Navaar Family/Soren/Soren RPs/True Nature

Outside the court room of Seven Rivers, the local lord was pacing back and forth. "How long do you think it will take to restore production here?"

Captain Oldred, a veteran of his campaigns since Obia'Syela, frowned and gave a shrug. "Depends on the people, my Lord. They are looking for inspiration and safety, and I don't think those times are now."

Soren was about to curse. He had tried not to stand out, but it seemed like he was the only one actively keeping watch. Beasts, the living dead, and more were on the rise. Even now, a few beasts lingered in the Seven Rivers causing problems. Now, he was a Lord, Champion of Avalon, and had responsibilities. Without dismissal, he stormed away from his Captain, who readily followed behind him.

The roads were quiet, even for a cowering populace. There should have been some people on the streets. It wasn't until he was turning down one of the main streets back toward his estate, that Soren began to hear the crowds screaming and jeering. "Captain."

With only a nod, the pair of them started toward the noise. In one of the market squares, at least one hundred villagers were surrounding a creature making a horrible sound. The boar-like beast squealed and grunted. It had been caught in a snare trap laid out by the villagers. Now they were trying to figure out how to kill it. The beast was easily twice the size of a normal boar, with tusks and horns that twisted around the head like a cage, acting as both a defense and a weapon. It would charge forward a step or two, trip, and then get up and back away. Anytime, someone tried to close in, it would swing its head around. Just approaching, Soren watched it nearly gore two men with pitchforks.

"Get the rest of the guards together. We need to control this situation," Soren ordered his Captain, who hurried off without a word.

"ORDER!" Soren cried out to his people. "STAND DOWN!" Nothing.

He grabbed the shoulder of the first person ahead of him and the woman spun around. "Back off -! My Lord!" She bowed low with an embarrassed flush to her cheeks.

"You look higher born. What's the situation?"

The woman stood back up. Even though she was dressed in leathers, Soren immediately recognized her weapon as something a normal person wouldn't be able to afford. "Katria Kadara, my Lord. First born daughter of the Kadara family that manages the land to the east of the Kadara River."

"Situation. Your lineage doesn't matter here," Soren snapped. His grey eyes burned into her. His usual demeanor was slipping after weeks of slaughtering creatures.

"The locals caught a beast, my Lord. We're trying to find a way to kill it. We've made a few attempts, but the creature's hide is tougher than what we have." She drew her rapier, a fine weapon, or it would have been. The blade had already broken, likely on the beast.

Soren cursed and looked back to the beast. He wasn't carrying his usual arsenal of weaponry this time. The spear and bow were for the battlefield. Instead he only carried his sword and quarterstaff. "Katria, clear me a path," he ordered.

Taking a deep breath, Soren let go of his usual demeanor. The man who smiled softly, sat in the background and hummed tunes slipped away. As Katria made a path through the crowd, Soren removed the mask of the Lord of Seven Rivers. He hadn't let this slip since the Temple of the Heralds of Obeah. Over a century of his family's bloodline coursed through him. Countless Rulers and Lords made their names throughout the world, culminating in him. Anything that wanted to intimidate him, astonish him, awe him, would be sorely mistaken. Here was a champion. As he started after Katria, the crowd cleared the way, though the people gave him a wider berth than they gave her.

By the time they reached the front of the crowd, Oldred was returning with the guards, but it was too late. Soren paid them no mind as they started scattering around the crowd to make way to handle the beast themselves. Soren, the quietest of the Navaar brothers stood strong. The look in his eyes, if it were a weapon, would gouge a hole through the boar-creature in front of him. The people want a hero, a champion to feel safe. I'm no hero, but I suppose I can do this much. "Stay here, Katria."

The first step toward the beast was all the crowd needed to settle down. Their Lord had shown up, and was preparing to have a go at the creature. All around him, people whispered. Eyes glanced between the Lord and the beast, most were curious as to where this side of the young Lord had been before. A few rowdier men started placing bets as to what would happen. Comments about whether he would try sword or staff. The second step was enough to make the people freeze and draw the ire of the beast before him. The third and all went silent as the beast pawed at the ground and got ready to make its charge.

Soren inhaled deeply, and as he exhaled, reached for his sword. This weapon was a bit wider than he was used to, but the real test was the weight to it. It wasn't heavier than normal, but there was blood on this weapon. Lots of blood. Drawing the twisted metal blade drew horrified gasps from the onlookers. Nothing about it looked right. Unlike a normal weapon, it was all one piece of metal. as though someone had poorly cut a sword out of a giant bar of steel. The grip was leather, freshly wound and sealed around the hilt to make using the weapon possible. A daimon's sword. If his grandfather spoke the truth, this blade came from a Daimon killed in Heen during the fourth invasion, and was now his burden to carry. Even the beast seemed to hesitate at the weapon's appearance.

Soren didn't let the crowd or the beast linger however. Instead, he stepped forward again.

The boar charged, tusks and horns ready to rip the young Lord to shreds.

Soren waited until the last moment and stepped to the side, swinging the sword with all the momentum he could muster. The blade made contact with the horn cage. Crack. The sound seemed to reverberate through every man woman and child watching. The monster lifted from the ground and went sprawling into the dirt. Soren grinned and stepped towards the beast. "Again, foul monster!"

He watched as it struggled to its feet, cautious of what had just happened, but seeing the threat, it only had one course of action and lowered its head to charge again. The clash repeated. Soren moved aside, and once more the blade made contact. Crack! This time as the boar went down, the unthinkable happened. It's horn fell off, leaving a twisted stump behind. The beast stood back up and shook its head as Soren closed in. It didn't have the room to charge now, so it flailed its head towards him. This time, he caught the tusk on the same side. CRACK! The tusk splintered, and down went the creature once more.

Soren, not missing a beat brought the sword down once more, this time, cleaving through flesh and bone, as he beheaded the beast with a grizzly splatter of blood. Gasps went through the crowd as the townsfolk watched him clean his blade on the hide of the beast before walking away from it. "It's done." Cheers rose up from the crowd as they swarmed in to look at the remains of the monster that had terrorized their homes.

As he approached Katria, he sheathed the weapon once again. He met the lesser noble's eyes, and she immediately looked away under the Lord's new gaze. "Katria, come with me. I don't know enough about the lesser families here, and I need to apprise them of these creatures if we want to get Seven Rivers back to what it was."

"Of course, my Lord..."

This time, he didn't need to have her lead the way. The people immediately made room for him and his companion. I guess people will notice me now, he thought to himself, and held back the sigh.