyards full of murderous skeletons and all sorts of other crazy skich! I even lost my bloody eye!" He pointed to his eyepatch as if it had been possible to miss it. "Do you really think it would be worth going through all that for Daddy Delroth's sake? He didn't even take me out to dinner afterwards! Just gave me a colourful chicken that won't stop pecking me!"

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[Navyri]

"What if I fall?"

Oh but darling
What if you fly?

5th of Ymiden, 718

“Exactly! You didn’t do anything! You don’t know anything.”

Tio squirmed like an unearthed worm in her control, the Naer loosening her grip so that he could free himself. Truly, she debated pushing him off the ledge, the image playing in her mind more than once. She could play it like an accident to the Scalvoris authorities. She could lie and say in an effort to impress her, he had balanced along the ledge and slipped. Not everyone had wings, after all…

Navyri took a step forward as Tio rambled.

"You know you honestly might have dodged an arrow in this case. The final round was messed up!…”

She took another step, blue eyes fixated dangerously on the blonde. Was he still talking?

”…I even lost my bloody eye!”

Navyri stopped, looking at the eyepatch Tio himself pointed to. He was… telling the truth?

“Do you really think it would be worth going through all that for Daddy Delroth sake? He didn’t even take me to dinner afterwards!…”

“You really don’t know anything, do you?” Navyri snapped, neither moving closer, nor farther away, “My name is Navyri, not bird-lady, and if you call me that again-” she glanced down at her own familiar that was now perched on a piece of chimney, the peacock craning its long neck to examine the owl. Curio seemed equally fascinated but was playing coy.

“It’ll be the last thing you do…” Navyri wanted to clap her hands and order him to stop any sort of association with the other spirit, but he had begun bobbing his head. The peacock began to do the same, mirroring him. In other circumstance, it would have been quite funny. She had never seen him interact with another Tarouz familiar, but being two pieces of the same immortal, the interaction was quite unique.

It stole some of her wrath, “I’ve lost both my eyes for Delroth’s sake… I’ve lost my life.” What she was saying wouldn’t make much sense to a man who didn’t understand her own history, but it didn’t matter. “Delroth has abandoned an entire race born by his hand. If you think he’ll bother thanking you…”

She looked him up and down, clearly appraising his worth and wasn’t impressed. All he seemed to her was a pretty face, “Then you don’t have the good sense he gave a goose.” Much of her jealousy faded when she realized they had been given similar treatment. Not the same, but close.

Behind her, Curio fanned his wings and began hoping back and forth, followed by the peacock, although with a much grander display. Navyri huffed, spinning around to glare at the two, “You still owe me,” Navyri announced to Tio, waving a clawed hand in his direction, as if their birds didn’t bother her in the slightest, “What’s that?”

Finally, she took notice to the parchment in his hand, and crossed her arms, waiting.

All she wanted was a compensation, after all.

[Tio Silver]

Tio stepped back as Navyri said he knew nothing a second time, wincing over-dramatically and feigning being shot through the heart. "Ouch. Now you're just being mean. I'll have you know that I know several things. And none of them are boring."

Judging by her expression, it seemed to Tio that his assailant might be having some sort of minor crisis of conscience. She seemed torn between killing him and... well, killing him in a slightly less brutal manner. Neither of those options seemed very appealing to him, but he still held out hope that they could settle this without resorting to violence. He had a sneaking suspicion that if it came to a fight, he'd loose.

When the bird-lady introduced her name as Navyri, Tio silently mouthed the word to himself. It felt awkward on his tongue, as all proper names did, and he resolved not to use it unless it was important. Nicknames were so much more fitting than real names after all. Though he had to admit that bird-lady was not his most creative alias; he'd have to think up something new. Navyri had said not to call her 'bird-lady', but she hadn't said anything about other nicknames...

His thoughts returned to more serious matters as Navyri calmed down a little, her anger seeming to bleed away into some form of melancholy. She'd lost both of her eyes? And her life? If that was true then she'd lost twice what he had, but Tio didn't see how that could be possible. Her eyes seemed to be doing a pretty good job of staring at him hatefully, and for a dead person she had one hell of a grip.

"If what you say about him is true... if he treats you like some kind of a toy..." Tio's usual cheerfulness had slipped away, replaced by a mixture of pity and morbid curiosity. They sat at odds with each other on his expression, like a painting made in two contrasting styles. "Then why serve him? Why devote yourself to someone who won't show the same devotion to you? Do you know what would happen to you if you became his champion? What you'd become?" With a face like hers and those wings on her back he couldn't imagine Delroth would have any qualms about jumping into her body. Could he be staring into the future face of the god of greed right now?

"Oh, this?" Tio raised the map in his hand when she acknowledged it, letting it flap around like flag in the breeze. In the blink of an eye his usual exuberant self was back, and he shot her a wolfish grin. "This is what I live for. Treasure! A ghost pirate gave it to me a while back; said it led to the fortune he'd amassed over his career. I've been preparing myself to go find it, but the problem is that it leads into," he shivered slightly as terrifying memories cross his mind, "Scaltoth Jungle."

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[Navyri]

"What if I fall?"

Oh but darling
What if you fly?

5th of Ymiden, 718

• “What are you talking about?”
  
  The Naer slowed, cautious in her next steps. Delroth had never said anything about being a champion, but someone else had. Navyri looked down at the red hot chain that snaked around her forearm, weaving between the feathers of Tarouz. It shimmered in the Saun suns; A Blessing from the Dollmaker, and an ominous promise of what could come,“What’s a Champion? You learned this where? In the Miasma?” She hated the pity, but there was something disturbing in it. The curse of knowledge.
  
  Navyri’s anger swirled into interest, the visible tension leaving her shoulders as Tio lifted his ticket to survival. Although he blathered nonsense about a pirate ghost - for someone who travelled so much, she needed to get out more - a lifetime of wealth amassed in one place was something else entirely. Nothing changed on the Naer’s expression, “And?”
  
  “Is that a bad thing?” The dark haired woman didn’t seem concerned, but she did not know the terrors of such a place. She was used to political betrayal, killing for sport, or brainwashing, but those were all threats of mortal men. What monsters and mayhem that lurked among trees and vines were vague imaginations to the woman, “You know…”
  
  Perhaps she was approaching this the entirely wrong way. She had felt wrath, and for what? Delroth had plans for her, good or bad, but had seen the use of another. Didn’t owners have more than one slave? Wouldn’t Immortals have more than one follower? Did they not still pick a favorite? It wasn’t unheard of that the Vain One might toss Tio to the carrion birds, so to speak, “Maybe I was a little rash... What are the odds I cross the world and we meet once more?”
  
  Navyri met very few individual again once she went on her way and she smiled, “In fact, I usually specialize in other… endeavors, however,” she let her eyes roam over the map, “Perhaps I could help, to make up for my embarrassing behavior.” As if to emphasize her regrets, she was gentle in her next movements - reaching out to straighten the man’s attire she had nearly ripped. How pirate-y, a special detail, “Tell me, what kind of treasure?”

[Tio Silver]

A grimace crawled across Tio's face as Navyri asked for more details on what he was talking about. He didn't particularly want to recall the final events of Cassion's contest, but nor couldn't he pretend that the things he'd done hadn't happened. He had no wish to see anybody else get turned into an Immortal's meat-suit, and that meant he had to let people know just what the blessings of the gods actually did. "The Misty Miasma? You mean that creepy forest place? No I didn't learn it there. I learnt this at the end of the final round, in some kind of crazy dream realm."

"To the best of my knowledge a champion is like an Immortal's favourite agent; the follower that they see fit to give the most of their power to. The champion is pretty much the leader of all the rest of the marked followers, the person one step below their patron god in the hierarchy. Well anyway during the final round I found a way to... uhh..." He looked around cautiously, dropping his voice to a low whisper in case anyone was overhearing them. "I found a way to kill an Immortal, and was given a good reason to target Cassion. So... I did... and for the most part I succeed. But before he was completely slain Cassion turned into this biqaj woman, who acted like she was one of his devoted followers. She warned this other follower of Cassion competing against me that one day they would become like her, that they would be the next Cassion."

"I can't say for certain but... I reckon that's how they do it; I think that's how the Immortals live forever. The marks they bestow don't just give you their powers, they act as a door that lets the Immortal walk into your body and take control if something happens to their old one. By body-hopping across the arcs they can cheat age and death for as long as people accept their blessings. And if that's true then one day our shared patron might well decide that one of us will have the 'honour' of becoming his newest skin-suit as a reward for our service."

When the subject of Scaltoth Jungle came up Tio smiled, but he wasn't quite sure wether he genuinely meant it or not. As excited as the thought of adventure and treasure made him he had seen for himself how dangerous the creatures of that jungle could be. "Well it's full of man-eating animals, man-eating plants, man-eating men and at least one man-eating lake. Basically just imagine a forest where literally everything is trying to eat you and you've got yourself Scaltoth. I'd be happy to have a treasure hunting partner, but be warned that there's a good chance you wont come back with all your limbs. As for the treasure itself I have no idea what exactly it is, but I'm assuming that it's a huge pile of gold given who hid it there. The only way to find out for sure is to dig it up."

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[Navyri]

"What if I fall?"

Oh but darling
What if you fly?

It was strange to hear, to imagine…

Navyri’s anger felt so childish now that she knew what the blessing meant and she reluctantly pulled her eyes from the man and down at her own arms.They trailed over the playful pattern, the feathers that swayed in the wind, “Of course,” she muttered, raking through every memory she had of the Winged Calamity.

Was he going to steal her?

No, no… no… Her breath came in quick succession, remembering Delroth’s words. How much did she value her life? How much! She turned and looked at Curio, a deep betrayal rich in her chest and she spoke the next words in her native tongue, the sounds kissed with disbelief, “You are a spy,” she muttered, not sure if she was talking to her friend or whispering in the ear of the Immortal himself, “You keep track of me for him? You want to steal my soul? You’ve already taken my life. Are you not happy?”

She took a deep breath, ignoring the confusion that poured between her bond with Curio. What’s wrong?, it said. How can I help? Navyri sucked her teeth in distaste and turned her back to the beautiful owl. Her future was in precarious hands and what was she to do?

“Be gone from me,” she ordered in Grovokian, lifting a hand while she watched her blonde companion, suddenly needing the distraction of a challenge. Curio pulled away from the peacock, opening his wings as if to fly to her, but she said it again, stronger this time, “Be gone.”

He cried, but Navyri would not look at him. She went to collect the bags she had dropped upon attacking Tio, and cleared her throat before addressing him as if nothing had happened, “I’ve not known this jungle… Tell me more.” Attention roaming over the rooftop, Navyri frowned in disapproval before folding her wings and sitting on the edge, “A treasure hunt sounds awfully interesting.”

[Tio Silver]

By the looks of her body language Tio guessed that Navyri both believed, and was upset by, his theory. The winged woman turned to her owl familiar and spoke in a dialect he'd never heard before, but the tone of distrust and resentment she spoke it with was unmistakable. Hesitantly her owl flew away, and sensing that this was obviously not a good time for her to be there Diva took the opportunity to fly off as well, sending a mental message to Tio that she was going to survey the area. There was an awkward silence for a moment as Navyri collected her fallen bags and Tio tried, and completely failed, to come up with something helpful to say. But the moment passed when the naerikk turned back to him and asked more questions about the treasure hunt, pointedly ignoring the subject of the Immortal's marks.

"There's really not much more to say about it really. Minus everything wanting to eat you, it's your average tropical jungle." Tio replied with a shrug. "The X on the map isn't in the really deep parts of the jungle, so I don't think we'll have much to fear from the tribes or the really serious wildlife. I've got enough provisions for the both of us in this bag of mine, so there's no need to take time to prepare for the trip. If we catch a ride on one of the trade caravans to Scalvoris Town we should be able to get there in about a day." A cheeky smirk crossed his face. "I should warn you though that people seem to get strangely irritable when stuck in my presence for extended periods of time. I have no idea why. Anyway there's no time like the present; if you're up to come along what do you say that we go right now?"

If Navyri agreed to accompany him, Tio would hop down from the roof and lead the way to the city gates in order to find a merchant willing to let them ride along on the back of their cart for a couple of extra nel. Once he was comfortably seated atop a pile of cargo Tio lay back so that he could watch the sky pass by and, if Navyri was there with him, tried to strike up a conversation about the pros and cons of seducing guards when trying to rob a place in order to pass the time.

[Navyri]

"What if I fall?"

Oh but darling
What if you fly?

“Right now?” Navyri blinked, looking to where the birds had been to Tio, who for better or worse, seemed optimistic about the voyage. It was strange to her how prepared he claimed to be but yet had been waiting upon a roof. Wasn’t something like this exciting though? A planner… no, a predictor, by heart, trusting this man felt unnatural and yet the idea of being alone and mulling over Delroth’s fate for her sounded miserable, “Okay,” she said softly with a short nod. Consider the reward! “I’ll play.”

Tio made a comment about people turning strangely irritable in his presence and the woman couldn’t help the chuckle that rolled from her lips, “Is that so? I wonder why.”

Surely it couldn’t be his chatty personality or the fact he had earned the ire of Cassion… This man had really tried to kill an Immortal? Navyri observed in silence as Tio climbed down the roof, and peered at him from her vantage point. Readjusting her grip on her belongings, she took a step over the ledge, but instead of falling, her wings opened and the woman glided to the ground with surprising grace. Shortly later, they were walking quietly through town until they reached the gates.

Smiling warmly at a few merchants in hopes to garner their attention, Tio took charge and made arrangements for passage. Still unconvinced this was a good idea, the Naer climbed aboard and settled beside the man, brow furrowing at his conversation topic.

Pros and cons of seduction during a robbery? Did he not fear the merchants overhearing and assuming they meant ill will? “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she announced, but she nudged the blonde man in jest, relaxing a bit more, “But if I did…”

“A guard would become more… at ease. More likely to turn a blind eye. Makes it easier to pounce. Cons… if you’re not good at it, they’ll be more suspicious and if you’re too good,” she began to smirk, remembering all the times she had used her looks to gain favor, “They won’t take their eyes off of you.”

The Naer scooted to her side and stretched out her legs, lounging besides the pirate and propped up by a bag of barley, “Did losing your eye affect your…” she waved a hand, motioning to all that he was, and regretted the word as soon as it left your mouth, “Allure?”