Green Sister

Green Sister is a Winged Cobra.

Biography
It was an unusually rainy night for the people of West-Etrand. Huge black clouds loomed in the sky, and fat raindrops battered Grandfolk and its countryside, those who could find safety in the warmth of their homes, those who had not managed to shelter from the rain were now soaking in the rain, and if they were lucky enough, they could escape with a cold. Of course, the guards were on duty at the time, and there were also plenty of dubious characters on the roads who brought nothing but death, hatred and intrigue. Ten horsemen galloped out of Grandfolk with a great noise. No sooner were they out of the town than two or three dozen guards followed behind, also on horseback.

- "In the name of the King and the law, halt, you lousy vagabonds!" shouted one of the guards, though his steely, hard voice was barely audible in the rain and confusion. The ten horsemen, the remaining members of a band of robbers, had no intention of stopping. As on so many other occasions, they were pursued without reason, but unlike their previous misdeeds, this time they had only one crime. Kidnapping the presumed leader of the ten-man gang was riding on a horse with a man, presumably a rich man, tied in a harness, with a sack over his head and probably his mouth gagged. They could almost have made good their escape without anyone noticing them until they reached the gate, but unfortunately for them, the night watch was alerted early by one of the rich gentleman's servants. Already the bandit leader was cursing himself for not having killed all the inhabitants of the house. It would have been worth the trouble and perhaps they could have made a fortune in the process. But they couldn't waste any more time, their employer was very fussy about deadlines, and they had already wasted just enough time waiting for the right time. He was sorry now, so perhaps half of his gang could have celebrated with him, sitting in a good brothel in a town far from Grandfolk with the fortune they had been promised after their work was done. But the bandit leader was unhappy: if only he himself had survived with the prisoner, all his men would have perished. He liked them, considered them his best friends, even brothers.

He counted his losses as collateral and then charged his employer a premium for each life lost. It's a dangerous life, and if someone doesn't want to do the dirty work, well, just reach deep into their pockets. That's what his father always said. At least, that's what he used to say until a former employer stabbed him in the back. It's a dangerous life, that's for sure.

The bandits were closing in. They were being pursued in the open and the guard's horses were all from excellent stallions. That was all the guard of the kingdom's capital had to offer, but now the bandit chief wished all Etrand's horses to be barren. The forest was so close, in this terrible weather the bandits who knew their way around could easily shake off their pursuers, but even so, the edge of the forest was half a kilometre away, if it wasn't for the weather, the first trees would be visible. The bandit leader clenched his teeth in anger, then looked at the hand-held crossbow strapped to his belt. It was a masterpiece, straight from Dragoc. He had won it years ago at a dice from a forest elf mercenary. He had grown very fond of this light yet precise weapon. He felt that, as on so many occasions, it would save him. He quickly unslung his weapon, then turned back in the saddle and loaded his weapon from the quiver at his left foot. He raised the gun to aim.

There was no chance he could hit the first guard's horse at such a gallop. But if he did, it would cause quite a commotion and the guards galloping behind him would slow down, and that much time lost would be just enough for the bandits to escape.

''~ This damn rain, may all the deities have fall into it... ~''

The bandit leader was not in a good mood, no doubt, but he had to act quickly. If he stood idle like this, they would catch up with him sooner or later, he would have to act before the last of his men were shot down, because if that happened. A sudden thought struck the bandit chief, a devilish, faint smile flashed across his face. There were twenty of them to begin with, they would have got fifty gold pieces apiece... now with ten they would have a hundred gold pieces. And better still, if the number were reduced to eight. He raised the crossbow to his penultimate man and without any delay fired the killing shot into the neck of his horse. The horse fell, dragging his rider with him, and the bandit, who was only two yards away, fell with him. Mud and water splashed everywhere, and the pursuing guards either joined the falling men or were cut off as the horses swerved on the slippery ground. The pursuers stumbled.

The bandit chief was sure that his men would consider this a terrible act and even express their displeasure at it, but he knew them all well. They are all scoundrels to the core, they would take the extra gold just as well, and if they even grumbled, they would shut their mouths and bury themselves in some whore's breast. Otherwise the bandit chief will make sure they are silenced for life.

It took them a few hours to find their hiding place, but they were in no hurry in the forest. A shabby cabin, formerly a hunting lodge, had been appropriated by the bandits some time ago. They were all in a terrible mood, and the bandit chief had offered to pay their employer to stay here. Their horses were tied and they entered the dwelling with the prisoner on the shoulder of one of the more muscular bandits. The room was poorly furnished, with only a few cupboards and three rooms. The front door opened on to the largest room, in the middle of which was a bear-skin, and on it was enthroned their employer.

She was a strange creature. She was a young girl with green eyes and long green hair; the bandit chief would have called her eighteen at the most, though she acted like an adult. She was arrogant, a quality that made the boss's fist clench whenever she spoke. Her petite figure, on the other hand, was attractive, but not exactly every man's dream. The bandit chief preferred older, more voluptuous women. The girl's dress was interesting, something the bandit chief had never seen before. The young girl was sharpening her longsword - it was curious to the bandit chief what such a blade was doing in the hands of such a fragile girl - when the gang burst in, soaked and upset. The muscular bandit threw the abductee from his shoulders, and she groaned as best she could. The girl didn't bother, she just kept sharpening her weapon, while the bandits grew more and more enraged, their hands tightening on their weapons.

- "We have fulfilled our mandate. Now give us our rewards." the gang leader snarled at the girl, his companions murmured approvingly. The girl stopped sharpening her sword. She put the blade back in its sheath and placed it beside her. Slowly, she rose to her feet and glanced at the wretch lying curled up on one side before her. There was no pity or mercy in her eyes, only the kind of resignation one takes for granted. As if the fact of the suffering of the figure before her were merely a daily fact of life for her. The bandit chief was horrified by this. She approached the abductee with measured steps and examined him more closely. She loosened the mouth of the bag that was on the captive's head and removed it with a quick movement. The prisoner's face was swollen with weeping, a rag was tied over his mouth, so that he could not be heard so far, only silently, tears were falling from his eyes. He stared at her with frightened eyes. He was breathing hard, but in his heart he knew why he was here and that this was the last day of his life.

- "Great, it's him." she said, more to herself than to the bandits, and without a word she turned her back and went for her sword.

- "Aren't you forgetting something, you whore?!" the bandit leader sputtered irritably and reloaded his crossbow, his men surrounding her with drawn swords, axes and knives. The green-haired creature did not seem agitated, as if she had not heard the words addressed to her, and, defiant of the tense atmosphere, merely took her sword in hand, but kept it lowered.

- "According to your promise, we shall be handsomely rewarded, all of us!" asked one of the bandits. "Indeed. Where have you left the others?" - she asked, to which the bandit chief was taken aback.

- "Well... erm, we've had our losses!" he began, confused, but then, with a start, added, "But that's not the point. Pay up or die!"

- ''"I'd pay, but the deal was that I'd have to give twenty people fifty gold pieces, but only eight showed up for their money. Unfortunately, the deal is off, because the dead would not be happy to see the money fall into unauthorized hands." '' The bandits were in a rage, and the circle around the girl was closing. They did not want to attack at once, though in their hearts they would have done so, but there was a strange feeling in the back of their necks. Some elemental fear that made them afraid to act, as if they were facing death itself. So they all waited, like so many idiots, for the boss, who was equally helpless.

- "Listen, you son of a bitch, if you don't pay me right now, I swear to Titanius..."

Green Sister, report! The order echoed in her head, and she, shutting out all thought, answered it at once by thought. ''~ I'll do my duty, Your Highness Black Elder. At Lord Scheui's request, I must remove Garck Solomon, an employee of one of Grandfolk's most prominent banks. ~ Don't bother. Lord Scheui is no longer of use to us. Your new assignment is elsewhere, abandon all your previous missions and make sure no one knows you were here. ~'' Green Sister as she was called, did not answer the distant person speaking in her mind. She didn't need to, she was aware of what her job was. In the meantime, the bandits were almost breathing down her neck, various blades pointed at her throat. It was an uncomfortable situation, with the bandit chief's stubbled, scarred face pressed practically in his face.

- "Pay me, or by all the gods, I'll skin you and stretch your skin to the bearskin of our lair!" - No more needed to be said, the girl stared at the menacing stare. She threw her sword to the ground, and after a button had been undone, her special robe fell from her body. The bandits were stunned, but quickly recovered. They believed that the girl could not pay in money, so now she was offering her body. Some of them had already touched the velvety body, but suddenly the girl changed. First her body began to be covered with scales, then her pupils constricted and became erect, like a snake's. Then her body burst open and a huge, winged serpent took her place, all those standing nearby were thrown aside by the appearance of the huge body, the less fortunate, who were eagerly groping the girl's naked body, were crushed by the snake. The surviving bandits blanched at the sight, only the bandit chief raising his crossbow in aim at the hideous creature. The tiny crossbow was a projectile, enough to kill a man, but the equivalent of a single needle thrust for such a huge body. The serpent hissed and locked its gaze directly on the bandit chief, who shuddered, unable to move for fear, as did the other bandits.

- "You want to get paid? All right, I'll give you... death."

As soon as the giant snake spoke, he struck. That night, the forest rang with death cries, and the guards searching for the bandits heard them and found the bandits' devastated hideout. They found nothing but the ruins, where only the cowering Garck Solomon lay. The guards asked him questions, but he knew nothing, and could barely answer. He claimed to have no recollection of the events of the past day, but a terrible image was etched in his memory.

Two huge green eyes.

A day later, Lord Scheui, one of the noble lords of the city, was rampaging through Grandfolk. He was an important member of the royal court, or at least he thought he could do anything as nephew of the treasurer. Unfortunately for him, this was not the case, as he spent all day in court. Garck Solomon sued him for embezzlement. Him, the nephew of the King's treasurer! Although he was right, he had been falsifying the auditors' lists for some time, and had perhaps transferred a little too much wealth to his account, his accountant should have kept his mouth shut. That filthy accountant! Luckily for him, his uncle had arranged for him to only have to repay the embezzled assets and not be sent straight to the gallows. He was very annoyed, because he had paid out a considerable fortune of around five hundred gold pieces to a supposedly professional assassin. Of course, since then he's found out some juicy information about her, but he probably won't be able to use it anyway. Too bad.

He burst into his huge downtown suite with a big wounded lobby, the servants waiting for him at the door greeted him, but he didn't return their greetings, he ran straight to his room upstairs where a bottle of good quality wine and his friend Gregor the magician were waiting for him. He had made great use of his old friend, they had met on a 'business trip', that is, in a pub. Gregor was a tramp to begin with, skilled in magic, a talent Lord Scheui discovered immediately when he saw him magically lifting jewels or bags of money without touching them. So he took him up on it and offered him the magic books his father had collected - a strange hobby for the old man, to be sure - to learn new things from. That's how Gregor became Lord Scheui's in-house wizard, taking on spying duties as well as bodyguard duties. He possessed mind-scanning spells and fished in the waters of the mind as easily as a good fisherman from a pond. This one, the woman calling herself Catrina, whom he hired to kill Garck, did the same kind of digging, and found some shocking things. The woman wasn't actually human, but a member of a strange species called Winged Cobras, and she was over eighty years old, though one couldn't tell. Magical creatures... only trouble with them. In theory, she'd been roaming the cities of men for years, performing various tasks for someone called the Black Elder, meanwhile the targets she'd been spying on had taken errands from them to gain their trust. She also learnt how to swing weapons in a very short space of time, under the tutelage of the finest of the day. Lord Scheui was no fool, as soon as he heard of Garck's return he alerted the Royal Knights that a monster was loose in the city and although they promised to do something about it, they did not make it a priority. Lord Scheui was annoyed about this, but was content to be safe at home. His room was large and beautiful, as was every part of his apartment, but his room was the most splendid. There were pillars in the corners, on which sat beautifully carved gargoyles, and at one end of the room was his huge bed with its velvet curtains. She had to have one, because ordinary beds were not wide enough for her fat body, but she never gave that reason when she bought a double bed. Opposite the bed was the bookshelf, next to it the fireplace and in front of it the comfortable leather armchair with a large backrest, which Gregor so happily liked to sit in and read a magic book in his spare time by the fire. The fire was still blazing, but at the far end of the room the double-glazed window opening onto a balcony was wide open.

- "What a waste", Lord Scheui growled under his breath, "Gregor, if you're going to light a cigarette at least, close the window! That way only the damned cold comes in from outside. Do you hear what I say?" Lord Scheui, seeing that there was no reply, approached the chair cautiously to see if his friend was sitting there or not. Once he was close enough, he could see his friend's robe, so he was sure he was there. He supposed Gregor had fallen asleep, a habit he had after a long day of reading and practicing the magic he had learned. He bypassed the armchair completely, only to see Gregor snoring with drool, but as soon as he was face to face with his friend, the blood quickly drained from his face. There was a thunderclap, and Lord Scheui's head snapped up at once, his mouth open in a silent scream. His friend Gregor was dead. A crossbow bolt had pierced his heart. Clumsily, he would have gone straight out of his room to tell his servants, but he had barely taken a few steps before a shadow stood in his way. Green hair and eyes. A longsword that rises to slash. The bodies of Lord Scheui and Gregor were found by the servants of the house and alerted the town watch. Grandfolk was distraught, for the deaths of two other wealthy lords and ladies of similar circumstances were reported the same day. Decapitated or with crossbows in their hearts. Everyone was searching for the possible killer and many suspects were found, but the culprit was already absent. The Green Sister had a new task.

The original FRPG
Green Sister joined the Hungarian version of the forum on the 4th of June, 2011, but only took part in one adventure: To Go Underground.


 * As a human.