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 mention of the blinking scroll reminds Percy that he needs to visit Kiki again... when he has enough gold. When Ling stands up--oh my goodness, there is no limit to how cute she can be--he outright takes the challenge. But before any of that... he has to align the situation to his advantage.
"Okay," he says slowly, not quite matching Ling's excitement. He reaches up and touches Ling's arm. A sweet gesture. Percy speaks in a gentle voice. His eyes are sincere, face void of the mischief he has in mind. "I'll be here if you need any help. Not that I don't believe in your skills--I know you'd do awesome--but just in case. Okay?"
With that Percy stands, without removing his hand on Ling's arm. A second of eye contact. Then two. That's when Percy grins, grabs cleaning supplies, and races away from Ling. "I'm going ahead!" he says, winking. The Leviathan has already triggered a vine trap, but this time he pays it no mind. He steps back, well out of the reach of the grabby green plants. Both Percy and Seraph conjures pillars of water, engulfing the vines in a upward torrent of water.
Then Percy pours a small amount of soap in the water. The pillars bubble as the artificial mixture combines with water, and soon enough, the vines are relatively clean. The pillars of soap subsides, then up another torrent. He has to admit, that is a pretty efficient work. It drains the mana pool, granted, and it would probably be impractical in the long run. This time, it worked beautifully, and Percy is proud of it.
With a halo of pride he looks at Ling. What's up in her sleeves this time?
I press the button and[break]it bursts into life[break]This time nothing will escape my sight
Percy looks at her, not quite excited, and for a moment, she worries that she's made a mistake, that such childish games are beneath him. But then he reaches out and touches her arm, gentle and kind, eyes clear like the depths of a sunlit river in autumn. "I'll be here if you need any help," he offers, sincerity silver in his voice and gods, at this rate her blush is never going to fade. "Okay," she whispers back, looking back at him with wide eyes.
And then suddenly he grins, grabs his supplies, and is moving in a brown-haired blur. "Hey!" she exclaims, then laughs, realising his plan. "I'm so going to beat you!" she vows, grabbing her own bucket and grinning as she races to clean her side of the corridor. Unlike Percy, she doesn't have an elemental affinity that can help with cleaning - earth, in fact, would likely just make everything dirtier - but what she has got is a heckton of determination and a very helpful familiar.
Without any way of really cleaning the vines, Ling leaves them to her partner and focuses instead on the floor and walls, fervently scrubbing at stains with a speed and determination chores very rarely see used. Valkea, helpfully, also grabs a rag and trots on ahead. She makes quite good time if she does say so herself, but her progress is soon impeded as the vines from the trap begin to creep back towards them, only mildly deterred by her efforts at dodging and Valkea batting them away with his tail.
She bites back a curse as she ducks away from a vine for the fifth time, but unwilling to ask Percy for help just yet. "Ling! You still have some of those barrier tags from the Joker's Jamboree, right?" Valkea says suddenly, and heck, she could kiss her familiar. She scrambles for her pockets, digging out three crumpled pre-written barrier tags. "You're a genius, Val!" Ling exclaims.
Since the arrays are already drawn, activating them is extremely easy - she picks the least creased one and channels mana through it, watching in satisfaction as a shimmering iridescent barrier springs up between her and the annoying vines. They won't last long but it's more than enough time for her to finish mopping the length of the corridor.
Glancing up at Percy though, she's mildly surprised (and maybe a little disappointed) to see him finishing the last of his section and looking back at her with pride glowing in his eyes. She grins at him, giving him a thumbs up. "I guess you beat me this time," she admits, shrugging slightly, before twirling her mop and smiling at him. "I'll be done soon though, and then there can't be that much of the maze left to clean, right?"
percival grayreme - hella items used so far: 1. WINGARDIUM LEVIOSA, 2. 100 MOST USEFUL RUNES: ANSUZ, 3. BLINKING SCROLL, 4. BARRIERS
Exactly as planned, Percy thinks, grinning. His acting is on point again. As he does his craft, he wonders briefly why exactly has he even thought of the witches in theater and arts as people who are wasting their potential. He remembers the short-lived date with Perseus Fonseca, and he cringes, real hard. He is literally throwing dirt to his own kind--the kind that hides reality with a flimsy illusion, the kind that masks their intentions behind the convenient emotions.
How naive of him, honestly.
The pillars of water has subsided, and so does the vines. When he turns to look at Ling, he is once again surprised with her ingenuity. A barrage of characters hanging in midair amazingly holds the pesky vines in check. What a diverse affinity, Percy thinks. With such a flexible, adaptable branch of magic, how and why did runescripting dwindled in popularity?
That's a question he has to ask Ling. Maybe when they're going home--to her house, more precisely.
"Yeah," he says. "Before the dungeon incident both of us have covered at least a quarter of the maze. Working together, I think we covered up another quarter? Preferably more. It's just another two corridors or so, then we're done." He is mostly relieved that they're almost done.
"Better get moving!" And so Percy beckons Ling forward then begins the careful tread to the next corridor. He stops for a while, trying to sense any illusion on the way. He shakes his head, then. "Guess we'll encounter another physical-sort of traps this time," the Leviathan says dryly. There's no point in prolonging the agony, he continues forward.
There is no visible and physical trigger. Percy does not trip on anything, does not step on any kind of sneaky button on the ground, does not touch anything accidentally. If Ling is walking behind him, the two would be halfway through the corridor when--
The walls explode. Percy ducks, instinctively reaching for Ling to shield her from flames and debris. Heck, explosions?! They said the maze isn't deadly! Seraph is the one who reminds her witch that it isn't an hazardous explosion. There are no flames and debris, just a harmless flurry of colors with enchanted sound effects.
"What--?" Percy says, beginning to gather his wits.
I press the button and[break]it bursts into life[break]This time nothing will escape my sight
She lets out a sigh of relief when she finishes the last of the mopping, dropping the cleaning tools to stretch out her limbs before bounding over to Percy. "Done!" she announces, smiling brightly. She doesn't bother to dispel the runic array this time - it is far more flimsy and temporary an effect than the one she had inked on the wall and is already beginning to fade.
Ling follows after Percy, cautiously peeking around the corner into the next corridor. It is... completely empty. Again. She squints at the space suspiciously, remembering the invisible wall and the vine traps they had just went through. Which one would it be this time? Physical traps, her partner says, dry as the desert - perhaps more vine traps then?
They tread cautiously, eyes peeled for any trigger, any tripwire. But there is nothing. She tenses more and more the closer they get to the end, expecting something to happen even if she can see absolutely nothing suspicious- so much so that it's actually almost a relief when their surroundings explode around them.
Ling shrieks, instinctively ducking for the ground and shielding her face against any potential debris. Having been around (and the cause of) so many explosions has made this reflex all but second nature. Then she remembers her partner. "Percy!" she yells, relief flooding through her as she feels his hand close around her arm. She fumbles for one of the two barrier tags she still has remaining, throwing it onto the ground with a flare of mana, and slumps with relief as it activates, characters once again shimmering to life and enclosing them in a small but safe space.
By now, she's realised that the explosions were pretty much harmless - just sound and smoke and bright flares of colour. Still... better be safe than sorry right? As they wait for the last of the reactions to die down, Ling turns to Percy, concerned. "Are you okay? You weren't hurt, were you?" she worries, biting her lip as she studies him for any sign of injury.
Valkea, after a brief inspection of both Ling and Percy, relaxes and turns to the corridor instead. "I hope you two have some sort of trick up your sleeves," he says dryly. "Because that-" he flicks a tail towards the now brightly coloured walls and floor, "looks like quite a lot to clean."
percival grayreme - hella items used so far: 1. WINGARDIUM LEVIOSA, 2. 100 MOST USEFUL RUNES: ANSUZ, 3. BLINKING SCROLL, 4. BARRIERS
For a disorienting minute, Percy just cowers there, arms around Ling protectively. He tries not to shake, but boy, those sounds sounds too real. Percy does not like that. Ling's soft and reassuring voice wakes him up from the initial shock, and slowly he raises his head and looks at her.
He squints at the young lady. Something is off with her. Then one look down his body and he knows what's wrong. He agrees with Valkea, although he would like to add more. The corridors are dirty, and so are they. Both of the witches are covered in multicolored powder. Percy makes the mistakes of not clearing his nose first before inhaling, and
"Achoo!" the boy sneezes, then quickly cleans his face by ramming it with the edges of shirt... which is also dirty, but it manages to do the job. "I-I'm okay. Just a little dirty and quite surprised, that's all," Percy says, sniffing. He smiles sheepishly and gives Ling a weak grin. "Nothing to throw you off balance than a fake explosion, eh?"
When he is more or less recovered from the shock, Percy begins to survey the corridor. In a way, it's beautiful. The floor and the walls are colored rainbow, and if its a graffiti, Percy would gladly paint it. Maybe he would even imagine himself posing with it. But it isn't a graffiti. They have to clean this.
Percy sighs, already formulating a sort-of plan. "I can only conjure a pillar of water, and it's vertical. Uh, I was thinking, could you improvise with the runes earlier? Sort of make--" Percy acquaints his explanation with gestures of hand, "several passages with the runes. The water will run through it, sourced from the pillar. Endgame is hopefully be able to channel the water into several directions."
He scratches his head, cringing a bit to feel the powder dust on his hair. His hair. "If not, then I'll just put a couple of pillars out there..."
I press the button and[break]it bursts into life[break]This time nothing will escape my sight
She blinks at her familiar's words, then quickly looks down at herself in a mix of delight and horror. Colours, every shade imaginable, splotching her skin and clothes and hair (and gods, that's going to take forever to wash out - the drawbacks of having long hair); and her mission partner doesn't look any better. The corridor, and they with it, collectively look as if a rainbow had vomited on them. Repeatedly. In a nice (kinda) way.
But hey, it's cool, she's much rather rainbows and colour bombs than actual explosives any day. And vibrancy is nice - it's certainly a memorable finish to the maze. "Fake explosions are much better than the real ones, I can attest to that," she replies, grinning.
Unfortunately, lovely as the colours are, they're going to have to clean it up, and it doesn't look to be an easy nor quick task. She bites her lip at Percy's idea, twining her braid between her fingers (and in the process, smearing more colour across her hands. "I... don't think I'm good enough with barriers to do that sort of improvisation," she says apologetically. Unlike focus runes and their centric arrays, the barrier arrays she knows are all based off a standardised one, and any major alteration would need a lot of research, calculations, and experiments.
She thinks for a moment, then brightens as an idea comes to mind. "What if I blocked off both ends of the corridor with barriers, and then you flooded the corridor?" she asks, mind whirling. "Conjure up pillars, and just let it collapse. Hey, I wonder if wingardium leviosa works on water..."
percival grayreme - hella items used so far: 1. WINGARDIUM LEVIOSA, 2. 100 MOST USEFUL RUNES: ANSUZ, 3. BLINKING SCROLL, 4. BARRIERS
"Oh my," Percy says, dramatically clutching his heart. He looks absolutely stricken. He does not plan on ending the drama any time soon, and Seraph actually is the one to nudge his calf and remind him of the business of the day. She speaks no words, but her message is clear.
"Oh, right, the mission." The boy stands up as if nothing happened. His expression and tone of voice change in an instant, in a blink of an eye, with no prior warning. He begins discussing the plan with Ling, which he has very little hope of being realized. And he guesses it right.
"I see..." Percy trails off, falling into silence as his mind tries to come up with a solution. He comes up blank, and his face falls. This is not a drill, this is the very reality itself. Frustration creeps into his veins, making the vibrant corridor less appealing and more annoying. What Percy does is to set aside the emotions, possibly put them in a bottle, seal it with a cork, and throw it to the sea. It will be the first in the history--a glass bottle washed ashore by the waves that does not contain a love letter. Percy finds that amusing.
A minute ago he is frustrated, the next second he wants to hug Ling again. "Brilliant!" he exclaims, the plan visualized in his mind. "If you can go ahead and prepare the runes. Seraph and I would conjure a pillar over here. It'll take a bit of delay to make it work."
Assuming that Ling runs off to write characters, Percy and Seraph would concentrate on conjuring yet another pillar. It takes a full three minutes time for the torrent of water to erupt from the ground. Hopefully Ling is done by then, because Seraph would carefully bend the pillar to 'spill' it towards the ground. Once the flood reaches a few inches from the ground, then the pillar would dissipate.
Percy reaches down for the soap and the brush, but finds himself almost losing balance. "I do hope this is the last one," the boy says dryly, adding half of the bottle to the flood.
I press the button and[break]it bursts into life[break]This time nothing will escape my sight
She finds new energy to bolster her flagging reserves in Percy's enthusiasm, brightening as the frustration visible in his eyes dies down at her proposed plan. "Brilliant!" he says, and she all but glows, beaming at him before hurrying off to ink the barriers.
The array is actually pretty easy to create, actually, considering that it's literally just the standard basic barrier array with no modifications needed. She writes as quickly as she can, dark ink swirling patterns onto rugged stone; standing back to look at the runes with their flowing lines and underlying elegant mathematical formulae and so much meaning distilled into such simplistic representation - runescripting is beautiful and there's nothing that could ever compare.
But yeah, no, in the middle of a mission is probably not the best time to marvel at the magnificence of runescripting. Ling sprints off to the other end of the corridor, dropping to her knees and beginning writing anew. After all, the barriers have to be done before Percy finishes summoning his water pillars, otherwise it'd get... messy. Which means more cleaning. No thanks.
"Done!" she yells triumphantly two barriers shimmer into existence, less iridescent and more luminescent than the previous ones she had wrought. And just in time too - she makes it just in time to see a torrent of water erupt from the ground. Ling watches in fascinated awe as the swan and the older witch work their magic - someday, she vows, she'll be able to do cool techniques just like her partner.
"Come on, the quicker we get to work, the quicker we'll be finished," she laughs, picking up her own brush and getting to work.
percival grayreme - hella items used so far: 1. WINGARDIUM LEVIOSA, 2. 100 MOST USEFUL RUNES: ANSUZ, 3. BLINKING SCROLL, 4. BARRIERS
The water begins to bubble as soap mix in it. The water slowly fills the length of the corridor, from their position in the middle, to both edges of the hallway. Ling's barriers shimmer into existence just in time to seal the water in. "All right, this should do!" Percy says excitedly. Simultaneous with Ling, Percy picks up a mop and begins vigorously scrubbing the floor. The dust comes off pretty easily and for that the Leviathan is immensely thankful.
"I'll leave the pillar to you, Seraph," Percy says, already turning away from the swan. As quickly as he could Percy moves towards the far-end of the hallway. He has just reached the barrier when he realizes something. The water has continuously flowed, and right now the soap water's height is coming up to his knees.
Now, if Percy wants to make the corridor into a swimming pool, he could do so. It'll be fun! But then there are limits to the barriers, for it's conjured by runes. It's not meant to be permanent, nor to last long. Who knows how much pressure it could take. If it is to break and the water should spill...
That's not a good idea. "Seraph, you can stop now." The pillar collapses, sending waves that lapses as high as Percy's thighs. The mute swan now wades on the water, not minding the powder nor the soap. She points his beak towards a similarly floating bucket, and, oh. "You're a genius and I love you!" Percy exclaims, picking up the bucket and filling it with water.
He grunts, and with physical effort he lifts the pail and splashes the contents to the walls. He then begins to scrub it with the mop. This fill, lift, splash, then scrub-the-heck-off-the-walls-cycle would continue until he's covered his side of the corridor.
"My arms are tired," Percy whines, and Seraph pecks at him. Which only makes him whine more. Nonetheless he does not halt, complain and comply, as always.
I press the button and[break]it bursts into life[break]This time nothing will escape my sight
The water rises and rises and rises until she's sloshing with every step, struggling to wade through the flood that has now reached her upper thighs. On the bright side, they really don't have to do anything to clean the floor. On the not so bright side, she's wet, her limbs her getting increasingly heavy, and the water is rapidly turning into a dirty mix of a thousand colours. On the bright side, at least doing laundry on her clothes should now be easier? And hey, the water is a nice way to cool down from the hot midday sun!
On the not so bright side, there's still so. much. wall. to go. Valkea, long since dematerialised, the lucky one, oh so helpfully points out that at least it's the last stretch? Grumbling, Ling agrees, but that doesn't change the fact that it's tiring as heck. It's been a long day.
"My arms are tired," Percy says, and she can't help but whole-heartedly agree. But no, optimism. "Just a little more to go!" she says, injecting as much cheer as she can into her tone.
Slosh water up. Scrub. Rinse. Move on. Repeat. By the time she reaches the end, her brain has almost gone numb with the tedium of the monotonous actions, and she finds herself staring blankly where her barrier meets the wall, wondering what she's supposed to do now. Then it hits her. "Dude, we're done!" she exclaims, excitement lending her a burst of energy where previously there had been nothing but exhaustion.
She grins, bright and cheerful and tired but happy, wet and dirty but triumphant. Then she pauses. "Uh," she says intelligently. "What are we going to do with the water? Can you vanish it? Is that a thing?"
percival grayreme - hella items used so far: 1. WINGARDIUM LEVIOSA, 2. 100 MOST USEFUL RUNES: ANSUZ, 3. BLINKING SCROLL, 4. BARRIERS
"Just a little more to go!" Ling's cute voice echoes in Percy's mind, and he clings to it for dear life. He holds on to it like it is his lifeline, and it might as well be. The gruesome cycle continues dutifully, and at heaven's last, the walls are done.
Percy wants to collapse, honestly. By now his movements drag, his arms almost limp and unbelievably the whole of him is sweating. If only the water is not a mix of multicolored dust, dirt, and grime, he would have dived into it to get himself clean. But no, that's not happening. It also comes to his realization that Seraph has long vanished from the familiar world, and oh, how he wish he could do that as well.
Ling looks dead-tired as well, her eyes empty moments before realization hits her. Then she brightens up, like a flower blooming as dawn touches it, and Percy can't help but smile as well. Surrounded by dirty water, trapped by walls, under the blistering noon, they've finished cleaning the unruly maze.
"Oh, uh..." Percy scratches the back of his head, at a loss of what to do. "I don't know, I can't make them vanish. The only technique I have in which water vanishes is the pillar, and this--" he gestures to the flood of dirt, grime, and powder, "is not part of the pillar anymore... though, wait." He snaps his fingers, an idea coming through. "Seraph!"
He receives no answer, which is expected. Seraph's silence is not of her natural muteness, but by willful ignorance. But Percy insists. "You gotta join me in this! If I should get dirty, so should you be!" he yells in midair. With a little more internal struggle, Seraph materializes in a puff of white plume, and very reluctantly wades in the dirty water. Together the duo conjures several bubbles, scooping most of the water in. Five huge bubbles, and the corridor is almost drained save for a small pools in uneven grounds.
I press the button and[break]it bursts into life[break]This time nothing will escape my sight
Say what you will about the nature of the maze, clearly it's testing and promoting their innovation skills, even if they're cleaning it and not actually running it. Ling watches with wide eyes as Percy and Seraph condense the pool of dirty water into five giant bubbles wobbling rather ominously in the air, clearing the flood in the corridor till only a few shallow puddles remain.
"That's so cool..." she breathes, starry-eyed, almost, almost tempted to poke one of the bubbles but refraining because, you know, she does have some common sense no matter what some people say.
"Now, where to dump..."
"Wait, I got this!" she calls, fumbling through her pockets for her pen and dropping to the ground to begin scrawling a standard storage array onto the cobblestones. She makes the circumference much larger than normal to accommodate for the giant size of the water bubbles but doesn't bother to modify the array in any way - there's no need for her to be able to unseal the water later, after all, and it's much easier this way.
"If you lower each bubble into the array, I can seal them away," she tells Percy, eyes still glued on the lines she's drawing. "After that, all we'll need to do is to erase the array, and the water won't be a problem anymore." The tip of her tongue sticks out from the corner of her mouth as she finishes the last runes, activates it with a flare of mana, and stands, tired but satisfied. "Done!" she announces, grinning.
percival grayreme - hella items used so far: 1. WINGARDIUM LEVIOSA, 2. 100 MOST USEFUL RUNES: ANSUZ, 3. BLINKING SCROLL, 4. BARRIERS, 5. STORAGE ARRAYS
He feels guilty to have Ling write out yet another set of runes. How many has she written and activated today? Percy does not keep count, but he guesses it's probably way too much for a supposedly simply mission such as cleaning a maze. They're supposed to just scrub and rinse, that's what they signed up for. She stands, exhausted, the storage array crackling with mana.
"Runescripting is so cool!" Percy says, sincerity clear in his voice. He stares in the brilliant characters for a second, wondering what they say. Seraph nudges him again. "Oh, yeah. Now uh, just a litte..." he trails off, focus shifting towards moving the bubbles. The witch and the familiar carefully, carefully lowers a bubble, and when it's directly on top of the array, Seraph breaks it. A torrent of water spills onto the runes, and--
Disappears.
"So cool," Percy breathes once again. Percy and Seraph repeats the same process four more times until the last bubble pops, pouring its contents to the runes.
Eyes wide, Percy looks at Ling. Stares at her. Her hair is in different shades now, so does her clothes and patches of her skin. Both of them are stinking dirty, tired, and just wants the hell out of this maze. Percy wants a jolly finish. This calls for a party! But first--
"Come on, I want out of this place!" Percy says, laughing, making a break for the exit. It's in plain sight. The House of Khione can be seen looming in the short distance. "Let's go to the mansion! Get a shower then our prizes!" As he nears the place, he could see ladies holding towels and replacement clothes. They guide the two to the expensive house, and to two separate bathrooms.
"Your reward will be presented to you upon your exit," a lady says.
I press the button and[break]it bursts into life[break]This time nothing will escape my sight
"Runescripting is so cool!" Percy says, sincerity ringing through his words and Ling thinks, tired as she is, hella worth it. She beams at him. "It is, isn't it!" she agrees, enthusiastic despite the exhaustion beginning to settle like leaden weights in her bones. Ling smiles all the way through the process of sealing away the water, proud of her own work, glad that the mission is drawing to a close, and happy that someone else has seen the awesomeness of runescripting. The last of the water vanishes into the array, she mops away the ink-
And then, they're done, looking at each other with the wild maniac glee of the newly liberated, wide grins that break into laughter like sunshine through clouds. "Come on, I want out of this place!" Percy says, turns heel and runs towards the exit. And Ling follows, adrenaline lending her what feels like wings to her feet, eyes bright like fire, pride crowned gold on her brow.
percival grayreme - hella items used so far: 1. WINGARDIUM LEVIOSA, 2. 100 MOST USEFUL RUNES: ANSUZ, 3. BLINKING SCROLL, 4. BARRIERS, 5. STORAGE ARRAYS
