Dice Our Shenanigans

[Katsuya]

​

- Cascata dell’ Oceano -
“Close to home”​

A thunderous roar echoed in the chilly air, steam hazing the visitors as they walked around the rocky edge. Any brave soul that looked down will see the grey waters of the massive oceans. Small fishing boats and canoes floated in the icy waters with fishermen and women pulling their nets. Hoping they catch their meals and not their doom. Beyond the edge of the waterfall is a small town, busy and filled with different travelers of all kinds. Some colorful in their furs, others in pure white or black. Not that anyone should be surprised about it, Cascata dell’ Oceano is infamous for having a trade route with merfolk and their delicious seafood while having a beautiful view towards the ocean. Even the picky seagulls that fly overhead came down to eat . . .

A red head raised his brow when he saw a seagull dive down and ripped another’s breakfast. Holding back his chuckle while pulling his bike forward on the snow-covered cobbled roads. Goggles shined under the sun’s glaring rays. His reddened nose under the ragged scarf breathed in the wonderful cook seafood, wondering where he can eat without the rats with wings taking his food too. Narrowed indigo eyes roamed the busy streets, slightly worry swimming behind the usual playful energy he seems to show. Isa couldn’t exactly stay in these parts for long, he was too close to home, and he wasn’t ready to go back. Not now. So he has to leave soon before someone recognized his image.

His stomach growled painfully, reminding him to get something to eat first. Right, he needs food to even use his illusions too.

“. . . Lord Loki, watch over me should I faint before I can get something to eat.” Isa muttered as he pasted through the stalls and perked up when he heard someone yelling about how goo their food were. He blinked a few times and without realizing it, walked over to the stall that was sell Takoyaki. Pulling his bike too.

Zer0

 

[Katsuya]

- Frozen Mine -
"Night Time, Mysterious Portal, Heart of Windshear Mountains"​

“No, I don’t suppose guys do that normally.” Isa said thoughtfully, realizing that he hugged and touched Moss more times than he ever done in the past with strangers within the year. “My mother used to do that to me.”

He tapped his own forehead with a gloved finger, grinning in amusement. “To check when I got sick. I get what you mean though. It’s understandable to be annoyed getting hit on when you just want to work—- I tease when it’s daylight or when I know for sure we’re safe enough to troll. It’s dark outside and we’re inside a mine....where we might be snowed in by a loud noise.”

Isa fell in the blasted place. Who knows what else this mine has in store for him?!

Zer0

 

[Zer0]

- ?? -
"Frozen Mine"​

Moss was red when he turned around to check Isa for injuries, but the shyness disappeared when he saw all the scars and he looked grumpy again. " You have a bruise on your lower right back." He sighed, "I wish we had healing supplies. Here, use my bag to dry your clothes." He gave Isa his bag of folding and waited for him to be done before the merman did the same somewhere where Isa could not see him change.

They pressed on. Afternoon came and went and still they found nothing. Then at around what was probably dusk, the air slowly became cleaner, the dimness lighting up, as the icy tunnel they were climbing ascended higher and higher, until they came upon an opening where the sunset was streaming through. They heard what was unimistakably the sound of mining and hammering, the harsh grunts and unworldly shrieks of something not human. A rocky ledge jutted out from the opening, and there before them, a long way down was a ruins, but it was inhabited. Homes carved out of the stone and ice lay smoldering in the blue light of magical lanterns. Dark, slimy skinned katulus, their squid-like tentacled faces protruding from dark robes glided along the streets, screeching orders in what sounded like Sindarin to scores and upon scores of enslaved drows.

The dark skinned, silver haired dark elves were carefully digging through the ruins. The katulus floating above them wielding staffs that glowed with ragnite. There were machines, real working clockwork machines like the one Isa found in the barn. Working bulls of metal that dragged stones and debris away, Steampunk spiders with glowing runes that crawled along the walls, drilling with a katulu floating behind them, spell circles of wicked purple glowing and spinning from their slimy hands. And in the distance there was a huge machine. Like a tower with spider legs. It was across a bridge, moving slowly across another part of the ruins, carefully walking between ruined buildings, a net of heavy load under its metal belly.

Moss glanced at Isa. "Well, lucky day, I think we've found our forge and ragnite core."

Katsuya​

 

[Zer0]

- 3 Days Later -
"Frozen Mine, Mysterious Portal, Heart of Windshear Mountains "​

The wait was long. Night turned into morning, and still the monsters were still looking for them. Moss kept whispering encouragements to Isa, putting an arm around his shoulder, and humming-whispering songs from the sea. The second night came, and still there was a guard floating around keeping watch above them, but on the third day a blizzard struck, and for the first time Moss was grateful, for the tentacled katulus retreated to take shelter from the harsh cold.

Here was their opportunity. Moss braved the blizzard and the waters that were now too cold even for him to bear, and he came back to Isa, shivering, but grinning wide, the ragnite core in his hands, and a clockwork gear that was exactly what Isa needed to complete the parts for the portal.

The two hiked through the blizzard. They followed the river, far, far away from the katulu camp, then spent another day circling back around the entire mountain to get back to their camp.

Relief, sweet relief flooded Moss when he saw the portal ruins, and they trudged back to their warm camp in the mines, where Smoky lay undisturbed under the stairs. Moss just flopped onto the floor and fell asleep immediately. That night, he ventured back into the mines, making his careful way through the river where he and Isa had fallen, fought his way around the bone pit, then retrieved the stuff that he left behind from the ledge, and then returned to camp safe and sound.

It was now the morning of the third day since they escaped the katulus, and Moss was just sleeping heavily on his cot, bruised and burned from their adventures, but healed and healthy.

Spoiler: Team Gained

• x1 Ragnite Core
• x1 Portal Parts

 

[Zer0]

- Frozen Mine -
"Mysterious Portal, Heart of Windshear Mountains "​

'Constipated for you.' thought Moss. He immediately flung that ridiculous thought away. "What? No, I . . . I just. I had a dream." And the redness on his cheeks faded as he told Isa about seeing the ghostly amber tail. " I thought it was dappling sunlight then, but on hindsight it looked like the dorudon's tail. I think she helped me."

Katsuya

 

[Zer0]

- The Void -​

Moss agreed to that. He was looking forward to shopping with Isa. He also secretly took note of his tattered coat too. He though of maybe a sewing kit and some purple cloth first, before buying that crockpot he's always wanted.

Two days passed. Moss helped Isa fix the portal, studiously observing what the biker did. It was hard. The mechanism was complex, and many a times they wondered why it wasn't working even though they were both sure that they did it right. Moss provided hot tea for the both of them while they worked. During the moments where it was only Isa who could do something and Moss was just left to watch, he'd plop his wintercoat on Isa, while he guarded him in his fluffy orca form. No danger came close to them up here in the cold peak of the mountain. In the valley below, the giants seemed to have given up searching for Smoky and went about their lives herding mammoths, making cheese. There were some fur clad nomads that had passed through the valley. Taurens from the look of them. They bore gifts for the giants who let them pass after trading some goods.

On the night of the second day, the portal surged with blue lightning, sparks shocked around the ring, there a muted boom like an inward thunder, and for a moment everything around heated up, as the reality before them burned away like Isa's flames, revealing a blackness --- Moss-orca had hurried to Isa and hugged him, shielding him with his bulk --- and then the blackness shrunk in on itself and disappeared. The portal was still once more. Moss had thought it was going to explode, but no it had worked. It actually worked. They actually fixed an ancient portal!

And so, on the morning of the third day they got ready to leave for The Highlands. This was so amazing, this was so scary. They activated the portal again, and this time it was steadier than yesterday. Flames ate up their reality and opened a blackness of vast space. Peeking through the blackness were glimpses of some sort of ancient ruined stone overgrown with vines. The Sunken Temple.

Moss grinned at Isa nervously and put a hand on his shoulder. He just needed to hold something. And when they were ready, they stepped in together.

Isa could tell something was wrong when he couldn't feel Moss' hand on his shoulder anymore. For a fraction of a moment, it was like he was falling in cold darkness with no knowing which was up or down. And then he blinked. And his feet hit solid ground. Only . . . the ground everywhere else was floating.

Where was he?

Moss wasn't beside him, nor was Smoky. If Isa looked behind him, there was nothing but a tall obelisk of stone. Beneath him, ancient sigils carved around a circle faintly glowing a pink red, now fading like embers being blown out. In front of him . . . In front of him shattered lands floated past in a world of dark mist, shadows, and a light that seemed to come from everywhere, and nowhere all at once? It seemed to change wherever Isa looked, and sometimes when he stepped, gravity would slide him somewhere else and then the whole world would realign dizzily. Beneath the floating shards of land there was nothing but the deep abyss and that strange light. And even strangely still, were the sounds. It was like being underwater.

What does Isa wish to do?

Katsuya

​

 

[Zer0]

- Sunken Temple -​

Moss startled the moment Isa's mom appeared, looking embarassed to be caught kissing his son without her permission, though he did not let go of Isa and politely called after her. "H-happy Winter's Crest, Mrs. Bianchi!"

He became pudding once more when Isa pecked him, his lips chasing his for more. "What do you mean back to my side?" He murmurred, dazed but confused. "I am awake" He was surprised, Isa backed away. He held on his hand. "What are you talking about? --- Isa, wait, why are you just leaving?" He looked hurt and confused, as he followed him around the corner, but the dream was fading, and once more the Ancient stood in front of Isa in the darkness of the void.

Loki's ever present grin turned into a sad frown. He stepped aside, and there was a slide that looked familiar, one from Isa's childhood. Carved out of smooth polished stone, surrounded by grass and the conforting scent of home. "Think hard of where you wish to go, and you will come out safely on the other side. Farewell, child, this has been a pleasant visit."

If Isa slid down the the slide, he would wake up in the lotus position in the dark surrounded by the sounds of crickets and frogs, and the squeaks of passing bats overhead. The carved stone slab he sat on felt steady under him, and the air smelled of rain, leaves, and damp undergrowth.

A cast of flames and Isa would find himself inside the ruins of a stone chamber dripping with water. Intricate runed carvings surrounded the slab he had found himself on. Runes similar to the portal in Windshear. There was no one around him. There was a shaft, half collapsed, with a ripe ladder flung down. Climbing it, Isa would see a vast temple ruins spread out before him. He was on an island, at sea. The full moon casting a silver glow upon the gently lapping waves.

In the distance was a mainland and Isa could see, hanging under the moon, the silhouettes of giant floating islands. He had come to The Highlands at last.

Katsuya

 

[Zer0]

- Moss Adamaris -
"3 More Days Later, Bird Village"​

James raised an amused brow at that, surprised he was being called bad. "Thanks for your honesty? Sasha, come." He put out a hand, and the little owl hopped on to the cup of his palm. He caressed her head. "Go sleep in the tavern." James added to Isa, pushing the crockpot with all he items towards him. "You look ready to pass out."

* * * *​

The days passed pleasantly in the peaceful hubbub of rustic village life in a background of small family happenings, and cool rain drizzling on cobblestone roads that left shimmering hanging droplets on the grassy flower beds among puddles that mirrored the big blue sky with the silhouettes of their floating islands overhead. Sen brought Isa up one of them on the back of a white griffin, Seifer's winged mount, Orion. They were leaping across thrilling gaps, avoiding winged predators, and hanging down climbing ropes to mine ragnite ores that day for a community project to replace the lamp posts in the village with magical lanterns. Sen explained to Isa, as he taught him how to tie knots, that magical lanterns are cheaper to maintain in the long run compared to lamps that run on oil. He also brought him here because he wanted to show him how cool it was.

They even met Kenren here in the afternoon, tending to a curtain of white orchids dangling off the edge of a ring of rocks, one of the flowers arranged in a simple bouquet safely tucked inside his oriental robes billowing in the wind. There was Seifer having a very romantic picnic with Renee too. There was pleasant music coming from a clockwork box on the grass that the couple were dancing to. Sen told Isa that Seifer was born in the Templar faction but chose to leave and live with his fiancee Renee. He along with Echo were their diplomats: Echo to the bandit warlords across Leor, Seifer to the Templar's capital of Vanar. There were even two people playing tag up here like a couple of ninjas: the violinist Serena who played in the tavern, and someone who looked remarkably like Sen, whom the smith introduced to Isa as Seth, his twin brother and the village's courier. They were close, going "Brathaaaaaaaaaa!" and doing some kind of wacky complicated hand shake salute thing and finishing each other's sentences.

On the sixth day since the banishing, Moss weary voice sounded in Isa's head saying he sees the village in the distance, but there was a loose ring of Templar soldiers camped around it. With the help of Sasha and Moss' promise to pay the Snowy Owl owner, the little owl delivered to him a spell scroll of "Disguise Self" and some velum paper and Enchanter's Ink. And so, that lunch time after some plans, there was a knock on Isa's tavern room, and there on the threshold was a tall fair-skinned auburn haired man with a close shaved beard and an absent-minded feel about him.

"Isa." he breathed in Moss' voice, and rushed to hug him.

Katsuya

Spoiler: Moss Shops

-15 Alchemical

Bought:
x1 Velum Paper and Enchanter's Ink
x1 Spell Scroll: Disguise Self

 

[Katsuya]

- Isa Bianchi -
“Village square “

Spoiler: Village song

Isa caught that look and smiled bashfully. Opening the door and closing it behind them before they made their way to the square. The pair can see a slight difference the deeper they go into the village. More cobbler stones are part of the road, the buildings were a little bigger with stalls pop out at the front. Vines crawling up the walls with it’s leafy greens reaching up for the sleeping sun’s light. Isa would lightly bump his shoulders with Moss’, bashfully smiling as he looked away; seeing the lanterns and lamps turning on. Children pulling their parents with excitement as the parents pretended to be yanked, chuckling as they went to the square.

With a violin‘s strings singing it’s notes, welcoming the listeners, Moss and Isa found themselves in the square. The area is open, circular with hanging lights and streamers on each street lamp. People are sitting on metal benches, leaning on something, or dancing around to the violin. Children playing and laughing, following the fireflies that are hovering lazily. Smack dab in the middle of the playful crowd is the violinist, Serena, dancing and jamming with her strings, popping her leg straight up as she stood on the thick stone rim of the flower bed; ending with a long sharp end.

”Alright! One, two, three!” She immediately went to another song, one that caused most of the adults come into the middle. Skirts flowed and billowed, men’s boots stomp on the ground. Isa spotted Renee, Seifer, Chenglei, and Kenren dancing too, having fun to the folk-like song. More instruments started playing with Serena, who whooped.

The redhead chuckled, clapping his hands with the beat, then he followed a pink firefly. Getting curious as he poked it. With a loud pop of confetti, he jumped and lightly bumped into Moss, laughing. “No wonder the kids keep chasing ’em.” He looked at the merman, smiling joyfully.

Zer0

 

[Zer0]

- Moss Adamaris -
"Ciros Labyrinth, The Highlands"​

Moss nodded, too pleasantly out of it to speak. When he re-emerged from the daze of Isa's loving touches, he asked if he could touch him without his gloves in the way. "And will you let me touch the scarring on your shoulders too?" He covered his black hands in comforting kisses, and ran his warm hands up and down his shoulders and back, reassuring Isa with his gentle touches that his scars didn't make him less desirable.

The next morning found Moss being a happy little spoon under the covers, languidly snuggling his nape towards Isa's lips for kisses. He was sleepy and warm, and it was so cozy talking, eating breakfast in bed later, and the pulling Isa into his arms for a few more stolen moments of dozing together.

He was in good spirits from last night, as they shopped for the supplies they needed. Moss bought a ragnite lamp and ordered a better set of armor and weapons from Sen that he was going to get at the end of the week before they left for Cliffdrift village. He told Isa all about the things he knew about the labyrinth, as they made their final preparations and showed him the revised map Vera had drawn for him. Then after safely leaving the village, Moss asked Isa if he was okay with riding him in his orca form, else they would arrive in the labyrinth way past lunch time and that wasn't enough daylight to hunt.

It took a lot of convincing, mostly the offer of fluff, but Isa agreed and they arrived at the hunter's camp where Moss introduced Isa to Vera and the Asger hunters, and asked them for any news about labyrinth. All was normal as usual, the weather was sunny, and the hunting packs had already left early in the morning. With that, they made their way to the ruins, and roped down into its depths.

Katsuya

 

[Zer0]

- After the Aftermath -​

Moss hugged Isa and kissed him back with much meaning. Relief, looking for comfort, happy he is okay, worried if he was okay, happy he is here alive in front of him. All this in his kiss. He couldn't help but swoon and laugh a little.

"That's . . . That's romantic, Isa, good morning." He added softly, cupping his cheeks gently and looking into his eyes tenderly. " Are you feeling alright? Does your side still hurt?"

Katsuya

 

[Katsuya]

- Stillness -​

Death haunts him like a plague. Flashes of blood, broken bones, and nails piercing flesh follow his fragile mind for years. A teenager is walking in the middle of the night, snow crunching under his heavy boots as he travelled between the blackened trees. The full moon‘s light peaking through the crooked branches as if being trapped within a spider’s jostled web. Furred white hood covering his autumn colored hair, shadowing his dead indigo blue eyes. White cloak fluttering slightly from the gentle winds, reveling dark priest clothing underneath. Hints of simple gold embroidery on the seams of his long tunic shined under the moonlight with each step he took.

Isa needed to leave. As much as he loves his adopted family in the Sect, he needs to leave. He couldn’t sleep without nightmares of his uncle. Hearing his laughter as pain jolted him awake and even then, he couldn’t move. Staring back at his uncle who just smiled and laughed at his face, screaming about how unfair it was. How unfair that he wasn’t his blood—- He flinched, taking a few steps back. His wide eyes searched the area in his fear and anger stirred easily, glowing yellow like a wolf hunting for it’s prey. Then he continued walking. For a minute there, he felt his uncle nearby, but that’s normal by now. The hallucinations were getting real. “It’s only a lie.” He muttered in disappointment, that urge of killing his uncle cried out. Luring him deeper and deeper into that black spiral of torment inside his mind. Revenge is his only cure.

He decided to camp inside a tree trunk, noticing the hole by luck. A stone covered the entrance, it was perfect for the thin teen. So he went inside—- and dropped into a tunnel. He screamed in surprise before screaming in pain, rolling on stones and roots until he finally stopped rolling. Face planting the ground— it was soft? And warm? Isa groaned before he looked up and blinked owlishly. Then he quickly pushed himself up as he starred in awe. A ruin. A small ruin of a temple, the ceiling is domed with a circular hole in the middle, letting the moon be the temple’s light source. Designs of angular people coming inside and gifted offerings to an ancient. A woman with white hair and icy blue eyes in a white dress. He didn’t recognize the Ancient. She didn’t look like any of the Ancients he knew. However he recognized the snowflake symbol on the Ancient’s forehead.

“ . . . Khione.” He muttered, surprised once more. Khione used to be the Ancient of snow and ice, but she passed away in grief of Titan dying. Her body became the snow and ice of Leor, replaced by another Ancient. Not that many people worshipped her since she is of snow and ice, they thought of her as cold and stoic. However, in his studies, she is the kindest of Ancients. Always helping Titan bring beautiful flowers after her snow storms. She was Titan’s love and source of peace. That’s when he noticed of what he was sitting on. Grass. Green and supple grass filled the ground floor with wildflowers unknown to the world’s discourse. “No wonder it’s so warm.” He muttered tiredly. His eyes started to droop as he stared at the grass and flowers— this place smelled like lavender and peppermint—-

Isa slacked and plopped on the bouncy grass. His body curled slightly as he slept. Dreaming of his mother’s hand caressing his hair as she sang her lullaby.

He forgot. Khione is also known to bring sleep onto others, keeping them still as they either recover in her supple kindness or die under her frigidity.

Isa slept for three days straight and when he woke up, he felt better. Needing a bit of stillness to calm the storm of chaos within, he suppose. He thanked the Ancient before continuing his journey.