The peace that formerly reigned in Terra Nova has eroded, now little more than a memory. War ravages the continent. Disputes divide kingdoms; ideals divide families. The quest for power consumes absolutely and indiscriminately. None are immune to its allure.
Who will rise and who will fall? Only time—and ambition—will tell.
UPDATES
05.26.2023
2 month character creation hold for all existing members begins 6/5/2023. Ended 8/5/2023.
10.29.2023
Change in how times flows. Was 4 IC seasons, now only 2 IC seasons per 1 OOC year.
5 whole years of Heir Apparent goodness! When I started the site, I knew I was hunkering down for the long haul, but I never could have predicted the numerous twists and turns this roleplay site has seen. Hundreds of plots, characters, and members have come and gone, all leaving marks on the site. I am so very thankful for those who have invested. Because you keep coming back, keep getting on, and keep writing, Heir Apparent has the legacy it does today. Three cheers to us!
Post by Ravin Tracey on Dec 1, 2022 11:27:33 GMT -5
[ For @temperance ]
Open to anyone else in Skia, though let Temperance go first.
“No-rah.”
Ravin wandered through the streets like a phantom.
“No-rah.”
He knew she was at court but couldn’t figure out where. Neither could the creaking voice that echoed in his head.
“No-rah.”
He needed her.
They needed her.
Ravin’s face was pale, his skin coated in a cold sweat. To the outside viewer, he’d look like a frail beggar, lost and confused, stumbling in the torchlit dark out onto the main street. It was in a scrappy part of Skia, one where nobles were unlikely to find themselves. Even so, a man like Ravin stood out, enough to make a passerby recoil as he dragged himself into the light.
Temperance didn't often work too late into the night. Especially during Autumna, when the daylight began to disappear so much faster than during the Ver and Aestas season. As she lost light she would call it a day, close up shop and go inside to help Melody with dinner and spend some time with Thomas before they went to bed. But along with the loss of light often came more illness. When the air began to chill, people got sick more often. Old wounds acted up. It made Temperance a little busier and with the thought they she and Thomas may be soon readying themselves for a wedding, she didn't want to fall behind.
So she was in the greenhouse after dark. The gate which offered access to the property was closed, but the greenhouse door was still open as it always was. From outside a glow could be seen thanks to a series of candles strategically placed to allow Temperance to see as she worked. Melody had already gone home and Thomas was inside, either working, cleaning up, or tending to Artos who seemed to much prefer him to Temperance. Maybe because Temperance was always telling him he couldn't eat the flowers.
She sat at her desk, recording notes from the day as a potion brewed on the counter behind her. A popping noise came from the cauldron and she turned to look at it, somewhat surprised by the noise. Then a breeze came in, outing one of the candles and flipping through the pages of her journal. Temperance sighed, rubbed her eyes, and stood up to re-light the candle. When she returned to her journal, the page now before her made her frown. It wasn't as if she could discern why, but the air felt colder than it ought to. Something was wrong. Trouble, she sensed, as if she hadn't had enough it lately.
No one particularly enjoyed the last patrol of the night, especially with the changing seasons turning the cool Aestas nights into bitter Autumna ones. In the wealthier parts of the city, the unfortunate soldiers were stuck watching drunkards stagger home or to the closest alley to empty their stomachs. In the part of Skia that Ber found himself walking through, one had to be on the lookout for more sinister activities. If only because he was movement on an otherwise still and silent street, the frail man who caught his attention had his adrenaline spiking, but as the soldier drew near, he realized the man himself appeared far more the victim of a crime than a threat himself.
And he was repeating something. No-rah? “Sir,” Ber said carefully, approaching the stumbling man and reaching out a hand to steady him, if necessary. There didn’t seem to be any alcohol involved, and the man was pale and sweaty - sick? “Excuse me, sir, it’s pretty late for a stroll, and you seem like you’re having a little bit of a hard time walking. Is everything alright?” He cast a glance around them but didn’t see any signs of a second, perhaps hostile individual in the darkness.
Post by Fabian Winters on Dec 12, 2022 20:09:45 GMT -5
It been tough on Fabian however being on patrol, working have been a lovely distraction for him. He been working with Ber on the night patrol, even though it not his favourite shift, that he rather be with his kids. He love his job. "I used to hang in that pub with a few of my friends. however, I wouldn't order any of their pies if i was you." Fabian give a warm smile to the young soldier.
When they sported the man he was a bit confused was that.... like he knew that Kat worked in the midnight house before she was a soldier and he knew that Ravin was missing for a while however he had to act profession. "Hey! do you need use to take you anywhere?" Fabian voice was soft and kind. Just like he would treat anybody.
In lieu of wincing when the sickly man latched onto his arm as if he were a piece of driftwood in the middle of an ocean, Ber let out a slow exhale. For many reasons, he did not like having someone so inexplicably unwell clinging to him so tightly, and his alarm only grew when the stranger spoke, begging for Temperance. “Temperance? Okay,” He said, hesitating a moment before he added: “I know her. We’ll take you to her.” The only reasons he was considering disturbing the witch at this hour of night were because he knew Temperance helped the poor and sickly - and this man was clearly both - and because he was confident in his own ability to neutralize the stranger should he become a threat. Despite the other man’s height, Ber was a trained soldier - and could also, currently, stay steady without assistance.
He turned to Winters, who seemed far less perturbed than he was and more importantly devoid of any clingy sick man. “Do you know where Temperance lives?” Ber asked. On the likely chance that the soldier didn’t, the younger man would give him some quick directions for how to get to the little cottage on the outskirts of the city. “Go ahead of us and warn her we’re coming. Tell her it’s me and…” He glanced at the sickly man. If the stranger didn’t offer his name, then he would finish his sentence with, “Someone in need of assistance.”
Hopefully Winters would do so; he could cover ground far faster by himself. The soldier wanted Temperance (and Thom) awake and prepared for a midnight arrival that he couldn’t be entirely sure was safe. Ber and the sick man would follow in Winters’ wake.
Post by Fabian Winters on Dec 26, 2022 16:24:36 GMT -5
Fabian was of course worried about this sick man his eyes was worried for him. Fabian helped the man. "Might need a reminder." Fabian's eyes were focused on the man's eyes, speak to me Raven. "Raven it me, Fabian. We will get you help." Fabian rested on his arm and he said his name before Ber could ask him. Fabian nodded and rushed to Temp. knocking on the estate. Fabian knock on the door loudly as he could.
As soon as somebody answered the door. he noticed a light in the greenhouse and knocked on the door. "Temperance? Please hurry!" Fabian looked behind him panic in his voice. Once she open the door "I work with Ber there is a sick man Raven, Raven Tracey. They are bringing him here. He asked for you." His voice was out of breath and had urgency in his voice.
Temperance had just sat back down at her desk when she heard someone come through the waist-high gate that protected her yard and begin knocking on the door of the greenhouse. She looked up and found a man she didn't recognize standing there, breathing hard, with a look of urgency on his face. He was in a military uniform, and that made her shoot up from her desk. It wasn't often that people from the military found their way to her, other than Ber that is, but clearly this was important.
She closed her journal and stood, hurrying over to the man and looking up at him, trying not to feed off of his panic and become panicked himself. "Yes, that's me. Please, take a breath, Sir, and tell me--" already he was explaining himself. He worked with Ber, and a sick man...
Ravin Tracey.
Her heart might have skipped a beat or two at hearing his name. There was relief there. She'd run into Ravin at the beginning of Aestas and hadn't seen him since. She'd assumed that he'd fallen victim to the creature that plagued him, but apparently he hadn't.
Relief would only last so long, though. "Go and help Ber. Bring him in here quickly."
She turned from the man and her bare feet stomped along the tables that lined the greenhouse, hurrying to collect all of the ingredients she would need for multiple potions. She filled basket after basket, but all of these potions would take time. She got the first started, lighting the fire under her cauldron and filling it with it's ingredients. A greater healing potion. A sleep potion. A mixture to wake him up from said sleep potion prematurely, if necessary. And food. She'd need food. Which meant alerting Thomas and Artos. Temperance rubbed her face.
She'd never told Thomas about Ravin. She'd helped him before the two ever met, and by the time she was done with her research, she'd been unable to find Ravin again. She knew Thomas would want to look into it, to help her, but Ravin had wanted so desperately to keep it all under wraps. Now she wished she'd told him. If he could have found out who the woman was that Ravin was protecting, they might have been able to go to her sooner, to tell her what had happened. It was too late now.
"Sit him down!" She told the two soldiers as they finally brought the man in. "Ber, where did the two of you find him?" She said, moving in front of Ravin as he sat in the chair in front of her desk.
"Ravin..." she reached out and touched his head and his face, and pressed her fingers into his neck to read his pulse. "You should have come back to me sooner. Have you been unable to sleep all this time?"
Post by Ravin Tracey on Jan 7, 2023 17:37:22 GMT -5
He was so cold. So, so cold.
Ravin did not notice the change in distance. The change in time. He stumbled alongside whoever it was that dragged him toward his destination. His eyes were mostly closed, his breath nothing but a rasping in his chest.
When he was dropped into the chair, Ravin’s eyes opened.
Free me
“No…” Ravin moaned, trying to meet Temperance’s eyes, “No, no…”
Ravin was apparently the man’s name. Ber watched Winters run off into the darkness toward Temperance’s little cottage, before he turned back to the sick man clinging to his arm. He adjusted them so that Ravin’s arm was around his shoulders, allowing the soldier could more easily guide him along, but it was very slow going. Ravin was taller than Ber, and a glance to the side revealed that his eyes were closed as he stumbled along practically incoherent. The way he slumped over suggested that the man was upright only because Ber was there to support him. “Come on, Ravin,” The soldier grunted, not even sure if his words were being registered but feeling like he ought to speak them all the same. “Just a little further, and we’ll be at Temperance’s, and she’ll help you feel better.”
Eventually, Winters returned, and the two of them practically dragged the sick man up the walkway and into the greenhouse. They deposited him into the chair in front of Temperance’s desk, and though Ber moved aside enough to give the witch space to do her job, he still lingered near. Just in case. “He was out wandering by himself,” The soldier explained when prompted, giving Temperance the location. “He’s been like this the entire time. When we found him, he was saying something to himself: No-rah?” He wondered if that meant anything to her. “And then he asked for you. He can barely stand, and I’m not sure how much he’s actually aware of.”
Ber figured Temperance could see for herself Ravin’s physical state. He watched her as she spoke to the sick man, listened as Ravin said that he couldn’t sleep all this time - however long that was. A moment passed, then Ber asked, “Temperance, is there anything I can help with?”
Post by Fabian Winters on Jan 8, 2023 14:08:22 GMT -5
Fabian nodded when Temperance asked him to go back and help Ber with Ravin. He raced back to help Ber out. Ravin placed an arm around Ravin to try and keep heep him standing. He put his arm around him. He was worried Fabian was worried about Ravin's health. this is not like him... What was going on with him. He wish he could know what going on, he wish he can at least take half of what bothering him to make it easier for them. "Come on Ravin, we need you." his brows was filled with worry.
He carefully helped Ravin down he thought for a bit. "I think he was saying, Norah." Fabian said carefully he look at Ravin for a bit. the deep concern doesn't leave him. He doesn't know how much other people know. His eyes when the thought of Norah, she was a good lady with a good rep in Fabian's eyes.
His eyes look back to Temp. "Tells us what you need. I might not know my way way around, but i know a little bit about the herbs, so willing to land a hand or to stay by Ravin." He offered with any help. He placed a hand on Ravin's shoulder. "please stay with us. please."
Her own eyes watered at the sight of him. As he tried so desperately to cling to life, Temperance squatted down in front of him. His pleas went in one ear and out the other. She had a feeling that she understood them, but she could abide them no longer. She reached down and took his hand, encasing it in her own. "Ravin. I'm here." She paused, about to ask him about the woman he had mentioned before, though not by name.
Ber's explanation of how he had found Ravin had her standing, nodding. He's been wandering around all of this time. Lost. Confused. People must have seen him, and yet no one helped. It broke her heart to imagine. They had likely just assumed he was crazy, or an addict of some kind. Not that she could fault them for never guessing what was actually happening.
"No-rah?" She repeated, looking back at the two younger men. Fabian repeated it, but slightly different. Norah. "Norah. Is that a woman he knows? Do you know who that is...sorry, who you are?" She wasn't trying to be impolite, of course, but the situation was too dire for the exchange of social niceties. "I need you to tell me, right now. If you know Ravin, and you know this woman, Norah, we need to find her. This is urgent. Can you find her? Do you know how to contact or locate her?"
Letting go of Ravin's hand and resting it gently in his lap, she ran her hands over her head and paced. "Ber, go inside and wake Thomas. Have him start some tea and warm whatever food we have prepared. Get me some blankets...two or three, and bring them out immediately. He's ice cold."
She moved back in front of Ravin, leaning down enough to meet his eyes. "I know you didn't want to bring her into it, but we must. Just rest. I'm here. I'll take care of you."
With that, she was flitting around the greenhouse, collecting herbs and ingredients for multiple potions. None of which she was absolutely sure would even work.
Post by Fabian Winters on Jan 13, 2023 6:36:57 GMT -5
Fabian looked at Ravin when Temperance asked him question. "Name Fabian Winters yeah he knows Norah. I do know Ravin and Norah, my wife used to work for him. I know Norah and will find her right away." He doesn't want to leave Ravin but he looked at Ber and nod his head at both of them. Fabian squeeze Ravin's shoulder
Before he as quickly as possible to get to where Norah Carter is. When he arrived he made his presence known and that he want to speak to Norah alone, he explained that it was a a matter of upmost confidence that he can't explain to anyone why. However once back in the carriage he explained that they need to go to the Tower estate as quickly as possible.
"Lady Norah. I am sorry I disturbed you so late in the night, but it Ravin. He is sick and he calling for you. Of course i didn't want everybody else to know the reason. But be ready!" He explained looking apologetic.
Post by Ravin Tracey on Jan 13, 2023 20:44:47 GMT -5
No-rah.
“No—” Ravin felt a pain in his chest, unlike anything he’d felt before. It was like he was being cracked in two as a black, swirling void opened in his chest. Fabian would be gone by the time the darkness formed, but Temperance and Berenger would be able to see it if they looked. If that didn’t catch their attention, what came next would.
Shadows started to pour out of his chest in a stream. They’d fill the room limiting visibility with its dense smoke until it was pitch black as night. The chaos would last several long moments, Ravin crying out until the human sounds were overtaken by something else. A shriek, so high pitched it could not be human, and so loud it must come from something far, far greater in size. But most markedly, the stench of rotting flesh filled the room, powerful enough to make anyone vomit.
When the smoke cleared, they’d see him: Malsumis, standing above them, ten feet tall with wide wings tucked against his side and tail draped along the floor. He shrieked again, a sound that rattled the windows of the greenhouse.
When Temperance told him what to do, Ber nodded – “I’ll be right back.” – and, with one final glance at the sickly man collapsed in the chair, made his way along the familiar path from the greenhouse to the little cottage that Temperance and Thom shared. Feeling a bit like he was intruding despite the explicit invitation, he gently nudged Artos out of the way as he stepped inside, knocked on the bedroom door until he was sure Thom was awake and relayed the instructions, and then hastily collected the first few blankets he saw. With his arms full, he nudged Artos back out of the way, carefully making sure the puppy didn’t follow him out the door, and jogged back to the greenhouse.
Just in time to see a billowing darkness, one that reminded him of Rune’s darkness, fill the space. What the actual—
“Temperance!” He shouted, alarmed, trying to raise his voice above the human-turned-inhuman shrieking. Throwing the blankets to the side, he drew his sword and moved toward where he last remembered her being – or toward her voice, if she shouted back. A moment later, he was choking on a stench that he’d smelled once before and had almost managed to forget: rotting flesh. Ber gagged, bringing his other hand up to his face as if it could protect him from the fetid odor that was far worse than what he had encountered at the inn with Woodwick.
The creature that emerged from the smoke was far worse too. For a moment, all the soldier could do was stare as he tried to comprehend what it was that towered over him: an elongated body with lanky limbs, a pair of massive wings, and far too many teeth. Eyes fixed on the unfathomable monster before him, Ber raised his sword in front of him defensively. If he was at Temperance’s side, he would step in front of her. Otherwise, he would try to inch his way around the thing to reach other. “Temperance,” He called out, trying not to spook this new threat into action. “What’s going on?”