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 May 27, 2018 10:16:02 GMT
moosely watches the ocelot and wolverine battle with undisguised fascination, dark eyes a mirror of shifting hues. at one point, he charges in with full intention to gore the familiar against a tree and connects with enough of an impact that reverberates down his spine; panagos' familiar lashes out with its claws and the moose receives a thin scarlet line down the side of his face for his troubles. ( maddox reels for a moment, dizzy and thrown off-balance momentarily ). kirjava presses the advantage as soon as moosely is past, her claws outstretched and crowned with scarlet fire; and so it goes.
blink, and the forest is turning against them once more, atronachs bursting from the ground with their blank faces and heavy limbs. another blink, and one is shorter by a head, bisected by a line trailing white-hot flames. the other has its attention directed at sirius' clone, leaving its back open. it flies up a moment later, flailing as a gale lifts it from the ground and sets it free falling some distance away. there's something terribly satisfying about the sound it makes when it lands.
panagos, however, still stands. it is a respectable feat, given everything she has been throwing in their direction. still, given their mission objective, the fact that she is still conscious is somewhat of a problem.
one step, two -- wings flare into existence, swirling storm-gray from the smoke that dusts their battlefield; maddox rushes forward before he has time to second-guess his decisions, the axe carving an arc through the air. it crashes a stone-carved shield, sending pain lancing up his arm before it simply goes numb. the axe dissipates.
Post by kasimir burovski ✨ on May 27, 2018 10:41:34 GMT
blue moon
you saw me standing alone
having an oversized and rather vicious moose familiar on your side in a battle is really quite advantageous; kirjava flashes moosely a toothy grin and leaps after the wolverine intent on pressing her advantage. sinking her claws deep into his side is rather viscerally satisfying, especially after he had slammed her into a tree just moments prior. both of them are streaked in blood, cuts showing beneath their shifting fur, and neither of them are willing to give even an inch to each other.
kasimir chases down the atronach maddox had sent flying - a single stroke and it lies beheaded and crumpled in the dirt. his clone, meanwhile, sprints after maddox to confront panagos, an illusionary blade of fire in hand to match kasimir's real sword. he BLINKS behind the criminal witch even as his clone faces off against her; "surrender," the clone demands, eyes flashing green fire.
( around them, the roar of the forest fire has dimmed to just a simmer of flame darting between what remains of the foliage. the ent army lies dead as a graveyard of ash. )
panagos' familiar dematerialises, leaving kirjava bereft of an opponent, and panagos herself laughs, loud and wild and tinged with hysteria. "fine," she says, something like madness in her eyes, in the curve of her crazed smile. "fine, i surrender." she raises her hands in the classic yielding position-
-then, without warning, the wolverine wrenches himself into reality and sends two earth dragons streaking at maddox and moosely, while panagos buries a summoned sword into the kasimir-clone's chest. kasimir himself is behind her in an instant. "wrong one," he cannot help but quip, a fraction before the flat of his blade connects with her head.
Post by maddox rothscus ✨ on May 27, 2018 10:58:27 GMT
i surrender, panagos says, hands raising above her head; maddox watches with narrowed eyes, disregarding the sting in his shoulder of a muscle likely pulled. moosely, suddenly finding himself without a target as well, wheels on his haunches to trot up behind maddox, gaze suspicious. it is with good reason.
suspicious or not, however, they are standing far too close to panagos to move in time as the ground splits once more, quaking under their feet as two dragons tear towards them. one barrels directly into the moose -- the familiar braces, too stubborn to fall even with the wind knocked out of him. maddox fares similarly, albeit with less grace. it catches him solidly in the chest, its maw gaping wide and ferocious as it reaches for his neck. it catches his arm instead, sinking blunt fangs into his forearm just before he catches a spell on the fringes of his mind. his eyes go blank, his fingers curl into a fist, and with a brusque tearing motion, rends the mana from the stone beast.
the dragon falls to the ground, once more an inanimate amalgamation of various stones and pebbles; gracelessly, he snatches one from the ground and hurls it at panagos, just as he sees the flat of sirius' blade connect squarely. panagos drops. maddox remembers to breathe properly. "oh thank god, finally."
( used: revert mana 1, detection, full reset, skill: large rock )
Post by kasimir burovski ✨ on May 27, 2018 11:15:55 GMT
blue moon
you saw me standing alone
panagos collapses to the ground, unconscious, and her familiar vanishes from the material plane as if in proof; and just like that, they are done. their mission, spanning a hunt, a ridiculous chase sequence, a forest fire, and a not insignificant fight, is finally complete. he leans down and fastens her wrists behind her with the mana restricting cuffs they had been given to secure panagos. then he stands and just looks about for a moment, smothers the last of the fire and winces at the ache in his shoulder.
"yeah," he says quietly, faintly amused at his partner. for a moment, he has actually forgotten about the impending conversation hovering on the horizon like an ominous storm. his gaze rapidly turns to concern, though; kasimir steps forwards with a frown creasing his brow. "you are injured," he states, disapproval twisting his lips. kirjava vanishes in the next errant breeze, gone in a flicker of ash. he raises a hand, hovering just above maddox's chest but not yet touching. "please, let me heal you?" a flicker of humour dances across his face, though doing little to hide his worry. "i have learnt a far more effective spell since healing us was last required." episkey, useful little spell as it is for smaller wounds, is not quite the pinnacle of medical spells, after all.
Post by maddox rothscus ✨ on May 27, 2018 13:50:56 GMT
the adrenaline fades quickly once the fight comes to its abrupt end; he sways a little on his feet, surprised at the fact that he's somehow still standing up despite that the panagos' last-ditch attack. he eyes the handcuffs on her wrists suspiciously, and despite the plantshaper's apparent unconsciousness, he still finds himself mildly dubious about how well those work. funny how such caution never applies in the ever chaotic heat of battles.
collapsed on the ground like that, panagos looks deceptively small, as if she hadn't wreaked such devastation just a few moments prior. maddox moves forward to hoist the witch onto moosely's back for ease of transport back to sundial, only to realise he hasn't moved at all -- sirius steps into his way, a hand held up, offering to heal him. admittedly, it is a very tempting offer. he really doesn't want to tax his partner for more than necessary, though. but it is an offer given freely.
"alright," he ends up saying, shrugging the one uninjured shoulder and taking a deep breath before he hurriedly aborts that action; did he get his ribs hurt somehow as well? when did that happen? ( from the side, moosely regards him with an unamused gaze. ) "surprise me, then, magic man."
( used: revert mana 1, detection, full reset, skill: large rock )
Post by kasimir burovski ✨ on May 27, 2018 14:10:36 GMT
blue moon
you saw me standing alone
he instinctively reaches forwards to steady maddox as the purifier sways on his feet, only to catch himself and draw back a little as the witch stays put. the suspicion with which his partner eyes the handcuffs, for whatever post-battle adrenalin-rush reason, amuses kasimir; if he had not had experience being on the receiving end of similar such devices, he, too, would probably be doubting their effectiveness the same way maddox is.
"she will not be using her mana anytime soon," he assures quietly, though regaining consciousness is another matter altogether. with as hard as kasimir had hit her, he would not be surprised to find her remain unaware for quite some time yet, but these things are never certain.
his eyes brighten fractionally when his partner agrees to let him help, though it rapidly turns to concern at the entirely unsubtle wince. hurrying forwards now that he has been given permission, a silver-white light wraps around kasimir's hands as he calls upon the moon deity selenity to heal maddox's wounds, starting with the ribs. mana wells up in waves of warmth, seeking for any damage and knitting flesh back together; the drain on his reserves is not insignificant, but for such a complete healing, it is well worth it.
a few moments tick by before he draws back, satisfied that he has returned maddox to full health. it is now kasimir's turn to sway, to stumble a little bit while he blinks back to reality. looking at his mission partner, he quirks a small smile, green eyes softening to something like the new leaves of spring. "how do you feel?" he asks.
Post by maddox rothscus ✨ on May 27, 2018 14:28:39 GMT
he can't say he's familiar with the process of magical healing, but surely, this is something he could get used to. the pain fades slowly, bleeds from his body with the soft glow of sirius' hands; he watches with unabashed fascination. it's not the first time he has seen a summoner work, but it certainly is a first when it comes to the less-than-violent application of it. his line of work has always been rather single-minded in its cultivation of skill sets, after all. it is also the line of work that cultivates his general habit of attempting to sleep off injuries, no matter how severe they may be.
the shoulder ceases to sting, the ribs no longer protesting with each breath. the injuries are gone, just like that. needless to say, he's impressed. even moosely, peering over maddox's shoulder, offers a begrudgingly grateful snort. "never felt better," he quips back, experimentally stretching and finding the motion pleasantly painless. now, however, there is the slightest of frowns drawing his brows together as he regards sirius. or kasimir. whatever.
"and how do you feel?" he asks, gaze pointed and the corners of his lips curling into a wry smile. he brushes past only to retrieve panagos' still unmoving form, now slinging her unceremoniously over moosely's back. he sure as hell isn't about to carry a body back to sundial on his own. he gestures vaguely at the moose's back. "if you want to take a bit of a break, i'm sure moosely is happy to oblige."
( used: revert mana 1, detection, full reset, skill: large rock )
Post by kasimir burovski ✨ on May 27, 2018 14:45:44 GMT
blue moon
you saw me standing alone
kasimir watches with no small amount of fondness as his partner stretches experimentally in a test of his now-healed body. the soft expression withdraws back into stone-cast neutrality when maddox turns to him with a frown, studying him beneath drawn brows. he barely prevents himself from taking a step back, casting his body into a stillness betrayed by the fear peeking through green eyes; he had... forgotten about his revealed deception, about this that is to come.
but all that is posed is a question ( and not the one he fears ), and for all that he can read body language, there is nothing hard nor accusing there; cautiously, his gaze follows maddox as the witch loads their unconscious captive onto moosely. "...i will be fine," he says after a pause. at kirjava's exasperated prompting, he casts selenity's mercy again enough to heal the deep bite mark on his shoulder and just enough to ease the ache of his ribs - the rest is mostly superficial and mild, and can be dealt with later.
he shakes his head. "thank you for the offer, but i can walk," he says. looking around at the ashen forest, the remnants of an army of ents and a battle involving a fire mage, he wonders, briefly, how he will explain the necessity of this destruction to the council.
Post by maddox rothscus ✨ on May 27, 2018 15:01:11 GMT
he studies his partner with a gaze torn somewhere between amusement and concern, because he has been working with sirius for enough to know that 'fine' is, in the red-haired witch's dictionary, only but a relative suggestion of its intended meaning. still, this assignment has proven far less hazardous than their one trek up into the mountains, so he supposes he can ease up a little on the silent worrying. "if you say so," he remarks, giving moosely a hearty pat on the shoulder as he move past to examine the immediate aftermath of their battle.
carefully, he reaches out, feeling for the mana in the atmosphere -- it is agitated still, the remnants of all their fighting like a current eddying at the mouth of a river, not quite as calm as it ought to be. in a motion that is an old habit by now, he resets what he can, untangling the mess they have made of the forest. as always, he feels that he can breathe a little easier once he does, though there is little actual change in the composition of the air.
moosely begins picking his way through the undergrowth now, moving at a steady and relatively sedate pace so as to not accidentally bump panagos off. maddox follows suit, and so they walk.
( used: revert mana 1, detection, full reset, skill: large rock )