[Adventure] The First Configuration [All Misfits, Closed]

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Built into the cliffs overlooking the Suvan Sea, Riverfall resides on the edge of grasslands of Cyphrus where the Bluevein River plunges off the plain and cascades down to the inland sea below. Home of the Akalak, Riverfall is a self-supporting city populated by devoted warriors. [Riverfall Codex]

[Adventure] The First Configuration [All Misfits, Closed]

Postby Hatot on September 10th, 2010, 12:34 am

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Hatot’s eyes narrowed, Radris’ growl echoing inside his head as he heard the screams. He slowly began to stand as he eyed the tent entrance to the caves, his head turning just ever so slightly to listen for movement. When the man came out, screaming and pleading for help, Hatot took a step forward. A quick intake of breath was then given as he stopped, the man being dragged back down to whatever pits of hell that awaited him at their perpetrator’s hands.

A slow his almost exhaled through Hatot’s gritted teeth at the sight, the muscle along his entire body tensing up for a moment. He wanted nothing more, due in no small part to Radris’ own rage, to charge into that hole in the ground leading to the caves, to grab at a cause behind their recent predicament and tear it apart, but his training and instincts told him that it was a fools action in the end. So Hatot remained there, standing idly as he continued to glance forward, observing the entrance, keeping vigilant for further signs of movement.

His arms were thrown up, barring the path of the two who accompanied him if they chose to charge forward, even for the aid of the man who was dragged back down into the caves. “Do no go in,” Hatot then said firmly, “the victim is bait to lure us inside, nothing more at this point.”

“We continue to wait. Wait until the others arrive.” Hatot said, even though his own feet dug into the ground to spring forward. “We shown up at the caves entrance, but without who is down there or even why the ghost extorted us into coming in the slightest, we don’t take a step further.”
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Please, do not upset me. I would hate to unintentionally rip your throat out in a fit of rage.
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[Adventure] The First Configuration [All Misfits, Closed]

Postby Kavala on September 22nd, 2010, 8:37 pm

ImageEverything happened so fast, like in a nightmare, and there was even less control. One minute, the librarian, whom she'd considered a friend, was alive and breathing. The next, his body was a wreckage of flesh pooled on the marble floor - organs and visceral fluid mixing with blood and oozing out like a stain of taint spreading slowly across the world. Kavala had been standing close. The moment it had started her healers compulsion had kicked in hard. She gasped with the strength of it and had started to reach forward to aid him - to do something - when he'd split open and his soul had fled to other realms. The instant he died so too did the compulsion, and she fell to her knees in the blood completely and utterly traumatized.

She'd never witnessed anything like it.

It was senseless. It was completely unnecessary, and the Akalak had been innocent of everything save answering a simple question. She was shocked to her core about it. But she knew... intimately... that the ghost was involved. Something powerful was involved. And even the child growing inside of her could not negate the death of the Akalak laying before them. One more into the world, one more gone from it. It wasn't fair, wasn't right, and it enraged her in a hard quiet way that wouldn't be easily deterred. Kavala was truly angry. There wasn't a single time that she'd felt rage - not her own abduction. Not certainly at Vanator or whatever shallow harlot he dragged home. That had been shallow disgust. This was something more - something harder - something fiercer. It was completely unknown to the healer.

She tipped back her head and howled in fury. "NO! NO JUST NO!"

Pale fists pounded into the blood pool she kneeled in and she rose abruptly. Taking the book she summoned her gnosis, infused herself with it, and opened the cover. She wanted to make sure the guards wouldn't get hurt, they wouldn't be more victims if this too was trapped.

Slowly, she read the words... wondering if another glyph would be activated. The guards, and the explanation, she left to the other people there with her. If they gave none, she'd explain quietly, when she was sure it was safe too... if she lived through the book enough to get some information from it.

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[Adventure] The First Configuration [All Misfits, Closed]

Postby Asim on September 23rd, 2010, 12:27 am

OOCRaiha invited me to join, because my Kelvic is a bondmate of hers. Nice to see a thread with such a large cast.

A small growl sounded from behind the group of three. It was small, but the one letting it was not, as a great grizzly bear bounded up behind Akasha. As he moved, the pack on his back showed that he wasn't just any normal bear. He slid to a stop right next to Raiha, growling at her, because he knew something wasn't right, before lowering himself into a sitting position. He glanced around, and then stared at Raiha, his eyes narrowed, his lips lifted in a silent growl. Then he shifted, turning into a naked, grizzled man, his pack on his back. Without a word, he reached back into his pack, and pulled out a loincloth, which he tied around his waist. Glancing at the not-Raiha Raiha, he frowned. "Not a word," came his voice as he stood, brushing dirt and caked mud off his arms and legs.

Reaching back to his pack again, the Kelvic pulled his boots and coat off of it, before slipping his boots on, and taking the time to remove his pack, and slip the coat on. He also dug into his pack and pulled out a pair of gloves, covered in spikes, and slightly stained red. It was the first time he had ever taken them out since meeting Raiha. With a shrug, he slid them onto his hands, again glancing at Raiha. "One thing you never knew. I keep them for fights when the bear form isn't practical. Which doesn't happen often. So don't go giving me any looks." He was speaking to her like she was the normal Raiha, but he knew. He had run into this person once before, on the boat coming down to Riverfall, before he had fallen off into the water and been left behind. Coming back to the present, the Kelvic glanced at Hatot, and growled at him slightly. He had noticed the Akalak, by smell, but his first concern was Raiha, whom he had offered to protected, and had done so, except the two times he had been separated from her.
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[Adventure] The First Configuration [All Misfits, Closed]

Postby Akela on October 1st, 2010, 9:18 am

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Akela had hardly spoken more than half a dozen words since the one-sided confrontation with the ghost. Most of them had been along the lines of "Hmmm" and "Yeah". It troubled her to no end that her only ability of note could be so easily negated by the dead, but she could have swallowed it if the presence had been specifically targeting her. It wasn't, though. It was threatening Kavala and all she had built in Riverfall - skirting past Akela as if she didn't even exist.

When the librarian told them there was simply no ghost expert in the city, Akela felt like strangling the man. Sounding all sad and apologetic-like when everyone else in the room was looking over their shoulders and into every dark corner all the time, the Akalak instantly got on the girl's nerves. Perhaps she should take up the spirit arts herself. Yes, become a witch, see the world, eat raven tongues, do battle with angry ghosts, and exact revenge on those who had abused and belittled her.

No. Not a chance. Unless she could cut them.

Akela's senses tingled when the librarian mentioned a supervisor of Coalinga taking away a copy of every map. The girl believed not in coincidences and one would expect a supervisor to be familiar enough with the layout to serve most normal needs. Meaning that he must have been driven by an abnormal need of some kind. Hands on her hips, Akela puffed air out of her mouth as the librarian opened the map scroll. It was a trap. Some unseen force ripped the man open and spilled his innards out for everyone to see. Thankfully Akela had been exposed to plenty of gore in her life, nor was she one to feel queasy or flinch at the sight of blood. Still, the circumstances were so unnatural that she had to stare in shock for a long moment as the librarian's life poured out of him.

Then Kavala's compulsion to heal throbbed across her Ranuri sensitivity, though it didn't last long - his end was also the end of it. Her sister picked up the book and opened it with utter disregard for anything that may happen to her. Akela felt a cold sweat beginning to form on her brow, but she had to respect Kavala's wish. She and the others had to take care of the situation here.

She turned on her heels and faced the two approaching guards with drawn lakans. She made no move to draw her weapon, but kept her hand close, just in case. "The scroll killed him. It was a trap," she began, trying to sound as convincing as she could and playing on the attractive tints of her gnosis. It wasn't a lie, either. "And everyone at the Coalinga mines is in mortal danger."

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[Adventure] The First Configuration [All Misfits, Closed]

Postby Raiha on October 27th, 2010, 2:07 am

Kanikra had helped herself to the contents of the kitchen, packing one of Raiha’s leather pouches with food. She’d be fine… sooner or later, anyway, but food would expediate the proess. She didn’t know where the Coalinga mines were, but at least Hatot did. She guided her mount after him, feeling some alien bit of idle pleasure that at least the sun was coming up. She shook her head. That feeling had to have come from Raiha. It was a useless feeling; neither of them relied on the sun to see, and it would be dark where they were going anyway. The sunlight was merely a warm comfort that would turn into an uncomfortable, sticky heat that would lick at her skin and turn them purple. She distracted herself with thoughts of Spiritism as they rode. She would learn it for the sole purpose of ruining the ghost that had ruined her arm. She’d catch it and enslave it, and…

Now that’s a plan, Raiha’s words whispered along Kanikra’s subconscious, disrupting her thoughts.

Where would you start? Kanikra inquired of her sister. Don’t be stupid. At least this has proved that you, all of you, have a pretty major weakness in your perceived defenses. A hole in the armor. And it needs to be patched. Quickly, too. You’ve wasted enough time hiding up here, and what have we to show for it? Nothing, Raiha! You play with your birds and Kelvics, learning and doing nothing. At this rate, a year will pass, a whole year, and we’ll still be sitting here as we were when we arrived. If you’re not going to do something, I will. Some self-preservation, please?

By the time they’d reached the Coalinga mines, Raiha had quieted, and Kanikra was left to her own devices without Raiha fussing in her ear, for once. She dismounted and had a look around in the morning light, flexing her scaly, reptilian arm, a look of utter distaste on her face. The ghost had not been gentle, and the forced morphing, and the three-way struggle for control had been draining – she was still tired. She’d have a few more things to eat, and try some more. Where Raiha had failed, perhaps she would manage when she had recovered more djed. The others in town could take a while, which would give her time to work, and find out just where her twin’s Kelvic bondmates were.

She was pinching the crumb off of a sturdy-crusted bun as she spotted the corpse, and merely stared at it, taking in the various implements sticking out of the man’s body. Sloppy, she thought to herself. So very, very sloppy…

‘Sloppy?!’ Raiha repeated incredulously as Kanikra surveyed the corpse a little more, still picking at her bun. That’s horrible.

That’s life. Or the absence of it, if you want to nitpick, Raiha’s twin answered, not at all particularly disturbed. It was almost sort of creative, and she supposed one could say that the arrangement was almost artistic. This is why we have to toughen you up. Unlike Mura, the rest of Mizahar is a dangerous place. That could be you one day. Now shut up. That’s a trap. She looked up at Hatot as he essentially voiced her thoughts about going into the mines on a whim in a rush. Fools rushed in, after all. She looked up at Hatot when he offered her beef, and shook her head slightly. “You eat it. I brought plenty. But thank you,” she held up the leather pouch stuffed with comestibles that she had packed prior to leaving, though she was still working on the bun, clutching it with her right hand and picking off of it with the left.

Akasha arrived, then, something that brought pleasure and relief to Raiha, and at the same time, a bit of worry. While they both knew what she was capable of, they had half a notion of what their opponent lying in ambush was waiting for. Don’t get her hurt unduly, she warned Kanikra.

Would you stop worrying? She’s more than capable of using that blade. Stop acting like a mother hen with chicks, Kanikra scolded. You can’t protect them. They’re here to protect you. One look at Kanikra, though, once Akasha got over the shock of the Akontak’s mutated arm, and the Kelvic could tell something beyond the obvious was wrong. This both was and wasn’t her bondmate: the sister-soul with whom she shared a body with was at the forefront. “Calm down,” the impassive voice was Kanikra’s. “Now, quietly. Not that it matters, I suppose. It knows we’re here… though not how many…” she nodded at Asim’s arrival, and just eyed him when he made the comment about ‘not a word’. They’d met. The last meeting hadn’t been, well, particularly pleasant.

“There was a ghost in Sanctuary earlier. Raiha was possessed, and it morphed our arm using djed. We’ll fix it. We are waiting for another group – those in Sanctuary… Akela, Kavala, and so on – to get here. They were going to the library to see if they could find any information… or a Spiritist, one who uses magic for and against Ghosts… to help. But calm yourself,” this last comment was directed at Akasha. “There was nothing you could have been able to do anyway had you been there. This is likely the work of the same ghost.” She jerked her head in the direction of the corpse in the tent over there. She needed to keep the ever-passionate Akasha calm. While she normally eschewed contact, she elected to make an exception, and draped her good arm over Akasha’s shoulders, giving her a bit of a squeeze. “This is Hatot,” she told Akasha, turning the Kelvic slightly with her body to face him a bit. “He lives at Sanctuary. He’s Kavala’s partner. This is Akasha,” she told the Akalak, brisk with introductions. “She and Asim, you’ve seen him around… are Raiha’s Kelvic partners. Laeraix is around somewhere. She’ll turn up.” For someone who had been spiritually violated, forcibly morphed, and shown a violently murdered corpse, Kanikra was amazingly calm.

She looked over the entrance of the Coalinga mines, bringing the djed into focus so she could have another look around. The events of the earlier morning had proven that one needed to pay far more attention to what was going on beyond the realm of what was easily visible to the naked eye. She studied her reptilian arm, flexing it, watching it carefully to see how the limb looked when one studied it under a different light, so to speak, focusing on it, her stare intent as she tried to bring the limb back down to the longer, smooth, blue appendage it had been before. Satisfied with her effort in that regard, she turned her attention towards the mouth of the mines, watching it. She looked down at the avian Kelvic tucked into her side and sighed inwardly. At least these two would be useful if they decided to go down there before the others got there.

As the sun got higher, Kanikra was right about the sun getting annoying. At least it would be cooler down in the mines when they got down there, out of the heat of the sun. She rested, ate, and kept vigil, occasionally rubbing her reptilian arm to test the feeling in it, keeping an eye on Asim and Akasha. Those two could do some damage. Even in the closed-quarters of the mine, Akasha had her katana, and Asim, well, Asim was a menace. Treat them with the respect that they’re due. It comes back tenfold, Raiha advised her sister.

And if I don’t, then what? What can you do about it? I can keep you back there indefinitely, you know, Kanikra taunted.

I swear to Akajia… Raiha began.

Go on, get angry, Kanikra encouraged as she wordlessly offered the others the pouch of food she’d packed in silent offering. You need that. A bit of fire.

Aren’t you the one who says emotion clouds your judgment and impairs your senses? Raiha retorted. The rest had done her some good, but Kanikra wasn’t about to surrender the body right then. There wasn’t much Raiha could do about it in that regard. Fighting for control right now would only be to the detriment of both of them. If Kanikra wanted it right then… Raiha supposed she would have to let her have it.

In your case, you need it. You’re like a turtle. You need a fire lit under you just so that you’ll stick your head out, much less get moving. You’re not happy about what happened here? Do something about it. She frowned as something began to intrude on the formulating she had been doing from where she had been sitting in the shade offered behind a fortunately corpse-free tent, watching the entrance of the mines with her Auristics. She had a feeling something was coming up before she heard the screams, getting up and making her way over to the entrance. The need to heal, to pass on her divine aunt’s gift to the world… It irritated Kanikra to know that if she caused damage, she needed to heal it, and the Akontak stood there, lips pursed, gold eyes narrowed, even as Hatot forbid her entry, as the screams died out. There was a tightness in her usually aloof features, a sort of tension as she watched the man being dragged back in just as quickly as he had appeared. But she knew in a way she didn’t want to possess, that the injured party was still alive and suffering, even though she could no longer see or hear him. “I need to go in there. Now,” she grated out through clenched teeth. “Rak’keli insists, and the goddess's summons must be heeded.”
The first rule of Akajia is you do not talk about Akajia.
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[Adventure] The First Configuration [All Misfits, Closed]

Postby Kavala on December 13th, 2010, 9:07 am

ooc: I wonder if we should find a new mod to take this over? It might be helpful. I was thinking of Tabernac or one of the new Endrykas storytellers. Any suggestions?
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Please Note:
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  • Kavala a Master Teacher. Students she is teaching in thread can earn more than the maxium 5 XP per thread.
  • This pc has a Konti Gift of Animal Empathy. She has a superpower from a Riverfall city event that allows animals of all sorts and Kelvics (in kelvic form) to speak clear understandable Common around her.
  • Kavala is a Konti but was raised in the Drykas culture so her accent is entirely Pavi though she can speak Common, Pavi, and Tukant well. She's only conversational in Kontinese.
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[Adventure] The First Configuration [All Misfits, Closed]

Postby Creeper on July 7th, 2012, 6:44 am

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Bloodstained Book on Coalinga Mines: This book contains extremely detailed layouts of the depths of the Coalinga Mines.


What a way to start the day! Ghosts, lizard arm, spilt bowels, all before breakfast. Too bad this wasn't finished, could've been fun.

Moderator Note: This irrational and upset ghost will remain in the Coalinga Mines until it is purged. I recommend adding this to the Location and calling your local Spiritist.

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I would've expected Akela to take her Katana to the mine! Always nice to see her aggressive self in action though!

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Quite the patient warrior I see. Too bad you didn't get to do any hack and slashing!

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There's nothing scarier than a growling Fennec Fox.

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I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt that Raiha recovered from her morphing. Although, everyone does like a few extra scales on their beauties.


I gave you a point in Spiritism for being possessed and thus slightly increasing your resistance to future possession. If you wish to expand further on this, you'll have to learn the actual processes. And I thought Raiha was hot, but clearly Kanikra is where it is at, calm, cool, collected, vindictive. Maybe a round 2 in the future?

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Well, what did you expect to happen when hanging around all those women in the Sanctuary? This kind of thing should be normal by now.

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Matching a Fennec Foxes growl? How scary! :P


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A little late to the game, but always good to see the faithful servant getting so upset by something as normal as a lizard arm.


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Interesting on how Asim could tell the difference in personalities so easily. He must know Raiha well.
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