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.
Silence rings, bell-clear, in her ears in the aftermath. Dust settles like a soft veil of dawn-dusk mist, coating her skin and hair and clothes thick with its beige-brown shade. Her breath rasps too loudly in her lungs. Even her familiar isn't speaking, is simply pressed up against her side, small body trembling with the force of jumbled emotions she can sense crashing through his mind.
She's.... alive.
Through the still subsiding dust comes a call, a question - her mission partner and fellow coven member; something in her chest tightens upon hearing his voice, and she fights back the whimper that wants to escape her mouth, fights back the tears that want to blur her vision ( it's just the dust, it's just the dust ). "I'm fine," she calls back, and so what if there's a quaver in her voice, she almost died thank you very much; it's okay she's fine.
( She kinda wants to throw up. No. Bad Ling. It's fine. It's fine. )
( Valkea bares his teeth, a glint of something furious and predatory burning in his eyes. )
She can't help but flinch a little at the soft voice that breaks through the ringing in her head, can't help but look at the cat that appears through the dust like some sort of angel being descending from the heavens with hurt betrayal. Why, everything in her wants to ask, but her mouth won't cooperate. She shakes her head instead, curling up tighter in a ball before steeling herself and struggling to dig herself out from the rocks. Valkea, still silent and furious and darkly angry, inserts himself protectively between her and the cat. "I'm fine," Ling repeats, still shaky. She's not really sure who she's talking to. Doesn't matter.
Very deliberately avoiding looking at either Dr Puddy or Billy, Ling gets to her feet and shuffles through her pouch until she finds two of her explosive arrays and a pre-written barrier array. ( Briefly, her fingers come into contact with the potions given to her earlier, but she avoids them for now, suddenly wary of them and their creator. ) A loud screech coming from the now blown open opening warns them all of something oncoming. A soft brush against her mind reassures her that Valkea is well prepared to launch any number of earth techniques at any potential threat.
"Where to?" she asks softly, still looking nowhere near her mission partners.
"If you need healing child it is better to speak up now... alchemic circles take time to create." It was the soft, feminine voice of the feline that said this. She was correct... Billy couldn't just conjure up a circle or quick circle like a select few alchemy masters could. It took a little preparation in order to heal something and that was something that was hard to do in battle. Besides healing potions only did so much... it was spells like the circle of life that were the true healers.
The fox got between the feline familiar and the girl. The cat didn't seem at all phased by this. It was like she didn't care at all... or more accurately didn't fear the fox in front of her. That much was true... she was not afraid of the creature in front of her. The screeching however was starting to get louder. Something had noticed the explosion obviously. They should probably go down quickly.
"Down the rabbit hole Alice," came Billy's voice as he hurried past the girl. He only looked down for a moment to scoop up Dr Puddy into his sweater. She did not resist the motion and before they knew it he was walking down over the remaining rubble down the cavern that was now exposed. The hall downward wasn't particularly large but it was large enough for two or three people to walk shoulder to shoulder comfortably. The hall went downward as he walked... not looking back as he proceeded. The screeching became... well... it was very loud. There was a room with water on either side of a large stone path. The path led to a small island that had some kind of altar on it. There was something strange about the alter... it gave off a dark vibe... almost like a miasma was surrounding it. The water around it seemed deep.
"Well... so there was something here after all... interesting... very interesting." Was this something that would be useful or... was it another dud/dead end. This place has seemed the most promising to be honest. He just had a good feeling about this place... or a bad feeling to be totally honest. This place is near a harbor controlled by the helios knights after all... so he hoped... well no need to hope. Hope is bad. The water stirred a bit as he stared at the altar.
Her shoulder hurts and her left leg aches and Ling has no doubt she has purple-green bruises blossoming beneath her skin waiting for the next day to reveal themselves, but she really, really has no desire to go anywhere near one of Billy's alchemic circles at the moment. "I'm fine," she repeats for the third time, and she feels a little bad for snapping at the cat familiar with such an abrupt tone - but only a little.
Straightening her spine into steel-stuff rigidity, she marches after her mission partner with grim eyes and a white-knuckled grasp on her pre-written arrays, determined not to show any of her fear of the screeching sound, at this increasingly less desirable mission, at Billy and his inexplicable choices, at her not a close call at all ok she's fine everything is fine. So. Yes. She is a novice of Jester's Den. She can get through this mission.
The gradual downwards slop eventually leads to a strange, ominous room with ink-dark water sitting on either side of a stone path. Whoever constructed the room very very clearly wanted the focus to be on the altar in the middle. Ling's eyes dart around rapidly, heart hammering in her chest. There is something decidedly unnerving about this room, about the altar, about the too-still too-calm too-dark water. "I don't like this," she says in a small voice, and there's a quiver to her words. She could have sworn she just saw something move in the corner of her vision.
But the water is still.
'Switch with me if anything happens.' Her familiar provides a modicum of comfort to her increasingly scared thoughts, a quiet but firm order echoing in their mindspace; Ling calms slightly upon spotting Valkea hovering just outside the entrance to the room, providing both rearguard and sentry. 'Be safe,' she tells him, and receives a pulse of warmth in return.
Still glancing nervously around and fingering her barrier array, she makes her way up to her mission partner for a closer look at the altar that seems to be occupying his attention. "There's something wrong with that," she says faintly, staring at the structure. Something within her is profoundly disturbed by its mere presence. "It feels- it feels wrong. Is it an enchantment? ....maybe I should seal it away for actual cursebreakers to inspect later."
But before she can pull out her ever-handy storage arrays, Valkea's voice cuts through the air. "Ling! There's something in the water!"
She whips around, eyes wide, face white. Her familiar is right. The previously stone-still water is writhing as if it were something alive. As if there's something inside.
"There's something wrong with a lot of things..." his voice says, soft and filled with a repressed rage. This thing felt wrong. It was wrong. It was no doubt not what he was looking for. It felt evil... pulsing with that kind of rage that couldn't help but effect everyone around it. Whatever was sealed here was... not something that should exist.
"I agree girl... though I wouldn't touch it if you don't have too... ," came the cat's voice as she popped her head out to look at the young girl. The feline's attention turned towards the water as it started to move and quake as something was close to the surface. "Something is guarding whatever it is..." Whatever it was is aquatic. Maybe some kind of sea serpent or a squid of some sort. Maybe a small kraken like creature. Those seemed to be the most likely culprits. Or perhaps a shark? There was no telltale fin sign though so perhaps not.
Billy stepped out towards the path, eyes glued to the spot where the surface was moving. As soon as he stepped into the light of the room two tentacles moved from the moving spot out of the water and towards the path. Well this was not a good thing. Not a good thing at all.
"Well... shit." It was time to make a break for it. Run. He couldn't run very fast given the wet terrain and small area. He could hear the sound of flesh hitting the ground behind him as a tentacle got far to close to comfort and struck the ground just a couple of inches behind him. He just needed to avoid it enough to get to the other side probably. He pushed mana outward as another tentacle came for him, discharging a large amount of it from his body as he was enveloped in a puff of smoke. The tentacle struck down on the smoke cloud only to hit the ground as Billy a couple feet in front of where he just was, making a run for it. Thank god for the Blinking Scroll. Hopefully Ling would fare well enough.
"Well... shit," Billy says, and Ling thinks, that is a very accurate sentiment. Not in anything as coherent as actual structured thought, of course - no, the general state of her mind can be summed up with panicked flailing and flashbacks to too many horror books - but for a moment, she's just frozen there, staring at the thing in the water.
Valkea's roar in her mind galvanises her into action.
She whirls around, ignoring how Billy runs for it, ignoring the too many tentacles emerging from the black-as-death water; fumbling with her pockets, Ling frantically withdraws a storage array and slaps it onto the altar, sealing it up with a quick burst of mana. In all honesty, it was probably only luck that kept her from coming into skin contact with the potentially dangerous artifact.
"LING!" Valkea actually yells, making her turn around. And pale. Because apparently the kraken-octopus-monster thing had decided that she was the primary target due to touching the altar, probably, and has now half emerged from the water and is towering over her.
Her first instinct, because coven loyalty bonds cannot be so easily broken ( and also because, you know, Billy is an actual adult??? and probably an actually competent novice?? ) is to look around for her mission partner. She spots him by the door. Then has to dodge a massive tentacle smashing into where she was just a second ago.
Her second instinct is to scream.
"Switch with me!" Valkea roars at her, and she can feel from their bond that he's about two seconds away from bodily rushing in and getting her out. The earth dragon bullet he sends at the kraken-thing is nice too. She screams again, runs around with more panicked flailing trying to get away from the tentacles, before finally dragging her brain into more coherent headspace and SWITCHING with her familiar.
She appears at the doorway. Valkea dematerialises and rematerialises a moment after. "They're still coming through!" she yells, blanching at the tentacles that come racing after her. This time, though, her body actually responds to sense without floundering around like an idiot. Ling throws down and activates a barrier array just in time for the monster to slam against it and be rebounded back.
"Do we kill it? Do we keep running? Should I put up another barrier?" the questions tumble out of her mouth in a frenetic, tangled mess as she looks around wildly for Billy, still riding high on the jumble of fear and panic and adrenaline this second near death experience had instigated.
What was she doing? She was freezing. That is what she was doing. She had the artifact at least so he should probably help the girl... even if this wasn't what he wanted. He could probably create some wire and pull the girl towards him... but that would no doubt hurt the girl more than help pull her along. She'd probably at least survive that... maybe without a limb but those could always be regrown.
"Throw one of those potions at it and keep running!" he shouted at the girl. She had a two out of four chance of getting an actual potion instead of glittery water so hopefully she was lucky. In the meantime he'd try to at least help cover her. He let Dr Puddy out of his sweater so she could help him. 'Wild West style cover,' he said to the small cat familiar through their mental link. There was a small audible sigh as the cat stepped out in front of Billy and opened her mouth. The cat familiar let mana collect into her throat as a bright light began to glow. Like a dragon breathing flames, a beam of light shot out from the cat thanks to Light Technique - Single Shot that struck one of the tentacles and made a small boom when it hit.
Billy on the other hand let the light collect in his palms, trying to gather as much energy as he could. They were not that far underground so he could at least collect some light from the area instead of just constantly creating it which was a tiny bit better on his mana drain. Of course given many attacks were going to be used he couldn't keep it up for super long without tiring himself out so it would probably be best for them to flee.
"Lets go!." He shot a larger and stronger beam of light than his small feline counterpart that exploded as soon as it hit the creature trying to swoop in for the young girl. No doubt it would probably focus its attacks on her as Billy was much harder to reach. One tentacle did try to make its way towards them but Dr Puddy easily shot another beam of light at the offending limb before it got close to the small creature. They had the benefit of cover that out in the open Ling didn't really have.
Light flashes past her head in a piercing beam, like lightning lancing white-bright through the cave. She ducks instinctively, peeks over her shoulder in time to see the kraken-monster-thing jerk back when hit; the first ( coherent ) thought that comes to mind is a prayer of relief that she'd used a one way barrier. Otherwise Billy's technique would have been absorbed by the barrier, bounced back right towards them, or in a worst case scenario, brought down the barrier and exposed them to the creature. Thankfully that's not the case; thankfully she'd been experimenting with these modified barriers - now, they can attack it while it cannot attack them.
Though, seeing how furiously the kraken is throwing itself against the runic spell, it probably won't hold up for long.
She darts forwards, slapping another barrier array down on top of the first, and this time the iridescent light that flares across the entrance is much stronger than before. Adequate preparation for activation, y'know?
Glancing back at her mission partner, Ling bites her lip, nervously fiddling with more pre-written arrays. "I can probably bring the cave down," she tells him, eyes flickering towards the still-raging kraken. Her voice is rather small. "But I think we should go. My barrier should hold for a while." Valkea presses against her leg in silent, empathetic agreement.
Really, Ling just wants to go home and get away from Billy and Dr Puddy and the sea monster and the creepy caves. She loves adventures and all... but not like this. This is nothing like what she'd imagined, she thinks miserably.
She made her way to the area where Billy was thankfully. There was the creature just slamming away at the barrier like a madman on a mission. Hopefully the thing would hold long enough. "If you can bring it down feel free. But yeah we should book it." He agreed with the young girl after all. They'd probably not being able to take the creature on when it had the aquatic advantage... at least not easily. Blocking it from being able to easily get at them was the smart plan.
Billy hummed as they made their decision. Either she'd take down enough of the cave area to aid in their escape or they'd just escape with the barrier behind them. He could hear other creatures behind them. There was something else in here with them and the kraken creature. They'd have to move quickly and hope that luck was on their side. Whatever the other creature was... it sounded... well more like creatures. Dr Puddy could hear them hissing in the distance... no doubt the other familiar could as well. Time to book it.
Billy would allow the girl to lead the way as they made it back towards the surface. They'd moved quite a distance in their little trek so it would take a couple of minutes to make it back to the surface. Whatever was in that new box was going to be strange and something that should probably be looked into. If it had a creature like that looking after it... then it was probably valuable if nothing else.
"That creature was strange... hmm... it really wanted whatever we took maybe?" the young man said to himself, placing his chin on her hand as he thought. It would make sense then why it seemed more interested in attacking Ling versus Billy. He didn't have the item it desired. What could it be? They'd probably find out eventually right?
She moves closer to her barrier in preparation of bringing the cave down. Despite knowing, despite having personally tested, multiple times, how strong her arrays are and how long they’ll last even with a constant barrage, Ling can’t help but flinch back when the kraken slams against it with a shuddering thud. Valkea stands guard by her side, a silent white sentinel, protective, silent, wary. Despite his diminutive size, she feels much safer with him at her side.
Glancing back at Billy and wringing her hands anxiously, Ling studies the composition of the sealed off cave carefully before coming to an abrupt decision. “Never mind, I- I think it’s best if I leave the cave be. Don’t want to risk not killing it and providing an opening for it to get us, or bringing the cave down on our heads,” she says uneasily. Eyes tracing over the runes that make up the barrier one more time, she waits for the kraken to draw back slightly before an upward gesture pulls up a thick wall of rock between the monster and the barrier as a final layer of protection.
“Yeah,” she says, looking away with a shivering breath. “Yeah. Let’s go.”
The trek back to the surface is quiet. Neither Ling nor Valkea are in any mood for conversation, and she herself sinks deep into the bog of her tangled thoughts; time passes without meaning, and it honestly could have taken them anywhere between a few minutes to several hours for the entrance to finally peak through the darkness - Ling wouldn’t have been able to tell.
A few more steps and suddenly the world is made of air again, saltwater and pale white sand and glimmering stars hung in a vast, unfathomable sky. The kraken and the strange altar and the wrong-feeling artifact seem a world away - belonging to the paper-and-ink confines of a storybook or the golden-gilded words of an explorer exaggerating as he boasts of his weird and wacky adventures. This entire mission doesn’t seem like it had even happened, in a way - tell Ling it was all a strange dream and she might actually believe you.
But the shuddering impact of her near death experiences are not so easy to forget, and the items stored in her storage array is concrete proof of her mission; she turns to Billy with a three parts apprehensive, six parts tired, one part absolutely and utterly done expression. “Yeah,” she agrees, fingering the storage array. “Probably.” A slight grimace, then a sigh. “I should probably hand it over to the Council.”
The walk through the cave was quiet. It had to be quiet besides the few sounds of creatures from somewhere else in the cave. Maybe bats? Or maybe something else? Who knows. Nobody cares. The cave didn't go down as the girl made a smart call. She had a good head on her shoulders but was to trustful.
They walked for maybe ten minutes before the light of day was visible. The sea air hit with that kind of saltiness that always came with the beach. The sun shown down as the two made their way into the light. It felt better... less stuffy as the wide open area kept them away from something that seemed so far away. No doubt the Helios Knights would attempt to slay the creature in the cave as it was a 'danger to witches' or something equally as annoying.
"That's probably for the best. They'll probably hand it over to those knights to deal with. Oh well." He hummed in annoyance as this thought crossed his mind again. Those stupid higher ups would do whatever they wanted with whatever that was. Probably some kind of cursed object or dark magic. Probably somewhere in between the two of those options to be honest. Oh well it wasn't his problem. It had nothing to do with those creatures after all. It was way to evil feeling to be with them.
"Well. It's been real kid. Try not to get yourself killed." He made his way away from the girl. This was a successful mission at least? Sort of. Oh well it was time for him to go back to the books. He'd find that idol for sure. It was what he needed to do in order for his goals to be... well his goal needed some of this items in order to take revenge on someone. Someones. It didn't matter. Back to the drawing board.