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.
With each step more ice began to spread, unfurling along the ground's uneaven surface. His speed is slow but still able to lead the group pursuing the shadow. His steps gained a little speed and Xue Mei naturally keeps in pace beside him.
Then all of a sudden, Xuan saw white. The silhouette explodes before him and quick ingrained reflexes forced him to turn around and fall back to the ground. He felt familiar pain to remind him that even he is human and bit back a groan. Slowly, he pulled himself up and immediately felt the distress from Xue Mei. The wolf-sized fox limped to him and his gaze lock on the burnt fur and blisters on her back.
From a routine ingrained to him since the time he learned to fend for himself, Xuan began ripping off parts of his tattered shirt, trying to cool the burn using coolant as he used the cloth as a makeshift bandage before gently patting Xue Mei. "Go, I'll be alright." He assured her and heard her whine before she disappeared out of sight.
Standing up caused him to finally take full notice of his bare back and side. A look over his shoulder told him that it wasn't as bad as he had thought and with coolant still activated the burns were not of concern. However, he was still in an awkward situation. Now that the back of his garbs had been burnt to a crisp, the faded scars were in full view as well as the tattoos on his side.
He slowly pulled off his tattered clothing, using them to wrap up his potions and bit back a scowl as he stood. "Anyone with a spare coat I could borrow?"
The night continued on to be uneventful except the disappearance of the girl and Xuan settled in brief bouts of sleep beneath a borrowed jacket of another member. Maddox, he recalls the name. The morning arrives with a quick breakfast and along with the others, Xuan stumbled upon the second living being they had come across in the forest.
Weariness settled deep within his bones, he took her story with silence and watched the others decide what to do. "I'll go to gather herbs but before I do. Miss, do you mind me asking if you had seen a village around here?" The words of the missing girl still lingered in his mind. Did these sisters have anything to do with the girl from before?
tl;dr: got burned, lost his shirt, now rocking maddox rothscus ✨ 's jacket, choses to go herb searching also has a question
[attr="class","gearcore"] "Man, a curse that won't let ya leave a temple in the middle o' nowhere? What kinda shitty curse is that..." Zeph mumbles. Personally, he thought that if they really wanted to help, they should focus on breaking the curse itself rather than mitigating one of its symptoms. Although the fact that the women never did mention why they were cursed raised a few red flags, there would likely be no harm in at least beginning to help so they could uncover more of the story. Speaking of uncovering stories... "Or do ya happen t' know anythin' 'bout a village whose people vanished recently?" he asks the women, adding to Xuan's question.
-----------
"So if we're doin' this," Zeph addresses part of their group, "I'm thinkin' Claire goes t' deal with subduin' the sister, Mads goes after the guy who can make clones, an' I guess I'll be left pickin' herbs so we don't leave any one group too undefended. I'd also like t' suggest anyone with a leg wound gets paired with someone with a broom in case it gets worse." The crafter checks his remaining items and sighs with annoyance. Most of his gates had been broken from the side he didn't currently possess, so he wasn't able to fix them. Even so, he tosses one pair of gates to Claire and another to Maddox. He also slides each of them two magic canisters which he'd refilled when they had camped. "Sorry, I don't got much left," he admits with a grimace. Rebuilding all of this was going to take more time than he even wanted to think about right now.
As they're about to set out and when he's sure the sisters are out of earshot, he pulls his brother aside. "Hey, try not t' hurt the guy you're goin' after 'til we're sure 'bout the whole story, yeh? I get th' feelin' we're not bein' told everythin'... An' don't overwork your foot. I'll get scolded if I bring ya home on a stretcher again."
----------- tldr - asks the sisters about vanishing people - zeph is on #teamflowers - gives claire fermont 1 pair of gates and 2 mostly-full magic canisters - gives maddox rothscus ✨ 1 pair of gates and 2 mostly-full magic canisters & suggests he not be too harsh with the guy until he knows more
Post by maddox rothscus ✨ on Aug 30, 2017 12:15:44 GMT
that was you.
it takes him a moment to realise that, hey, the ground is actually much further away than he thought. then that moment passes; he catches himself with hover, but the movement is sudden enough to send a spike of pain up his calf as his ankle twists on impact. he doesn't quite bother to bite back the undignified yelp that follows -- there is, after all, no one to see this.
( he can feel moosely bellow in pain -- leg injuries are possibly the worst things that could happen for creatures that rely on their legs so much. maddox takes a moment to contemplate the odd biology of a moose: a ridiculous amount of body weight dependent on four oversized toothpicks for legs. )
with a considerable amount of effort, he hauls himself up into the tree and through the gate. there is little grace to maddox as a whole, and the attempt to balance solely on his good leg has him toppling sideways unceremoniously ( no blood to mark his injury, just an uncharacteristic scowl ); he hits the ground just in time to watch the path some ways ahead explode -- blinding light and a deafening roar ever more amplified by the forest wrapping close around them. maddox freezes where he lies, blinking owlishly for a moment. "oh, shit. that can't be good."
and later, he finds out, it isn't good: they have lost adalie, and any lead on whoever might have been tracking them, save for the fact that they were capable of explosive summons. ( further extrapolation on that observation: they are skilled enough to pose a significant amount of trouble. ) regardless, there is little they can do with that, so he, like the rest, restlessly endure a night in the woods. his jacket is offered to a stranger who was harmed in the explosion ( he hopes there won't be too much blood on it by the end of this ).
he lies awake for a good part, sleep driven off by the uncertainty that lay ahead, and the twinge in his ankle dulling to something that he can just ignore if he keeps still. the pain gets worse in the morning, but compared to the rest, he supposes it isn't much.
★
he spends the rest of the journey lagging somewhat at the back, up until they reach the streak -- the answers they receive leave him with only more questions.
like, you don't get cursed unless you've done something bad. he eyes them suspiciously, but given the turn of events, after all they've done to get here, he can't just dust off his hands and walk away. neatly storing the items received from his brother with a quiet word of thanks, he perches on the lip of the well, blissfully alleviating the weight from his ankle as zephyr addresses the group. "mystery summoner it is."
his brother pulls him aside before they leave. "i'll see what i can do," he says, in as reassuring a tone he can manage while pretending not to limp. then comes the comment about bringing him home in a stretcher, albeit belatedly registering; his eyes widen in indignation. "dude, that was one time."
"wait, no, twice-- shit. fine, i'll be careful." a pause. he gives zephyr a hearty clap on the shoulder. "you take care too."
tl;dr creates a makeshift brace for his ankle, proceeds to limp along and whine silently to himself. agrees to go investigate the strange man. #timetodie
used: PURIFICATION: FULL RESET ATHENEUM: OBSERVATORY VOL 1: SCROLL 3 ATHENEUM: THOUGHT SEED
[attr="class","intext"]"Maddox—!" She tries to grab him, call him back, but he's already through the gate. She hisses angrily under her breath as she's left to defend the gate. Saorise was with her now, but Sima is bitter that it's her here and not Maddox. She understands, though. In no world would Maddox ever abandon Zephyr and she wasn't angry that he leapt to his aid, he was angry that he did so without thinking. No hesitation, no thought, just action and Sima worried that going on like that would get Maddox killed. Her hands shook, but she balled them into fists to try to hide the trembling. She'd guard the gate, but she and Maddox were going to have a talk after all of this was over.
( Somewhere in the back of her mind, a voice she wanted quiet whispered 'if we both live'. )
Ah, Zephyr. He's through suddenly with others, but Maddox isn't among them and her heart stilled in her chest. She searches carefully his face for any indication of why Maddox not be with them. She opens her mouth to ask, but Zephyr speaks first, thrusting a gate into her hands. She doesn't even a chance to ask, anxiety crushing her throat as Zephyr activates and drags Kasimir through the gate. She can hear Zephyr and Aeris talking quickly. What were they saying? She strained her ears, but she understood nothing beyond Zephyr's initial call for assistance. Ah, she felt like she couldn't breathe, but she waited for Zephyr to return. Inevitably, he stepped back through the gate and she wasted no time grabbing him by the arm. "Zephyr." She wanted to hiss it, show her anger, but the moment she began voicing the absence her voice became broken with worry and fear, "Where's Maddox?"
Oh, and there is, stumbling, falling through the gate. Sima quickly released Zephyr, forgot about Zephyr and ran to Maddox. "Do you ever think before you act?" She snapped at him, angry but relieved to see him alive, "You're going to kill me before anything in this gods forsaken forest does."
----
"I vote to go after the summoner, too." She'd prefer herb collecting, really. She was good at that. Knew her plants and stuff, but she wasn't going to let Maddox go into a fight without her. By his side, at least, she could do whatever she could to make sure they lived to see the next day.
Yes! He was making progress, just a little more and that shady figure would be within his grasp! Both him and the witches around him were actually going to pull this off - much to his surprise. Unfortunately, Sybil was too focused on the chase to notice the strange tension in the air, the uncertainty that was whizzing through people's minds... Something flew past him, he wasn't sure what, but the moment it struck the figure, it exploded.
Sybil was sent flying off his broom, eating shit and bumped his head against the base of a tree trunk, "Agh!" he didn't feel the need to hide his pain, so he spent a good while laying there groaning. Arveen, still staying within his own strata, would not come to his aid but rather emit a questioning screech.
"I'm fine." Sybil sighed with gritted teeth, pushing himself up and stumbling towards his broom...
Night quickly caught up, the groups gathered their strength and licked their wounds. Sybil however was still sore from that summoning spell, the heat of the explosion made the side of his cheek red and tender, his knuckles sore and his head covered in cuts and bruises.
Sybil didn't get much sleep that night, it would probably be weird if anyone did. Nobody was truly familiar with the wilderness and what lurked in it, so this was quite new to everyone.
But he didn't for a second think there were actually people living out here.
Eyes stared intently at the woman as she told her story, once again, strange and mystical but laced with pain in her voice. Nobody could just walk away from this - after all, this was why they were here, right?
"I'll help go after that summoner. I- I have my broom which is quite quick."
...
TLDR; Blown off broom, is sent flying towards tree and hurts himself. Decides to go after the summoner.
She feels her breath punching its way out of her as Zephyr hauls both himself and Kasimir through the gate and she rushes towards them, legs weak, her body thrumming with anxiety. Her hands tremble as they reach out towards them and she can't help the utter relief that surges through her. Maddox follows them soon after, tumbling through the gate and she holds her hands together in semblance of prayer, infinitely happy to see them all alive, albeit injured and ruffled.
There's a sudden surge of energy bursting behind her and there's a cacophonous explosion, her arms instinctively coming up to shield her head and to block the noise. The impact doesn't affect her as much as the others behind her and she swirls around, terrified that someone else might have been hurt. She's reassured by the fact that no one has died, but burns are present and she feels remorse for them. Were she stronger, perhaps she might've been able to help them heal. They've moved on towards the red streak and whatever it was she might have subconsciously conjured as a reason for its existence, she didn't expect the reality of it all. The story is a sad and unfortunate one. A curse, of all things? Truthfully, there's slight disappointment that it wasn't something more, but there's sympathy as well.
Initiative is taken immediately after the revelation and there's division of labour. As much as she would want to help Maddox or Claire in their tasks, she looks down at her own hands; weak and soft, they weren't good at much except typing and doing menial things. She looks at Zephyr and her lips pull downwards in sheepishness. Here she was, attaching to him like a parasite, unable to fend for herself properly and relying far too much on him. As poetic as it sounds, her life is his for now.
If Naomi had the time or energy to just chill out and hug this giant boar, man, she would've done so in a heartbeat. Something about being on top of a large animal like this brought back memories of the early days, when Prince towered over her and she hadn't nearly caught up to the zebra. One of the rare nice things about being a witch.[break][break]
She allowed herself another minute of reminiscing before leaving the past where it belonged. [break][break]
Looking down at her bandaged leg, the injury itself wasn't too bad. She already lived through worse. This was more annoying than troubling. Like getting beat up in a fight that didn't actually matter. A waste of time. [break][break]
Naomi swirled her drink around for a moment before taking another sip of the cocktail. From the looks of things, the group needed to split up again. Personally, she had no intention of dealing with killer plants again, and probably shouldn't be running around to chase some dude. Guess that only left one option.[break][break]
"We just gotta knock to girl out, right? Can't be too hard to pull off." Someone was likely to get hurt dealing with that girl, so it might as well be Naomi. Distractions were pretty much her specialty. She understood how to bait a target into doing whatever she wanted. Although it didn't always work, and she never tried tricking a monster, none of that should matter. [break][break]
Apparently, those two sisters could deal with the girl on their own. Couldn't be too hard for a larger group to handle things.She knew better than to get her hopes up about winning too easily, but the advantage of working together seemed too big to ignore. Really, they only needed to stall until the others finished.[break][break]
[break] Nostalgic boar ride[break] But it is time to split up[break] Wants to subdue girl
[attr="class","onlytimeright"]
[attr="class","onlytimeimg"]
[attr="class","onlytimelyric1"]sure as the sun will cross the sky
Post by claire fermont on Aug 31, 2017 14:37:07 GMT
[attr="class","ig"]
[attr="class","ninety"]
[attr="class","joker"]
[attr="class","game"]
@everyone desu
[attr="class","kikan"]
“
Even if it is obscured by trees and is quite a distance away from Claire's group, they still could see it--the blinding light accompanied by an explosion. Claire wants to hurry towards the sound, because she knows it means trouble. But they shouldn't get any faster than this, not unless Claire wants to jostle the injured.
Later she would find out that the shadow is nothing but a clone, and that in the chaos the little girl has disappeared. She has taken a deep breath for the nth time today. She is aware of her shortcomings, how she has failed to aid the group. It should have been her who is burnt, after all she is one of figures that initiated the chase.
"I'll redeem myself," Claire whispers to herself.
After setting up camp they eventually reach the streak. And under that streak, are two women. Their very identities remain vague, and Claire, once again, is suspicious of these women. Why did the curse dawn upon them? How long have they been cursed? Just how powerful they are, to be able to create such a beacon of help? If they are that powerful, then why couldn't they subdue their fallen sister themselves? And where is their sister?
Claire receives the gate and the canisters from Zephyr. Her role is decided. She will subdue the fallen sister. It seems like the wounded girl from before would also be with her. Claire's mind begins working in a trance, focus entirely on the matter at hand--battle.
"Everyone who would help subdue the sister, come here. We have a lot to discuss, including how would we stay alive."
☂
TL;DR Claire is very suspicious of the women, but says nothing. Receives the gate and cannisters from Zeph. Decides to subdue the sister, calls on people on her team to discuss battle aka how to get out alive in this fight.
Anabelle's expression does a bit of blank at their reactions. "Summoner?" she says, turning to look at Maribelle (who is presumably older)-- her sibling just gives her a dismissive shh. When the group mentions villages, however, Maribelle scowls and Anabelle squeezes her knee. [break][break] She tries to give them a would you not look and only moderately succeeds- she isn't quite used to speaking with her eyes, or speaking to outsiders at all. She laughs uncomfortably. "I'm sorry about my sister-- we--we just don't like to think about nearby villages too often. Village-folk aren't really the kindest to people who have been cursed." [break][break] Nevertheless, she meets the next question with some grace. After exchanging a quick glance with Maribelle (who now seems suspicious of their group), Ana responds: "Disappeared? You must be...rather unfamiliar with the area. Villagers do often just leave their homes in flocks because their old runic barriers break off and they cannot deal with...the damage. We don't know about any...recent...incidents, though." She seems to struggle to finish the sentence, but thankfully her older sister seems to take over. Her voice is more clear and crisp.[break][break] "We will take the group to the place where we've managed to force her into when you are ready. The curse has turned her into..an abomination. But we can't bear to harm her anymore..." Maribelle seems to shove down her emotion and continues with ruthless monotony: "For the collectors, we just need some rudimentary herbs..and of course, Silvermist. It doesn't grow everywhere and can be tricky to pick..." Her voice descends into a flurry of mumbling. [break][break] Anabelle speaks again. "Iso had planned, I think, to go further east with the strange man. He might have gone in..ah..." She fumbles about the cabinets and, after a while, hands a map to both groups.[break][break] Their real test seems to loom over them. The howling noises ring in their ears. [break][break]