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 maddox rothscus ✨ on Jan 11, 2018 14:08:49 GMT
he spends the morning writing down notes in slow listless movements, until the margins of the page look like they have been gone thrice over by a restless tattooist, first in pencil, then over in blue and black inks. it is a journal of miscellaneous purification findings, originally his father’s. graceful cursive letters are testament to aeris’ meticulous research, and prove a stark contrast against the annotations of its latest owner: maddox’s own writing is crammed at the edges, messy and near indecipherable, overflowing in manners that would make an inexperienced observer think he was trying to create his own runescripting language. he is not.
the day continues as follows: he takes a break for lunch, goes out for a walk with moosely and stops by a bakery to buy some bread for tomorrow’s breakfast, before he heads back and continues exactly where he left off. then that stops when aeris taps him lightly on the shoulder and reminds him that he has somewhat of a social life to preserve, and that he had in fact made plans with zephyr and sirius. working on zephyr’s airship project, to be exact.
it’s not as if he knows anything about airships ( only what he can piece together from zephyr’s excited chatter sometimes ), but the fact does nothing to deter his enthusiasm.
moosely wanders into the backyard to greet zephyr, while maddox arrives to the front door with mojito in hand and a ready grin. he operates on the assumption that his brother has already taken the liberty of coming in, and opens the door without prompting, half-expecting -- and is greeted with -- the scarlet-haired silvertongue himself. he’s somewhat surprised that sirius actually showed up. “hey buddy,” he says, and amusement dances in his tone. “were you planning on staring the door into opening or something? c’mon in.”
Post by kasimir burovski ✨ on Jan 13, 2018 3:52:56 GMT
blue moon
you saw me standing alone
kasimir arrives at the designated location with a giant cakebox in hand and the intent to politely refuse this invitation on his tongue.
it is not that he does not like maddox or zephyr - he has begun to grow grudgingly fond of them in fact, as much as one can grow fond of dangerous strangers with too many secrets and only a handful of interactions - but wariness is an attribute inscribed into his very bones, and it highly cautions against spending such time among unknown intensions. what was the motive behind inviting kasimir? he cannot work it out, and so it does very little to comfort him.
but he has brought with him an apology, if you will - a too-big cake of multiple layers and floral decorations that is the product of another sleepless night.
on the threshold of maddox's residence, kasimir is mildly startled when the door opens before he can knock, revealing the witch himself framed within the rectangular entrance and backlit by natural lighting, looking almost as if a painting come to life. a quick flash of surprise fades to his customary amusement, and the door opens a fraction wider in an obvious invitation to enter.
this... may be mildly awkward. "good afternoon," he says, dipping his head in a small bow. "thank you for the invitation, but i- i do not wish to impose." here, he holds out the cakebox, fringe fluttering into his face as his eyes slide to the ground. "for the trouble," he says quickly, quietly, the tips of his ears gaining a slight flush.
[attr="class","gearcore"] An entire wall of his apartment has been filled with schematics. Steering apparatuses, propellant mechanisms, balance controls, calculations for lift and decent and deceleration... He was positive it was possible. It had to be possible. His poor roommate likely thought he'd gone mad by now, and Zeph had long ago ceased his efforts to make good impressions.
Though he wasn't quite ready to go full-scale yet, he'd decided to give Spock-scale a try. Spock, naturally, was elated by the prospect.
He'd prepared most of the smaller parts himself, but was going to need some help assembling them all together. That's where the idea to rope Mads and Sirius into this whole venture came from. He also had the forethought to suggest drinks, so as to not scare them away too quickly.
The crafter enters though the portal he'd built into the back door, quite comfortable letting himself in without invitation or announcement. As luck would have it, he arrives (with a large mast under each arm) just in time to hear the red-headed assassin try to decline his invitation. "Impose!?" Zeph called incredulously from a room not visible from the front, taking a moment to walk over where he could see his two soon-to-be assistants. Spock, perched atop his shoulder, simply shook her head at the Silvertongue with a disappointed expression. "Mate, how'm I supposed t' put this thing together on my own, eh? I didn't invite ya over t' drink for free y'know. You're gonna' be workin' for it!" With a huff, he turned to his brother's familiar. "Moosely, tell Sirius he's bein' a fuckwit."
a lot of the downtown has been put for repair courtesy of the road widening project, and the alleyway leading to the rothscus residence is devoid of all people but the three boys and the day's worth of construction workers. [break][break] the door opens to the dulled landscape of downtown sundial as the nine to five shift of the majority of the city's workers draws to its inevitable close. shovels are dug into the ground and pipes and the odd tool lie scattered about as the laborers talk and laugh and let the sweat on their backs sizzle in the low-hanging evening sun. they turn around and head off, away from their reconstruction site and leave their tools secured between trails of orange tape and basic enchantments[break][break] then it happens very quickly-- a person in a hood arrives on the scene (almost casually, like any other city-walker). he grabs a wrench and, with a surprising amount of brute force unseen in today's witches, single-handed shatters the protection enchantment as though it is made of glass. the person then slips into one of the recently dug tunnels and disappears, without so much as a glance in their direction. [break][break]
[attr="class","stafftempsubtext"]
thread-specific rules
potential for severe injury. not death enabled, no particular warnings as of yet. [break][break] no thread-specific rules as of yet. you have 48 hours to post in reaction to this post. two missing rounds will result in an elimination from the thread. [break][break] maddox rothscus ✨Zephyr Hartkasimir burovski ✨
Post by maddox rothscus ✨ on Jan 22, 2018 8:12:24 GMT
somehow, he is not surprised that this is how sirius handles an invitation. a reply is on the tip of his tongue, something that probably sounds more witty when he says it in his head, when his brother answers for him, voice drifting over from some unseen location. maddox saves his words and grins instead, shrugging a shoulder as though to say, that’s exactly what i meant.
his familiar clatters into sight at zephyr’s prompt, the moose looking a little cramped in the close quarters of the hallway. despite having a fair deal of modifications done to accommodate moosely’s size, there is a limit to how far aeris is willing to destroy the aesthetic he has worked to cultivate.
‘you’re being an absolute fuckwit,’ moosely declares, always glad to speak his mind. his antlers scrape dangerously close to the lights as the moose raises his head to glare down at the scarlet-haired witch. ( the wallpaper is saved by the sole fact that there is an odd assortment of scarves now draped across the moose’s antlers. ) ‘and that’s saying a hell lot, considering i deal with this idiot on a daily basis. once he-- ’
“it’ll be fun,” maddox insists, a precisely timed interruption that leaves the familiar sputtering in protest. he leans against the door, pushing it further open, and it is in this instant that something over sirius’ shoulder catches his attention. the cheeriness fades slightly, replaced mostly by confusion. indignation is quick to follow on its heels.
the stranger sweeps in, utterly destroys the enchantments around the construction on the road, and moves on without a second thought. had it been anywhere else, he might have cared less. but, damn it, he lived on this street -- he didn’t want anyone messing with it. “the nerve-- zeph, you saw that?”
he brushes past sirius with a murmured apology, just to get a better look at what had happened. the enchantments were weak, he knew, but that sort of brute force was basically unheard of. was there some sort of magic at hand, then? casting a detection spell, grey eyes seem to glass over momentarily, searching for further evidence of mana manipulation in the vicinity.
Post by kasimir burovski ✨ on Jan 24, 2018 2:17:56 GMT
blue moon
you saw me standing alone
he should have known that a refusal would not be so simple in execution. he should have, most likely, arrived early to dump the cakebox at their front door then leave before his presence would have been noted. but unfortunately, he had not thought far enough ahead to realise the consequences and implement such a plan.
kasimir takes a small half-step back at zephyr's incredulous exclamation, eyes slightly panicked as they flicker between maddox, the newly visible crafter, and the monkey perched on his shoulder. "i-" he starts, only to be cut off by the appearance of moosely. this time, he takes a full step back, panic becoming more apparent. an irritated giant moose glaring in his direction is not something he particularly wishes to face.
but the stuttered refusals and protests tangled on his tongue die an untimely death as the cheer on maddox's face fades to something harder, more serious. grey eyes are fixated on something behind him; kasimir whips around, hands automatically flying towards a hidden dagger, green eyes intent and narrowed as he rapidly scans the vicinity.
he catches the tail end of a hooded figure vanishing into the tunnels. seconds later, everything appears as calm and ordinary as when he had initially arrived.
following after maddox with cautious steps while taking care to be aware of their surroundings, kasimir waits till the dark-haired witch finishes casting his spell before softly asking, "what happened?"
[attr="class","gearcore"] Zeph offers a nod of conviction as Moosely backs him up, and smirks as Mads interrupts. Admittedly, Moosely had no shame when it came to recounting embarrassing stories about his witch. Zeph had been a denizen of this house long enough to hear (or witness firsthand) some of the worst of them.
"It will be fun," the crafter affirms, with no small amount of bias regarding the enjoyability of their activities. It looked like Sirius was taking this all a bit too Siriusly, and could have used a bit of encouragement. Zeph would have gotten a drink to put in his hand, but was swiftly distracted by the crack! of the basic protective enchantment across the street. As the assassin turns, following Mads' eyes, Zeph turns instead to one of the many gates he'd built in the Rothscus household. He activates it and returns in mere seconds, now carrying a bag much like what he'd brought on their exploration into the southern forests. His return is just in time for the last half of his brother's question.
"Eh? Y'mean that shady enchantment-breaker that we're likely gonna' chase down in a bit? Yeh, I saw 'im," Zeph replies, rattling his bag of gadgets in evidence of his preparation, "I got gates n' a couple other fun tricks."
the detection spell reveals little. in fact, in the heart of a city it's overwhelming in the changes it detects. as maddox rothscus ✨ narrows done what he wishes to see, he discovers the generic properties of the enchantments around the worksite and that the enchantments were broken, but no evidence of mana restitution exist. only the simple truth that the enchantments have broken. [break][break] the trio stepping into the sewers is akin to stepping into a figment of reality that seems to be disjointed from time and space- the world underground is dark, and mud covers the ground. the light from the opening above them reveals the scattered plumbing system of the underground and the efforts to move different pipelines towards the edge. they see a short staircase that leads in only one direction, a few scattered tools, and they hear the faintest echo of the stranger's footsteps getting further and further away. [break][break] when they turn to follow, however, they see a locked gateway that leads to the actual sewers. huh. it appears the competition was able to bypass it somehow. do they break in? behind them, there is only a wall. this must be the only way in. [break][break]
[attr="class","stafftempsubtext"]
thread-specific rules
potential for severe injury. not death enabled. warning- breaking into the sewers is most probably illegal. do remember that no one has a mission-license to use magic and as such magical actions ought to be easily justifiable to the law if worst comes to pass-- though this may prove even worse as members of leviathan and silvertongue. [break][break] no thread-specific rules as of yet. you have 48 hours to post in reaction to this post. two missing rounds will result in an elimination from the thread. [break][break] maddox rothscus ✨Zephyr Hartkasimir burovski ✨
Post by maddox rothscus ✨ on Jan 27, 2018 3:09:46 GMT
he casts his senses outwards, and for a moment, he regrets it -- the city is loud, and buzzing, mana constantly shifting in a dozen different shades. he reins it in, recollects himself, and his gaze sharpens as he narrows down the search radius to-
nothing.
there is no further evidence of magical tampering with the broken enchantments, nor, as far as he can tell, no sign of the stranger using magic at all. “tricks are always welcome,” he says as zephyr returns, though there’s an edge to his voice; maddox is unbalanced, thrown off somehow. his answer to the redhead’s question comes belatedly, when the trio is already moving towards the sewers. moosely snorts, and takes to pacing restlessly around the entrance as soon as they duck into it, likely too large to fit in nor willing to try.
“whatever they did, they aren’t using any magic that i can detect.” as a purifier, as an athenian, as someone whose affinities revolve around a knowledge of their opponent, he is understandably puzzled.
especially when they come to the gate. he hears the footsteps, fast fading, but the gate is still locked and standing before them, seemingly untouched. how had they bypassed this in such little time without using magic? perhaps the footsteps were an illusion somehow undetected, perhaps the stranger had realised they were being followed and decided to lead them somewhere else ( which would mean, if he followed that train of thought further down the rabbithole, that there was a chance this was a trap ). perhaps he was overthinking it. huh. must have been the drinks.
he steps back, nodding towards the lock. “sirius, you can handle this, right?”
Post by kasimir burovski ✨ on Jan 27, 2018 10:55:05 GMT
blue moon
you saw me standing alone
he is beginning to regret ever waking up this morning.
or, at the very least, beginning to regret his decision to decline maddox's offer in person. staring at the dark haired man's back with a sinking feeling of resignation, kasimir debates, briefly, simply leaving now - this situation is decidedly none of his business and going forth with the other two witches is likely going to lead to some less than legal actions ( case in point, entering the sewers ); he really, really does not wish to be embroiled in whatever this is - but.
but, he likes maddox in as much as he can like someone he barely knows, has.... various fond memories associated with him, and zephyr has begun to grow on him too - and he does not want to see them charge headfirst into potential danger without backup. thankfully, it seems at least the blond crafter possesses more sense than his friend, what with his decision to open a portal and all.
( in all honesty, he had already made his decision long before maddox had taken his first step towards the sewer entrance. )
"kirjava," he murmurs, running gentle fingers through her fur as she materialises in amber-eyed solemnity. "scout the premise? then stay with moosely." in lieu of a verbal answer, she twines her tail around his wrist in both reassurance and affection; a breath later and she slips away like a wraith in the misted morn.
kasimir, meanwhile, takes the rear of the trio as they step forth into the sewers; immediately, the world shrinks into the muffled confines of the dark tunnels, dark and damp and musty as the air sits heavy in a smothering blanket of stillness. only the weak beams of sunlight filtering down from the opening remind them that there is, indeed, more to the world than the disjointed reality of the sewers. he does not like this in the slightest.
keeping a cautious eye on their backs, he blinks, slightly startled, when maddox addresses him. "uh," he says, and looks at the lock. it is rusted, old, and would probably break if even a moderate amount of force is applied; it is also of the simplest models to pick. "yes," he replies, reaching into his shoes for the lockpick he perpetually hides there, and stepping up to the gate.
it creaks open less than a minute later. kasimir dips his head and drifts once more to the back of the group, unable to stop anxiously scanning their rear for potential threats.
[attr="class","gearcore"] Spock climbs down to reach into Zeph's messenger bag, then climbs back up to drape the retrieved gate over one of Moosely's antlers as delicately as one would ornament an evergreen. It seemed unlikely that the moose would be able to fit into the confined space of the sewers, so he might as well keep track of their quick escape route should things turn sour.
The monkey, true to her nature, shows no inclination of leaving the shoulder of her witch as the human trio heads towards the subterranean entrance.
"I mean, not every spell leaves a big mark on th' surroundin' mana, though, yeh?" Zeph notes at Maddox's concerns, "Coulda' just been a basic unjinxer. Or, y'know, enough brute force t' break the thing the old-fashioned way." Spock, her chin resting atop Zeph's head, nods in agreement and makes stabbing motions into his skull to help illustrate his point.
As they follow the sound of footfalls, Zeph makes sure to keep his voice down and his body motions silent in the hopes that their target wouldn't notice their pursuit. Sound had a habit of traveling in echoing caverns, after all. The crafter silently takes Sirius' place in the back while the assassin works on the lock, but the tunnels seem empty. Although a good sign for their current wellbeing, it was a bit boring. Spock lays her head down on his own with a quiet huff of impatience.
Zeph can only hope that the quiet creak of the door isn't enough to break the secrecy of their presence as they continue onward.
kirjava and moosely remain at the entrance to enforce their wariness into prepardness, and the gate chain follows them into the depths. yet somehow the atmosphere does not seem any more welcoming. instead the miasma of the sewers and the smell and the instinctive fear that no group fo acolytes and novices should be facing hangs thick about them, clings to their skin. [break][break] as they continue, they must worry about several things: firstly, the sewage flows from the middle in a wide-ish river while narrow, tilted passes on the sides enable slow and single-file movement. do they proceed close to eachother, on the same side? in addtion, there are no lights underground. the city likely does not care to fund the lighting of the sewers, assuming that whatever witch workings here is well equipped. the question is, are they? [break][break] regardless of how they progress, they eventually reach a junction where they have a small platform where the three can stand with a little more ease. they catch the edges of the mystery figure disappearing into the leftward path which is similar to the sewer-ridden narrow way they had previously been travelling through- much to their disgust, the figure seems to be comfortable walking waist-deep in sewage. [break][break] straight ahead, there is a dull light- which is highly suspicious considering that there shouldn't be any. why would a random section be left illuminated? [break][break] finally, to their right is a short path leading up to a platform...that, at least from this distance, seems to lead nowhere at all. [break][break] oh and... did kasimir burovski ✨ get enough sleep last night?
[attr="class","stafftempsubtext"]
thread-specific rules
potential for severe injury. not death enabled. warning- the generalized problems of walking in the sewers must be addressed or staff will assume characters are unequipped, which may lead to problems at a later date. [break][break] no thread-specific rules as of yet. you have 48 hours to post in reaction to this post. two missing rounds will result in an elimination from the thread. [break][break] maddox rothscus ✨Zephyr Hartkasimir burovski ✨
Post by maddox rothscus ✨ on Jan 30, 2018 11:53:00 GMT
“true,” he concedes, nodding at zephyr’s comments; between that and the increasingly pressing concern that was the state of the sewers, he finds his thoughts moving away from what the stranger might have done and more towards whether it is possible to somehow remove his sense of smell to spare him from this suffering. somehow, however, unease still hangs thick in the air, pressed thin against him like an unwelcome second skin.
he tugs at the collar of his shirt, drags it up just enough to cover the lower half of his face -- it helps, somewhat -- and trudges on. he is of half a mind to abandon the chase, but maddox has always been more stubbornness than sense; they’ve already come all the way here, after all. still, the further they proceed, the more maddox becomes aware that there some glaring inadequacies in his skill set as a witch.
for example: he can do many things, like cut off an opponent’s control of a spell, summon up a wall of wind, or use a blade that is near invisible. he cannot, however, light up the damned path. running before he can walk, as one would go. ( he is grateful, then, for being in the company of witches who have at least a smidge more common sense than he possesses. )
for the most part, he sticks close to the light sources, all the way up till the point where the singular path splits into three. their target heads left -- maddox notes, with a thinly veiled grimace, the stranger wading through the sewage -- but the path stretches on beyond and to the right, both routes tempting in their mystery.
in the end, he picks left, collecting a portal from zephyr with gratitude silent in a smile. “i’ll keep an eye on them,” he mouths silently, gesturing, wary of making more noise than necessary. he departs with a nod towards them both, ever glad that for the fact that these enchanted boots allow him to take a much dryer route.
[attr="class","itemsblock"]
[attr="class","itemstitle"]ITEMS USED.
[attr="class","itemsicon"]
[attr="class","itemssprite"] detection
[attr="class","itemssprite"] aquatic boots
[attr="class","itemssprite"] scroll name here
[attr="class","itemssprite"] scroll name here
[attr="class","itemssprite"] scroll name here
tl;dr follows closely behind zeph/kasi, but eventually takes the left path to pursue the stranger.
[attr="class","gearcore"] The further they delved into the city's underground, the less ambient light was able to reach them. The situation soon reached a point where the cover which the darkness provided them simply wasn't worth the cost of their vision. "Hold up, hold up..." he muttered as he went reaching into his bag again. Fixing potentially dangerous machinery in dark, confined spaces wasn't uncommon when employed as a train mechanic, so most of his bags and toolbelts were supplied with a light source which didn't drain his mana while he was working.
A beam of light as bright as rays of sun suddenly hits a nearby wall of the sewers. Its brightness could be attributed to the fact that it was, in fact, just sunlight from the surface (the roof of his apartment complex, to be exact) being filtered through a structurally rigid portal. The light's focus, thankfully, limits the amount of extra ambient light produced further down the tunnel. Only having two, he hands one to his brother, confident in his assumption that the fire-elementalist summoner could probably light his own path if needed. "Turns off n' on same 's a Gate," he notes.
While Mads made use of his fancy water-walking boots, Zeph stuck to the side of the sewers. He was wearing legs of a newer design, and they hadn't failed or faltered oh him yet. Though he could just blink through the sewers if he needed to, he wanted to avoid imprinting his magical signature all over the place if it could be helped.
The sight of the mysterious figure slipping away prompted the crafter to thrust additional gates onto his companions -- two each, linking each of the witches to each other if needed. They knew him well enough to need no explanation of how these worked.
He nods at Mads' decision, offering a quick "I'll check th' back," as he cocks his head towards the dark platform. He couldn't assume that the stranger was still unaware of their presence; the image of him hurrying away could have been some sort of diversion.
Using the light of his own portal linked to the surface (more scattered than the one he gave to Maddox by its original design), Zephyr illuminates the shadows of the foreboding tunnel. Though prepared as much as he'd ever be, he was hoping there'd be no dangerous surprises awaiting him.
Post by kasimir burovski ✨ on Feb 3, 2018 4:31:05 GMT
blue moon
you saw me standing alone
the air hangs heavy in the sewers. cloying. not merely the smell nor the confined space, but also a miasma of fear that brushes against his skin with seductive whispers, insubstantial fingers wrapping around his throat and pressing against the soft flutter of his pulse. the deeper they go, the stronger this breathless sensation grows; darkness drapes in inky folds over their eyes until they can barely see their own hands. kasimir is... honestly not particularly enthused about this entire endeavour, and especially since he had not the time earlier to prepare for this sort of environment.
thankfully, zephyr is prepared; a brilliant beam of light slices through the gathered gloom sharper than even the edge of his blade. as much as kasimir could easily call up fire for light, or cast an illumination - as much as he could, in fact, simply sweep through the sewers with far greater speed on luminous wings - he does not, for the reason he assumes is shared among all three of them: none of them likely wish to subject themselves to an inquiry from the council.
as the path diverges ahead, he notes with exasperation the three options of choice - they will be splitting up, presumably. it is a suspicion confirmed by the blond mechanic handing him two gates; he stores them securely if not entirely enthusiastically and turns towards the only option left to him - that of the suspiciously lit section of sewer ahead. kasimir does not bother with words - instead, he focuses on speed and stealth, as being the only one of the trio without a light to mark his presence ( and presumably being the only one actually trained in covert procedures - though, given the situations he tends to find himself in around maddox and zephyr, 'covert' is a word soon to be tossed out the nearest window ).
tl;dr: takes gates, goes towards the light, #timetodie notes: sorry for terrible post ( kasi never gets enough sleep rip, but tbh i think this time i explicitly mentioned earlier in the thread that he stayed up baking last night..... )
