< atton revisited > The information page for Atton has been fully revised and updated with the new map!
< updated calendar > The Fortuna calendar has been updated in the "Other" lore section! This includes a document which displays the calendar for you to see, making it much easier to understand.
< moving map > The first functional map has been released in the News section! This map is also interactive, allowing you to drag and drop between points in order to determine distances. This is the first iteration, and there's more and better to come!
< first annual awards > The results for the First Annual Fortuna Year-End Awards have been posted! Go and take a look at who the finalists were, and who took home the big prizes!
< new default skin > Our new skin has passed the beta test, and is now the new Default for the forums! If you have any issues with this skin, send a PM or Discord to Mellie.
< human lore update > Humans have been updated with TWENTY-FIVE subraces/subcultures which add numerous options, and a little extra lore and flavour.
< magic lore update > Magical Lore has been enhanced with the addition of a post on Magical Education. From Beginner to Expert, this is how you learn the spells.
< a change to member groups > Member groups are now based on storyline! You can change your displayed storyline by editing the settings in your profile.
Welcome to the world of Fortuna, a land of fantastic proportions. This is an original fantasy roleplay that takes place in a world developed over nearly a decade of work and collaboration. We aim to encourage all participants to have a hand in the stories of the characters here, and the world around them. Your choices are key - so make them with pride. You decide who wins the wars, you decide who becomes King, the world is ours, and together we will bring it to life!
"It's terrible, I know," she replied to the joke, "I never thought I would be putting on more clothing around you," She helped Sia to her feet and then they went about getting her dressed, and while Solveig wishes to revel in all the time they had together she also knew that time was of the essence and so they could not linger here now. Chestplate, pauldrons, cuisse, greaves, gauntlets and finally only the helmet remained. She didn't put it on yet, and instead was kissed by Sia and told to be safe, and reminded of the scroll that allowed her to summon her if necessary. She nodded once, decisively. "I will return when we have defeated them. I love you." She would have placed a hand to her cheek or run her fingers through her hair but her gauntlets were plate, as they must be to protect against the bite of an anpu, and so she bowed instead, like how a proper knight should bow to a lady, and then it was time to leave. As she shut the door behind her she took a breath and unsheathed her sword, holding it in one hand and the scroll in the other. Maybe together it would be enough.
Now she was to meet Gunnar outside the dining hall where, if he followed her orders successfully, all the non-combat residents would be safely hiding from the beasts. The halls of the keep were eerily silent as she made her way through them, and when she reached the door to the main hall she pushed it open but almost threw up when she saw what was inside. The ground was soaked red with blood as more than a dozen servants, children, and fellow soldiers lay dead, some of them ripped apart beyond all recognition. The coppery scent of blood was overpowering but beyond that was a sickly sweet smell that clung to her - the smell of death. She didn’t have time to mourn yet though, as a chilling howl echoed through the hall she had just come from. There was no time to waste.
Halfway through the hall she was knocked to the ground as one of the beasts jumped on her from behind. There had been no sound of warning, no clicking of sharp nails on the stone floor, and when she landed heavily on her stomach her sword fell out of her grasp and the scroll crinkled in her fingers. ”Ooof!” But luckily the heavy plate armour kept the creature’s teeth from puncturing her skin, though it did seem to bend slightly under the pressure. She could feel its breath hot on her neck, but before it could clamp down she rolled quickly to her back and the Anpu jumped away and disappeared into the shadows.
Solveig looked around, afraid it might jump out of the shadows as quickly as it had gone, but it did not return and so she went to pick up her sword. It had fallen in a pool of crimson and she grimaced as she picked it up, trying not to imagine which of her friends the blood had spilled from.
Once through the doors on the other side it was only two hallways until she was in front of the dining hall where not only Gunnar but Eyvinder and Kvieger stood at guard, each holding their sword in one hand and a torch in the other. ”Captain!” Gunnar called, and all three of them looked immensely relieved to see her there. She wasn’t sure she was worthy of the amount of confidence she brought to the situation, but she knew that at least with her they had one more sword and the scroll that could change everything.
----
Ooc: Left it here but I could also add more if you prefer, since Sia's alone in the room now
Post by Sialarvanya on Feb 19, 2017 9:24:48 GMT -7
T
he clicking of the door as it shut was as far from calming as she could imagine. It was too quiet here. There were the occasional sounds of fighting - which were not comforting, as she could only imagine Solveig falling victim to a surprise attack - but otherwise... Nothingness. "Damned anpu," She muttered as she took shuffling steps around the room, reaching out to feel what she could. The room was simple, as she would have imagined Solveig to live, but there was evidence of her love here. Vases Vanya was certain Solveig had made, other glazed objects of indeterminate shape that were so pleasantly smooth to her hand. These were the only creature comforts for Vanya. The only things that reminded of her of her tower, where many of Solveig's creations had found a home.
Her hand moved over one and she found herself smiling. An oblong vase, a creation of someone who held no talent for pottery, no aplomb with clay. She had made this thing, this certainly ugly thing. Bubbles, divets, lumps - all where they were not to be. Solveig had kept it, displayed it among her works of art. "I love you," She whispered, her free hand undoing the collar clasp of her fur cloak and tracing a warm line with a sigh.
Her distraction made her easy prey.
Anpu were silent, and they moved through shadows. Without a sound, one had sniffed her out in this room - this room so far from the spells she had offered the others, and the light that they had filled their hall with - and had silently growled its pleasure at the lighting. It wasn't dark, no - but the torch light offered much in the way of dark corners. Under the door jamb, a living shadow, and into the room - Vanya's only clue that there was a beast in the room, was her sense of magic. Conjuration was her game.
Her breath caught in her throat, and she steeled herself with focus. Her eyes could not help her, and there would be no sound. No mangy fur brushing up against the bed, no stinking dog breath panting loudly, no clicking of claws on the stone, nothing. She was at a disadvantage.
When the beast made its move, however, she was ready. Her hands had been encompassed by a golden glow, and there was no mistaking the scent of dog when leapt towards her. She disappeared with a resounding pop, and found her feet met with an unforgivingly mild plush. Sol's bed. The warmth of the torchlight at her back was a comfort and she- "Dear dear, where has my element gone?" She had forgotten so quickly that she had precisely what the Anpu would hate. With a smirk, her hands glowed once more, the warmth of the torchlight now a pleasant reminder as she made careful steps away from it. Darker. Darker-
The smell hit her nose again, and this time she did not dodge. She raised her hands and threw forth her spell, conjuring a burning shock of light that felt heavy as it pushed and pressed against her assailant. The beast still refused sound, but as Vanya pushed, she felt matted, wet fur against her fingers - and she pressed he light to it as strongly as possible until she tumbled off the bed and pressed the thing into the floor - dead.
"Suck an egg, you bastard," Her whisper was shallow and breathless as her pink hands finally dropped their spell, and she found herself leaning back against the frame of the bed, exhausted. Not from the use of magic - it was a simple spell. From the adrenaline. Most of her spells were cast sitting in her tower, listening to a lute, or a harp, or a flute play enchanting music for her, written on pages upon pages of scrollpaper for customers. Or cast from her tower as she was bored, conjuring her surroundings to make her life simpler.
She didn't cast her magic to protect herself from fearsome beasts. Solveig was the hero, the guard, the captain, the knight. Vanya was the enchantress, the lady, the damsel.
With a grimace, she waved her hand and felt the scentless, warm breath of a fox. Her fox. Her hand brushed behind its ears with a mild scratch, and then she wordlessly commanded it to lead her. It's pull held enough magic to guide her, and it could see... Were there any further Anpu in the room, the fox would growl. The beast lead her to the door, and her fingers glanced the knob with apprehension. She knew she could help Solveig and the others. In fact, her magic would perfectly combat the beasts. She could cast bright shining lights to deal with the more vile and violent of the dogs, and reroute the shadows just as she had offered by scroll.
But she wasn't a hero.
Her teeth found her lips and she leaned her forehead against the door. She wasn't a hero.
Four people and an unknown amount of assailants that were silent, could move through shadows, and whose magic could do worse than just kill you. It didn't sound like the beginning of a successful fight, but Solveig had something that would turn the tides for them. "With this scroll, we can control their movements," she explained to the others, who looked on in awe. "They won't be able to ambush us! Gunnar exclaimed in excitement. "Exactly. And not just that," she added with a wry smile, "We can draw them into a trap." The way the men looked at her like she had singlehandedly saved the castle would be amazing if she felt that she actually had anything to do with their possible success. And there was one more thing. "First, we need to draw them out."
The problem with Anpu was that there was no way to know how many remained. It could be one, or it could be fifty, and while they travelled in the shadows and made no noise it was impossible to tell. They were difficult to fight but Solveig knew they could take them on one or a couple at a time if they could draw them out. They had to find a room that was mostly well lit, but with enough shadows the Anpu could try to move through them which would allow her to use the scroll. With the four of them working together, they could take them on. After all, a few had already been struck down during the fights. It was a testament to their strength and cunning though that only a handful had been killed, while so many of the fortress' residents had fallen to them.
She explained the plan as they walked through the hall toward the chapel. It was lit with torches and beautiful stained glass windows, but still had more than enough darkness in the corners to avoid scaring off the Anpu. They moved the benches to the walls in silence, nerves on edge as they cleared an open space for proper combat. The Anpu could strike at any time, and the fact they hadn't seen any yet was only making the four of them more nervous. The rest of the hold should be safe in the great hall, surrounded by light with the door barred from the inside. That meant the fort should be empty, except for them, the Anpu, and Sia. Oh Sia; Solveig wondered how she was doing. She hoped her love's biggest issue was boredom, and that she would remain safe until this was all over. Sol knew she could call SIa to her at any time, but she hoped more than anything that the situation here in the chapel was going to be much more dangerous than the situation back in her quarters.
A chilling howl broke the silence and the four of them had drawn their swords by the time the Anpu made itself known. It popped out of the shadows by the altar and Solveig muttered a quick prayer. She was only passively religious, but in the land of night and facing off against a creature under her jurisdiction, it was only suitable that she say some words for Khades. Maybe she would watching over them. Maybe, Solveig feared, she would be watching over the Anpu.
Without warning as usual, the Anpu pounced at Eyvinder who barely sidestepped in time, swinging his sword at the creature who disappeared into shadow before the blade could make purchase. As it reappeared in another corner of the room Solveig scrambled to take out the scroll, having absurdly but only momentarily forgotten its existence. Kvieger and Gunnar rounded on the creature as it let out another blood-curdling howl, but before anyone could do anything another two beasts leapt out of the shadows, one knocking Eyvinder to the ground and the other snapping its jaws around Gunnar's arm and using its weight to pull him down as well. He landed hard on one knee as he struggled to keep himself upright.
With everything happening so quickly, Solveig didn't even know where to look, but when the first Anpu disappeared into the shadows once more she decided that was where her focus would be. She read the scroll and for the briefest of moments she felt the pull of magic it gave her, enough to draw the Anpu from its course and aim it instead to emerge across from her, where she would be ready. The creature, reappearing somewhere it had not intended, was disoriented just long enough for Solveig to strike. Without hesitation she swung her sword, the blade arcing down and catching the Anpu on the withers. The cut was deep and the animal stumbled, but caught its footing and jumped at her. It was slowed by the injury though and she ducked the attack, sending her sword through its underbelly. The beast landed heavily, dead before it hit the ground.
A shout caught her attention and she rolled to her feet quickly, turning just in time to catch the weight of another Anpu as it pounced on her, and using its own momentum she threw it to the side and jumped back towards the others. She took quick stock her surroundings and saw the third Anpu laying dead in front of an injured Eyvinder who was supported on one side by Kvieger while Gunnar readied his sword once more to attack the remaining beast. The Anpu disappeared into the shadows and Solveig readied the scroll one more, only to notice too late the creature's true intent of attacking her - it had torn the scroll in half with its claws. There would be no controlling it now.
Eyvinder's breastplate was dented from the jaws of the Anpu that jumped him and blood dripped steadily from beneath the metal. His ribs were surely broken, and keeping the plate on was only doing more harm. He looked like he was ready to black out just from standing. "Get him out of here," Solveig told Kvieger, who nodded once and turned to go, more of less dragging the other man along. The remaining Anpu was gone by the time she looked back to it, and Gunnar moved closer to her to provide support from behind. Solveig dropped the now-useless scroll in favour of using her sword two-handed. Gunnar's shout of "There!" was all the warning she got before the beast was upon them again, and she realized that this one was bigger than the others. A leader? Did Anpu travel in packs usually, with a leader like this? She didn't know. Her knowledge of the creatures was only cursory, a warning against their dangers but nothing more. Regardless, this one was larger than the others and the extra weight was unexpected. It threw her off her aim and the sword only glanced off its flank while the creature got a solid hit on her breastplate with its claws. Gunnar circled around to catch it as it landed, but it disappeared into the shadows again and left them searching for its next point of attack.
It came from Gunnar's side this time and the Anpu's jaws latched around his already injured arm. He brought the pommel of the sword down hard on its head, earning a silent snarl as the Anpu placed its front paws against his side to pull. Before it going get a good enough grip to actually rip his arm off Solveig took a swing at it and it jumped away from the blade, releasing the arm and disappearing once more. Each time it disappeared it usually gave them a couple seconds to worry about where it was coming from next but this time, just to mix it up, the moment it disappeared it reappeared behind them and this time it came in with a plan. It tackled Solveig and she lost her balance, catching herself in a roll as Gunnar swung at the beast. It disappeared again and caught Solveig at the end of the roll, snapping its jaws on her thigh as she was getting to her feet. Her armour of course prevented the teeth from puncturing her skin, but only barely. She could feel it dent under the pressure, and when the Anpu shook its head like an animal aiming to tear apart a kill she lost her balance again, grabbing at its neck to stop herself from falling to the ground.
Gunnar came to her rescue before the beast could pin her though and when his sword pierced the thigh of the Anpu it disappeared into the shadows once more, leaving only the bloody sword in its stead. Solveig meanwhile fell to her knee and grimaced as the metal dig unto her skin at each near-puncture. She didn't want to lose the protection of the metal but also, ouch. Gunnar grunted as the Anpu reappeared and he fought it off again while she unclasped the straps and dropped the cuiss from her leg. She noticed with a grimace that she already had an impressive bruise, but it wasn't anything she hadn't experienced before or worse.
The next time the Anpu made itself known it brought a friend. The two of them lunged at Gunnar and Solveig leapt to her feet, grabbing a torch and tackling one of the beasts with the fire in hand. It was light, and it was also heat Suck it, Anpu. She drove the torch into the face of the beast and earned a pained howl for her efforts before it shook her off. The Anpu were big, like wolves, and honestly each one probably weighed as much as she did so it wasn't so hard for them to throw her around. These Anpu in particular were vicious and unrelenting. What had driven them to such an attack? What drove them to continue fighting now? Was it just their nature, or was there something more going on here?
She didn't have time to think now though. Gunnar shouted in pain and she turned to see that the wounded, larger Anpu had pinned him and was tearing at his armour with it's claws as though trying to dig right through it. The worst part was, it might even work - she could see some of the metal starting to shear away. And Gunnar didn't look so good either, his helmet had been thrown off and there was a growing spot of blood on the ground under his head. She grabbed her sword and ran at the beast, but before she reached it she suddenly found herself knocked to the side violently, the Anpu she had burned having caught its senses and somehow only being made more angry with the injury. It had her pinned against the wall and she couldn't move her hand enough to get the sword at it, so she did the next thing she could think of and whipped her head forward and down, hoping her own helmet would put some more force behind the headbutt. The Anpu, already injured on the face, jumped back at the strike and disappeared into the shadows.
Solveig fell forward but steadied herself and ran again at the larger Anpu, but as she swung her sword at it the creature it disappeared again and she shouted out her frustration. Gunnar groaned from the floor. Both of the Anpu reappeared by the altar and Solveig lifted her sword. The larger one looked like it was doing very poorly. The wound on its flank was bloody and she noticed then how much blood it had been losing. The other one's face was burned and bloody and it didn't look like it could see, but it was snarling and looking right at her. It could smell her. "Come on then," she said to them, stepping away from Gunnar with the hope they would leave him alone in favour of their more mobile target.
It worked, but as they both ran towards her she realized she could barely handle one, so what was she supposed to do with two? She jumped to the side and slashed at the first one to reach her, the larger one, and her sword found purchase in its side but only briefly. The smaller one was right behind it though and as it snapped as her she stabbed her sword forward, not her favourite way to use a sword but in this case it worked exactly how she needed it to - the sword skewered the creature before it could bite down, and it collapsed heavily dragging her sword down with it. She let go of it rather than be brought off balance and barely jumped back in time to miss a swipe from the remaining beast. She ran to the front and grabbed a torch from behind the altar, using it to drive back the Anpu as it charged her again. She moved back towards Gunnar and picked up his sword, keeping the torch between the Anpu and herself until she had it safely in her hand and could lunge forward to strike at the beast. It was slower now, more injured, and the blade caught it solidly across the chest.
The howl the creature let out chilled her to the bone, and while she stood there in shock the beast lowered its head and looked her in the eye, like it could see into her very soul, and then it dodged to the side and disappeared into the shadows. She held the sword and torch at the ready, her eyes darting to all corners of the room in preparation for the beast to jump out at any time, but it didn't come. Tense moments passed, but still it didn't come. Solveig lowered the torch slowly, her nerves on edge and every sense searching for any sign of the creature, but still it didn't come.
Slowly, she became aware of a throbbing in her leg and a hot sting in her chest. She realized she was having trouble catching her breath and it wasn't just from the strain of a fight - her chest plate was battered and dented, and she saw now that the side where she'd been tackled had deep gouges torn through the metal. She hadn't noticed in the thick of things, but she saw the blood now. But she didn't have time to worry about that. Gunnar no longer looked conscious and she wasn't a doctor but she was pretty sure that was a bad thing. She knelt next to him and grabbed an arm, slinging him over her shoulders in a fireman's carry. She grimaced but stabilized herself and brought him toward the door, just as Kvieger burst through with two more guards and a priest following behind. He took one look at her and rushed over, almost forcibly taking Gunnar from her and sitting him against the wall. He tried to her get to sit too but she waved him off. She told him the other Anpu had fled and then ordered the other guards to search the fort for any sign of it. Meanwhile, the priest looked appalled at the scene before him, but he shook himself out of it and made his way over to Gunnar as Kvieger explained he was also a healer.
She watched vaguely as the priest knelt by her fellow soldier and began looking him over, and she wondered how Sia was doing. The fight had felt like forever, but it couldn't have been more than five minutes, maybe ten. Time seemed to go so slow during a fight, even one minute could feel like a lifetime. A split second could be the difference between life and death. As far as fights went, she wouldn't claim this was her most successful. She'd let an enemy get away. She'd let two of her men get injured. She'd lost their biggest advantage so early in the fight it was an offense to her dear Sia, who had provided it for them. She wanted to call Sia to her right then, as her love had told her she could, but she didn't want to bring her into a battleground. She made sure the priest was taking care of Gunnar and that Kvieger was busy inspecting the bodies of the defeated Anpu, and she slipped out of the room to return to her own quarters.
Without knowing where the remaining Anpu had gone, there was no place where she or anyone would be more or less safe than any other place within the fort. She had a gut feeling that the Anpu was gone though - the look it its eyes before it had disappeared for the last time spoke of finality. It didn't intend to return. She made her way through the hallways back towards her own quarters, hardly noticing the steady trail of dripping blood she left behind. At the door, she knocked three times. "Sia my love, please tell me you are safe and unharmed."
Post by Sialarvanya on Oct 11, 2017 13:32:11 GMT -7
I
t had taken her more than a few failed attempts at finding bravery before Sia had finally opened the door. It was not because she was afraid of the anpu. She lived in a clearing in the middle of Rielcia, hub of all the world's magic: She was never going to be afraid of mysterious beasts. It was the feeling of being lost that she was avoiding. It was the deep-seated discomfort of ineptitude that had lead her to isolate herself for so long that had made her not want to go out into the halls. Were they a den of twists and turns and secret passageways that she could accidentally stumble upon? Were they massive halls that she could lose the wall to, that she could feel without an anchor to her ship?
Eventually though, it was the sound of fighting that saw her fingers clench the knob and turn it with purpose, and it was those same sounds - the distant call of Sol's hard worn voice - that pulled her out of the room and towards the action. She knew that the anpu would fight together, in a pack where they felt threatened. Instead of trawling the castle and picking off victims as they saw fit, they would gather and defend themselves in one focused area. If Vanya could get there quickly enough, she could help. She could conjure lights that could kill the shadow things. Which meant she needed to get over herself.
She moved as quickly as she could through the castle with one hand on the stone walls, following the sound of clanking steel as much as the building's structure would allow her. Her other hand filled with light from wrist to fingertips, held out before her like a torch. Leading her more directly was her fox familiar, silent except for the moments when they approached a closed door, dead end, or a staircase. She hated stairs.
Despite all of this however, she arrived at the door to the altar room in record time, and could hear the confusion happening within. Shouting, groaning, the beasts were silent and made it sound as though the warriors were fighting one another. There was no real way to tell if Sol was winning or not - but the fact that she kept fighting made it clear the battle wasn't over. Vanya wasn't going to have that. Even if she believed Sol could finish this, she was not going to risk the potential that she would not. She did not wish for her love to die, to be pained, and she also did not wish for her to become trapped by the anpu's cursed nightmares.
How many? She thought to her familiar, and she could feel as it increased the distance between them. Just a moment later, it returned, and licked her hand once. She nodded, and thought again, Lure it out, and she knew that it had obeyed. The fox disappeared into the shadows just as easily as an anpu, utilising the same dark conjuration as she had given to Sol. It moved to the room, and in another moment it was outside - with her. But it was not focused on her. It was focused on her familiar, on her fox, which raced away from it, down through the darkness.
Vanya needed to trap it. She couldn't have the fox lead the anpu to more victims. It needed to run the beast somewhere else, somewhere safe. To the only place Vanya knew for a fact was empty - Sol's room. Stretching her concentration thin, Vanya directed her familiar to the room at the same moment as she focused on moving herself to her familiar. It was more than a little dangerous to do with an anpu chasing after it - but it was her only choice. She needed to trap it, and she wasn't going to give it a chance to run back to her love.
In half a second's time, just moments before the guards and the priest rounded the corner to the room, Vanya disappeared from the door to the altar room, and reappeared inside of Sol's room, in the exact place where her familiar was, and knew that the anpu was lunging. The room was small enough to give it the advantage in a chase, and it was taking that advantage with a powerful leap. Vanya, who had replaced the familiar with herself, was going to be bitten. She was going to be bitten unless she used her magic quickly.
She focused once more, filling the entire room with a thick fog, and then she split her concentration into light, so that she could turn the fog pure white to give the anpu snow blindness and to eliminate the shadows and- the pain at her shoulder was searing. She had not felt pain like this before, having always avoided encounters that could end in something so horrific, but this time she had thrown herself in harm's way for some reason. For Sol.
The anpu's fangs dug into the skin of her collarbone, ignoring the sharp press of her horn's tip digging into its own neck as it did. She could feel a darkness seeping into her - but she wasn't going to stop. She needed the light. She needed to make light. She needed-
Sia my love, please tell me you are safe and unharmed.
Light exploded from her eyes, her mouth, her nostrils, her fingertips, her horns, and the light filled the fog of the room, killing every small shadow that the anpu had connected itself to. It was stranded in the middle of the light, and it likely would have whined if it were capable of sound. Instead, it unlatched itself from her and stumbled backward. Vanya had no energy left, but she forced herself to give just enough oomph to grasp the beast by it's sticky blood-wet fur. Just enough to hold it in the light. Just enough for it to burn and sizzle and just enough for it to drop dead.
"I'm... Yes I'm fine, my love," Were the last words she spoke before she crumpled into a heap onto the anpu. The lights stopped, the fog dissipated, the room looked as it had before... All but for the crumpled pile of dead anpu, and unconscious Vanya. No, not unconscious. Asleep.
The light that shone through the crack under the door almost made Sol think the sun itself had appeared in her room. In a way it had - Sia was her sun, the light of her life, a shining beauty that constantly stole her breath away. This light scared her though, because it could only mean one thing given the circumstances. She was about to rush into the room when the light dissipated and Sia, oh dear Sia responded and said she was fine. The relief that flooded through her was enough to make her knees weak, and she opened the door and walked in lighter than air, glad to be through with this whole thing. The moment before she saw her love on the floor she was just thinking about how she would fuss when she found out Solveig's own state, the scratches and dented armour, but then her eyes landed on the other woman's unconscious form.
"No! Sia!" She dropped to her knees next to the woman and started frantically looking her over for wounds that would explain her state. "How did this...?" she practically sobbed. She had just spoken! What had happened so quickly since then? She saw the bite on her collar, nasty gashes that would surely scar without a proper healer, but it didn't explain this. Had she been hit on the head? She did see a bit of a bump but it looked less like the injury that caused this and more like one that was caused when she fell to the ground. Solveig cursed herself for ever having left Sia's side. If she was here a moment earlier, could she have stopped this? If she had walked into the room instead of waiting outside? Sia had been attacked and while Solveig stood uselessly outside the door, the Anpu had hurt her.
She had to get help. The priest back at the temple was a healer. She could bring her there, and he would fix her and she would be fine - she had to be fine. Solveig was about to pick her up right then when she remembered her broken armour and ripped it off as fast as her shaking fingers could work the straps. She stripped down to her soft tunic, also ripped from the fight and slowly staining red, and deftly lifted Sia up into a bridal carry, placing a soft kiss on her cheek and then rushing back out of the room toward the temple.
"I need the healer!" she called as she approached the door and as she rounded the corner into the room the priest was already up and walking towards her. "I don't know what's wrong, but please help her. Please."
Post by Sialarvanya on Nov 2, 2017 12:04:56 GMT -7
W
hen Sia opened her eyes, the world around her was familiar. She was lying on warm ground, her skin being lightly tickled by the stems of tall wheat stalks that dappled the sun onto her skin. The sky was bright, and pink butterflies soared free overhead. "I'm home," She sighed with a smile, closing her eyes again in utter relaxation. Her eyes fluttered open and closed a few times with the pace of her breathing before she realized something strange: She could see. She often thought of The Field Lands in her mind, remembered every detail she had brought to it when it was created, but she had always known she would never see it again. She would have thought it were a dream if it didn't feel so damn real. "Am I dead?" She mused, slightly intrigued by the idea.
Her ruminations of death were interrupted however, by a familiar voice calling to her: "Sia!" It was Solveig. Sia sat up swiftly, the wind catching her hair as she left her nest, blowing it about her with a dramatic gust. Her eyes scanned the flat landscape around her, searching for her love. "Sol, Sol, my heart and soul," She called musically, beginning to wonder if perhaps Solveig had something to do with her eyes, beginning to wonder if perhaps she was going to see her love for the first time. But how had they gotten to her Field Lands? "Did you find one of my scrolls-" Sia began to ask.
She was cut off by a sight that appeared not far from where she had been lazing. A coffin of dark obsidian, inlaid with rubies. Vanya approached it cautiously, finding it far too reminiscent of a certain deity's depressing style of decor to obey the rush of curiosity. As she got nearer to it, she noticed the plaque bolted to the front of it, bearing a name. She could not resist, and ran a hand over it to read out of habit, though her eyes could now sort the letters.
O Noble Warrior, Your Sacrifice Shall Not Be Forgotten, Vanya read, her stomach clenching in fear for what would come next: Solveig Alfhild, 5118 - 5152.
"No," She shook her head, her heart dropping and her breath catching as she fell to her knees before the coffin, "No, Sol, no, I saved you. I lured the Anpu away, I saved you, you cannot be dead. My love, my heart, my Sol--"
"Sia!" Came the voice of Solveig, from inside the coffin, "Sia! Please. Please." The plea jolted Sia to life once more, and she got herself together and standing. She filled her hand with magic, and attempted to conjure the lid of the coffin to some distant plane, attempted to free her darling, "Just a moment my love! Just a moment, I'll get you out of there, I promise!" But the magic did not work. She changed strategies then, pushing with all her might (limited though it was) at the lid of the coffin. And then, came a third voice: "You of all souls, Sialarvanya Konstantinov, should know that death is not so simple."
It was coming from behind her, and so the tiefling turned on the spot to catch sight of the familiar form it belonged to. The humanoid shape was seated behind an alchemist's worktable formed of darkest rock, rock which seemed to hide the faces of people Sia had once known. The figure herself was almost painful to look at, difficult to discern, as she always had been. Her features were confusion to Sia, who seemed to not be able to focus on anything but the two bloodied pits where the figure's eyes should have been. "Streike," Sia recognized, her eyes stabbing with pain as she stared.
"Care to make a bet, Sialarvanya?" Streike asked, holding out a deck of cards, "Highest card wins your soul." Sia couldn't tell if Streike was saying soul or Sol, but as she turned back for a moment to the coffin, it seemed too clear to her what the deity of death meant. "Come now, Sialarvanya, I haven't the time to waste."
Feeling little choice, Sia approached and stood before the table, her standing height not seeming to match the impressive stature of the seated deity. In fact, Streike was taller than Sia remembered her - or perhaps Sia simply felt more intimidated. Streike smiled - or so Sia imagined, as she could not look at anything but those eyes - and pulled a card from the top of the deck, revealing it to be a two. All Sia needed to do was draw any card but a two and she would win. She laughed a little, and smiled, but could not tell how Streike smiled back. With warm pink fingers, Sia reached out and grabbed the top card of the deck, flipping it to reveal... A two.
"Shall we draw again?" Streike asked mischievously, revealing another two, and then Sia another - and then again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again...
- ƸӜƷ -
The priest motioned for Solveig to lay Vanya's motionless body down, which she did. Then he knelt down beside the tiefling woman and raised his hands in prayer, speaking an ancient version of the Malscure language before holding his hands palm-down over Vanya's body. His hands traced the air around her, and eventually they stopped at the bite, then raised to her head, and finally lowered back down to above her heart. His face screwed in disappointment, and he shook his head.
"I am afraid, Captain Alfhild, that she is gone to the same place as the others who survived their wounds," He motioned to a younger man wearing similar vestments to his own, who joined him at Vanya's side and began casting healing magic over the deep bite on Vanya's neck. He stood as the healer worked, and motioned for Solveig to follow him.
As the two walked, he began to explain the situation: "She has been trapped, Captain. Her, and at least four others of our own. The magic of the anpu has taken over their minds, and now they remain in Thorseph's realm - the land of sleep. But... There will be no rest for them, which is the true threat of those evil creatures. The victims are to suffer from nightmares until..." He looked upon the statue of Khades that towered over him where he had walked, and sighed, "Until their body dies, or they are awoken."
Though Solveig lay Sia down as requested, she held her hand and prayed that whatever the priest was doing would fix her. It didn't. The priest's conclusion was that she had gone somewhere, somewhere that the others who had survived had also gone to. Solveig looked to her own wounds, wondering why she of all people had been spared this fate. She had fought the anpu as well, but here she was while her soldiers and her love lay unconscious. Lost to the world. Solveig stood with the priest and walked as he explained she had been trapped in the realm of sleep, trapped in nightmares that would torment them until they were awoken. She didn't even want to think about the other possibility. It was her responsibility now to save them. "How can they be awoken? Is there magic for that?"
Post by Sialarvanya on Nov 11, 2017 17:42:03 GMT -7
T
he priest nodded somewhat as Solveig questioned him. He knew that the answer was a sound yes, but he was not sure enough to speak to the exact method quite yet. He explained, "The anpu has turned their bodies into cages. The souls are trapped within those cages, unable to become free and inhabit the world as you or I... It is clear that the cage cannot be opened from our world, which means it's locks can only be broken from within.
"Follow," The priest commanded, leading Solveig into his small chambers off the side of the temple. The room was mostly simple with a stone bed, shelves lined with books, and a mural of Khades and Sriae meeting during an eclipse on the wall. It was the books that concerned the priest. He began searching for them, and continued his explanation, "Someone will need to enter the Elsewhere, where dreams are formed, and navigate into the nightmares of our people, and your mage. Whilst certainly not a simple matter, it would not be difficult to find an alchemist, or a conjurer to aid you in getting there; dreams are accessible to mortals, after all; but you need to do more than simply access and navigate the Elsewhere."
The priest found the book he was looking for, an old tome written in the language of Rielcia, smothered with dust. He blew the cover delicately before placing it onto the desk with ginger hands. The pages were old and worn, weak to the point that they might break apart without the gentility he was treating it with. As he navigated the pages one-by-one, he continued: "One must be able to alter the Elsewhere to break this hold. If one were to have that power, they could most certainly find the exit for the trapped souls... But it would leave the soul of the savior to mortal danger. The torments of a nightmare can harm only the mind of it's dreamer; but the Elsewhere is real, and to exist in it's reality is to suffer it's slings and arrows wholly.
"Ah, this." He had gone to a page that showed a drawing of a man meditating, while another man who looked just like him stepped out of his body. The rest of the page was filled with faded Rielcian text, including a title that the Priest read: "Astral projection."
The more the priest spoke, the more complicated and dangerous it sounded to save the people who had been trapped. They could not be freed from this realm but rather from within. Solveig followed him into his chambers and looked up at the shelves of books with interest before turning her attention and awe to a beautiful mural on the wall. She was passively religious, in that she would pray sometimes and held a reverence in her heart for the deities and the gods but rarely did she go to any services or act in Their will or anything of the sort. But with everything that was happening right now, seeing Khades and Sriae in stark contrast and beautiful detail on the wall gave her a weird sense of hope. Maybe she was just looking for hope anywhere, since she was having a hard time finding it in herself.
The priest explained that someone - Solveig knew this would be her, as she could not stand idly by while her love and her men were the ones trapped - would have to enter the Elsewhere. This was different from what they would be experiencing, because while for them it was a dream for her it would be her body physically there and as such it could be injured or even killed just as she could in the real world. He suggested an alchemist or conjurer to aid in her getting there, and she frowned. She didn't know if she knew any alchemists or conjurers who were good enough to send her to a different plane altogether. Sia was the only one she knew with that ability, and she was the one trapped. Therein lay only the first of many problems she would have to overcome.
She watched over his shoulder, careful not to even breathe on the old book he had taken out while he was speaking as it looked nearly old enough to fall apart in his hands. "Astral projection? Isn't that just sending your soul somewhere? I thought you were talking about opening a portal to the Elsewhere and walking in like you might walk into the Feywilds or something. This sounds... somehow both easier and harder than that. I'm willing to do anything to save them of course, but I don't think I understand what I'm actually supposed to do."
Post by Sialarvanya on Nov 23, 2017 15:34:42 GMT -7
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t Solveig's confusion, the priest nodded somewhat in an attempt to jog his thoughts. It was a complex situation, one he had no first-hand experience of, and so trying to understand it himself was almost as hard as explaining it. "The Elsewhere is not physical, like the Feywild. It is metaphysical. This is what astral projection is, the projection of your metaphysical self, not the mere soul, nor the mere body. It is your very being. To lose that... The belief that if one were to lose this self, they would not die, but be destroyed. There would be no afterlife for them, no chance for resurrection, no rebirth. Just... Nothing, forever.
"To find a conjurer capable of such things seems an insurmountable task, but perhaps not so. In Rielcia there is a Temple of Nyxca, the Goddess of Conjurers. One would imagine they carry much knowledge of those who use their Goddess' magic, particularly those with such mastery that they would be capable of Astral Projection."
The priest averted his gaze then, back down to the book, the weight of what he had said heavy over the two of them. He moved over to the small shrine for Khades that he had in his chambers, kneeling before it as he added solemnly, "Captain, this is an undertaking far greater than I'm sure Lord Scleris could ever expect from you. We could just as easily let them pass quickly, and in peace, freeing their souls to Streike's embrace. It would be the Anpu to blame, not you."
Tagging Mellie since I might have gone a bit wild with lore I couldn't find answers for. It's in the dialogue of the first paragraph. Just message me if I'm stepping on any toes.
The skin OTHERWORLD was made by JAWN of WICKED WONDERLAND.
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