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.
By all appearances, the trail leading north on Maddox's map of hidden places seems to end on some insignificant patch of the frozen wastes, too far from any landmarks to be easily found by wanderers or nosey investigators like yourselves. But, there must be some way to reach it, if it's involved in this underground experimentation ring like the map implies. [break][break] And you find it along the map-marked path beyond the city where it diverges from the rune-warded cart paths, in the form of a trail of weak magical beacons. These markers are invisible to normal senses but are perceivable with Maddox's magical detection permanent. [break][break] The trail will lead to an area cloaked by illusion, but the first challenge is going to be braving the Wargfrost and getting there.
[break][break]
[attr="class","stafftemptitle"] ooc notes
( prompt )maddox rothscus ✨, corvus kasparian, Siobhan Kasparian, welcome to Starfall's first prompted mission! You are granted full creative freedom here to discover and influence whatever you'd like, but staff will jump in occasionally with plot tidbits or twists. Staff won't post every "round" like in typical events, so no need to wait! [break][break] Enjoy, and happy adventuring!
[attr="class","junescroll"] it is a winding road that leads them north. a slow but steady snowfall obscures all but a chunk of road ahead of them, and the grey clouds that hang overhead threaten more to come. the wind howls its way through the trees that line the paths -- the paths which, though meant for carts, are ill-maintained and pockmarked with enough rocks to make any less-than-decent cart lose its wheels partway through. the paths which say: stay, you are safe within these boundaries. [break][break]
but, look --- no one's won anything by playing safe. he turns his gaze to the magical beacons, glowing ever so faintly, easily passed over if one didn't know where to look. "the trail goes this way," he nods towards the path, visible only to a purifer's eyes. "we'll be leaving the warded area, so keep an eye out for anything that comes our way." he doesn't make a habit of visiting the northern wilds, though he's lived in fairly close proximity to it for a while when he was younger. aeris had always made sure to keep him from venturing too far ; tales of beasts with teeth longer than one's forearm are rather daunting for a young child.[break][break]
there is that mildly concerned way that he looks briefly over at corvus, lips pressed into a thin line. he knows siobhan is an augmentor and can very much hold her own in a fight, but he's never actually seen corvus fight. oh, well. too late to do anything about it now. with a wave of his hand, he sends of a pair of drones up into the sky, and disperses them to the group's two and ten o'clock. not too far away, but decent enough to keep an eye on things, just in case something sneaks up on them.[break][break]
he steps over the threshold of the runes. the air is colder, somehow. "what's our move, here? run and gun, or be slow and sneaky?"
Its a terrible feeling being the ghost on the wall that’s always disappearing.
The air was a little chilly and she wasn’t a fan. The warmth from her familiar in her arms was helpful though... probably a byproduct of her elemental affinity. It felt kind of nice to have that kind of warmth with her when it was so cold up in this place. The road of their path was winding and rather annoying. She was a very direct person especially when it came to adventuring. Unlike her brother or a lot of their family actually she didn’t hide in the shadows or sneak. She came punching and clawing her way into power. Grab it by the throat and squeeze until everything is yours.
maddox rothscus ✨ starts explaining where they are and how they will be leaving the sort of protected area they had been using on the path. The area where the wards either outright stopped or were so weak they couldn’t stop a bee let alone a monster. Battle ready. Siobhan looked between her two older cousins as they walked.
"Madeline you should lead and Corvy get your butt in the middle." She said waving to the two boys her orders, which made sense of course. As the weakest member of the party Corvus would get eaten alive from the front or back. Maddox had the sharpest eyes and magic suited to tracking so he should be in front. As probably the physically strongest of the group thanks to her augmentation magic she’d be best to guard against a surprise rear attack.
Her cousin puts up his drones that hover near them. That’s good. They can watch the flanks since Corvus Sokka probably wouldn’t be the biggest help in a straight up fight. His illusions couldn’t do much Attack wise and his starcalling could use some work. Besides that his spell pool was limited compared to the other two.
What would be the best course of action? Her instincts said just beat your way through. They should do that. “You know I’m always a fan of punch first question with my best friend Detective Left Fist and his partner Detective Right Fist.” This was always her go to reaction. It would be a group vote though but she felt that the chances Madeline agreed with her approach to be not low. Time to fuck shit up.
[attr="class","s1lyrics1"]constellation of tears on your lashes
[attr="class","s1lyrics2"]burn everything you love then burn the ashes
[attr="class","s1write"]
[attr="class","s1scroll"]
It had become abundantly clear that this was not a happy, dog walk meant for familial bonding as well as getting Corvus and one very grumpy dog more acquainted. The weather grew colder and his excitement at seeing snow dulled significantly as they trekked through a dusting of it. He was mostly quiet, nervous on what exactly they were doing. He hadn’t really followed much. By the time they’d gotten so far away there was no turning back he’d gotten more information. Bits and pieces really but he understood the gist. Maddox wanted help with something important, dire even, and Siobhan and him were backup. [break][break]
Well, Siobhan mostly. He was convinced Maddox had simply brought him along because he’d been in the room at the time trying to play with Merle, who was busy sitting upright by the window, unmoving, eyes moving to glare at any sign of movement in the room. Alert as always, the wolf trudged next to him, staying somewhat close despite his reluctance to let Corvus baby him for the past couple of weeks. At least he knew to stay for the most part and didn’t run off the minute they’d stepped out into the wilds. He felt bad for Merle but he’d also spent all his money on him. If he’d known how bad it would’ve gotten though, he would’ve gotten him little booties for his paws and a nice sweater. Something to cover up that gem that seemed to glow faintly in the flicker of moonlight. [break][break]
He doesn’t like the idea of stepping off the path, and while his coven has somewhat of a reputation for off color things like this it wasn’t like he was very experienced in that type of thing. A permanent grimace squashed his usually happy features together. Was it a bad time to tell his cousins he was really bad at magic? “Ahm- I uh-” He stopped immediately at Siobhan piped up with her orders and not wanting to anger her this early into their adventure he moved behind his bigger cousin, Merle trailing at his side. “I…um…I’d rather avoid a real fight. My magic works better that way.” he said before piping up once more after giving it some thought. “I can hide us too!? I just…I can’t do anything about our tracks.” He couldn’t do much when his familiar was a giant bird and half his spells were flashy as all get out. Merle huffed lightly sniffing a bit at the path for something fresh. Hunting things down was his specialty after all. Corvus swore he saw the tentative flick of the beast’s tail. Philippe hummed in his witch’s mind reminding him, “I will appear as a last resort.”
[attr="class","junescroll"] at siobhan's suggestion, he diligently moves towards the front of the group. "you have a point," he remarks. "stay close, cor." the thought of siobhan at the back is, frankly, comforting -- despite her age, she is an augmentor of exceptional skill and strength, and he does truly trust her to watch their backs. for this mission, at least. no need to get into more abstract hypotheses.[break][break]
"love the idea, siobhan. i reckon they don't think we're coming anyway, so i'm all for just strolling right up." with a wave of his hand, his familiar appears --- moosely gives a shake of his head, raising a leg to prod at the snow experimentally, and gives a snort of apparent satisfaction. beyond the boundaries of any settlement, and well within the favoured territory of the moose, moosely is at his full height ; maddox barely reaches the familiar's chest. [break][break]
without further ado, moosely bounds ahead, carving a path through the deeper snow for the group. over his shoulder, maddox says, perhaps belatedly, "don't worry about hiding us too much." a pause, as he regards corvus' new pet with mild interest. "does merle smell anything?" while the beacons are likely undetectable for even a hellia, it is a hunting dog.[break][break]
there is movement, suddenly, at the corner of one of the interfaces. the drone spins to catch it, but it is already gone. "something at our 9 o'clock," he warns. "it moved too fast for the drone to get a good look."
Its a terrible feeling being the ghost on the wall that’s always disappearing.
“I don’t think you fighting anything Corvy is gonna happen much but I’m sure you can at least help distract or something with those fancy illusions of yours. Or fire. Always use more fire.” Well to be honest this was the best group for fire magic. Maddox being an Air mage and Siobhan also wielding fire it meant a three prong combo would be wickedly hot. Fire Nation who? Sozens comet what?
The dog is probably stronger in actual battle than it’s master. Maddox even asked if the creature smelled anything off. There was something her elders magic had picked up for a brief second. Some kind of creature perhaps? Or maybe it was a spyign spell put in place to alert for intruders? It could be sometimes familiar even scouting. Hard to know.
“Exactly. Plus it’s a small unit so they probably won’t take us very seriously at first. We can use that to our advantage.” It’s just three witches and a dog. Who would worry about them coming. They’d let their guard down so they could exploit that. Exploit the weakness of human nature to get what they desire. Destroy their enemy.
"Madeline, Corvus, Moosee Moose, let me know when you see it again. " She said as her small marsupial companion poofed into existence. The small creatures eyes burned with fire as his witch began concentrating mana into her hand. Within her palm one could see a small flaming Phoenix like creation. As long as she could lock onto it the magic, Dance of the Phoenix would chase down its target. Thank god for homing magic.
If and when the any of the group spotted the thing she would launch her fire magic at it until the flames got to their target. Hopefully they’d find out what it is then. That would be very helpful... of course if they happened to destroy whatever it was then hey whatever it’s all good. Ya know bro.
[attr="class","s1lyrics1"]constellation of tears on your lashes
[attr="class","s1lyrics2"]burn everything you love then burn the ashes
[attr="class","s1write"]
[attr="class","s1scroll"]
They wouldn’t stealthing this at all. He could already tell from how Siobhan seemed to light up. “I- I guess…” Most would be offended at being called weak, but for Corvus it’s unavoidable. He is the weakest link here, especially after trading much of his spell scrolls in exchange for one shadowy wolf. His magic was slow to act, and weak. He didn’t have fighting drilled in him like Madds or take a liking to it like Siobhan. That would change sure, but potential didn’t mean shit now. He watched Merle, who seemed more than in his element now. His tail flicked once more before the beast’s haunches spike up slightly. There’s the softest of growls and Merle can smell something. He deigned it to move too close and snarled to alert the boy. “Yup. Yup he did this when Goose came too close to him during lunch.” He said, trying to keep his voice low and level. [break][break]
As Siobhan readied her magic, Merle did as well, his own shadow suddenly snapping forward, extending before him zigzagging on the snow before attaching to something and lifting it up slightly into the air for target practice. The object writhed and thrashed, letting out something between a panicked yelp and a furious shriek. Merle seemed unimpressed, the shadowy tendrils working their way to crush the thing’s windpipe. “M-Merle I think that’s just a rabbit!” Corvus hissed. It looked small enough to be that anyway, but the wolf didn’t budge, holding the little creature in place as his cousin blasted it with fire. [break][break]
Merle dropped his magic feeling satisfied that whatever threat it had been, was no longer one now. Probably. Corvus saw the thing twitch, but it seemed in the process of a very painful death. “G-….good one guys.” He said congratulating the pair for their team effort. Merle huffed, curious but waiting for confirmation from Corvus to move forward, which he projected by staring up at the witch before looking back at the thing. He did it a couple of times before seeming to sigh. So many things to teach. Corvus, on the other hand moved to gently pat at Merle’s head. The wolf flinched but didn’t bat away as Corvus muttered an incantation. His hand seemed to glow only faintly with the image of Ursa Major before the magic passed onto Merle, melting into his long fur. “Don’t move too far.” The witch ushered before Merle trotted off to retrieve the thing for inspection. He seemed unbothered by the writhing once again. [break][break]
Merle gave it one last, savage ragdoll shake before dropping it off before Siobhan, who had landed the killing blow. “Your, uh, kill Sio…” Corvus started before Merle perked up once more, sniffing at the air again before growling once more. “More Merle? More rabbits-?” the sounds of something …laughing in the far distance only seemed to make Merle more aggressive. Corvus wasn’t having it. “Hey, I know we’re ok with a fight, but, uh, we’re avoiding it if we can right. You know, conserving energy and all that.” He asked ready to start moving again as Merle closed in to his side again.
The shadowy body of the rabbit lays still for only a moment before crumbling away into ash, scattered swiftly by the winds of the Wargfrost. If there was any doubt, you are now certain that wasn't a normal rabbit... [break][break] The thing about March Hares is there's rarely only one, especially in barren environments such as this where wraith nests can thrive without any hinderance. [break][break] Another dark blur zips past, cutting corvus kasparian across the cheek. Then there's two... then three... then enough that you begin to feel the slight, draining tug on your mana that's indicative of wraiths. [break][break] Not quite along the trail you're currently traveling, a dark speck in the distance marks the heart of the active nest, a pulsing tear in reality itself from which these monsters spawn.
[attr="class","junescroll"] he doesn't move to attack it --- instead, he only tracks the trajectory of siobhan's flames and the shadows that spring forth from the dog. moosely, like the witch, remains as still as a statue; the familiar's ear flicks towards the rabbit in vague interest, but the brief scuffle is over before either can be bothered to participate. "nice job," he drawls, but it is absent-minded; there's something odd about it all, but he can't quite-[break][break]
there. the rabbit crumbles into ash, just as dark streaks dart across the snow. recognition lights a spark in his eyes, sharp and flint-like. "wraiths," he growls out, sweeping his arm out to create a crackling slices of air that shriek towards the hares. a rough gesture waves their attention towards the speck in the distance, the nest settling as a suffocating presence on the periphery of his awareness. it sits slightly off-centre, he notes silently, they could probably skirt around it if they go fast.[break][break]
"we should book it," he suggests, gaze darting to the scarlet line high up on corvus' cheek. he doesn't doubt that him and siobhan could tackle a wraith nest with enough preparation, but with an unknown site to explore after, he doesn't quite fancy their odds. hastily, he pins the location in the mental map, and reaches into a pouch for a small statuette.[break][break]
in a breath, there is a horse where there was none earlier, shaking out a glossy mane with a snort and stamp of a hoof. he doesn't hesitate to leap on, fingers tangling in the mare's mane, bracing for balance while he leans to the side and fires off another shrieking gale of air at the hares. moosely thunders towards siobhan and corvus, skidding to a halt as his front knees fold under him. 'get on,' bellows the familiar, ready to leap up and bolt as soon as the two smaller witches are settled. 'run and gun, let's go!'
Its a terrible feeling being the ghost on the wall that’s always disappearing.
“Ugh of course. Wraiths.” She seemed annoyed at this prospect. Wraiths of this nature we’re not powerful but they were numerous. They were an annoyance. If they stuck to long range magic it was very likely the group could snuff out the nest. Of course it would cost much time and mana that they shouldn’t waste on their mission. The mission took priority, as much as she disliked it.
“Got it. Let’s get a move on Corvy.” She placed her hands together in a focusing gesture breathing in deeply as she gathered mana. With her eyes following a few of the stray wraith rabbits she exhaled the mana with flames exploding out of her mouth via call of the dragon. She swept her head to try and get as many as she could before the moose familiar came towards them. Maddox seemed fine with his wind magic so she instinctively moved closer to Corvus during the exchange.
“Sheila cover us.” The small girl hopped up onto the moose familiar, hopefully followed by the male witch near her. The small marsupial gave an audible grunt of annoyance like of course he was going to do that. The familiar used his creation magic to volley fireballs at anything that came to close to them.
"Forward March. " This annoyance was just the first step to finding out what was happening. The question was why this nest was here, was it by chance? Or was it purposefully created through this awful testing. Or was this location chosen because of the wraith nest as a deterrent? Maybe they could find out later. Or well... assuming they left anyone else alive that is. With this amount of wraiths present perhaps something had happened in the hidden lab.
[attr="class","s1lyrics1"]constellation of tears on your lashes
[attr="class","s1lyrics2"]burn everything you love then burn the ashes
[attr="class","s1write"]
[attr="class","s1scroll"]
Corvus’ eyebrows furrowed together unsure of what exactly had happened with the rabbit. An illusion maybe? He got his answer quickly enough as Maddox uttered “wraiths” and he felt the cool trickle of blood down his cheek. The hare had been too fast to see but as he pressed two fingers to his cheeks, he felt the stickiness of his own blood. Oh no. His vision began to fill up with more blurs zipping by and panic momentarily grips him tight before he’s relieved as his cousins decide to run instead of sticking around. Yes, please. He glanced at Siobhan before hoping on after her onto Moosely. Merle watched, occasionally barking a threat as tendrils shot out of his shadow and slapped a whizzing wraith back onto the snow. [break][break]
While his cousins shoot off the main firepower, Corvus does his best to offer support where he can. Mainly it’s clinging onto Moosely and Siobhan as tightly as he could while going through his mental Rolodex of limited magic to offer help. “Can wraiths see through Darkness?” he asked as he watched Siobhan spout fire at an onslaught of buzzing hares. Though his question is lost as he felt a jerk in motion and the group took off. Merle bolted, trailing after the party with ease, and occasionally shadow hopping closer to them when the bigger beasts took on too much of a lead. A tactic that sort of made Corvus understand how he could’ve been a good hunting dog. A good hunter in general.
