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 saskia burovski on Jan 15, 2018 8:43:37 GMT
saskia burovski spends her morning weaving flowers into a crown. it has become a habit as of late, a moment of indulgence that she stubbornly allows herself, mainly because she’s promised old woman josie that she would help out more often. it is a modest little shop, selling miscellaneous trinkets and handcrafted jewelry, situated on the fringes of the sunday market.
she sits on the edge of the sidewalk, carefully braiding her way through the crown, a basket of fresh flowers balanced on luci’s snout beside her. once in a while, she looks up to survey a slow-moving crowd, eyes bright with curiosity. the world passes her by, and saskia remains wreathed in warm sunlight and pastel flowers, listening to old woman josie cheerfully recount her most recent visit to gale valley to visit her nephew.
at some point, though, she grows restless of simply sitting. gathering the basket in her arms, saskia climbs onto luci, standing on the bear's shoulders to better survey the surroundings. it’s gotten more crowded in the last hour or so, though the shop is set some distance away from the bulk of the masses.
“hey!” she calls out to a few individuals making their way past, her grin sunny and genuine. “care for a flower crown?” she doesn't really know the best way to help old woman josie sell these flowercrowns, can't quite remember if standing on a bear and shouting into the void is socially acceptable, but it scarcely deters her anyway.
If only she had bothered to go shopping before now, it would have saved so much effort. Too late to try that now. The supplies had to be purchased today, or else her work would be delayed. No amount of pain would cause her to fail a job. Although, it was easy to stick to that idea before she started. Right now, in the heat, panting slightly, Holly wanted nothing more than to go home and relax. She wiped some of the sweat off her brow, careful to use the hand not holding the bag full of stuff. Don’t want to start the day over again.
Her faithful squid Sai rested atop her head as normal. He knew days like this brought back fragments of times Holly planned to forget. One arm worked a fan to cool the witch off, while a second grasped a bottle of water. Just a few more stops and the two would be done here. Any effort to make the journey less bad were nice.
Holly waited in front of a store, eyebrows furrowed in thought. To be honest, for the last minute or so, she stopped thinking about finding the correct path that lead to her goal.
As much as she wanted to be done, above all, Holly was an artist. It wasn’t often that she found something that brought forth the will to create. Such events needed to be given all the worship they deserved. Yes, this was also needed to do a good job, more so than the supplies. She could take a break here.
The tall girl strode over to the redhead on top of a bear. With the brightest smile she could manage at the time, Holly nearly dropped her bag of paint and ink.
“Ah, you’re perfect!” she said, clasping both hands together. She paused here and stared for a bit longer before the thought that other people were here entered her mind. Right, right, the others deserved to witness such beauty themselves. This was a business, yeah? Her own selfish needs were never worth getting in the way of someone’s work. Taking a few steps back, Holly recalled the reason for stopping in the first place.
her fingers are still covered with blue and green paint. there's a mark on her cheek, sky blue, from when she'd impatiently brushed her bangs from her eyes. the floor of her apartment, covered with a worn paint-marked sheet, is freshly stained and wet with spilled paint. she'd hung it over her tiny balcony rails where it dripped down onto brick, a new addition to the years-old mosaic that's steadily accrued the aftermaths of her painting accidents. (her landlord has expressed his displeasure, but because the neighbors seem to enjoy the marks he's yet to take action against her.)
she's in the market now, idly picking at the dry paint on her hands. thistle, tired of getting stepped on by clumsy feet, has opted to take a catnap instead. but briar doesn't mind having her thoughts to herself while the cat slumbers on.
there's little reason to hurry. the piece she'd been working on has sapped all of her inspiration for the day. and besides, it's a lovely day out. she might as well enjoy it instead of staying cooped up in her apartment. so that's what she does. she browses tables of oddities, fingers gracing orbs that promise glimpses into the future, tiny wooden soldiers that will protect you from nightmares, and far-speech stones that glow softly amidst their silken displays. she's on the lookout for paints and finds some with interesting magical properties, though she only buys a small sample. the rest of her coin she saves for home-brewed tea at one of her favorite shops in the northern part of the square.
and as she's walking, she catches sight of a lumbering figure (which, admittedly, isn't very hard to spot). a girl rides atop what she realizes is a bear as she moves closer. curiosity gets the best of her and she manages to catch an interaction between the rider and an individual on the street. her eyes light up as she eyes the flower crowns and she joins the individual, neck craned back to look at the girl.
"i'll take one as well, please. do you have any with verbenas?"
[attr="class","seeyouhead"]we can navigate the stars
[attr="class","seeyouline"]
[attr="class","seeyoubody"]"greg, i don't want a flower crown," emma despairs, very loudly and verbally. she's perched behind a rather large bush, all one hundred forty-nine centimeters of her curled up as she sits with her knees to her chest, carefully draping her skirt over her knees. a few, carefully chosen twigs are brandished in her hair. it was supposed to help her blend in, but she doubts that the rather loud noise of her voice is conductive towards that goal. "i'm fine! let them be, they're just going to just - look cool and swap flower crowns. and i will be perfectly fine continuing my people-watching here!" [break][break] greg levels her with one of the most unimpressed looks she's ever seen from him. emma huffs at him, and throws her hands in the air. someone gasps very quietly - no, faintly, they must be walking a little further away - because hands suddenly emerging from a bush is ranked somewhere on the list of "unadvisable things" that emma is to absolutely not do. she's made her way through maybe four of the things on the list so far, but her parents are not to know! they would destroy emma with their disappointment. [break][break] you fool, greg tells her, very tiredly, with the air of one who is very distressed and boggled at the mind of a nineteen year old girl who doesn't want to admit she's wrong very often. he maintains an air of quiet, sage dignity that others would struggle to retain when ungracefully placed on your back and sunbathing behind a scraggly bush. you fool. you fool. you fool. you fool. [break][break] stop calling me a fool, emma pouts. it's effective enough for him to quell. [break][break] "if a mayfly does not seize its chance, it perishes," greg advises, and preens a little looking at his reflection in a puddle after he struggles to turn himself over, completely unaware of the thoughts racing through emma's head. it's not like she wants to join the pretty girl with the red hair and the smiling eyes with the pleasant looking woman next to her - she's way out of emma's friendship league, they both are, really, to be honest - but everyone there so far seems super nice, but - ! [break][break] "you're right," she announces, squishing her cheeks together. "okay. greg, we're going to say hello and ask for a flower crown, and we're going to be the coolest people there, and they're going to want to be our friends." [break][break] she picked him up hastily, mind distracted from his grumpy mumbling from the movement. he winds over her shoulder and clings onto her back, his head peeking out from over her shoulder, and she marches right into the group of females. all of her bravado takes approximately half a second to drain away. [break][break] "um, i - hello," she stammers first, and wants to die a little bit. "the - you guys - pretty, i mean, your flower crowns are pretty, oh my god." saskia burovskiHolly Andersonbriar atkins
[attr="class","seeyouline"]
[attr="class","seeyouhead"]to bring us back home
[attr="class","seeyoucreds"]MADE BY MINNIE OF WONDERLAND
the morning sun in downtown sundial shifts like the temperament of the witches that bustle about the city. at first, it appears cloudless and joyous, but soon thereafter there seems to be a haze upon the sky, like a swarm of microscopic flies--- flies? in the air, there seems to be a dull buzzing like the static on he ends of a poorly constructed mana mark. [break][break] something is wrong. [break][break] the girls feel it- a sudden intense twist of the gut. increasing heartbeat. a thundering weakness that spreads over their bodies as though they have, very suddenly and all at once, come down with the flu. while saskia burovski and Holly Anderson can only feel that suffocating sense of helplessness, briar atkins and emmaline sims may realize what is afoot: mana is leaving the atmosphere like the breath escaping a dying dog-- quickly, and without mercy. [break][break] if nothing else, then luci understands. the environment is a hazard for weaker witches- she can feel saskia's weakness even if she does not admit to it. it is as though someone has purified the area clean of all magic-- it is smothering, suffocating, enervating. it feels like they all might pass out soon, or worse, forever. [break][break]
[attr="class","stafftempsubtext"]
thread-specific rules
currently, the only magic accessible to witches are on-hand arrays or potions and elemental magic. [break][break] no thread-specific rules as of yet. you have 72 hours to post in reaction to this post. two missing rounds will result in an elimination from the thread. [break][break] saskia burovskiHolly Andersonemmaline simsbriar atkins
Post by saskia burovski on Jan 20, 2018 4:10:57 GMT
she is more successful than she expects; a tall girl is the first to walk over, her eyes bright and pretty. there is an exclamation that follows -- saskia hears the word ‘perfect’, and has not the slightest clue what she could be referring to -- but smiles nonetheless. she folds her legs neatly under herself until she crouches on luci’s back, balanced in a position that could be precarious had she not been so used to it. “that’s great!” she says, and proffers the basket forward. “any colour preferences?” a squid sits atop the tall girl’s head, saskia realises belatedly, and her grin only widens. “would you like one as well?”
another approaches, this time a girl with sun-spun golden hair and pale eyes; saskia pivots neatly to address her too. “you’re in luck!” she chirps, and plucks a dainty purple crown from the basket. “like this, right?” she’s just about to call back to old woman josie to double check the price of these flower crowns when yet another approaches. luci gives them a curious glance, and an ostensibly welcoming rumble.
the girl stammers something out, compliments the flower crowns, and saskia’s laugh is bell-like and kind. “thank you!” she says, eyes flicking momentarily to the insect familiar, alight with curiosity. “would you--”
it is sudden, unexpected, wrong. something twists in her gut and her heart thuds against her ribs; she hears blood rushing in her ears, the air too thin, a buzz in the air that is all too loud and all too quiet at once. she falters, balance wavering, sliding off luci to clutch the bear’s fur in her hands. “sorry, i, uh--” words are difficult, somehow, her voice faint now. “do you feel that, too?”
the bear is more decisive. she nudges saskia, before dark eyes turn to the other girls as well. “there’s something wrong. we should move,” luci advises, low with urgency yet worn thin with concern. without waiting for so much as a response, she swings her head around to shepherd the girls with a gentle nudge, desperately in search of some way they can escape this feeling.
[attr="class","seeyouhead"]we can navigate the stars
[attr="class","seeyouline"]
[attr="class","seeyoubody"]emma is too-aware of herself, perhaps, the way that she moves slightly to adjust to greg's weight and accommodate him better. perhaps she would have been better off adopting the persona that she had been shaped for, but she doesn't think that treating herself and others with anything but complete honesty is right. something that a true helios knight shouldn't do. [break][break] the other girl laughs, hair the color of garnets sparkling. it matches the sound of her voice, how it rings with bells, and emma thinks absently, staring at a strange aberration in the sky blankly: oh, she's gorgeous. [break][break] "would i-?" emma asks, surprised and flattered all at once, shocked that this pretty, effervescent girl would talk to her when there are so many obviously better people around her, people accustomed to talking to others in an easy way instead of feeling insecure about whether people can be called "friends" or not. she smiles, if not slightly withdrawn, opens her mouth to talk to her, maybe introduce herself, and then - [break][break] there's this odd sensation, a twist or something - and it's odd, like it's not meant to exist, and emma's head grows thick and muddled as if it's filled with thick mud. "greg," she mumbles, voice quiet, even compared to the rush of wind through grass, and "get off, please." [break][break] her legs give out, and she collapses on her knees, if gracefully, and holds her head in her palms. her heartbeat thuds, stutters like a drum, and emma feels it pulse through her body. she's dizzy. she pulls herself together, brushing her fingers against her scalp, and listens dutifully to the voices around her. greg buzzes next to her, concerned, and she can feel it, but she's overwhelmed and her head throbs and - [break][break] it's not pain, exactly, just a feeling that is distinctly uncomfortable, like someone's tugging something out of her insistently, a gray-washed sensation that slows all feeling within her. her mind flashes, too fast for her weakened state, and she focuses on a single word in an attempt to slow it down. she can feel her breaths coming rapidly, far too rapidly, and covers her ears with her hands. a word echoes in the back of her mind: mana. [break][break] "mana," she says quietly, without realizing what it means, and then tries to grasp for it, but it's lost in her mind. why is it important? what does mana have to do with this? [break][break] she pulls herself to her feet, wobbly, and nearly hits the bear when she nudges emma, withdrawing immediately, and a jolt of pain from the sudden movement shocks up her arm. greg hops up to her shoulder swiftly, weight pulling her down, but his protectiveness makes her feel grounded, and he nudges his head against hers gently, making a soothing rubbing motion. "no, mana," she says, her voice unstable, and insists, "it has something to do with this-" [break][break] even through her dulled haze, her dulled senses, emma feels the same insecurity gnaw at her insides, feels the hot rush of what if i'm wrong what if they don't like me what if they hate me what do i do flow through her, and tacks on (dizzyingly loudly, making her voice rasp in her quick interjection as she halts suddenly in her steps), "i think, at least, i could be wrong - " [break][break] "it's mana. she said so," greg says out loud, final, and his antennae twitch, his body tenses, and emma immediately feels guilty the same time relief rushes through her from his support. he made the decision for her, and for that she's grateful, she thinks. he shakes his gold-rimmed glasses off, and they fall on the grass. emma doesn't notice. "but what about it?" [break][break] "draining," emma blurts out, thinking about the hollow ache in her throat, as if someone's pulling the air that she breathes out of her like a street performer pulls out ribbons from thin air, and turns pale. saskia burovskiHolly Andersonbriar atkins
[attr="class","seeyouline"]
[attr="class","seeyouhead"]to bring us back home
[attr="class","seeyoucreds"]MADE BY MINNIE OF WONDERLAND
The bear was nice. Holly did not have the pleasure of meeting a nice bear every day. Almost lost in thought, it took a moment to realize that she almost missed a question. Looking back at the red haired girl’s smile, she started.
“Red.”
Having something at hand that matched the girl would make it simple to recall this meeting later. Just in case it mattered. Hold on, shouldn’t there be one for the other two that showed up? A matching set. Could she even afford that? Holly bit her lip and thought really hard. Atop her head, Saia shook to decline getting one himself, which made it look as though Holly shook along with him.
She coughed—harmless enough as it was, such an action always bothered her. Blame the years of feeling as though each breath might be her last. Just thinking about it caused the world to blur and the tightness in her chest returned. She shouldn’t focus on this again. Bringing back thoughts of her illness only made things worse. Sadly, the very real symptoms were not in her head this time. She was dying.
“No, no, no, no.” Her arms wrapped around her chest as she rocked back and forth. It was all she could do to avoid falling onto the ground with the other girl. Be floor buddies. The bag of supplies were the last thing on her mind—Saia moved to grab the thing before it spilled along the ground.
Wait a minute. Look, the others feel this as well. Saia tried to calm her nerves, tempt Holly into looking around, but no. Nothing worked. They needed to leave, but what would that change? Moving wouldn’t save her. Nothing could. Her parents suffered to keep her around this long, but clearly this was the end. Of all the days to go out on…at least she was around a bunch of cute things.
Sighing to himself, the squid nearly began to use one of his hooks to dig into the girl’s skin. If they just moved there was a chance to survive, but nooooo kid loved her drama. Lucky for both of them, the bear from before pushed them away. Holly didn’t really have the will to fight back and followed along. Good bear, saving lives and all.
she eyes the purple crown with splendor. the coins she'd saved for her favorite tea shop aren't likely to make it to their destination. but that's no matter. when life offers her the simplest of pleasantries, she deigns to take them. and besides, it's not like she doesn't have a whole shop's worth of tea stored in her cupboards at home. so she fetches for her purse before the girl can even start talking about prices. with a simple charm, she's sure she could figure out how to keep the verbanas healthy; the monarchs on her porch would absolutely adore the crown.
"exactly like th--" she starts, and then the air leaves her body. she drops her coin purse, clutches at her stomach as something knifes its way through her. her lips part as she sucks in short gasps and within moments thistle has manifested before her, bright green eyes wide with worry. one of the girls beside her collapses and briar steels herself, reaches out and digs her fingers in the girl's shoulder. she's brought her hands up to her ears, but briar still tries to gasp out an, "are you okay?"
and then she speaks. mana. and briar is grounded by the truth of it. thistle channels to her then, but their link is filled with static, coarse with interference. she doubles over, feeling sick, and thistle noses her fingertips. when the bear speaks that they should leave, briar eyes the girl atop her back. she looks haggard and worn far thinner than briar.
it's affecting them more, thistle thinks to her. the familiar is right. we need to evacuate.
"but what about them?" briar says aloud, wincing as she forces herself to straighten. the girl with the squid familiar is nigh unresponsive, but it doesn't look like she's the only one that's having a tough time. briar surveys the rest of the marketplace; many are stumbling as far away from the general area as they can, but others--she watches as a dog familiar attempts to drag its unconscious witch away from the source (if there is a source), as another squawks at others to please help. i can't carry her on my own.
"we have to help them," briar says. but thistle is only the size of a house cat. she lifts her hand from the shoulder of the witch with the grasshopper familiar and reaches out to the flower girl. to the bear familiar, she says, "please. i need your help to do this."
the shift has affected a large portion of the marketplace, but the places unaffected can still be seen on the edges of the four girls' visions. in essence, there is a crowd of people around the target area that seem to be vaguely aware of what is happening. many people are struggling with the after-effects, and the girls probably need to escape the mana-void, too. [break][break] but briar atkins and emmaline sims can still think and if they concentrated they can make it out. the direction of the void, the eye of the hurricane, the center of the nullification. they'd have to take the most counter-intuitive route possible in this scenario, but perhaps that will tell them where the mana has disappeared. they'd be walking blindly away from the crowds, away from safety as well. [break][break] several strangers have collapsed. but all is not yet lost. mana never stays dispelled for long (though it's far from even close to being back to normalcy). and in the distance, they can hear soft sirens. the helios knights may arrive soon (but knowing bureaucracy, they may also not). do they take shelter with the masses, help strangers with their dwindling strength, or dive into the thicket of the mess? [break][break]
[attr="class","stafftempsubtext"]
thread-specific rules
currently, the only magic accessible to witches are on-hand arrays or potions and elemental magic. saskia burovski and Holly Anderson are now recovering, but the sense of unease and tension is still very high. [break][break] no thread-specific rules as of yet. you have 72 hours to post in reaction to this post. two missing rounds will result in an elimination from the thread. [break][break] saskia burovskiHolly Andersonemmaline simsbriar atkins
Okay, time for a deep breath. How did she feel? Better than five seconds ago, yet still awful. The early shock of it all started to wear off, but Holly still felt like she was dead. Sounded a lot like her default state of being. The movement of her squid friend caught her eye, and she turned just in time to watch someone else stumble nearby. A thought not fully her own entered Holly's mind as the focused on the boy.
You have to go help him
"Can, uh--" her voice froze up and cracked, unsure of the question she meant to ask. Really, she wasn't sure if she could even start over and get through the whole thing without a struggle. So she stopped. They were all having a hard time here. Who even needed to confirm that part?
They were trying to get away from the source of the problem. Seeing how she had no idea where that was, moving to a new place ran the risk of walking closer to the thing they had to avoid. Since the only other option meant sitting here and waiting for help, it didn't take any effort to convince Holly to help this person get the fuck out.
Success was the last thing on her mind. The attempt was all that mattered.
She wandered over to the kid and tried to not act creepy while doing so. That last part was needed, as she then swooped down and picked him up like he was a baby bird.
Holly tried to face the spot where those other girls were, with the flowers, but between you and me, she couldn't be farther from correct. Still, she had to try. Maybe they knew the place to avoid. Taking a second to gather her strength, she asked "Where to?"
Post by saskia burovski on Jan 25, 2018 8:02:51 GMT
it gets worse before it gets better. saskia sways on her feet, held upright only by luci’s ever dutiful shepherding skills. she leans heavily against the bear, her vision swimming in and out of focus -- it is in those bleary instances that she notes the chaos that has taken the crowd, desperation clawing into the masses with its cold, cold talons. the girl with the feline familiar bids them to help, and saskia, in her daze, somehow manages to nod.
‘help them,’ she tells the bear, silent and through their mental link ( though even that feels odd somehow, like a thread worn thin ). for a moment luci resists, ears flattening against her skull as she swings her head around in protest; saskia is a frail creature, and luci fears that if they linger any longer, they might not get out that easily.
saskia is a frail creature, perhaps, but she is stubborn and perhaps not the smartest, because she decides to take matters into her own hands. she stumbles, somehow stays upright, and approaches the nearest duo she can find. a hawk sinks their talons into its witch’s shoulder, not quite drawing blood but almost in their desperation. ‘help,’ the familiar says, and their golden eyes are wide with panic. ‘help her.’
‘you’re not strong enough to do that,’ luci cautions as saskia crouches, grabs hold and begins to pull the witch upright.
saskia bites her lip, grits her teeth. says, biting and sharp, “then you’d better help me, right?” ( silence, at first, and terror grips her in the lack of a response but then luci simply leans forward and grips the stranger in her jaws, tugging gently but firmly. )
the girls with the feline and insect familiars seem to have retained the most composure, so saskia’s deference to them is immediate. a question floats by -- the girl with the squid asks, ‘where to?’ -- and saskia adds, barely more than a whisper, “the knights aren’t gonna get here in time.”
it must come in waves, ripples of some sort, because the girls beside her don't seem as hindered as they'd been before. and she feels it too--the fluid push-pull tug as the magic waxes and wanes. but it's still steadily thinning, that much she can feel, and there are plenty others that haven't recovered. specifically the flower girl, who briar watches with awe as she stumbles to help someone else. thistle, who would almost always refuse to leave briar's side in a situation like this, doesn't even attempt to argue when the witch tells him to help however he can.
briar watches others scramble away from the source, heading out of the square, but it looks wrong. some collapse; others have to stop to catch their breath. briar exhales, thinks through her linked stream of consciousness. her message is but a whisper, but still thistle turns his head. the pads of his paws, glowing ever-softly, brighten. green eyes blink brilliantly and briar grasps at their connection. the mana, once invisible, now feels like a current around her, and though she's but a pebble she can tell, for a brief moment, that they are in a storm. and the only way through it is in it.
she opens her eyes and hurriedly makes her way towards the bear familiar. she grasps tightly as the unconscious witch and offers a hand to the flower girl. "then we'll work with what we've got," she says and louder, when she hears an inquiry from the girl with the squid familiar, she adds, "farther in." people are stumbling past them, away from the center of the calamity, but they fail to notice that those at its heart are the ones gathering themselves to their feet.
thistle looks up at the bear. "can you feel it?" he asks. "she's right. it's safer than trying to run."
[attr="class","seeyouhead"]we can navigate the stars
[attr="class","seeyouline"]
[attr="class","seeyoubody"]the girl with the dark hair moves, and emma is dangerously aware of every thump of her feet. is there a word for this, this hypersensitivity for everything that’s happening before her eyes? she’s sluggish, and her mind feels as if something is clogging it up, but she is painfully capable of seeing the boy be scooped up by her. she asks where to and a bubble of uncharacteristically vicious hate appears in emma’s throat. she doesn’t know why, or who it’s directed to, but her face is blank as she observes the boy in the other girl’s grasp. [break][break] enough, emma, greg tells her, and it sounds sharp, dangerous. their bond surges with tension for a moment, before emma looks away from the two. greg remains as he is, coiled up like a spring. the fight leaves her. [break][break] the red-haired girl moves on her own, emma’s gaze follows as she seeks out others, perhaps, who require help. there are none in her immediate vicinity, and so she pauses - turns to the fair-haired girl, mouth opening in a question - [break][break] ”did you feel that?” [break][break] because it’s there, like a current, this something that she had been growing subconsciously aware of before it all washed over her at once. not like a current, perhaps, because nothing is being pushed out - unless it is, thinning at the edges like a ripple does, perhaps the mana is being moved instead of disappearing, but that's not her priority, either way - [break][break] ”further in,” she echoes, and fixes a piercing gaze at her companion, agreeing. she starts to walk, faster. her head spins, but she ignores it. if it's a circle - if they start soon enough, if they're fast enough, even if the center theory is wrong, they can possibly get to the other side of the area that's being effected, right? that's what she's thinking, that's what greg knows she's thinking, but something thick is on her tongue and it is infinitely harder to actually say it out loud in this state, to put her thoughts to words. [break][break] she glances at the others - feels very young, for some reason - and tries to stay perceptive of what they're doing, noticing whether they need help or not. the other blonde girl and her are the only ones not bringing along people, but they're also the least effected, it seems, and - "if you need help," emma offers, quietly, "i can help them along. you're..." [break][break] weak doesn't seem like the right word. saskia burovskiHolly Andersonbriar atkins
[attr="class","seeyouline"]
[attr="class","seeyouhead"]to bring us back home
[attr="class","seeyoucreds"]MADE BY MINNIE OF WONDERLAND
Just as the market street begins to return to some semblance of normalcy, a pronounced crack! shatters the air.
[break][break]The ground shudders as half of the shop of old woman Josie seems to sink into the ground, as if the street had vanished from beneath it. Wood and brick cracks and crumbles, spraying shrapnel from the structure as it partially collapses into the ground. Thankfully, the girls who'd been exchanging flower crowns right outside that storefront had wandered far enough away in their effort to help other bystanders that they avoided nearly all damage from the rubble. But was the store owner inside alright?
[break][break] briar atkins and emmaline sims were correct in noticing that the witches at the focal point of the event seemed significantly more functional than anyone around them. Just a dozen or so meters away, the gaggle of confused witches watch with alarm and confusion as others all around them lost the strength to stand. Though one or two appear to hurry away, they immediately think better of it the moment they reach an invisible "wall", where the area with mana touches the area without.
[break][break] On the fringes of the mana-drained area, raziel of the autumn court and @caleb are approached by a moderately-ranked Helios Knight and informed that a few Knights who happened to be in the area were setting up an emergency medical station. They're implored to help direct those in need to the location, and each given one enchanted necklace.
[break][break] Meanwhile, iolani kótsyfas finds herself someplace dark and damp, surrounded by unfamiliar symbols scrawled on the ground and candles with wisps of smoke swirling from their darkened wicks. Were they runes? Or hermetic circles, perhaps? It was difficult to tell in this light. All sides of the tunnel she has been teleported to shake briefly as something similar to a cave-in blocks one of her paths a little over 10 meters away... It looks suspiciously like the door and outer wall of a storefront, though. What an odd thing to see in an underground tunnel system.
[attr="class","stafftempsubtext"]
thread-specific rules
potential for severe injury. not death enabled, no particular warnings as of yet. [break][break] The enchanted necklaces given to raziel of the autumn court and @caleb will protect them and those next to them from the extreme mana deprivation of this area for 15 minutes maximum. This item is only effective in this thread. [break][break] due to the off-schedule return of this thread and it being finals for some people, you have 10 days to reply in reaction to this post. two missing rounds will result in an elimination from the thread. [break][break] saskia burovskiHolly Andersonbriar atkinsemmaline sims @caleb raziel of the autumn courtiolani kótsyfas
