-
This section is for roleplays only.
ALL interest checks/recruiting threads must go in the Recruit Here section.
Please remember to credit artists when using works not your own.
Fantasy Kingdom Death - Main - IC
- Thread starter Auriel Maza
- Start date
Chapter One
Beckoncall
World-Weaver and servant to the most-holy PC
CHAPTER ONE: "AS ABOVE, SO BELOW..."
All around the landscape, prostrate forms lay still sleeping, or slowly rising in the faint dancing circles of their lanterns. One by one, the lanterns rose, and the stone faces that formed an endless grey carpet below their feet gave way to the silent, but animated faces of other people... other bloods in the darkness. At first swarms of stinging insects plagued at them all, one lantern not enough to keep them at bay -- but as couples formed, and groups coalesced -- the insects kept greater distance, and with even just three or four lanterns they would scatter away altogether. Some saw this for it's obvious symbolism -- light pushed back the pain, just as it pushed back the dark.
Others saw the light as a needed curse, revealing their place in the panumbral darkness. They held their lanterns low and their crude stone knives high, distrusting the strangers in the dark as they found each other...
All around the landscape lay rising lanterns, some hopelessly isolated, some already in the company of a chorus of other streams of light.
The whispers of their ancestors seemed to urge them to find safety, and a brief respite... somehow, so that what little knowledge they had could be leveraged before some catastrophe befell one or all of them.
As if to answer, Growls and Roars sounded in the distance -- and in response to those, Screams of horror and despair. The farthest and most isolated lanterns winked out, one by one -- crashing to the stone and winking out, or vanishing entirely in the dark...
Fear gave way to defiance though, in some groups, and some individuals. The ink slid from their eyes and they looked to the other bloods, and their lanterns. In the moments to come, Leaders would distinguish themselves and followers would fall in line...
And then it came... The floating orbs, glowing orange, unlike a lantern -- their odd bio-luminescence made them appear as upside down balloons, trailing into the sky on grey-black tendrils extending into the vaulting darkness above. Two score of these bouncing corpulent lights, rising and falling as if to bounce over the landscape... in a pallid imitation of the movement of lanterns over uneven ground. Those close to the collective of lights strung into the sky could hear a low rumble of something gigantic overhead... and a windy noise akin to a "WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH" broke the silence of the infinite dark.
in the darkness, some of the clandestine lights saw this collective of illumination as a savior or at least an alternative to the unbroken dark... and one by one those who followed the lights... some transfixed, some frenzied to keep up... suddenly, almost in unison, splashed into some inky, oily, shiny-surfaced water. The water was turbulent as evinced by those that could hold their lamps high over what rapidly dawned on all that observed was a trap by an enormous predator... in the splashing their lanterns dimmed, and in the growing dark could be seen THE HOOKS that descended from the mass of bouncing orange lights. Impaling, pulling skyward... to some unknown misbegotten fate in the dark above.
Some of the trapped elected to drown instead, filling their lungs with oily water and diving never to rise. But still on the outskirts of the spectacle more lone lanterns headed for the trap, the ground-skimming hooks searching for them and homing in on their light, or warmth... who could say.
No-one could see this better than the folk on the "black glassy knife." -- a landform like a hill, or more like a wall, stretched ever outward into the dark. What parts were not hopelessly dirty sparkled back the light of lanterns in a entrancing, darkly way... the "Glassy Knife" land-feature was six feet wide at the top at it's widest, and in places ten feet high.. The sides covered with sharp protrusions, but the top smooth, as if the rest of it had been broken away by something impossibly large. Bloods awoke astride and around this landform, the elevation giving them a little bit of range to the distance of their lanterns. All the better to witness the horror unfold on the oily lake.
Small congregations of lights began to dance, and wink out -- no lanterns coalesced in numbers to push back the darkness, only to attract predators, or reveal the snare that was the dancing lights as soon as it was too late.
You all stand somewhere in this chaos. Some alone, some in small groups... but one thing is clear, there seems no way, no where, to hide.
Can some among the chaos bring the light together?! Can some find sanctuary in the devouring darkness, and share how to hide with their kin?
Will some just lift their weapons and defy whatever comes?
As if to mock your efforts, the howling windy noise above sounds like a horn:
"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!"
_____________________________________
PLAYERS: Declare what you wish to do in the darkness, and I will also handle this event on the discord. Right now the light of the lanterns is like a dinner bell, but the clever, those that will lead, can perhaps make something greater, do something greater, than die in this darkness... (post away, but over-complicated plans will fail, and some characters, especially if brave, may not live to see turn two...*)
(Though they can create new ones after their valiant predecessors)
GAME ON!
All around the landscape, prostrate forms lay still sleeping, or slowly rising in the faint dancing circles of their lanterns. One by one, the lanterns rose, and the stone faces that formed an endless grey carpet below their feet gave way to the silent, but animated faces of other people... other bloods in the darkness. At first swarms of stinging insects plagued at them all, one lantern not enough to keep them at bay -- but as couples formed, and groups coalesced -- the insects kept greater distance, and with even just three or four lanterns they would scatter away altogether. Some saw this for it's obvious symbolism -- light pushed back the pain, just as it pushed back the dark.
Others saw the light as a needed curse, revealing their place in the panumbral darkness. They held their lanterns low and their crude stone knives high, distrusting the strangers in the dark as they found each other...
All around the landscape lay rising lanterns, some hopelessly isolated, some already in the company of a chorus of other streams of light.
The whispers of their ancestors seemed to urge them to find safety, and a brief respite... somehow, so that what little knowledge they had could be leveraged before some catastrophe befell one or all of them.
As if to answer, Growls and Roars sounded in the distance -- and in response to those, Screams of horror and despair. The farthest and most isolated lanterns winked out, one by one -- crashing to the stone and winking out, or vanishing entirely in the dark...
Fear gave way to defiance though, in some groups, and some individuals. The ink slid from their eyes and they looked to the other bloods, and their lanterns. In the moments to come, Leaders would distinguish themselves and followers would fall in line...
And then it came... The floating orbs, glowing orange, unlike a lantern -- their odd bio-luminescence made them appear as upside down balloons, trailing into the sky on grey-black tendrils extending into the vaulting darkness above. Two score of these bouncing corpulent lights, rising and falling as if to bounce over the landscape... in a pallid imitation of the movement of lanterns over uneven ground. Those close to the collective of lights strung into the sky could hear a low rumble of something gigantic overhead... and a windy noise akin to a "WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH" broke the silence of the infinite dark.
in the darkness, some of the clandestine lights saw this collective of illumination as a savior or at least an alternative to the unbroken dark... and one by one those who followed the lights... some transfixed, some frenzied to keep up... suddenly, almost in unison, splashed into some inky, oily, shiny-surfaced water. The water was turbulent as evinced by those that could hold their lamps high over what rapidly dawned on all that observed was a trap by an enormous predator... in the splashing their lanterns dimmed, and in the growing dark could be seen THE HOOKS that descended from the mass of bouncing orange lights. Impaling, pulling skyward... to some unknown misbegotten fate in the dark above.
Some of the trapped elected to drown instead, filling their lungs with oily water and diving never to rise. But still on the outskirts of the spectacle more lone lanterns headed for the trap, the ground-skimming hooks searching for them and homing in on their light, or warmth... who could say.
No-one could see this better than the folk on the "black glassy knife." -- a landform like a hill, or more like a wall, stretched ever outward into the dark. What parts were not hopelessly dirty sparkled back the light of lanterns in a entrancing, darkly way... the "Glassy Knife" land-feature was six feet wide at the top at it's widest, and in places ten feet high.. The sides covered with sharp protrusions, but the top smooth, as if the rest of it had been broken away by something impossibly large. Bloods awoke astride and around this landform, the elevation giving them a little bit of range to the distance of their lanterns. All the better to witness the horror unfold on the oily lake.
Small congregations of lights began to dance, and wink out -- no lanterns coalesced in numbers to push back the darkness, only to attract predators, or reveal the snare that was the dancing lights as soon as it was too late.
You all stand somewhere in this chaos. Some alone, some in small groups... but one thing is clear, there seems no way, no where, to hide.
Can some among the chaos bring the light together?! Can some find sanctuary in the devouring darkness, and share how to hide with their kin?
Will some just lift their weapons and defy whatever comes?
As if to mock your efforts, the howling windy noise above sounds like a horn:
"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!"
_____________________________________
PLAYERS: Declare what you wish to do in the darkness, and I will also handle this event on the discord. Right now the light of the lanterns is like a dinner bell, but the clever, those that will lead, can perhaps make something greater, do something greater, than die in this darkness... (post away, but over-complicated plans will fail, and some characters, especially if brave, may not live to see turn two...*)
(Though they can create new ones after their valiant predecessors)
GAME ON!
Cosmo
Does Not Know Kung-fu
The olive skinned woman awoke to a world of darkness, was this the abyss? Had she died and her soul passed onto into the hellish nightmare that awaited people like her? Perhaps. Her arched brows furrowed as she tried to recall anything but nothing came save for broken, isolated, fragments that confused her even more. A handful of people moved around her, some with lanterns, some without, they crowded like sheep eager to find a shepherd they could blindly trust to lead them even if it was to the slaughter, at least then they wouldn't be responsible for their own deaths. In the dark reaches of her heart, she hated them. She held up her lantern, the small flickering light seemed to burn continuously and she could not figure out why she had it or how it was working so fine.
Her green eyes scanned around her and fell to the ground, to the faces. "Stone faces, odd," She stated as if it was something that could escape the notice of those around her.
They stared up at her, their mouths closed as if they had secrets they refused to yield to the fleshy meatbags that now trod upon them, she knelt down and ran her fingertips across the smooth stone, it was surreal. At first she thought the faces were identical, but they weren't. Now that she was close, she could see the slight differences in their noses, their brow, their eyes, their cheeks.. Her eyes trailed off to the distance, as far as the light of her lantern would allow as the faces continued into the darkness. Who would carve such a thing? How long had it taken? How many men had toiled in the dark, to carve the countless faces, were they a warning? Were they a tribute to those that had fallen? They surely could not be naturally occurring, could they?
Aayliah stood once more and stretched, the thick corded muscles under her scarred spotted skin flexed and bulged as she worked out the stiffness of before and basked in the power that lay within her body, the pride she felt in her chest as her eyes scanned those around her and took in their smaller, weaker frames. She moved about in the darkness, being careful to avoid stepping on the noses that protruded out of the ground, having little desire to harm the bridge of her foot by stomping down on it. An inky black wall stretched before her, black glass like protrusions suck out, towards her. As if to try and bare her from entering, or perhaps, bar something.
A scream split the air, the woman whirled on her heel, the sharp rock she had pulled when she first awoke raised to ward off the danger that.. was not there.
She stared out into the darkness, to the dim lights far away as they started to go out. One by one. Each one accompanied by a great scream, but there were more, "Something is hunting us," she stated, once again, as if those gathered around her could not figure that out on her own.
Orange lights that danced, so much like their lantern but not quite. She was tempted to go to one, but she did not know why she was. It was as if it was calling to something within her, something primal. Her lips pursued to a line as she fought off the compulsion, she nearly snarled at herself, as if she could intimidate her psyche into falling back into line. Before the compulsion could gain strength, the orange lights moved and she watched a great hook come down to impale one of those who had given in. Their bodies spasmed, their hands came to grip the hook as blood seeped down their chest to fall onto the faces below. A gargled scream erupted from the man's voice before he was pulled up into the dark sky, a snack for a hungry beast, "A trap," Aayliah snarled.
Her eyes scanned the area, to the inky black beach, to the wall next to her, her brow furrowed as her mind struggled to come up with a plan, but they were prey... and this world was filled with predators, predators she could not see, could not understand, but it took only a single misstep for the predator to become prey and, sooner or later, she would hunger.
Aayliah formulated a plan, a plan to hunt, a plan to kill, a plan to take back control of her life, or at least, the illusion of it. She would move to the wall and attempt to use her great strength to break off a piece of the spikes, to use as a spear, perhaps if she used some of the basic cloth on her body to form a handle. If she had time, she would move to the lake, to the edge, avoiding the other lights as best she could and, if it was there, use the mud that she hoped would be as dark as the water to cover and coat her flesh. To lather it thickly to help conceal her in the darkness and ward of the insects that would struggle to get through. Dangerous. Very dangerous. She did not know what lived within the water and animals were at their most vulnerable when they bent down to dip into the pools.
If all went well, she'd gather a few people that looked meek, have them hold her lantern. A beacon in the dark, a lure.. bait. She would hunt the beast when it came to feed, either she would die, weapon in hand, or she would become the predator in the dark.
Plan Recap [Not sure how many actions we get, so if only one, just make a spear]
Make Spear [If possible]
Coat her flesh in mud [If it exist]
Get a few 'sheep' to stand around her lantern and wait, trying to blend in with the darkness, and using the lamp as a lure to hunt what beast comes for a meal.
Her green eyes scanned around her and fell to the ground, to the faces. "Stone faces, odd," She stated as if it was something that could escape the notice of those around her.
They stared up at her, their mouths closed as if they had secrets they refused to yield to the fleshy meatbags that now trod upon them, she knelt down and ran her fingertips across the smooth stone, it was surreal. At first she thought the faces were identical, but they weren't. Now that she was close, she could see the slight differences in their noses, their brow, their eyes, their cheeks.. Her eyes trailed off to the distance, as far as the light of her lantern would allow as the faces continued into the darkness. Who would carve such a thing? How long had it taken? How many men had toiled in the dark, to carve the countless faces, were they a warning? Were they a tribute to those that had fallen? They surely could not be naturally occurring, could they?
Aayliah stood once more and stretched, the thick corded muscles under her scarred spotted skin flexed and bulged as she worked out the stiffness of before and basked in the power that lay within her body, the pride she felt in her chest as her eyes scanned those around her and took in their smaller, weaker frames. She moved about in the darkness, being careful to avoid stepping on the noses that protruded out of the ground, having little desire to harm the bridge of her foot by stomping down on it. An inky black wall stretched before her, black glass like protrusions suck out, towards her. As if to try and bare her from entering, or perhaps, bar something.
A scream split the air, the woman whirled on her heel, the sharp rock she had pulled when she first awoke raised to ward off the danger that.. was not there.
She stared out into the darkness, to the dim lights far away as they started to go out. One by one. Each one accompanied by a great scream, but there were more, "Something is hunting us," she stated, once again, as if those gathered around her could not figure that out on her own.
Orange lights that danced, so much like their lantern but not quite. She was tempted to go to one, but she did not know why she was. It was as if it was calling to something within her, something primal. Her lips pursued to a line as she fought off the compulsion, she nearly snarled at herself, as if she could intimidate her psyche into falling back into line. Before the compulsion could gain strength, the orange lights moved and she watched a great hook come down to impale one of those who had given in. Their bodies spasmed, their hands came to grip the hook as blood seeped down their chest to fall onto the faces below. A gargled scream erupted from the man's voice before he was pulled up into the dark sky, a snack for a hungry beast, "A trap," Aayliah snarled.
Her eyes scanned the area, to the inky black beach, to the wall next to her, her brow furrowed as her mind struggled to come up with a plan, but they were prey... and this world was filled with predators, predators she could not see, could not understand, but it took only a single misstep for the predator to become prey and, sooner or later, she would hunger.
Aayliah formulated a plan, a plan to hunt, a plan to kill, a plan to take back control of her life, or at least, the illusion of it. She would move to the wall and attempt to use her great strength to break off a piece of the spikes, to use as a spear, perhaps if she used some of the basic cloth on her body to form a handle. If she had time, she would move to the lake, to the edge, avoiding the other lights as best she could and, if it was there, use the mud that she hoped would be as dark as the water to cover and coat her flesh. To lather it thickly to help conceal her in the darkness and ward of the insects that would struggle to get through. Dangerous. Very dangerous. She did not know what lived within the water and animals were at their most vulnerable when they bent down to dip into the pools.
If all went well, she'd gather a few people that looked meek, have them hold her lantern. A beacon in the dark, a lure.. bait. She would hunt the beast when it came to feed, either she would die, weapon in hand, or she would become the predator in the dark.
Plan Recap [Not sure how many actions we get, so if only one, just make a spear]
Make Spear [If possible]
Coat her flesh in mud [If it exist]
Get a few 'sheep' to stand around her lantern and wait, trying to blend in with the darkness, and using the lamp as a lure to hunt what beast comes for a meal.
Kent
Imagination will bring us everywhere
Adam grit his teeth as he snapped back to reality from the horrors of witnessing what was happening around him. As if in response to the danger around him, memories of certain symbols called glyphs immediately flooded his mind that if enchanted on items could give it effects and if put on certain positions around an area would form what's called a "ward". Different kinds of symbols appeared and they all seemed to be jumbled but one particular ward seemed to stand out and fully formed in his mind first. He has a vague feeling it was the most important out of all these things called wards that is forming in his mind and this is the particular one that he needs the most right now.
Sanctuary? Seems fitting, what he or anyone else need right now is definitely a sanctuary from all the crazy shit that's happening around them, a respite at the very least. He doesn't know if he has enough time to form a complete one but he will try his best. He looked around him and immediately frowned at the cowering fools. He was afraid as well but he definitely wouldn't stand by doing nothing and helplessly die. (REFLECTIVE PERK?)
"Hey! You fuckers! You're gonna die! Your limbs torn apart or you'll get consumed by beasts if not monsters if you don't do anything. You don't want that happening? I don't care!" Adam picked up his rock and moved to an empty spot and he started scraping it on the ground to form a symbol.
"W-what do we have to do?" One of the cowering fools tried to stand up straight but was ignored by Adam as the latter was too consumed on his work (PASSIONATE PERK). After he wrote the first symbol, it glowed for a moment before returning to its normal state as if nothing happened. He then looked at the guy and everyone else around them. "I'm doing something important, don't get me killed as well by bothering me. BUT if you really want to do something, make sure I don't die because what I'm doing might be very well our last hope. AGAIN, don't bother me. Anyone can die but me. If you must, then die for me."
"Y-you want us to die for you? Are you crazy?" One of the men started frowning but Adam immediately cut him off.
"Shut the fuck up, you cowering piece of shit! If craziness is what it takes to survive then I am crazy! Like I said, I do not care about you! If you want to die doing nothing then by all means go ahead. But if you want a chance of living, then resist the best you can! If I finish this masterpiece, you'll be treating me like your father but that's disgusting and I don't want that." Adam moved to another spot, before he started drawing, he looked at those around him straight in the eyes and said, "Don't disturb me. Remember, die before me otherwise there will never be a sanctuary in this land. As for the rest, everything I said applies."
Adam then squatted and started to scrape on the ground yet again and drawing another symbol. No matter what questions the rest asked, Adam doesn't answer or rather, he wasn't able to consciously perceive their words as he was too consumed on his work. (PASSIONATE PERK)
He will aim to least complete the preliminary structure of the ward to give him respite. If these cowering fools buy him enough time then perhaps he'll be able to get a permanent one up.
(I think from how Adam acted, it applies all his quirks? Eccentric, Blunt, Reclusive, and Socially Awkward. He adopted the "Crazy" personality profile and not the timid "Reclusive" profile.)
TL; DR
Adam will attempt to form a Sanctuary Ward around the area. He frankly told other people to die for him, if they must, so he can finish the Sanctuary and if they want a chance to live.
Sanctuary? Seems fitting, what he or anyone else need right now is definitely a sanctuary from all the crazy shit that's happening around them, a respite at the very least. He doesn't know if he has enough time to form a complete one but he will try his best. He looked around him and immediately frowned at the cowering fools. He was afraid as well but he definitely wouldn't stand by doing nothing and helplessly die. (REFLECTIVE PERK?)
"Hey! You fuckers! You're gonna die! Your limbs torn apart or you'll get consumed by beasts if not monsters if you don't do anything. You don't want that happening? I don't care!" Adam picked up his rock and moved to an empty spot and he started scraping it on the ground to form a symbol.
"W-what do we have to do?" One of the cowering fools tried to stand up straight but was ignored by Adam as the latter was too consumed on his work (PASSIONATE PERK). After he wrote the first symbol, it glowed for a moment before returning to its normal state as if nothing happened. He then looked at the guy and everyone else around them. "I'm doing something important, don't get me killed as well by bothering me. BUT if you really want to do something, make sure I don't die because what I'm doing might be very well our last hope. AGAIN, don't bother me. Anyone can die but me. If you must, then die for me."
"Y-you want us to die for you? Are you crazy?" One of the men started frowning but Adam immediately cut him off.
"Shut the fuck up, you cowering piece of shit! If craziness is what it takes to survive then I am crazy! Like I said, I do not care about you! If you want to die doing nothing then by all means go ahead. But if you want a chance of living, then resist the best you can! If I finish this masterpiece, you'll be treating me like your father but that's disgusting and I don't want that." Adam moved to another spot, before he started drawing, he looked at those around him straight in the eyes and said, "Don't disturb me. Remember, die before me otherwise there will never be a sanctuary in this land. As for the rest, everything I said applies."
Adam then squatted and started to scrape on the ground yet again and drawing another symbol. No matter what questions the rest asked, Adam doesn't answer or rather, he wasn't able to consciously perceive their words as he was too consumed on his work. (PASSIONATE PERK)
He will aim to least complete the preliminary structure of the ward to give him respite. If these cowering fools buy him enough time then perhaps he'll be able to get a permanent one up.
(I think from how Adam acted, it applies all his quirks? Eccentric, Blunt, Reclusive, and Socially Awkward. He adopted the "Crazy" personality profile and not the timid "Reclusive" profile.)
TL; DR
Adam will attempt to form a Sanctuary Ward around the area. He frankly told other people to die for him, if they must, so he can finish the Sanctuary and if they want a chance to live.
Last edited:
Auriel Maza
Professor of Cuddles
A rang in the head, a pumping gush in the veins. The smell of blood and still air... Legs and arms sprang to life as screams and rushing blood echo in the ears. Niko's purple eyes rang open, his naked body quaked. He breathed deep, bracing himself for whatever comes next. He had some small cuts from the stone rattling against his skin, a little trickle of blood. It felt surreal but also thrilling at the same time. Was it time? To die? Or to show some forgotten adversaries he beat them all? Niko felt a chill. He looked at his body as he stood up. He looked fit enough to survive, and Niko was glad. He felt confident in his image, in his appearance. His hands grasping together at the back of his head forming a triangle with his back, his eyes closing with a smile. He looked a bit unfazed by the scene around him, though the cautious eye could see him tremble. This was a lot more than he bargained for, if he did at all. He couldn't remember. However, with a breath, Niko plunged those feelings into his stomach. Live or Die. It was no time to feel, that could wait. All he knew was there was some hot babes around, and oh did Niko like to get down. Of course, there was no time for that yet. He needed to be crafty, though he seemed to be better crafting puns than survival tools. But, Niko felt ready and knew that he'd figure it out. His beige skin twinkled off of his lantern's light. His slivery black hair accented its light as well. He handed off any cloth he had so that someone else could warm up. Niko didn't feel the need, and he certainly didn't care for looks. Niko felt comfortable in his own skin, and he felt nice showing off his stuff.
The light felt good, but the dark felt neutral. Niko could feel its cold embrace but he still felt warm. He rather not go quietly. He smiled into the abyss, giving it a wink before doing what needed to be done. He sat down by the Glassy Knife and began doing what the whispers told him he could. He began to form the stone shard into a hatchet, something useful for all kinds of things. And Niko particularly liked hatchets for making him look tough. Girls like that. He began to cut off the glass protrusions, keeping some distance and knocking etches on each side to prevent any problemos...
Niko paused, talking to people wasn't something he liked to do. Drama and drama always followed behind, but he couldn't be a chooser right now.
"Hey, come over here. Its all good, you're off the hook." Niko waited, "Bum bum tzz. Anyway come over here and help me. If we cut these off and put them in the ground, it'll keep these things away from us."
Niko paused, waving with a smile.
"Who's in?"
Pat
Three Thousand Club
Mindforce: uses psychic stress to disrupt an enemy's concentration and battle prowess, and some say with practice read minds. Bloods with mindforce grant bonuses to themselves and/or allies in contests/combat, and more easily give the opposite to rivals. It is said there are other talents this ancestry can bring in the darkness such as sensing the unseen, but such powers are developed over generations in a bloodline...
A pale albino woman, a mindforce blood of bloodline ciun, with a FOCUSED and CONTEMPLATIVE personality (perks), BLUNT to a fault in conversation (quirk). Wears threadbare clothes, carries a lit lantern and sharp rock.
A pale albino woman, a mindforce blood of bloodline ciun, with a FOCUSED and CONTEMPLATIVE personality (perks), BLUNT to a fault in conversation (quirk). Wears threadbare clothes, carries a lit lantern and sharp rock.
Fear. Immobilizing fear. Eostre of Ciun meditated on this thought from her seat on the feature of black glassy knife, atop the smooth surface of it's blade just past the jagged crest and climb. She forced herself to bear witness to the culling of the monster above on those it had lured thus far to it's bioluminescent tendrils below, and soon called upon her very first memories of life in this damned place.
Awakening in darkness, swarmed by insects, immobilized in fear, setting down the sharp rock in her hand to lift and manipulate the lantern she had opened and snapped shut to capture some of the insects within, and now the existential dread that permeated the present, in the hope of inflicting the emotions tenfold on the lost, save those around her that went willingly into the dark.
Experimenting at first with the closest of the lantern bearers that were walking away into the darkness and towards their almost certain doom, Eostre used her mindforce blood to associate the monster with her powers to draw it's unknowing prey to her.
"Guide their way with a show our own." She spoke without breaking her attention to look to the few souls observing her. And so they did, or those that followed and understood her cryptic intent, moving not to mimic the orange lanterns themselves, but to signal, and beckon, with changes made to their choreographed dancing rhythm and light brightness she took it upon herself to direct every time she took short breaks from her endless work to bring more lantern bearers together before they were left all alone.
Opening her lantern again once she was done and the insects within looked dead, she tried eating their cooked meat for sustenance.
Trektek
Happy Necromancer
The pain, the suffering, the strangely warm temperatures.
The man woke with a start, noticing first was the darkness and the almost complete lack of clothing. Something seemed off. But he wasn't sure what. Was it the screams of death that came from the darkness after roars and squelches? No. Was it the completely unknown and horrifying aspects of the land around them? No. Was it the fact that he was holding a lantern, a gnarled club and a shield all at once?
Right, that must be it. Well, either that or the fact that he didn't know anything from before waking up from a strange and terrifying nightmare into an actual living terrifying nightmare. Yes. Perhaps that was it.
He was Haas Vivaldi. He felt like he could lead the world, or at least this small band of almost naked individuals. He knew that he was a leader, but not just that, but a powerful warrior. He had to lead these people and they would be grateful for it. They would certainly show him the gratitude that was appropriate for someone of his standing.
But first things first. First, he needed to gather up some people and then he needed to survive. While hopefully killing at least one beast to prove his worth and power.
Taking his belongings, He took the lantern and attached it to his gnarled club, creating a Fire Mace.
Part of him wanted to just charge in and stab the creature with the flying balloon lights that was stabbing people on hooks, but unfortunately, he didn't have the necessary range to do that. Soon. Soon he would kill that creature.
Using his Fire Mace to locate people, Haas Vivaldi spoke up. "Come with me and we'll take down any beasts in our way to get to safety."
He pointed at "The Glassy Knife"
"From there, we can make our way! Now come on, let's fight for our lives. With me!" (CHARISMATIC)
Actions: Using Charisma, gather people to follow Hass Vivaldi.
After gathering people, move them together in a sort of formation towards The Glassy Knife, fighting any monsters that attempt to stop them from doing so.
Perks: Charismatic, Ambitious
Quirks: Narcissit, Big Mouth
Inventory: Fire Mace, Shield
The man woke with a start, noticing first was the darkness and the almost complete lack of clothing. Something seemed off. But he wasn't sure what. Was it the screams of death that came from the darkness after roars and squelches? No. Was it the completely unknown and horrifying aspects of the land around them? No. Was it the fact that he was holding a lantern, a gnarled club and a shield all at once?
Right, that must be it. Well, either that or the fact that he didn't know anything from before waking up from a strange and terrifying nightmare into an actual living terrifying nightmare. Yes. Perhaps that was it.
He was Haas Vivaldi. He felt like he could lead the world, or at least this small band of almost naked individuals. He knew that he was a leader, but not just that, but a powerful warrior. He had to lead these people and they would be grateful for it. They would certainly show him the gratitude that was appropriate for someone of his standing.
But first things first. First, he needed to gather up some people and then he needed to survive. While hopefully killing at least one beast to prove his worth and power.
Taking his belongings, He took the lantern and attached it to his gnarled club, creating a Fire Mace.
Part of him wanted to just charge in and stab the creature with the flying balloon lights that was stabbing people on hooks, but unfortunately, he didn't have the necessary range to do that. Soon. Soon he would kill that creature.
Using his Fire Mace to locate people, Haas Vivaldi spoke up. "Come with me and we'll take down any beasts in our way to get to safety."
He pointed at "The Glassy Knife"
"From there, we can make our way! Now come on, let's fight for our lives. With me!" (CHARISMATIC)
Actions: Using Charisma, gather people to follow Hass Vivaldi.
After gathering people, move them together in a sort of formation towards The Glassy Knife, fighting any monsters that attempt to stop them from doing so.
Perks: Charismatic, Ambitious
Quirks: Narcissit, Big Mouth
Inventory: Fire Mace, Shield
Beckoncall
World-Weaver and servant to the most-holy PC
Aaliyah Epimoni needed to make a spear. she used her rock to chip away at the shards of glass... and got two shards of Obsidian that she tucked into her clothing, bound up so as not to cut her when she moved. (smart) But there was no haft... no shaft to attach the blade to... she looked at the wall for a spine of glass... something long that could be used as a spear, being careful to wrap her hands in cloth and not get cut on the black and purple glass that seemed to mock her as the screams drew closer.
The lambs, the vapid, wide eyed prisoners of fear around her... they copied her. most hurting themselves on the craggy rock, but one pulled a medium-length staff of glass, shaped like a prong, out of the ground. She saw this other blood hold the spear aloft, and saw the other lemmings start to turn from her and look to him for leadership...
So she stabbed him with a shard. (Greed) Right in the heart, she stabbed him and took up his spear with a cloth-wrapped hand so she would not be injured. She impaled the Bleeding man on the spear and flung him into the darkness where something in the lamplight lunged and snatched it out of the air.
She didn't have time to talk about it -- but they were hers. Their labor was hers -- she wasn't dying for them, and if they were lucky they wouldn't end up dying for her. Aaliyah hissed at the others, brandishing the spear -- not holding it aloft like some idiot's trophy.
"Wrap. Your. Hands."
Silent shock as the other misfits stared at her course direction...
"Make. A. Barricade -- and he will be the only one who will have had to die."
And poking the ones that tarried, she got a small but growing clutch of these chumps to set up an arc-shaped barricade of debris and rocks against the glass wall behind them...
As the low wall went up, it was fortified with sharp bits of glassy stone... at one point some simian-type thing leaped at the wall and impaled itself, bounding back into the darkness before they heard it slump to the ground. The thing was horrible. It had no skin on it's face... just red eyes, snot, and drool.
Aaliyah left the bunch of saps in their huddle and ran to the water's edge -- the oily water stank, the black sand seemed to burn at her feet... but she washed herself in the "Mud" (Smart, Skillful) making sure to cover every part but her eyes and mouth. the spear no longer shined in the lamplight, difficult it was for her to apply her camouflage while keeping the water, and oil... off the lantern. (Gains oily rags)
Some dog like horror, eyeless, it's "nostrils" doing some kind of disgusting blinking atop the length of it's back, like blowholes, burst out of the darkness to find her.
But it could not find her. Aaliyah was dark even next to a lantern, and smelled of nothing more than the waterside. She cocked her head to one side and stabbed the three-legged nose-dog (FESTROG) in it's flank and saw it bleed out fast into the burning sand, smoke rising and burning her eyes.
She dragged her HER victim back to the barricade. Her Trophy. HER meat, and spit on the hand of a blood that reached to cut and share it.
"Do as I say and you may yet eat... and only as I say."
Cosmo
Beckoncall
World-Weaver and servant to the most-holy PC
Kent
:Adam was done talking. It never served him as well as action anyway... but he snapped those fodder-men around him into some kind of order. The screams were getting farther away and more people ran out of the darkness to see what the small assembly was doing -- they were lighting the surface of the ground so that Adam could work his glyphs into a Giant Ward... he cupped ink out of tiny pools that rested among the faces -- establishing the outline of the entire ward quickly before augmenting it by chipping away at the stone, the runes that would fill the glyphs and make the words... the words even he could not read, but flowed out of him, his ancestors channeling Sanctuary... SANCTUARY.
In his chiseling, one of the stone faces popped up out of the ground -- (reflective) could he make it into a bowl? A mask? he cast it aside for now. He was making a Ward. It got brighter as more people gathered in the disencroaching darkness and turned their lanterns outward... wolf-like things paced just out of anything resembling a full view, it was hard to tell if it was Adam's passionate labors or the growing ring of light that kept the beasts at bay... but they were slowly gaining courage -- faster than the light was aggregating.
Right before collapsing from exhaustion Adam finished the last word he had chiseled into the stone between the great letter he had inked. He curled up in the center of it and fell asleep, knowing in his own heart he was safe... these other fools... were safe.
The Wolf-like things charged the ring of light, but could not cross the great circle that surrounded the ward. They yipped in discomfort if they stepped beyond the ink circle -- the circle of protection. In the darkness, Adam slept... and around him a small crowd piled into the circle until the mass could almost smother each other for their numbers and closeness.
From the ward, a dull glow emanated -- and beyond the glow -- the lamplight of his huddled followers.
They gave him enough space to sleep unmolested. He had earned that much, when all others crushed together.
Before sleep completely took him... he cursed these people. these leeches on his power.
"Fuck Yourselves." Adam muttered, and a near ultimate slumber fell upon him...
SANCTUARY WARD CREATED. ESTIMATED DURATION 12-24 hours. Space: (small) Condition: Crowded.
Beckoncall
World-Weaver and servant to the most-holy PC
Auriel Maza
:What a synchronicity. Somebody was already making a Barricade.
Their leader made proclamations that it was HER barricade. So they dug in right next to
Cosmo
"Aaliyah Epimoni" shouted "Safety in numbers! Let them fortify beside us, but do not DARE let another one in!" Safety in numbers. Obvious blither. Niko made humor of the situation, "we are men and women in a sea of shit, and here's a lady yelling over property of a single turd!" His heroism served as
an example and they made an outer barricade with Aaliyah's fortification covering their rear.
The lanterns multiplied -- the creatures of the darkness withdrew in the face of the aggregated light.
They worked tirelessly, and as Niko Sweat, he disrobed and handed his phermone soaked rags to the ladies around him as favors, as gifts, until he pranced naked, motivating his band. He was going to sire twenty children this week and that was a fact. He'd embrace every woman in camp, then bid that they leave him alone. Out in the darkness, a faceless ape (FACELESS) thumped a great bone club on the ground, as if in some frustrated challenge. So Niko, naked as a jaybird, made fun of it, enraging it until it threw the great bone into their defenses (Gain great bone club)... which was even funnier when the faceless ape realized it had given away it's weapon.
Showing no fear, he shook those around him into action until a pointy secondary barricade surrounded the first... and they piled some lanterns at regular intervals along the low wall...
They were safe... And incidentally had made Aaliyah
Cosmo
safer...SPIKED (Outer) BARRICADE CONSTRUCTED.
Found: Heap of little Obsidian shards
Out -- in the open... Niko could see another group had formed some kind of holdfast...
Kent
some madman who'd made some kind of glowing circle. Ancestors knew what the hell it was, but he saw them huddled, safe... and the two groups began to signal back and forth to each other...
Beckoncall
World-Weaver and servant to the most-holy PC
Pat
:She did the lantern trick, and did it again -- seeing wanders she made them see a bright orange light in her lantern, not the faint yellow light that was... Like moths to the flame she turned the minds of these cattle to come to the glassy knife -- more and more people appearing... with strange creatures furtively following. She concentrated on the insects she trapped with the light and then focused on the fire that burned... in the minds of the shadowy hunters she projected the pain of the fire... allowing more to group together, allowing them to clump together into some kind of two-tiered fortification. When the insects died, she scooped the blackish, waxy "meal" out of the catch at the base of the lantern and ate it... only to repeat the process again and again. No-one would know that it was Eostre of Ciun that saved them all... some heroic fool
Auriel Maza
inspired them as they arrived, and some greedy bitch seemed to have made a fortification her brainchild
Cosmo
... but no-one knew, nobody thought about what had really pulled them together. The itch in the back of their brain, the buzzing of the trapped and lured insect... She (contemplative) wondered just how different man and insect really were in this place, before scooping another handful of bugs into her drooling maw. She gathered them, and they had saved themselves. Her belly swollen with dead insects and a headache to beat the band from abusing her mindforce, She lay between the seemingly endless glassy waterside and the abyss of nothingness beyond the "Knife of Glass"... and rested. Alone, but surrounded by the folk she lured here. Her defense, her bulwark. Her people... whether they knew it or not...
Lazaro1505
Skeleton Boi
Hegot the Drip
Darkness… as far as the eye can see. It was… eerie in a way. With the wind howling above him, and the sounds of what appears to be voices in the distance, one’s that seem recognizable if it weren’t so muffled sounding right now. He… couldn’t stay down for now… as while his body wanted to continue its rest, a hidden fear within him motivated the flow of blood within his body, not one of feelings or even memory, but one motivated by instinct to survive as well as whispers to his ears, more clear than even the surrounding noises around him… one’s that were whispering to him in order to wake up in order to live.
Slowly pushing himself off the ground, the bald man slowly but surely got used to his surroundings, his vision becoming more clear as more darkness was found around him. But what did catch his eye, was the sight of a lantern sitting on the floor, right where he was sleeping. Picking it up, the man continued looking around, now inspecting his own body. It was nearly bare, other than a loin cloth around his waist to keep him warm. Running his hand against his head, he would feel that it was left bare for the world to see, alongside what appears to be scarring marked into his flesh. Even with such upon his head… it felt… natural in a way. Like it was always meant to be there.
Looking down upon the floor, finding a cracked rock shard of what appeared to be a human face carved onto the floor, the man went ahead to pick it up, only to give him at least a fighting chance of what could be lying within such darkness. With only a sigh, the man began to walk around within the dark, making sure to keep his light low but not too low enough that he couldn’t see or scare off what critters may be sensitive to the light. Eventually, foraging around for items, the man found a couple of things, such as a dark colored stick from a plant, a tumbleweed that he was capable of turning into fiber with, and a black glassy wall nearby, that felt as if it needed to be broken.
Picking up the items beforehand, getting ideas of what to create, the man began carving some of the glassy substance off the wall, and not wanting to cut himself, wrapped fiber over it to safely handle it. While it felt as if he couldn’t perform his plan alone… watching the other lights in the distance gave him an idea. If he could teach others in order to craft such and guide them… perhaps he could increase their chances of surviving this dark void. With a new goal set out for him, Hegot the Drip went off in order to gather more individuals, wanting to teach them and aid them within making items, alongside seeing what was that light being waved in the distance.
Actions:
1. Find other survivors and teach / guide them on both protecting their hands when crafting (wrapping their hands with fiber), but also to create both obsidian and rock spears. Also teach em to wrap fiber around obsidian shards to make makeshift knives.
2. Wander towards the light caused by Trek earlier, before eventually wandering towards a group to stay nearby with.
Darkness… as far as the eye can see. It was… eerie in a way. With the wind howling above him, and the sounds of what appears to be voices in the distance, one’s that seem recognizable if it weren’t so muffled sounding right now. He… couldn’t stay down for now… as while his body wanted to continue its rest, a hidden fear within him motivated the flow of blood within his body, not one of feelings or even memory, but one motivated by instinct to survive as well as whispers to his ears, more clear than even the surrounding noises around him… one’s that were whispering to him in order to wake up in order to live.
Slowly pushing himself off the ground, the bald man slowly but surely got used to his surroundings, his vision becoming more clear as more darkness was found around him. But what did catch his eye, was the sight of a lantern sitting on the floor, right where he was sleeping. Picking it up, the man continued looking around, now inspecting his own body. It was nearly bare, other than a loin cloth around his waist to keep him warm. Running his hand against his head, he would feel that it was left bare for the world to see, alongside what appears to be scarring marked into his flesh. Even with such upon his head… it felt… natural in a way. Like it was always meant to be there.
Looking down upon the floor, finding a cracked rock shard of what appeared to be a human face carved onto the floor, the man went ahead to pick it up, only to give him at least a fighting chance of what could be lying within such darkness. With only a sigh, the man began to walk around within the dark, making sure to keep his light low but not too low enough that he couldn’t see or scare off what critters may be sensitive to the light. Eventually, foraging around for items, the man found a couple of things, such as a dark colored stick from a plant, a tumbleweed that he was capable of turning into fiber with, and a black glassy wall nearby, that felt as if it needed to be broken.
Picking up the items beforehand, getting ideas of what to create, the man began carving some of the glassy substance off the wall, and not wanting to cut himself, wrapped fiber over it to safely handle it. While it felt as if he couldn’t perform his plan alone… watching the other lights in the distance gave him an idea. If he could teach others in order to craft such and guide them… perhaps he could increase their chances of surviving this dark void. With a new goal set out for him, Hegot the Drip went off in order to gather more individuals, wanting to teach them and aid them within making items, alongside seeing what was that light being waved in the distance.
Actions:
1. Find other survivors and teach / guide them on both protecting their hands when crafting (wrapping their hands with fiber), but also to create both obsidian and rock spears. Also teach em to wrap fiber around obsidian shards to make makeshift knives.
2. Wander towards the light caused by Trek earlier, before eventually wandering towards a group to stay nearby with.
Beckoncall
World-Weaver and servant to the most-holy PC
Trektek
(is devoured in the darkness)
His bloodline gains:
ONE "Call to follow" at +2
ONE GRIMMORY Great-helm. (10s, 11, 12s have a chance to proc this item -- if item procs, the otherwise deadly hit is ignored)
Beckoncall
World-Weaver and servant to the most-holy PC
Above all things, Hegot was calm. The terror and the irony smell of blood and the screams faded into the background. Sweet calm.
He saw others running... and he hailed them. He looked like he was out for a walk in the shadow of the glassy pointy wall.
A faceless skull on a hairy humanoid leaped off the wall and screamed in his face -- ropes of saliva flying out all over his face as he blinked away his quasi-surprise. Then calm returned. Calm as he tripped the monstrous thing, and calm as he dislocated and pulled it's leg free of his body. Calm as he tore it in half over his head like phone-book. perfect, perfect calm. He de-sleeved the femur of the creature's flesh and hefted the bone like a club. (1.5 handed Bone Club Obtained), "Faceless" Trophy obtained...
He would consider his ancestors and see if they would decide he take on the aspect of the faceless...
Some kind of translucent worm rose up to the side of him and he mutilated it with the club. He swung his club in a relaxed fashion... until his arms began to hurt. He was so relaxed he barely processed that he reduced the disgusting lurking thing into a flat patch that resembled a beavers tail.
Hegot sighed and told the small group gathering behind and around him for safety to take shards of Obsidian, to hold them in hands wrapped in tumbleweed, or to pull cloth from their garments to make crude handles.
He looked at the black bamboo and the sharp rock... and considered breaking them... then thought better of it.
"Make a spear and give it to me" he said to a woman following close behind, who seemed to render the leather off the faceless thing with a skill and artistry.
2 unit of leather obtained. short stone spear obtained.
once the group had made it to the barricades at glass knife, Most of his people left him to take refuge. But the skilled lady stayed with him, and a couple of others too.
A light went out not far from here. He saw the head of the Grimmory sail behind the defenses... a truly hideous trophy. A pity it was not his own.
"Someone died out there that slew a great monster." Hegot stated, matter of factly.
"I'm going to wear his bones. You are going to make them a breastplate for me." He said to the skiled lady, and handed her the faceless-leg club in exchange for the spear.
Henchman of Note: "Skillful Lady"
She merely nodded and walked in his footsteps, with the others brave enough walking beside him...
300 feet out, more or less, they found the skeleton of the man that beheaded the Grimmory. He held the skull in his hand, and without thinking, destroyed it in his fist. (Destructive)
"Save the bones" he said to Skillfull lady... as he joined his fearful comrades in driving off some wolf-like horrors.
They made it back to the barricades, where a lady named Aaliyah
Cosmo
shouted at him for tribute. He didn't want to fight about it. He threw 1 unit of leather at her.
Cosmo
.
He sat on the barricade, for hours to come, daring the darkness to come for him as Skillful Lady fit him for his breastplate. Gain "Vivaldi-Bone Hero's Breastplate"
He yawned as his troop circled to defend him and the barricade. He contemplated eating the Faceless... but it had died easily in his hands... was it worthy?
Lazaro1505
He saw others running... and he hailed them. He looked like he was out for a walk in the shadow of the glassy pointy wall.
A faceless skull on a hairy humanoid leaped off the wall and screamed in his face -- ropes of saliva flying out all over his face as he blinked away his quasi-surprise. Then calm returned. Calm as he tripped the monstrous thing, and calm as he dislocated and pulled it's leg free of his body. Calm as he tore it in half over his head like phone-book. perfect, perfect calm. He de-sleeved the femur of the creature's flesh and hefted the bone like a club. (1.5 handed Bone Club Obtained), "Faceless" Trophy obtained...
He would consider his ancestors and see if they would decide he take on the aspect of the faceless...
Some kind of translucent worm rose up to the side of him and he mutilated it with the club. He swung his club in a relaxed fashion... until his arms began to hurt. He was so relaxed he barely processed that he reduced the disgusting lurking thing into a flat patch that resembled a beavers tail.
Hegot sighed and told the small group gathering behind and around him for safety to take shards of Obsidian, to hold them in hands wrapped in tumbleweed, or to pull cloth from their garments to make crude handles.
He looked at the black bamboo and the sharp rock... and considered breaking them... then thought better of it.
"Make a spear and give it to me" he said to a woman following close behind, who seemed to render the leather off the faceless thing with a skill and artistry.
2 unit of leather obtained. short stone spear obtained.
once the group had made it to the barricades at glass knife, Most of his people left him to take refuge. But the skilled lady stayed with him, and a couple of others too.
A light went out not far from here. He saw the head of the Grimmory sail behind the defenses... a truly hideous trophy. A pity it was not his own.
"Someone died out there that slew a great monster." Hegot stated, matter of factly.
"I'm going to wear his bones. You are going to make them a breastplate for me." He said to the skiled lady, and handed her the faceless-leg club in exchange for the spear.
Henchman of Note: "Skillful Lady"
She merely nodded and walked in his footsteps, with the others brave enough walking beside him...
300 feet out, more or less, they found the skeleton of the man that beheaded the Grimmory. He held the skull in his hand, and without thinking, destroyed it in his fist. (Destructive)
"Save the bones" he said to Skillfull lady... as he joined his fearful comrades in driving off some wolf-like horrors.
They made it back to the barricades, where a lady named Aaliyah
Cosmo
shouted at him for tribute. He didn't want to fight about it. He threw 1 unit of leather at her.
Cosmo
. He sat on the barricade, for hours to come, daring the darkness to come for him as Skillful Lady fit him for his breastplate. Gain "Vivaldi-Bone Hero's Breastplate"
He yawned as his troop circled to defend him and the barricade. He contemplated eating the Faceless... but it had died easily in his hands... was it worthy?
Lazaro1505
Heyitsjiwon
One Thousand Club
I said: "kiss me, you're beautiful -
These are truly the last days"
You grabbed my hand and we fell into it
Like a daydream or a fever
We woke up one morning and fell a little further down -
For sure it's the valley of death
These are truly the last days"
You grabbed my hand and we fell into it
Like a daydream or a fever
We woke up one morning and fell a little further down -
For sure it's the valley of death
I open up my hands
And it's full of blood
And it's full of blood
Where am I? I do not know. Why am I here? I do not know. How did I get here? I do not know. Who am I? That I knew within my soul. I am Ras of the proud Argead. Destined for greatness. This was the only thing I knew. This was the one truth. The only truth. The only truth that matters. (Narcissist) In a strange calmness, Ras looked around. His fear and confusion was pacified by the Mindscreen that his natural blood rights gave him (Pompous). While other lesser men might suffer mentally, Ras of the Argead was unique in his ability to heal and pacify the damaged and scared mind. He brought order to chaos and him alone. (Pompous and Narcissist)
Other groups of people seemed hopelessly lost, struggling in vain against the darkness and fear that surrounded them. It was fear that drew them to the light of imitation lanterns, and straight to their doom like helpless sheep being prayed upon by lions and alligators. Ras even conjectured that perhaps some of the creatures of the dark hunted by the sense of fear and panic... and that the lanterns provided a sense of safety and familiarity as most feared the unknown. Though, that had to be tested... vigorously. (Intelligent and Innovative) For now, this was no environment to be blindly conducting experiments. He needed other lessers to remove most of the burdens and dangers from him so that he could focus on what was truly important. (Schemer, Narcissist)
Thus, his mind began to reach out like a gentle blanket of rolling fog, offering a sense of safety and comfort to those nearby who would follow him. He needed no words to prove himself to others. Just his mere presence, bloodline and aura would suffice. Anyone else was simply too impotent to realize the blessings that Ras of the Argead brought to them, and thus were beyond saving. (Narcissist) Yet, here he was... the pied piper, leading the children. To what end? Only the pied piper of the Argead knew. As Ras walked towards the glassy knife, a strange, yet familiar sensation befell him. Ras walked closer to the glassy knife and the sensation became stronger.
Ras continued to walk closer and closer towards the glassy knife... Until he came across a woman, eating insects by the handful. Here was a woman... clearly of some use to Ras. She was... capable. Ras could feel it. She was the opposite to him. Where he brought order... she brought chaos. A cold smile plastered across Ras' face. The stars were beginning to align. "You there, talented, pale witch. Hand me some of your insects." (Pompous) Ras commanded the witch as he attempted to use his mindscreen to see if he could make himself... undetectable to the insects as if he were just another stone. Did these insects detect people based on fear or other powers? There was only one way to find out as he planned to reach out to grab a few insects then hand them over to his children to see how the insects detected prey. If the child performed well and cooperated, then Ras of the Argead was a merciful liege, and would help the child fend off the insects with his mindscreen and/or his lantern. This experiment was not just a test of his abilities... nay this was also a test of loyalty to begin learning who among the sheep were useful and loyal... and to see how pliable this pale witch was (Schemer).
---
Bloodline: Argead
Current Blood: Ras of the Argead
Past Blood: N/A
Ancestry: Mindscreen - The opposite of mindforce, This ancestry has protection from such powers and the horrors that use them. Mindscreen Ancestry protects from non-natural detection and powers, and some say can heal or ease the damaged or fearful mind. The best adherents develop over generations in a bloodline, these bloods face foes with strange powers without fear.
Perks: Intelligent, Innovative
Quirks: Pompous, Schemer, Narcissist
Items: Lantern Sharp Rock
Beckoncall
World-Weaver and servant to the most-holy PC
Kent
Adam leads almost 3-score people into death in the darkness... but saves himself and his closest follower.
Adam's "Run through the dark" is the single worst and most horrifying loss of life witnessed thus far. This may play a part in future events.
Beckoncall
World-Weaver and servant to the most-holy PC
Heyitsjiwon
Pat
It was on the glass knife that Argead met Eostre -- the pale witch dining on insects and languidly watching the small collections of lanternfolk coalesce under the Glass Knife Hill.
Argead had crossed hundreds of yards of uneven terrain to get to the relative safety of the fortification. His followers, over forty of them, walked in the shadow of his calm.
They had stumbled into a patch of rough, knobby pumpkin like roots that grew on hideous, pulsing vines... and some of his followers had gathered them.
Fear was definitely a scent in this world, for where Argead travelled without fear, and soothed the simple minds of their followers... Creatures turned away.
More than once a couple of crouching faceless were come upon by Argead, and more than once they turned away and scrabbled into the darkness. They did not see Argead as prey, and they did not see his flock it seemed, at all... mostly.
stragglers were lost, folk tripped or lollygagged which spelled their doom -- but Argead's host walked on until they reached the defenses set up by the other desperate people, and he too, assuaged their fears. Argead sensed the Greedy wickedness of Aaliyah -- and with a thought bid his followers to give the pumpkin plants, all of them, in tribute to this Tyrant. Argead's own show of power -- he lead without violence, and could afford to give up a grace or bounty as easily as it came. All that mattered was that his people were embraced... and once they were he sought and found the mindforce witch atop the glassy wall.
Eostre gave him a handful of insects, live ones,dead ones, buzzers and stingers... and Argead exhaled through their mouth, and inhaled through their nose, a circular breathing which caused the insects to rise and fall...
At once, in the fortifications below, the bugs that fed on the people dropped to the ground in unison -- what was once a nuisance, became food for the throng as they scooped the writhing things off the stone faces and fed upon them.
People behind the barricades began to sit.
And with sitting came the eating,
and the eating lead to talking. Some exchanged names. Others exchanged hands.
Peace belonged to Argead... and if the thralls would learn their place, (pompous, Narcissist) they might have some.
But first he would test the pale witch Eostre... he reached the tendril of his mind to explore her power, and
Pat
Eostre strangled the probe that Argead sent to learn her powers... She seemed his opposite number, and who knows, maybe she was equally powerful......Though they doubted that. He doubted that very much.
Beckoncall
World-Weaver and servant to the most-holy PC
With the advent of the camp, and some hours passing... a peace of sorts falls over the darkness. The feeding frenzy of so many newly awakened has reverted to eerie silence and the sound of the gnawing of bones in the panumbra. Perhaps there are cycles of activity for monsters and the wild that are not obvious in the constant dark...
people with courage step beyond the barricade, and as groups... begin to take stock of their surroundings.
Each player may:
FORAGE -- Look for materials in the near-wilds, in relative safety. There is PLENTY of Obsidian and Human Bone lying around.
GATHER -- Seek out plants and other potential edibles. So far the most consistent diet of the bloods is stinging insects (which can be trapped in lanterns)
SEEK WATER -- There is the filthy inky oily waterside nearby... and people will soon be desperate enough to try drinking it. Maybe there is cleaner water somewhere... hopefully nearby?
HUNT -- Larger monsters can be heard braying, roaring and mating in the far darkness. It might be time to take the fight to the predators, and start to establish the people are not easy prey.
CRAFT -- with materials on hand and a little foraging, you might be able to make some simple tools and weapons. More effective if other groups forgage.
???? -- You may have your own ideas for this relative peace.
Also:
....A... Bed? .... is laying out under a cone of light in the far distance. It looks supremely comfortable... if such a prize could be brought back to the camp, it would easily be the most valuable item in the community...
Post your choices in the thread or in discord and I'll give a quick summary of what is found/made or any random events.
people with courage step beyond the barricade, and as groups... begin to take stock of their surroundings.
Each player may:
FORAGE -- Look for materials in the near-wilds, in relative safety. There is PLENTY of Obsidian and Human Bone lying around.
GATHER -- Seek out plants and other potential edibles. So far the most consistent diet of the bloods is stinging insects (which can be trapped in lanterns)
SEEK WATER -- There is the filthy inky oily waterside nearby... and people will soon be desperate enough to try drinking it. Maybe there is cleaner water somewhere... hopefully nearby?
HUNT -- Larger monsters can be heard braying, roaring and mating in the far darkness. It might be time to take the fight to the predators, and start to establish the people are not easy prey.
CRAFT -- with materials on hand and a little foraging, you might be able to make some simple tools and weapons. More effective if other groups forgage.
???? -- You may have your own ideas for this relative peace.
Also:
....A... Bed? .... is laying out under a cone of light in the far distance. It looks supremely comfortable... if such a prize could be brought back to the camp, it would easily be the most valuable item in the community...
Post your choices in the thread or in discord and I'll give a quick summary of what is found/made or any random events.
Twist
Going round it to be honest
The Nihtur Bloodline
Spora
(The first)
Key
Disciplined: Green
Clear Headed: Blue
Misguided: Grey
Corrupter: Red
"Ha! Hahaha! HAHAHAHAHA!"
Spora knelt down among the plain of faces, blood dripping from her bare body, her hand intertwined with that of another and laughed.
Waking up to to the limitless blackness that was to be her new world, Spora had been overcome with confusion and fear at her surroundings, the wind howling above it's callous cacophony seeking to compete with the screams that rang out from all around here. She tore and scrabbled at the stone masks beneath her, a vain attempt to escape the choking darkness and deafening roars that enveloped her, the skin of her hands becoming ribbons as her nails pulled away, as all she was rewarded with was a single sharp stone from the ground.
Reeling backwards to let out a mighty wail, Spora was quickly brought to the ground again, a mass of humanity rushing over, their dirty feet slamming against her, cutting and pounding away at her soft newborn flesh with rampant disregard, her body just a living breathing bump in the road to these other unfortunates. As one of her bones popped under the stampede, Spora had little fight left in her, so when a strong hand reached out and took her within it's grasp, she could do little to resist.
Dazed and confused, she looked out through her own long auburn hair that now covered her face, only seeing the muscular back and matted black hair of her saviour, as was she pulled alongside the mass of humanity, the man an unmovable oak among the tide, as others merely bounced off him as he strode relentlessly forward under his lanterns light. It seemed nothing could stop this man until there was a sudden splash, the man disappearing into the an inky blackness, as Spora fell into the dirt.
With little time to recover, Spora was of no use, laying on her back as a bulbous blimp of lit lanterns travelled over head, a series of strange glint dancing above. With great effort she turned herself over, staring out to where the floating fires moved to. Spora's eye grew wide, as a series of hooks descended down towards the once stampeding splashers, the foolish reaching out to them to be saved while the rest tried to flee. But among the turbulent tides there was little hope, as steadily each light grew dim forever.
Among them however, stood a bold beacon, her saviour, his mighty muscles pushing against the tide as he held his lantern high, forcing his way back to her. With grim determination he moved closer and closer, inches away from her, until he paused, his head jerking in the dark as he looked back. Rising up from the ground, she held her hand to him, trying to save him as he had done for her. Frothing from the mouth, his face twisted into a straining scowl he reached out to her, his veiny frame straining with effort. But his exertion was futile as with all his might he could not pull away from the hook that pierced his torso. And for Spora's effort, the man's severed hand as another hook swept over, cutting off his hand as it swung into his leg and carried him upwards.
Blood sprayed across her, and in that singular moment something snapped inside the first of the Nihtur.
All her effort. All her pain. Her very life amounted to nothing, amongst this demonic darkness.
Pitiful pink streams dripped off her face, her tears mixing with blood as she cackled into the dirt. Nothing could survive her, let alone herself.
A soft caress stroked her knees as something stirred beneath her. Looking down, drool dripping from her open mouth, as she tried to breath among her insane laughter, she noticed the low growing plants all around her, seemingly waving at her. Be it from her tears or her blood soaked body, the flora avowedly seemed to try reaching out to her...
Grasping at a lantern beside her, it's unknown bearer long gone, she lifted it from the ground and walked, a trail of blood dripping from her as in her other hand, was her hero's severed appendage. A single minded clarity overtook Spora, the first of the Nihtur eerily calm as she strode into the darkness, following the trail of weeds.
It was all becoming clearer...
Spora forages as she makes her way to safety among the trees (Plant Kinship). Any tumbleweeds will be lit with her lantern to act as deterrents and lures for the beasts and fellow Bloods accordingly.
Spora
(The first)
Key
Disciplined: Green
Clear Headed: Blue
Misguided: Grey
Corrupter: Red
"Ha! Hahaha! HAHAHAHAHA!"
Spora knelt down among the plain of faces, blood dripping from her bare body, her hand intertwined with that of another and laughed.
Waking up to to the limitless blackness that was to be her new world, Spora had been overcome with confusion and fear at her surroundings, the wind howling above it's callous cacophony seeking to compete with the screams that rang out from all around here. She tore and scrabbled at the stone masks beneath her, a vain attempt to escape the choking darkness and deafening roars that enveloped her, the skin of her hands becoming ribbons as her nails pulled away, as all she was rewarded with was a single sharp stone from the ground.
Reeling backwards to let out a mighty wail, Spora was quickly brought to the ground again, a mass of humanity rushing over, their dirty feet slamming against her, cutting and pounding away at her soft newborn flesh with rampant disregard, her body just a living breathing bump in the road to these other unfortunates. As one of her bones popped under the stampede, Spora had little fight left in her, so when a strong hand reached out and took her within it's grasp, she could do little to resist.
Dazed and confused, she looked out through her own long auburn hair that now covered her face, only seeing the muscular back and matted black hair of her saviour, as was she pulled alongside the mass of humanity, the man an unmovable oak among the tide, as others merely bounced off him as he strode relentlessly forward under his lanterns light. It seemed nothing could stop this man until there was a sudden splash, the man disappearing into the an inky blackness, as Spora fell into the dirt.
With little time to recover, Spora was of no use, laying on her back as a bulbous blimp of lit lanterns travelled over head, a series of strange glint dancing above. With great effort she turned herself over, staring out to where the floating fires moved to. Spora's eye grew wide, as a series of hooks descended down towards the once stampeding splashers, the foolish reaching out to them to be saved while the rest tried to flee. But among the turbulent tides there was little hope, as steadily each light grew dim forever.
Among them however, stood a bold beacon, her saviour, his mighty muscles pushing against the tide as he held his lantern high, forcing his way back to her. With grim determination he moved closer and closer, inches away from her, until he paused, his head jerking in the dark as he looked back. Rising up from the ground, she held her hand to him, trying to save him as he had done for her. Frothing from the mouth, his face twisted into a straining scowl he reached out to her, his veiny frame straining with effort. But his exertion was futile as with all his might he could not pull away from the hook that pierced his torso. And for Spora's effort, the man's severed hand as another hook swept over, cutting off his hand as it swung into his leg and carried him upwards.
Blood sprayed across her, and in that singular moment something snapped inside the first of the Nihtur.
All her effort. All her pain. Her very life amounted to nothing, amongst this demonic darkness.
Pitiful pink streams dripped off her face, her tears mixing with blood as she cackled into the dirt. Nothing could survive her, let alone herself.
A soft caress stroked her knees as something stirred beneath her. Looking down, drool dripping from her open mouth, as she tried to breath among her insane laughter, she noticed the low growing plants all around her, seemingly waving at her. Be it from her tears or her blood soaked body, the flora avowedly seemed to try reaching out to her...
Grasping at a lantern beside her, it's unknown bearer long gone, she lifted it from the ground and walked, a trail of blood dripping from her as in her other hand, was her hero's severed appendage. A single minded clarity overtook Spora, the first of the Nihtur eerily calm as she strode into the darkness, following the trail of weeds.
It was all becoming clearer...
Spora forages as she makes her way to safety among the trees (Plant Kinship). Any tumbleweeds will be lit with her lantern to act as deterrents and lures for the beasts and fellow Bloods accordingly.
Heyitsjiwon
One Thousand Club
As the camp stirred with activity with various factions within the camp leaving to forage or work on some other menial task, Ras of the Argead walked to the top of the glassy knife to address his herd of about 60 lost sheep. It was time that he had blessed them with his thoughts and wisdom. Standing from the top of the wall, Ras loudly spoke "Witness me, children. I am Ras of the Argead. Your shepherd, your lord, your savior. Out there in the dark, you were nothing more than fearful lambs, quivering in fear as the beasts stalked and circled around you. Yet, unlike the others who straggled or stood in fear and allowed themselves to be eaten, you saw me and followed my brilliant light... my guidance. Why? Because within every one of you is an inner light. Just like the lanterns you carry, each of you also carries a light within, a light that keeps you strong, resilient and powerful within. Each of you are different than the hordes who were eaten in the dark. They did not have an inner light. Thus, like the empty husks they are, they surrendered themselves to their fears like the useless lanterns that they are. Yet all your lights are weak... barely flickering.
How do I know this? Because you all feel MY inner light. Tell me... when you saw and approached me... did you feel safe? Comforted? That is the power of MY inner light that you felt and kept you safe from the creatures of the dark that feed upon your fear. Your weak lights merely encouraged to you not surrender and be completely consumed by your fear, but there is much for you to learn in order to grow your inner light. Thus, if you wish to further grow your inner light, then continue to follow me, Ras of the Argead, and remember my teachings." Ras then took his sharp rock and said "Those of you whose inner lights yearn to grow. Approach me." When or if any approached, Ras would lift his sharp stone and use it to prick his thumb. He would then place his bloody thumb on the forehead of those that approached to mark them with a fiery, crimson spot and tell them "Listen to the first precept of Ras the Savior. There is nothing to fear, but fear itself. Ponder upon my guidance and gaze upon your brothers and sisters whose inner light slowly grow. When your will wavers, look upon their brows and recall your own inner light and my teachings for I, Ras the Savior, have given you all a new spark and a new breath of life."
---
Summary: Ras attempts to inspire and bring newfound faith among the people (via a cult of personality)... and invents face painting with his own blood(?)
Bloodline: Argead
Current Blood: Ras of the Argead
Past Blood: N/A
Ancestry: Mindscreen - The opposite of mindforce, This ancestry has protection from such powers and the horrors that use them. Mindscreen Ancestry protects from non-natural detection and powers, and some say can heal or ease the damaged or fearful mind. The best adherents develop over generations in a bloodline, these bloods face foes with strange powers without fear.
Perks: Intelligent, Innovative
Quirks: Pompous, Schemer, Narcissist
Items: Lantern, Sharp Rock, Bone Armor and Large Shield
How do I know this? Because you all feel MY inner light. Tell me... when you saw and approached me... did you feel safe? Comforted? That is the power of MY inner light that you felt and kept you safe from the creatures of the dark that feed upon your fear. Your weak lights merely encouraged to you not surrender and be completely consumed by your fear, but there is much for you to learn in order to grow your inner light. Thus, if you wish to further grow your inner light, then continue to follow me, Ras of the Argead, and remember my teachings." Ras then took his sharp rock and said "Those of you whose inner lights yearn to grow. Approach me." When or if any approached, Ras would lift his sharp stone and use it to prick his thumb. He would then place his bloody thumb on the forehead of those that approached to mark them with a fiery, crimson spot and tell them "Listen to the first precept of Ras the Savior. There is nothing to fear, but fear itself. Ponder upon my guidance and gaze upon your brothers and sisters whose inner light slowly grow. When your will wavers, look upon their brows and recall your own inner light and my teachings for I, Ras the Savior, have given you all a new spark and a new breath of life."
---
Summary: Ras attempts to inspire and bring newfound faith among the people (via a cult of personality)... and invents face painting with his own blood(?)
Bloodline: Argead
Current Blood: Ras of the Argead
Past Blood: N/A
Ancestry: Mindscreen - The opposite of mindforce, This ancestry has protection from such powers and the horrors that use them. Mindscreen Ancestry protects from non-natural detection and powers, and some say can heal or ease the damaged or fearful mind. The best adherents develop over generations in a bloodline, these bloods face foes with strange powers without fear.
Perks: Intelligent, Innovative
Quirks: Pompous, Schemer, Narcissist
Items: Lantern, Sharp Rock, Bone Armor and Large Shield
Last edited:
Beckoncall
World-Weaver and servant to the most-holy PC
Twist
:Spora waved the dismembered hand for any and all to follow... lighting the weeds to make a path in the darkness... towards a stand of gnarled twisted leafless trees.
The small fires were a dead giveaway to the predators that pursued, but they kept their distance as a growing host of supplicants to the Nihtur began to form. Several others cut the hands off of corpses left from the hook's slaughter... and held them like talismans over their hearts.
In the darkness, in the light of the fires, in their lunacy -- some kind of FAITH was forming. Spora arrived at a ring of flesh-colored sickly trees... and with her ancestry of animal kinship, bonded to them.
The trees let out strange noises... Like giggling, but not. 20 followers Crawled on hands and knees to spora... who walked, barely noticing her growing following... and prayed to the jester-trees... Those that did not enter the ring grovelling were GRABBED by the fleshy fronds and flung into the sky. "Huhuhhuhuhuhhuh".... "Peeep!" .... "HEEEEEEEE" the tree things laughed as dozens upright were cast into oblivion.... the predators running to feast on the easy meals that landed with a crunch.
Spora and her twenty continued to grovel, Appeal to the trees, and shook the severed hands like rods of annointment splattering the roots of their murderous protectors.
There was nowhere to hide as a great leathery-winged predator dove for the small assembly... the trees grabbed it, two of the pinkish things, and laughed like idiot gods... pulling it asunder then thrusting the corpse at Spora's Assembly. 3 units scaly leather and there was meat... meat for the starving masses, still pulsing with lost life. They continued to crawl and grovel, eating and skinning the beast... while Spora babbled to the flesh-trees in a gibbering anthem (corrupton)
All but Spora gave their very souls to the Jester-trees.
And Spora... she took THEIR SOUL... if a tree of meat had a soul, this ring of death was hers. as these 20 belonged to it, the eight brutal laughing horrors belonged to her.
"Willing!" she focused in her mind, communing with the ring of cruelty, the ring of pain, the ring of mockery and blood.
A second, her second, the Filthy Priest (named henchman), put a hand on her shoulder, still knees to the ground.
"ALL MUST BE WILLING! WOE BE TO THEM THAT DEFIES THE TREE, FOR THEY SHALL BE CAST INTO THE HELL THAT IS THE SURFACE"
The filthy priest intoned, and Spora offered up herself to whatever the Jestertrees would do next.
They would dig a burrow. And in it she and Twenty hid.
Eating a carcass, anointing each other with the blood of severed hands.
Their minds were lost... but if they chose, a home was found.
Beckoncall
World-Weaver and servant to the most-holy PC
GENERATION 1 EVENT:
THE FIRST CONSTRUCTIONS
While life in the darkness is still incredibly dangerous -- people have begun to settle in small groups and have learned how to survive. With survival and settlement, comes culture and Construction.
Each player MAY (but doesn't have to) -- Construct a building for their Bloodline.
Building materials most commonly useful are:
Bamboo (scarce, so structure must be small)
Fiber
Clay
Bricks
Stone
Quartz
Obsidian
Bones
Declare in discord or in forum your construction and I will either approve it (and apply bonuses) or alter it (too ambitious or unlucky ideas may not work out or be compromised!)
When at least 5 Constructions are made, The 2nd generation will start, when people begin leaving the Dark Cresh for even more dangerous environments with the hopes of more food and materials. (live in the dark cresh is very hard and far from safe)
THE FIRST CONSTRUCTIONS
While life in the darkness is still incredibly dangerous -- people have begun to settle in small groups and have learned how to survive. With survival and settlement, comes culture and Construction.
Each player MAY (but doesn't have to) -- Construct a building for their Bloodline.
Building materials most commonly useful are:
Bamboo (scarce, so structure must be small)
Fiber
Clay
Bricks
Stone
Quartz
Obsidian
Bones
Declare in discord or in forum your construction and I will either approve it (and apply bonuses) or alter it (too ambitious or unlucky ideas may not work out or be compromised!)
When at least 5 Constructions are made, The 2nd generation will start, when people begin leaving the Dark Cresh for even more dangerous environments with the hopes of more food and materials. (live in the dark cresh is very hard and far from safe)
Auriel Maza
Professor of Cuddles
It had been some time since Niko guided those from the mad woman Aaliyah. His hair's black began to retreat into sliver, but he still have much left. And as Niko matured, he grew stronger and more resolved. Life wasn't easy, but everyone knew that. Bugs seemed to be an issue and a source of food. The odd creature that wandered in could be something, though skinny and not quite the best filler for the population. The people asked Niko for help, for guidance. To be honest, Niko was improvising with some whispers from his ancestors. They always seemed to have good ideas, and Niko was a comedian, he had to be creative to crack his jokes. But, there was a burning sensation in his mind. Who was he? And what was he meant to do? He looked around the quarry at the others. Crafters, hunters, shamans... Who was he and his personal flock? Niko had no answers until one fateful epiphany...
---------------------------------In a cave of the quarry, Niko laid naked, as he always is, staring at the ceiling of the cave. Grumbling and murmurs filled the distant halls of those outside. Away enough to be faint, nothing more. The light of his efficient lantern guided his thoughts as he fiddled with rocks in his hands. Alone and with his thoughts, a smile drew across his face. Many knew him, and many enjoyed his humorous guidance and his passionate tendencies. But, they knew he needed to be alone. For that is when Niko could hear them best... alone. His ancestors spoke in weird ways. Though, Niko's behavior and strange power lended to that. Others could wield swords well, mutate with essence of the army of darkness, project their mind onto others, and much more. Niko waggled his hands at the thought. What made him so different? What made him deafened to the siren's song of the beast long ago? Niko's eyes shut in frustration as he turned to his right side. He held a rock and as he focused away from it, a teal glow began to form. His gaze returned and the rock was no more. Transformed into a rod of some kind. Niko stared into the rod thinking of what it meant. Slowly, he turns away, then only to smash it. He did not need it. He knew what it spoke. Niko wielded a different power. He projected not his mind onto others, nor shield his mind. He reaches with his mind into the physical world and bends it to his needs. Or in some cases, makes what was not there. Of course, there was so much to explore. Must he save his strength, so he spares it from his wonders. But, it manifested in a teal glow, and his body glowed slightly as well. Not enough to drive the darkness, but by goodness, it was there. Niko stared at the glow in his hand in the cave, tearing up in confusion. What did it mean?
"I don't understand. Why do I have this? Why couldn't I be like them? I don't understand why..." Niko stood up, leaning up against the stone wall. He chewed a couple bugs with his eyes not touching the light that bounced from them. "A fool I may be, but what do these powers mean? Are they some joke? Some prophecy?"
Nothing responded, but as he questioned and tumbled with himself, the glow increased briefly and a whisper entered his ear. Niko couldn't hear it clearly...
"Child of the Light? Not sure about that, but... that does make some sense." Niko angled his purple eyes downward. He examined his hands. They glowed dimly, but glowed. He walked outside the cave with lantern in tow. He needed to see something, and as he looked over the quarry and the nearby settlements, he noticed that there wasn't any light fixtures, least that survived. "Maybe they tried what all the others have done too. Maybe it won't be enough... But, what do we need to better them?" Niko looked back down at his hands, and he knew. "Light."
He opened his lantern and pulled out a piece of quartz. He began to shape it into a lens, and held it in the beams of his lantern. The concave shape caused the light to spread and Niko's eyes sparkled like royal jewels. The dark seemed to be afraid of the light. Maybe his mocking of it proved effective because of an inner light, his inner light. Maybe he left Aaliyah because he knew the dark would take them if they had not. Maybe he resisted the song because he held the light and it could not pierce for that. May be... But the coincidences and strange occurrences struck Niko. This quarry was a great find. The resources as well. Maybe, he was destined to find it... Maybe he was just lucky. Maybe it was the land that would start the light's return. Maybe he was the one to do so.
The others focused on libraries and crafting halls. Nah, Niko knew better, he learned quick. A sword, a book, a wall cannot drive out the darkness. Only light can... The swirl of realizations hit Niko hard and he sat down abruptly. Wonder what kind of scene this would cause. He looked deeply into his lantern and his lens. Maybe he didn't know how to make more light as his children would know. But, he knew how to augment it, and why it was important. The only way was to spread it far and wide. Let the darkness BURN. But, in its place, the landscape needed new to replace what would be overtaken. Niko closed his eyes as he heard their voices again. He saw a tree, an oak tree below a massive light? Was that what was instore for his children? Maybe the tree was important, but how could he find one? If one was to exist? Then, he saw little nuts called acorns across the ground? Maybe that was the key. Not to make the tree, but to craft its seed. Of course, Niko didn't know what it looked like on the inside or the color of its blood. That he simply made in the color of his eyes.
"Come light seed, breath in my mind so that you may return to these dark lands." He focused deeply. He hoped it would arrive, for he looked down at his lens, the lantern, and he had an idea. Maybe build a tower of light...
Cosmo
Does Not Know Kung-fu
Aaliyah Epimoni
Mistress of the Pit
≡≡≡≡≡ ≡≡≡≡≡ ≡≡≡≡≡ ≡≡≡≡≡ ≡≡≡≡≡
The beast was dead [Captain Obvious]. The great beast had strutted across this land as if it was king of all it surveyed, it had crashed through the barricades as if they were little more then dust in the howling gale left in its terrible wake. It had sent the few outsiders that still remain scattering into the dark, chasing after the tails of their fellows, but her people remained. Why did they stay while others fled? What made them stand fast against a beast of nightmares? A beast that made the very ground tremble with each step? The answer was same as it had always been, it was an answer that stood eternal, unchanging with the seasons, it was strength [Blunt]. If they had fled from it's wroth, if they had chased after the backs of the cowards who had hightailed it before, they would never stop running. What made someone strong was not their bodies, it was their wills. The will to look into certain death, to look into the darkness of the abyss, and stand fast. It was the understanding that in this world of shadow, a man was either the Prey or the Predator. The beast of this world could not be reasoned with, they could not be talked down, they could not be engaged in lengthy debates of morality, they had to be broken. The Tyrannosaur's mistake had not been in entering their camp, it had not been in killing her warriors, it's mistake had been it's nature. That bestial ignorance that made it believe it was King, that it was the Apex Predator of this land, Aaliyah could not help but ponder if the beast had still thought that, when she had plunged her fist into its eye and tore out its mind, if even unto those last few painful moments, it had believed itself to be King. Bestial Ignorance had been it's downfall, it's reign had ended the moment she had taken her first breath, the instant she had taken up the spear from the worthless nobody that had sought to claim what was hers [Greedy], from the time her followers cast down the false messiah. She was the Mistress of the Pit. She was the apex predator of this land. She would make this world quake when she deigned to tread its soil because she, and she alone, had the strength to gaze into the abyss, to plunge her hand into it and take what she wanted, what she deserved [Greedy/Megalomania].
The buzz of conversation slipped into the darkness as the numerous fires crackled in the dark, large racks upon racks of meat hung to smoke and be preserved, but there was so much. The beast's carcass had been a veritable gold mine of leather and meat, so much meat that it was impossible for them to preserve even a fraction of it, so they feasted. Night after night, they dined upon the roasted 'King' [Captain Obvious]. While the cowards hid in their hole, scarfing down insects and scraps like rats, the Warriors of the Epimoni, and the Healers of Seia, feasted. They went to sleep fed both in belly and spirit. Aayliah ran her hand across the scaled leather of the 'chair' she was using, none other then the head of the fallen king that had been removed and set down. Soon it would be stripped down to the bone and she would have it decorated, engraved, turned into a throne worthy of a Queen, but for now, it was a useful symbol of status and she took perverse enjoyment in resting her rear on such a might beast that she had personally broken, the look of awe, fear and respect that glimmered in the eyes of her warriors [Greed/Megalomania]. As she ran her rand hand across the surface, she was reminded how, not so long ago, that arm had been withered and broken, a useless weak thing hanging from her side, but it was healed [Captain Obvious]. Odette of Seia had a truly marvelous gift, one Aaliyah coveted jealously [Greed], but to her pleasure, the woman possessed a keener mind then the scurrying rats before her. She understood the perks of bending the knee, of living under the protection of the Epimoni. Her and her people would live in peace down by the water's edge, or even here, if they so wished. They would grow, they would expand, they would have children, their reward for their fealty was prosperity. The mewling rats thought she was 'savage', a 'beast', that she could not be trusted and so they had fled into the night, but as they huddled in fear of her, the Seia Clan would sleep with full bellies. When the mewling rats spoke of 'freedom' from her 'darkness', she would merely point to the Seia and how life was under her domain [Megalomania]. If their strength had not been so taxed, she would have marched upon their holes and forced them to their knees, to break them [Blunt]. But their strength was depleted for now, and in time, the rats would multiply, as rats were keen to do, and it could prove troublesome to clear them out. No, she would wait. The Seia would prosper, and when the beast from the shadows come again, the rats will flee, flee with their goods, flee with their weak and their young, flee with the pathetic things they called 'lives'... And when there was no where else to flee, Aaliyah would be there. As she always was and with open arms she would accept what had always been hers, when they bent the knee to her and submitted, they would know the peace that only broken livestock know, the peace and contentment of utter subservience to a being greater then they. [Greedy/Megalomania]
Aaliyah's dark eyes roamed her domain to the spikes of Glass Wall, where the skulls of her foes hung and to one in particular that was empty. The False Prophet was gone and had been gone for some time [Captain Obvious]. She could only assume one of his pathetic followers had survived and taken his body down, as it was unlikely he could have survived, much less, pull himself off the impalement [Smart]. Why they had done so mystified her, what use did a corpse have when there were so many others around? Perhaps they would hoist it up and gather around it to build effigies to it out of their dung [Blunt], in truth, it was little matter. The Prophet's Fall was barely more then a footnote compared to the Fall of the King. He, whatever his name had even been, was nothing more then a stepping stone in what was her legacy [Megalomania]. One day, even the Fall of the King would seem small compared to what she, and her future progeny, would do. When they claimed every inch of this land of darkness, when the men and women bent the knee to her glory, when the beast hide in the shadow, eking out a living in holes as they wept in fear at her passing for this was the domain of monsters and none of them could match her ferocity. There was a new world order for the King was dead, and soon many other bestial kings would follow, and in their place, a new leader would take their place, Aaliyah Epimoni, and from her throne she would rule this land, she would crush the beast that lurked in the darkness, bend the knee of the upstarts and cowards that trembled in their holes for this land was hers. [Megalomania/Greedy].
Long live the Queen.
≡≡≡≡≡ ≡≡≡≡≡ ≡≡≡≡≡
Construction
Throne of Tyrants
It will be the site of the future 'great hall' of the Epimoni where the massive skull of the Black Tyrannosaurus sits as her throne, adorned in blackscale leathers with polished obsidian used to fill its eye sockets.
Wyrmbone [Skull of the Black Tyrannosurus -owned-] + fiber + blackscale leather + tools + obsidian
Clarification: The Great Hall is not being constructed. That'll be in the future. For now it's just the throne.
Last edited:
Beckoncall
World-Weaver and servant to the most-holy PC
Auriel Maza
:TOWER OF BABEL
"Why father do we light the quarry and not the lands beyond? Why are our lenses turned down to give the dim to the settlement below, and never turned to the dark of the sky?"
Come here, child, and I will tell you the story of Niko the Deliverer -- Who led us all from bondage, who united the people's of the Quarry council, and once upon a time envisoned a monument that would push back the dark forever -- the first that would be of many, I imagine... with light for all and no monsters to hide in it. A new world. A dream within a dream. We are still proud of Niko the deliverer, and he will always be remembered -- but his dream was to master the darkness, not to survive in it... and it was this leap too far that brought him low...
You see... A long time ago he had recruited all who would listen from the Quarry to build his "House of Light" -- a spire that reached out of the quarry, up to the lands around, and indeed, when it was lit, for a brief time -- the world around in the dark cresh was visible... we called it the dim cresh in those days, brief as they were... and the light of the lighthouse shed as far as the waterline, shimmering the beach and people of the gnarled tree, shimmered over the wall of glass making the obsidian spikes akin to torches in the reflected glass... you could see as far as the Jester's forest to the south, and shudder at what happened there. Indeed... the lighthouse was constructed.. and it worked. really WORKED.
And the people did frolic beneath the house of light, and it was said the pupils of the people of the quarry grew SMALL in the shine of it's radience. And much was mapped, and much was gathered that was hidden, and for weeks, happiness rose so high in the Quarry that there was only one way to go -- to Fall, my son. To fall.
Niko was Heroic... and Niko was Humorous. In fact, it is said perhaps that had he survived Niko would have seen the humor in what had happened...
The Nightmare Titan Flying thing, of hooks and lights, of impossible size... must have seen the tower and thought it a potential mate... what else could be so bright in the cresh? And lo, the gargantuan thing landed in the Quarry, and mounted and copulated with the Tower, even as Niko stood within it with those closest to him in defiance or defense. There was crunching and grunting and cracking and crumbling and the quarry was plunged back into night. The tower was toppled, and a river of black slime was left in it's wake... the lenses shattered, the great work, rubble. Many died, crushed in the rockfall or taken by the hooks...
That is why we inverted the lighthouse to shine only into the quarry -- we are people of light now, thanks to Niko -- but this land is not a land of light -- and it was hubris of him to think that so early in the struggle of our people that the dark could be tamed. Managed, yes -- as you can see the herb gardens grow. Wielded, yes -- as you see our community is a land of light, however dim...
But we have a saying now -- and hear it well -- it comes from the whispers of he ancestors, and none know truly what it's saying, but all know for sure what it means:
"Fly like Icarus -- Holding the Sun -- Then burn thy ass like a cinnamon bun."
Who is this Icarus father? And what is a cinnamon bun? what is a "sun?"
"Respect the darkness boy. That's what it means."
_________________________________________
EFFECTS:
Niko the Elder has died. Generation 2 population drops to 30 (from 40) because of catastrophe. New Lighthouse is built that ONLY lights the quarry, and is primarily used for vision within the settlement and the cultivation of herbs. (RED HERB and GREEN HERB) become renewable resources in the Quarry.
Stationary Light exists in the quarry. Any attempt to take such light out of the quarry has been a catastrophe.
"Sleep Well Niko, beneath the grunting lurching mass of the flying titan of the lamps."