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Allevent, Realm of Caith

Allevent, Realm of Caith

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In a fantastical land of fundamental magic and burgeoning technology, the guilds strive to leave their mark in an ever-changing landscape.

6,860 readers have visited Allevent, Realm of Caith since Wrenn created it.

Introduction

OVERVIEW

Welcome to a land known as Allevent -- a land of balance. Good and evil; light and a dark; magic and technology; life and death all in balance. It is a realm of caith -- the spirits that all matter and energy comprise. Matter is caith in stasis; energy is caith in transition. Despite the differences of language, religion, culture and race that abound across Allevent, the recognition of the role of caith is universal.

Although different kingdoms have varying levels of prosperity and technology, it is only in the last hundred years or so that Allevent entered what historians are now calling the Modern Era, which is characterized by the creation of caith crystals that are used to power various machines and contraptions that have revolutionized many aspects of the people's lives. Where once transport was by horse on land or ship by sea, now trains and airships connect people and cultures in a level never before imagined. Modern medicines are extending the lives of the citizens even as advances in agriculture are able to sustain larger populations.

Some countries have king and queen, others may have a prime minister or similar elected official -- still others may be ruled by a merchant cartel or religious sect. Despite these differences there is one thing that unites all of these countries -- the presence of the guilds. Historically the guilds were for the various professions such as blacksmith, carpenter or wainwright, and were societies for the passing on of expertise. Today the guilds are much more systemized, and play a crucial part in the balance and growth of Allevent.

Mankind is one of the largest of races, with significant presence in almost every country and city, although other races can be found living alongside humans, generally peacefully. In the wild, flora and fauna exist to a wondrous degree of variety, interacting with humans and other races.

CAITH

The driving forces of creation and destruction. Matter is caith in stasis; energy is caith in transition. For thousands of years in Allevent it was barely understood by the people except as the simple building blocks of the world around them. The last hundred years have seen an exponential growth in knowledge of caith, and as man learns more of the world around him, the better he can manipulate it to his advantage. The great breakthrough came when man learned to purify caith -- distilling and sublimating it into stable crystals. These pure crystals of creation and destruction can be used to power heretofore unheard of technological devices, from simple conveniences like indoor lighting and hot water plumbing to arcane weaponry that can tear through the very fabric of space and time.

The Caith Life Cycle: Caith cannot be created or destroyed, though it is the agent of creation and destruction. It is theorized that it comes from the sun, the moon, the wandering stars and the land itself. Caith is generally unstable although over time it may accumulate and crystalize on its own -- for instance old caverns, dense forests and other unperturbed scenes often have an abundance of raw caith shards that can be harvested and further purified into crystals.

Caith exists in three states. Free caith that exists in nature as either matter or energy; trapped caith in the form of condensed, purified crystals; and primal caith that is released from its trapped state as a cast spell. This third, primal state can only be released (i.e. cast) by a small fraction of the populace with the innate ability to see and interact with caith. These people are known as elixers, and play a powerful role in the growth of Allevent.

LIST OF CAITH

Common

Alumen - Earth. Forms amber crystals that can be used to strengthen metals for smithing or modern multi-storied constructions. Alumen weapons can be noted by their faint amber hue.

Stannum - Wind. Forms orange crystals that are used to power airships, although current technological constraints make it an expensive and inefficient form of transport compared to traditional seafaring vessels. There are certain trade routes that are especially lengthy by sea (traveling around the Horn from Barberry to Dorstone, for instance), in which case stannum ships provide a direct route and a significant advantage.

Ferrum - Fire. Forms red crystals that are used in all sorts of applications to provide steady, smokeless heat.

Vivum - Water. Forms blue crystals that are used to power seafaring vessels. It can also be used to purify a water source.

Rare

Lumen - Light/Electricity. Forms yellow crystals that power many modern contraptions, most notably to provide indoor lighting.

Aurum - Healing/Life. Forms golden crystals that are much prized in medicine for their ability to quickly heal wounds.

Cuprum - Life/Nature/Wood. Forms green crystals that are used by farmers to increase their yields, and by horticulturalists to nourish their gardens. Cuprum can be seen in many spiritual functions as it is said to provide a sense of tranquility. Overuse can cause feelings of euphoria that are quite addictive. Cuprum addicts, or copperheads, are a significant social problem in some of the larger cities, but attempts to ban its use have historically served only to strengthen the black market.

Argentum - Mind/Psyche/Dream/Illusion. Forms clear crystals that are used to treat mental illnesses, but can also hypnotize the unwary.

Unstable/Conjectured

Kobold - Chaos. Thought to form a purple crystal although many theorize it would be too unstable a caith to crystalize.

Spelter - Space/Cosmos. Forms silvery-white crystals that theoretically could revolutionize the airship industry as it's claimed to influence gravity.

Plumbum - Time. Forms grey crystals that can be shown to slow or speed up the passing of time in small areas.

Bismuth - Death/Shadow. Thought to form a black crystal. Claims of its discovery or use are unsubstantiated, but it is rumored to be linked to a secretive assassination guild that is oft-discussed in conspiracy theories.

CAITHNESS

Caith is drawn to life (or is the agent of life), and often naturally accumulates in various flora and fauna in the wild. Too much caith, however, and the affected flora or fauna become Caithness; monstrous beings of destruction. Most Caithness are spawned from a single caith type (earth, wind, water, fire, etc), but in rare occurences multiple-type-Caithness have been witnessed. Generally these creatures are especially deadly and targeted by only the most skilled guilds. Caithness that are killed release all of their caith in the form of raw shards, making their hunting a large and lucrative part of the guild industry. Whether caith is harvested from the wild or from defeated Caithness, the end result is a powerful fuel that is the lifeblood of modern Allevent.

ELIXERS

The small portion of the population that can manipulate caith at will, releasing it from its concentrated crystalline state to cast spells. As a general rule, as far as human interaction goes, caith only exists in one of two states. Either as free caith in the form of matter or energy, or as trapped caith that has been sublimated and purified into crystalline form in a mechanical process that was discovered some hundred years ago. These crystals can be housed within devices that convert it back into free caith energy to do specific work such as lighting a room or cooking a meal.

Elixers, however, can at will take caith from the first or second stage and convert it into a third: caith released from its crystalline form by an elixer can be used to cast magical spells unattainable by mechanical devices, and makes such users incredible forces to be reckoned with. At the moment there is no guild for these elixers, as each is generally self-taught and isolated from others. As non-elixers cannot see caith in this released state (only its magical effects), there is little common knowledge about this art and subsequently elixers can either be feared or praised; loved or hated depending on the culture and community.

Theoretically an elixer can release any caith, but in practice most users are comfortable only with one caith-type. Being an elixer is an innate ability -- you either have it or you don't -- but from that there are various levels of mastery which can be learned. As there is no school or uniform discipline it falls upon each elixer to master other caith-types beyond their first, and such mastery can be seen as a sign of the individual elixer's dedication and power.

FAMILIARS

When an elixer releases trapped caith as a spell, he or she and any other elixer watching will see an ethereal familiar appear, generally taking the appearance of an animal or mythical creature. The greater the cast spell, the more abundant the caith and the larger or more complex the familiar. These mysterious entities are not fully understood, and theories range from them being mere phantom visualizations to animistic deities. While seemingly intelligent and purposeful, familiars are not sentient and neither retain memories nor acquire new knowledge.

Toggle Rules

1. No God-moding. Minor actions to facilitate a post may be allowed by the author of the character in question.

2. This is a new world and needs plenty of fleshing out. As long as it keeps to the spirit and setting so far described, you're encouraged to add any races, cities, customs and history for the purpose of world-building.

3. I'm not really interested in counting points or defining skills, but for to prevent the creation of overpowered characters -- a character can have up to four 'skill points.' Non-elixer skills such as swordsmanship or alchemy (the creation of caith-powered devices) count as one skill each. Common caith-types count as two; rare-types count as three; 'unstable/conjectured' count as four. PM me first if you want to use an 'unstable/conjectured' type, but for now I'm keeping it closed unless you have something cool you want to do with it. Again, I'm not really counting, but it's a good guideline to follow. Be reasonable with your character's abilities and he or she will be approved!

CHARACTER BIOGRAPHY TEMPLATE:

NAME:
AGE:
SEX:
RACE:
OCCUPATION:

PAST: [Your character's history up until now.]

PRESENT: [Your character's current situation, especially appearance & personality]

FUTURE: [Your character's goals, dreams, etc.]

SKILLS:
STRENGTHS: [Attack; Defense; Dexterity; Intelligence; Charisma; Willpower; Perception]
WEAKNESSES: [Attack; Defense; Dexterity; Intelligence; Charisma; Willpower; Perception]
EQUIPMENT: [What they have on them at any given time, but can also include other assets]

What other characters would know: [Miscellaneous information; not required]
What other characters won't know: [Miscellaneous information; not required]

Browse All » 6 Settings to roleplay in

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Allevent

Allevent by Wrenn

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Bokmakiri, the Desert City

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The Story So Far... Write a Post » as written by 12 authors

2 Characters Present

Character Portrait: Xioban Efialtis Character Portrait: Lysandra Teraviel
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"Huehuehue..." the fox snickered as the elf watched on in surprise and confusion. Did that fox just laugh at her? It should not have been surprising in the least, considering the girl--Xioban, she had said her name was--had told her that the animal was a familiar, something much more intelligent than its appearance belied; she was just not expecting it to come across with such a caustic first impression: "If the stupid woman does not want hospitality when it is offered, then she isn't worth the time."

It was not the fact that hospitality was being offered that bothered her, although that in and of itself was strange enough for the elf--no, it was the unexpected openness that which she had been offered asylum in... well, wherever the girl in the cat-eared cap had offered to take her, she could not remember. That, coupled with her unease around the familiar--who continued to only assume the negative about her--caused her to remain silent and slightly bashful. If it continued ot think this poorly of her, it was no longer a question of if it let something potentially slip about what it bit down on in the marketplace, but when.

"Xerxes! That's a furry mean thing to say, purr." The elf took notice of the strange lisps that the girl was prone to letting slip every so often. There were a lot of things that did not quite add up about her--if she was peddling wares in Barberry, did she not have a home in the city? Perhaps she had come from Adelost--but why would she herself come to Barberry to peddle her wares when an entire city at her disposal could have found use for the vials of liquid she was selling? Where was she from if she left the city and was in no way thinking about returning? And the familiar--how in caith did one manage to stumble across one of those just willy-nilly? Only the most wealthy could have afforded such a luxury, and even then, familiars were few and far between to be sold; most would not agree to be viewed as such property, so how did this girl manage to befriend such a blasphemous creature?

...unless... Could she be--

"There are stupider, less uptight people to befriend, huehuehue." the fox's corrosive tone cut through the elf's thoughts one last time. "We're going home. I think I've had my fair share of sight-seeing for the week." With that last statement, the girl stood up, her lips pursed in slight embarrassment at the whole situation.

"Mewr..... I apurrogize.... but if you are still in the city, I always open my stall once a week." Another low growl from the familiar snapped the girl's attention back toward the impatient and inconsiderate fox, and she began to walk away from the direction of both Barberry and Adelost--

"Where is your stall?" the elf called after the departing girl, hoping to get the information before two of them left her sight. Either her question had gone unheard or ignored, for she received no answer in response.

The nerve of that familiar! Not only had it caused the entire catastrophic chain of events in Barberry to unfold, but it had the audacity to call her uptight! If only it knew the panic and paranoia its little stunt pulled, it might have been a bit more apologetic, but as it stood, there was nothing more she could do. There was, however, still the matter of how much it actually knew from biting down on her arm...

You're going to let that rat get away and blather to that girl about your deformity?

What am I going to do about it now?

You could follow them...

And what would that do, exactly? It would only make things worse between what little relationship the girl believes us to have--not that I'm looking to improve it, but--

Do you realize what that girl is!? She is
selde taure!

...if such a thing exists, then better to hide my deformity from the entirety of nature than pursue the matter further...

You know that as soon as one knows, they will tell the others...


The elf shuddered at the thought of all of nature knowing about her condition--what would they do if they realized that there was one among their forest-dwelling brethren was contaminated? How would they react? How could they react if they had ever met again and she--or any of the selde taure, if they did exist, for that matter--asked about what happened to her...

...could that have been the reason why the familiar ripped part of her sleeve? As a reaction to something it may have sensed?

No, stop your worry... They are gone--keep them out of your mind for now...

Yet she could not bring herself to do so--she had a debt to repay, whether the cat-eared girl had told her that it was unnecessary to return her money or not. Even though the elf herself had no need for money--despite the fact she required it to replace her robes that should not have been ruined in the first place--she knew that she had to repay this Xioban character... even if it meant having to deal with that upstart familiar again...

...but where to come into coin? The elf would not dare to even think about venturing back to Barberry at this point--she had caused enough of a commotion between the marketplace and the tailor's shop and the library, not to mention the... thing that had been chasing after the familiar and cornered them in an alley. Besides that, the guards surely must have been looking for her after someone caught a glimpse of her arm, and she did not want to have to deal with any sort of interrogation or exposure that could shame her or her race further.

How to earn money... She knew that people required chores to be done around their homes and farmsteads--cooking, cleaning, physical labor and the like. While she knew something about cooking and cleaning, she involuntarily shook her head at the thought of menial physical labor. The fact of the matter was that she had never been too strong, even for elven standards, and what she carried on her back now was nearing her maximum comfort level. Even if she was in fact strong enough to perform these tasks for extended periods of time, the growths on her arm would make this labor more than uncomfortable; even worse, she risked exposure to random citizens--how would they react after seeing something like that?

There was an alternative... Another city a day's walk away, one with white walls and another large archive to boot. It had been a while since she had visited... Perhaps she could inquire about a temporary job sorting books--that would work out rather well; sorting books was not very labor-intensive, exposed her to more potential leads and tidbits of information, and most importantly allowed her to keep as much cover on her arm as possible without exposing it to too many random scholars. What did they care about an assistant like her, anyway?

The elf sighed as she trudged in the direction of Adelost, following the signposts along the darkening trails to find her way. Of course, she had no money to her name at this point, as it all belonged to the girl with the cat-eared hat in her mind; she would be forced to sleep outside the city gates, which was no bother to her at all... Of course, that problem would be addressed before she arrived there in the first place...

The setting changes from Barberry, City of Guilds to Allevent

Setting

5 Characters Present

Character Portrait: Raruna (Runa) Leautia Character Portrait: Isengrim Lupul Character Portrait: Icarus Saerin Character Portrait: Zherynnia Analorum Character Portrait: Derithiue Qre Jedas
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#, as written by Siryn
The plank was put down and the ship settled in the dock. All that was left now was to get out into the city to do whatever it was they had come to do. Runa was still confused as to what exactly the doctor needed to do, but whatever, she was just the transportation. Once on the ground all rules shifted to Grim and (unfortunately) she had to follow his rules, or that of the doctors she supposed. Even so, Raruna found the town they landed in to be an interesting sight none-the-less.

"We're just south of Sweetmary. A small mining town, Sweetmary. Mostly humans, although a few of the forest races make their homes here.They mine some alumen crystals from the mountains farther north, but it's cheaper and safer to get elsewhere, so they don't supply it much farther than Barberry. Rich nickel deposits are where the real marks are. But those are well into huldrefolk territory," Grim answered. He looked as if he were really enjoying himself as he explained where they were and waved his arm off to the mountains.

"All set?" Grim asked the doctor and her group.

"Yes, shall we press on?"

Runa looked up at the ship and was just about ready to leave it behind, though she really didn't want to, when she heard a loud voice from the plank. Raruna looked over at the commotion and found herself frowning at the display. She marched up to the man named Jedas and planted herself right between him and his target, which happened to be her treasure.

"You're going to die right now, you insect," Jedas had growled at Zherynnia. Raruna blocked his view of the book-eater and glared up at him.

"This is still my ship and I won't allow anyone to kill anyone else on my ship! I'm sure Grim will feel the same about this whole expedition since he's in charge of that half. What could she have possibly done to make you want to kill her, hu? It can't be that bad," Raruna stated, putting her hands on her hips. Tilting her head upwards, she lifted an eyebrow, "I think you're still just a bit air sick. Walk around a bit and cool your head, Jedas. Get a drink or something. There's no need for killing. Though," Raruna continued with a slowly wide spreading grin and a twinkle in her eye, "If you wish to have a bit of fun sparing, I'd be more than happy to be your partner."

Raruna wasn't offering because she liked the man, no she was offering because she enjoyed showing off her skills to other opponents and it was always fun to have a mock fight. She won some, and she lost some. Runa definitely wasn't the best fighter on the planet, but she had her skills and she was always ready to show them. Of course, that depended on if Jedas took her up on her offer or not. Though, she didn't really care if he declined, it wasn't like she would pursue it anyway. It was simply a chance to have a bit of fun and alleviate her boredom.

The setting changes from Allevent to Barberry, City of Guilds

3 Characters Present

Character Portrait: Xioban Efialtis Character Portrait: I.S.S.A.C. Character Portrait: Arto Kelmt
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The evolution of this particular assignment’s level of difficulty continued rapidly, not without the influence of the creature known as Xerxes whom Arto had yet to identify. With his attention mostly focused on the large Golem, it’s no wonder he missed the approach of something far smaller towards him. A sort of change of vector had occurred in the creature’s movement before it dashed through the grass and leapt into the air. Having an unknown furry creature jump right into his face would definitely startle Arto at least at first, a jump-scare of sorts. A much bigger problem was the resulting loss of balance. And then an even bigger problem was the flat surface of a rock, that just so happened to be squarely at the point where the back of Arto’s head ended up. What was the result of the impact? A convenient unconsciousness…

The time spent in a state of blackout had Arto miss a few events and passersby, the true events replaced by darkness that was not even generous enough to give him another dream of astonishing success. Following what must’ve been hours passing, the young man groaned and sat up. The Golem clearly wasn’t there by now, to which Arto was almost ready to say “good riddance” at the moment. The headache was still splitting, scratches stung on his cheeks and the benefit of returning to the waking world seemed questionable at best. There probably wasn’t any lasting damage though. With one hand on the back of his head and the other on the ground, he seemingly found something. Some kind soul had left him what seemed to be a vial with some sort of medicine. Why, that is almost as helpful as not forcing him to spend nobody knows how much time in the grass outside the city borders. Anyway, this was not the time to be capricious. For Arto the times of being capricious weren’t even that abundant in the first place.

Soon he was up, having applied the contents of the vial to the annoying scratches on his face. What now? He had little to no idea where the Golem was, had no plan, was running a little low on cash. One way or other, staying here was anything but productive, so he turned towards the city, causing another pulse of pain to pass through his head. Was it because he turned too fast, or was the thought of the city alone enough to give him a headache by now? No point finding out, so the rather sour-faced young man headed back towards the gates. No one asked questions, no one paused by him. He purposely chose to walk a different road from the one along which he’d followed the Golem. Maybe he could just go back to the bar. Maybe he still had a chance of enlisting for a REAL job. Maybe he could just forget about this whole “Sure, let’s go find a Golem, what could go wrong?” kind of job. Maybe he wouldn’t even have to hear anothe-…

"Xerxes. Aaaaaaaah. Xerxes. Fffffffffnyah."

Arto paused, standing still in the middle of the street as the already familiar chanting of the metallic voice reached his ears. He let out another groan similar to one he had uttered when rising from the tall grass he’d been left in earlier. Wouldn’t it be alright to just head on along? Couldn’t he just be on his way and not trying find the Golem? He was hesitant to say the least, far from eager to go looking for more sources of annoyance, more fuel for his headache. But perhaps this would go better this time? Perhaps he could work it out now? There were at least no thundering footsteps accompanying the Golem’s ridiculous banter. This much he could understand as he began moving to the source of the voice. Was the Golem still…?

As he soon found out – indeed it was. Still and trying to reach into an alleyway it was clearly not small enough to fit into. Thankfully it at least wasn’t trying to charge through the buildings. It had caused enough damage as it was. Onlookers were certainly here as well, including a couple of guards largely unprepared for such an event. The citizens were asking each other if the Golem was broken, what a Xerxes was, where the alchemists were looking and other such things. To be fair, the question concerning the alchemist was on Arto’s mind as well, albeit in slightly different terms and with emphasis on slightly more qualities of the alchemist. Most of them far from admirable.

“You, didn’t they hire you to…” Began one of the guards, but Arto stopped him.

“Yeah-yeah. Can’t you see I’ve got this under control? Just let me…” Arto paused since he didn’t quite know what exactly he needed the guards to let him do. Suspicious glances from said guards urged him to finish his phrase faster. “…talk to it or something. You go fetch that… alchemist.”

The guards glanced from the Golem and back to the boy, then back to the Golem. Well they certainly did need that alchemist, which was reason enough to move away from the scene, conveniently persuading most of the onlookers to disperse on their way. Yes, most convenient indeed for another awkward cross-species communication attempt by Arto.

“Shut up!” Such were the opening words of his negotiation. “Do you hear me? Be quiet for a few minutes and listen to me, Golem!” A pause followed. Arto needed to make sure the Golem was paying attention to him and not trying to run off elsewhere.

“Repair my house? Xerxes? What in the world are you even saying? What’s Xerxes? If it’s that thing that had jumped me it’s not even here anymore! Must’ve run off into the forest again while you were stuck here by this alleyway!” Another pause commenced, but this time not because he needed to confirm the Golem’s attention or lack of it. Perhaps he got a little carried away and said too much? Did it even understand the meaning of half of what he had said?

“Don’t. Even… Think. About. Moving from here.” He accentuated nearly every word, stepping away to avoid more possible injury. Still, him and his big mouth probably had an effect quite different from the desired one.

2 Characters Present

Character Portrait: I.S.S.A.C. Character Portrait: Arto Kelmt
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The golem had seen the creature run into the back alley some time ago, although since that time it had not seen any sign of Xerxes. Still, it thought that it could try and grab it out of the alley if it reached in far enough. To its surprise, it found that it was still rather stuck between the buildings. Without much else to do and nowhere else to go, it merely started feeling around on the ground, hoping that it could find something amidst the darkness--or perhaps it could not see the furry creature because it was obstructed by something else in the alleyway? Curious, indeed...

"Xerxes. Aaaaaaaah. Xerxes. Fffffffffnyah." It repeated the phrase several times, knowing full well that if the creature was back there, it would understand that all it wanted to do was return it to the creature it had run away from. Hopefully its minimal attempts at communicating with the creature would pay off in the end, but for now, it was reduced to merely trying to feel its way through the alleyway that it could not possibly squeeze through without causing more unnecessary damage to the buildings that surrounded it.

Even through the commanding voice echoing through the alley and ringing across the immmediate area, the golem could hear the sounds of nervous murmuring coming from behind it. It paused momentarily, trying to listen to what they could be so concerned with. Although it was wondering why so many voices could sound so worried at once and why they would concentrate themselves behind it, it paid little heed to the murmuring, continuing obliviously on in its search for Xerxes.

Clanking close behind it now was a familiar sound--the sound of metal clanking against metal. Again, without much to go off of, it merely continued its search through the alley, audiating "Xerxes. Aaaaaaaah. Xerxes. Fffffffffnyah." the entire time, much to the worry of the people that stood behind it. There was another voice, though, something that seemed to take control of the situation, and after a few brief seconds of quiet conversation, the voice piped up.

“Shut up! Do you hear me? Be quiet for a few minutes and listen to me, Golem!” The voice sounded quite agitated, but it was the word 'golem' that snapped the construct's attention away from the alley. It turned to find the creature bedecked in blue, the same one that had been there as it chased Xerxes through the tall green area. There was something slightly different about this newcomer, though--there were a few cuts across the topmost part of its figure, although they were rather slight and not too glaringly obvious. Still, the tone of voice it used against the golem was rather harsh and completely unnecessary...

“Repair my house? Xerxes? What in the world are you even saying? What’s a 'Xerxes'? If it’s that thing that had jumped me, it’s not even here anymore! Must’ve run off into the forest again while you were stuck here by this alleyway!” This creature sounded rather agitated, much like that other one that commanded the golem to "repair my house". Although... was Xerxes in this... forest? What was it, exactly? Could it follow a trail that it had left behind and find it there? Perhaps then the creature with the pointed ears would feel better... although it did not know where that other creature had escaped to, either...

"...shut up. Listen to me, golem. Off into the Xerxes. Forest. Repair my house. Alleyway. Xerxes. Fffffffffnyah." The golem sputtered out the words, possibly in an attempt to mimic the actions of the creatures it had observed in the marketplace. It seemed as though it only managed to raise the intensity of the blue creature's voice--which was already rather hostile, it figured--and it seemed to growl at the golem much as the Xerxes creature had earlier.... although this was much more hostile...

“Don’t. Even… Think. About. Moving from here.” The blue creature took a few steps back from the golem, almost as if it was trying to stay away and avoid it... much like Xerxes. Did it run away from the other creature with pointed ears too? It could not calculate that the blue thing would do that, though--it had not seen the blue creature attempt to accompany Xerxes or the pointed-ear creature from before, so the likelihood was slim.

Still... was Xerxes no longer in the dark place? Had it run away from where it had thought the furry creature had hidden?

"Ah, there it is!" a familiar voice sounded. A short, stout man with a rather extravagant handlebar mustache and somewhat flustered look across his face. "This golem is a menace and must be taken care of! It goes around and destroys propery--my property, to be more specific--and it has no quarry!"

A collective murmur rose from the crowd as a dozen guards made their way through the people. What sort of golem did not have a quarry!? This was unheard of!

The golem, however, did not seem to mind either way, as it turned away from the oncoming crowd and began to lumber off back toward the edge of Barberry from where it had come. The guards, at the urging of the mustachioed man, followed along, although they kept their distance after hearing about how the last few guards that had attempted to intervene were easily brushed aside by the mechanical monstrosity. The golem did nothing to intervene with the oncoming guardsmen, but it continued on its path, swinging its arms to and fro along the way and accidentally knocking over a bit more of the house it had partially destroyed earlier.

"...My... My house...!" The man with the mustache fell to his knees with outstretched arms. "...It... It destroyed my...!"

"Shut up. Xerxes. Forest. Ffffffffnyah." The golem continued its trek through the city, reaching the outskirts once again and lumbering toward the massive circle pounded into the ground. It walked around the shape, analyzing for anything that might give any sort of trace--

Of course! Xerxes had been moving along the ground as well--perhaps it had left some sort of track to follow... Of course, the footprints were much smaller and harder to follow than the giant ones of the golem, but they were there nonetheless... along with slightly larger ones heading in the same direction. Could this lead to the "forest" that the blue creature spoke of before?

It continued to lumber off in the direction of the faint footprints that it assumeed Xerxes left behind in its escape. However, the second set was a mystery to the golem--what other creature followed it away? Perhaps it would find out in time... For now, though, it was attempting to process the tall objects off in the distance, things that were not nearly made of stone like the buildings in the city but were just as tall if not taller than them. They were also rather slender... The footprints continued toward these... things, for lack of a better term, and the golem, with nowhere else to go, continued to follow them toward the unknown...

The setting changes from Barberry, City of Guilds to Allevent

Setting

2 Characters Present

Character Portrait: Isengrim Lupul Character Portrait: Icarus Saerin
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Icarus Saerin



Icarus climbed up to the platform. It was a bit rickety, and he felt it would take a bit of practice for anyone to get a hang of walking on it, so Icarus decided to walk on a thin cushion of air to keep his balance, now was not the time to be stumbling like a child. the cushion was nothing large enough to be seen, but enough to do it's job. He walked over beside Grim. "Do you know much about this place?" He said looking around the marshy area.

((Sorry, not my best work, but I just want to move it along. two weeks of no activity from anyone is dangerous, regardless of the reasons. I know people are busy, so im sorry, i dont mean to step on any toes here.))

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Character Portrait: Isengrim Lupul Character Portrait: Icarus Saerin
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#, as written by Wrenn
"Not much, no," Isengrim replied, while walking along the elevated planks that composed the town's haphazard walkways. "Been here once or twice before, but never more than to rest or refuel before moving on - same as today. Dr. Serabel and I got to talking, and she's of the opinion that we didn't pick up enough people back in Barberry to carry out this mission effectively." The hulking northlander didn't add whether or not he was of a similar opinion, but carried on with his conversation with Icarus and any of the other party members who were still with them.

"So here's the last stop between us and Huldrefolk territory - not a bad place to pick up some cheap labor, as many of these men make their livings in the northern wildernesses. I'd bet a hard emperor to your soft pip that there won't be a fighter among them, but, well, that's what we're here for, right?"

Grim ducked his head beneath the low beams of a large, squat log building that passed as Sweetmary's version of a market. The town had little more trade than provisions for traveling north, and the caith crystals that would be delivered down south. Grim used his size to clear a way into the large hut, then peered about in the crowd looking for his bearings. Despite the many gaps in the logs and thatched roof through which sunlight readily streamed, the hut was windowless and stuffed with men and their wares, making for a dizzying, claustrophobic environment.

"Right, I'll see about rounding up some men. Icarus, find us some caith, would you?" he asked. The journey from Barberry, and the random encounters with caithness and the strange fight aboard the wayward runner had no doubt depleted many of the elixers' caith reserves. An aurum user himself, Grim was running low on his precious healing magic, and no doubt Icarus and Jedas needed refueling too. "Meet you back outside, yeah?" Giving the lad a bone-rattling clap on the shoulder, Grim shouldered his way into the crowd and soon disappeared into the gloom.

The setting changes from Allevent to White-walled Adelost

1 Characters Present

Character Portrait: Lysandra Teraviel
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The night had been long, the elf remembered. Sure, there were probably inns in the city of Adelost that she could have probably found a room, but after what had happened in Barberry, she was still rather hesitant to trust herself to the whim of others, especially after what had happened merely a day eariler in the marketplace. She doubted that something as ludicrous as the familiar of another selde taure tearing another hole in these new robes; still, there was something about the sheer absurdity of the situation that caused her hesitance.

What was that old human saying? "Lightning never strikes twice"? Well, they had never met someone that could shoot lightning from their fingertips. There was something out that phrase that should have brought a bit of a smile to her face, but for some reason she found little comfort in that bit of human wisdom. She knew it was wrong, anyway--it was an extremely rare occurence, but she had seen in twice in her extended lifetime.

Shaking the thoughts from her mind, she gathered in what courage she could find within herself and began to walk through the gates of Adelost. White-walled Adelost--the inhabitants nicknamed the city this for its ivory-colored walls that kept out most unwelcome intruders--was slightly smaller than Barberry but still large enough to be a decent-sized city. The people of Adelost were somewhat welcoming to most outsiders, although most outsiders usually did not include elves or any of the more exotic races that roamed the lands of Allevent. Still, the red-robed elf managed to somehow blend into the crowd and walk into the heart of the city with little problem.

So far so good... Now just hope that there aren't any more of those foxes that come to expose what's underneath the sleeve...

The main marketplace was busy for the morning, but it was nothing compared to the hustle and bustle of the crowds in Barberry. Regardless of how much smaller the throngs of people in this city were in comparison to the other one, there were still hordes of passersby that would potentially be curious as to why an elf would wander so far away from her home. This sort of thing was what she was afraid of--people poking their noses into business in which they did not belong. That was one of the things about humans that she did not particularly care for very much.

She sighed as she found a posting board with all sorts of advertisements and notices. Things about having competitions and tournaments were also rather popular, it seemed, as there were a few younger humans that were discussing an upcoming archery competition. As the elf studied the notice board for anything related to a potential opening at the archives, one of the young men--obviously the leader of their trio--let out a low whistle.'

"Oi, dat's a noice bow y'got dere, ma'am," the de facto leader commented. "Wif somefin' like dat, bet'cha could run th'others out'f th'competition!"

Caught off-guard by the comment--and not quite sure if it was sincere--the elf merely glanced over and nodded to the group before turning back to the board, studying the fliers intently until she came across one that she was hoping to find--

"Y'know, Ah don' fink we've ever seen a knifey compete in one'f these tournaments before... Dey's too proud'n snobbish fer us..." another of the group commented, looking toward the leader.

"An' you'd be roight, Reg..." the leader turned back to the elf, who was doing her best to ignore their presence next to her. "If y'ain't here to compete but'cha brought a bow into da city, Ah fink da only fing you can do is sell yer weapon t'us. How much?"

So they were con men after all. Picking on some lonesome traveller for kicks. Perhaps there was not even to be a tournament after all; even if there was, there was still no reason for her to go out of her way to join it. This had too much sentimental value for her to be given away for coin--if there was even any to be had--and she was not about to entrust a weapon of this magnitude of craftsmanship to a random stranger on the street.

"It's not for sale," the elf replied simply but assuredly, finding the information that she needed. There was indeed someone looking for assistance at the Archives; a certain Ambrosia character was looking for someone to assist him with bookkeeping and book sorting. This was exactly the sort of low-key low-labor work she was hoping to find. It might take a week or two to finally have enough money to pay back that Xioban girl, but she was going to try and get that business taken care of before anything else.

The leader of the group chuckled as his other two men walked around behind the elf. "Sorry, but yer not walkin' away 'til we've got'cher bow." With that, the men behind her grabbed her arms, hoping to hold her back as they took her weapon with ease. However, the man to her right grabbed on to something unexpected.

"Damn!" the lackey known as Reg screamed as he looked down to his hands to find that there were a few splotches of blood forming in his hands. The elf struggled underneath the strength of the man on her left, but the leader was too busy looking at his other man's wounds to pay too much attention. "She's got somefin' sharp underneaf dem robes!"

"Sharp? She's not made of metal, you dunce! Lemme see!" the leader smacked her over the head as the elf's eyes widened in fear. That lackey had felt something! Now his leader was going to try and figure out what was happening!? This was just as bad as the day before, except this time she knew for a fact that someone knew that there was something different about her. She began to thrash around in the man's grasp, hoping to run away before things escalated further.

"Now now, we don' hafta do dis da hard way, ma'am--y'can give us yer bow an' be on yer merry way, or we can take it from you! Looks like it might be worf somefin' after all--maybe along wif whatever ya got under yer sleef..."

What happened next was performed out of sheer panic.

Out of nowhere, the leader of the thugs was thrown back by a bolt of electricity that struck him square in the chest. The sudden strike was almost too much for the leader and he collapsed in a heap on the ground, a hole through his clothes and a burn mark square in his chest.

"What the hell was that?" the thug with a hold on her arm shouted as he dropped the poor elf onto the ground and ran after his fallen leader. Reg also knelt down at his leader's side, trying to do everything in his mind that he could think of to resusitate his leader. Bystanders were crowding around the fallen thug, trying to comprehend what had happened to the man.

In all of this confusion, miraculously, no one bothered to look toward the elf that had managed to blend in with a passing crowd. She was nervous--she had every right to be, she felt. Not only did those men try to assault her, but they knew there was something wrong with her! This knowledge only fell on the wayside when she realized that there was a light shining from inside her sleeve onto her feet. This was accompanied by a slight tingling sensation as she attempted to try and dim the light as quickly as possible.

Please let no one have seen that light... They can have the lightning, but please not the light that's coming from my sleeve...

Why are you even walking in the crowd if you're afraid that people are going to see you?

It's better than having to stick around and explain why I was forced to shoot a bolt of lightning into that man's chest and having to deal with his cronies...

But if they manage to find you and turn you in to the authorities, then what happens? You have no money, you have no job opportunity, you are sent to a cell and examined--

If I'm on the move now, I'll have an opportunity to continue moving and find the archive...

But if they see your arm and the light--

Why do I constantly argue with myself in these situations?


After trying to calm herself down for a few minutes and receiving a few strange looks from passersby about her facial reactions to seemingly nothing, the elf came to a large structure with large columns and a few academic-types wandering within from what little light in the doorway she could find. She broke free from the crowd and hurried inside, quickly glancing behind to make sure that the thugs were not trying to follow her. By this time, the light had faded from her sleeve, but she still felt that tingling across her right arm, almost like static electricity in the air...

The elf was greeted with hundreds upon hundreds of rows of books, much like she had been in Barberry's Imperial Archive. People were searching the shelves for any and all sorts of tomes that may help them with their research--perhaps in her downtime, the elf would join them in their pursuits of knowledge, but for now, she narrowly escaped arrest and interrogation. She finally arrived where she wanted to be, albeit with more plaguing her mind than she was comfortable with. After a minute of catching her breath and regaining her composure, the elf walked over to a side desk where an elderly human sat filling out some paperwork.

"...excuse me, ma'am?" The elf interrupted the woman's work after finally finding her voice and speaking softly.

The human looked up with a small smile on her face. "What can I help you with?"

"...I'm here to talk with... Ambrosia... Yes, Ambrosia, about the job opening?" the elf was very cautious, trying to keep calm but feeling ready to explode and shoot lightning in all directions. The woman was not saying anything about it, though--either she was being polite or the elf appeared much more stoic than she felt.

"Oh, yes, the flier... Please, take a seat over here, miss, and I'll let him know that he has someone interested for the job." She stood up from her seat. "One minute, please..." With that, the old woman walked away from the desk toward the back of the archive, leaving the elf to dwell on her thoughts of the events of the past few minutes.

News travels quickly in a city like this, so how long would it take for this Ambrosia character to hear about the events that took place in the market? About the elf that zapped some poor human in the chest with a lightning bolt and then ran off? She shuddered as she waited, putting her head in her hands and doing her best to keep her composure in spite of the circumstances in which she found herself. If the woman or her boss, however, came out to see her crying and acting shy, though, they might dismiss her on the spot...

...or would they just not hire her for being an elf? That elf from the market?

"Miss, mister Ambrosia will see you now. Please follow me."

The older woman gave a smile and nodded in the elf's direction. She had no choice now but to see this through to the end. The elf silently pleaded to whatever deities that may or may not exist that everything that could potentially go horribly wrong did not.

The setting changes from White-walled Adelost to Allevent

Setting

7 Characters Present

Character Portrait: Raruna (Runa) Leautia Character Portrait: Isengrim Lupul Character Portrait: Icarus Saerin Character Portrait: Zherynnia Analorum Character Portrait: Lysandra Teraviel Character Portrait: Derithiue Qre Jedas Character Portrait: Ambrosia
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#, as written by Igari

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The small girl glared up at the man who was currently looking at her with just as much animosity. True to her final decision, she had not once surfaced since the escapade with the foreign airship. She had only just poked her head out from the cabins when it had been announced that they had arrived at their destination. But now here she was, face to face with the redraklyin who seemed bloody intent on getting on her bad side. The book eater didn't back down at all, peering at him as her grip around her bow tightened.

Just as she was about to growl back at him, the pirate woman stepped between them with a rather unamused expression on her face. "This is still my ship and I won't allow anyone to kill anyone else on my ship! I'm sure Grim will feel the same about this whole expedition since he's in charge of that half. What could she have possibly done to make you want to kill her, hu? It can't be that bad," Zherynnia clenched her fist tighter, sticking her tongue out at the man while the woman continued.

"I think you're still just a bit air sick. Walk around a bit and cool your head, Jedas. Get a drink or something. There's no need for killing. Though, if you wish to have a bit of fun sparing, I'd be more than happy to be your partner."

"No!" The girl exclaimed quite suddenly before the man could properly respond. "If anyone is going to fight him, it should be me." She said firmly with another scowl towards this "Jedas" character. "He dishonored the value of knowledge with his actions and could've endangered us all with his ridiculous need to show off." It was decided, she did not like him at all. Zherynnia was the type to always try and give everyone a chance, for there was always something to be learned from others. But there was nothing of value to him, not if he so needlessly tossed away information.

And it was with this thought that she scrunched up her face briefly and spat on the ground at his feet. Not even bothering to continue, she turned on her heel, stepped around the pirate woman, and walked down the plank to where Grim and Icarus were chatting amongst themselves. Hopefully now that they had finally arrived, she would get the treasure that she was promised. Because so far, this whole trip was far from worth it.


Image



It was the knocking on his door that brought his attentions upwards. The man had been recording down a few notes from the open texts upon his desk. Many notes were scattered about and an ink bottle had been overturned, the drops not heeded as they leaked on to the floor. Yet, there was a small sense of organization to the chaos before him. Books were grouped by category, notes stacked atop one another in a large (albeit precarious) pile. He would've continued his research if not for the noise from outside his door that alerted him of another presence.

His golden eyes found their way to the figure of a woman, slightly older but modestly touched with that age. "Sorry for the interruption, Sir," She said lightly, not making any moves to enter into his study. He shook his head and smiled kindly at her, putting his quill down atop the papers.

"Not at all, did you need me for something?" He asked politely, casually moving one of his papers atop another to shield the information. As sociable as he could be, he still preferred it if others did not see direct information pertaining to him. The woman nodded, gesturing behind her.

"Ah yes, well, there is a young woman here to apply for the assistant's position? She mentioned the flier in the main square." His eyes lit up--ah, right, it hadn't been that long since they had put up that flier, had it?

"Of course. You may send her in then." The woman nodded as she closed the door behind her once more, giving him a little bit of time to at least make his desk semi-presentable. It was then he noticed the ink bottle, still leaking on to the floor steadily. Ah well, nothing to be done about it now. He tilted it back upwards, making a mental note to clean that up a bit later on.

The woman returned shortly with another who was taller than her, far too tall, in fact. He scanned her over briefly as the young woman took the seat that was offered to her, long blond hair tumbling around her shoulders as she sat. He had always been quick with his observation skills and it did not take him long at all to notice her pointed ears or willowy form. This woman was an elf, one would have to wonder what she was doing in this particular part of Adelost.

Still, he had never been one to turn down those that walked into his Archives. Those who pursued knowledge came from all works of life after all. He smiled warmly at her, noticing the slight tenseness she had about her and hoping to set her at ease. "So you're here about the flier?" He began, choosing a more rhetorical question than any to begin with. "You came just at the proper time, we've been a bit, shall we say, overloaded with paperwork as of late. As you can no doubt tell from the state of my desk, I'm sure." He laughed a little, a charming sort of chuckle before shaking his head a bit.

"In any event, let me give you a short run-down of what will be required of you if you do acquire the job. This particular archive is the largest of them all in Adelost and is home to tens of thousands of books. I'll not bore you with the specifics of departments and sub-departments of literature here but needless to say, there is a book for everyone here." He paused, taking a moment to look her over again. She was a reserved one, seemingly quiet at that. Not bad qualities to possess but he wasn't one to pry.

"The job is more of a personal request of mine. Lately, it's just been difficult to manage the books here, primarily because I haven't had a lot of time to devote to the archives as I normally would. That being said," He smoothly moved away from that particular topic, no need to inform her of his personal responsibilities. "You would be responsible for sorting, categorizing, and marking off literature, starting with a section on the first floor. Before I get into too much detail, why don't you tell me about yourself?" He raised his eyebrows slightly, leaning forward in his seat to look at her more closely.

"Primarily, what brings you here, to the archives?" He decided not to bombard her with a series of questions. She did not look like a city-goer, she lacked that certain air about her. Even so, he could not simply let anyone who applied for the job work merely because they "looked nice" or "acted a certain way". He smiled at her one more time to perhaps lighten the atmosphere between them. After all, if the would be working together in the future, it would be best to be on amicable terms rather than distant ones.

The setting changes from Allevent to White-walled Adelost

2 Characters Present

Character Portrait: Lysandra Teraviel Character Portrait: Ambrosia
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The elf sat on a couch, waiting for the return of the elderly human who had promised to return with news of this Ambrosia character. Surely it would not have taken this long for her to come back out and inform her that they were not looking for someone like her--an elf too far away from her home and with no business doing anything in Adelost at all. She observed a few passersby take a few glances in her direction, doing their best not to gawk for too long at the blonde with the bow protruding from behind her back.

After a terse minute of waiting and twiddling her thumbs, the elf saw the woman from behind the desk return. "If you'd come with me, ma'am, I'll take you back to Mister Ambrosia's office--he wanted to speak with you, sort of an interview."

The elf, with no other options at this point but beginning to regret her decision to come to the city at all, smiled weakly and followed the woman to the back of the archives to a small secluded office with a label marked in golden letters: Ambrosia.

"Oh, don't look so nervous, dear--he's rather friendly, especially to the ladies." The woman from behind the desk gave a smile before opening the door and allowing the elf into his office.

The first thing she noticed were the papers strewn about every which way around the room. There were small ink stains on the floor that she managed to catch glimpses of in the right light, but the elf felt it best to not make any mention of them lest the man sitting behind the desk would mark that against her. The figure--Ambrosia, from what the door suggested--offered the elf an open seat across from his desk, which she gingerly sat in after stepping around some papers that had been left on the floor.

It was at this moment that the elf noticed the antlers protruding from the sides of his head. Her heart began to race as she thought back to the Xioban girl and her familiar--was this man selde taure as well? And if he was, did he have a familiar as mischievous as Xerxes? Another horrifying thought flashed across her mind--what if Xioban had found out about her arm through her familiar, and then told this Ambrosia character? The elf's skin began to crawl with goosebumps, although a chill in the air could have easily been to blame for the outbreak if he asked.

"So you're here about the flier? You came just at the proper time, we've been a bit, shall we say, overloaded with paperwork as of late. As you can no doubt tell from the state of my desk, I'm sure." Ambrosia was attempting to lighten the mood before breaking the news, wasn't he? The elf forced a weak smile at his joke, not sure whether she should relax or continue to stay on her guard. If he knew something about her, anything at all, it would have been better to get it out in the open...

"In any event, let me give you a short run-down of what will be required of you if you do acquire the job. This particular archive is the largest of them all in Adelost and is home to tens of thousands of books. I'll not bore you with the specifics of departments and sub-departments of literature here but needless to say, there is a book for everyone here." Ambrosia stopped to look the elf over once again. What was he looking at? What was he looking for? Was he searching for something on her arm? Did he know? What would happen to her if he did know something?

"The job is more of a personal request of mine. Lately, it's just been difficult to manage the books here, primarily because I haven't had a lot of time to devote to the archives as I normally would. That being said, you would be responsible for sorting, categorizing, and marking off literature, starting with a section on the first floor." The job itself did not seem too difficult for anyone with a working mind, which was good news in case somehow everything went according to plan and nothing went horribly wrong...

"Before I get into too much detail, why don't you tell me about yourself? Primarily, what brings you here, to the archives?"

The elf froze, not quite knowing how to answer this question. She had come in the hope that she could find some work in the city... or perhaps the answers to questions about her arm--but she couldn't tell him that! Even if he did know something about what she was experiencing, what if he only wanted to exploit her? Use her for experiments? Surely a man of science could win some sort of award for discovering this... this abnormality that grew on her arm...

"...truth be told, Mister Ambrosia..." the elf began, clearing her throat and coughing into her left sleeve. "...I... I'm in a bit of debt... I owe an acquaintance a bit of money, and I need a job that does not require a lot of manual labor and strength... As you can see, I'm not quite suited for that kind of work..." her voice trailed off, not quite sure whether she meant that as a joke or not.

"...in any case, I would have come here anyway... to do a bit of research on my own time..."

You know he's going to pry and ask, right?

Just be as vague as possible; don't go into any more detail than you have to...


Dismissing the thoughts with a shiver, the elf forced herself to look up at Ambrosia for a second before looking back down at the papers atop his desk. Why was she so afraid to look up at this man? Was it because he potentially knew something that he should not have? Was it because he had the authority to refuse her offer of help? Was it because she was an elf and he was... a humanoid figure with antlers? No matter the case, she knew that she looked absolutely terrified in front of him and that if she wanted any sort of opportunity to get past all of this nonsense with Xioban and her familiar, this was the only way without having to resort to begging on the street...

The setting changes from White-walled Adelost to Allevent

Setting

2 Characters Present

Character Portrait: Raruna (Runa) Leautia Character Portrait: Zherynnia Analorum
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#, as written by Siryn
"No! If anyone is going to fight him, it should be me.He dishonored the value of knowledge with his actions and could've endangered us all with his ridiculous need to show off."

An eye brow lifted as Raruna watched the girl step forward and promptly spit at the man before them. The sky pirate thought for sure that the man was going to lose it right there. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how one looked at the situation, Zhyernnia turned on her heel and stomped down the plank.

Runa grinned at Jedas and turned around as well to follow the girl, her treasure. Best to keep the 'map' in her sights. She didn't want anything happening to her precious cargo. The sky pirate caught up to the woman fairly easily as she made her way into the city.

"You said something about dishonoring the value of knowledge. What a peculiar thing to say. It was just a ship really... Oh," Raruna stopped herself, "Wait. You're a bookeater... which means..." the pirate's face screwed up into a strange facial expression as she thought about it, "You eat books as your diet??"

Zherynnia was surprised to find that the sky pirate had caught up to her so quickly. Judging from her words before, she had thought the woman quick to fight. She blinked, crossing her arms in front of her chest lightly as she contemplated the question. "It is not so much eating books," The girl said with a wrinkle of her nose. "I absorb the knowledge imprinted on that object."

She remembered vaguely, very very vaguely, that despite the fact that most people knew book eaters existed, few were in number that had actually come into contact with them. Maybe the pirate's questions were natural? "Do you find this odd?" She asked politely, unsure if the other would take offense.

"Absorb the knowledge..." Raruna tapped her finger against her lower lip, "I see. So... what you're saying is that rickety ship that had been rigged to start with had a lot of knowledge on it. And that you wanted to... err... 'eat' it," the sky pirates eyebrow rose as she tried to figure out how that would work.

Hmm, maybe it wasn't so much eating in the sense that Runa was thinking. Perhaps it was something else. Well, whatever. A meal's a meal and apparently Jedas had interfered with it. Anyone would be angry about losing their dinner. She shrugged as they moved through the city.

"Naw, I don't find it odd... just different really. I'm sure I'll figure it out completely later on," Raruna continued. Her eyes spied a shop with random pieces of metal her inner mechanic kicked in. With a gasp she lunged over to the shop and began filtering through the thousands of random bolts, nuts, screws and scraps of metal. If her eyes could have turned to sparkling stars just then, they would have.

"Never can have too much of this stuff," she exclaimed as she began picking up random pieces.

Whatever the girl had been about to say was cut off as the pirate suddenly sidetracked, darting off to a nearby vendor and looking through all the different parts. Zherynnia watched her silently through bright, curious orbs. A few random letters scrambled in front of her eyes, numbers trailing after them as they danced around the inside of her pupils. Just what was she looking for anyway? Those bits and pieces were all junk. She glanced over the supply of them, frowning to herself.

The man who was selling them knew precisely what he had done. That wasn't even iron at all--it was copper that had been painted over. "That's not..." The girl trailed off, discontent. The man didn't seem to notice that she was suspicious of him and leered at the pirate.

"If ya wan' m're missus, I g'ts som' in the back'see." Zherynnia wrinkled her nose. Surely Runa wasn't contemplating going back there.

"Hmm," Runa put on her best face as she contemplated the idea of letting him show her more stuff. It wasn't like she needed anything, but she did enjoy looking through things that could pertain to her ship. The soft whisper behind her only alerted her to the fact that Zherynnia was still with her. Good, at least the girl hadn't decided to wander off on her own.

"More in the back, hu? Why not, it's not like I need to be anywhere anytime soon," Raruna said and sent a wink back towards the bookeater behind her. The sky pirate followed the merchant to the back of his dark shop, out of the sunlight and heat. It was a bit gloomy and hard to see, but Runa was pretty aware of her surroundings.

"So, mister random ship parts seller. Anything good you got for a class 'C' style ship? Very small vessel she is," Runa asked as she bent over and began rummaging through a crate of stuff.

Zherynnia groaned to herself, falling into step behind the pirate. She couldn't walk away knowing that this man planned to rip them off big time. Runa seemed to be enjoying the sights of the shop, peering into a nearby crate and sticking her hand inside of it. The shopkeeper grinned again, gesturing to another large crate.

"Cert'nly! Thar's lotsa st'ff to be 'ad. I gots'me som' new b'lts over 'ere that'll really 'elp wif yer wheels and clogs." He offered the woman what appeared to be a miniature drill and a few bolts to go along with it. The book eater's frown deepened. This entire shop smelled terrible and it made her feel sick to her stomach again. There was nothing to be learnt here at all.

"Can we go?" She whispered furtively to the pirate, tugging at the woman's coat tails impatiently.

"In a second, I promise," Runa whispered back as she stood up to face the merchant. From her fingers she let all of the bolts and nuts drop from her fingers, a cruel grin twisting on her lips.

Releasing a sarcastic styled sigh, she put a hand on her hip and directed her sharp gaze to the man who was trying to sell his wares to her, "Unfortunately I don't think you have what I'm looking for. Not to mention that a lot of your stuff is... how should I put it... crap."

Runa reached into a pouch of hers that was on her hip and produced a shiny, yet unique steel bolt. Even she did not have a tool to fit it having picked it up on one of her random stops in a city a long while back, "You see, as the infamous Sky Pirate in all of Caith, it's hard to fool a woman who knows her ship. What you've got here isn't anything that a ship captain in their right mind would ever buy.

"How distasteful..." Raruna continued and leaned over to peer once again at one of the tools in a crate next to her, "Pitiful really. Anyway, I'm done here," she said flippantly and turned on her heel. The pirate took Zherynnia's hand in hers and lead the girl outside. With a grin down to the bookeater she continued on her way down the wooden walkway.

"What? Did you honestly think I'd buy something from that ugly, fat man?"

Zherynnia blushed, the dark reddish hue covering her cheeks with embarrassment. Of course she had, she had been genuinely worried that the woman was going to make a purchase she'd regret. "I wasn't sure..." She admitted. She fidgeted, still noting the fact that the two of them were holding hands. Runa seemed to like to lead but the confidence was a bit overwhelming at times. It made the pirate hard to predict.

She drew her hand out of the other's, letting it fall to her side as she casually brushed it on the side of her sash. "Did..." She trailed off, admittedly, she couldn't remember the man's name. "You know, the man with the scientist woman. Did they mention where they would be or are we just wandering around?" She didn't want to be dragged around for no good reason. Now that she was finally getting some fresh air, her appetite had returned.

The last meal she had had was some several hours ago and she was absolutely ravenous. There didn't seem to be any good information to pick up here, however... Maybe the pirate would let her eat one of her treasure maps... hopefully.

Runa tapped her lip gently as the girl's hand slipped out of hers, "Hmm, nope. They didn't mention anything. I think we're just stopping to get some fresh air and restock on some things. I could use another strannum crystal... You never know when one of those might crack from being used all the time."

The sky pirate kept an eye out for a good shop to buy one from as they moved farther down the street. She kept herself well aware of her surroundings, an old habit picked up from being in the slums of the lower city where she grew up. One could never be too careful, even in the nicest of towns.

"I don't want to be here for too much longer. I'd rather see this job done and over with. But," Runa sighed, "I guess we'll see how that goes."

View All »Arcs

Arcs are bundles of posts that you can organize on your own. They're useful for telling a story that might span long periods of time or space.

Mission #001

A small group of warriors and adventurers comes together to lead an expedition north into huldrefolk territory. The group consists of an Applicator, a caithness hunter, three mercenaries of varying backgrounds, a sky pirate and a book-eater. After their meeting, each member of the group is approached by a shadowy man with a duplicitous request.

View All » Create New » Quests

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Here's the current leaderboard.

Guardians of Adelost

Sword and Shield of the King


Events

Soon™.

Game Master Controls

Welcome home, Promethean. Here, you can manage your universe.

Arcs

Arcs are bundles of posts from any location, allowing you to easily capture sub-plots which might be spread out across multiple locations.

Add Quest » Quests

You can create Quests with various rewards, encouraging your players to engage with specific plot lines.

Add Setting » 6 Settings for your players to play in

Settings are the backdrop for the characters in your universe, giving meaning and context to their existence. By creating a number of well-written locations, you can organize your universe into areas and regions.

Navigation

While not required, locations can be organized onto a map. More information soon!

The Islands of Vera

The Islands of Vera by Wrenn

Garlion, Rukelion, Bitrur and Puloroin

Open Plains North of Barberry

Open Plains North of Barberry by Wrenn

The plains north of Barberry, City of Guilds.

Allevent

Allevent by Wrenn

Allevent, Realm of Caith

Barberry, City of Guilds

Barberry, City of Guilds by Wrenn

Barberry, City of Guilds

White-walled Adelost

White-walled Adelost by Wrenn

White-walled Adelost

Bokmakiri, the Desert City

Bokmakiri, the Desert City by Wrenn

Bokmakiri, the Desert City

Collectibles

By creating Collectibles, you can reward your players with unique items that accentuate their character sheets.


Once an Item has been created, it can be spawned in the IC using /spawn Item Name (case-sensitive, as usual) — this can be followed with /take Item Name to retrieve the item into the current character's inventory.

Mobs

Give your Universe life by adding a Mob, which are auto-replenishing NPCs your players can interact with. Useful for some quick hack-and-slash fun!

Mobs can be automated spawns, like rats and bats, or full-on NPCs complete with conversation menus. Use them to enhance your player experience!

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Spawns

Locations where Mobs and Items might appear.

Events

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Permissions

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The Forge

Use your INK to craft new artifacts in Allevent, Realm of Caith. Once created, Items cannot be changed, but they can be bought and sold in the marketplace.

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The Market

Buy, sell, and even craft your own items in this universe.

Market Data

Market conditions are unknown. Use caution when trading.

Quick Buy (Items Most Recently Listed for Sale)

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View All » Add Character » 18 Characters to follow in this universe

Character Portrait: Porfirio "Firo" Grey
Character Portrait: Adion Volf
Character Portrait: Xioban Efialtis
Character Portrait: Icarus Saerin
Character Portrait: Lysandra Teraviel
Character Portrait: Blair Invidia
Character Portrait: Arto Kelmt
Character Portrait: I.S.S.A.C.
Character Portrait: Isengrim Lupul
Character Portrait: Jion Tane
Character Portrait: Zherynnia Analorum
Character Portrait: Raruna (Runa) Leautia

Newest

Character Portrait: Raruna (Runa) Leautia
Raruna (Runa) Leautia

"If it doesn't make me feel like I'm going to die any time soon, I'm not doing it..."

Character Portrait: Zherynnia Analorum
Zherynnia Analorum

"Yu...yu harein jo'huf siim! Ma'hal... t-that is to say, er... I forgot!"

Character Portrait: Jion Tane
Jion Tane

"The road beneath me will show me the world around me."

Character Portrait: Isengrim Lupul
Isengrim Lupul

Caithness hunter and lone mercenary

Character Portrait: I.S.S.A.C.
I.S.S.A.C.

"I live to serve."

Character Portrait: Arto Kelmt
Arto Kelmt

"I'm here about the job..."

Character Portrait: Blair Invidia
Blair Invidia

~Gyptioi~

Character Portrait: Lysandra Teraviel
Lysandra Teraviel

"There is something wrong with everyone--some manage to keep them hidden away, while I must bear mine for the world to see."

Character Portrait: Xioban Efialtis
Xioban Efialtis

"Purrfectly enchanting~"

Trending

Character Portrait: Isengrim Lupul
Isengrim Lupul

Caithness hunter and lone mercenary

Character Portrait: Zherynnia Analorum
Zherynnia Analorum

"Yu...yu harein jo'huf siim! Ma'hal... t-that is to say, er... I forgot!"

Character Portrait: Blair Invidia
Blair Invidia

~Gyptioi~

Character Portrait: I.S.S.A.C.
I.S.S.A.C.

"I live to serve."

Character Portrait: Jion Tane
Jion Tane

"The road beneath me will show me the world around me."

Character Portrait: Adion Volf
Adion Volf

"What can you teach me?"

Character Portrait: Lysandra Teraviel
Lysandra Teraviel

"There is something wrong with everyone--some manage to keep them hidden away, while I must bear mine for the world to see."

Character Portrait: Porfirio "Firo" Grey
Porfirio "Firo" Grey

High Guardian of Adelost

Character Portrait: Arto Kelmt
Arto Kelmt

"I'm here about the job..."

Most Followed

Character Portrait: Xioban Efialtis
Xioban Efialtis

"Purrfectly enchanting~"

Character Portrait: Adion Volf
Adion Volf

"What can you teach me?"

Character Portrait: Raruna (Runa) Leautia
Raruna (Runa) Leautia

"If it doesn't make me feel like I'm going to die any time soon, I'm not doing it..."

Character Portrait: Isengrim Lupul
Isengrim Lupul

Caithness hunter and lone mercenary

Character Portrait: Porfirio "Firo" Grey
Porfirio "Firo" Grey

High Guardian of Adelost

Character Portrait: Blair Invidia
Blair Invidia

~Gyptioi~

Character Portrait: Jion Tane
Jion Tane

"The road beneath me will show me the world around me."

Character Portrait: Arto Kelmt
Arto Kelmt

"I'm here about the job..."

Character Portrait: I.S.S.A.C.
I.S.S.A.C.

"I live to serve."


View All » Places

The Islands of Vera

The Islands of Vera by Wrenn

Garlion, Rukelion, Bitrur and Puloroin

Open Plains North of Barberry

Open Plains North of Barberry by Wrenn

The plains north of Barberry, City of Guilds.

Allevent

Allevent by Wrenn

Allevent, Realm of Caith

Barberry, City of Guilds

Barberry, City of Guilds by Wrenn

Barberry, City of Guilds

White-walled Adelost

White-walled Adelost by Wrenn

White-walled Adelost

Bokmakiri, the Desert City

Bokmakiri, the Desert City by Wrenn

Bokmakiri, the Desert City

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