Seethe

Um, Hello, I am a member of the group of adventurers known as The Chromatic Cardinals. The rest of the group asked me to be the starting point for the log of our adventures throughout Rensen. Why I was asked to do this is beyond me, but I’ll cooperate. A proper introduction is required to start this I assume; I am Seethe, a Fire Genasi, I’m about average male height, I have pastel red skin, glowing yellow eyes, and messy ash-gray hair tied into a messy bun, at least that’s why I’m told I look like. So I guess the best way to get started would be the morning we all met.The morning sun shone through the trees, stinging my eyes open, I sat up to see our campgrounds, to my right I saw my brother Quarry preparing some food.

“It is very weird seeing you at the earliest Quarry.” I looked towards my brother; when we were younger my brother hated waking up, when he slept it’s as if he was a giant stone, which is appropriate considering he is an Earth Genasi.

“When I first enlisted, my superior loved waking up the greenhorns super early in the morning, so I got used to it.” Quarry says and shrugs. He’s tall and his skin was a deep black similar to that of obsidian. He had a buzz cut, and his eyes glowed like a jade gem, and I swear when his voice dropped it sounded like rocks were rumbling every time he spoke.

“Should I wake up the other two?” I asked.

“Yeah, you should, otherwise we won’t get to the city by noon, like we planned.” Quarry replied.

Understanding, I walked over to our sisters. I proceeded to shout at them “MONSOON, GALE WAKE UP YOU SLEEPY HEADS!” trying to wake them up.

Shaken by my shout, Gale immediately stood up and instinctively grabbed her rapier and pointed it to my throat. Realizing that it was morning and that I was just trying to wake her up and annoy her, she sheathed her weapon and gripped my shoulder… hard.

“Seethe, I love you brother but do that again and I will stab you.” My sister Gale said quietly, chuckling. She’s an Air Genasi, about average female height, and has light blue skin that matches the color of the sky. She has sky blue eyes and has really long white hair that looked like it was made out of clouds. She looked at me with a death-stare and a chuckle before walking off to our brother to get some food.

Monsoon, on the other hand, was still fast asleep like she had not heard me at all. I then realized she didn’t and that she had her earplugs in. I removed the earplugs then I poked her awake with my staff and said “We got breakfast Monsoon”.

“What kind of breakfast?” Monsoon asked. Monsoon is a Water Genasi, shorter than the rest of us, her skin was lavender with patches of pink, reminiscent of coral. She had long curly green hair, colored similar to algae, and pearl colored eyes similar to the jade like eyes of Quarry.

I looked at Quarry who heard the question and replied “Bacon, eggs, and some leftover rabbit stew.”

Monsoon bolted up and instantly ran to Quarry, turned to me, and asked “C’mon Seethe, are you just gonna stand there or are we gonna eat”.

I sighed, walked over to them, sat down, and ate breakfast. Once we finished, we started packing up and made our way to the nearest town, Onstrend.

⠂⠂⠂

When we arrived at Onstrend, also known as the “The Kingdom’s Compass” it was a little later than we would’ve liked; around an hour past noon. Onstrend is a rather large town nearly the size of a city; given its nickname because of its four gates in each of the cardinal directions. The town is in the center of the kingdom and continent acting as a crossroads of trade for both.

“I know all we did today was walk and eat, but since it’s around lunch why don’t we find a place and get some food?” Gale suggested.

No one contested the idea so we walked around town and started asking people where a good place to get a meal for cheap and possibly a place to stay. Everyone pointed us to a little tavern and inn called “The Ducklings Nest”. When we get there the entire inn is loud and full of life; in the corner of the bar area, there seems to be a Warforged playing music. We walked through the place and it looked kind of battle-torn as if a tornado of blades came through here. The walls were marked with dozens of scratches, the stonework on the floor looked worn, and the entire place kinda smelled. It seemed like this place has been around for generations, kinda reminded me of home. We tried looking for an empty table, but we couldn’t find any so we just sat down next to these two hooded people who hopefully wouldn’t seem to mind our rowdiness.

“I know it’s rude to ask after we’ve already sat down, but is it okay if we sit here? No other tables left.” I asked

“That’s fine with me, how about you Corrin?” One of the hooded figures asked the other. The other apparently named Corrin just replied with a nod.

“My name’s Kellen. Kellen Dorritha, what’s yours?”. She took off her hood introducing herself, Kellen was a Kalashtar woman with olive skin. She had long platinum blonde locks tied into a braid, and warm brown eyes, with a scar going across her left one. On her neck was a religious symbol held by those who follow the god Ild.

When Kellen took off her hood I started staring at her for a bit before catching myself and replying with a slight blush and stutter “I’m… uh See-...ah I’m Seethe, and these are my siblings Gale, Quarry, and Monsoon”.

Gale chuckled at the sight of my stuttering, to which I replied by elbowing her on the side.

“Nice to meet y’all!” Kellen said back. “This is my traveling companion Corrin, he’s a bit moody.” she added with a teasing tone.

“I AM NOT!” The figure shouted and unhooded himself, and then proceeded to duck before anyone could react. Corrin was a male Dragonborn with white scales, yellow eyes, and with a fairly large and built figure. He seemed to be wearing monk garbs. “Also how would you know if I’m moody or not. We’ve only known each other for like a week.” Corrin retorted.

“You just give me that aura of ‘I have a duty I must fulfill at all costs’ and ‘friends only drag me down, I would rather work alone’,” Kellen replied, “plus you seem to dislike my company despite my loveable personality; which is impossible.”

Corrin let out a sigh and facepalms, he seemed kind of annoyed by the comment. I chuckle a bit at the sight of Corrin’s obviously tired expression of dealing with Kellen.

“Sorry to interrupt the conversation but we came inside to eat and have yet to even order food.” Quarry interrupted, looking very hungry.

“Oh yeah guess we should do that, HEY MISS CAN WE GET SOME FOOD PLEASE,” Gale said very loudly towards someone who looked like a waiter.

A Gnomish woman who seemed to be a waitress came running up to us and said “Sorry dears, welcome to ‘The Duckling’s Nest’, what can I get for you?”

“3 beers, 3 of whatever’s meaty and hot, a glass of water, and some porridge for you I assume, Monsoon” Quarry quickly replied with our orders and asked Monsoon for hers.

Monsoon replied, “Mashed potatoes for me actually, thanks, Quarry. By the way, ma’am what’s your name?”

“My name is June, hun, and coming right up sweetheart. What about you two? What do you want?” June replied.

“I assume the same as them, right Corrin?” Kellen asked.

Corrin nodded.

“Okay, I’ll be back in a jiffy with 5 beers, and how about an entire rack of lamb with a double side of baked potatoes to make it easier on your coin pouches?” June said with a caring grin.

“That sounds great, and can one of those beers be something non-alcoholic instead please?” I said.

“Got it, hun.” June said, “Be back in a jiffy.” She left and went to the counter to get our order sorted.

“Not an alcohol man, Seethe?” Kellen asked

“I mean, I can drink alcohol, and out of the four of us I’m probably the most tolerant, but I only drink on special occasions.” I said

“C’mon Seethe, why not make this one? ” Monsoon said “The first city we’ve been to after leaving home isn’t a special occasion?”

But before I could answer, a hooded figure came to sit down in front of me.

“‘Sup names Lizles, you're the only open table hope you don’t mind?” this woman named Lizles said with a pitcher already in hand. Lizles was kind of short with really short brown hair, amber eyes, and quite pale skin. She also seemed to have a rather large sword slung across her back.

I was a bit wary of her since she came out of nowhere, with a giant sword on her back and just decided to sit with us. Then I noticed that Gale immediately shot a gaze towards her, showing interest in her, and I knew she was up to something “Sure thing beautiful, I’m Gale any nicknames?” Gale said in a flirtatious manner.

“Yeah cutie, my friends call me Liz, but you can call me Lizles, the rest of you are fine,” Liz replied snarkily. “Also I’ll pay for any food I eat if that’s cool with you guys”

I laughed a little and looked at the defeated looking Gale. I reply to Liz saying “That’s fine with me, what about you guys?”

Everyone in the group nods and then Kellen speaks up and says very quickly “I’m Kellen, the moody guy is Corrin, the stone-cold killer is Quarry, the guy with the burning hair is Seethe, the quiet one beside him is Monsoon, and the girl who failed to flirt with you is Gale.” pointing to each of us individually as she said our names.

“Got it, well, what’d you guys get? ‘Cause I’m gettin’ real hungry.” Liz asked

“We got-” Quarry got that out before being interrupted by a man at the front door of the inn shouting

“BANDITS! IN THE TOWN! RUN! SCATTER!”