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 Apr 9, 2018 8:54:03 GMT
by a general rule of thumb, maddox rothscus is of the opinion that chaos not caused by his own hand or that of leviathan’s is the type of chaos that he should probably want to stop -- homicides, in particular, can be rather bad for business. so he has little qualms being hired to capture one inesa panagos, though her skills are reputedly terrifying ( and thus admirable ).
he’s familiar enough with his mission partner to figure that a fight should not pose too much of a problem. then again, his definition of a problem is skewed somewhat. the dragon fight? the fact that they passed out in the end isn’t as concerning as it ought to be -- i mean, no one died. he sets his expectations low.
finding inesa panagos, however, is just maybe, somewhat of a problem. with the help of some vague pointing and mildly varying eyewitness accounts, their hunt starts in the outskirts of the city; he picks his way through seemingly abandoned buildings in various states of overgrowth or decay. skirts around the crumbled remnant of an ivy-covered wall to cast a cursory glance down a narrow street, then ducks into an opposite building.
moosely takes even less well to any sort of snooping around -- his antlers peek out of a narrow door frame, and the crunch of hooves against gravel is painfully loud, but his senses are very much needed for this task.
‘i see movement,’ moosely informs him silently, ears flicking in the aforementioned direction. ‘not sure if it’s her. three buildings down, on your right.’
for a moment, maddox regrets never investing time into learning communication spells. he raises his hand instead, hopes his mission partner takes notice ( where did he go, anyway? ), and gestures in the direction pointed out.
Post by kasimir burovski ✨ on Apr 9, 2018 14:24:35 GMT
blue moon
you saw me standing alone
after the excitement of his past few missions, kasimir is almost relieved to find himself hunting with stealth and the subtlety of illusions rather than pulling fire and fury from the sky. the soft veil of a CLOAKING SCROLL drifts around his shoulders as he slips through the shadows, searching for footsteps, tracks, anything to mark the possible presence of inesa panagos. in the back of his mind, he can feel the thrum of kirjava's focus and her ferocious, instinct-deep enjoyment of a hunt; in his veins, he feels the echoes of her bloodlust like lightning and fire and a barely restrained storm. the stirring of ink-deep shadows ahead is the only sign of her passage.
maddox and moosely are perhaps... less suited to the clandestine nature of this mission, the familiar in particular. gravel crunches beneath his hooves almost visibly loud in the stillness of this deserted landscape, and the proud crown of his antlers are rather apparent to even the cursory searcher. still, he concedes to the necessity ( and finds a measure of amusement in the less-than-covert pair ) - and perhaps, should they be spotted, kasimir and kirjava will be overlooked then.
ducking into the cover offered by a wild tangle of ivy and crumbled wall, kasimir spots his partner gesture towards a derelict building at the same time kirjava's attention hones in on a target with knife-sharp intensity; she stalks forth, a silent wraith dressed in a regalia of tawny gold intent on hunting her prey. he, meanwhile, makes his way towards maddox with as little sound as he can muster, the crimson banner of his hair pulled back in a braid and hidden under a hood so as not to announce his presence to the world.
a flash of triumph from the other side of his familiar bond and his lips quirk up fractionally before smoothing back into mission-neutrality; kasimir slips quietly into the shadows next to his mission partner and murmurs in an all but inaudible voice, "she is hiding there yes. kirjava has seen her." minor pause. "plan?"
Post by maddox rothscus ✨ on Apr 10, 2018 2:23:36 GMT
it’s only the fact that he’s grown used to sirius by now that he doesn’t startle when his partner begins to speak, little more than a whisper at this point. how does someone alternate between something as flashy as summoning and fire, and stealth such as this? maddox surely can’t do it -- he’s always favoured a rather straightforward, one-gear way of solving any problem, and so far, it hasn’t caused him too much grief.
“flank her, and i’ll drive her towards you?” he suggests, voice low; he taps moosely lightly on the shoulder and dismisses the familiar for now, just so he can move more quietly. it’s nothing incredible, but a solitary human figure is nonetheless more inconspicuous than the hulking form of a giant moose.
he gives a generous berth, crouched low and ducking behind various outcroppings of broken wall and fence for cover. a second passes, then another. sirius is probably in position by now. he takes a deep breath, and-
moosely crashes into existence a split-second after, head raised high and dark eyes glaring; he calls up a wall of wind before him as he charges forth, slamming into the already rickety-looking door of the target building. tears it right off the frame with a screech of tortured metal hinges. maddox, hot on the heels of his familiar, vaulting over the scattered rubble, catches a glimpse of dark hair and a ferocious scowl -- inesa panagos snarls something in frustration over her shoulder.
there’s a glint of golden eyes and bone-bright fangs -- her familiar, he realises -- and an earth wall tears through the ground in front of him, effectively stopping both maddox and moosely in their tracks. ( moosely, in fact, skids to a halt a moment too late, slamming into the wall. it barely budges. )
“ah, shit.” hopefully she still thinks he’s working alone. hopefully he’s driven her in the right direction, and hopefully sirius has intercepted her. it’s a lot of wishful thinking.
he pulls himself onto moosely’s back and the pair clatter back onto the narrow road, scanning up and down for where sirius and inesa might have gone.
Post by kasimir burovski ✨ on Apr 10, 2018 13:05:28 GMT
blue moon
you saw me standing alone
"agreed," he says softly and melts back into the shadows to drift into position. though the sun is high and bright in the sky, the terrain of half-crumbled walls overgrown with ivy and desolate buildings streaked with dirt and grime make for a landscape rich in shelter; he tucks himself into a small alcove directly by where he expects panagos to run, and waits for his partner to arrive.
kirjava, too, stealthily moves to cut off the window route, just in case the witch might try to escape through there - they themselves have used such an exit far too many times to discount the possibility, after all.
it all happens in an instant: there is a clatter and roar of wind as moosely wrenches himself into materiality and proceeds to ram down the door, then a juddering impact as he collides head on with an earthen wall. too late, kasimir realises that panagos must have been aware of them - that, or has some of the fastest reflexes he has witnessed. kirjava is already moving, leaping for the criminal witch in a flash of tawny fur and bloodlust-bright eyes, but she only manages to score a shallow, glancing hit as panagos summons a furious blast of wind and sends her flying back. the ocelot is then summarily attacked by a flurry of claws and razor-sharp teeth as their target's wolverine familiar tries his damn hardest to tear her to shreds.
she manages to make him back off as fire ripples over her fur, but by then the attack has served its purpose: panagos leaps out the window and flees into the streets below, far from where kasimir lies in wait. "she's gone west!" kirjava roars to maddox and moosely, lashing out at the wolverine with a blast of fire, but he dematerialises before it can hit, and it splashes uselessly against the wall of earth. eyes aflame, the ocelot whirls around and flings herself out the window too, streaking after the witch in a blur of ink and gold.
kasimir, meanwhile, executes a rapid series of BLINKS that leaves him feeling disorientated at the end of it, but he has no other choice if he wants to close in on panagos with any amount of speed. yes, he technically has other spells that could be used, but flying would have made his presence far too obvious, and he would really, really prefer not to use archangelic grace unless he truly must. thus: blinking.
taking a deep breath to clear the last of the lingering dizziness, kasimir sprints through the sprawling mess of alleyways heading sharply left in an attempt to cut off panagos' route. unfortunately, their target has probably worked out that there are two witch-familiar pairs hunting her down, but hopefully kasimir's cloaking scroll will have prevented her from knowing his location.
Post by maddox rothscus ✨ on Apr 10, 2018 14:31:55 GMT
west, west. where is west? oh, that way. it takes a moment to reorient, to consider the best plan of action -- which is to say, forward, always forward -- and leap to it. there’s a flash of dark fabric in the corner of his vision as sirius blinks away.
it’s an interesting skill, he admits, but he’s never gotten around to learning it. it would have surely come in useful now, with the alleyways stretching tangled before him, a derelict urban jungle. he envisions the route in his mind’s eye, and abandons stealth altogether. not that it was ever in his favour. with some luck, he’ll make enough ruckus to draw her attention away from sirius. moosely bellows out a wordless challenge.
neither humans nor moose are meant for flight, but there are wings bursting into existence nonetheless, the air around them whipping into a form barely visible; it flares once, the wind howls, then the wings flatten against their forms and swallows the sound whole. this time, when moosely lunges into a full run down the alleyway, his hooves are oddly muffled against the gravel -- almost airborne, but not quite -- and he moves far faster than a creature his size ought to.
the wind whips past them as they turn corner after corner, skidding each time but missing crashes by a hair’s breadth. they’re gaining on her. maddox flattens himself against moosely’s neck to avoid a low-hanging sign of what might have previously been a pub; straightens up to see before him, a wolverine mid-pounce, claws outstretched and teeth bared.
“oh f-” his curse is lost in transmission. he balls up his fist and swings wildly -- misses, naturally -- summons up the axe on the backswing and feels it glance across the target. there’s a snarl that confirms it, the wolverine darting back in the direction of its witch before slipping out of his sight once more, moosely charging after.
Post by kasimir burovski ✨ on Apr 11, 2018 15:41:10 GMT
blue moon
you saw me standing alone
a wordless ( and slightly terrifying ) bellow from a belligerent moose echoes through the labyrinth of streets; kirjava's eyes glint at the sound, lips peeling back from a mouth of dagger-sharp fangs as a rumbling growl escapes her own throat. a flying leap over the small plateau panagos crafts in her wake with adrenaline grafting wings of wind-swift speed onto her feet, the slightly muffled clatter of hooves behind her behind her herald the presence of her partners even as they gain on their target.
she leaps for inesa panagos at the same time the wolverine whirls upon maddox with flashing claws; this time, she rakes four deep gashes across panagos' torso before the witch snarls in rage and slams the ocelot back with a spell. through their familiar bond, kasimir immediately feels pain bloom across his chest and left shoulder, though thankfully nothing is broken. in the next breath, panagos runs, maddox shouts, moosely charges, kirjava sends a ball of fire hurtling after the criminal witch - and then there is suddenly a veritable storm of boulders crashing towards the pursuers.
instinctively, the ocelot familiar decorporates herself to prevent from being flattened and mangled. kasimir spares a brief half-second to hope maddox and moosely are alright - and also, grudgingly, to admire their target's skill - before leaping down from the rooftop he'd used to get there and cutting panagos off in her tracks. a spell is already on his lips: starburst scroll, brilliant and dazzling and blinding to their target; the surprise flaring across her expression as he appears is really rather quite satisfying.
but again, panagos' reflexes are truly something to admire; barely a second to breathe and the vines and ivy and wild undergrowth reclaiming the abandoned landscape abruptly come to life, all with the goal of apparently binding him up and strangling him to death.
kasimir curses internally, a sword of fire springing to life in his hands and reducing the plants to ash with each swing. kirjava, too, rematerialises and begins burning the vines with extreme prejudice. but in a fight at this speed, of this intensity, even seconds of delay in enough to turn the tide; despite her injuries, panagos has fled again leaving behind the lovely gift of a fire atronach to further delay their progress.
"chase after her!" kasimir calls to maddox, blade alight in his grasp as he slices through the still-attacking ivy. his familiar barrels through a bush that is attempting to smother her with its leaves. "we will deal with this."
Post by maddox rothscus ✨ on Apr 12, 2018 13:30:07 GMT
he blinks, and suddenly his world narrows impossibly; there are boulders in the air where clearly, they should not be. funny thing, earth elementals. moosely pivots on his haunches, just as maddox raises his arm and conjures up a wall of wind. braces for impact. they shatter, scatter, he feels the impact jar the bones from his forearm to his shoulder and exhales a hiss of discomfort.
there’s little time to think. the wolverine who makes a comeback attack as inesa goes for sirius, rushing them and driving moosely back a begrudging step. the ground beneath them abruptly goes liquid; maddox mutters a curse as moosely strikes out with his forelegs, ill-tempered and roaring his distaste, wrestles and reverts mana back and forcing the earth back into its original solid form. swift and effective, though his execution has never been the cleanest.
it’s admirable, really, the way the witch and her familiar keep throwing themselves at their hunters, blood-tipped fingers and all. it’s not that anyone, at this point, is unhurt -- he can see the crimson stains and moosely can smell that familiar iron tang in the air -- but there is a remarkable tenacity with which the criminal governs herself.
( a criminal, he reminds himself. a target. stop admiring her, maddox. )
he turns to find the earth having turned against his partner, and for a moment, panic flashes through his eyes and there’s the singular thought of ‘help him’ shoots through his mind. then sirius yells out, tells him to chase after inesa again and so he wrenches his attention away and refocuses on the disappearing figure of inesa panagos.
the chase is short. the air before him coalesces into knife-sharp slices and rips through the distance between them; there are boulders flying through the air back at him in retaliation and he breaks the flow of the mana gracelessly; sends them skidding uselessly to the ground. some of them, at least. one glances off his cheek and draws a bloody line.
they reach the threshold of the forest. maddox sends the air slicing forward, attacks reckless and sweeping. sends verdant leaves flying, the winds howling. inesa ducks into the forest, spins just enough for him to see a triumphant, feral grin. and, just like that, she vanishes amongst sun-dappled undergrowth and gently waving vines. maddox and moosely skid to a halt at the edge of the forest, eyes wide as they peer into the forest; daylight seems to stop where it begins. the only hint of inesa having been there is an erratic trail of splattered scarlet.
Post by kasimir burovski ✨ on Apr 14, 2018 5:29:42 GMT
blue moon
you saw me standing alone
he feels right with a sword in hand and fire wrapped around his shoulders, embers trailing in his wake and flame braided into his hair. he feel right with the burning wrath of the sun roaring in his eyes and an inferno forged into steel singing a lethal song of destruction as it reduces the treacherous foliage to ash. he was born with fire in his blood and a blade to fit in his hands, crimson banners in the sky and conviction as fierce as a storm; kasimir whirls around, fighting the atronach's fire with fire of his own, blood pounding eyes flashing sword arcing through the air. kirjava watches his back with claws and teeth and flames; together, they make short work of the attacking vines and leaves.
the atronach, unfortunately, is not so easy to deal with, being a construct made entirely of fire. it is not dangerous to them, not really - the fire wrapped around them wreathing them in crimson overrides the incoming attacks - however neither of them have a spell capable of stopping it somehow. thus, they are reduced to halting its advance, distracting it and preventing it from following after their mission partners until panagos releases the spell.
'go on ahead,' his familiar tells him as she streaks past, bloodlust singing in her veins. 'i can deal with this.' a brief brush of reassurance-confidence-love and kasimir nods; he spins on his heel, sword vanishing from hand, and blinks away in a swirl of hazy smoke.
he catches up to maddox right on the edge of the forest, staring into the fathomless depths of its maw. everything is silent. still. with adrenaline still soaring in his veins and his heart beating a frantic rhythm in his ears and kirjava's fightsong echoing in the back of his mind, it all seems... wrong. kasimir lets out a long, soft breath. "she escaped in?" he murmurs, knowing full well the answer.
a flicker of triumph-annoyance-disappointment and his familiar materialises at his side a second later, her opponent having vanished as the spell holding it thus was released. she eyes the treeline with distaste, and flicks her tail in impatience. "are we going in?" she demands, glaring at them with golden-bright eyes. eagerness to resume her hunt thrums through her entire body. "we are fire and wind and the unravelling of spells. the forest holds no fear for us."
Post by maddox rothscus ✨ on Apr 14, 2018 7:09:06 GMT
he bears forests no particular affection, if he is to be perfectly honest. this is likely the third time he’s gone into one as of late, and the previous two times have been nothing short of eventful -- the first, involving mystery villages and unplanned spelunking; the second, involving enough monsters to last a lifetime and a dragon to boot. both times having the uncomfortable consequences of plentiful injuries, though he’s plenty used to such occupational hazards by now.
moosely takes a step forward, ignoring the alarm that spikes through their familiar bond as leaves crunch underfoot. his ears flick back and forth, head raised proud and defiant as he tries to filter through the various scents of the forest -- fails, maddox realises, when the moose turns back with an annoyed snort.
‘i can’t track her from here,’ the familiar declares, voice little more than a growl; he glares at maddox with frustration and bloodlust in dark eyes. moosely stomps a foot, decisive. it’s a motion that threatens, almost, to go charging in by himself. ‘i agree with kirjava. we go in. we can take her.’ he is restless for the hunt, prey animal shape be damned. the leaves around his hooves swirl into a lazy flurry of dark greens and browns, but he's not moving yet.
“she just outran us in a city chase,” maddox points out, glancing sideways at sirius, an eyebrow quirked above the other. “and now she’s in the forest. i’d say she has some sort of home turf advantage right now.” it's not that he's unaccustomed to manhunts such as these -- aeris has him running errands like these all the time -- but for the most part, his quarry is rarely half as powerful.
“we might want to stay closer together for this one,” he suggests, fingers drumming impatiently on the side of his leg. “don’t want to risk her picking us off one by one. not sure how we could find her, though.”
“i could try to smoke her out. metaphorically speaking. she needs air to breathe, as far as i'm aware.” he gestures vaguely at his partner, inviting him to speak. “if you want to do something else, i'll follow your lead.”
Post by kasimir burovski ✨ on Apr 19, 2018 15:23:42 GMT
blue moon
you saw me standing alone
kirjava bares her teeth in savage agreement with moosely, eyes bright with the call of the hunt. "i smell her blood," she declares, padding forwards a few steps before stopping where the open meets the trees. her ears flick back and forth, claws digging into the ground; restlessness itches beneath her skin as her predatory instincts beckon forth and she huffs, turning towards them with an expression both unimpressed and exasperated. "what purpose does loitering serve?" she demands, glaring still. "all we are doing is providing time for her to flee."
such is the impatience spilling across their familiar bond that kasimir finds himself shifting towards her, an undertone of concern and a quiet plea to yet stay, to first plan, pulsing back along their link. "wait-" he begins, only to fall silent when his mission partner speaks. he inclines his head in agreement at maddox's sideways glance, the corners of his lips curling down minutely at the thought of battling their target in the heart of her domain.
not that he has not faced worse odds, but it is always preferable to minimise risks and for a mission to go smoothly - though, it is beginning to seem like missions undertaken with maddox are anything but so.
"agreed," he says in regards to staying together. kirjava shifts in a slight show of displeasure, but reluctantly concedes to the logic. meanwhile, kasimir lets his thoughts run through a few rapid scenarios and plans before he descends back into reality with a hesitant suggestion on his tongue. "i could create an illusionary clone of myself to enter the forest with you, while i provide aerial support from the sky," he offers. "or... i could illusion you to look like me, and moosely to look like you. or i could spell us with a cloaking scroll so that panagos cannot sense our position." a pause. "or some combination of them."
Post by maddox rothscus ✨ on Apr 20, 2018 14:13:40 GMT
there’s a bloodlust that runs in their familiars – a mantra that thrums and beats with their heart and sings a hunt-song strong and steady – that makes maddox momentarily consider letting himself be pulled along with whatever plan of pursuit they should choose. alas, logic wins out, as it often does at the start of any expedition, when one has yet to deal with the weariness that later brings recklessness.
( such a rule has never existed for moosely. on the bright side, it gives maddox someone to blame when things do go awry. broke a rib because you rushed into a situation unprepared! no problem, blame the moose! )
he continues staring into the forest in the brief silence that follows as sirius contemplates a plan of his own. wonders, idly, danger is particularly fond of sirius or himself, or the combination of the two: oddly enough, the missions he undertakes in the company of this particular assassin always seem to be infinitely more dangerous than his regular deal. or perhaps it was how the frequency of their meetings coincided with a rise through coven ranks. or perhaps one led to the other-
‘pay attention,’ moosely says, silent to the world outside, though it does little to hide a sour tone.
“the clone or the cloaking,” he ends up saying, frowning slightly. “but not both, definitely. i have a feeling she’ll find us anyway, sooner or later.”
a quiet whisper of wind and an axe coalesces out of thin air; he hefts it up and rests it on his shoulder. grins cheerfully. “besides, i’m always amenable to playing bait.”
Post by kasimir burovski ✨ on Apr 20, 2018 15:15:39 GMT
blue moon
you saw me standing alone
there is a small lull as his mission partner considers the options kasimir has presented, a gossamer stretch of time wherein kirjava barely manages to resist the restless urge to pace back and forth. her tail expresses what she restrains herself from voicing; it swishes back and forth in a rhythm of quiet irritation while she pins a sun-gold glare onto both witches. he sends a softly amused 'patience' along their bond and suppresses a small smile at the grumpy grumble she sends back, but the serious nature of their mission hangs ever so heavy over their heads.
neither kasimir nor kirjava can forget that inesa panagos, their target, their prey, for all her admirable cunning and reflexes and skill, is a criminal who has murdered six people. one of which was a child. a child of the hovel, no less - and really, kasimir understands exactly why his familiar is so eager to hunt panagos down. if not for the strongly encouraged limitation of capturing her alive, their previous clashes might have gone quite differently.
( in all honesty, he is a little unsure how much longer kirjava will be able to restrain herself if they do not manage to capture panagos soon; if the worst comes to be, he hopes maddox and moosely might be willing to take their side. )
his mission partner breaks the fragile quiet with his decision; he nods, once. "a clone, then." a small gesture and there is suddenly a duplicate of himself standing by his familiar's side. it fixes maddox with an exasperated look even as kasimir replies in a matching tone, "perhaps so, but please do be careful."
"can we go now?" kirjava speaks up, evidently having grown impatient of their delaying. "you know, before panagos manages to flee to a different country altogether."
Post by maddox rothscus ✨ on Apr 21, 2018 8:50:29 GMT
he eyes the clone that steps out of thin air -- it’s a perfect copy, of course, right down to the exasperated look that he has grown used to -- and waves away the concern. “i’m always careful,” he says, knowing very well that this is a lie and that sirius knows that too. moosely, swinging his great head around and narrowly avoiding knocking maddox over with his antlers, snorts in derision. and impatience, really.
the moose huffs out a breath, turns his gaze to the forest ( still silent, still strange, still dark ) and steps forward without warning. the crunch of leaves underfoot is deafening; maddox shoots the familiar a look somewhere between annoyed and aghast; there is no response, so moosely flicks his tail and trudges on.
“oh, for f-” regardless, he follows on behind, only a touch more cautious than his familiar. the axe is lowered, ready by his side. if panagos knows they are there -- and she does, probably, because the forest is to an experienced plantshaper what a web is to a spider -- she gives no indication. instead, the pair only continue in silence, the only sound that of their passage through the undergrowth.
he casts his senses about him, lets his vision blur momentarily as detection kicks into action. immediately, the forest is alive, every other patch of tree trunk or clump of ferns bearing the traces of mana manipulation. it’s overwhelming, almost, and he has to rest his hand on moosely’s withers to keep him moving steadily forward. clearly, this forest was a favourite of panagos’. even if she wasn’t immediately in the vicinity, she had certainly made her mark.
it comes without warning, and it is the detection spell that offers him the split second he needs to half-dodge, half-stumble past a vine that lashes out like a snake; it rears up again after the missed strike, and as it does, the path behind him rolls and heaves and he spies previously innocuous creeper tendrils stirring where they lay. it is untamed and raw and-
( he raises a hand and plants his feet and lets a spell spark past his fingertips and through to the verdant wild )
-and it is silent once more.
it is but a single trap disarmed, he knows this now, because when he looks once more into the forest it is dark and the path ahead is steeped in shadow. every corner is an opportunity for her to strike, and maybe next time, he won’t be so lucky. he looks upwards instead, where he thinks sirius might be. wonders if he sees anything of note. tightens his grip on the axe and carries on.
Post by kasimir burovski ✨ on Apr 22, 2018 15:16:24 GMT
blue moon
you saw me standing alone
he shoots his mission partner a disbelieving look at the reply but says nothing - all four of them present are well aware of the untruth of the statement, not in the least maddox himself. instead, he switches his gaze to kirjava and they share a long-suffering moment, a silent agreement to look out for the witch - regardless of the fact that he can look after himself perfectly well.
the sound of leaves crunching beneath moosely's hooves echoes in the still silence of the forest, bringing a touch of reality to the unfathomable space in one of the more obnoxious ways possible. kasimir and his familiar exchange another exasperated glance. "let's go, then," kirjava says sarcastically before she bounds ahead as well, entering the weave of trees with barely a whisper, shadows sliding across her mottled fur as she begins her hunt with eyes gleaming gold. his clone, too, follows.
kasimir, meanwhile, takes a step back and then lets luminous wings burst from his back, flaring out the appendages and catching the sky between his feathers. he soars high above the tallest treetop, mirroring kirjava's trail from the heavens while she navigates the earth; at any given moment, he is ready to switch with her or swoop to her side or call a storm of fire from the sky.
but it does not prove to be necessary yet: the forest remains silent.
uncannily so.
neither of them have any doubt that panagos is controlling aspects of the forest - perhaps all of it, even; novice to adept strength is hardly insignificant - and the lack of attacks increase the tension every passing second. the criminal's scent trail is still clear to kirjava, but only half her focus is on tracking. the other half is warily scanning her surroundings, golden eyes lingering in each pool of shadows, each innocuous vine, each rustling bush. her fur prickles against her spine.
and then, suddenly: vines.
vines like a writhing wave of wild and untamed green lash out at them from behind, the entire ground seemingly coming alive with the intent to strange them. she whirls around, teeth bared in a snarl; fire flickers to life as she slashes with her claws ( and savage satisfaction courses through her veins when she hits and reduces them to ash ), but a second later and maddox's spell leeches the life out of the attacking foliage until the forest once again stands silent.
the entire skirmish takes less than twenty seconds. kirjava scowls, feeling rather less pleased than she should be that there are no more targets to sharpen her claws against. "i should just burn the whole thing down. would be much safer," she grumbles, but ( reluctantly ) does nothing of the sort. instead, she sniffs the air again and adjusts their path, glaring into the darkness ahead. "this way."
Post by maddox rothscus ✨ on Apr 23, 2018 4:37:03 GMT
he eyes the licks of flame that slowly recede from the ocelot's claws, lips curling into a grin. "that's not very environmentally friendly, i would think," he says. it would be safer, probably, but while the other witch and his familiar were blessedly flame-resistant, maddox and moosely were, unfortunately, not. ( not that such a fact had stopped them from doing certain reckless fire-related things in the past. )
kirjava leads them onwards, and despite moosely tossing his head in protest and grumbling under his breath, the moose follows closely behind, picking through the undergrowth with ease. technically speaking, he was in his element in the forest, woodland beast and all. technically. the knowledge did not comfort maddox in the least. in fact, he pushes the boundaries of the detection spell even more, feeling the pressure build at the back of his head, a headache slow in the making. a headache was, however, a problem more easily dealt with than being torn apart by magically animated trees.
they carry on in silence for a while more, before maddox calls out softly, "i think there might be something up ahead." he feels its presence more so than he sees anything out of place, and try as he might, the forest simply looks remarkably forest-like. trees, trees, and more trees. as a forest ought to look. he slows moosely to a halt, frowning slightly as he peers into the darkness ahead. "do you see anything?"