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.
Desmond had always had exceptionally poor relationships with other seers. They rarely saw eye to eye, with Desmond considering it rude to peer into others' private lives without reason, and most other seers considering such an act pitifully insignificant compared to the amoral jobs which Desmond did for Silvertongue's patrons.
But he had never thought that he was better than them. He had never thought that he was a good example of moral rightness.
"Your tongue seems to speak your mind freely enough. I'm sure it's capable of asking questions before your eyes need to peel back someone’s soul,” Desmond growls.
Charani’s gaze of defiance is met by the older seer’s stubborn discontent, each inflexible and unmoving. But there is only so much effort Desmond is willing to put into a fight with a teenager. His body shifts with a slow deliberateness, turning away from their little face-off. ”We should go,” he says coldly. And then, their eye contact is broken.
”You can leave if you want,” he adds, now walking further down the alleyway, ”I can do this on my own, and would understand if you don’t find me trustworthy to work with.”
"People lie." The voice of someone who has been lied too. The voice of someone who obviously doesn't trust the older male. To be entirely honest he didn't trust that many people completely. There was Master Claire, Aiden and a handful of other people but that was it. That didn't matter right now though. Nothing mattered really but that wasn't the point. Like usual he was all over the place emotionally.
The man was saying they should go. He couldn't agree more... the faster this mission was over with the better. On the plus side they both knew where things stood at this point and possibly the man would stop treating Charani like the fragile child he assumed the boy was. Or maybe this would make him double down on it as he saw a stubborn child with no concept on boundaries? Hard to say.
"Let's just finish this" he said in a calm tone. There was an edge to his words but even he wasn't quite sure what it was. Anger? Annoyance? Sadness? All these emotions tended to blend together with that kind of empty feeling inside of him as he slowly lost hope with dream after dream after dream. Vision after vision of things that were the same but different. Different scenes but the same result.
They walked along the alley making their way towards the bad guys. They were not to far by the look of the canine familiar looking up from his face being planted firmly to the ground. Hopefully that meant this would be over quickly so he could leave this man. He could leave everything. Right now he just wanted to curl up in bed with Percy's sweater and sleep for a couple days or so. You know normal healthy things.
"And divination twists the truth," Desmond remarks -- calmer now, but still with an underlying frustration in his tone. Of course the Silvertongue had also been lied to before; deception was the fist language of his coven. But the altered details of events observed with his abilities -- sometimes understated, sometimes metaphorical, and sometimes denied to his eyes entirely -- always felt like such a more cutting betrayal than any human tongue could hope to achieve.
But he would not get on a soapbox and rant about his grievances with his own affinity. That was for himself to deal with, and, perhaps (if the boy was unlucky), for the Knight to learn with his own experience.
The older seer hums in neutral agreement at Charani's suggestion that they finish this. A clear conclusion and point of departure for the both of them would be ideal. And so, he walks, following Teddy once the canine familiar again begins to lead them along the scent trail. From time to time, the trio would get a glimpse of a long, multi-jointed leg tap tap tapping across the rooftops as Grendel tracked the scents from above, but the oversized arachnid stayed out of sight for the most part.
And then, at some point, the tapping (and the scent trail) stops.
The end of the line is at the corner of an alley's intersection, in front of a run down townhouse which seemed to fit right in with the rest of the architecture in this markedly less affluent subsection of the city. There only seemed to be one entrance on this level, and Desmond saw no reason to go through one of the windows when Grendel could easily just poke a leg trough to smoke out their targets. Considering they didn't yet have a reason to break out in a fight, the motives of the thefts still unknown, Desmond did the next most reasonable thing: he knocked.
[attr="class,"oocarea"]Charani Petrov it only took me... a full page & multiple months to get a proper template ;>> scrolls/items used: guide (bas)
[attr="class","descredits"]code by iceguin // icon art by pie
"It's still better than being lied too." Divination worked in symbols and metaphors of course. He knew that. Of course that wasn't necessarily true when dealing with foresight as visions tended to be much more literal. Of course all of this was possibilities... potential futures that could happen as nothing was set in stone when it came to the future. This was very true when seers were in the mix as their actions with foreknowledge drastically alter events.
From time to time, the trio would get a glimpse of Grendel as the creature also the scents from above, but this was not very often as Charani wasn't specifically looking for the creature with his eyes. It didn't take long before the creatures both stopped. There was a dead end with the trail that lead to a door. A door that must hold what belongs to someone else. This must be the destination of this path. This possible future.
The other male knocked on the door. He could hear rustling inside so there was for sure someone inside. They wouldn't answer though. He was fairly certain they wouldn't answer at the very least. Why would they? He just wants to go home and hopefully not have a nightmare. He was tired... so very tired.
"I... don't think they'll answer" he said in a calm tone. This man had just knocked on a possible criminal organization's front? Was he... stupid? If the criminals were smart they wouldn't answer. If they were smart they'd escape. He wasn't sure how they would react to a small boy with his dog and an older man. Maybe they'd assume it was a dad and his son looking to buy? Maybe they'd not be as reluctant given his age? All he knew was that this was not how he expected things to be.
"Perhaps for some," Desmond says, his tone indicating that he had no intention to elaborate. In three words, he surrendered the point that Charani's opinion may ring true for certain personalities, but held fast to his idea that it was not true for all. It was not true for himself, at the very least.
His knock upon the door is met with the sound of movement, but no verbal reply. "That's not unlikely," the older seer admits. The solutions to his missions were rarely so straightforward, but he couldn't help but hope. Placing a hand on the doorframe, Desmond's body becomes still and silent, as if in a trance. His consciousness, however, was being projected through the door. Though there was no illumination from within the household, the lights of the city filtering through was just enough to use to see. No one appeared to be home, but he's sure the sound he'd heard earlier wasn't imagined. He quickly drifts to the second floor and finds a collection of vials sitting plainly on a table, their contents appearing strikingly similar to the medicine they were searching for. A small, dark figure darts across the floor, scampering from the currently observed room to another. Soon after he's met with golden, glowing eyes.
Ah.
"It's just a cat," Desmond mutters as he returns to his physical body. With a quick water dragon bullet shot at the locking mechanism which he was able to glimpse at during his astral projection, he soon afterwards has the front door opened and the dreary insides of the building exposed.
There was the sound of movement upon the older man knocking on the door. Someone or something was for sure there but who or what was it? The other man stilled for what had to be minutes. Was he using some kind of detection magic maybe? Or astral projection? He couldn't tell at all to be totally honest. Though by the end of it he said it was a cat.
"A cat or a cat familiar?" he said with a hint of curiosity in his voice. If whoever was there had left or cloaked themselves it could stand to reason if they were a powerful enough witch they'd leave their familiar around to guard the place. This would be very easy if they had a familiar like Teddy who could pass as a pet instead of something strange like a deer or something like that.
The other male unlocked the door using magic. He couldn't see what the other man was doing given how he purposefully gave himself a breadth of space between the two btu sure enough the door was open. The inside looked drab and dreery to be totally honest. It was like the start of some lame indie horror film with like hillbilly people instead of anything supernatural.
The small canine familiar seemed to take point as the dog tried to worm his way around the older witches legs and go inside. Charani would no doubt follow. Maybe there was some kind of illusion or trap magic afoot though? Can't be to careful. His eye color shifted from green to a silvery grey color as he used his purification magic to try and see if anything was altered with the mana in this space. Thank god for purification magic. What would he see?
"That's a question we'll have to answer in person." It was a valid question, to be sure -- Desmond simply didn't want to waste minutes of their time consulting a scrying pool for the answer when, in the end, they'd need to enter the building regardless.
Desmond steps to the side to make it easier for the canine familiar to enter the building, then cautiously takes the stairs to the place where he had spotted the medicine vials in his astral form. No traps ensnared him, and no enemies attacked him. It made sense, he supposed... using unlicensed magic to create such a malicious and dangerous trap would have likely gotten noticed up by the legal authorities of such a sophisticated city. That is... unless they knew some fairly advanced magic. But then, someone that advanced wouldn't have needed to resort to stealing cat medicine, would they?
"... This isn't all of the medicine," the older seer says out loud. Multiple shipments had been stolen, but the contents of the table were a mere fraction of the full stash. Perhaps it'd already been sold or used as a component for a more profitable potion? He glances around for the cat he'd seen just a few moments ago, but his meager search returns fruitless.
Charani, however, would be able to see the truth of the matter. The side of the staircase glows with magical energy, illisioned to hide the seams of the secret doorway. Using magic to conceal personal valuables was entirely legal and didn't trigger any of the large-scale enhancements covering the city. There was a possibility, though, that this newly-discovered hidden room of the house held tools and substances of less-than-legal activities.
He was correct. They'd have to enter the place sooner or later so no sense wasting time. The canine familiar spent his time sniffing around the place taking in all the scents. There were at least two distinct smells of witch. That meant there was more than one person who spent their time here which... to be honest wasn't that surprising. It took more than one person to run even a small operation.
"Found something," he shouted up the stairs as he could see the glow of mana manipulation on the side of the stairs. Illusion magic or spatial magic more than likely. Illusion magic would be easier to maintain especially for lower ranking witches. He should just dispel it so they could see what was going on.
The male collected mana into his palm and with a wave of his hand forced his mana into the glowing space he was staring at. He could see his mana easily overpowering that of the illusion spell that was cast upon the stairs. Whoever this was... didn't seem to be exceptionally powerful or did this spell in a hurry. Or maybe both? It was not something he could tell.
The illusion faded away like smoke and revealed a door under a space in the stairs that hadn't been there before. He stared at the door with his detection spell to make sure there was no trap magic on the door that could cause a problem. As far as he could see the door itself just seemed to be a hidden door and nothing more. The young man made his way towards the door not bothering to wait for the older seer. With a quick motion he turned the nob to open the door.
Desmond gathers the medicine vials together and quickly checks to ensure that their lids are firmly secured before binding them together in a water web sac. This was the bare minimum they needed to return to the veterinary clinic, so he had no desire to let it leave his sight while he searched for the rest.
"I'll be right down," Desmond replies as the Knight announces they've found something else of interest. Their tone wasn't concerned, so Desmond didn't rush. First, he carries the sac over to the window and lifts it outside. "Do not break these, Grendel," he warns as two of the spider's spindly legs reach down from the roof and delicately lift up the bundle of vials. The spider merely offers a nervous, but understanding hum as it holds the vials close.
The witch then descends to the now-opened secret door which Charani discovered, in truth not fully prepared for what was inside.
The secret room looks like an alchemist's lab, with vials of chemicals and pots of herbs scattered around the shelves and tables. One of the walls was lined with sickly cats in cages -- many of whom appeared too weak to move. Desmond, not knowing enough about alchemy nor feline sicknesses, couldn't be sure if this was an attempt to concoct a more effective treatment or if it was something more sinister. "Good find..." he admits in a hushed tone, eyes drifting over to a cabinet of vials which resembled the substance they'd been hired to retrieve, while his mind mulls over what to do about these cats.
"Flames. That's what will happen to this place. They'll engulf everything." That's what will happen he is sure of it. Whoever is behind this will more than likely torch the place to get rid of all the evidence. They'll probably kill all the animals as well. Burn any papers and probably this house to the ground so nothing is left but ash. You can't find what no longer exists after all.
They should probably get the police or some sort of animal control team to get these animals. They were obviously to sick to move alone. There was just the two of them so there was no way to carry out all of these sick animals. Not to mention they had no clue what they were sick with. It could easily be someone experimenting with a bioweapon.
There was creaking that could be slightly heard like someone was moving. There was someone here. There had to be someone here. Maybe another illusion? Or something else. Given the illusion spell on the door to this place it wasn't out of the realm of possibility that there was someone here with illusion magic that could hide themselves.
"We should contact animal control." They couldn't just lift these poor creatures up. They might not survive the change of environment. There was more creaking to their left. The floorboards were crying. Everything was crying. The cats were fussing and making noise. Charani lifted his right arm upwards in a quick motion. It is like a shockwave. Purifying Blast 2 was usually like that... more concussive force than actual purification. Some things would probably shatter and be pushed back. Maybe even a person? That was the inkling he had. Then again he was tired and had no idea. His brain could be playing tricks again.
It wasn't difficult to imagine this place being burned to the ground to cover up the alchemist's tracks. It was a simple, but effective method which he himself had utilized on some rare occasions. It drew a lot of attention, though, and wasn't terribly practical if there were no subtle escape routes or illusionists involved.
"Only everything that's left," he replies, turning from the caged cats and picking up one of the potion vials to get a closer look. For being a laboratory, there sure weren't many labels in here. This being the case, there was likely only one alchemist involved.
Between the sounds of the cats and the other seer in the room, Desmond couldn't be sure if he'd just heard another's footfall. Though, with the secret door hidden behind an illusion, it wouldn't be unreasonable to suspect an invisibility spell at work.
Desmond closes his eyes and exhales as the younger seer suggests calling animal control. When he opens them again, Charani's hand is outstretched from a cast spell, potions are shattering, another human body flickers into view as it falls backwards. But also, at the same time, Charani is standing still and the room remains in perfect order; they are the only two humans in the room who can be seen. "Agreed," he replies to the purifier, but his eyes and attention are trained on the space where there is both one person and none.
When Charani's arm reaches forward (again, as if reality itself was being replayed) the older seer's staff has already begun to materialize in his hand. The moment the illusionist flickers into view and hits the ground, Desmond is already pressing the edge of the war scythe's blade against their neck. The stranger looked as if they were about to shout or curse at being suddenly blasted to the ground, but their voice caught against the blade and left their lips as little more than a strangled whimper.
"I would also like to talk to the alchemist of this establishment..." Desmond adds, gaze darting down to the witch at his feet, "Do you happen to know where they are?"
"We should probably call them outside once we are done here." They could get a better signal probably from outside of this mana filled area. There was no telling if they could get anything to work in here with how much trouble the person who set this up took to conceal their research. Maybe some disrupting magic to block signals or calls for help? Soundproofing spells to hide the animals cries for help? There could be any assortment of enchantments on this place.
His purification spell hit its mark. He could see it only for an instant but someone flashed into view... their spell momentarily broken as they fell onto their butt. Just as quickly the older man was on them like he had done this a thousand times. It was almost inhuman his reaction speed. It was actually kind of cool if you think about it.
The man has a bladed weapon. Maybe a staff or spear? He couldn't really tell he wasn't really that big on either weapon. He was more of a fan of knives to be totally honest though of course he did have a wand for battle. He didn't use it much though but usually at least had it on his person. You know just in case he needed it. He rarely needed it.
"It would be very helpful to us if you cooperated." The young man knelt down into a crouch and smiled a big... fake smile that was honestly kind of unnerving. The man was in a cold sweat trying not to play it off like he had been caught red handed when he clearly had. He was stumbling in his words and seemed to be afraid for his life.
'I... i... im just... i just owe them... please don't kill me they just needed me to do some experiments I didn't... uhhh... please let me go...' A local gang was using his gambling debts to get him to create a synthetic version of the medicine he stole. The group would then use the shortage to release the drug for much more money and bleed people dry to try and monopolize the business in this area of the city. It was kind of a stupid plan.
Though Desmond's opinion of his mission partner had been darkened by the fact that the young man was a seer, at the very least he was glad to see that the Knight didn't seem to have any issue with essentially threatening this stranger at knife-point in the stranger's own home.
"You're also the alchemist? How talented... I'd like these people's names, and anything physical you've received from them," Desmond says, making no promises about whether killing was still an option on the table or not, "And... the location of the rest of the medicine." Though his weight shifts, the tip of his weapon merely pivots and does not waver from the middle of the stranger's neck.
The suspect looked ghostly pale, and now even more nervous than just moments ago. "W-what's left was... was upstairs o-on the table and... top shelf--" he says as he makes a hesitant motion towards a cabinet with one of his hands, "Th-the rest was all used-- I-- I swear I'm not lying! That's all I have... thats a-all..."
Desmond supposed it made sense that some of the medicine would have had to been split into its component parts to investigate its composition, or given to the cats to compare its results to cats treated with the new substance. Even so, he intended to look around more thoroughly later. "Do you want to take a look, and then flag down a pigeon outside to send a message to animal control?" he asks the yonger seer.
"I'm fine with that mister." The rest of the medicine was exactly where he said it was. There wasnt that much left but it was better than nothing. Looking in the trash one could see empty bottles of medicine. Not even recycled. What a monster.
His eyes lingered on the older man for just a moment. Filled with a genuine lack of emotion for just a brief moment. He just wanted to go home. Go home and have another nightmare. Little did he know his problem would be fixed in just a few short months thanks to a certain redhaired boy.
It didnt take him long to get a carrier pigeon out to animal control. They would probably be here pretty soon. This place wasnt very far from them after all... probably a strategic location so they could be close for transporting the stolen goods.
"They will be here soon." The young man said to his mission partner once he came back inside. Maybe five minutes or so and they would show up to help with the animals It would be nice to have someone else take care of this situation at the very least. I mean its not like he could keep them... his apartment was big but not that big.
It was a shame that so little medicine was left, and so many more sick cats than originally known. It was safe to assume that the cost of the medicine would probably increase after all.
"Hey... don't forget about those names..." Desmond reminds the alchemist, voice low as Charani goes outside. Thankfully, in his short-sighted panic, he's pleasantly cooperative. The seer acquires a note with unexciting notes of delivery times and medicine quantities written by the mastermind, but that was a job for another day. There was no need to rush contractual vengeance.
He pulls out the last of the medicine which they were able to find to examine it, leaving the alchemist sitting obediently in the corner of the lab. If Grendel carried the bundle of vials which he was currently protecting on the roof, it shouldn't have been much issue for one of the humans to carry the rest of them by hand. He keeps his third eye open (metaphorically speaking) just in case the alchemist tried anything fishy when a weapon wasn't pointed at his throat.
"Good." Desmond says simply as Charani notes that animal control would be arriving soon. This announcement, though, made the alchemist realize that his window of escape had just become terribly small. He is about to act -- to cast an illusion spell to conceal his dash to the exit -- but a full second before he's even able to move, his mouth and limbs are suddenly bound by thick, sticking tendrils of water. "Don't try that..." Desmond mutters, letting his third eye drop so he doesn't exhaust himself by maintaining too many spells. "This is enough for the contract. We can return the medicine once the others get here."
