forum O/O anyone?

Started February 02, 2023 by @Becfromthedead group

tune

Sounds good to me! Where should we start exactly? And I assume their living situation has basically been in hiding?

awesome! perhaps we should start a couple villages away from the main village/capital so we can include their planning/brief journey to kill the Bad Guy. Yeah, they've basically been on the run for the past two years gathering Intel and recovering/preparing to reclaim their throne

Awesome. Do you want me to start, or do you want to?

i am very sleepy and I have DnD in the morning so I won't be able to start for another 14ish hours, so you're welcome to!

Okay, I might! It's super late here and I have a meeting in the morning so it might be a bit.

Innes threw a notebook on the table in front of Katya.
"I gathered a bit more about them while I was out today. A few things about their organization and its structure, and also a little bit about castle security."
His eyes were much more tired than normal; he hadn't slept well in days once again, between all the research and generally being on edge.
"Any luck on your end?"

Katya's eyes sweep over the notebook, taking in her brother's notes. "I asked around," she mutters. She's sitting at a table deep into the tavern, one knee brought up right under her chin while her other leg extends over an adjacent chair. "Nobody here seems overly-eager to hand out damning information about their king." She glances up to her brother, gnawing on the inside of her cheek. "Regardless, I still know about the stable entrance. It shouldn't be guarded too heavily, right? Unless the bastard decided that ponies were worth protecting."

"I wouldn't count on that," Innes sighed, "If they have the manpower, which they absolutely do, they're going to keep security tight."
He sat down across from his sister at the table. "I need a drink."
He ordered from a bartender who passed by and then turned back to Katya.
"It's a shame that society was just alright with bending to a new king that forced his way in. I can't say dear old dad was the best, but at least he didn't cut people down to get the throne."

Katya shrugs, pushing the notebook away from her. She snaps at the bartender, demanding a drink and bowl of nuts for herself. "What else were they supposed to do? Get slaughtered too?" She keeps her eyes down on the table, her fingers tracing patterns into the worn wood of the sticky table. The both know it's been too long since they've been home–if they can even call it that anymore. Two years have passed since Cyril Haverdeen and his forces attacked. It happened late at night. Katya still hears Rianne's screams when there's no other noise.

"Should we head to the next village in the morning?" Katya nods at the waitress who delivers their drinks and snack. She sits for a moment, trying to remember what town is to come. "I think it's Thale… We're in Mercon, right?"

"That's sadly true…" Innes sighed, thanking the bartender as she passed him his ale.
He pondered over the drink for a bit before answering.
"Yes, I think we've been here long enough. Thale shouldn't be too tough of a journey anyhow."
Innes started putting back his drink much faster than before and ordered a second.

(Ooh yeah! We can absolutely pick up our old ones again! Or start a new one if you'd rather. Could you bump them possibly?
Edit: wait nvm I found two of them! :))

"So we'll stay for the night," Katya concludes, sipping at her drink much slower than her brother. She notes his drinking. "You'll become a raging alcoholic if you don't slow down brother." A slight smirk tugs at her lips, but she hides it behind the rim of her stein. Her eyes sweep over the room, observing the other patrons and few waitresses milling about with trays and overflowing mugs. A bartender and innkeeper converse quietly behind a carved bartop. "Should I rent us a room?"

"If it takes the edge off faster, so be it," Innes replies softly.
He also looks over where the innkeeper and bartender are.
"That's probably for the best, isn't it? I'd rather not travel these trails by night."

Katya nods, knocking back the rest of her drink before standing to stride over to the innkeep. "Just one room. Two beds preferably." She slides a few stolen gold pieces over the countertop as the innkeeper nods and hands her an iron key with a room tag clipped to the ring. "Thank you very much, good sir." With another nod, she steps away, twirling the key ring around her finger as she reapproaches her brother. "Did you want anything for dinner or are we good with eating subpar bar nuts for the night."

"Don't care," Innes replies, taking a few sips of his new drink. "I'm fine without. I'll hunt on the road if I get hungrier. You can get something if you'd like, though."
He looks at the key in his sister's hand, following its motion with his eyes as she twirls it. Yet, his mind is a thousand miles away.
Innes is unsettled and unprepared. He secretly doesn't want to follow through with this. After all, it's only to get the throne back- the very thing he never cared for. But it was even more so to wrest it away from the hands of the scum who stole it some time ago and treated the kingdom with cruelty beyond words.
Innes' expression is soft, vacant, wandering. His head is starting to feel fuzzy halfway through his second drink, and he feels more relaxed, if a bit quiet. A slight flush floods his cheeks.

Katya hums as she studies her brother. "I think you should go to bed." She slides the key across the tabletop, the sound screeching and unpleasant even through the hubbub of the tavern. "You're going to drink yourself into a hangover, and you're even more of a pain in the ass to travel with when you have nauseating headaches." With a set jaw, Katya sends another once-over across the room. There are men playing cards in the corner, a woman flirting with the waitresses in the middle, a bard struggling to get past town guards to the stage to her right. Nobody looks like they would possess information damning enough to kill a false king, but there are always moles lurking in the oddest of places. "I'll join you in a little bit, yeah?"

"A couple of drinks aren't going to get me hungover," Innes protests, looking down into his mug.
At this point, he is tipsy at worst. His speech is still crystal clear, and he doesn't seem too inebriated yet.
"Besides, when's the last time that happened? You really ought to stop fretting over me, sis."

"Forgive me for not wanting an alcoholic for a future king," Katya hisses. She knows a tutor she used to have would call her out on her fallacy, but Katya believes that a slippery slope is the only way down for Innes if he continues. "I'm looking out for you and the future of our kingdom, alright? Don't let this become a damned habit, Innes–" At the end of her statement, the whoosh of the opening doors causes her to turn her head. "Shit– Don't look now but a particular guard we lost a few towns back just walked in. I say we get to the room." She flips her hood over her head as she stands with her back to the man, blocking Innes from his view. "Now."

Innes was starting to protest her a bit before the guard walked in.
"Don't even get me started on the future of our kingdom. I wouldn't even be here if-"
he falls silent as Katya points out the guard and gets up from the table, trying not to be too abrubt. He catches a glimpse of the guard as he starts to slip away towards their room.
Fortunately, he's still only tipsy; a light hum drones in his head, but he's still perfectly able to put one foot in front of the other. Once up in the hall, out of the guards' views, he fumbles with the key a bit and unlocks their room.
Once they're both in, he closes the door as quietly as possible.
"What do we do if he checks up here?" he asked.

Katya steals a few brief glances at the man before ducking into the stairwell and making their way to the upper floor. Silently, she slips in beside her brother. "Easy," Katya says, flipping a knife from her belt and into her awaiting palm. "We kill him. By the time they realize a single guard is missing, we'll be in the next town over." A smile that only brings trouble settles across her lips. "If not, then we'll have a long nights rest with no worries whatsoever."

"I'll leave that to you, then," Innes sighs.
He still reaches for a dagger just in case, but he's nearly certain that Katya will more than happily take care of the guard, should the need arise. She was out for vengeance- and that was on everyone involved, even the guards, some of whom had very little to do with the overthrow of their parents.
Innes presses his ear up against the wall facing the hallway, listening for footsteps. He is more than a little flustered and out of breath.

Katya has to roll her eyes at her brother's semi-drunken state. From now on, they're both limited to only a single ale each. They're going to have to be in peak condition at all times, especially when moving closer and closer to the castle they shared in their youth. Carefully, Katya listens to the door, noting a few sets of footsteps but none of them hearty nor determined enough to be those of the guard's. "You should get some sleep," Katya says after a few minutes of silence. "I'll watch the door."

Innes frowns. He usually doesn't sleep at night much anyhow. He especially wouldn't be able to knowing there was a guard in the same building as them, probably out for their heads.
Yet, he sits firmly on the mattress. He looks between Katya and the door.
"I'll try, I suppose," he says, "I've had quite a lot of trouble sleeping this week. I can take watch if you'd rather rest."
Innes already feels like he's starting to sober up, and it's not a pleasant feeling.

Katya scoffs and levels her brother with a glare. "Go to bed, idiot. I'll wake you up in a few hours to take the second watch, alright?" In a compromise Katya hopes will make them both happy, she returns to her vigil, staring at the door. The inn room luckily has two twin sized beds set on either side of a large window overlooking a back alley. The siblings travel light, all of their belongings in bags on their backs or belts, making a quick and quiet exit easy. If the guard somehow has backup, they'll have to make their getaway quick and silent. For all of their sakes, Katya hopes that the man is alone and not in the mood for checking individual rooms.

Innes tries to sleep, but it's sporadic and shallow. He dreams of that night again and hears the screams. The screams of his parents, his sister. But also the service staff, the royal guard, the people who put everything on the line to protect the royal family and still failed.
He stirs a lot as he sleeps, occasionally gasping for breath as he wakes up.

Katya alternates her attention from watching the door to watching the window. Across from her on the second bed, Innes hardly gets any sleep. Katya hardly gets any sleep. They're both lucky if they get a few uninterrupted hours. She sniffs, wiping her nose with her knuckle as she rests her cheek on the top of her bent knee. She has to wonder if the nightmares will subside when back within the castle, the throne rightly restored to their bloodline. Part of her prays it will, the other part knows that it might only get worse. Knowing if she doesn't try now, she'll won't get a wink, Katya stands and crosses the room in a few, short strides. Softly, she shakes Innes from his light sleep. Wordlessly, she points to the door and then to her own bed before unceremoniously flopping onto the thin mattress.

Innes wakes with a bit of a start. But when he sees Katya make the short signal to him, he's relieved. He's relieved he's the one taking watch now. Not because he doesn't trust her, but because his vigilance has become pretty habitual at this point, even through the night.
Innes hears the periodic creaking of floorboards, footsteps on the stairs, but nothing worth noting. Perhaps they are, in fact, safe for the night.
(Want them to get caught and have to flee or nah?)

(ohoho yeah we should have them get discovered,, but there's not just one guard,, there's like a dozen >:] )

It doesn't take long for sleep to find Katya. It grabs ahold of her mind before forcefully pulling her beneath the blanket of unconsciousness. Katya always sleeps heavily, but never for very long. Somewhere while swimming through the inky black, Katya begins to hear voices and relive memories she would rather leave buried. She turns over onto her side, fingers knotting in the blankets beneath her. Something tingles on the back of her neck and her subconscious tells her something is very wrong.