Lords of Creation (Story Thread 2)

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

Aox can see the hole only goes a little ways into the ground, sloping gently downwards. Not far enough to become totally dark, though. He can see the back by the light of the entrance. In stripes along the curved roof, he can see streaks of what looks like ice. Smiler patterns zigzag between the stripes, and run along the walls. In the places where it's touched by the sun, it sparkles slightly.

Footprints is beside you in a moment, blanket folded in her arms. "You sure this is secure?" she asks Sand.

"I'm positive. I went around hitting the roof and everything."

Footprints heads inside, looks along the substance on the roof, nods, and lays the blanket down. "Looks safe enough, you can come on in!"

[Marvelous Miscreant]

Aox carefully enters the hole, admiring the walls as he did so. "This is.....um....what is this?"

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

"The gel?" asks Sand. "Support! You can't dig a proper cave in sand, the roof will fall in on ya. So, as you dig along, you spray a layer of gel onto the roof, then you go back and add the supports to it. The whole thing should last a few days."

[Marvelous Miscreant]

"Very nice..." Aox muses as he leans against the wall.

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

"We spit it. It's our spit." deadpans Footprints, sitting on the the cool cave sand.

"No it's not!" says Sand quickly. "It can't really be considered spit."

[Marvelous Miscreant]

Aox quickly retracts his hand from the wall. "Ah......uh....that's......interesting...." Aox grimaces a bit as he tries not to think about it.

[Celadon's Penultimate]

"Alright, crew." Draias declared, "This reptilian scale is giving off a mild pungent odor, as are the water and all supplies that have been recently attacked. I've come to the conclusion that the source of this smell (likely whatever this scale belongs to) is going to smell much worse. It may even be poisonous. So I suggest this."

The investigator reached around, looking for something. He dug into Fandas' shirt pocket, against the stage magician's will, and pulled out a handkerchief. When he finished stretching it as long as it would come out, Draias yanked the end of the handkerchief, and cut it into sections that everyone could have. They were instructed to tie the pieces around their faces, as makeshift masks.

"Are you sure this'll do the trick?" Fandas asked reluctantly, as he tied a red piece of the handkerchief across his face.

Draias looked at the magician with a smug smirk, "Hehehe...you stick with your tricks. I'll stick with mine. Now. Let's move out! The source of these traces can't be far."

And he was right. It was not long before they would find the cave where the smell came the strongest.

Only one problem. There were no scaly creatures around to be seen. In fact, no creatures around to be seen at all.

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

"This is the body?" The Watchman asked, stepping into the room. The Witnesse nodded an affirmation. The Man had been covered respectfully with a sheet after being cleared out of the arena. He pulled the covering back. Uburra-Namall's boy had done a number on him, he'd give her that.

"Step out of the room and keep watch. I don't want anyone knowing of this." The Witness obeyed, quietly stepping out of the room and closing the door behind him.

The Watchman placed his hand on the body, and channeled. The mans wounds closed up, color came back to his face, and he sat, gasping for air as though emerging from a deep lake. It had been easy. It had been so, amazingly easy.

He looked around the room, his wild eyes settling on the god. "Wha..how?...I... I was dead!"

"And how do you know that?" asked the Watchman. He was always eager to learn of things that were unique to mortals., death being one such thing.

"I was dark, and it was cold, and I had nothing, that's how I knew. And I could hear things, chitterin in the dark." he said, shivering with every word.

This surprised the Watchman. "Are you saying you did not arrive at an afterlife?"

The man nodded shakily, as if that didn't make sense to him but sounded good.

"Troubling. I'll need to fix that." Suddenly, he leaned over the man, causing him to shrink back. "You were knocked unconscious. It may have been bloody, but it looked worse than it did. You are to tell no one of what I have done for you, is that clear? I'll know if you do."

"How?"

"What's my name?"

The man walked off, out of the arena and  into the city. He would spend the day walking the cities park, and that night drink tonight at one of the many unofficial pubs. It would be the greatest drink he'd ever had. The Watchman watched him go.

"Watcher."
"Yes sir?" said the one that was with him momentarily. They could hear when they were called.
"I want you to keep an eye on that man, until the day he dies."
"Yes Sir!" The watcher flouted off, becoming ethereal in the process.

Now, he would have to do something about this afterlife situation. But not now, later. For now, he had to watch the fights. He headed swiftly back to his seat. After all, he had made a promise to Gilgamesh.

[Zaleramancer]

Power:55%
Defenses: Repairing..

The attack bypassed the barricades and wards, striking the inner shields with great force.

Amalia stumbled into a standing position. Her hair was disorganized and her eyes were furious.

She spoke a word in the language of the Sea Hags.

Offense: Trigger utilized.. Spell Activating.
Power:50%

A storm of red shapes, looking almost like butterflies, unfolding from around Amalia. They spun through the arena, ratcheting through various senses, looking for a target.

Offense: Seeking...
  Vision: Negative.
  Extravision: Negative.
  Sound: Faint Heart Beat, adequate for targeting? Y/N?
       N
  Smell: Target Detected. Human, Female. Target? Y/N?
      Y
Offense: Triangulating.. Seeking.. Locking onto Target.
Offense: Unleashing spell.

A hundreds of red spell-shapes surged for Hime, each more lethal than a cobra bite.

[Philote]

Motes Left: 16

A cloaked figured walked at a steady pace through the market of Spectropolis. Magic could be sensed easily through his cloak for any aware enough to check as he made no attempt to hide the source. Several eyes seemed to follow the figure as he walked, but none were able to quite catch up with the figure.

After passing through several streets, the figured turned into an empty alleyway. He stopped for a moment and left an object sitting out on a crate, and then simply walked away.

A single candle was left in the alleyway, its blue glow becoming the only thing visible as the rest of the alleyway grew darker. (-6 motes, Create Artifact, Water Candle).

(Zale's character gets to investigate first )

[Tsubasa & Wen Tien]

The butterflies surprised Hime, but beautiful could mean highly dangerous, she'd learned that the hard way fighting Kagehana. As soon as the butterflies started to go to Hime's position, she had the Hydra Dagger multiply into a barricade of daggers between her and the butterflies for protection.

[Celadon's Penultimate]

The peaceful and pleasant mountaintop abode of the Boquabian gods fell silent as Uburra-Namall watched the band of Boquabians led by Draias, in their trek through the woods. She was so fascinated and pleasantly surprised by their determination to solve the problem of the mysterious menace that threatened them, that in their efforts, they kept the goddess's undivided attention.

She smiled warmly as they made their way through the forest. Typically, there was no need to go too far out into the woods, unless you had a job that required gathering resources and such. Now, however, there was the need, and the group was as resourceful and diligent as those folks who gathered resources for food; chicken, picked berries for beverages, or other fruits and vegetables for salads. Simply put, their duty was very becoming, and she hoped deeply that they succeeded.

And it looked like any second now, they would--wait.

The goddess grew puzzled, as the group stopped in their tracks. They had made their way to a cave. At the base of a mountain neighboring her own.

This was not good. That was where those horrid reptilian things lived. If they ventured inside, they might be killed. As a matter of fact, the Dragonborn would likely come to pursue them regardless of where they went.

She thought of her pact with Yojimbo, and cringed; there was no way she could intercept the Dragonborn to protect her precious creations.

Or could she?

Uburra-Namall called the Twins to her side, had them look down to observe what she saw, and asked each what they thought could help make the situation better. The two each had brilliant suggestions, but together, it would make a far more effective plan. The three exchanged glances, and simultaneously agreed on what to do, before casting their divine powers off into the forest. Now, all they had to do...was wait. Wait for those reptilian outlaws.

[Zaleramancer]

(Ignoring the fact that every magic spell Amalia has used so far is invisible to normal senses and only seen to magical ones...)

Daggers danced towards the butterflies, only to pass through them. At best, they slowed the surge of spell-forms towards Hime.

[Zaleramancer]

A shape detached from a corner alley, rising from the gutter. It looked like a bundle of rags, though as it moved the illusion around it broke.

It was a old woman, bent and wizened. Her skin was pale and seemed to sag under the weight of her years. Her clothing was faded and dark, moist and with patches of fungus growing from it. A ring of water dripped from her. Her hair was wholly white, frazzled and sticking in every direction like a demented hedge-hog. The eyes on the hag were beady and black, reminding one of deep pits or the ocean depths. However, her most distinctive feature was her nose, a long and beak-like projection that wiggled as she sniffed the air.  

"Suspicious. People don't just leave magical stuff like that laying around, oh no. Probably a trap.." She muttered to herself in a hoarse voice. "But what if it's not? What if it's really a valuable artifact? Can't just leave it for someone else to snatch. "

She shambled towards where the strange magical object lay, sending a wave of stinking air and splattered water across the alley. When she stood near it, the old crone took a deep sniff with her beak-like nose, then broke out in a twisted and slightly nauseating smile. Apparently, she found the device to be quite pleasing to her..

The candle vanished into her hands, and the hag shambled back through the city.. towards the sea.

[Zaleramancer]

In another nearby cave, Itself slept.

The day-light annoyed Itself. And the Child-Thing. Itself was not happy.

Itself smelt talking things, but Itself also smelt scaly-things. Itself thought they would fight. Then Itself would eat the ones that lived.

Good plan. Simple plan. Itself liked.

--------------


Sonia wandered through the woods, listening to the beautiful birdsong and appreciating the lovely looking trees.

[Mik_Hael]

Memory...is not a stable thing, it bends, it cracks, it even destroys itself, and then attempts to repair itself using the information at hand.....Even the slightest tremor can disrupt so much, even in a memory formed entirely inside of a world of crystal.

......................................................................

"Were almost there." Dephos said as the group climed over yet another of the endless hills that seemed to populate the world of memory entirely, "Everyone stay close, the further into th ememory we go the more things become unstable, we might encounter things that would attempt to destroy us."  She checked behind her to insure that the others were still following before continuing onward.

The group continued to walk, and walk, and walk, and walk, for what seemed like hours....the tree never got any closer, it just sat, just at the horizon. "...this doesn't make any sense, we hsould have been their by now. What's stopping us from..." Out of the corner of her eye she nottices a streak of black just outside of her vision, out of place from the rest of the dimension and bareley noticible, it dissapears the second she turns her head. "No!!!..." She reaches back and touches the nearest member of the group and they crack, falling apart to reveal and empty shell before crumbling into dust. The ground began to rumble as beings of shadow began rising from the hills.

............................................................................

The monsterking, isn't a fool, why leave a way for his counterpart to ressurrect, it's bad business, if you're going to leave an opening, make it a trap, and devour the flies the second they step into your web. the realm of memory isn't a stable place, you might not be able to affect the users directly, but fortunately it's the easiest thing to do to make copies, and form a seemless transition the second they turn their head. Everyone is in their own world now, not all of them have figured out that the others have been replaced as of yet, but slowly, their memories are being looked into by the corrupted crystal, searching for that which they fear the most, and in this etheral place, they quickly become reality.



(Sorry for the delay, I have been very busy as of late.)

[Philote]

Balasar and his crew returned to their cave after yet another successful raid, hauling with them their loot. It seemed as if they were back to being as strong as they had ever been after the mishap with the Spirit that slaughtered them.

As they traveled towards their lair, Balasar caught sight of a marking on a tree. It was one of the symbol's his crew used to communicate with each other, and this one communicated that the scouts he had sent ahead had found targets around their cave. Balasar etched the marking out of the tree to remove the evidence and had the men with him store their loot so that they could clear out the threat before returning to base.

The Dragonborn drew their daggers and stormed into the cave.

[Marvelous Miscreant]

"Ah...um....yes, The Trophy. I've taken the liberty of concealing it until it is ready to be presented," Crav claimed as he drew out a large pristine, white cloth. He tossed the cloth to a nearby table, where it hung on an invisible object on the table. The hidden object seemed to be shaped much like a large chalice. Crav quickly pulled the cloth back and the hidden object underneath was unseen once again.

"This cloth, conceals it and can be used to reveal it anywhere when the time is right. I leave it to you Gilgamesh."

[Philote]

"Thank you Crav, I will make sure to keep both safe."

[Tsubasa & Wen Tien]

(I totally forgot about that from your out of character post in the comments, but oh well)

Hime tsks, what in the world was this spell? Hime attempts to move away but ends up trapped in by the butterflies and the arena walls. (Ok, what do they do?)