this is Salem, a land filled with magic and maladies. It is a place where witches and their elemental familiars gather, a home to legend and
lore that predates time itself. Yet of all the wicked and wonderful stories the past can tell us of, the most magical are the ones yet to happen.
This is Salem - this is the start of your very own journey. Welcome to starfall
Starfall is an animaga witch roleplay set in mostly modern times. Members play as witches in a world plagued by monsters, where the only safe spots are walled cities. Starfall strives to be a character-driven roleplay with expansive lore and a highly interactive plotline. We want to allow members to
create and look back on a magical journey, and mold the site and its plot as their characters grow.
Post by claire fermont on Aug 20, 2017 13:09:11 GMT
[attr="class","ig"]
[attr="class","ninety"]
[attr="class","joker"]
[attr="class","game"]
@everyone bleep bloop
[attr="class","kikan"]
“
The group trudges on, just as what it is supposed to do. Claire's resolve will not waver. However the decision also puts a damp on her principles, but then again, looking at the backs of the witches before her, it's better to not risk many to something that may harm them. However the positive mood she had a while ago dissipated as they trudge on, and so she only manages a nod to Astartia's greeting.
It's replaced with uneasiness, and it's with reason. Claire steps over a vine, paying it no more than an ounce of her attention. But then her ankle still gets caught in it.
But I'm sure I stepped over it, Claire thinks.
Little did she know it is a sign of impending doom. Chaos erupts as vines and monstrous plants sprout from the earth. The group disperses almost immediately, but not fast to escape the pollen and the poisonous gas. Claire covers her mouth with the ends of her clothing, yet—she has inhaled it, and will continue to even with the cloth. She coughs, wheezes, and panics.
This is reminding her of something, something she had tried so hard to forget—Her vision begins to blur, and she downright collapses... only to be caught by Vani. Claire's racing heart calms with the feel of Vani's ice-cold tusks.
"I'm here," the boar says. "So stand up."
Vani is affected with all of these, even with his size. His own mana pool is steadily draining. Claire knows he most likely is experiencing difficulty in breathing and dimming of vision as of now. She has to do something. This time, it will end differently.
Telepathically Claire gives direction to the boar. The boar roars, loud and clear for anyone to get out of the way, and so Vani tramples over the plans, not effectively destroying them but dealing sufficient damage. She crouches, then rolls away in the direction she hopes is away from the chaos. She spots a plant, and rolls towards it. She grabs its body with her right arm and tightens her grip. She remembers the scroll of Themisis and casts it upon herself, albeit her wheezing and coughing.
Claire feels abnormal strength surge through her veins in an instant. The energy drains because of the wretched, hell-sent toxic gas. Claire knows she has to act fast before she runs out of mana.
The Knight heaves and uproots a plant. She throws it aside, where it promptly writhes and dies. It's a flytrap, or in this case, a human-eating monster. Claire blinks, trying to regain vision, and spots a pollen-emitting plant. Two. Claire trudges on, and with Themisis' scroll uproots both. The pollen is slowly being pushed away by gale, which is quite the good news. Should it continue, Claire would uproot two more before withdrawing the augment.
☂
TL;DR Claire panics, collapses, but then is caught by Vani and brought to her senses. Orders the boar to trample the plants. Claire rolls away, then uses AUGMENTATION FOR DUMMIES #1 to uproot plants
Post by kasimir burovski ✨ on Aug 20, 2017 14:17:14 GMT
blue moon
you saw me standing alone
the girl looks at them with such hope that guilt begins to creep through kasimir's blood, his wary suspicion beginning to be tempered by his innate desire to help. children especially - for a brief instant, a brief breathless instant, he is reminded of saskia, though they share nothing in common save for their gender.
which makes him feel all the more worse when she becomes aware of their collective distrust and hostility. "it's all because of- of people like you that- the village-it!!" she yells at them with all the fury an eight-year-old can muster. it is somehow worse, much worse than if it were an angry adult raging. but - and his eyes sharpen - the 'village'? kasimir knows not what the girl is referring to, but he has an uneasy suspicion that it may be of importance to them.
he has no time to step forth and ask, however, as the girl storms off. he hesitates a single moment, then- 'kirjava,' he brushes a request along her consciousness and feels a wordless sense of warm acquiescence; the ocelot manifests in a blur of tawny fur and amber-gold eyes and streaks off into the forest after the girl. 'be careful,' kasimir warns, and gets a rumbling agreement in return.
perhaps it is thus that has him distracted enough such that he is caught off guard when giant plants erupt from the sides of the road and begin releasing a thick curtain of pollen. startled, kasimir only barely manages to gather his wits to summon a quick ( and rather wonky ) bolt of lightning at the nearest plant before the pollen engulfs him and casts the world into haze.
he instinctively shuts his eyes, cautiously cracking them open a fraction a moment later; he is not so fortunate with his breathing however - though he has managed to stop himself from inhaling as soon as he became aware of the pollen ( an automatic response from experience at the wrong end of various poisonous or otherwise harmful gases ), he can feel his air running out rapidly; the pollen, too, tickles at his nose, doing all it can to tempt him into breathing it in.
but the worst - the worst is the feeling of his mana depleting, like icewater replacing the blood in his veins; if he is to do anything, he should do it quickly.
kasimir stumbles to the side of the road, squinting through the pollen haze till he can make out the vague outlines of what looks to be giant, hostile, sentient plants. a moment of concentration: he summons another bolt of lightning to strike down upon a particularly dangerous-looking venus flytrap - and instantly, he feels his mana levels drop by a not-insignificant chunk, much much more than it had previously.
but then he has other things to worry about, chief of all being the pollen he has inhaled after he is forced to take another breath. immediately, kasimir's throat seizes up and he begins coughing ( briefly, he wonders if this is how saskia feels, and this, this is why he stays at xuan jin's beck and call for her potions ); and to make matters worse - as murphy begins laughing in glee - a vine lashes out at him.
he barely manages to dodge. the next time it snakes around, he is slightly more prepared, this time armed with a trusty dagger with which he slashes at it with a growl. for a brief moment, a very brief moment, kasimir considers lighting the pollen on fire - surely it will not do too much harm?
but no, the situation is not that desperate. yet.
@everyone
tl;dr: kasi sends kirjava after the girl, then after the plants start getting Funky™ he tosses two lightning bolts at two different plants. he also gets attacked by a vine, which he attacks back at with a dagger. used: CASTER'S SCROLLS, VOLUME 1: SCROLL #1
Post by cassidy wolfe on Aug 20, 2017 14:41:11 GMT
[attr="class","TheHandmaiden05"]
[attr="class","TheHandmaiden"]
T
he girl had lashed out in response to Zephyr's spell, and in her anger, had completely ignored Cass. She leaves them with a death threat before running away, quickly out of view, down the road they'd started on. Cassidy wilts at the sight, sighing when Juls's hand reaches for her shoulder.
She stands, brushing imaginary specks of dirt off her clothes, and tries not to look too disappointed. "I mean, I managed to charm you of all people." She snickers, but when she lays her gaze on his face; the lack of glasses tells her that something's amiss. The fall from his broom. She realizes. It must've been lost or broken in the commotion. And she doesn't think either of them brought a spare.
"We have to fix your eyes eventually, Juls." She says. His eyesight isn't crippling without them, but he will have some trouble seeing far. Regardless, she reaches for his hand anyways, in this rare case of public affection, and leads them as they start walking deeper into the forest at a comfortable silence.
Minutes pass until she sees the sudden flicker of movement, flowers burst forward, and pollen is injected into the air around them. She jolts, and Julius manages to throw his hand over her mouth before she'd breathed in some of the pollen.
I'll get a vantage point, maybe I can help somehow, she thinks, aiming it up before she channels into the broom and lifts into the air. Her hands are white knuckled in it's grip. She leans forward to fly but then--she falters.
Cassidy coughs in the pollen, suddenly feeling sluggish. She struggles to stay afloat--and despite her best efforts, is immensely slowed. Vines reach out of the plants around her, and one manages to wrap around her foot before she's flung off of the broom. Cassidy hits the ground in an unceremonious heap, the air knocked out of her. She wheezes and coughs, and briefly wonders if this is the end for them, even though they've just started.
Her lungs are on fire, and she struggles to stand up. Let me set fire to these atrocities, I will take care of it. Vali says, pushing against the bounds of his strata. Cassidy doesn't relent. Absolutely not. Too dangerous. She ignores his protests and looks for Juls. It's hard to see, but she manages to catch sight of his body sprawled on the ground.
She runs--nearly tripping, and stumbles against the vines. Cassidy nearly runs into another person--with short cropped hair, she looks about ready to pass out. A gust of wind blows, and they have precious seconds until they're assaulted by the pollen again. Cassidy reaches to grab her arm and pulls, using what little strength she had to help this person up.
"Go!" She yells before coughing again. She rushes towards Juls and pulls on his arms well, broom gone. "Juls--we can't stay here!" She says. There's no knowing how long it'll be until the pollen is gone, and she doesn't want to know. They have to go now or else they may just die. And she refuses to lay down and let the gods determine their fate.
[attr="class","scrollz"]JP winced as the little girl ran to the forest, cursing them as she did so. Was he wrong to be cautious? He’d seen with his one eyes that lengths that monsters could go for a potential meal and he’d just wanted his fellow witches to stay safe. Yet, the earthen wall wasn’t a huge necessity. All they had to do was ask her a few questions…. Regardless, that was the past and there was nothing they could do now.
It didn’t take long into their continued journey for terror to strike once more. Pollen erupted around them, quickly consuming the mana of the area and filling their lungs as it did so. As JP choked and reached for his throat, hallucinations bloomed into his vision. Monstrous plants seemed to come to life around him, preparing to strike. It didn’t matter though. The pink pot head could barely discern left from right, much less defend himself from a carnivorous plant.
His fellow witches weren’t ready to give up, however, and sprung into action around him. The winds picked up and heeded their commands and soon began to clear some of the pollen away, but still JP struggled to breathe. As he fell to his knees, vision blackening like a tunnel, a small glimpse of silver light was all he saw before he lost consciousness.
Around him, silver lights began to manifest. First, as little dots, and then into the shape of a moth. These lights circled around him, bathing him in the same silvery light before his familiar finally materialized above him. The huge moth looked down on JP with disgust before flapping her mighty wings, clearing the air around him from pollen and she slapped the boy on the back of his head to wake him.
Startled, he gasped for air to see WW clearing away the pollen about him. He rose from the ground and the little silvery dots he saw about him earlier returned. From the sky above, it looked as if more of the dot/moth shaped lights were flying down towards him. He swayed a bit as the blood rushed back to his head before snapping his fingers. The little moth shaped lights then simultaneously bursted around the nearest plant monsters, miniature explosions of stardust doing what they could to keep the creatures at bay. Satisfied, WW silently departed JP and followed the giant moose from the sky.
[break][break] The spells have managed to keep the monter plants at bay, resetting them back to their original state. The vines writhe and fall, although claire fermont manages to get blindsided and whipped across the back, and a stray venus flytrap manages to take a bite at JP BELASCO when his familiar isn't looking. The plants have wilted, their flowers shrink, and the lingering pollen starts to disperse. [break][break] The storm has passed, but not without consequences. Because of the pollen's mana draining properties, witches who have called out their familiars suffered draining at nearly double the rate of the other witches--especially if they used techniques. saoirse ó floinn , astartia zamóre , and lucena zamóre immediately faint due to exhuastion. Charani Petrov sways slightly before he too blacks out. Familiars that belong to these witches have been recalled, sent back to their inner strata, and must spend time recuperating before being able to speak or think. [break][break] Near them, the aquapyra has set fire to the plants--and is quickly expanding. The fire liquid, at its core, is difficult to control and is highly destructive. A couple bushes have caught on fire as a result, and would not be pleasant should you leave it alone. In the chaos that followed, Korrine Lovelace was dragged away with a vine, pulled down a hill until she'd hit the very botttom, and remains seperated from the group. [break][break] The little girl runs down the road, a path as familiar as the back of her hand. The moose and monkey likely have little clue as to where she is, but the ocelot easily catches up to the girl. She stumbles and whips around, eyes wide and on the verge of tears. Scared and angry, she screams hysterically, so loud that the witches nearby can hear it. [break][break] And just maybe, after all is solved and when the tired novices can think straight and plan once again the group will realize something. That after the commotion of the enchanted plants, fire and loss of consciousness- the pathway they were walking on has entirely disappeared. Only the forest remains.
[attr="class","stafftempsubtext"]
ooc notes
of several decisions, the group has made two incorrect/unfavorable choices so far.
Korrine Lovelace has been seperated from the group. they must post in the next 24 hours in order to catch up with the group. they will not catch up until the beginning of the next round. [break][break] the witches have managed to escape with minimal injuries, however some have over-exerted themselves and have fainted. those witches cannot post in this roun, but it is recommended that the others help them. [break][break] due to the aquapyra, a small fire has started to build up on some bushes by the group. [break][break] the ocelot has caught up to the girl. however, she's too scared to be responsive. it's up to the ocelot over what they do about her. [break][break] the pathway has disappeared. the red streak remains vaguely to their left.[break][break] this round will end in 24 hours. unlike the last round, posting will be optional in this one. there will be no punishment if you do not post unless stated otherwise. [break][break] goodluck![break][break] Dalton Quinceymaddox rothscus ✨saoirse ó floinnastartia zamórekasimir burovski ✨Sima Pahlavilucena zamóreNaomi OliverCharani PetrovZephyr Hartcassidy wolfeXuan Jinjulius kingstonJP BELASCOSybil Chimeclaire fermontEleanor AfolayanKorrine Lovelace
Post by Korrine Lovelace on Aug 20, 2017 18:30:46 GMT
Everything happened so quickly that the only way Korrine would probably, later, think to describe it as was: disorientating. As someone who had never felt an out of body experience, this was probably the closest she would get. Before she had been able to reach the pale child, the girl had run off screaming and Korrine had been about to follow her when the wacky flowers started exploding.
The air had been so thick that she had lost track of herself, and of the rest of the group for what felt like an eternity. Her throat was still raw from it.
Then something had grabbed her and pulled her. She had felt herself rolling down a hill painfully-- before she had hit a large stump, she threw out her arms and clumsily chanelled her magic to soften the blow. By pushing the wind against the stump, she managed to slow herself slightly, but took a nasty bump to the chest all the same.
Move. Dammit Korrine. Move.
Era screamed inside her head and Korrine got unsteadily to her feet. She looked towards the hill she had fallen down, but wasn't so sure that walking back up to the weird flowers would be a good idea.
"Hello?! Is anyone there?!"
Of course they were, they had to be. There had been a whole-- the screaming was back. The girl. The child. Without thinking, because that had worked out so well last time, Korrine darted off in the direction of the noise, but kept the hill to her side. At least then she could trace her way back if she had to.
// @like everyone pls save my daughter. era uses fierce gale to try and cushion Korrine's fall and is only minorly successful. She is bruised. She heads in the direction of the scream, disorientated. She also yells in case anyone else is near her.
[attr="class","gearcore"] As the pollen begins to disperse, Saoirse's hand which had been holding onto his shoulder went limp. Alarmed, Zeph turns to catch her, awkwardly keeping her from falling with one arm while the other tried to keep his broom upright. "Shit--" he muttered, quickly grounding his broom to lay her gently on the ground and sit himself beside her. She appeared to have a pulse, so he assumed (and hoped) that the cause of her unconsciousness was just the mana-sapping pollen. Admittedly, he was feeling fairly weak himself, and wouldn't blame any fledgelings who'd tried to over-exert themself.
However, as he fiddled around with his bags and portals, a distinct crackling caught his attention. His gaze snaps upwards, locking in on a couple of burning bushes. It would be unfair to call his emotions spurred from the sight of the blaze a full-blown panic -- after all, he had spend years in Aeris' forge and locomotives' engine rooms -- but he certainly became more paranoid and anxious in an uncontrolled environment such as this. The second magic canister, though meant to be given to Saoirse, had its wires plucked into his own skin first. With this new reservoir of mana, it was easy to lift enough earth to bury the bushes and suffocate the flame. It, perhaps, would have been more fitting to have someone with control of water put out the fire, but the burned machinist wasn't about to waste any time waiting for them to do so. "New rule!" he again addresses the group, "No startin' fires ya can't control. We're in th' middle of a forest, an' I don't wanna die from some dumb shit we started ourselves that got out o' hand." After addressing the group, he points to Kasimir and Claire with one hand and Maddox with the other. "Claire, Siri, Mads, I could use a hand gettin' everyone conscious again."
As the named people he called over get closer, he reaches into another gate, its size a bit smaller than the last, to pull out three more of the canisters which he'd given to Maddox. He puts them on the ground for his designated helpers to retrieve and removes the wires poked in himself from the canister he'd been using. With a knife at his belt, he cuts the wires he'd been using an inch or so shorter to re-sharpen the tip. "These are canisters full of mana," he explains, patting one of the metal exteriors, "An these wires here can siphon th' mana inside into a witch. All ya gotta do is--" He pokes Saoirse's upper arm with the wires of the half-used canister, "Pierce th' skin an' make sure the witch don't start overdrawin' mana. If th' elements around 'em start gettin' out of control, just take out th' wires an' wait a minute b'fore puttin' em back. They should be fine, but keep an' eye on 'em while they're usin' the canister just in case." He'd designed these canisters with his own and Maddox's mana levels in mind. Although the flow of mana into the witch should have theoretically remained manageable even for fledgelings, this feature was technically untested.
A scream echoed in the distance. The girl from earlier, Zeph realizes. "Spock an' Moosely are goin' over there now. We can try bringin' her back here an' figurin' out who she is an' what she wants. Maybe just get a couple o' people t' talk to 'er somewhere we can see but away from the main group."
However, there was another cry from the woods: "Hello?! Is anyone there?!" The young Knight girl, if Zeph remembered correctly. He groaned. "Fuckin' sentient plants..." he muttered, pulling his bags and chains off of his broom and holding the vehicle up for any of the other novices to take. "Someone who's not too beat up should go get 'er, but be careful, and turn right around if ya run into somethin' ya can't handle." Zeph offers.
Meanwhile, Spock had patted Moosely excitedly on the head and pointed off towards the sound of the first girl's scream. That was their target.
"Please don't kill her," Zeph requested over their mental link.
"She's a malicious brat," came the mental retort.
"A malicious brat who might know a better path than the one that just fucking vanished in front of us."
The monkey groaned. She hated being nice to rude people.
When the duo arrived, Spock smiled sweetly, gracefully lept from Moosely's head, and bowed, hopefully to diffuse some of the child's fear (albeit much to the monkey's distaste). She then motioned to Moosely in a manner which implied "your chariot has arrived."
----------- tldr - zeph lands his broom & and places saoirse ó floinn gently on the ground - gives himself a new magic canister to replenish his own mana - buries the fire (assuming it needs oxygen) to put it out - gives magic canisters to claire fermontmaddox rothscus ✨ and kasimir burovski ✨ to give mana to astartia zamórelucena zamóre and Charani Petrov - demonstrates how to use the canisters on saoirse ó floinn - suggests they bring mystery girl to them, but not into the middle of the main group -- a couple representatives to talk to her in plain sight would be ideal - also suggests one of the novices (claire fermontmaddox rothscus ✨ and kasimir burovski ✨) take his broom to go save Korrine Lovelace - Spock finally finds the mystery girl (SOLSTICE) and acts far more nicely than she wants to, encouraging her to ride Moosely
Post by julius kingston on Aug 21, 2017 11:47:54 GMT
[nospaces]
[attr="class","paigepost"]
[attr="class","paige_cont"]
[attr="class","paige_head"]
[attr="class","paige_lyrics"]
if my woman were a fire, oh she'd burn out before i wake[break]
AND BE REPLACED BY PINTS OF WHISKEY, CIGARETTES, AND OUTER SPACE---
[attr="class","paige_post"] He doesn't know what happens, and he swears he would have been rolling into oblivion if Hermione hadn't given him the two hoots of all-clear. He tries to get up and finds himself coughing uncontrollably-- he slowly turns after finding that his back is to the rest of the group. When he does his eyes are red from the pollen and everywhere is brown and dirty with the grass and whatever else- bruises dot his skin, and he looks the furthest thing from pleased. [break][break] He looks to his hand, mildly amused to see that he had the common sense to take his broken glasses off before lunging- perhaps he had been thinking after all. [break][break] He tosses the pair of glasses down the hillock. [break][break] Surveying the fainted group members, Julius breathed shakily (without coughing for once) and attempted to speak (clearing his throat at least twice before he could). While he's tempted to make his first words why the hell is something on fire, Zeph addresses the matter beforehand. His mood is worsened by his inability to do anything. Well. If nothing, he could speak. [break][break] "Some bastard wants us dead" was his rather ineloquent conclusion.
[break][break] His able hand moved to his broken arm and water began gushing out in a slow and steady trickle- the HEALING SPRING mixed with bruises and mud and turned from crystal clear to murky as quick as they situation had gone from peaceful to deadly. [break][break] "As far as I know, forests don't enchant themselves and neither do plants. Someone was here and tried to lure us off the route we were supposed to be following- some bastard does not want us anywhere near whatever that is and was willing to kill us all to that end." [break][break] Hermione lands on the branch that hangs above his head, silent as the night. She seems to be breathing heavily, and clearly, all her energy is being used in the technique. Julius, too, seems to grow more tired, but he's determined to have his say. [break][break] "We need to get to that streak before we run out of daylight. I say we go straight ahead. Who knows? We might find the bastard nearby and knock his teeth out in kind, yeah? Forget the girl, or bring her along, I don't care. We shouldn't be straying from our main goal here." [break][break]
[attr="class","paige_etcs"]
[attr="class","paige_words"]
eyes
[attr="class","paige_notes"]
@everyone! julius suggests things to the group and makes a rather bold assumption. is distrustful of the girl still. he wants to get ahead with their objective. he also attempts to heal himself.[break][break]used so far: basic broomstick
Slowly, slowly, then all at once. Claire has the guts to assume everything would go well, but alas, it doesn't. Her mana starts to even out as the plants wither and die, but the pollen has taken its toll on her. Her vision is blurry and her head begins to spin. She is supposed to uproot a plant that's right before her. Where is it?
Then she is knocked over. She feels pain flare from her back as her body topples. She hit the ground with a thud. She catches herself on her elbows, and luckily her armor catches the brunt of the fall. She gnarls and with her last bit of strength she grabs the plant and uproots it, crushing its body with her grip before withdrawing the Themisis's augment.
It takes a while before the novice is able to get up. Her back aches, but its tolerable. Vani nudges her gently. She blinks and grabs Vani's tusks and helps herself up.
She could see the damage the mana-draining gas has done to wild boar. His eyes are drooping and she could feel him tremble under her touch. Claire puts her forehead on one of his tusks. "Thank you," she murmurs, before recalling the familiar. He needs to heal, and the best way to do that is to remain in the familiar world until he's recuperated.
The Knight then looks around and assesses the situation. Her eyes automatically searches for Lucena, and she is horrified to find her and her twin sprawled on the ground. Her back limits her movements, but nonetheless she nears the twins and rights them so they're laying on their backs. Her eyes perk up when she hears her name being called.
Claire watches Zephyr demonstrate how the canisters work. She is handed one, and she gingerly accepts the device. Luckily she is still recovering, her grip is light. She cradles Lucena's head on her lap and caresses her face. Even in sleep she is beautiful, but her eyes are sunken and her skin cold with sweat. Claire pricks her skin with a canister wire, and almost immediately Lucena gets better. Her breathing evens and color returns to her face. She does the same on Astartia, and soon enough, both of them are sleeping peacefully. They would wake up soon enough.
It pains Claire to see the twins reduced to this state, with her unable to do anything in their aid, only now when they are fainted. Now is not the time to dwell on regrets. The only thing that matters is that they are alive.
She could see the other man taking care of the fainted Knight. The man is familiar, Claire is sure she had seen him somewhere. She just can't pinpoint when, and where... Another man flies on a broom and darts off somewhere, probably to save the girl the group hears screaming somewhere in the woods. She also spots the pink girl from before, and it seems like she's wounded. Claire approaches her and offers to tie a bandage around the wound.
"That one has a healing technique," she says, pointing to the man as he speaks. "Go and approach him. It may not do much, but it is better than doing nothing."
"I will go with the group's decision," Claire says coolly. "I can forge us a path, we just need a clearing and I'll even out the grounds. We just need to decide where to go. As for the girl... if someone can negotiate with her. I suggest be ready for anything, we are still unsure of her identity."
She looks up to the streak at the sky, her gaze lingering for a second too long. "The streak is still our priority. If the girl could help us, bring her along. Although I believe her help would not be for free."
☂
TL;DR Claire recalls Vani, injects mana from the canisters to the twins, approaches JP, ties a bandage over her wound and tells her to approach Juls. Tells the group she can forge a path the group will decide, and agrees with Juls with their priority. Tells them that if the girl can help with their goal, bring her, but also warns them about Risks
Post by maddox rothscus ✨ on Aug 21, 2017 14:30:43 GMT
that was you.
for a moment, he feels the mana resist; then it stutters, and finally, finally begins to give way. out of the corner of his eye, he spies the other witches fighting their own battles -- a woman he's certain he's seen before is absolutely laying waste to those plants, and his respect for augmentors only grows deeper.
before long, the plants have retreated, vines withering, the pollen dispersing as though nothing had happened ( except that it had, and he turns around to regard the group just in time to see a few stumble and fall ). moosely isn't in the fight with him, and the canister provided by zephyr is certainly helpful, but even then, he can feel the exhaustion build up; a bone-deep ache that begins to settle.
not that it keeps him from seeking sima out in the aftermath, and upon spotting her, darting over as quickly as he can without crashing into anyone. "hey, so, plants suck," he ends up saying. a voice drawn tight with thinly veiled worry betrays light eyes. "you good?" then he hears zephyr calling out; he hesitates, gives her a brief pat on the shoulder, and he's off again.
frankly, he is desperate to have any semblance of a plan in this situation; his own mind is drawing somewhat of a blank, distractedly keeping tabs on his familiar from afar. the woman grabs two canisters -- claire, maddox notes, carefully assigning a face to the name -- and he takes the last, making his way towards the boy who had fainted. in the background, julius is speaking, and maddox dedicates as much of his attention to it as he can. he spies kasimir dash off with zephyr's broom, likely to save the witch who had been separated by an errant vine.
a moment of trying to process everything that is happening around him grants him the following conclusion: multi-tasking is, in his opinion, easier said than done.
he sits down on the ground next to the unconscious boy, legs folding under him gracelessly. a cursory examination grants him the conclusion that there are no life-threatening injuries, and that ( sighing inwardly at the discovery ) the boy is a knight. he administers the mana canister nonetheless, but doesn't go out of his way to be particularly gentle with the wires. there is no immediate need to get back up, so he voices his opinions from his position on the ground, looking more comfortable sitting there than the danger of the situation would warrant.
"point of consideration, building off what he said," maddox begins, jerking a thumb in julius' direction. "i tried to reset the mana of the area, and, well, the fact that it worked -- i guess -- does mean that the plants aren't natural. it's quite possible that there is someone out there interfering."
"the red streak is definitely a priority, though, and--" pauses to consult his familiar. "yeah, the familiars found this mystery kid you guys were talking about. they're bringing her back, so we can ask her a few questions before we charge off." he knows nothing of the mysterious kid everyone seems to be referring to, and chalks it up to having ran off into the forest earlier. for now, he does little more than glare accusingly at the now non-existent path before them. how dare it.
◥◤
the moose is surprisingly adept at navigating through the woods, though not by any virtue of agility and grace. he charges ahead towards the source of the scream, guided by spock. it is unexpected for the familiar to have some greater sense of reason than the witch, but alas, he does, and slows to a more sedate pace as he tramples a bush en route to the girl and comes into her sight.
( 'got her,' says moosely, in a tone clipped and professional and, to maddox, as refreshing as it is unsettling. )
begrudgingly, making a mental note to give maddox hell for it later, the moose lowers himself to his knees -- a more reasonable height for a young child to clamber onto his back. "hi," he begins dryly, in a voice too used to ire and condescension that maintaining any semblance of neutrality is an arduous task. but he knows spock isn't the most talkative to others, and the ocelot remains an enigma. there is a nagging worry at the back of his mind that he attributes to maddox's telepathic worry, and really, it's rather annoying. he supposes the quickest way to rid himself of such is to complete the task at hand. "we're just here to help."
tl;dr asks sima if she's okay, goes to help charani with mana canisters. agrees that the red streak is probably important, tells group that about what he's somewhat discovered through that fight. moosely helps track down the kid and kneels to kiddo to let her climb on.
Post by kasimir burovski ✨ on Aug 21, 2017 15:17:05 GMT
blue moon
you saw me standing alone
the little girl runs down the road, a path as familiar as the back of her hand. the moose and monkey likely have little clue as to where she is, but the ocelot easily catches up to the girl. she stumbles and whips around, eyes wide and on the verge of tears. scared and angry, she screams hysterically, so loud that the witches nearby can hear it.
the ground flees by swiftly beneath her paws - she streaks through the undergrowth as a blur of tawny golden-brown and black and cream, eyes narrowed against the gathering gloom to focus on her target. the girl. it does not take long at all for her to catch up - no little human child can run faster than kirjava when she truly runs, after all.
( in the back of her mind, she hears her partner's wordless alarm shoot through him like a lance of ice - carnivorous sentient plants? - but there is no call for her to retreat to his side; a half-formed impression, in fact, for her to stay with the girl, underscored by a mental urgency that bids her stay - and so stay she does )
she slows when the girl whips around, wide-eyed and terrified. her ears flatten when the girl screams, a high, terrified sound that grates against her ears like fingernails on chalkboards and sends guilt shooting through even her veins. kirjava hesitates for a moment, then shrinks down into a less intimidating ( and more, subjectively, 'cute' ) form of a regular-sized cat.
"child. child, please do not be scared, i am not here to hurt you," she says as soft as she can, curling her tail behind her. think about what her partner would say - or consult him, for that matter - kirjava, though she may look more innocuous, is by far the more ruthless of the two. "one of our... more impulsive members was startled by your appearance and reacted erroneously. please do not judge the rest of us for his actions." she pads closer, eyes wide and luminous, pleading. "please let us help you."
as if on cue, a thundering of feet signifies the arrival of a giant moose - and a much smaller monkey. the lavender-smoke man's familiar and the oil-and-magic man's familiar respectively. "we're just here to help," moosely says. kasimir, meanwhile, straightens with relief as the attacking plantlike shrivels and the pollen dissipates, feeling the icy web of man exhaustion beginning to hook its insidious claws into his system. but it is not as bad as it could have been. he looks up as his name is called, moving to help the unconscious fledglings as zephyr had indicated - but then the scream of a separated member sounds, and kasimir sighs imperceptibly.
"i will go," he says, taking up the proffered broomstick. before he leaves, he quickly replenishes a bit of his mana with the blond mechanic's canister - enough the take the flagging edge of icy chill and exhaustion off his shoulders - then takes to air.
kasimir has never been a showy flier, more for speed and practicality than more any impressive manoeuvres, and it shows in the way he keeps low to the ground, pressing himself forwards so as to streamline himself. he makes fairly good progress, orientating himself towards the epicentre of the shout - and he is rewarded with a flash of crimson through the verdant foliage.
he curves to a halt next to her, alighting on the ground near the girl with a slight frown. an inclination of head towards the broomstick - "climb on," he says, "i will bring you back to the group."
tl;dr: kirjava tries to placate the girl and turns into a smol cat so she seems less threatening, kasi takes zeph's broom and goes to get korrine used: CASTER'S SCROLLS, VOLUME 1: SCROLL #1
I'm sorry I'm half asleep writing this this is shit but eh
[break][break] The group has successfully regrouped and dealt with the aftermath of the fight. The plants are dead, and all evidence that they were once sentient and violent has disappeared as well. Even the path that led them there has disappeared. Other than that, the apprentices seem to be relatively revitalized- considering the canisters are made by a novice witch, the fainted members of the party should be up and running in a while. [break][break] The girl, after some pouting and choice words from whatever her eight-year-old mind can muster, agrees to ride on the moose and head back to the group. When she arrives, she is clearly devastated by the state of things- people healing the wounded and taller, older witches with big injuries. She seems to be in some inner turmoil when she says: [break][break] "I didn't mean it! Not really!" Her eyes are filled with tears but she shakes her head. "But... you still have to help me first. Not going towards the pillar, no way! You have to come with me to the vil-village..." She raises her hand and points towards where she was going- right of the rightward path. In other words, completely opposite to the red streak. In the distance, the sun begins its downward shift. [break][break] "You promised you'd help me!" the girl whines.
[attr="class","stafftempsubtext"]
ooc notes
of several decisions, the group has made two incorrect/unfavorable choices so far.
[attr="class","intext"]Sima could breathe again. She took breaths so deep she choked on them, but she was so relieved as she coughed the pollen from her lungs and washed down what she couldn't. "Yeah, yeah, I'm good, baby." She gave a wave of her hand as she attempted to rinse the pollen off of her face. Having been running through the cloud of it, they were all covered in it. She looked up from her efforts at Zephyr's voice. Maddox sprang into action and she was quick to follow, doing whatever she could for the fallen witches with the help of the canisters provided by Zephyr.
She looked up from her work suddenly, surprised at the sound of a young girl. She hadn't seen her before, but she did hear other witches talking about her when they'd jumped through the gate. This was her? She was so young. They let a little girl like this run wander the woods alone? "If there's a village that's in danger, then we need to help." Sima raised her voice to be sure she was heard through the group. "We can't leave them to die." The appearance of the girl was weird, but not enough to convince Sima to forsake a potential village in danger. She stood up, walked over quickly to the girl, and crouched down in front of her. "Hey, my name's Sima. What's your name?" She asked gently with a warm smile, "Can you tell us what's happening in the village?"
Post by Charani Petrov on Aug 22, 2017 22:22:56 GMT
TAGS NOTES FEEL BAD PLS
❀
Unconsciousness. It's just like falling asleep suddenly. Tired beyond reason and then quickly you are gone. His body felt heavy for just an instant before the boy had crumpled to the ground. Honestly he landed weird and was definitely going to have a headache for at least the next day or so.
Some kind soul... well soul to be honest hooked him up to that old magic canister and gave him some of that sweet juice. That is the only reason he could feel himself being pulled back to consciousness. That was the only reason he was awake. It was like he had woken up from a nightmare. He had woken up from a nightmare into another one. He felt himself gasp for air as his body started to accept the replenishment of mana.
He was acting like someone just cpred him and he was just starting to breathe again. Honestly he was just having a panic attack again. He had them whenever he woke up. He had them since the nightmare realm incident. There was a man above him, talking... something about helping or something. He didn't know... couldn't see his face. He was blinking at the speed of nervous trying to get his eyes to focus.
Charani will in fact bruise like a peachy peach peach because of the seemingly uncaring treatment being administered to him by maddox rothscus ✨ . I hope you feel bad about it.
He could feel his familiar deep within himself... asleep. No doubt the poor pup would take quite a while to recover. That meant no elemental magic anytime soon. On the plus side it looked like there was no more spores or magic plants coming after them.
He just needed a few minutes to calm himself down. His eyes kept darting around looking at everything. It was all coming back to him slowly. Forest. Mission. Witches Group. P Sherman. Wallaby Way. Sidney. You know all the relevant details.
His face went from panicked to a serene calmness. Devoid of emotion. If he didn't feel anything... nothing would hurt right? "Ow." Was all he could say, placing his right hand on his head and rubbing it. Damn headache. His body also was also feeling a bit weaker than before. It was like someone punched him a couple times in the stomach.
Actions Taken: Awaken by mana transfer. Panic attack. Hilarious Finding Nemo reference used. Calmed self down. Also has headache and minor exhaustion.
[attr="class","gearcore"] "Sao, hey, it looks like we might be be movin' again soon," Zephyr said to the Leviathan who'd fallen unconscious, patting her cheek a few times to see if it would garner a response.
Zephyr couldn't bring himself to trust the mystery child. How could a whole town of people just vanish -- and why did she want to bring them all back to the place where her family wasn't? But, if she had been actively trying to harm them, why had she run? If it was a trap, someone else was likely controlling her actions (and that would explain the enchanted nature of the plants) -- was she really just a victim in all this?
"She's not worth saving," Spock's thoughts hiss into his skull.
But the young Knight girl, Cass, and now Sima wanted to help her. They had to realize it was a risk -- gambling all of their lives on one stranger's. Zeph is quiet as the others talk, mentally re-evaluating the situation, his expression revealing he wasn't happy with any of his options. Instead of bothering his familiar with a repeat of potential situations which he'd played out multiple times already, he instead opts for a simpler mental response:
"Neither were we."
No one had elected him leader, and their party was a menagerie of different covens and opinions. Although he could have argued with the others about why this was a bad idea, he deemed their time and the wholeness of their group too important to risk sacrificing either of them. Plus, the logistics of dragging along a girl who didn't trust or want to help them were a bit of a nightmare.
"We could stay in the village overnight if it comes t' that, seein' as our goal doesn't seem t' be goin' away," Zephyr offers with uncertainty, thinking out-loud rather than priming his words for a general direction of conversation, "An' it wouldn't be a terrible idea t' have a guide who knows 'er way around." He holds up a collection of chain loops (like the one he'd earlier given to Maddox). These were his Gates. "Personally I'm thinkin' we should stick t'gether, If anyone's dead-set on reachin' that thing in the distance, Be sure t' take a couple o' these in case ya get into trouble."
Eventually, after Kasi returned with his broom, he'd gather his things and follow the rest of the group, tossing a single portal into the bushes nearby to add to his breadcrumb trail.
----------- tldr - tries to wake saoirse ó floinn - suggests it might not be an awful idea to follow the girl. maybe - gathers his stuff back together for trail readines - puts down a portal in case they need to quickly get here later