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.
How do you run from your own mind? No one knows what goes on up inside my head. Theres a new kind of poison and its starting to spread. I just want to be okay. I just want to be okay.
This was a simple mission. Simple in the fact it was specifically scouted out for one main reason. To be part of a larger whole... a larger plan against those in power whom have wronged so many. People who didn't deserve to be wronged. People who have hearts bigger than even the egos of their oppressors.
Just off the coast of the city there was a small town who has been experiencing problems. He was to meet a contact here from the Leviathan Coven. Or at least that was the hope. The hydra would be a best ally in this fight against the serpent and the false prophet.
The young man hummed as he walked down through the small town. It had a small outdoor market area that looked promising. That would probably be a good place to gather information while he waited for his companion to show up. Hopefully it was someone helpful like Zephyr Hart or one of the few witches he know of in the coven.
"Its a mystery... a murder mystery? This will be fine. This will be fine? Yeah this will be fine." He said looking back and forth around the area talking to himself. Yeah this would be fine. As long as whoever it was isn't... you know incompetent. Then again didnt always matter... especially when picking a fall guy. Easier to place blame on the dumb ones. This would be fun. TV-Y7 fun probably but still fun.
[attr="class","m1scroll"]his mind has been, of late, preoccupied with many things. way too many things, really. there’s the entire hydra fiasco, and fane getting captured; there’s the loss of an arm and then the replacement of it ( he wonders if zephyr got any sleep, but knows that he probably didn’t, and feels a little guilty because honestly, he could have waited ); and then there’s this : a stirring of anti-knight sentiments in the depths of sundial.
it isn’t as if such feelings are new, but its sudden (re)emergence definitely blindsides him for a moment. as far as he knows, it wasn’t initiated by leviathan, who has their hands somewhat occupied with one of their most important leaders disappearing. though, then again, secrets run deep within the coven, and the more he thinks about it, the more uncertain he becomes.
he is here nonetheless, eyes narrowed slightly against the spray of sea-salt-air and wondering what on earth he’s gotten himself into this time. he’s not really the best at search-and-rescue operations, or solving any mysteries, or literally anything that doesn’t involve breaking a window and maybe someone’s leg, but you gotta do what you gotta do to pay rent.
a small market tucks itself along the corner of the coastline, optimistically cheerful despite what he knows of the disappearances ( which is to say, very little ). it is here he finds a familiar face among the crowd. “billy, hey!” he takes a few half-jog steps to catch up, a wry smile on his features. “sorry, guess you’re stuck with me for now.”
"Oh its Maddeline. That works." He would give a peace sign to his cousin as the older boy approached him. Good at least he knew it was someone that was mildly competent in a fight. Oh and a metal arm. That was probably new... though it had been a bit since he had seen his cousin. Or most of them besides Siobhan Kasparian to be honest.
They would gather some information around town and try to get out where they could be hiding that many people... or to be quite honest probably that many corpses. It was more than likely a serial killer or a slave trader in the knight ranks. One of those would be true. One of those is true. He took this mission knowing that.
"Now where should we start. Maybe ask around the merchants first." He said looking back and forth around the area while talking to Maddox. Which would be the fastest way to excuse his goal. He already knew who was behind this. He already knew the goal. He just had to gather some easy information to push this mission in the right direction. That was all.
"What do you think cousin? Together or split and conquer?" Either way would work for him. He could easily lie about his sources if they split up. He could also purposefully steer them in the right direction if they were together. He was after all known as the zany cousin with his loud and silly attitude. It wouldn't be hard to manipulate him... especially since they were family. Familiar with each other. That created a leeway of trust he didnt have to earn with a stranger.
[attr="class","m1scroll"]does it kill people to say his name right? it’s not a difficult name- oh, whatever. he takes it in his stride — he doesn’t really mind. he hasn’t seen billy in a while anyway. wonders briefly what he’s up to. makes it a mental note to potentially ask later.
“finding out what the merchants know sounds like a good idea,” he agrees amiably, scanning the marketplace as well. people walk in and out of this place all the time. surely, they must have seen something. some may be a little tight-lipped about what they see, but that is rarely an issue once you start applying a little more pressure. just a little. don’t want to garner any unwanted suspicion.
he tugs his sleeves down, covering the metallic glint of the prosthetic arm. as much as he loves it, he can’t help but admit it is a little conspicuous, especially if they’re going around asking questions.
“we can probably cover more ground if we split up,” he suggests lightly, “maybe draw less attention.”
“i recently figured out a thing that lets us share information uh, telepathically, if you will. similar to how familiars do it. i could do that, if you want. might make it easier for communication.”
"Okie dokie. Time to split up!." He would turn on his heels before Maddox kept talking. Damn him why couldnt he just info dump like any good npc in an rpg then let him go. This give and take thing was annoying. Haha just kidding. A bit at least.
The black haired boy turned his head back to his cousin as he explained something about telepathic information sharing. Sounded handy and somewhat dangerous. How did it work? What could it transmit? Just words and thoughts? Maybe images? Who knows.
"Now where is the fun in that Madeline? I say we just meet back here in one hour. This exact spot. Dont you think that is more fun?" He said looking back with that cheshire cat smile on his face. No use in risking it until he had more information on the spell. He could just ask about it but then again h couldnt be one hundred percent sure he would get the whole truth. Thats the problem with snakes.
"See you soon!" He would shout before vanishing in a puff of smoke into the crowd. If he looked hard enough he would see that the young man didnt teleport that far with his blinking spell. Just enough to hopefully attempt to blend in and ditch the other man. He would start walking away towards the other end of the market. Not walking fast enough to draw attention but not going slow by any means.
Hopefully the man took the hint and started asking around. He would need to find out about the serial killer soon enough. He would point the man in the direction if he didnt find it himself within the hour limit he had set. All he needed was the figure out to check the knight storehouse. He would go there soon enough himself anyway.
Post by maddox rothscus ✨ on Dec 16, 2018 3:21:41 GMT
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[attr="class","m1scroll"]“oh, uh. cool,” he says to a puff of coloured smoke that was previously his cousin. “yeah, cool cool cool.” guess he won’t be using that, then. a pity, because atheneum really does shine when gathering information. ( though, admittedly, possessing an affinity specifically geared towards one thing may not necessarily entail actually being good at that thing. )
now left on his own, billy having blinked to who-knows-where, he supposes he ought to pull his weight. with a couple of subtle arcane gestures behind his back, he sends up a series of drones, invisible to the unsuspecting onlooker. a series of small screens blink into existence at the corners of his vision — three aerial views of his half of the marketplace, quietly scanning for any suspicious activity while he moves around.
his questioning is blunt but not tactless, and he moves through the marketplace steadily, ambling between stores, feigning interest in the occasional trinket. the general feedback he gets is an atmosphere of unease, and a growing dissatisfaction with the knights ( a point with which he agrees wholeheartedly ). ‘shame on them,’ an old woman grumbles, ‘not doing their god-damned duty, just takin’ our taxes and not doin’ shite.’ maddox nods, makes the appropriate amount of agreeable humming noises, and moves on.
over the course of an hour ( he keeps a running timer on the side of the interface ), he finds his way back to the meeting spot. “didn’t get too much,” he admits upon seeing the other witch, with a sheepish grin. “i did take a better look at the land, though, and there are some buildings — look like warehouses, maybe? — a little further out that might be worth investigating, if they’re hiding people, or bodies, somewhere. i ‘unno. what did you find?”
Time would turn on and pass more quickly than he expected. More quickly than he realized he had to make his way back to their meeting spot. He was there before the other man oddly. Maybe he was just faster? No that wouldnt make sense... he lost an arm not a leg. No reason that would make him slower... unless the added weight? Or did it weigh less?
The black haired boy watched as he cousin gave a rather lame report. Okay. Time to lie. Youre good at that. Since you know he had some vague direction he would start with the warehouses. That was at least close to their objective. What they wanted was under them but that wasnt the point.
"The vanishings apparently started not long after... well lets just say a change in leadership of the local knight squad here. Maybe that has something to do with it?" He said as the other man brought up the warehouses were worth investigating. He was not wrong. He was not wrong at all.
"I like the way you think. Those warehouses could be a good place to look. Sounds like a plan. Race you there." He would shout before vanishing in a puff of smoke into the crowd yet again. If he looked hard enough he would see that the young man, just like before, teleport that far with his blinking spell. Just enough to get a head start on the older witch. By golly he was going towards the destination quickly.
The place looked to be somewhat guarded by the local knights. That was... annoying. Maybe they should wait a couple of hours before they went inside. It would be the perfect time to catch someone in the act or... break in. He was certain they wouldnt just let them waltz right into their caches after all.
Post by maddox rothscus ✨ on Dec 16, 2018 6:09:11 GMT
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[attr="class","m1scroll"]he tilts his head. “someone taking advantage of instability, or corruption within the ranks, then?” it wouldn’t be the first time, nor would it be the last. the eloquence of knights can hide the most heinous of acts — they are always so high and mighty, but dig a little deeper down, and they’re just human after all. they bleed all the same.
he’s in the middle of formulating a reply, the words on the tip of his tongue, but before he can truly process it, billy is gone again. “race- wh- oh god.” he waves away the coloured smoke with a cough, squints at the dark-haired witch a few ways off, and resigns himself to his fate. he sets off at a rapid jog, just a regular, good ol’ run through the marketplace. a perfectly normal tuesday. nothing to see here, folks.
it takes forever — he doesn’t mind a decent jog, but this is a half-sprint through the jungle in shoes that really aren’t running shoes, and his cousin can goddamn teleport — but he eventually does draw within sight of the warehouses. he leans against the back of a tree, tries to pretend the run hadn’t winded him, and sends the drones further out to survey the area.
“four of them,” he says, “two in the front, two more at the back.” the images crystallize on the interface; he can make out the red-gold emblems on their chest. the corners of his lips twitch downwards in mild disdain. “ah, knights.”
Billy would arrive there about two minutes before his cousin. I mean he could teleport so like... that was a huge time savor. Sure it drained his mana a little bit but it was worth it to win. And win he did. Besides potions didnt really use mana after their creation so half of his skillset was non mana intensive in theory.
The black haired boy stood behind the small clutter of trees as his cousin used some kind of weird drone things. He never really got how that magic worked... or at least didnt understand how the witches who used that form of magic controlled it. Zephyr could use that magic too couldnt he? Or was that someone else he knew? Oh wait. Wasnt it nasty boi heath ambroise who could do it? Yes.
"That should be easy to bypass then. Can you tell if there are any inside?" He hummed as he peaked around the corner to see not super far from them were two men in helios knight getups guarding a door. Annoying.
"We could always wait it out but thats kind of boring. Setting the place on fire... while fun would destroy evidence. Le sigh." He wished he could just burn it to the ground. It would be so much easier. Just burn all of their stuff to the ground and leave nothing in the ashes of their defeat. Nothing but the sweet taste of victory.
Their next move would be to get inside. He just had to lead the other man towards the basement of the main building there. That was where their desired information was. That was where they had to go. Hopefully the target was there now and he could kill two birds with one stone. Or two knights with one blade.
Post by maddox rothscus ✨ on Dec 16, 2018 6:49:07 GMT
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[attr="class","m1scroll"]he sends the drones scattering once more, flying one as close to the windows as he can get. the windows are, frankly, in terrible shape. there is one that is partially cracked at a corner, and amid the floating dust motes and what looks to be haphazardly stacked crates, he spies a pair of guards. “two more on the inside,” he informs billy. “six is a shit ton of guards for a place in the middle of-” pauses for a brief glance around, “-basically nowhere.”
one drone remains at the broken window. the others continue circling the place, hovering a short distance above the guards. the interface was invisible, of course, but he couldn’t rule out the possibility of the guards potentially having some sort of detection magic. “i could cause a distraction, maybe, and we could use that to get in?”
as much as he wants to, jumping into direct confrontation with the knights probably isn’t the best of ideas. not without solid evidence to back them up, at least, and preferably not when he risks being recognised — though, then again, he has practically no magical means of disguising himself. stealth and infiltration have never been part of his repertoire; it’s always been more of a ‘charge in and whack’ kind of deal.
he keeps watching through the drones, trying to see as much as he can within the building itself. “there’s, like, a door that they’re guarding inside? a stairwell? i can’t quite see from this angle.”
So there were two more guards for a total of six. Given where they were it was doubtful that these guards were ranked very highly in terms of power. Maybe novice ranked witches or lower. Easy targets to take the fall naturally. That was probably the thinking behind it.
The black haired boy listened as his cousin talked about a distraction or some other thing they could do. Yup. That is a totally normal plan they could totally do. A plan they could do if it werent for the fact they could just walk inside. You know. Thanks to magic. He slipped out two potion bottles from his pocket.
"Yeah. That sounds annoying. So we just gonna do this." He said as he literally threw whatever was in one of the vials on his cousin. Vanish drought. A very handy potion for infiltration missions and a staple on these sorts of things he usually always carried. That and aquapyre since it was... well sure destructive and that helped in a lot of situations. Like a lot.
He would also pour some on himself and vanish right before his cousins eyes. Well this would make things so much easier now wouldnt it? Cant stop what you cant see right? As long as they werent high level detection witches it would be fine. And fine it was.
"Okay. Lets go hunting." The young man would start to make a move. The window was probably the easier way to go without having to open the door. Even if they were invisible a door magically opening would raise suspicion to the guards. Going through a window was probably a better option. Given the age too it was probably not locked or the lock didnt work. Easy peasy.
Post by maddox rothscus ✨ on Dec 16, 2018 7:15:57 GMT
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[attr="class","m1scroll"]“we’re gonna- wh-” he stares at the vials that billy had just pulled out, logic finally clicking in his mind because of course, of course billy is an alchemist, with their million different tricks and versatile skills. there’s a moment of surprise, very quickly stifled by acceptance, before it gives way to begrudging admiration as billy vanishes before his eyes. he looks at his hands — not there. nice.
it is, admittedly, a little challenging to keep track of billy when he’s invisible, but common sense at least guides him somewhat in trying to figure out where his cousin is headed. they move towards a window, still a little out of line of sight of the guards just to make sure, and maddox tentatively leans forward to test the lock. rusted and in clear disuse, the window puts up little fight as when he eventually slides it open just enough for them to hop through.
he waits for a moment — whatever seems to be a rough estimate of how long it takes to climb in through a window — and carefully follows suit, lowering himself onto the ground as lightly as possible. and just like that, they are in the building.
“right,” he says, barely more than a whisper. “where to?”
They make it to the window with easy. It isnt long before that old rusted lock is no more and the window slides open. Yes. Thank you muscle boy for your help. The young man climbs his twink butt into the warehouse before his cousin. The guards appear to be on the far end of the warehouse thankfully and nowhere near their target. The basement. Well the target he knew of.
The leviathin whispered his question and Billy pointed absently in the direction they were going. Oh wait. Right. He cant see the pointing. Well this was annoying now wasnt it? Damn vanishing potion how you have betrayed me.
"If I were a supervillain Id hide things in the basement." He whispered to his cousin as they would try to quietly make their treck to the stairs leading downward. That was the best place to go after all.
The place wasnt that big in hindsight. It would take them maybe fifteen seconds to sneak there. Just as long as they didnt break anything or step on anything they would be fine. By they I mean Maddox. Billy was literally a ninja in stealth mode when he actually wanted to be. Which wasnt often but still.
The stairs would lead down to something... not very pleasant. A basement with the worlds ugliest red rug. Like it was majorly ugly. There was a desk and some other basic office stuff. It was literally a basement office. Whoever used this office had the worst taste in rugs ever. Like he should burn it just on principle.
Post by maddox rothscus ✨ on Dec 16, 2018 11:27:28 GMT
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[attr="class","m1scroll"]there is a moment of silence that follows his question. did billy just leave? did billy choose a different window? did his ( often wrong ) common sense betray him ( again )? then his cousin finally speaks, and he feels a flood a relief. right. okay. not alone. cool cool cool cool.
he is painfully careful as he makes his way towards the stairwell, practically tip-toeing his way across the floor. he scarcely even breathes — is mildly terrified to, in all honesty, because he is well-aware that he is terrible at being quiet. somewhere far away in the cosmos, an invisible hand rolls a die: maddox makes it across the floor silently, and it is one of the most excruciating fifteen seconds of his life.
the stairs go down, and down, and down. its final destination is, frankly, terrible. not in the sense of the grotesque or horrific, not piled high with rotting corpses or anything like that, but it is still— well, he wouldn’t say he has particularly refined taste in interior design, and doesn’t think too highly of his general taste in furniture, but this is just bad. the office set-up, he can excuse. but the rug? the rug? he has never felt so personally offended by an item of furniture.
There was nobody in this office at the moment. Now was a perfect time to snoop around and dig through everything. Maddox would see drawers starting to open seemingly on their own and files magically floating/opening in mid air. Of course it was Billy looking through and reading stuff.
Transactions, transactions, transactions. All such boring stuff that didnt really help him. Money laundering... blah blah blah. All kinds of white collar crimes that would probably be helpful to spread around later but nothing big. Nothing that really brought about a headline. Well nothing in these files. It had to be here somewhere.
"Find anything?" He whispered to his cousin as he hopefully got the hint and would try to quietly look around. He was currently doing the desk so maybe the dresser or bookshelf? The cabinet would have pictures of brunette women. All around the same age and general body type if he were to look there. Some stained with wet spots from... fluids that were not blood but... a different body fluid and a clipping of hair taped to the back of each picture. Eew.
The other option would yield nothing tangible. At least nothing he could see. If he looked behind the books there was a small latch that when turned would create an unlocking click sound nearby. It would sound like it was almost under them? Huh. Strange.
The rug would look vaguely distorted near the center once this happened. Almost like someone put like a toy or something under it in one part. A little bit raised in just one section of the rug but barely.
