Ouch, long time no see. I've paused and decided life was kind enough to allow me to return. Here is the Rp I wrote to give some justification for Aldrakar's absence. Much has changed since and he will undoubtedly need to adjust a lot.
Failed Ransom
The day was warming up and the smears of blood across his tunic made it clear that he had been up to no good. A few travelers he had encountered all gave him wary looks and had evaded him. Aldrakar carefully fingered his ribs, one or two spots felt particular sore but he had to press on. -Have to get to Askileon. My men.. they were all slaughtered. I will avenge every single one of them!- The thought fueled him on as the forest still conspired to present him with yet more obstacles. Leaping over fallen and rotting trees, crossing roads of uneven cobble, evading ruffians that prowled the countryside just outside the Silver City and more.
His clothes were in tatters. Not only by natural wear and tear but also through more sinister machinations. Fresh scars had since formed on his body and they will always remind him of captivity. It was about a year ago now or was it more? Memory gets lost when nothing reminds of the passing of time. They had come in ambush, they had come with crossbows. The last of the Rendorian Shieldguard that had fought off monsters stood bravely but were mercilessly cut down by the paid professionals. That was after all what they proved to be. Paid with silver by a man that styled himself a Captain Gyves.
He was a cruel man with a taste for sadism and inflicting pain. His crew and a few local blades for hire had taken Aldrakar by surprise that one fateful, early evening. They killed off anyone and anything, simply to revel in the slaughter and did it with enviable ease. The mountains of the South Divide was where they stowed him in a dark cell of natural rock. Roughly cut and it stank of urine and other fluids of the body long before Aldrakar was ever held there.
They beat him for information, they played heart-wrenching mind-games with him and Gyves was a particular skilled knifes-man. Immense was the pleasure to see the shock in that man's eyes when his lungs failed to provide air for speech and his life was drawn from him as the dagger blade was pulled out from his chest.
Escape wasn't easy and there was quite some fighting. Cuts and bruises and perhaps a broken rib are the unspoken testimonies of those engagements but he lived, that was what mattered.
Looking at the huge and imposing gatehouse of the Silver City of Askileon Aldrakar knew a moment of hesitation. ''Lucini, it won't be long. I'll be there soon.'' The muttered words reinforced his conviction and on he pressed. His hair was dirty, unkempt and soiled. The same could be said for most of his body and even his fingertips were raw and bloody, if not broken. A piece of simple hemp rope kept rough woolen trousers up and a tattered and blood-smeared tunic clung to his sweat stained torso.
''Hold you beggar! No entry into the Silver City, Jewel of Luria for Vagrants like you!'' A guard in splint-mail imperiously yelled at him as he brandished his halberd. Several teenage boys lounging on a nearby wall were looking on in anticipation as they fully expected the beak-nosed gate-guard to give the shabby beggar a right beating. Pulling himself up to his full high Aldrakar made a visible effort to look anything like his former self. ''I am the Imperial Marshal of the Hegemony of Luria, Earl of Aveston, Trusted friend of the Former Emperor Seoras, Husband to the Imperial Conciliator Lucini Talratheon Renodin, Master of the Royal Rangers and you will not withhold me from entering the city of the Ice Queen.''
Vomit splashed freely onto the finely build stone road. The world swirled as view settled on the blue sky above and as his senses returned he felt the tang of Iron in his mouth and his ears registered a mean laughter. ''And I'm the Prophet Reborn! Bwahaha!'' The gate-guard paced around Aldrakar's prostate body and gave a vicious kick to his midriff. Aldrakar groaned, blood leaking from his nostrils and broken lower lip. ''I am he.'' Aldrakar all but wheezed. The guard called out to one of his buddies that was enjoying the show from a distance and then turned his attention back to the huddled form on the ground.
His eyes widened and his scrotum contracted as his eye fell on the ring Aldrakar held up at him. The guard swallowed hard, the insignia on the ring was unmistakable. The Office of the Imperial Marshal. ''Take me to the Palace, they will confirm my words and reward you for helping me.'' Darkness settled in as wakefulness submitted to oblivion. Aldrakar passed out and a drove of commoners passed him by and saw him as little more than scum and filth.
Later on that same day Aldrakar was being tended to by the court Physician. Mainly by administering a bath, healing salves and applying bandages. His body felt like ruin but there was hope as it also craved food like a mighty Lion! This is how Aldrakar Renodin returned to Luria Nova and the world.
