jaistlyn

At least Karuna had the decency to apologise. And then Lunara could no longer stay mad at the witch, when Karuna made fun of Agony again. It was entirely inappropriate, and would probably cause the blob to smite her all the more quickly, but it was funny nonetheless. The faerie couldn’t hide the smile that tugged at the corners of her mouth. "But let me make it up to you hun, it really was a shit thing for me to do. Maybe take whatever reward money I get? I honestly am not here for it anyway. “Glad you know it,” Lunara retorted, flying close to Karuna. The unevenness of the plains didn’t affect her at all. “The reward would be a nice thing to have, but not the most valuable thing, I suppose. Though that makes me curious why you’re here, then.” “Or maybe I can teach you a spell or two? I don't know, I've never really spoken to a fairy before, so I don't really know what kind of things you like." “Memories. And innocence. Stuff like that, stuff that the people who lose them would never miss - they are used as currency among my people,” Lunara said with a straight face. Whether Karuna give a reaction or not, the faerie would giggle. It was half-true; some of the Fae would love to extract such things, but Lunara had no interest for them. “I’m kidding. Spells are troublesome,” Lunara pondered. “Memorizing, gathering spell components.. I prefer to use my dusts.” Lunara demonstrated, fanning her wings. Small specks glittered in the light, subtle and not easily seen if one didn’t know it was there. The charm dust didn’t have any effect now, except to let Karuna see them better. Lunara continued, “But perhaps a spell could be useful, depending on what you know. Something that could do damage from afar maybe?” Switching up between that and her illusions could be useful. If enemies saw through her guise, then bam! She would hit them with a real attack. That would keep them on their toes. Eventually, the group came across an opening in the ground. Instead of going around, Karuna stopped in front of it, which made the faerie think a little. She circled around to Agony’s back, speaking to the shadow. “I bet you’d prefer going down, wouldn’t you, cretin?” Lunara addressed the creature directly, using the term that she heard the doctor say. In fact, she had already guessed at the creature’s nature when she touched it. This was something that lived in the shadows, and was disadvantaged in the light, just like the shadow wolves they had fought in the Anima Imperium. “I say we head down. I heard that there were portals underground, and it could be interesting to check them out,” Lunara said. Also, she was bored of the never-ending dust and rocks on the Broken Plains. A change of scenery would be exciting.

- A couple of hours later, following the events of Tethered with Guilt - Tabitha hurried down the halls, lifting her skirts and carrying her portly figure. What exactly was happening? It was the night of the queen’s coronation, and yet the alarms sounded like they had just entered war. She had been busy dusting the paths leading to the rooms of Orisia’s important guests. It was not often that they had visitors from as far as Terrenus or Renovatio. Besides, a clean castle also signified a fresh start for the Queen, and for the new baby. The housekeeper had been glad for her return. But then the sirens had gone off unexpectedly. Tabitha hoped it was a false alarm, but she had a bad feeling about this. The servants’ quarters, that was where she decided to go. Someone there would know for sure. That, in front, was that a cleaning cloth by the wall? Her eyesight was getting bad. She was getting old indeed. Tsk, which one of the girls had forgotten to take it? My, it was such a shameful thing to show to guests! Wait- no, wait, is it a person? Tabitha squinted. It is! She hurried over. A little girl? Her white dress was too simple to be one of the nobles. One of the new girls? Tabitha bent down and shook the girl’s shoulders gently. “Hey? Hey!” Then she saw the blood on the girl’s dress. And she screamed. “Help, help!” The servant’s heartbeat quickened. Was the girl dead? She looked so pale. No- no, she’s alive. Were they under attack? Were there assassins in the castle? “Help, someone is hurt!” Tabitha’s eyes darted around fearfully at the shadows. What if the attacker was still around? Would they kill her?

I like the hair in my profile pic. I aspired to have hair like that. I have hair like it now. Boomz. ...... I’m not usually this shallow. Promise.

"I am sure I can assist with at least aiding in transportation.” “That would be much appreciated,” Hedia said. “I wouldn’t say you have no choice, but that it is a choice that would be good for our mutual relationship.” She was glad that the.. dog would be staying behind. It disturbed her a little, to be honest. “A human in a world of magic and monsters is born at a disadvantage. Lead the way if you would Madam." Hedia led Marigold onwards. The area immediately surrounding the Imperium was thick woods, and her horse-drawn carriage was waiting about a half-hour walk away. From there, it was another half hour to Knoles in the carriage. It was undeniable that Hedia herself was curious about Marigold as well, so she tried to strike up a conversation. “We are a peaceful town, a logging and farming community, and we don’t know much about magic and monsters. We practice the way, but only for our jobs.” Hedia assumed that Marigold knew the Gaian earth magic she referred to, an ability that was available in small extents even among the common people. “Bandits and wolves are the greatest threats we face, and that’s not much, from what I hear from stories. But we are content. You can imagine then, how much attention someone like you would have gotten, so close to our town. You must be well-traveled. Tell me, what places have you been to?”

Folding her arms, Lunara pouted when Marigold snapped at her. “I know magic better than you,” she said indignantly. “Your machines couldn’t even handle it. I’m probably centuries older than you, too.” Even so, Immie withdrew her hand, and Lunara didn’t pursue the matter. She would see how capable Marigold really was. She muttered again as the doctor told Immie to take off the ring. He could touch it, but she couldn’t? ”I don't suppose you disrupted my scans in any way did you? Such raw magic has a tendency to do that." “Hey!” Lunara said, really starting to get irritated now. “I’m not a disease! You don’t know how many people out there would wish they had the same powers I do. Besides, you’re the one who wanted me to come along!” She wasn’t about to leave now. If her presence alone interfered with the scans, all so the better. Over-reliance on technology wouldn’t get him anywhere. It was fortunate that Marigold fell into silence after that, absorbed in his work. Lunara picked up the ring that had been left abandoned on the table. It was a simple golden band, but she could definitely feel magic from it. Or rather, anti-magic. Of what exact nature, she wasn’t sure, but whoever wanted Immie to have the ring, it was certain that they wanted to suppress something. She flew over to Immie. “Your ring.. It is magical, but instead of what you might expect, it doesn’t give you something. It takes something away from you. It represses magic. Who gave it to you?” It could go both ways - either someone who was trying to harm her, or was trying to protect. Either way, someone was afraid of the powers lying dormant within Immie. “But I need to figure out how to destabilize it. This is something hidden within you Miss Imalia...this could be important.” The way Immie looked at Lunara after that, nervous and excited at the same time, made her want to help, a sentiment she usually didn’t express. But what Marigold was flippantly suggesting could be dangerous. Someone had a reason to lock the powers away. Unleashing it might change Immie forever, or even endanger all of them if she went out of control. “Wait.. Are you sure about this, Immie?” Lunara asked. She needed to know the risks. “I don’t know for sure, but the ring might have been there to protect you. I understand the want to find out exactly who you are. But there’s a chance it could change you. For good or for bad.” She turned to Marigold. “Are you taking any precautions to make sure neither she or us will be harmed?”

Lunara smirked. Oh he loved it, the fae. Kallias wasn’t known as the Destroyer for nothing. She returned his gaze and waited patiently as Kallias spoke over the communicator, while destruction raged around them. Taipan was an unfamiliar name, but Kallias kept lots of company, particularly of the female variety. She wouldn’t know them all. However, she raised an eyebrow at what she was hearing. “Taming a god? Is that what we’re going to do? Oh, I’m sure it won’t be too difficult.” Her words were followed by the crash of a building that toppled like a brick toy. If this went on, Welamd would be nothing but rubble soon. "How good are you at scouting?" Lunara gestured to her wings, and her diminutive size. “Oh, pretty good, cousin.” She was small enough to wriggle through crevices and to avoid detection, and being airborne, she could easily reach places where people were less likely to think of protecting, like open windows on high floors. “I suppose you want me to find the Regent? What does she look like? How will I contact you?” Lunara thought for a moment and gestured to the cyborg. “Would you mind terribly if I borrowed your girlfriend? She can hide herself nearby while I move, and send messages back to you. That way, we can keep in contact.” Lunara puckered her lips and made a smooching sound.

A reminder that I will be away for a week starting from the 19th! Will try to get most posts done tomorrow, but during the week, if it’s my turn, feel free to skip (I’ll probably mention it in the ooc if it gets to my turn anyway.) For Maze Undue though, as the consequences may be wide, I’ll try my best to post, even if it’s just with bare essentials and minimal flair.

You won in that murder mystery, didn’t you? Didn’t you?! Those distraction tactics....

king said he brought a friend. It’s an open thread. Praetorian appeared out of nowhere. I could be seeing some dots here.......

Exactly as The Hummingbird says! There is nothing wrong with your character. I took a peek at the giant hamster thread, you’re doing pretty well. There is progression of the story, there are clearly-written action scenes, and I could follow it very easily. I noticed a lot of dialogue between the characters, but little prose in between. I have to emphasize first, it’s not a bad writing style at all, but if your aim is to make it longer, you can explore what they do, think, see, hear, feel, including involuntary physiological responses like sweating, heart beating, suddenly remembering something or enlightened about something etc. The number of actions in a post are also arbitrary. I mean, you could combine all that you have written, and make it into one long massive post, but for the purposes of fulfilling the post requirements for quests, the way you’ve laid them out now is advantageous. I also find myself writing longer when writing with others. I mean, if I need to respond to the actions of 6 characters, it would naturally take more words. I’m not sure what the context is, but usually higher-level quests are meant to be taken with more people involved. The more people, the less posts each person has to write in order to fulfil the requirement, in addition to each player having more to respond to.

@Roen Pasion FirePenguin Dolor Grubbitsch Tyler King Jaistlyn

A hair’s breadth. That was how close the mechanical dog almost caused Lunara to plunge the dagger down. The faerie forced herself to breathe deeply, to loosen up. The shadow wolf was smart, it wouldn’t attack while Gabriela was in her hands. Her fingers were too tightly clenched over the hilt, and she shifted them to- “Unnngh!” she let out a cry. An unseen force tried to yank her hand backwards just as she realized, too late, that she was being restrained by sinews of shadow. She fought against the force to mercilessly make good her promise, the struggle drawing the blade across Gabriela’s belly in a bloody line before the dagger flew from Lunara’s hand, but it wasn’t enough. Wasn’t nearly enough to endanger her baby and to make her stop. The strength of the shadows were tremendous, and there was no question of whose power it was - the way Gabriela hissed at her, those golden irises glimmering with hate - that was what Agony wanted, it was suddenly clear to Lunara. Power that came from being pushed to the edge of desperation, strength that flowed from a will to defy destiny. Gabriela was brimming with the potential that was latent within her. But even as the shadows drew taut around her and dimpled into her skin, Lunara had an advantage. Gabriela didn’t know she was the tiny faerie who brought her soaring above the skies of Orisia, otherwise her choice of weapon would have been different. She didn’t know that Lunara could transform. Turning back into her faerie form would momentarily free her from the shackles of the shadows. However, she wasn’t sure how fast the agitated Gabriela could be. Lunara had one chance to turn the tables, and she couldn’t waste it. A moment of weakness, she thought, even as the tendrils constricted against her chest. Just a moment more… Marigold’s voice rang out, pleading guilt to his own betrayal, and begging to save the baby. The faerie wanted to curse at him. This is all because of you, idiot! I never planned to harm the baby until you forced me to! Sadly, she couldn’t give the thought voice. She couldn’t even draw enough air to scream against the crushing pain that was steadily growing in intensity, till she could bear it no longer. Can’t…..Have to….! Just as the faerie was at her limits, the shadow’s grip seemed to ease slightly and tighten again, as if fighting against another force. Then, the pressure released entirely and Gabriela sank to the ground. Lunara almost fell over, but stumbled away from the queen and caught her balance. She leaned against the wall for support, gasping for breath. It was then she spotted Agony, and realized that he must have intervened somehow. “Help me, please…” Lunara whipped her head back to Gabriela incredulously. The plea seemed to be directed at her, but what in the world made her think Lunara would help now? With her attack, Gabriela had already scoffed at her previous offer for help in exchange for the Triumvirate’s safety. A few inches from Lunara’s foot, the dagger lay within reach. But where she had been previously certain that threatening Gabriela would get them out of this, she was uncertain now. She reached out for the weapon, but the black substance of Obtenebra shot out and encased her, cutting her off from the weapon. “I will dispose of this threat while you receive the help you need from this…’doctor’.” Agony’s words shocked her. Was he sacrificing her to gain favour with the queen.., no, with Roen? Was that his plan? Before the surge of anger fully overtook Lunara however, Agony’s telepathic message reached her, and she relaxed slightly. Way to make use of the situation. The faerie took the raw fear, unexpressed anger and the aching in her bones and pushed them out her lungs, in what was supposedly a dying scream. In an instance, she was a tiny flying faerie again. Now, she had to hide. Agony had not given her much space to work with, but she spied a vent on the ceiling, its grills leaving gaps for the air flow to come through. Lunara flew up to it. It was a tight squeeze, but she managed to pull herself in after some wriggling and kicking. The rough, unpolished edges of the metal left thin scrapes on her legs that welted small beads of blood, but it was of little concern. Everything sounded strange up there, bent and metallic. One sound in particular caught Lunara’s ears. A low growling, echoing through the metal chamber. More canines? Where did they come from? Lunara followed the sound, her wings kicking up the thin layer of dust that had settled since the Imperium’s construction. The occasional red light that pulsed through indicated to her where the exits were, but none of it held anything of interest. Suddenly, the lights came on, and the sirens’ wails renewed. The faerie winced as the piercing ring amplified through the walls, but was thankful that her path was now lit. A snarl, much closer now. There! Lunara flew over to the nearest vent and peered down. She instantly recognized it as the corridor right outside the room where they had all gathered in. No, there! The next vent revealed Rodan, holding a sword, moulding a half-formed ladder, his head darting around nervously. The object of his terror soon revealed itself - a shadow wolf, like the one that had protected Gabriela. It was too late for Lunara to react to the attack that aimed to cripple Rodan’s arm. It stopped in its tracks after the lunge. Ancient power radiated from it, a presence Lunara had felt before. The elder vampyre; the one who had dismissed the coronation. He was here too? What madness! Lunara popped her head down the vent. “Strike it! Kill it! Now!” she shouted at Rodan, as Rafael’s words flowed through the wolf’s mouth. She wasn’t sure if the wolf could still react while the vampyre’s will acted through it, but it must be distracted at the very least. Still, Rafael’s words came, through the vent, past the doors. The talk about the Terran government - could it be true? The Terrans hated beings like him no less than they hated Agony, considering them a perverse of life. On the other hand, given Rafael’s age and position, he could have influences. Thirty seconds.. Thirty seconds, my foot! Lunara may have had thoughts of abandoning the Triumvirate when she had been far away from them, but when Rodan was standing right below her - so close - she couldn’t do it. She couldn’t just leave. She was getting Rodan out of here. “Come up here, quickly!” she said to Rodan. “I know where the rest are. Agony. And the queen! The queen is there!”

@PandaHat could Maira contact Delistair to get him on the case? That could be an interesting way for him to enter! ;)

Harrumph. Dawen is not punishment, she’s a friend.