Quest [Regional Quest] Illusion Bound (Closed)

[Kuvarakh]

Kuvarakh felt the pressure to decide beginning to grow. There was food all around him, the smell torturously enticing. He had not yet received his order and was still not convinced it would be easily purged. Wanda was swooning with culinary rapture, and encouraging Kuvarakh to confirm that he would join her. He could not deny her. He was so happy to have her with him. So happy that she too, seemed to realize their past life together. And it was so wonderful to share a moment, ANY moment with her.

As he waited for his "signature" order, he watched other customers cut through puffy pastries and rich cuts of perfectly seasoned meats. The rich, irresistible aromas of herbs and cheese bursting to fill the room, blending perfectly with roasted tubers and peppers, glazed mushrooms and spiced sauces, sweetened by cloves and coriander. Though digestion did not function in the body of a Nuit, his mouth was still capable of watering. And it did so now.

But his ears were also capable, as was his memory. He heard a voice. A voice all at once as 'present' as it was empty. Not so much spoken directly into his mind as spoken into his memory of a voice. As soon as he heard it, it seemed as if it was a profound, life-long memory of pain and sadness. It was if he'd heard this voice all his life and tried to ignore it. But he could ignore it no longer.

All thoughts of food halted as he looked for the source, finding only faces trying not to hear it, trying to deny any obligation to respond. He didn't want to answer it either, but it was somehow reminiscent of the ghostly voice that had tormented him with guilt several seasons ago. A guilt he had not deserved, but was deserved by the man who had lived in the body Kuvarakh had possessed at the time. A man who had killed himself in grief of what he'd done. Kuvarakh had found the body, transferred into it, and then come under the wrath of the ghost with the mission of vengeance against that man.

Within the rage, there had been such grief, such unbearable grief, he'd wished to die. But the ghost had possessed him and not let him, as had his friends prevented him. But his wish had not been to escape the grief himself, but to relieve the poor suffering spirit so horribly wronged.

This feeling consumed him now. He looked around, anger building at the deliberate refusal the other diners had to even acknowledge the voice's existence. Anger and wretched empathy. He HAD to help. Guilt would make his life unbearable if he did not.

He stood suddenly, his chair falling back behind him. He called as he spun around, trying to pinpoint the source of the voice. "Yes! I will help! Where are you?"

[Scorn]

When Scorn's keen ears first heard the cry for help (one of the more familiar Common words, since slaves liked to use it all the time), she was almost inclined to dismiss it. But something about it was off--it didn't match the rest of the atmosphere in the place, and her hunter's instinct told her that anything out of place was worth noticing. Furthermore, she should have been able to tell which direction the sound came from, but she was having trouble finding its origin. She turned to Scourge. "Did you hear that?" she whispered, but Scourge just looked at her blankly and turned back tot he crowded restaurant. That was odd. Scourge should have been able to hear it just as clearly as Scorn. The Zith hadn't been in Alvadas that long, and so it didn't even occur to her that it might be an illusion. When the voice asked for help again, Scorn could no longer contain her curiosity. She had to find out where it was coming from, so she decided to answer. "Yeah, I'll help. Why not?" She spoke at nearly the same time as the walking corpse, though with less enthusiasm.

[Crypt]

The unsteady staircase was almost a relief after the streets. Crypt fared better than Morribean while ascending the spiral staircase, and supported the old man towards the end of the ascension, preventing him from losing his balance. It's almost as if the structures themselves don't want us to succeed. Crypt was slightly disappointed when he stepped onto the spire of the Temple. It was more ordinary than he had expected it to be, but at least the experience of being on top of the world - more specifically, Alvadas - for the first time was novel enough. His Auristics sense was going haywire now. There were so many filaments around them that Crypt could conceive of them as a tapestry of the wishes of the Alvads wherever he looked; its aura told him it was one tapestry from every direction he could view it from, thrumming with some ethereal music that resounded through his head longer than he would have liked. And now the compiled information was starting to tell him things that he had suspected before. I'm starting to think that my personality has not integrated as fully as I thought it was. The whispers are getting louder, but I still retain control. The Field of Dreams appears to grant wishes, and what would my Aspects wish for? To be free, I suppose. By entering the Fields proper, I would be granting them a larger degree of freedom - and if this last beyond this... event, then it would be inconvenient. But I must see this to the end, wherever it may be. Crypt stepped over the threshold, and was greeted with glimpses of Cyclopean architecture, their geometry non-Euclidean, their familiar-looking insides Escher-esque, before he recovered from the dizziness that had taken hold of him. Waiting for a few moments, Crypt remained silent as he waited for the whispers (which would intensify, if his prediction was correct), but there was naught but silence. Either they're gone, or they've become smart enough to hide. Bah. The team moved on, somehow not falling into the void below, the space between spaces that stretched beyond the grasp of the strange light within this place-not-place. Crypt was dumbfounded when he found out that the source of all the trouble was actually a young girl of variable appearance. He had to hold onto the light shining beside him when Yagame held out the eldritch knife, which positively reeked of magic - not neccessarily foul, but overpowering - and told him to kill the girl. He took it, moving his fingers all over the carved surface, pressing into the arcane (supposedly) symbols that decorated it (much like his tattoos had done to his body), but did not move to kill her. WHAT There was not much his uncle had taught him in the way of practical skills back when he was but a Drykas youngling, but thinking with a view towards obtaining the most rational decision whenever he was in a tough situation had been hammered into his head. And so Crypt grappled with himself. GODS THIS IS STUPID Calm down. I WANT TO GO BACK Calm down. He took a step forward, moving towards the girl, who appeared to be unaware of anything around. He grinded his teeth, forcing himself to stop all movement until he had calmed down enough to reason with himself. It took four minutes. Death is a process. Dira said so herself. And Death comes when it comes. It is a cycle that repeats itself, entwined with Life for eons. And why do I hesitate? If I stab her with this dagger, she may or may not die. It is as Lhex wrote. Fate is immutable? But if I changed it - then again, it would still be Fate. And so on. Levels, the lot of them, and infinite in number. I cannot bear to kill this girl because she is innocent. No, I believed her to be innocent. But if she is the root cause of the troubles in Alvadas, then she would not be. But if she played no willing part, she would be innocent. Lack of sufficient information to come to a conclusion. For the greater good. I kill her, and if Yagame is correct, I save the people of Alvadas - all of them - from falling into an abyssmal pit made from their own desires and emotions, from falling out of sync with reality. By killing one, I save many. Observe then, the dilenma that presents itself. Possible innocence versus, quite possibly, the lives of a multitude. Let us assume that she is innocent, then, for the possibility of her being innocent being present is what stops me from killing her immediately. So. The first proposition is that one life is not equal to many lives. But quantifying a life and lives would be far beyond my abilities. I have a moral obligation not to kill her, but if I do not do so, others may die. But incommensurability is an issue here. Can I compare her life with the many lives? What if - what if - 'what if' is the problem. I am caught up in this mire of 'what if's such that I don't know - and there I hit the crux of this matter: I don't know. I don't know if what I think of is true. I don't know if killing her would bring an end to this mess - I would have to have faith in Yagame's words to do that. Crypt took a deep breath. This will go nowhere. The more time passes, the more uncertain the fates of the people will happen. I will do it, and though I may be damned for it, I shall take some small comfort that I did for these people. "I have made a choice. I don't know if there exists a God of Choices, but I pray, let mine be the right one." He moved over to her, gazing on her ever-shifting face. His heart skipped a beat as he saw a face almost identical to his mother. The knife was moved over her breast, and it was plunged inside.

[Artur]

Artur had finally received the cooked breast and scales as they were fillited into strips to be placed into the omelette as fillings. When he had taken a hot handle of the two he quickly sprinkled the two along the dough that made the bottom.of the pastry, and somehow the words "Help me" came to his mind in a melancholic tone that seemed unnatural. Artur only shook his head like he must've been crazy at first, and returned to the task at hand. He had started to work with the second layer of dough with the squid egg and rolled the rolling pin into the flour, when the same voice somehow came back to persist for assistance from him further more. This caused Artur to lose the zone of concentration he went into when he cooked, his mind no longer able to think on the task at hand.

So the bear just left the rolling.pin alone and looked out to the crowd that waited in the other room, their reaction to hearing this voice had been one of worry when they heard the voice ask if anyone would help it. Artur looked over to the unattended frying pan on the counter next to the stove, and then crept over to it nervously as he looked in the air of the room some form of an unnatural being. When he made it to the pan, he made sure to hold the handle with both hands (which he did rather anxiously) and keep the trusty cooking tool close. 'This has got to be the weirdest thing to ever happen to me.' He didn't know if this place had become haunted or if this was all part of the city's uncanny tricks, he did notice that Archie somehow no longer seemed to be in the room.

The bear wanted to panic, unsure what to do as most of the people.in the dining area cried no, Artur decided it best to give his input now and hope whatever the voice wanted would make it go away. "All right, all right, all right! What do I have to do to help you?!" He scanned the kitchen frantically as he expected for something to reveal itself, the frying pan shook nervously in his hands as he waited for whatever was to come.next happen.

[Fallacy]

Archie’s Place ”Save my life.” the voice pleaded as the three of them agreed to help out the mysterious, disembodied voice. ”That… is my wish.” Can those who volunteered save this life? The three of them would see a faint sun-like light appearing all around them. The light grew brighter and brighter and surrounded them more and more until they were blinded by it… OOCPlease refer to the “Second Sun” portion after this The Second Sun Instead of the dagger biting into the girls chest it simply disappeared. There was clapping behind Crypt, and it was the old man Moribean. ”Congratulations, Crypt.” he said, his features shifting much like the girl in front of the man. ”You pass.” and with a wave of his hand the priestess Yagame, who looked infuriated that her plan did not turn out as conceived, disappeared. Moribeans features blurred further, and a hand clasped Crypt on the shoulder, ”You were prepared to do what you had to for the city.” With a nod of appreciation, he left Crypts side and touched the girl, ”This girl has my blessing as well.” he said gently touching the girl on the shoulder. An Azul Triangle appeared on the sleeping girl, and just like that with a ravens cry the man was gone. The priestess will be back. The group –Artur, Kuvarkh, and Scorn- would appear surrounding the girl as well. They all were drawn together by this girls power, and soon enough she opened her eyes, ”Thank you.” she thanked all of them, ”Thank you for agreeing to help me.” her voice sounded the same as it did before, resonating with certain kind of power. The girls features solidified, and even though she looked young she had a head full of long grey hair. Her eyes were a deep almost piercing green, and she smiled at them all giving them a blessing all their own… Soon enough all of them would be sent back to their respective place of residence within the city. If they would look out a window they would see that Alvadas was 'normal'. There was no rejoicing in the streets and their dreams did not come true after all. The only thing that gave reassurance that it was not a dream or some hallucination was the appearance of a second sun within Alvadas. Shining just as bright, right above the Temple of Ionu.

XP Award! Name:Crypt XP Award: Rhetoric- 3 Philosophy- 3 Auristics- 2 Morphing- 1 Lore: The Field of Dreams Priestess Yagame Old Man Moribean One Vs Many- the moral choice Ionu's Test Notes: +1 Gnosis of Ionu- Illusionism Name:Kuvarakh XP Award: Rhetoric- 3 Philosophy- 2 Lore: Wanda My Love The Field of Dreams Notes: As a reward for being selfless and helping return Alvadas to normal, the feelings the two of you (Kuvarakh and Wanda) felt will linger and the memories of the day spent will pave the way for further developments. Name:Scorn XP Award: Wrestling- 1 Lore: Joy of a Family Notes: Scorn will keep the memories of her family, but her family will remain just that: a memory. Or perhaps she could turn it into a goal to strive for? To find a family. In that regard Scorn will find around her neck a pendant which will help her find her lost sister (or the body of her lost sister). This pendant is not a compass, but as long as she has it she will feel 'hope' that her dreams can come true and something more is out there, guiding her steps. The pendant is simple looking, a teardrop shape hanging on a strand of wool, but is a gift from the mysterious girl that the zith agreed to help. Name:Artur XP Award: Cooking- 3 Lore: Archie's Place Being Top Chief Notes: Artur will find a frying pan in his room at the Wolfs Den. Any food cooked in this pan will taste better than usual, the flavors will pop naturally, and the food will be of a higher quality. Also anything cooked in the pan will not burn. Phoenix will be taking the quest from here. Ive met the requirements for her to take over, and so all the quests from all the city will merge under one Regional Quest. Please wait for the thread to posted. I know its an awkward place to end but the story will continue! Thank you guys for putting up with me. Any questions or concerns about the rewards gained please send a PM