Newbie
gender: Female
status: offline
Alias: "Bug"
Race: Human
Gender: Female
Age: 18
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Post by Marnie Ripple on Dec 3, 2018 13:00:40 GMT -8
The Pond.
It used to be the place for hoity toity to live. A stylish cul-de-sac of ostentatious mansions built in a small dip in the landscape that allowed for direct access to the beach and a beautiful view of the sunrise. Exclusive high-end shops rose up on either side of the boardwalk leading to the sea. The city guard were paid well to keep the unmentionable riff-raff out of their playground.
Except the area was prone to tremors. City planners and sages alike warned against residential development in that area of the Perch. The rich did as the rich do; paid off officials, expedited permits, and did whatever they wanted anyway.
As if the very earth would be all They're rich? Oh, I'll shiver on the other side of the continent, then!
Obviously, that didn't happen. One massive earthquake later, the shops were wood skeletons, the mansions washed out husks, the entire cul-de-sac dipped twenty feet lower, and filled with saltwater.
Years later, the area around the stagnant, glorified mud puddle became the place for beggars, thieves, and copper whores. Streetrats, guttersnipes, and parentless waifs found refuge among the shattered remains, and shelter beneath the man who reigned as its king.
Frog.
Frog was the definition of average in appearance - brown hair, brown eyes, indistinct features. The sort of guy who resembled a distant relative or the boring kid who lived two doors down the street when you were growing up. But he was smart, he had the foresight and just enough charisma to turn the Perch's hovel into his domain. Every lost little orphan in the Perch eventually found themselves among the ranks of Frank's Tadpoles...or dead.
The choices were limited, sure, but life as a Tadpole wasn't awful. You got a meal a day, a warm spot to sleep in, and a few coppers in your pockets now 'n then. (Frog got the real shinies, of course.) Work hard enough, pay off your debt, and you'd be free to leave the Pond and find a life of your own in about ten, fifteen years - depending on how young you were when Frog made you one of his.
Marnie had done alright for herself. She was eighteen, worked for Frog since she was eight. Many of the other Tadpoles called her his favorite, and secretly she believed they were right. Most of the time.
She stood in front of the ramshackle house that housed her pseudo-father with a hand pressed to her middle, trying to convince the drunken butterflies within that everything would be fine. She was of age. She had the funds to buy herself out from beneath Frog's thumb. Tadpoles did this all the time.
Dreanna's tits, she was going to puke.
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Newbie
gender: Female
status: offline
Alias: "Bug"
Race: Human
Gender: Female
Age: 18
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Post by Marnie Ripple on Dec 5, 2018 7:16:02 GMT -8
"Frog. You been drinkin' or something?"
Marnie eyed the man she'd thought loved her as a daughter until two minutes ago. He didn't look drunk; his brown eyes were sharp as ever and the flush on his cheeks hadn't been put there by booze. He was well and truly pissed.
"I'm not accepting your resignation," he repeated, this time shoving the bags of coins across the desk hard enough they thudded to the floor at her feet.
"Uh. You don't have a choice." It wasn't a threat. Marnie was in shock. Frog turned down gold? HER gold. Frog didn't pass up a copper half buried in horse shit, so this was major weird.
Countless Tadpoles had gone through this process before her. The way it was supposed to go was you pulled work on your own time, saved up however much you thought your service to Frog was worth, then presented it to the man with a Frog, I'm too big for the Pond. He might demand more coin, or demand one last job, but he always, ALWAYS, took the coins.
"You threatenin' me, Bug?" Frog asked, dangerously quiet.
Tyr's tiny dick, she was screwed.
"Noooo," she drawled out. "I'm kinda freakin' out here, Frog. I don't understand what the deal is. You knew I was gonna age out soon. Hell, ya had to know I was workin' on the buy out," she griped as she picked up the bags and one by one, dropped them back on his desk. Very, very little went on in the Perch that Frog didn't know about. Damn near the whole Pond knew she'd been working on her buy out.
"You Dom's now, Bug?"
"I...that's...what?!" she sputtered, the blush crawling up her neck and setting her face on fire. It wasn't just her inability to lie, it was the way Frog said it. The way his face was all twisted up right now.
Frog sounded...jealous. Which was... Hell, her mind couldn't even process the fucked-up-ness of that.
Frog looked her up and down in a way that made her skin crawl. Ew. Just...ewwwwww.
"Fine. You don't wanna be mine - fine. But I got one more job for ya."
"...okaaay..."
"Bring me Dom's signet ring."
Marnie blinked. Blinked again. Then she burst out laughing, so hard she doubled over and held her belly.
Nerves. But also hilarity.
'Cause Dom wanted Frog's signet ring, too.
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Newbie
gender: Female
status: offline
Alias: "Bug"
Race: Human
Gender: Female
Age: 18
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Post by Marnie Ripple on Dec 6, 2018 6:06:29 GMT -8
"Elysa, I need you to do me a favor..."
Marnie paid the whore and then positioned herself on the other side of the cavern, all the way in the back where there was more room away from the crush of the crowd. Aiden would be fighting in the main event. She'd told Elysa to make her move before then so Marnie wouldn't miss it.
While the first of the preliminary matches began, Marnie's mind admired the giant pickle she'd got herself into. There was no way out of this without making enemies. She could run, that would buy her a week or month more on this side of the death veil. It was delaying the inevitable, and Marnie had always been a rip the bandage type.
However, there was a solution. It required making some big moves. Moves she wasn't confident she could handle in the long term.
But when you were a Bug with a fatal boot poised over your head, long term wasn't what you worried about.
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Newbie
gender: Female
status: offline
Alias: "Bug"
Race: Human
Gender: Female
Age: 18
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Post by Marnie Ripple on Dec 6, 2018 9:07:08 GMT -8
Three days earlier...
Marnie swung herself out of the chimney flu, kicking up embers from the dying fire before she landed safely in front of the fireplace. The muffled thud of her boots made her wince, and she quickly checked to ensure her mark hadn't been disturbed.
Nope. Stephan was snoring away, snuggling a pair of women's underdrawers beneath his chin. Gross.
She checked the charm at her throat and adjusted the charmed hood drawn up over her head. Couldn't have the game blown before she even started it...again.
Marnie sprung.
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Newbie
gender: Female
status: offline
Alias: "Bug"
Race: Human
Gender: Female
Age: 18
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Post by Marnie Ripple on Dec 6, 2018 10:46:54 GMT -8
A heavy weight on his chest and cold steel at his throat woke Stephan from pleasant dreams. "What the...?!" Words froze in his throat as he stared up at the figure crouched over him.
It was a crow. A crow with a man's body and cold, beady eyes. Eyes that promised no mercy, only death. He'd think it a nightmare if not for the very real pain of steel pricking the flesh. A warm trickle told him he was bleeding.
"You are going to make me a ring. It will be ready in three days," a dark voice rasped. A folded bit of parchment was slapped to his chest. "That is the design. Leave the ring on your nightstand."
Stephan gulped, an embarrassing, wet warmth flowing across his thighs. The smell of his own piss broke him; tears fueled by both fear and humiliation rolled down the sides of his face. He blinked them away, and then gasped.
The crow was gone.
The jeweler shot up in bed and lit the bedside lamp with trembling hands. When he had light, he unfolded the parchment and studied the sketch. At first he was confused, but as shock faded he began making sense of what he was seeing.
Holy shit. He was a dead man.
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Newbie
gender: Female
status: offline
Alias: "Bug"
Race: Human
Gender: Female
Age: 18
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Post by Marnie Ripple on Dec 7, 2018 9:07:41 GMT -8
Fight Night...
Marnie grinned to herself as she remembered how it went down with the jeweler. The witch in the woods had definitely come through. She owed the creepy witch, for sure.
Elysa approached Dom, that coy smile on her lips that promised a good time. Marnie watched discreetly out of her peripheral vision. Frog wanted Dom's ring, and he'd get it 'cause she always paid her debts. Dom reached out for the whore. Marnie pushed off the wall and idly approached the crime boss' throne, hands tucked in her front pockets all casual like.
She was only a few feet away when all hell broke out.
She never saw what started the whole thing. Focused on Dom's hand squeezing Elysa's ass, she barely noticed the disturbance deeper in the crowd. That is, before the guy in front of her abruptly stabbed a dagger into his neighbor's back.
What the...
Suddenly everybody was fighting. It was a full fledged riot, and instead of feeling scared, Marnie's heart thrummed with greed. Her mission forgotten, she nipped in and out of the edges, stuffing her pockets with filched goods snatched while the victims were busy fighting for their lives. It was pure happenstance that had her standing witness front and center when Elysa scooped Dom's eye out with a spoon.
She acted without thinking, the first to grab the whore and yank her off Dom. "Elysa, run!" Leaving Elysa to her own devices, Marnie crouched next to the yowling crime lord under the guise of assisting. She pulled his hands away from the hole where his eye used to be. Dreanna's tits...effing gross!
"Get him to a healer! NOW!" she yelled at the nearest bodyguard. Thankfully they quit fighting each other and finally began doing their job.
Marnie deftly slipped the stolen ring into her very full pockets and got the effing eff out of there.
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Newbie
gender: Female
status: offline
Alias: "Bug"
Race: Human
Gender: Female
Age: 18
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Post by Marnie Ripple on Dec 7, 2018 10:01:13 GMT -8
The next night, Marnie once again stood in front of Frog. She tossed Dom's ring onto the desk in front of him. "There. Now unseal me so we can be done."
Frog was quiet for too long, staring at the (recently cleaned of blood) ring in front of him. When he finally spoke his voice was soft, either with awe, disbelief, or some mixture of both. She couldn't tell. "How did you...?"
"Doesn't matter," she interrupted sharply.
The uniquely average looking man seemed to weigh his options, but he eventually nodded. After a quick nod, he stood up and walked over to the wall behind his desk. He pressed his ring against a faint oval indention in the plaster, and a small section of the wall shimmered before disappearing entirely, revealing a hidden foot and a half wide chute. Runes were arranged in even rows and columns along the left side wall; Marnie knew from previous observations that each one of those corresponded to a small chests bearing the same marking. Frog licked his forefinger and then pressed it to one of the runes.
It was the signet ring that opened the chute, but it was Frog's spit that activated the rune. Damn spell knew if he was alive or dead, willing or under duress. His security system was not an easy one to crack.
There was a soft whoosh of compressed air as the proper chest rose up the chute and then hovered in the opening, waiting for Frog to pull it out.
Marnie stood still, calm as she could manage, and watched as Frog carried the chest to his desk. He pressed the ring to the keyhole, and the lid popped open, revealing a shocking number of small, sealed scrolls inside. She had no idea there were that many Tadpoles in the Pond. He shuffled through, eventually pulling out one with her name scrawled above the wax seal.
Frog arched a brow at her. "You sure about this, Bug? I'd treat ya right. You'd never want for a thing. Higher cut, a better room... We can negotiate."
"Break it, Frog." Neither her voice or her expression allowed for further discussion. Frog had hurt her. She'd thought he'd actually cared. She'd thought being his so-called favorite meant something.
He relented with a sigh. Again the signet ring was the key. He pressed it to the wax, and both wax and the parchment bearing the spell slowly disintegrated.
Marnie shuddered as she felt the magic that bound her into Frog's service fall away. Eight years it had been a subtle weight on her shoulders, and finally...finally...she was free.
She turned around and left without saying a word.
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Newbie
gender: Female
status: offline
Alias: "Bug"
Race: Human
Gender: Female
Age: 18
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Post by Marnie Ripple on Dec 7, 2018 10:38:17 GMT -8
Two nights later...
Only a select few people knew where Frog slept at night. Four, to be exact: the three men he used as bodyguards...and Marnie. She made it her business to know years ago. Just in case.
His chosen hidey-hole was a hidden offshoot of an old smuggler's tunnel that ran from the Pond to a small cave on the beach tucked beneath an outcropping in the cliff side. It had been sealed off for years but since the royal Ravencourts' neglect, it had been put back in use. There were only two ways in and out - Frog's office, and the beach.
Marnie was at the beach.
She drew the charmed hood up over her head, then loaded a blowgun with four darts. Three were fatal, one was a tranq.
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Newbie
gender: Female
status: offline
Alias: "Bug"
Race: Human
Gender: Female
Age: 18
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Post by Marnie Ripple on Dec 7, 2018 11:04:57 GMT -8
The crow came out of nowhere.
The two guards tasked with patrolling the tunnel were enjoying a riveting gossip session about the weird shit that went down on fight night. There was no sound to betray their impending doom. One happened to glance over and yelped at the crow headed man charging straight for them.
Pfft. Pfft.
Two grunts. Two slaps as hands smacked at the sudden sting in their throats. Two thuds as their bodies hit the floor.
They'd chosen a small bend in the tunnel as their gossip spot, effectively ensuring the quiet sounds would not be detected within Frog's hidey-hole further down. Their cooperation was silently appreciated.
After pocketing the darts, the crow jogged deeper into the cave.
Inside Frog's chambers, his right hand man lounged at the desk, kicked back in the chair with his legs up. When he heard the stone wall roll away he dropped his feet to the floor and turned to the door, fully expecting to see one of his mates walk in. Frog slept like the dead; it wasn't unusual for one or both to wander in for a chat to break up the monotony.
He was not expecting a crow with legs.
"What the fu--"
Pfft. Pfft.
He clutched his throat, feeling the end of a dart between his fingers. He couldn't move. He couldn't even blink.
The crow stepped fully into the room and approached Frog's prone form in the bed. The flickering light from the torches in the tunnel let him witness the intruder pulling what he could only assume was another dart out of Frog's neck. A black gloved hand casually slid the signet ring off Frog's finger and tucked into a belt pouch.
His heart in his throat, he could only watch helpless as the crow walked to him and leaned close. His hand was pulled away from his neck and the dart plucked free. Chilled metal slid onto his finger, but he couldn't turn his head to see what it was.
"Your name is now Toad. The Pond is yours, but the Crow will always be watching."
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welcome
Tyrannights is a free-form play by post RPG with a medieval fantasy setting. It was formed in 1997 by Shawn and Doreen with many different owners and versions over the years. Its current version is Tyran: Tales of Legends owned by Sinead and Laelia.
Tales of Legends is world and character building focused with and original setting. There are no forced character aps or registration, so come stay in Wendy's Tavern for a drink. Have you character serve one of two Tyran gods. Rule a city of your own, or serve Tyran's Queen. There are limitless possibilities for your character's story... so what are you waiting for?
Tyran is PG 13 and LGBT friendly.
site updates (dd/mm/yy)
13/11/18 - THERE ARE NEW GODS! please check out the temple folders for more details!
29/11/18 - Both temples have staff positions open for those interested in joining the temples
29/11/18 - We are currently editing our achievements and adding more! Please be patient as we fix this.
current events
TBA
Time: Ongoing
Where: TBA
Host: TBA
staff
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Amika
x_Tempest_D
SW_Hotaru_SD
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(Username may varry)
Joshua
Shelzi
Storyteller/Trent
Wulv
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credits
Tyrannights/VampPub was originally created by Shawn and Doreen. Tyran: Tales of Legends remake is currently owned by Sinead and Laelia Content is copyrighted to Tyran unless otherwise stated. The skin is created by Wolf of Gangnam Style. The board and thread remodel is by Kagney.
Banner Image was created by Karnage82.
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