The Blood-Red Banner of War [RP]

The Empyrean's eye twitches, and in the blink of an eye, he has hit you in the leg with a sickening noise. The burst of pain cannot be understated, a sudden blast of fire and agony on your leg.

"That was the incorrect answer. And that was a warning shot."

(18)

You're lucky, the blow only gave you a nasty little sting that'll probably bruise later, though it's best to assume that you won't be so lucky for the next questions.

The Empyrean hold their cane at the ready, and asks their next question.

"How quick are you?"

”I can run faster than most I’ve met”

"Go ahead then. Show me how fast you can run. You there! Race with him around the Import Quarter."

The other candidate for servant, the guy who looks like gigachad, comprehends this, and what it means if he loses for a bit, before nodding his head solemnly and getting into his position at the starting line, marked by an inlaid diamond in the ground below. The Empyrean speaks up again.

"You two will race around the Import Quarter. The first one to make a complete loop around the place and meet back up here will become servant or whatever. On the count of three, you go. One, two......three!"

The proclamation is punctuated by a guard firing a musket shot into the air, probably ruining some poor bird's week.

*I begin running right behind gigachad man, hoping to be able to overtake him once I know where I’m going*

The gigachad man is running pretty quickly, around buildings, streets, and blocks, in a seemingly random direction. He looks behind him once or twice, realizes you're following him, and thinking the worst, seeks to lose you in the crowds of a new quarter. A sign nearby reads: EXPORT QUARTER.

*I continue to follow him, staying as close as possible* 

(14)

While you do manage to follow him for a bit, you quickly lose him in the crowd of people in the export quarter, made up of mostly sellers of materials, like butchers, blacksmiths, farmers, all congregated in this dreary metropolis. Sacks of materials in wagons lead by horses and oxen form barriers between you and gigachad, leaving you lost in the middle of the Export Quarter. Though this does leave you with a revelation. The exports and the imports must be close by to each other, so the Import Quarter should be around here somewhere.

*i look for the direction where traffic seems the most prevalent and run in that direction*

(18)

After a minute of searching, you manage to find a point of considerable interest, the point between the Export and Import quarter, where suppliers and workers manage large quantities of supplies with little fanfare and talking. By this point, the gigachad must have a giant head start on the rest of the race.

*I sprint, cutting my arm to try to trigger my fight or flight*(20)

The word zooms out, the sound of the whistling wind roaring in your ear. You tear across the Import Quarter, moving faster than even you thought possible. You can't feel the tiredness in your leg muscles, nor hear the curses let loose by people diving out of your way. Eventually, after what feels like only a few seconds, you make it to the main street of Telhar, the square in front of the Grand Palace in sight. The gigachad is panting heavily, and moving at a slow pace, nearly at the finish line, but takes a look behind him, sees you bolting at an alarming speed, and begins to speed up.

*I sprint as fast as I can, trying to beat him*(…1)

Your burst of speed is cut short by you tripping on a singular loose flagstone in the street, the only one in the entire lane, and you fall facefirst into the pavement. The gigachad, seeing this, stops to laugh at you.

*I roll, trying to recover and beat him*(19)

You recover from your fall quickly, and resume your speed, catching up to the gigachad quickly, before he can even start running again, and you manage to break across the finish line.

The Empyrean sniffs, looks around at the square, sees that you won and the gigachad lost, and sighs.

"You're victorious, and you get to be servant. These guards will escort you in. As for you,"

The Empyrean turns to the gigachad, and proceeds to beat him mercilessly, probably to make up for his own lack of happiness in his life. Two guards close in on each side of you and begin to silently herd you up the stairs of the Grand Palace.

’damn’ I think to myself ‘glad he stopped to laugh’

*I follow the guards*

I pull out two more coins for Nox.

"And that's all I'm giving you. At least, for now."

The crow pecks the coins a few times, then takes the currency in their beak, squeezes through the small suspiciously crow-shaped gap in the container, and flies away from the prison wagon, depositing the coins somewhere far away as the wagon gets closer and closer to the towering peaks of the Urysas.