[The Slums] A Burning Mystery (solo)

[Eryss Waldu]

9th of Spring, 512AV 23rd Bell [When the Djed Storm had struck Eryss had been well away from Sunberth. The Mage had been secluding himself outside of the city for much of the latter part of the winter season and it had shielded him from the majority of the effects of the storm. Of course Eryss still saw much of the destruction that had been wrought but from the outside of Sunberth looking in and with only a pragmatic eye to contemplate what would occur next after the chaos had passed. Eryss had waited a short while before venturing back into the city of Sunberth and when he did it was as a shadow lurking out of sight in the darkness where no one else could see him. He chose the exact time to make his move.] [Nothing about the Slums in Sunberth had changed an overt amount. The People were still destitute. The Buildings were still crumbling. The Smell was still ripe in the air. Sunberth had been hit with the catastrophe the same as all of Mizahar yet it soldiered on as one great cog in the scheme of things ever moving ahead and never looking back.] [The Slums were the home of citizens, of course, but were also the den of several of the more despicable gangs in the city. Small timers we could call them. Down one alley in the slums that runs between two buildings two such small gangs are facing each other even now. No one knows their names but one of the gangs wears a yellow sash around their forearm and the other purple scarves around their necks to identify who they belong too. It isn’t a peaceful meeting. Anyone walking can hear the fighting for at least a block away. Men howling. Groaning. Moaning. People were dying and killing each other in the alley just so that they could extend the invisible line they called their territory in the slums.] [Djed had been bent over itself and exuded from his flesh until it covered him from head to toe as a translucent skin which flickered before fading from sight. The Shield had been woven with several tasks however key among these tasks was that it had been designed to block ambient light. Light was turned away when it came into contact with the Shield rendering the silhouette it covered to exist as an unnatural colorless, static even, shape that was both formless but existent at the same time. It was almost as good as being invisible when you kept close to the shadows and moved in the darkness like Eryss did and with everyone else preoccupied none of the gang members seemed to notice the formless thing looming close by.] [Of course the Shield had been tasked with other things as well. Eryss never went anywhere unprotected. The Shield had been tasked to turn aside bludgeoning, piercing and slashing weapons which essentially summed up the majority of weapons that there were. No one would know this unless they came close enough to Eryss to strike him though which was a difficult task in itself. That was a total of four tasks but there was a fifth. Biologics. Eryss wasn’t especially forthcoming when it came to being touched which meant he had shielded himself against that as well. The Mage was at once an anomaly, unseen because of his Shield, yet recognizable as something other than what he was if anyone dared listen to the rumors circulating throughout Sunberth.] [At the mouth of the alley Eryss had paused. Standing there quietly yet inside the clutches of the darkness so that he remained unobtrusive to what was occurring all around him. Watching as the two minor gangs did battle with one another. Observing. Eryss must have counted over two dozen men. Letting his eyes wander from one head to another and then another beyond that he wanted to make sure but all the fighting made it difficult. Even so the Mage was confident there were at least two dozen men fighting in the alley.] [No one noticed him though. He remained out of sight, as had been indicated, in the darkness of the night as well as beneath the cover of the Shield he had cloaked himself beneath. Chuckling once he muttered...”This will do.”...as though he was satisfied he had found something suitable for what he was looking for. Exactly what he was looking for on the other hand was left a mystery as of yet.]

[Eryss Waldu]

[Watching from the darkness Eryss saw as one man struck down another. The Mage observed as blood was shed freely and without apparent care. He witnessed as bodies hit the floor of the alley never to rise again. Yet none of this moved him. Eryss himself considered the death of others to be a necessity so these people dying seemed rather irrelevant. Their deaths were meaningless because another gang feud could add to the bodies in a few days time. Even after everything that had happened people were still fighting their pointless battles. However all was not lost. Though these individuals were useless they could be made into examples. Indeed, they could be fine examples.] [Moving from the darkness at the mouth of the alley but keeping close to the side in the darkness Eryss would extend his hand outwards. Outstretching his palm he placed it in the air as though it were a wall and began to spread a thin weave of djed from its touch instantaneously. The Shield he was creating would span the mouth of the alley on one side from wall to wall. It was briefly visible before fading from sight as well. At his level Eryss couldn’t create a shield that large instantly like he could a personal shield for himself but seeing as how the Shield was tasked with only one purpose it would spread across the alleyway in relatively little time, shimmer, and then fade from sight altogether.] [When he’d completed the Shield Eryss would step back close to the wall of the alley, hidden in the darkness due to his own shield bending the light across his body and turning it away and making him appear formless, just in time to watch what happened next. The fighting didn’t stop altogether, at least not at first, but when more than one voice called...”What was that!?!?”...and...”Did you see it!?!?”...the distinct edge of fear started to permeate the alley itself. Eryss would use the distraction to begin slowly moving through the alley towards the opposite side while the Sunberthian Gang members ceased their own hostilities and started edging closer to the mouth of the alley.] [It was one of the Purple Scarves who reached out to touch the Shield first revealing that it was tasked against biologics when his hand was blocked from passing through and the Shield flickered into existence as though it were a pool of disturbed water. Panic started to strike the men then and cries of...”What sorcery is this!?” ...started to spring out amongst all of them. No one in the alley knew what was going on. No one except for Eryss himself that is.] [The Mage had taken the time it took to reveal his Shield to move further into the alley. By the time the Purple Scarved man had touched the shield he was a good distance into it. When several other men rushed the Shield attempting to break through and were turned away he was further down and when real fear started to set into the men Eryss had made his way down to the opposite side of the alley where he turned and waited. Watching the reaction of the men who only knew they were trapped on one side. All the way to the other side the footsteps Eryss made had gone unnoticed because everyone had been so preoccupied and further still no one seemed to notice how out of place his formless shape had been in the darkness.] [Everyone noticed the laughter though; dark and sinister as it was. They’d all been approaching the Shield which turned them away when they heard it behind them but looking back no one could see a thing. It was still night and at this distance no one could make out where the sounds were coming from except that they were deeper into the alley. “Who’s there?”...called one voice though whether it was a Purple Scarf or Yellow Sash was inconsequential and when it was answered by silence the men all seemed to grow that much more unnerved. Eryss smiled thin his expression never seen by any of them.] [Sweeping his hand out ahead of him Eryss conjured a small amount of res into his palm which he flung as a liquid towards the group of men. It only made it half way down the alley but as the liquid res fell to the alley floor Eryss would ignite it creating fire that illuminated the area. Illuminated it all except for the shapeless mass around him that drank in the light and caused several of the men to gasp. Maybe they’d heard stories of this creature once before from the Slap Heap.]

[Eryss Waldu]

[Out of all the men at least a handful had heard the rumors of the Slag Heap Fiend that had been seen in the Winter Season. Gasps were heard amongst the gang members. Eryss remained largely indifferent to the fear his persona seemed to cause in those who saw though there was a small inkling of satisfaction in knowing that these men feared him too much to act. They were all trapped like rats now. The alley was shielded at one side and blocked by him at the other. No of the men were moving forward to act though. It was interesting to see how both the Gangs had essentially become one unit. Eryss enjoyed studying the reactions from them in a psychological sense.] [Laughter was heard again but this time was more chastising and came with the clicking of Eryss tongue before he started by stating...”Look at how pathetic you all are. There are men dying on the floor of this alley over nothing at all.”...then silence followed by a chuckle as the Mage continued...”Is that it? Do you all want to die for some invisible line in the sand that no one will ever possess? Do any of you really expect to live long enough to enjoy any of your small victories.”...what he was saying was likely lost on most of these men but he chastising them. No, Eryss was eulogizing them. This speech was to be the last rites for all of them.] [Unseen due to his shapeless figure behind the Shield Eryss would bend down and place his hands on the floor of the alley. Djed stirring inside of him as he did this. The Res that he created was liquid and began to spread across the alley out from Eryss himself as a colorless liquid occasionally shimmering while it travelled outwards. Liquid res drawn from his own djed was sent to cover the entire floor of the alley at its width and its length and it did this fairly quickly. It wasn’t filling a small building or a large room. The Liquids paths was fairly one dimensional but it flowed over everything. As the liquid stretched out away from Eryss it would flow underneath the bodies of the dead, alley refuse and the feet of anyone standing. It flowed all the way to the opposite mouth of the alley where the men were blocked in due to the Shield erected there.] [Obviously seeing this created some commotion and it wasn’t long before the Gang members, from both Gangs, rallied together crying out...”Run at it boys! At least some of us will make it through!”...they didn’t even sound like they were expecting to be able to kill Eryss and they were smart not to believe that they could do anything to him. Street toughs slaying him. The thought almost made him cough with laughter. Eryss, his features hidden, remained largely unconcerned with the approach of the men now charging towards him. They would reach him in moments but he didn’t flinch.] [Exerting a subtle mental command over the liquid res Eryss would cause it to rise up sharply so that it was clinging to the legs of anyone moving over it. In the case of the bodies lying on the ground but not yet dead the liquid res just started flowing over them altogether. When the res had leapt to cling to the legs and feet of the men in the alley Eryss used his control over it to transmute it all. Ice was what he made. On the ground the alley floor became a thin sheet of ice. The Liquid res that had climbed over the bodies and legs of the men transmuted into a slightly thicker ice that encased them though. Suddenly no one was moving anymore. The Ice encased all of them around the legs. All these men were rendered helpless so quickly and so easily. Some of them screamed. Others attempted to free themselves. The Mage watched their reactions.] [Looking at one man Eryss observed him as he bent down and drug his hands over the ice that had climbed up to cover his legs to the shin. Clawing at it futilely. Attempting to escape. He didn’t even have a chance. Hopelessness. Maybe it was the hopelessness of all these men that gave Eryss the most pleasure as he rose back to his feet and looked out over all of them.] [Now that they had nowhere to go, all of them captured in the ice, he’d continue by saying...”You all should have just hung your heads and been resigned to your fates.”...really they should have known this was going to happen as far as he was concerned.]

[Eryss Waldu]

[The Ice had left no one untouched. It actually covered the bodies laying wounded on the floor of the alley well enough that when it crept over them they may have been encased completely. All the Sunberthians in the alley were stuck to the ground by the embrace of Eryss magic yet the Mage didn’t rush in for the kill yet. He wanted them all to know what was coming. He was giving them just a bit longer to come to terms that they were all going to die tonight. No one was going to leave this alley alive. The Mage had determined the fate of every one of these men the moment that he’d discovered their skirmish.] [Despite this Eryss would go on to say...”Maybe you think you own the Slums. You own nothing. Not even your lives.”...they weren’t actually listening to what he was telling them anymore but that didn’t seem to bother Eryss as he went on...”You’re thinking right now you can escape but your lives all belong to me. You’re all going to die. Painfully.”...which served mostly as incentive for the men to begin pulling and chipping away at the ice even harder but it was difficult and it would take time for them to free themselves.] [Outstretching his hands to either side of himself Eryss began to exude a thin gaseous res that flowed out from his body like a cloud of smoke. Actually the res would separate and hover closer to the walls of the alley way, congregating across them, as it crept down towards the end where the Shield that had been placed there still waited. The Gaseous res bore a slightly emerald hue to its color but was otherwise indistinguishable. It could have been nothing. Anyone looking on the shapeless form of Eryss would see the gas pouring out of it though and that gave rise to even more panic as the men began shouting it terror and fear. If this was no man then surely it must have been a demon. The Unnatural filled this alleyway.] [The Gaseous Res took its time creeping down the alley though while Eryss continued remarking to all of his captives as though he were slightly disappointed in them...”None of you have any insight. None of you planned ahead.”...he signed woefully then before adding...”All of this belongs to me now. Pity you only know that before you die.”...his voice trailed off them as though he were mumbling more but no one heard what exactly he was saying. No one could hear the words. Words were overrated though.] [Igniting the res he’d lined the walls of the alley with Eryss, using gestures from his hands to aid him in this case, would drive the gaseous res to the center of the alley at the same time he was transmuting it into fire. The Inferno that resulted was a magnificent blaze. All the men trapped in the ice from foot to knee could only watched wide eyed as a blazing wall of fire washed over them charring their bones and cooking the meat of their flesh. No one survived beyond a few minutes and the screams that echoed out of the alley sounded almost like a symphony of pain combined with an orchestra of terror. Eryss observed the entire thing though with the kind of cool emotionless gaze that would make anyone who saw it wonder just what went on in his mind. He thought the fire was beautiful but that was only the half of it.] [In the blink of an eye Eryss had extinguished dozens of lives. The flames burned for several minutes but the inferno was altogether short lived. The Mage, feeling slightly fatigued, strode into the alley then so that he could examine his work more carefully than he was able to at a distance. When he found the charred remains of a man curled into the fetal position in death he’d crouch down and joke venomously...”You look just a little too well done my friend.”...then he’d laugh to himself and wonder idly about nothing in particular. It was to be a night to remember. Looking beyond the remains he crouched near Eryss would notice others; this was quite a spectacle to be certain.]

[Eryss Waldu]

[Once he’d examined that one particular corpse for long enough Eryss would stand straight, regaining his footing, before moving deeper into the alley. All of this had the makings of a mass death but it was to be more than that. The Mage had wanted to make all of these men an example but there would be no example if he couldn’t leave a message behind. That was why after walking deeper into the alley he would turn towards the north most wall and regard it quietly. The Message was what would be the truly difficult thing for him to come up with. Eryss pressed his lips together in thought.] [All around him were the charred remains of two Gangs. Those who wore Purple Scarves and those with Yellow Sashes. Whatever their names were being highly inconsequential now. Eryss glanced back over his shoulder once and looked at all of the bodies before it started to come to him. Unravelling his own shield partially he would reach into the confines of the robes that he wore and remove the old rusty dagger that he carried while stepping closer to the wall of the alley. Using the dagger Eryss would begin to scratch a message into the wall for anyone who discovered the bodies to read and chances were that anyone who saw this many dead and in this manner would want to read the message. Maybe it would even reach the ears of those in power.] [The Message wasn’t long but it was blunt. Anyone who happened upon this site would read: North to the Hardrock Bridge. South just beyond the Orphanage. Gangs are not welcome. Live in peace or do not live at all. The Message should have been clear. Gangs would not be tolerated and something was not protecting the area of land mentioned on the wall. Protecting the area and maybe more if this turned into a rumor worth spreading. No one could really say how all this would go.] [Scraping the dagger down the wall one last time as he completed the message Eryss would replace the weapon inside his robes before stepping backwards and beginning to move away. Anyone that saw him would only a formless mass that seemed unnatural in appearance but able to blend with the darkness while looking somewhat out of place. Nothing stood out of Eryss himself of course. The identity of the Mage was hidden completely due to the Shield he had woven around himself as both a form of protection as well as a way to protect his own ambiguity. Eryss destination as he left the alley and ventured to another place in the slums was unknown. Likely the Mage would wander back out into the wilderness a short distance away from Sunberth where he could make camp and rest awhile until morning. In time he’d need to claim a building as his own though but only when the right one could be found.] [In the morning, assuming it takes that long, anyone stumbling across the alley would find all those bodies dead and smoking on the ground still. No one was left alive. No one needed to be left alive. The corpses coupled with the message scratched into the wall of the alley should be able to paint a very clear picture. No one would likely grieve the loss of the dead but the other gangs would be wise to take note. Maybe one of them would be next if they didn’t heed the message and retreat back away from the borders that had been clearly staked out. Of course no one knew if this was just a random occurrence or if it would happen again which meant anything was game at this point.] [Of course in the morning, watching from a distance, Eryss would have to wait to see the reaction to his own handiwork. It didn’t happen often but occasionally the Mage liked to watch and see how others took his work. Besides that he was keeping an eye out for something in particular.]

[Phoenix]

Eryss

Experience

Skill	XP Earned
Observation	4
Shielding	4
Reimancy	2
Intimidation	3
Stealth	2

Lores

•	Lore Earned
•	Sunberth: The Slums
•	Navigating The Slums
•	Shielding: Blocking Ambient Light
•	Achieving Anonymity when it matters
•	Shielding: Blocking Physical Strikes
•	Trapping the Purple Scarves and Yellow Sashes
•	Taunting an angry mob
•	Uniting the Gangs against a common foe
•	Taking back the Slums

The Order of the Phoenix

Great thread! I really enjoyed reading it! As I am out of my element in Sunberth, please let me know if I have made any kind of horrendous mistake.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding your grade, please send me a PM and we can figure it out.