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.
The door opened abruptly, and Aiden tried to melt into the walls as the wraiths passed by. They didn’t even pause at them, thank the gods. He followed Charani, recoiling at the overwhelming smell of blood. Hot blood. Iron tainted the air and splattered the walls. He did his best to avoid the puddles. “Maybe they bring more down, later tonight?” he whispered softly once they put enough distance between themselves and the feasting wraiths. The sound of bones cracking echoed in the air and he shivered despite trying to keep it together. Things that ate bodies, bones and all, were not to be trusted.
Once they stopped he nodded and gave the seer a pat on the shoulder. He was ready. This was definitely breaking rule #2 of Don’t go in the Basement and the dream threw it into their faces. Even if he carefully closed the door behind them, the stairs creaked so loudly he feared they would alert the wraiths on the first floor. Still they made their way without issue it seemed. Aiden shivered once more as they finally stood in the basement. It was quiet, the screams of the people upstairs on the second, and probably third floor by now, very soft and muffled. He wished he could use light magic.
He said nothing, simply glancing around at the bodies and the sphere which he imagined were the safeguards of the building. The crystals were broken, and he briefly wondered if they were like the ones in his pocket. Quietly, he would pat Charani once more and gesture over at the crystals while he stepped to the side and did a perimeter check on the dead guards. Not exactly looting but more so, checking for the possibility of a tiny wraith or someone that wasn’t actually dead. Though, is smelled like blood. They were pretty detail, entrails and all on the ground. “So, we turn this on and then set a trap, right? How does your sleep powder work?” the redhead said moving in close to speak to his companion. “These crystals…they only hide us from wraiths, right?”
"No. They can do more... I just cant use them for anything else." The crystals were also able to put up a barrier as well as some other vaguely defined things. Maybe it was the dream stopping him from being to powerful or maybe it was his own mind shutting it down. That wasnt to say that the other boy couldnt use it for those purposes of course they wouldnt know until they tried.
"Its just regular sleeping powder like in the real world. As long as it makes it into their lungs theyll fall asleep. I was hoping to just blow it into their face if we can catch them off guard." Charani would show the other boy the bag. It was literally red powder. Just dont inhale to deeply near it or you will go unconscious. Then again as this is a dream its like no time passes for you when you are like that. Weird.
The young man went towards the three orbs as the other boy checked to bodies. There was nothing there... at least nothing that could harm them. There was just some discarded weapons like a knife and a broken wand. Nothing of note.
"I will get these back up just watch my back. There is usually a wraith that barges in when we start doing this." He placed his hand on Aidens shoulder before he would do anything else. Even if this was all so strange he still could feel the dreams pull on his emotions. He would give the other boy a peck on the cheek before turning away to reignite the wards.
Aiden could probably feel a large pressure of mana coming from the boy when he lit the first orb. It would glow a soft pale green color and start floating in midair. The wraiths above would screech as if in discomfort. When he started with the second one the door would burst open. It was one of the wraith guards moving into attack.
Aiden’s eyebrows furrowed together. Well if Charani couldn’t do anything he doubted he could either. He was the one with more background knowledge on this dream world. Aiden was just, quite literally, along for the ride. Then again, he needed every advantage he had. He dropped the iron skillet, catching it midair with Telekenesis while he used his hand to pull out the crystals from his pockets and examine them. If only he had more time to test them, maybe he could figure out something quickly. “Right then, if we cause enough of a mess toss it into the air near the stairs and hope they run face first into it?” Aiden suggested with a shrug. Or you know, hold them down and force feed them red powder until they choke.
“Right, I’ll keep it busy while you work then.” If he couldn’t kill it, he could at least make sure it didn’t get to Charani before he finished reactivation. He could heal himself if he needed to anyway, now that he knew how. He’s alert and tense when Charani touches him and he seizes up a little more when he gets what’s probably going to be his last in-dream kiss. It’s still nice, there’s still that lingering warmth and goodness in the touch but it only worries him more. He really hoped this was the last time Charani would be doing this. The whole, watch your loved ones get stabbed and also dying gruesomely experience was too much. He mutters a small thanks as his friend sets to work before turning to keep guard.
It was noticeable when the ritual began. The room felt full, like a sauna almost but without the heat. He could only spare a glance at what was going on before the door slammed open revealing a blood thirsty wraith. “Come and get it, gutter face!” he snapped squeezing the one of the crystals and trying to cram it with as much mana as possible and visualizing a wall before chucking it at the wraith head on. It hit and…weirdly made a soft slap sound. The wraith seemed grossed though. He didn’t check his results for too long though and held out his palm which flashed with mana before a wave of force erupted out of his palm, straight at the wraith, slamming it backwards into the stairs with a loud crack. That didn’t sound right, but at least for the moment the amount of force of the blow had been enough to stop the wraith….for now. “Maybe I should’ve tried locking the door beforehand.” He stated with a sigh as he levitates the spellbook and begins flipping through pages once more, eyes flickering from the wraith to the door and back to his pages.
"Pretty much." They just needed to get it into the witch somehow. Together hopefully they were stronger than the lone witch. In real life as long as they were not a master witch then they would probably be okay given their power levels. This was a dream though... and there was no telling how powerful his nightmares could be.
The second orb was activated after another thirty seconds or so. It would cause the wraith immense pain the closer it got to the orbs. Given the human form though it could probably make it through without being killed.
The wraith would probably go for Charani first. The thing would pretty much disregard Aiden as he wasnt the one causing this throbbing burning pain. There would be a guttural screech as it charged with claws for hands.
The call would probably attract more wraith creatures. Given where they were not that many were probably around but there was probably going to be a solid few come down to attack them. It would most likely be canine type wraiths or some of the more animal like creatures that were feeding on the dead bodies upstairs.
The plan seemed simple enough, just had to last long enough, which he was fairly confident he could. He was fine with getting a little torn up. It was just a dream after all. A very lucid, very painful dream. The light from Charani’s ritual doubled, signaling Aiden of the second activation. That and the way the Human-like wraith shrieked in pain. Despite its form, it was nothing remotely human. He doubted regular people could make that sound. As it lunged past him, he panicked for a moment, the pages in Baby’s First Spellbook flipping rapidly as he pulled for a spell in his memory. He glanced at the yellowed paged before pointing his index finger at Charani’s back and calling out “Protego!” Then the wraith smashed into a wall of light, bouncing off, momentarily dazed.
He snatched his skillet out of the air and took a moment to sprint towards it. “I’ve got you!” he yelled, whether it was directed at Charani or the wraith was up in the air. Even so, the noise seemed to catch the monster’s attention for a split second. It turned its head towards him only to get a face full of one of the best utensil’s in Dream Aiden’s goddman life. Clean, non-stick, heavy. He’d loved that thing and he felt that same surge of love reappears as the head a squish and snap at the same time. He had done his best to concave the beast’s face in. Good. He pulled back and took another swing taking advantage of how disorienting the experience was. “Fractura?!” he asked, willing his mana to cooperate. This time he smashed the side of the skillet, attempting very hard to crack open a skull and thinking really hard in hopes that his lucidity would influence what came out of it: candy. He could really go for something sweet and sour right now.
That was not what came out in the gore spray, if that’s even what that was called. But even with that kind of injury, what the hell was wraith biology? He didn’t have time to ponder this as he heard growls and barks of dogs rushing down the hall and slipping down the stairs. “Fuuuuck no.” The book dropped to the ground as he put his focus on the door and held out his hand. He made a gesture, as if reaching to grab the door handle before pulling back quickly, willing with Telekenesis for the door to close. It slammed shut, mangling one of the dogs that had slid through after the few rabid dogs already bounding for him down the stairs.
“Should’ve picked the gold club, Aiden. Everyone picks the golf club.” He muttered to himself as he stood in front of his friend and waited met the first dog halfway. It snarled and snapped, the head not quite resembling a dog anymore. Warps as it was he knew what the nose was. He knew very well what it was when he reared back, shouted “FORE.” And moved through with a swing, smashing the skillet to the side of dog. It fell to the to the side as two more jumped him while a third and fourth sprinted past him, half understanding Charani was the bastard starting all this up.
"Stupid hell dogs." He rapidly forced mana into the small sphere as Aiden was busy fighting the hellhound wraiths. He could hear them... smell the death that oozed off the creatures.
The third orb was nearly done. He wouldnt make it in time though before the hellhound would be on him. He was forced to weaken the connection. He moved his left hand at the hellhounds using his telekinesis to hold the two back.
The two creatures were snapping and slowly trudging forward. He could only slow them down because he was using most of his power on the orb. Thirty seconds. Thats how much longer it would take with his magic split like this.
The large dogs would use mostly biting motions at Aiden. Thanks to their bites though if any connected Aiden might feel his stamina being drained slightly with each bite. Dont get bit. Twenty seconds and the hounds were approaching. The witch will be on them soon with all that ruckus. At least the door was shut... not holding up well but shut.
Even without knowing the drain effects of wraiths he still didn’t was to get bitten by one. Force to focus on the pair jumping at him he held up his skillet as a makeshift shield, instinctively. Of course, the beasts topple him over snarling and snapping their nasty, blood jaws at him. He doesn’t drop the skillet as a dog latched onto his wrist only emitting a low curse in pain while the other dog smacked at his shoulder. With a glare and some kind of curse he learned from his granddad, a wave of force once again slammed itself into the wraiths propelling them up and off him and sending them skidding towards the stairs. Knockerbacker had been such a good investment. The leader of the pack, the first one stood up scrambling to seek its revenge. Through a few pants he managed to look up as it jumped midair before pointing a finger gun at the dog and sputtering out “Fr-fractura!” before the rib cage expanded and exploded in bits of gore and…whatever the hell wraiths were made of.
In retrospect maybe he should’ve set up some of the barrier crystals from their apartment around Charani as like, you know, a back up plan? Huh. Hindsight 20/20 I guess. Aiden blinked, shaking his head or a moment. That hadn’t felt good. He wasn’t popping back as quickly as he usually would if bitten by an angry beast. “Sana.” He murmured as he patted his arm before reeling it back and chucking the skillet at the pair of dogs struggling against Charani. It hit one of the in the ribs making it emit some sort of wheezing noise. He held out his index finger orchestrating how the skillet would rebound off the first dog and then slam with staggering force from above into the second one’s rear. With a crack, Aiden nodded semi-satisfied. He thought one of the legs was broken.
The previous spell had disappeared as he’d put more attention to throwing around a blunt object and healing himself. He held up his empty hand before uttering the latin once more and watching a small wall of light pull up before jogging over to take out the dogs himself. He wasn’t tired per se, but the last couple of bursts were starting to make him sweat. He was exercising his mana, he supposed. It’s not like people slept to wake up rested and refreshed. No, no, no. He worked out in his fucking dreams. “Sorry, they’re slippery.” He called out as he ran up to the dogs, howling and snarling in pain, and went at it again with the skillet. He couldn’t blow everything on these, they still had an actual witch to take care of. And while he wanted to beat their ass with his own hands, having a bit of mana reserved for the very end was probably a smart idea.
"You see why I havent managed to beat them yet~." He was almost done with the final orb. With someone less powerful like the dream version of the red haired boy they would have failed. It was a pity... dream Aiden was not very strong but he was really really good at one thing. Cough.
Two more creatures managed to shove open the door and bound there way to Aiden. Theyd have enough time for maybe one or two attacks before the orb finished.
With the two creatures now taken care of Charani could focus all his magic on the orb. It came in the blink of an eye. The orb slowly glowed and a wave of incredible pressure washed over the building. The hellhounds being so close would be instantly vaporized into black smoke. The rest would feel immense pain and either explode into smoke or flee for their lives..
Charani would sigh and make his way over to Aiden. Any leftover injury he would heal on the poor boy with his magic. He may not have much more time in this dream. The witch would be coming soon.
Post by aiden emerson on Nov 25, 2018 23:10:38 GMT
[attr="class","wonwoo"]
Aiden raised the skillet over his head and smashed it down hard on the necks of the creatures. Smoke and gore oozing out as he did and with a snap, they stopped struggling as much. He felt the urge to loot them, or at least pick through their bodies and examine the inside. Definitely not for human consumption though. Any other animal? Sure. These weird gloop slash smoke slash monster things? Nope. “Yeah, you really needed backup huh? Or at least a way to barricade the door.” Aided huffed trying to catch his breath. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had the opportunity to so savagely beat something up. Even back in the Hovel it was over once someone started bleeding. He’d never really almost been beaten within an inch of his life and he had never tried as much on anyone either.
A last pair of stragglers bounded down the steps, chasing the tails of their brethren. They’d be put down like them too. The pair split up, one swerving to the side to make a pass at Charani, the other leaping towards him. Aiden squinted following the one that ignored him before yelling, “Fractura.” The explosion wasn’t as gruesome as before as Aiden attempted to reign in the power of the spell to conserve mana. It was pretty disgusting how the dog seemed to inflate slightly and then fall to the ground wet and lifeless, kind of like a cartoon but darker. The other dog knocked him on his back once more, making him a wheezing mess before attempting to bite at his throat. Once again, the skillet saved him blocking jagged teeth before the redhead managed to kick the beast off and bitch slap it with the business side of his cooking pan. It seemed to whimper for a moment, staggering before Aiden pushed himself back on his feet and landed a solid blow on its spine, cracking something. Before he could land the final blow, the hellhound was vaporized in black smoke.
He turned to see Charani’s work before sighing in relief. Finally. He popped his ears, feeling weird for a moment before shaking his head. Aiden moved carefully, letting Charani assess him and nodding his thanks as he did. “You wanna bait the fuck and I’ll hide? Or I bait him down and you hide?” he asked looking for a place to hide. "How're you feeling?"
"I was thinking...." he would start before the sound of the door flinging open quite violently could be heard. There was some kind of spell that was inaudible from their distance and a green orb of light flew violently at them.
Without much time to react Charani couldnt put up a wall or protection spell to block their assailant. The boy pushed his friend trying to get him out of the way but with how fast it was there was no guarantee he wouldnt also get struck.
He could feel the magic smack into his stomach. It was kind of like a force energy attack which is not deadly but heck if it didnt hurt like a bitch. The young man was pushed back several feet and onto his back from the force of the attack. It looked really painful. A closer look would show significant bruising to his abdomen but that wasnt visible of course.
"Well look what we have here." The voice was undeniably familiar to Aiden. It was hard to tell as magic was distorting both the voice and a mask hiding the face of the witch... but it sounded vaguely female. Whoever it was... looked imposing. Not a small person in the least and they looked quite powerful.
The young man would pick himself up as best he could. He was more than likely gripping at his stomach and/or sides when he made it to his feet. He wasnt close to Aiden at this point thanks to that magic.
She would make a move towards Aiden next. "Luce igni." would be the words out of her mouth. Aiden would feel the handle of his trusty frying pan start to heat up. It would get hotter and hotter until it burst into flames unless he did something or... you know dropped it.
Aiden had only looked at his friend for a moment before there was a loud noise, and his worldview flipped on its side. He felt magic, saw a green flash in his peripheral but other than the edges of force that had applied pressure, nothing too substantial. He couldn’t say the say for Charani as once he looked up from the ground his companion lay several feet away. His attention went back to the witch as she??? They?? Began speaking and while he seemed to recognize the voice somewhat, he couldn’t quite pin point it. Maybe another time, when he wasn’t so stressed out. He couldn’t quite respond, only scramble to get up after his initial shock. “Uhh, what do we have here?” Aiden retorted as he adjusted his grip on his skillet. This took a turn out of Zombies and straight up into Final Boss territory.
He didn’t look back to Charani as he spoke to him. “Can you explain this, or not yet?” Remember when his biggest issue during the dream was trying not to make kissing his best friend weird? Good time. He almost wished he could go back to that. At least then he had some semblance of how to attack that problem. He felt the skillet heating up quickly. At first, he resisted letting go until the heat began to burn his palm. He would chuck the frying pan at the witch as it burst into flames and hold out his fingers boosting the trajectory and force behind it with Telekenesis.
Remembering the plan to sleep the enemy, Aiden darted forward to close in the distance before holding up his burnt palm to send out a Knockerbacker wave. Even if the skillet didn’t make its mark, it was enough of a distraction itself and that was good enough for him.
"I'm guessing thats the witch... just a thought..." he would saw with a little bit of sarcasm to his voice. Like duh all they had to do was trap this person enough for them to use the sleeping powder... which didnt seem like it would be an easy feat.
The woman started making her way down the stairs. There was an aura of authority and power that felt suffocating the closer she got to you. It was like she knew she was much stronger than you and reveled in it. She didnt need to use her full strength. You didnt deserve it.
Charani would pool his mana into his left hand creating a ball of force energy. He would fling the energy ball at the woman and she would deflect it with her hand. Or more accurately catch it with her hand.
"Come on boys. I know you can do better than that." The woman would say as she turned the energy ball on Aiden. Well weak attacks like that didnt seem like they would work... like at all. She seemed ready and able to do so much more.
The young man would slowly move his way away from where he was standing. He just needed a small opening and he could get the powder into her. That was all they needed right? Right.
She would make another move towards Aiden next. "You were always the weaker one. Why dont I play with you first." The woman would throw a ball of green energy at the boy. It seemed less powerful than the one she threw at Charani earlier. She was clearly just toying with them. The closer she got the better Aiden could see that she was indeed a woman. The mask looked almost pig like but somehow tougher? A boar or cow perhaps?
Aiden didn’t have time to roll his eyes at that. He could deduce that easily enough. He supposed if Charani had any other information it wasn’t safe to share at the moment. Or you know, there wasn’t any. He watched as she intercepted his friend’s attack, glaring as she dismissed it with relative ease. The wraiths had already been a pain in the ass, but this was just a whole other level. “Before we keep going can I get like a name, or you know, referral? Maybe a license to take out magical barriers?” he asked, clearly stalling as the figure approached. He did his best to resist the oppressive force. Only a few people rally came to mind when he thought of ‘oppressive authority’.
And then she really came for his ass. He felt his ears flush, but not in shame from earlier in the dream. Ok, maybe a little shame but it didn’t derive from being overly affectionate to your dream husband or whatever. It was also anger! Anger and shame! He couldn’t help but turn to glare accusingly at Charani, “Always?! Really?” His family gave him enough pressure and now he was being harassed in a dreamscape? He didn’t really register yet that she was aware of how cyclical this kind of thing was, which was really weird. You would think the dream beings wouldn’t have that kind of self-awareness. Maybe this was just another quirk since Charani had dragged him here. He probably understood it better.
There was another flash of green and Aiden ducked to the side, snarling something under his breath and rolling up his sleeves. “Come on then. Let’s play!” He called out to the witch. He patted himself down briefly for one of the protective crystals Charani had given him before cramming as much mana in it as he could while he pulled back and slung the glowing thing at the witch. “Fractura.” He aimed the spell not at the witch, but at the crystal itself letting the last of his crystals blow up, hopefully, in their opponent’s face. “Right, now I’m out of ideas…” he murmured the burst of energy from his anger fading fast. “Let’s go, Mrs. Piggy. I don’t need magic to take you out.” Probably not the best idea to trash talk, but he did it anyway. At least the attention would be on him and not his partner.
"Sorry... its not like I can control it... if it makes you feel better youre really good in other ways!" He of course made sure not to say which ways those were. He was good at cooking in the dream. Good at making things. Good at snuggling. Good at... cough... you know activities. Just not magic.
The woman just smiled as she slowly made her way towards Aiden. The flash of crystals breaking apart made her stop for a brief second before she shattered? It was like the crystals hit a barrier or a mirror?
The woman would appear behind Charani this time... mumbling something under her breath only for strange snake like restraints to bind the young man. He had little time to react in his injured state.
"Can't have you helping out. Its much more fun one on one. More honorable as the knights say." The woman would place a barrier between Charani and Aiden to try and stop them from grouping up against her. It was almost like she was focused on the redhead.
Charani would try to use his mana to break the binds that held him. It would take a minute or... possibly several as she was very strong in this dream world. At least she seemed sadistic enough to like toying with them. That gave them time.
"Now now boy. Lets do this like knights. Well... pick it up.." The woman materialize a sword. The sword was one of many you could find in helios knights hall. Another of the same sword would appear at Aidens feet. She was toying with him. She came in for an attack. Sword in hand she would face down the knight.
He huffed, hardly satisfied with just ‘being good at other things’. If that didn’t translate to being strong what was the point then? “Thanks…I guess.” He’d responded halfheartedly. He stared wondering if he’d messed up the dream for a moment before the witch disappeared from sight. Seeing she’d gone, but still aware of her presence, he turned around wildly looking for her only to go pale as she cursed Charani somehow. Not good, not good. He felt a little less unsure with Charani more or less immobilized, if only for the fact that he wouldn’t be able to block attacks himself. Not that it mattered. As translucent barriers materialized between them, effectively cutting him off form his best friend he looked back at the with playing with them.
Charani had the sleep powder, their one ace in the hole as long as the other witch didn’t know about it. He was starting to have his doubts though. She challenged him to a duel and Aiden instinctively reached for his wand only to realize Dream Aiden didn’t carry one. Fantastic. He eyed the sword not really wanting to comply but not really having any other choice in the matter. He lifted it up in his hand feeling immediately awkward. He wasn’t used to holding something this heavy. He didn’t even know how to sword fight, if he was being quite honest. Once fights broke out the weapons he disappeared amidst the scuffle, unwilling to endanger himself any further.
“You wanna play knights? Because I think I’m better at jousting that dueling.” He offered, looking over the blade and the handle for suspicious runes or inscriptions. Nothing he noted that didn’t look like intentional engraving for decorative purposes. Cool. The put both his hands on the handle, gripping it tightly and attempting his best at a defensive stance. She came to quickly and he’s not quite sure how to react except hold up the sword given to him to block the other at it came down on him. He felt his heels dig in a bit from the force and the weight and found himself forced to slap a pal on the edge of the sword to hold it back before trying to shove the attack to the side and back away. He wanted to be nowhere near this fight.
