So this is all before now starting from when the Vyre gained sentience))
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Vam'Brac Kaughrin was born on the Isle of the Vyre. Before gaining full sentience he was one of the number who chose to migrate to the mainland. Despite lacking full intelligence Vyre were still smart enough to desire more than their squalid conditions on the isle and venture to the lands of promise across the water.
When the awakening came Vam'Brac was terrified, just as many of the other Vyre. He ran, and made his way into the welcoming darkness of the deep caverns. Before he had known these as the unwelcoming place where the diminutive creatures made their home (Not the tiny ugly ones, but the other tougher looking ones that usually sprouted a beard and a sharp axe or large warhammer), but now the outside world was frightening in its new clarity and he welcomed the familiarity and lack of stimulus in the darkness.
Soon enough his keen eyes adjusted and he stayed in the cave. It was hunger that eventually drove him to move on; Vam'brac would have very much liked to merely stay put, but even before he knew how undesirable starvation could be. In those caves left alone with his new mind he made a number of ingenious deductions. Scanning through his memories he understood things on a whole new level.
He hunted down game in the forest, using the tried and true weapons of his own claws and fangs. It was at this time that he finally understood the ingenuity of weapons. Before he had been somewhat perplexed, not merely in how to use them but in why to use them. His limited understanding had left his best guess at being that because the others were so weak, and their claws and fangs so under-developed, they had no choice but to use those instruments. Now he understood otherwise. "Bow" could hit things from long distance, “Sword” extended your reach and were sharper than claws, and blunt weapons like the sticks with the spiky ball on the end could both tear the skin and crush the bone.
He knew all these from experience, but only now did he ever consider that it might be useful for him to procure such a device. He finished his meal, and looked around for where the weapons came from. They weren't in the tree, under the rock or by the steam. It was most galling. He remembered how he'd seen clubs that were just a big lump of wood. He could tear of a branch to be one of those, but he was hoping for something... more impressive.
He sat down and thought about it, coming to the conclusion that if he can't find a weapon of his own he'd have to just take one from someone else. Remembering how shiny and powerful looking the weapons wielded by dwarves were he decided he'd have one of those. He headed back to the cave. As he neared the entrance he saw a small group of dwarves making their way out, it seemed that exit was little used judging from the fact none had disturbing him during his days in the cave. Even now these new revelations were somewhat surprising and welled up unbidden, such as the realisation of his distinguishable nakedness. The dwarves all wore clothing or armour, as did all other non-vyre in his memories. He decided that he would take some cloths when he took the weapon. None of these particular dwarves seemed to be armed, which was a disappointment, one waved their hand and a glowing light came outwards. Vam’brac remembered magic during his time in the cave. He added magic to his mental list of things to get. It was surprising how many things beyond food he now found himself wanting, not that the warm crimson liquid was any lower on his priority list.
After they had gone he walked to the cave entrance, and this time he followed it through. He travelled through a number of caverns, some with dizzying drops into total darkness that he did his best to avoid. Despite his keen predatorial eyes keen night vision the darkness was almost total. He found himself wishing he had some of that “Fire” he remembered the others using at times, but as with weapons he had no idea where it came from or how to get some on his own.
Later, (though exactly how long Vam’brac could be sure) as he was making his way around a particularly dark cavern he tripped on a rock. His heart leaped in his chest and he felt the strange sensation of his insides squirming around, wind rushed past his skin. The sensations were strange, and would have been exciting if it weren’t for the fact that he knew it was going to end with a…
THUD.
He hit the cavern floor, which had only moments ago been far below. The pain was great, that much had not changed. He blanked out for a few seconds. As he reawoke he trembled, coughing blood and trying to get up. He slid his hand down and felt the ribs at his side. They were poking out of the skin, broken and jagged. He semi-righted himself and painfully pushed them back into place a little. After a certain point his body took over and they slid back under the skin. He fell back, blanking out for a few more moments, but was soon back awake as his incredibly rapid healing repaired his damaged body.
Just because you can survive great injury doesn’t mean its any fun. Vam’brac made a mental note to avoid fall off cliffs. He had run off them while chasing prey before, but now his new intelligence was telling him that perhaps it would be better to avoid doing it ever again. Yes, that would be prudent. He got up and looked around. The entire place was dark, but a muted light came from his left. He headed towards it, wondering as to the wisdom of his decided path, what with having never been into a dwarvern settlement before. He didn’t have any idea how far down they would be nor what kind of welcome he would get. His experience of Dwarves had been mostly hostile during raids, and they hadn’t seemed to fond of him and his brethren then. But they were devouring his kins men at that time. He was sure that the dwarves would be much more accommodating if he didn’t eat any of them. He just hoped that cave deer tasted as good as forest deer. Although looking around things seemed just as barren as in the cave mouth. He really hoped it would open out into a cave forest soon.
Gradually the light grew, and Vam’brac found himself in one of the underground forests he’d been after. The cave roof was very high, and the room must have been huge cause he felt wind, not unlike that which had accompanied him on his fall. It only took him a few moments to realise that it wasn’t an underground forest at all, but that it had changed to a cloudy night outside and that he’d come out somewhere on the other side of the mountain he had entered.
Dammit! All that effort, and time wandering around in those bloody caves and all he’d succeeded in doing was getting lost. It was then that he noticed a light, this one from a convoy. As part of the old band he had raided many such convoys, the humans, dwarf and the stripped one were quite interested in raiding them, while he and the other Vyre were happy to feed. He found that he held no loyalty to any of them, and had no interest in rejoining their escapades. He decided that he would follow the carriages. With any luck they would be guarded with weapons.
He stalked the carriages, but was disappointed when it seemed to lack escort. Some of the men seemed rough looking, and one did have a sword, but Vam’brac had set his sights on one of the pretty looking dwavern weapons, and the short sword that the man had on his lap wasn’t much more useful looking than his own two claws. However, that night as the convoy slept Vam’brac snuck into the camp. The short sword man had been on guard duty, but had fallen asleep after having a good many drinks of… what was it called again… ‘brose’? no, that doesn’t sound quite right, um, ‘boobs’? no, that had something to do with the queens of the other races’ shirts. Was it maybe ‘booze’? No matter, whatever it was called, the man had drunken quite a bit before finally nodding off.
Vam’brac had never understood why other races liked the stuff, it smelled pretty unappealing to him. Now I nice drink of blood on the other hand… And why did the other races have so many queens? How would you know which ones to listen to? Although it seems from memory that the men don’t really obey their queens to often anyway. I guess there’s so many of them they just gave up. Vam’brac wondered why other queens didn’t fight to the death for tribal dominance as Vyre queens did. As he’d been thinking this he nervously lifted the man’s short sword out of his grasp. Having finally lifted it clear he quietly snuck away. He raced to a nearby field, and wielding the sword clumsily started making slashing motions. Almost like a child fighting pretend enemies. The vyre found the weapon to more of a hindrance than anything else. He tossed away the blade in disgust. The weapon was obviously broken in some way, he would have to find a better one.
He decided that he would set out at daybreak. He found himself a resting spot in a tree, and settled in for the remainder of the night, adding the next items of his list of things to get. A blanket. In the morning He continued to tail the convoy, eventually it went through a small town, and this is where Vam'brac stopped. A vyre always gathered attention in a settlement, but now Vam'brac was conscious of their stares, and feeling more than a little uncomphortable. A man stepped forward, holding a pitchfork at the ready,
"just. keep. walkin'. Vyre" said the man slowly in a hostile manner, separating every word. Beforehand Vam'brac would have needed this for the meaning to sink in, most people had learnt that Vyre weren't the fastest at understanding words, but now Vam'brac understood immediately.
"no need to say like that" Replied Vam'brac in a measured tone "we vyre are diff'rent now, we com-pre-hend". Vyre could talk even before their recent epiphany, though their grasp and understanding of language was rudimentary at best.
"ye comprehend do ya? well good fer you, now git!" came the mans reply, still holding his pitch fork as a weapon
"i want for weapons, tell thank you where i can take one" asked Vam'brac trying to appear as polite as possible
"you? weapons? Thank you!? but... You savages never use weapons!"
"i understand their use now, i also want after cloths, blanket, fire and magic. Where do these come from?"
the townsman just looked at him, somewhat stunned
"bu... but you're a Vyre!"
Vam'brac was beginning to get frustrated. Maybe the same thing that caused him to become smarter caused all the other previously smart races to become dumber. This man certainly didn't seem to understand him very well... Ahah!
"I. Want. Wea-pon. Cloths. Blan-ket. Fire. and Ma-gic. Where. to. get?" Speaking slowly use to help him understand, he'd have to remember to do that for the other races from now on.
"Oi, don't ye talk down to me like that!" Now the man was only getting angry. Vam'brac decided he'd move on before the poor stupid creature started getting violent. He wondered if people had felt the same way about him when he had been stupid and violent... probably not, its hard for them to feel sympathy when they are dieing or being taken by the other bandits. Vam'brac felt this strange new feeling when he thought about some of the deaths. While there was the enticing memory of the blood's smell and taste, there was a new feeling, and unpleasant feeling, when he thought about who the blood had belonged too.
Edited by some_weirdGuy, 07 June 2010 - 07:19 AM.
