private The Fall of Andalasia ~Book 1~

[Torrent505 370]

@@Dji

 

"Hey! You're really fast!" The spirit swung herself right-side-up and dropped down to start after Helena. The girl followed Helena's path through the trees, she was unnaturally fast and seemed to float or drift exactly the distance to the next branch with ease. The branches didn't shift or bend under her weight but they creaked and crackled turning black and dead.

 

The spirit kept her hand outstretched in Helena's general direction. "You're cheating! I said I wanted to play tag; not hide N' go seek tag! I can sense you though, I'm even better at hide N' seek than tag!" She wasn't gaining on Helena but she wasn't losing ground either as they bounded through the tress. Her outstretched hand began making a beckoning motion in Helena's direction. Helena could feel a tingle running down her back and she began to feel weaker; the leaves all around her began to change from green to autumn colors then to brown drying up and dying. The ghost could suck the life and energy right out of the air.

[Sanctified Absence 126]

"Leave him, he's made his choice," the Mage suspected that some of the others would try to stop or track down the Dancer, but this was not the time for such luxuries. He said he could sense Ashcreek's darkness from here, surely such a strong presence wouldn't be too far out of Zaddion's tracking capabilities if he devoted himself to the task. Calming his mind as well as possible given the circumstances, the Magician's senses opened wide to the elements around them. This forest was rich with Magick, or something similar, so it would be more difficult than usual to pinpoint a specific signature.

 

"Perhaps I could guide us to the village, not like I'm good for anything else in this state," still unsure of himself, Zaddion decided it would be best to try and find the village first before filling the party's collective morale with a false hope. As his touch dulled, his hearing blurred and his taste was restrained, the Mage's mental capabilities focused upon the sixth sense, he had to find this village, he just had to. 

[Flying Ace 142]

@@Sanctified Absence,

Dresden was about to call out after Lance but Zaddion stopped him, even if they made it though what would they do with Lance? He was working with Madam and Dresden wouldn't put it past him if he betrayed them. "Gah, do what you think is necessary Zaddion"

[Sekel 685]

@@Torrent505

As Helena jumped from tree to tree, she found that the leaves around her quickly turned from a healthy green t a dull brown and then finally to a dead black. It appeared to Helena that the same thing was happening to the trees ahead of her. Soon enough though, Helena felt herself panting. Usually she could keep this speed up for an indeterminate amount of time but now it seemed as if she was running out of breath.

 

Taking a deep breath, Helena held an arm out and turned herself around a trunk, feet landing squarely on the branch. Looking in the opposite direction, Helena jumped and ran back the way she came in the tree tops, heading towards the side of the ghost girl. "You really need to pick up your speed if you want to catch me." Helena said to her as she passed, not letting the fact that she was running out of breath get to her.

[RunsWithSquirlz 274]

Zaddion felt a certain tug of darkness before them, somewhere within Ashcreek. One arm eminated with a faint glow pulling him towards what might be the village.

 

(Sorry for taking point like this but hell im tired of bwing atuck in limbo lol)

 

With that they headed forward, following the compass that was Zaddions arm. The further they went, the quieter the forest became, if that was possible.

 

Soon enough, hours had passed them and the glow had been getting brighter and brighter.

 

"We should make camp, the village seems to not be far off...if thats what the mages arm is telling us." Tulla hopped off Tugg. He was bristled and uneasy, the scent of wolves were long gone now, he couldn't sense another living creature in miles. It was the air of the place that was so unsettling, cold and unwanting.

 

Whisper felt a strange emptiness. Everything around them was so dead...so lifeless...it made her feel out of place. She feared that something would reach out and rip her life force away. It was only an innocent fear of course...but she was afraid nonetheless.

 

Unfortunately, in thier haste, it went unnoticed that the thief had left them.

[Shadow Dancer 111]

(its okay) 

 

I was confused when the mage's arm glowed and pulled him is a seemingly random direction, but I still followed seeing that everyone else was. In time the glow on his arm grew brighter and brighter when the princess said to make camp I went to the edge and looked out deciding to use a tree to watch the surrounding forest for anything that seemed to be attracted to the group.

[Alex Kennedy 1,228]

As they stopped and began to set up camp, a slight- and initially quite worrying- movement under Robert's shirt reminded him of the little mimic lizard that he had befriended earlier. He reached under his clothes and rather awkwardly pulled the creature out, setting it on his shoulder. "Hey there little guy. Sorry about everything being so scary all of a sudden. We're going to get out of here and be just fine, though. Don't worry."

 

Really, the words were as much to comfort himself as anything. This whole forest was... wrong somehow, but the area here was even worse. Wolves were probably a better alternative to whatever might come for them in a place like this. And if he wasn't already worried enough, a quick survey of the group revealed that they were missing someone. Worried, he called out to the others. "Guys...? Does anybody know where Helena went?"

[Sekel 685]

@@Torrent505

Helena zoomed past the tree where the girl was stationary and continued running for a bit before stopping a few trees short of the group's original camp site. Holding her chest, Helena faded into view and tried to get her breath back. 'What is this girl doing to me?' Helena thought in a panic as she tapped into her speed magic and fled in a random direction, taking big gulps of air along the way. All the while, Helena noticed the leaves surrounding her as they quickly went from a healthy green to a deathly black, signaling that the weird girl was still in pursuit.

Edited January 29, 2015 by Dji

[The Elusive Cinder 1,328]

Adrass.

 

"The girl?" Adrass voiced in a tone suggesting that he might have forgotten that she even existed until now. He glanced around and saw nothing. Closing his eyes, he tried to sift through the various magical auras in the air, but couldn't detect anything that might have been her.

 

As far as he could tell, she was simply gone. Had she been picked off from the group? Perhaps. More likely she had abandoned them alongside the dancer: you never could trust Witches.

 

"She's probably dead." He suggested halfheartedly. "At least that means whatevers out there might be more interested in her than ourselves."

 

It was a little more concerning than he might have let on: the girl had been carrying a runeblade - if she died out in the forest, it would probably be lost forever. Still, survival was their first priority. He huffed loudly and shook his head - this would be so much less trouble alone: he could simply subdue the princess and carry her to saftey. Of course, that would be pointless with these fools around. Perhaps if they got themselves killed, things might become easier? One could dream...

[Sanctified Absence 126]

"Yes, from what I can gather the fluctuations are telling us we're close by," refusing to show just how worried he was, the Mage attempted to aid the others set up camp in whatever way he could. In truth, this presence unsettled him, it was a wild Magick that had so far appeared untamed, one softly flowing with a power that could only be dark in nature. Oddly enough, any other presence appeared to be dull and almost absent, the air, the ground, any Magick that was hear was either part of that same abyss or smothered by it's passively malicious tendrils.

 

"We don't need to take as much care as usual. If there's something here, it can likely sense us already." A cold shiver ran through Zaddion's fatigued body, threatening his faltering will with the desire to collapse and fall into sleep. They would need to get a fire going soon, none of them were going to remain in particularly good condition with this foul Magick running through the air and cold grasping at their flesh.  

Edited January 29, 2015 by Sanctified Absence

[RunsWithSquirlz 274]

"I don't think theres anything here at all..."Whisper mumbled.

 

Tulla uncorked her flask to find it completely devoid of water, after checking it for holes she sighed "I swear This was half-full..."

 

When the food was unwrapped for portioning, they were left with nothing but rotting meats and moldy bread.

[Flying Ace 142]

@@Sanctified Absence, @@RunsWithSquirlz,@, "I don't like this feeling of nothing here; it doesn't feel natural at all." Dresden felt a chill down his spine as he looked over their food, "Ah, damn Rotting meats and moldy bread; which one is the most dangerous to eat?" Dresden asked; he would let the others have the safest then to eat while he took the risk of eating the most dangerous. 

[Torrent505 370]

@@Dji

With a giggle the girl was in front of Helena, there was no flash or slow fade into reality, one second the air ahead was empty the next the spirit's long golden curls shimmered while framing her grinning porcelain face and mischievous eyes, right arm outstretched. Mid jump It was impossible for Helena to fight her momentum, her chest colliding with the ghostly right hand. They seemed to stop like that in the open air, Helena experiencing a weightless surreal floating feeling.

 

"These woods are mine, I'm everywhere in them; I don't need to be fast to catch you. I just enjoy the game..." She gave a bit more of her light bell tinkling laughter, as her hand began to sink into Helena's flesh. It was wasn't violent or physical, it simply merged into her and felt like she had broken through ice into arctic waters face first. "But you're IT now, Helena," the girl's eyes shined with unnatural light, "I WIN." The hand in her chest twisting and clenching on to something at the very core of her being.

 

The two of them where drifting towards the ground now, the malevolent spirit slowly starting to pull it's hand back out; it seemed to be holding on to something shimmery and dragging it out of Helena. As it pulled the shimmer further from her body Helena sight dimmed more and the feeling of freezing became more intense. By the time their feet touched the ground she didn't even feel it and the last light of the world faded to black....

 

.... She awoke in pure whiteness breathing warm humid air, the reassuring feeling of rich warm earth fresh with morning dew beneath her body and comforting smells that reminded her of her childhood wafted past. Distant sounds of a lively village reached her ears, if not for this fog that was so thick she couldn't she her own hands then she certainly would have been able to see the clock tower that's bell chimed noon.

 

****************************

@@RunsWithSquirlz @@Alex Kennedy @@Sanctified Absence @@Flying Ace @ @@Shadow Dancer

 

The group was cold and hungry, but especially tired. They'd been setting camp for a nights rest when the werewolves had attacked so they'd had no sleep as they'd ran from the howls of wolves all night; to cover the distance to get so close to the town they had traveled a full day, though it hadn't felt like such the closer to the town they got the more time seemed to distort and lose meaning. As they set to make camp the sun had just disappeared once again beyond the horizon.

 

(I'm going to need to know what you guys do for tonight, if you choose to sleep I need to know who takes guard duty and such. It's also possible to say screw sleep and take the rest of the four hour trek into Ashcreek, if you choose that though the exhaustion of your characters will be pretty damn bad.)

[The Elusive Cinder 1,328]

Adrass.

 

Glancing around at the party, it was clear that at least some of them were wanting to stop for the night - Despite the obvious warnings otherwise. True, he felt the pressure weighing on his eyes and back himself... but he wasnt about to rest with some foul sorcery working on him.

 

He was quite used to going with little rest on a hunt. It never really got any easier - a lack of sleep or nourishment would fell even the greatest just as easily as the weakest... but it made his decision easier to make at least.

 

"Look at the food, fools! He snapped. "Some dark Witchcraft has stolen its life away from it long before its time, and if we stay here then the same will happen to yourselves."

 

He shook his head: surely it was obvious that this was some kind of enchantment? Or did the Witches simply not care - being privy to its dark secrets themselves?

 

"We can rest when we leave - which should be as soon as possible. No stopping, no sleeping and no further distractions!"

[Sekel 685]

Helena gasped when she saw the girl suddenly appear in front of her. She tried to stop her motion mid-jump but by then it was too late. She stared, slack-jawed and wide eyed as the girl reached a hand into her body and pull out something shimmering. To Helena, it felt like she was taking an underwater swim through freezing Arctic waters. Her vision dimmed until all she could see was blackness.

 

When she awoke, all she could see was a thick white fog. Soothing warm smells permeated the air as a bell chimed in the distance. 'Twelve chimes. Must be noon. But ... it was night time. How could it now be noon? Did I sleep half the day away!?' Helena panicked but that panic was soon taken away as she heard a lively town in the distance. Nothing could be seen through the fog, not even her own hands it was so thick. She sniffed the air and found that the smells reminded her of her childhood. Feeling curious, Helena got up off of the ground, wiped her back of the morning dew and decided to follow the smells and sounds of the town in the distance.

[Alex Kennedy 1,228]

@,

 

Robert shook his head. "So in addition to starving, which seems inevitable at this point, you want us to go forward and face whatever dark power is lying ahead on no sleep? Keep in mind that not everyone here is as tough as you, and we've already fought once today. The odds of us finding someplace safe out here are pretty much zero even if we keep going through the rest of the night, so if we're going to be rolling the dice anyway, we might as well get some sleep. Tomorrow, when we're not exhausted, we can move faster and maybe actually get out of here."

 

Honestly, he spoke not for his own sake, but for the group as a whole. He didn't think he'd be able to get much sleep tonight regardless.

[RunsWithSquirlz 274]

"Agreed." Tulla grumbled. She was worried about Helena, she liked the thief. But searching for her would put the rest od them in danger.

 

"I'm not tired...more like annoyed. So I'll take first watch with Tugg. You guys try to get some rest and we'll continue in a few hours."

[Flying Ace 142]

"That sounds like a plan, I'll take next watch so that you can also get some sleep." Dresden said stretching before laying on the bare floor. "Wake me up whenever you want." Dresden turned to his side to where his back faced the group, he hoped Helena was all right, the only person Dresden wanted to get eaten was Lance.

[The Elusive Cinder 1,328]

Adrass.

 

Adrass watched the group with a look of bewilderment on his face - were they truely serious? They were willing to make camp here in this clearly cursed area: throw their lives to the mercy of metaphorical (and possibly literal) wolves, simply because they were tired?

 

"I don't believe what I'm hearing..." He grumbled under his breath. There was no denying that they all needed to rest, but really? They couldnt see the danger right in front of their eyes?

 

Sadly, he was in no state to carry the princess away. If he had the energy himself, he might havr tried.

 

"You're all fools, and may the curse take you willingly if you surrender to it so easily." He muttered under his breath, marching to an isloated area of the clearing. "Very well, but don't expect me to save you when the rot takes hold."

 

Unsheathing the greatsword on his back, he felt the icy chill of metal within his grasp. It always seemed so: perhaps it was crafted from cold-iron? It would explain how lightweight and comfortable ot felt in his hand, but he had never believed that such a metal would be so curious as to have properties to match it's name...

 

'Focus, stay on task. No daydreaming, lest it lead to actual dreams.

 

He coughed and shook himself a little.

 

Bringing the point of the sword down to the ground, the Witch Hunter turned carefully in place so as to mark out a circle in the dirt - roughly a meter around him in every direction. In the center of this he sat, uncomfortably cross legged and straight backed. He had no intention of sleeping - only denying whatever curse the others were determined to blunder into... all night, if he must.

[Shadow Dancer 111]

I silently went back up in a tree and kept watch and decided to try and focus on my magic sense, I was never able to get past thirty meters while focused and fifteen passively but I figured it would have to do. What my sense told me verified that something strange was at work here but I lacked the skill to tell what, and the posed threat.

 

As always the forest was dead silent, I could not hear anything besides the crackling of fire, and my own breathing. Thinking back to recent events I was surprised to be alive after the torture, Werewolves, and my current wounded and famished state, despite not really believing in any gods or higher power, I was starting to think something or someone was wanting us to survive. The question was why, I figured it was something to do with that princess but the question was then what made her so important.

 

The more I thought about it the more oddities i noticed, for one why would of all people a group that consisted of a Witch Hunter, a Thief, an Assassin, and a Mage be the ones to protect her along with her assistant and dragon companion. I understood her assistant and dragon companion but the rest of us were out of place even when the guards were there it did not seem like there were that many and that they were the most well trained. 

 

I just shook the thoughts out my head and continued to keep watch.

[Torrent505 370]

@@Dji

Stumbling in the fog towards the sound of the town Helena soon found a path that made walking easier. The fog started to thin somewhat, enough to see the shapes of trees and a large shadow of a building ahead. The whacks of an axe on wood coming from close by.

 

Suddenly she stepped out of the fog into a clearing, looking back she could see the fog remaining still and stretching up into the sky like a wall, it curved around the settlement before her. A huge man stood wielding an axe to work on an oversized Ash tree, but after only two swings he seems to sense someone watching and turned to her.

 

"Ah! Little Helena wandering out in the fog! Missy you shouldn't keep exploring out there, if you lose you're way you'll be lost forever." His tone was familiar and gentle chiding, "Now I'm sure mother and father must be worried sick about you, be a good girl and run along to the manor. I bet they have lunch all ready and waitin too."

 

The man acted she should know who he was and seemed to think she knew him, though something tickled her mind that she did know him. His rebuke and treatment of her though prompted Helena to look at herself and she realized she didn't have any of her possessions, she was dressed in a simple white dress and the most disturbing was her hands were small and not as they should be, so was the rest of her body. The realization that the man and town wasn't huge but instead she was a child hit her hard.

 

*****************************************

@@RunsWithSquirlz @@Alex Kennedy @@Sanctified Absence @@Flying Ace @ @@Shadow Dancer

 

The group had gone to sleep around ten, Finn curled protectively in Whisper's grasp, and the first four hours passed uneventfully. Unknown to most something swirled around Zaddion's Krystal marks, it was not dark magic the hunter might have sensed a dark magic, instead this was an absence of magic, a void that seemed to settle in and feed on the mans own natural connection.

 

It was during the fifth hour when Dresden was on watch and Adrass was still awake that their was a disturbance. Clarke's cart sputtered, gears seemed to turn and their were several clanks and beeps as something messed with the Tinkerers private compartments and the carts systems. Finn stirred slightly at the noise and gave a curious squeak, sniffing the air he couldn't smell anything out of ordinary so he settled back down thinking it might only be something the strange machine might do.

 

On the far side of the cart out of sight until someone investigated crouched a young boy that seemed to be getting increasingly frustrated while messing with one of the tinkerers mugs.

[Sekel 685]

@@Torrent505

"Yes sir." Helena replied automatically and began to walk quickly to where she assumed the manor was. She was surprised at her high-pitched voice. The last time she heard that kind of voice was when she was only seven. It didn't start changing until she was twelve though. She walked along the path and inspected her small, dainty hands. "How am I a child? This is not the way things are supposed to be." Helena said softly as she absently started to skip along the path.

Edited February 3, 2015 by Dji

[The Elusive Cinder 1,328]

Adrass.

 

Adrass blinked into the darkness beside the cart. Lack of sleep didn't help, abd between both that abd the exhaustion of recent events he was in a bad way - though more in danger of passing out than meeting death.

 

He blinked again. What was that - and why wasnt he investigating it yet? Well clearly it wasnt a Witch, but...

 

On the topic of Witches, why couldbt he feel any? It had seemed natural at first in his sleep-deprived state, but shouldbt he be able to feel the stench of his companions? there was no way any single Witch Hunter could deny them all so completly: especially not him, contending woth his inner turmoil.

 

'Adrass! His mind reminded him in a snappish tone. 'Move!'

 

He blinked and paused for another moment before rising to his feet. Stepping through camp, he drew two flintlocks - force of habit taking over from logic as the revolver lay forgotton within his coat. As quietly as he could, the Hunter stole towatds the cart to try and catch whatever thief or assassin was trying their luck now. He had to pause to confirm that he wasnt hallucinating when he saw their intruder however.

 

"Dont think that I wont shoot a child if they flee from me, boy." Adrass kept his voice level - having no desire to wake the rest of the party so that they could interfere with the interrogation but also wishing to alert their watchman, should he not have noticed already.

 

The Witch Hunter was a paranoid type anyway, even more so when tired and vunerable. This might be a child, but what child could possibly survive out here alone? A Witch or a Daemon, and no other suerly!

 

"What are you doing, wretch? Speak and you might live. Lie to me, and you might find that I also just did so."

[Flying Ace 142]

@,@@Torrent505,

For a time Dresden completely ignored the cart and the sounds it was making; for all he knew it was suppose to do that. Dresden took a quick glance at Adrass to see if he was doing okay; still staying awake, still having that look meant for magic users. Though could Dresden blame him for having a set view on the matter? Dresden scratched the back of his head; feeling nervous all of a sudden like this place just brought out nothing but bad memories for the water mage.

 

It wasn't until he heard Adrass address someone lurking near the cart that Dresden decided to investigate. "Ok Adrass what are you threatening now?" Dresden looked over the witch hunter's shoulder to get a good look and nearly fell over to see a young boy doing...what looked like trying to raid their cart. "By the Ancients..." was all Dresden could think of.

[Sanctified Absence 126]

Though he would never show it while awake, Zaddion's unconscious form could not help but hide the fact that this was hell for him. His flesh woven with Magick channelling Krystal, it was used to a passive flow of energy through it. This was the original purpose of the Mark, to saturate his body with the tides of semi-natural energy in some half-understood attempt to make himself a superior Mage. Thus far the evidence had been inconclusive, if a little in favour of his hypothesis, but it would prove a great disadvantage here.

 

Though nowhere near as instinctual, the Mage's body had grown all too used to the subtle flow of Light and Shadow through its blood, its muscles, its very being. Having this feeling removed would naturally be uncomfortable given the years he had spent with it. Though the sensation was not enough to keep him from fatigue's embrace, it was most certainly enough to plague his unconscious senses. Greeted by nightmares of varying subjects, Zaddion was sure to have a restless sleep, though without the energy to awaken.