Partay in the jungle! [open!]

[Rhindeer]

"Cursed?" The word brought a hiss out of Charik and he straightened up, rising taller than the armor with the aid of his muscular snake body.

"If you are cursed, then you must leave at once! We will not have cursed objects threatening our home and harem!" he said, thumping the butt of his spear against the ground.

Behind Razi, Ziya gave a loud groan and let his head drop to the table. "This is the worst party ever."

[Winters-Feather]

Sha-Razi tilted her head to the side, utterly  confounded by Darnoc's speech. His 'very short' answer only proposed many more questions that warranted telling. At Ziya's complaint Razi couldn't help but to throw him a threatening look.
Don't you dare start, she thought with a scowl. That was NOT helping matters, especially with Charik ordering the armor out of the place! She had a lot of questions that needed answering, and Razi wasn't about to let the armor and its mystery literally walk away!
More importantly, who knows what it could do out there in the villages?
"Wait, my lord!" she called out.

Razi desperately tapped his scales to get Charik's attention. She took in a deep breath as she threw a quick glance to the armor. She was unsure of how to address that thing. It was rude to call it a thing, wasn't it?
"I humbly ask my lord to reconsider. Before you cast this... man away from the temple, will you please hear my council?" she pleaded.  Razi learned that it was best to ask for such matters in private.

[Rhindeer]

Charik paused when he felt a tap on his shoulder, and turned to find Sha-Razi there. His expression softened and his fangs retracted, some of the tension easing out of his shoulders.

"What is it, dear heart? Yes, you may speak."

[Winters-Feather]

Despite having a naga's tail coiled around her, Razi managed to stand as straight and elegantly as she could, especially now that she had Charik's attention.
"King Charik," Razi said in an even tone. "It is my opinion that we should keep this... soul here within the walls of the temple, where there are many swords to keep an eye on him. His curse is nothing against your power, and there are many mysteries that I am sure whose answers would benefit all of us."
Actually, Razi had no idea how on earth the answers would benefit them, but she let that one slide.
Well, at least it'll be a way to stop unnecessary conflict, she thought.
"Furthermore, I have already taken the liberty to send someone to the royal library in search of records for this... man. Perhaps from there we can retrieve at least the answer of his origin."
Razi's eyes flickered over towards the armor before she bowed her head, indicating that she was done speaking.

[Zane]

Darnoc was impressed, and shocked, by the woman's words for she spoke with dignity and authority. If he had eyebrows, Darnoc would have raised them. Turning to the supposed king. "Immortality is my curse. Your Magesty."

That was when the guard returned. "The armor was gifted to the king by one Eris Craesis, Mage, said she is from La'marri, fifteen years ago."

Fifteen years. He had been asleep for, at the shortest possible time, fifteen years. That was a long time.

[Rhindeer]

Slowly, Charik let his tail slide free of Razi so she could stand freely. Lips pursed in thought and hand raised to his chin, he finally nodded at her words. "Mmm...yes, this is true..." he mused, tapping his lips. And he was very curious as to how this strange being worked--how could something talk without a mouth? Perhaps it wouldn't hurt to keep it.

"You speak sense, dear one. Very well! We shall respect your opinion and honor your judgment! You, there!"

He turned back to the armor and puffed out his chest. "You will remain here for questioning and study. You will remain under guard for that time, so do not even think about leaving! Furthermore--"

That was when the guard returned and announced his findings.

For Charik, however, it explained little.

His brow furrowed. "What is La-Mah-Ree?" he asked, for he had never been outside the jungle and, as far as he was knew, his kingdom was the world.

[Winters-Feather]

Razi smiled and clasped her hands together.
"Thank you, my lord," she said when given Charik's praise. She nodded in approval as Charik ordered the armor to stay under surveillance. Just then, however, the guard arrived.
"Thank you for your assistance," she told the guard, who bowed before Charik and her before standing by his original post. RAzi frowned. It was unusual for a gift to come from such a far off place.

Razi weakly smiled at Charik's complete butchering of the word La'marri.
Razi cringed. Despite serving as an ambassador and her teachings, Charik was still woefully ignorant of the outside world.
"La'marri, my lord. It is a free village in the plains," she said. "Many mages live there. Is the name Eris Craesis familiar to my lord?"
Sha-Razi settled herself down by the table, once more. She reached for a goblet of wine and sipped from it, enjoying the flavor.
What a strange curse to give, immortality, she thought.

[Zane]

Eris Caesis. How did he know that name, how did she know him? Why did she give him as a gift, if he had know he was about to fall asleep he would told someone what he was and what was about to happen. Who was this woman. The Inn owner was an older woman, not really elderly, what if she died and the Eris person became the new owner and she gave him away. 'Twas an odd thing trying to find out who this woman was.

He would have happily left, never to return again. Or rather, perhaps to return in a few decades to see how things are. That was often what he did, leave for a time only to return after many years had passed. In truth, he never liked to stay in one place for too long, He didn't like to see the signs of aging as it happens, part of the reason being is he would never grow old.

"As you wish." he lowered his arms to the side.

[Rhindeer]

Even with Razi's explanation, it was all so abstract. It was also an issue of out of sight, out of mind. Charik had never seen this village, or been to the plains, so as far as he was concerned it didn't exist, and hearing of these places was like listening to a fairy tale, or hearing people describe what came after death--places that existed, but that he couldn't wrap his mind around at all, not in any concrete sort of way.

He rubbed his chin. "No, we do not recall any 'Eris Craesis'..." But it had been a long time, and he had a lot of names to remember. It was very likely that some had slipped through the cracks in his brain.

He turned to the armor then. "Do you know of this person?"

[Winters-Feather]

The captain of Charik's guard, a tall and muscular man with short, braided hair approached Darnoc with shield and spear in hand. He gave the armor a questioning and condescending leer.
"Follow me," he said curtly, as if escorting but a pest out of the room. He would escort the armor outside the temple's halls in a circle of some of his finest warriors through crowds of  hundreds of spectators and gift givers. The colorful sea of people all gawked and shared whispers as the man less armor strolled among  them. Finally, the Captain would lead the armor through a path that lead to a dull looking large brick building with smoke rising from the rooftops.
"This is where you will be staying for now," the Captain said gruffly.
He lead Durnac through halls with rooms of weapons on racks and soldiers training, their footsteps echoing in the halls. Finally, he stopped in front of a plain chamber with no more than a bench inside and etchings on the wall. He opened the door.
"Wait here, cursed one," he said with a laugh. "By order of the Holy King and his concubine! You picked a hell of a time to wake up..."

Razi watched them leave the room, half distracted as Charik addressed her. She massaged her throat, bothered by a developing sensation of suffocation. A headache was also starting to develop, and her stomach started to cramp. Razi narrowed her eyes.
I probably just ate something bad, she thought. In any case, she didn't want to trouble the rest of the party with her ailment. Razi tried to shake her head, but stopped. Moving it only seemed to intensify her headache.
"N-no, my lord," she replied quietly. "Even from my travels, the name is not familiar."
Perhaps a scribe should pen a letter, Razi  thought.

[Zane]

Darnoc wished he knew such a person, but alas he did not. He was all ready to tell the childishly weak king his knowledge of the woman when the Guard came and ushered him out. "Well then." The guard led them out of the temple and into some shit poor instance of a cell, no bared door, no lock, the only complexity was that the cell was in the center of what seemed to be a training facility. Even without the use of alchemy, Darnoc felt that he had a chance of escape, that is if he wanted it. But with Alchemy it would be a synch. But what had bothered him was why that woman had changed the public opinion to get him to stay, what was her motive, what did she want? Darnoc would never give up the secret to the faux immortality, to have one's soul bound by blood is a curse, and the secret would go with him to the grave, they could do nothing to take it from him, and the worst they could do is kill him. That would be a blessing.

Sitting himself in the center of the room, just letting the time roll past him, he could sit like this for literally hours and to him would only feel like mere minutes. Someone would come for him eventually, all this was a waiting game.

[Rhindeer]

Charik frowned, watching the armor be lead off, then turned back to Sha-Razi. "Oh. Well. We suppose we shall figure it all out later!" he said, and put on a smile. There was no sense letting everyone's morale down! They still had a celebration to finish, and he was not about to let this stop it! "But for now, back to the--hm?"

Sha-Razi was acting a little strange, almost nervous. There was an odd quaver in her voice that caught his attention and made him freeze. "Razi? What is it?"

[Winters-Feather]

Despite his naivity, Charik was sharp. Sha-Razi blushed at Charik's attention and waved her hand.
"It will pass, My Lord," she quickly said before she placed an elegant hand on her stomach and grimaced. It was as if a cobra had awoken in her belly, and was angrily trying to be free.
What illness was this? Whatever it was, Razi planned to endure it. There was no need to cause a scene by leaving.
"How silly of me! But, yes. Besides, there are more urgent questions to be answered now," she teased with a smile, gesturing to her baffled father.

For the first time in ten years, Razi was grateful for Ismali's senseless boasting. She sat as straight as she could in the comfort of her cusion as she tried to listen to his tales of the foreign mages who carved the box. However, Razi wasn't paying much attention. As Ismali rambled on, the woman's pain grew and she felt as if the cobra within her was tightening its hold around her neck and her belly.
This is absurd, Razi thought as she  reached for the goblet she had drunk the wine out of. The lady took in a sharp breath when she realized it was not her brass one, but the golden one with the forest engravings. It was not her goblet's, but Charik's! Razi felt rage and humiliation build within her. Out of all the days...!


At that moment, Razi did something she had not done in public, ever. She swore in a slew of Essyrinian curses that made her father silent and turn beet red and her mother swoon.
"O Holy One, forgive my daughter's sudden rudeness!" Ismali pleaded.
The banquet was spinning around her.
I've been stupid.
"Charik!" she gasped, her voice shrill from panic. Razi felt her breathing become quicker and shorter as she desperately tried to breathe .  She was vaguely aware that her face was hot and that tears were beginning to weld up in her khol lined eyes.
"My lord, don't drink the wine! It's poison."

~

Zarha  was incredibly bored. The captain had left him in charge of the nameless armor man, and as incredibly restless. Today was the King's birthday, and here he was, watching some freak of a prisoner who technically didn't do anything... except perhaps wake up at the wrong moment. That happened, sometimes! Zahra growled, running a hand through his short, black hair.
"It's always me," he grumbled. He stoped to glare at Darnoc through the hole in the wall of the unlocked cell. This guy sure was a weird prisoner. The armor just sat still and everything.
"Hey, you," he called out, scratching the scruffle on his chin.
"Is it true you were a man, once? That a witch cursed you?"
He chuckled.
"Was she a spurned lover?" he suggested.

[Rhindeer]

Hm. How odd. But if she said she was fine, then surely she was! Smiling again, Charik perked up and gave a little nod, giving Razi an affectionate pat on the shoulder. Perhaps it was all the excitement of the day! It could be quite taxing, her understood, and he knew that as fun as it was, and as much as he enjoyed it, by the day's end he would be thoroughly exhausted.

Perhaps she just needed a rest!

"Why don't you relax and have something to drink?" he told Razi before turning his full attention to her father as he explained the elaborate chest. It was all so fascinating, and he was so absorbed in the tale--at least Sha-Razi's sudden string of curses snapped him out of it.

Eyes widening in horror, he turned to gape at her, speechless, and the entire room went deathly quiet. Never had he heard her use such foul language! And in front of so many people! True, he didn't understand the language, but the fierce tone and the look on her father's face told him everything.

"Sha-Razi!" he gasped, clapping a hand over his mouth. "That is most inappropriate! What on earth has gotten into--"

But then there were tears in her eyes, and she said the dreaded words.

Poison.

His face went pale, and his eyes jerked to the goblet near her hand.

His goblet.

"You drank from it?" For a moment his mind didn't make the connection, that it was intended for him. Instead, his thoughts reeled, thinking of how she had been behaving, her odd speech, the way she'd held her belly, the pained and desperate look in her eyes now. Panic rising within him, he scooped her up into his arms like a bride and turned to the crowd.

"Someone send for help! She's been poisoned!" he cried, and looked to her, touching her face. "Razi, stay with us."

[Zane]

"Yes I was a man once. But no I was not cursed be a witch" Darnoc began. Not even moving from his spot. "I was actually a knight. The first from my village to be knighted. My village was only found on maps due to the quarry that was a quarter mile up the way. Well one day I was inspecting the quarry and there was a rockslide. While pushing some workers out of the way, I got crushed under a few tons of marble and granite. It was odd, being under so much weight and I didn't feel a thing. I blacked out. Sure to die and woke up as this."

The guard looked somewhat stunned. "What is your name? I'm sure you get tired of people's miss labeling."

"After a few hundred years. You get over it. But my name is Darnoc Ris"

The guard nodded appreciatively, then something click. "Sir Conrad?"

Darnoc just chuckled a bit. "Been forever since someone has caught that. But aye, that was me at one time." That was when several guard came running through the halls.

"The king's goblet has been poisoned!" They shouted. As they passed the cell Darnoc just pushed open the cell door and started walking out towards the exit. The guard quickly caught up with him.

"What the hell do you think you are doing?!"

"What I do best" came the reply, "saving someone's life."

[Winters-Feather]

Razi whimpered as she suddenly found herself off the ground, in Charik's arms. Her pale face blushed slightly as his fading voice cried out.
"I didn't know," Razi gasped in a small voice. "I'm so sorry. I beg your forgiveness..."
The woman cringed. She had heard of poisons that killed instantly, but she was still alive, for now. Razi smiled weakly as Charik touched her face. His hand felt so warm. Razi tilted her head against it as she narrowed her eyes, trying to stay awake. Her  breathing and heart rate were beginning to frighteningly slow down.
"Yes, my lord," she muttered.
Razi wanted to tell Charik to not make such a fuss, that it was not worth it. However, she just promised to obey, and speaking taxed her heavily.
Focus, she thought. That serving girl...

Two men bowed low before Charik. The first was a guard, a stout man with golden brown hair held out his arms.
"Physicians have been sent for, O Holy One. Please allow me to take the Lady to her quarters, where they will treat her."
The second was a bald and slender temple priest.
"If I may, King Charik," he said. "I've studied poisons during my training."
He took hold of the goblet and held it up to his nose and lips to examine it.
"I cannot be certain," he declared. "But this could be Nymoria's Drought, venomous siren tears. It kills slowly, but Most Esteemed One, we must hurry."

Razi listened and bit her lip. She hid her shamed face in Charik's chest like a child, clutching to her veil.
Be brave, she thought as she  tried to breathe. She had never felt so helpless or scared in her life.

~

Zarha was stunned. He had heard tales of Sir Conrad before, of course, but to think the knight had been asleep in the temple for fifteen years... ! And now the king's goblet was poisoned, and the prisoner had just went free?
Well, Zahra thought as he desperately tried to keep up. Not really a prisoner, but...
"Wait!" he called out as he reached out for the armor.
"You haven't had the permisson to leave!"
What did he mean, saving somebody's life, anyway? Nobody was dead, were they? The King.... Zarha blanched. Well, he didn't want to think about that.

[Rhindeer]

"Shh, Razi, shh," Charik said as she apologized. "You saved us. Now shh, apologize no more, there's no need, and you need your strength." And the last thing he wanted was for her to waste precious breaths thinking this was somehow her fault.

"You'll be alright," he said, voice firm and jaw set. He pressed his lips to her forehead and spoke against her skin. "We are your god. We won't let you leave."

He was strangely calm as the guard and priest arrived, though inside he was stuck somewhere between worry and panic, because this situation was strangely out of his control when he normally felt so in charge, and yet...also a sort of calm denial of the entire thing. Razi couldn't die! He was a god, after all! If he said she wouldn't die, if he believed she wouldn't die, then she wouldn't! Because that was how things worked! Of course she would be alright, and of course everything would turn out okay.

But of course, he also realized that his power worked through people. The physician would save her because he had demanded help be called.

"We shall go with you," Charik told the priest, and turned to the guard. "We are afraid the celebration is postponed! It shall be continued at a later date. However, let no one leave. Someone wishes us dead, and no ones leaves until the criminal is found."

With that said, he turned to follow the priest to Razi's quarters.

Poison, though. Who would have tried to poison him? Arriving at her room, he laid Razi out on her cushions and tucked some hair out of her face. Reaching for her hand, he gripped it in his own. "Stay."

Meanwhile, back at the celebration, Ziya let out a loud whine and let himself flop backwards onto the floor like a dead fish.

"This is the WORST party EVER!" he repeated, in case no one had heard him before. Which they hadn't. Because everyone was fawning over Razi, of course, the little attention seeker, acting like she was poisoned of all things.

[Zane]

"Think of it this way" Darnoc stated taking huge strides, "how would they have found out the kings cup was poisoned? Someone would have drank from it. And since your king doesn't seem like the kind to use taste tester, either he or someone who drank from his cup are dying. Or both."

"Now you can try to stop me, and who knows you may succeed, but that would mean that someone very important would die. Or you can help me, and be herald as a hero."

It took the guard a minute but finally he found his voice. "I'll lead the way."m

A handful of minutes and two explanations later. They found out that Lady Sha-razi had been poisoned with what was suspected to be siren tears. Zarha told other guards that Darnoc was Sir Conrad. Most were skeptic but still quite a few followed. It seemed that the guardsmen of today looked up to him. Which Darnoc found as odd, his old pal Gilan was a better knight.

Darnoc walked into the room as the healer was about to administer an antitoxin, the wrong antitoxin. "If you give her that you kill her!" Darnoc rushed up to the priest and snatched the vial from him. "Just get out. Zarha!" He called out to the guard who waited outside. Who quickly fell into the room. "Go search garden. You are looking for a red flower with five long petals and a white center. Have someone else go get honey. I will also need chocolate, as much as you can find, and water. Lots and lots of water."

Turning back to the king and the the.. What was her official title? Anywho, he looked at the king. "I'm going to save her life, your Majesty. Consider it your birthday gift from me."

[Winters-Feather]

Zahra felt as if stones were being dropped one by one in his stomach. He didn't know what to do. On one hand, this legend of old, just like from the scrolls, had come back. It was a tale well known in Essyrn, though not quite as spread out in the jungle. There were many legends of a wizard who stole people's souls and turned them into puppets. One such puppet rose and killed his master. He traveled across the northern realms, rescuing princesses, fighting rouges. But that was nothing compared to the adventure when he traveled to Essyrn in hopes of meeting a priestess who it was rumored that could help him become a man again. The great tragedy was that he never did, but he helped the King who was in grave distress protect his kingdom from invaders in the most cunning of ways!

On the other hand, however, said hero walked into Lady Sha-Razi's chamber without permission. NOBODY entered her chambers without permission of some sort.
The Captain is going to have my head on a spike, he thought, practically in tears as he found himself running towards the garden.
But the Holy One might eat me alive if I refused and she were to die!
He realized he should have still questioned Sir Conrad more, especially about the flowers, but he had been too spellbounded to even realized his err until halfway towards the gardens. The prospect of being eaten alive quickened his pace.

~

Razi clung to Charik's words, struggling to survive. She realized she should act braver, if not for her sake, than for his. A weak smile spread on her lips as he ordered her to live. She felt as if her heart could break at such sweet words. However, that smile was quickly removed as Charik ordered the celebrations be postponed.
What a disastor, Razi thought.
She found herself slipping in and out of consciousness. Razi wished she could fall asleep. Then she could ignore her insides that burned like fire and her inability to breathe.
Stay awake, Razi commanded herself, gasping as Charik laid her down on her cushions. She felt more comfortable, but only some.
"Cold," Razi muttered as she clung to Charik's hand as tightly as she could.

Razi watched as the priest presented a vial filled with a mixture that was known to cure most poisons. Just then, one of Razi's servant girls screamed as Darnoc bolted through the chamber and snatched the vial from the priest's hands. She narrowed her eyes, confused, scared, and very angry. That cursed armor, again! What was he doing here? Surely it meant ill. Razi struggled to sit up right.
Stay away from the king! she thought. Why weren't the guards doing anything? Damnit, it was their job to protect her, but most of all Charik. Somebody had just tried to poison him, and they allowed this armor into her chamber? The armor become distorted and twisted in her vision.
She listened to his words in confused panic. No, she didn't want to trust him, but she trusted Charik and the priest. If they trusted him, than maybe  everything would be alright...

OOC: Darnoc's history is yours to make up, Zane... I borrowed some from your history, but I pretty much spun as tall as a tale I could from it. how much of it is real is  up to you xD

[Rhindeer]

Charik nearly jumped out of his skin--perhaps literally, as he would need to shed soon--when the very armor he'd ordered away burst into the room.

With an inhuman hiss he spun around and drew himself up tall, fangs extended. He did not need a spear with which to fight; he was surprisingly quick when he needed to be, and he was capable of crushing any threat within his muscular coils. Perhaps it wouldn't do any good against a suit of armor, but he was willing to find out just how much pressure it could take before it would bend.

"How dare you--!" he started, but then the explanation came pouring out.

The wrong antidote? His eyes narrowed. A birthday gift from him? He glanced at the healer, who looked mortified, and then at the armor, which bore no expression at all.

Either way, they were wasting time, and it was only Razi who would suffer.

He turned to the servants, who looked shaken, and at Zarha, clearly seeking some sort of explanation for all this. This was completely out of his league. He was no healer and had no understanding of any of that, which made it particularly frustrating because he didn't know who was correct. But Razi, Razi was dying, and every second hesitating was a second she suffered.

Finally, he spoke. "Just do what it takes to see her live! But if she doesn't, if she doesn't make it, we shall see you melted down to scrap metal and scattered throughout the jungle."