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.
the description that fills julius kingston's atheneum screen is too familiar: a shortish girl with blonde hair and blue eyes. there is an unmistakable similarity: it's one of the sisters from that temple. likely the one that greeted them: anabelle.[break][break] when zephyr dives to save the person, the person is still screaming and shaking, far too terrified to really have the ability to remain well-seated on a broom. that, in addition to the three-man party they are attempting to carry, makes Zephyr Hart an easier target for the plants. he is knocked off his broom by a stray vine, and spock loses focus and accuracy as a result. the bird's would-be victim crashes dangerously close to the rapidly growing flames. sao lands further away, safer from burns but much closer to the thread of demonic vines and thorns-- the 'garden' seems to grow only worse with the aquapyra's flames and smoke.[break][break] unfortunately, the bird's steady flight path has already been ruined, and it has become hyper-alert of the presence of enemies. The first arrow flies at the bird and astartia zamóre never sees the fruits of her labor: a giant wall bush wall rises from seemingly nowhere, blocking her vision. the tendrils immediately begin creeping out, in a last-ditch effort to embrace the duo and pull them to their demise. behind them, as though to cut off escape is a growing...shadow?-- [break][break] in the skies, the arrow pierces through and the bird screams, rapidly losing altitude. [break][break] Xuan Jin and adalie seem to be almost frighteningly fortunate, in a way that implies something must go wrong. and it does. without warning, shadowy figures appear all around the village. silhouettes akin to a suicast. and one they have seen before. a person wearing what appears to be a trenchcoat. or is it really just an androgynous dress, as expected of ladies of a temple? then it becomes rather abundantly clear: this is the phantom plantshaper. and these clones explode. [break][break]
[attr="class","stafftempsubtext"]
ooc notes
1/3 wrong choices have been made so far. zephyr saved the man, but became an easier target for the plants as a result. Spock's knives were unable to reach their target, and zephyr is tossed to the ground away from his broom. the victim flies further and lands near the flames. sao is separated from both of them, and likely faces the threat of plants. astartia zamóre 's first arrow has hit the bird, but a giant wall of plants has blocked her vision and is attempting to strangle her and julius kingston. behind them, a clone appears. Xuan Jin and adalie make a break for it and manage to avoid stray plants, but they run into two clones who are quite ready to attack them. [break][break] while not the worst strategy, the group has failed to receive an advantage and suffers a setback this round. a fight scenario has been activated. does the group continue, or flee? if they continue, what is their method of attack? their strategy will determine if the next round begins with a setback or an advantage. [break][break] goodluck! [break][break] saoirse ó floinnastartia zamórejulius kingstonZephyr Hart and Xuan Jin
They were surrounded, that was becoming painfully obvious with the living plants and sillouhets surrounding them. Xuan gnashed his teeth together, lips itching to draw back in an animalistic manner, his usual look when faced with a troublesome opponent. A look to the child against his chest held him back.
I knew she was troublesome. Xue Mei tutted in his mind and his fingers twichted against the girl's back as he contemplated accidentally throwing her into the silouhets. After a second of evaluation, Xuan gave a resigned sigh, a strained smile spread across his oriental features. We still need her, for now.
Coolant dropped the temperature of the air around him. Cooling off skin that was close to blistering just a few moments ago. He took a moment to breathe, watching the ailment of others, contemplating if he should help. He turned catching sight of more silhouettes behind him. "Well, it seems that we are in dire need of those stone walls of your Zephyr." Xuan called up to the flying witch. He pulled yet another bottle of Aquaprya out using the one free hand, activating Skater, Xuan lobs it at the silhouettes before skating to put as much distance between him and them as possible and just a few moments later slips and crashes to the ground.
tl;dr: lobs AQUAPRYA at clones, tells Zephyr Hart to build some walls and proceeds to slip and crash on ice
Post by julius kingston on Sept 17, 2017 15:55:27 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 even get to see if she makes the shot or not. A huge hedge sweeps over them, and Julius grits his teeth.[break][break]
Who the hell needs magic to fight off plants for Merlin's sake?[break][break] Without warning, Julius pulls an arrow from Astartia's quiver and slams it into the plants, tearing away at as much leaves and stems he can until he sees the shadow behind them. He dives forward and pulls Astartia with him- if the clone attacks, hopefully it goes and gives the hedge a big hug instead. [break][break] After attempting to break free of the hedge, Julius drags Astartia to the broom and swing a leg over it. "Get on!" he shouts, and suddeny they are soaring above the mess of the battlefield, and Juilius's atheneum interface blinks at him, angrily buzzing with information. "Shut up would you--" or so he wants to yell, but honestly now that Cass might be dead for all he knows, his interface is probably his better half.[break][break] Oh, fuck. [break][break] "It's the sister. Anabella or whatever the hell," he yells down at everyone. "You reckon this is a curse? Because I'm starting to think that's bullshit."[break][break] His heart races but his thoughts race a little faster. He's pulled out of the crossfire for now, and the fire dances as a refection on his eyes. "Wait wait wait. Back up. Why the hell is everything on fire?" Had he been trapped in the fly trap for that long? And why hadn't he noticed before? Probably because it felt so natural for everything to burst into flames, right? [break][break] "Hey. The last time the bird appeared. It was flying towards the streak, wasn't it? And right after it appeared...the mana eating blossoms. When we moved towards the streak...the clones started appearing...Hey. Why would a traveler from Sundial want to kill us?" [break][break]He remembered distinctly that the bird had turned to him, looked at him. Right before the flytrap had swallowed him. Why not the creepy shrine ladies that have something to hide? [break][break] He shouts again: "We're going to finish this damn bird off."[break][break] Hermione swoops down again, this time blatantly targeting one of its wings. Julius grits his teeth and stays on high alert, ready to dodge these vines (and hopefully have better success than when he was in a similar position attempting to dodge buldgers).
[attr="class","paige_etcs"]
[attr="class","paige_words"]
000
[attr="class","paige_notes"]
@herb hippies | juls stabbs the plants and takes tart on his magical carpet journey. juls says the bird in anabelle. thinks that the bird is the plantshaper. is starting to really hate these freaky sisters. lowkey is just more worried for cass. hermione attacks again (has used: observatory, witch's call, basic broom stick)
That wasn't supposed to happen... Granted, Zeph supposed none of this was supposed to happen. The real fighters had gone into the temple's dungeon -- Undercroft? Basement? Whatever was down there... -- or chased after the mystery man. But, as Zeph gazed down at the village and the clones approaching Xuan and Adalie, up at the murderous bird, and all around at the plants growing and morphing with the express purpose to bind and subdue them, he realizes that they must have been set up. Divide their numbers and pick them off -- That's how you eliminate an enemy. They shouldn't have listened to the sisters. They shouldn't have given in to the illusion of urgency.
Zephyr, oddly calm, only has a second to breathe.
Before he hits the ground, he reaches out to Spock, sending her back to the outer strata. It'd just be a moment, to protect her from the impact. The ground rushes towards him, and, in the last moment, he vanishes into smoke with the spell of a blinking scroll. The steely blue cloud reforms near one of his fallen bags, heralding his reappearance, kneeling and reaching into the leather pouch. Spock, soon after, reappears on his shoulder.
Zeph snatches out the wires of one magic canister and sticks them into his arm, then hastily hooks the bag's strap around his shoulder. "Alright, babe, let's see if we can fix this..." he mutters to Spock under his breath. The familiar lifts up the ground underneath Sao, the bird's original prey, and Zeph's broom, moving them all away from the fire and plants while bringing them closer to himself. As he did so, Juls is shouting about something -- the bird was one of the sisters?
"We should break her neck," Spock, anger boiling in her veins, quietly hisses in his ear. Truthfully, Zeph can't say he disagrees.
Once his two fallen passengers are next to him, Zeph hands another of his fallen bags to Sao, smaller than the one he was carrying, and raises another fortress wall between them and the encroaching vines. "Take him 'n the broom. There's some gauze and our gate back t' the temple in there. Don't go back there unless ya have to; it doesn't look like th' sisters're our friends." While he does so, Spock is glaring intently at the ground beneath the bird. Suddenly, a large ball of earth and stone rips from its resting place and flies towards the avian's core. Whether it hit ribs, skull, or wings, with its size and the speed at which it was flying, something was likely to break.
"Fuckin' hell, Spock..." he huffs, realizing the canister is already entirely depleted, quickly replacing the wires in his skin with the second filled canister in the bag.
"I need t' go check on th' others an' get us back t'gether," Zeph quickly explains to Sao and the stranger as he turns to go. "STAR! Help protect these guys!" He shouts up to the duo on Julius' broom.
He runs as well as he's able, given the uneven terrain, towards the wall of vines between himself and Xuan. Once he gets close enough to see the other side through the snaking tendrils, he again uses his blinking scroll to appear on the other side. The clones were close to them. Too close. There isn't time for instruction as he raises a wall between the clones and his two stray party members.
saoirse ó floinnXuan Jinastartia zamórejulius kingston tldr: 1- blinking scroll before hitting the ground to avoid damage 2- pick up bag of magic canisters & use one 3- lift bird food, sao, & his broom away from danger & gives sao gauze + portal 4- create wall to further protect them from plants 5- spock goes all out lifting a large ball of earth at the bird with an intent to kill 6- use 2nd magic canister 7- ask Tart to protect Sao & the stranger 8- blinking scroll through the wall of plants to create a wall of rock between Xuan+smol and the clones
at first, things seem to go horribly wrong: adalie squeaks at the sight of the shadowy clones. (somehow, even she is too drained to offer a scream). the aquapyra hits the clone which explodes immediately, negative the effects of the potion and knocking the two backwards. when xuan skates backwards she stumbles in an attempt to follow him-- and slips on the frozen terrain she is unused to. her knees scrape and bleed red against the white. [break][break] the plants begin rapidly scaling the walls zeph has built, burying themselves in the earth-- .[break][break] and then with a screech hermione rakes against the bird's wing, and spock's rock slams into its skull. at once, the exploding clones vanish. all the plants go limp and lifeless. the bird is knocked back, and its grand frame begins disappearing at the seams. feathers fade away into the sky-- it falls with a heavy thud into the roof of a nearby hut, but when it hits it's not a bird at all, but rather a pale woman with pretty, blue eyes. [break][break] the only noise in the forest is the crackling of the aquapyra flames, which, by now, have died down into quiet whispers. [break][break] when the group corners the woman, they find her skin bruised and body bare except for a faint cover of scales and feathers- she looks like a harpy, almost beautiful. [break][break] outside of the hut, the villager limps towards adalie and embraces her. his hair, too, is pale. and his eyes are blue. he embraces the child and kisses her. "adalie. oh, adalie. you should have sayed in sundial. you shouldn't have come here..."[break][break] eventually, the villager and adalie, too, arrive at the scene where isobelle rests, crimson dripping from gashes across her bac and her head. "you! you're the one who destroyed our runes! you set the dogs on this village- you killed them all. and when that wasn't enough you chased us down one by one. the priest was right to ban your kind. your sacrifices...blood magic! blasphemy, all of it! you've ruined the name of the village...of beaumains...of..."[break][break]
isobelle's voice lacks the fury of the males. she can hardly speak at all. "no...you're wrong. it was all for the--him...sir gareth..."
[attr="class","stafftempsubtext"]
ooc notes
congratulations, the group is no longer in danger. the bird has been defeated, but not without injury. the group is likely exhausted-- the bird shifts back into anabelle and she crashes into a nearby house. a heartfelt reunion occurs between the villager and adalie-- but the group bears witness to something more important-- just what is anabelle talking about? and where does the group go from here? [break][break] goodluck! [break][break] saoirse ó floinnastartia zamórejulius kingstonZephyr Hart and Xuan Jin
The axis of the world neatly tilted as he feel. He could hear his name being called out while catching sight of the flash of pure white fur before he hit the ice. His arms sustain most of his impact and also a part of his sides still recovering from the burns for his pervious encounter with the clones.
His teeth gnashed against each other and he struggles to pull himself up. As he does, Xuan caught sight of the stone walls and the plants pushing its way through. Xue Mei's growls echoed inside his head as he searched for another safe place then a screech interrupted his thoughts. The bird with a familiar set of blue eyes falls tumbling to the ground faster than he had. The action seemed to stop the plants in midmotion and cause the clones to vanish. Mild bruises, you'll live and now you owe me seven vanilla mousses with wild berries and hazelnuts in compensation for this. Xue Mei huffed but he could see her tail twitching to and fray, a sign that she was more worried than angered. Yes your highness, seven vanilla mousses will be made in your honour the second we get home. Xuan promised.
With the danger now gone he focused on the girl fallen not far from him. "Do you want me to bandage that?" He asked and Xue Mei nudged his leg in irritation. Xuan sighed and dug his hand into his pocket pulling out one and feeding it to her offering another to Adeline. "Zephyr! Catch!" He throws one to blond adding as an afterthought, "don't worry this one won't explode."
They regroup in front of the fallen sister, Anabelle. Xuan's eyes bore into her, searching for clues but otherwise silent. He was thirsting for knowledge on how she was able to control so many things at once, clones, plants and transform into a bird. Power, is what only the strong could hold. Guerra's words would forever echo in his mind and become almost like a creed. He turned briefly to watch the villagers come taking in the bits of information provided. Runes, killed priest, sacrifices, blood magic. His thoughts paused as it lingered on the two words. Another name popped up in her reply, Sir Gareth.
"Blood magic?" Xuan asked, his voice soft as if still lost in thought.
tl;dr: Xue Mei appears, offers to bandage adeline up and offers candy to her and Zephyr Hart . wonders about blood magic
[attr="class","gearcore"] "Holy shit," Zephyr whispered with a weak chuckle as the plants withered and clones faded, "nice job." The crafter raises a fist to Spock, which she exuberantly bumps with two of her own.
"You two alright?" the crafter asks to Xuan and Adalie. He hadn't been able to see most of what happened to them or Juls (after he'd been eaten), so he wasn't confident that they were in a good enough state to rush back to the temple and help the others.
Thankfully, Spock had seen these candies before, so there was no need for Zephyr to panic over one being thrown at him. He catches it, immediately giving it to Spock's grabbing hands, and gives Xuan a look with a furrowed brow. "First 'f all: fuck you... But other than not tellin' me 'bout what I was actually throwin', ya did good." He'd managed to protect the kid with a habit of running away, which was a challenge in itself.
As the stranger hobbled over to Adalie and embraced her, Zeph tilted his head at his words. "Sundial?" Zeph questioned, "Adalie told us she'd left this town a day ago. Not sayin' you were lyin' to us--" he quickly amends with the child, holding his palms forward in a defensive gesture, "I'd just like t' know what's actually goin' on." He holds out a hand to the stranger. "Name's Zephyr. The rest 'f us are from Sundial -- we came out here yesterday investigatin' that red streak in the sky."
Before returning to the fallen sister, he stops by Sao to check on her, kneeling down to either patch her up or help her stand depending on the severity of the injuries.
Their opponent still appeared to be half bird. A combination of transfiguration and summoning? Zephyr hadn't seen those affinities used quite like that before, and definitely not on that scope. Their group had been lucky.
"Listen, mate," Zeph says, kneeling near Isobelle, a dagger in his grip and in his gaze, "I'd love t' hear all 'bout your boy idol Gareth, but first you'd better tell me what ya did t' the rest of our group. Did ya just send us all on fake missions t' split us up? I'd reckon a guess that th' "curse" o yours is fake, too, so what'd ya pit our fighters against back in your temple?"
Post by saoirse ó floinn on Sept 20, 2017 0:05:47 GMT
Her world is jolted when a stray vine lashes into the broom, knocking them out of the sky. It's a sudden and unexpected event and there's horror streaking through her vines as she feels herself tilt off the broom, her grip on the extra passenger loosening. Her heart constricts, the sensation of falling curling its iron grip around her insides; all she sees is the rapidly approaching ground as she descends. Even in her fear, she somehow manages to brace herself for the impact and it comes like a wave, her arms scraping across the dirt as she uses them to shield of her head. She lands with no little amount of pain, the air knocked out of her as she hits the ground. It's a miracle she hasn't broken anything.
Her shoulder throbs from its slam, but other than scraped skin on her hands and knees, she's not as bad as she would have expected. She rolls over to sit up, quivering from the fright and she looks for Zephyr and the human. She sees them not too far from her, the human closer and she reaches out to him.
No sooner had she done so, she feels herself lifting - another scare - with the ground and she panics. What now? Lying low against the levitating earth, she flinches at the sudden appearance of a fortress wall. It's then when she realises that this is all Zephyr's work. Relaxing considerably, she's relieved when all three of them are gathered together again, away from too much danger.
He gives her a small bag containing first aid and she grips onto it gingerly, ignoring the sting of her palms. She purses her lips and nods, slinging the bag of her shoulder and pulling the human to her. Her heart clenches when Zephyr tells her that he's going to go check up on the others. Granted that it's a sound decision, there's still the urge to tell him to stay.
She doesn't.
Turning to her ward - patient? - she's quick in pulling out the gauze, gently murmuring to him that's she's going to patch him up and begins winding the bandage around his injuries.
The monster bird is defeated and it's an immense relief. Her body sags and she lets herself relax, tense muscles releasing their tight constriction. The villager seems to be better and he stands to go to Adalie, allowing her to unwind.
The sight of a...harpy is a surprise, to say the least and she doesn't know what to think of it.
When Zephyr comes over, she blushes lightly when he helps her stand, a tingling lingering within her fingers when she lets go of his helping hand. She tells herself it's just blood rushing to warm her hand up.
She follows him towards the fallen woman-bird, scrutinising her with a critical eye. Zephyr bombards Isobelle with questions, a threatening dagger within his grip and she has half the mind to tell him to 'chill'. His questions are valid, however, and she's curious to know the answer to all of them. It hits her then after the last question, that the others were in a temple fighting a monster that wasn't the sister they were looking. And who knows what the other group were searching for.
She tosses the theories in her head. Perhaps the monster the others were fighting are a mutation of this 'blood magic' they were talking about, a hybrid of sorts. Perhaps the shadow figure that attacked them earlier was this 'Sir Gareth', or some shade of him. Biting her bottom lip, the calm that surrounded her suddenly spikes into a gradual panic.
She murmurs to herself, "Maddox and the others..." and she remembers the portal in her bag. It is an option, at least.
Her eyes just a little brighter from the building rage, she asks softly, her tone disguising the annoyance that she felt towards the sisters. "What is this blood magic that they're talking about? What exactly have you done?"
ooc: got some scraped skin here and there. patched up the villager. had the idea to go save Mads and the others, but is also kinda maybe not. added more questions to the list for Isobelle to answer.
Post by julius kingston on Sept 21, 2017 16:04:29 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"] Julius doesn't care. No, there is something beyond the normalcy of 'at stake' here-- there is something that he will not lose at stake here. He picks up one of Spock's fallen knives before he enters the hut, and when he does he's at least relieved to see Zephyr doing most of his job.[break][break] He throws the knife back on the ground and casually walks up to the girl- bruised and bleeding from every inch of her body, and no inch covered except a few by feathers and few by scales. He walks straight in front of her, tips of his worn-out sneakers touching the edges of her body. [break][break] A huge blast of water showers over her as he uses CREATION-- Julius smiles almost lazily. "Oh. Wrong water, sorry. Thought it would help chase that cat off your tongue." [break][break] His eyes do not glow with killing intent: the emerald within them is strangely emptied of feelings like remorse or anger. Of all the things he has felt this day, the strongest reigns his disappointment in his ability to triumph circumstance.[break][break] "If you tell me that Cassidy was hurt over a curse that never existed, I will kill you. And if you don't say anything at all I'll make it a little more painful when I find out." [break][break] The HEALING SPRING hovers over Anabelle like Tantalus's pool-- if the girl speaks, he will let her. If she chooses not to, that's fine. But you don't need pretty words to be convincing. You don't need petty tactics to win the game. Sometimes you can just look a man in the eye, say checkmate and it's over whether they like it or not. [break][break] Hermione, perched as a lookout on a nearby house, says nothing. Does nothing. She does not even watch.
[attr="class","paige_etcs"]
[attr="class","paige_words"]
000
[attr="class","paige_notes"]
@herb hippies | juls splashes water of anabelle and threatens her. makes a pretty bubble of cyrstal clear healing water hover over her as an...incentive. hermione is the broken conscience in the BG. r-rip
the stranger oos at Zephyr with a predictable look of gratitude. but then he is confused. "impossible! they destroyed the village a week ago...we rushed adalie away long before that...to be fair, even i don't know why. she was the apple of everyone's eye, that's true. but the priest was a little insane when it came to her safety...but the priest's dead. i'm sorry. if there was anyone that could've given you all the answers, it'd have been him." [break][break] "it has to be those blood-witches. the priest's daughters, but he never liked 'em. they were fine, but something happened and they started losing their minds. no one knows what it was- said the older two started trying to kill the youngest. when the priest tried to protect her, they killed him instead." [break][break] "then they stopped coming to the village, even on ritual nights. and the villagers stopped going to the temple altogether. what's the point of a god that kills his believers, you know? maybe we were just afraid. but it worked out for us. but then a week ago, they shot off all our runes. no beast can do that." he pointed aggressively to the neatly fractured runes lying on the edges of the village. [break][break] "it has to have been them. when we found out, we sounded the alarms. the whole village fled. we were doing okay. you know. the whole legend of the people of beaumains bein' more than the look out the outside? yeah, we were tough. then this bird in the sky comes picks us off. one by one. i don't know how many she's killed or eaten or god-fucking-knows. i don't know why you came here. no offense, but city folk are shit. and i need to take adalie back to the rest of them the ones that survived, anyway. i don't want her to see...to see what's in there." he points at the ruined hut, then hugs adalie a little closer to his leg. [break][break] when the group moves on towards anabelle, they find the girl can hardly see straight (or, perhaps, that she is feigning injury). the harpy obtains no mercy nor pardon, and seems to shudder violently when the water is thrown on her, making strange half-human noises as she twists and turns violently. [break][break] when she looks at them, her blue eyes are fearful- she does not want to die. she does not want to die. "it was a lie! it was all a lie!" she shouts this in perfectly clarity as the healing spring splashes across her flesh and she shudders again. the wings feebly wrap around her. "we needed to get rid of you. whoever set off the flare...they ruined us... you city folk never had to know! but you-you came anyway. we-- i...armed the whole forest against you! everything was set out to discourage you. why did you bother? what satisfaction did you get from this madness?" [break][break] she spits at the girl. "call it what you will. it is my legacy. and theirs, too, even if they refuse to acknowledge it." [break][break] "your fighters are against my sister. they'll die without assistance. even the other team's got an inaccurate map. they' die, too. you can't kill me. if you do, she'll kill all of you in return. but she'll make the trade..." the girl is breathing rapidly, summoning all her courage to lean against the wall only to hiss in pain again. "so what about it? my life for all of yours."
[attr="class","stafftempsubtext"]
ooc notes
congratulations, the group is no longer in danger. both the villager and the sister, anabelle, have given their responses. what action does the group take from here? [break][break] goodluck! [break][break] saoirse ó floinnastartia zamórejulius kingstonZephyr Hart and Xuan Jin
[attr="class","gearcore"] Zephyr listened to the villager's story with interest, but remained acutely aware that he was still missing some significant context. What was so special about this village that the sisters had to take people from here? And if the villagers hadn't set off the flare, and the sisters hadn't set off the flare... who had pushed the first domino?
"Ey, I'm one o' them city folk and I can't argue with that sentiment," Zeph replies with a shrug and short chuckle, "We were followin' a red streak in the sky that'd been up there with no explanation for a couple days. We thought the priestess sisters'd put it up there, but it's startin' t' look like it wasn't in their best interests." He glances at Adalie, then at the man's bleeding leg, "Listen... I know ya wanna go back t' your people, but the priestesses've turned this whole forest into more 'f a deathtrap than usual. You've got an arrow hole straight through your leg an' took a nasty fall, an', unless all of ya picked a hideout right next t' your old village, I imagine you've got a long ways t' walk. You've already gotten caught by one 'f the sisters t'day... an' even then ya didn't have a kid t' keep track of."
The crafter fiddles with a long chain in his pocket. The most important one. "I've got a way t' send people back t' my home in Sundial. I know we've just met, but I hope th' fact that we saved both your lives -- a bit clumsily, I grant ya -- at least speaks t' the fact that we mean ya no harm. Could ya have Adalie wait there for a bit? You could stay with her if you'd like... Just at least 'til we get th' rest of this madness sorted. You've already made an effort t' keep 'er safe. No need t' put her life at risk now, yeh?"
While Zephyr states his case for protecting Adalie from the dangers in these woods, Spock's interest was piqued by the villager's mention of a certain hut. If he didn't want Adalie to see, it must have been something bad, right? Right?? A secret? A tragedy? With morbid curiosity drawing her in, the slender-limbed familiar swings along the earth on feet and knuckles towards the building in question, slowly peeking inside with wide, dark eyes.
The harpy confirms that she didn't set off the flare. More importantly, at least to the people immediately present, she confirms her intent to kill them. Zeph glances to Juls with concern, knowing full well the storm those words may have summoned.
For once, he's unsure of how to proceed. Leave the sister here and risk her escape? Kill her and risk her sisters' wrath? Bring them with her back to the temple, her home turf? There was no good answer. He supposed, then, that any one of those answers was just as "good" as the others.
The trinket which Claire had given him vibrates softly. Had she been trying to contact them throughout that fight? There had been too much chaos for him to notice. He quickly holds it to his ear. "--Gareth, Suixitium. Written in the chamber. Highly-aggressive wolf out." The crafter's brows furrow in concern, partly because he was sure such a frantic and curt message meant their group had found the danger, and partly because he hadn't heard any news from his brother's group. "... the fuck's a Suixitium?" he hisses in frustration before turning to the rest of the group. "We gotta' move now. Claire's still kickin' but doesn't sound too good."
saoirse ó floinnXuan Jinastartia zamórejulius kingston tldr: 1. gives many reasons why the villager wandering away on his own with adalie is a stupid idea 2. suggests adalie (and the villager, if he wants) go through the dead-party-member-portal to rest and stay away from the danger (someone else will need to activate it probably???) 3. Spock wanders away to investigate The Hut (tm) 4. lets the rest of their group do w/e he wants to the poor Harpy lady 5. Gets Claire's message 6. Extra, since I can't react to the next post: Gives Adalie the mana marked trinket from Claire if and only if she doesn't go through the portal to safety
