[Seasonal Quest] Upon a Star (Open)

by **Dhalvasha** on December 18th, 2011, 4:59 pm

Dhalvasha kept to the shadows as the lumbering golems entered the area. His purpose here was quiet observation, not overt heroism. The little human was irate, justifiably so, but his command to murder everyone in the square seemed rather poorly placed. What did he expect the smaller creatures to do? Attack a man most probably psychotic? And if he cleaved them in half? What then? His art was...foul mouthed but well made, but it wasn't something to carelessly sacrifice oneself over. As the golems sought out their primary targets, Dhalvasha did as Symenestra did best, scuttling up the wall hand over careful hand. He wouldn't play audience to some useless slaughter, and he certainly had no intention to stay and get caught up in the madness.

Carefully climbing over the lip of the squat building, Dhalvasha crouched, his red eyes lancing across the skyline of Alvadas. The easy solution was to simply leave, leap the jagged spaces between buildings and climb down in a less dangerous area. Of course, that would be the smartest move...and regrettably, such logic did not translate between other members of his species.

Shai scuttled along the lip of the same building Dhalvasha now crawled on, nearing the edge perilously before crossbow bolts strafed past and she retreated. Unfortunately, the incentive of avoiding needless violence did not seem to register to the Syemenstra and she slunk forward again, wholly concentrated on her movements. Hissing quietly to himself, Dhalvasha weighed his options. She had kidnapped him, dragged him from Sunberth to Alvadas at the behest of personal revenge and some babbling woman, and had evidently been changed into some bloodlusting psychopath in the brief lapse between their last meeting...only that would explain her obsessive need to throw herself into conflict.

He caught himself, frowning...was Eridanus's madness catching?

On the other hand, she was still technically his Web mate. There was something alluring about her fierce-blooded foolishness, a spark of true adventure the normally cautious doctor went out of his way to avoid. Perhaps it was a fatal attraction, as lemmings seemed to have for cliffs, or moths to firelight. Regardless of what he told himself, Shai represented a part of his heart he could not truly expunge.

Perhaps that was why he found himself striding forward and grabbing her left shoulder, spinning her away from the edge and toward him.

Foolish, foolish, foolish.

He half expected her to clobber him with her ludicrous metal fan.

"Fool!" he hissed, his voice lost in the clang of steel below him. "That man never wronged you, his golems cannot climb, your friends seem fine, and the incident was caused because some lunatic pissed on a statue designed for insult...please explain to me the part of this story that necessitates your needless endangerment of personal safety?" He did not strike her, nor did he try to pull her away...or at least farther toward the opposite edge of the building. If push came to shove, he'd let her go...but perhaps her temporary insanity was the work of spontaneous habit. Sunberth almost required violence, and perhaps she had not shaken herself out of the need to not involve herself in someone else's battle.

He could hope, at least.

And perhaps his conscience would be abated, allowing him to leave. He truly did not want to think he'd leap into the fray to champion her.

The thought was nearly hilarious.

And somehow...concerning.

Dhalvasha was not entirely sure he wouldn't.

by **Bob Barton** on December 18th, 2011, 11:36 pm

While weaving behind a large woman to get to the road at the side, Bob quietly uttered some words of encouragement for the slanderer to "tell it to that stinking vagik you blockheaded statue." Then the statue started to rant a whole lot more about everyone else which nearly made Bob laugh at all the contradictory insults it sent his way but seeing that people either chose to get taken in by the slanderer's taunts or ignore it altogether, he decided to do the smart thing which was the latter. After quickly dashing past some observers he used to conceal him, Bob judged that he was safe from Ulric's anger and went towards his goal at ease. There was still quite some distance to cover but with the paint, he rather not risk spilling it all over the place when he did not need to and they can still be used tonight after the two of his adversaries had their way with each other. Too bad that statue cannot do anything on its own. It was going to be the victim of a spill twice in one day but it might have already experienced much worse it if it was going to hurl insults to everyone everyday since it was made.

Bob's plans were all made out for the day. Go and have a relaxing time somewhere and then revenge on the statue but it was interrupted when one of those rocks hit one of the paint he was carrying. The shift of weight of the impact brought Bob's attention to the gaping hole that was leaking out red paint making it look like the container was bleeding and just as he was about to look for the source it announced himself. Bob would have laughed at the way this Andres Towers looked if he did not also see the metal men all around him. He was no stranger to golems since they could be found all around Sahova and were one of the first things he saw on his arrival. A quick glance to the masterfully crafted works of their creator looked so much like those even more powerful ones on the island. He always wanted one of those for himself and if Bob had more time to look at them as he would when he "shopped" for anything, he would have noticed their telltale sluggish movements that they were not like their Sahovan counterparts. It was not an advantage that he had because his eyes were on the weapons that the golems had and when he heard the word death mentioned, all he could say in response was "shyke..."

That was all his mind could do at the time while the chaos unfolded all around him starting with the hot headed monster of a man going for a fight even if he was outnumbered by the golems...right until the timely distraction by someone that some of the people who had come from Sunberth knew so well. It was then Bob's instincts kicked in as it always has to take advantage of the situation in whatever way he could as strange as it would seem. That was one of the methods of the non-spectacular Bob's methods to survival which was lost on Shai. Bob's goal this time was to not be a part in the making of this "masterpiece" and there was no better way than to cut straight to the end result that the golems were ordered to. Quickly he went down to the ground and set the green paint beside him while he dumped whatever remained of the red paint on his body to look like a messy blood spill. It was a lot better to clean up the stain of paint than to not be able to clean up the stain of blood. For the finishing touch of his ruse he grabbed one of the bolts shot out from the golem's crossbow near him and tucked it under his armpit where most of the paint was concentrated on.

"Please oh please let them be too busy killing everyone else to look at me properly" he quietly thought to himself "unless someone comes around to mess with their weapons. I don't care how" he continued to beg. With that thought in mind he kept an eye open for what the golems would do as they followed their master's commands. His attention was set on the ones advancing with their swords of course, since they were the ones closest to him. Thankfully, they ignoreddiscussed with Fallacy

him and passed to use their weapons on other victims like Bob hoped for. He waited until they moved further away from him before acting like he wanted especially when he heard the statue announcing about some boy at the roof, another distraction he was happy for. Someone out there must have been listening to silent prayer. During the window where the golems were busy shooting and reloading, Bob was running with the green paint trailing behind him but it was not away from the scene...it was towards the short man commanding the golems?

He was not being heroic here, not at all though if everyone looked to him as a hero after this he would be able to milk out whatever he could. Only if he lived through it and that was his motivation. He was between the sword golems and he knew that those would stop him from escaping if he was noticed if he did not get shot from behind by the crossbows first. It was better to get at the head here while he could still see the dangerous bolts coming and have a chance of dodging them. Once he got near Towers, Bob will swing the green paint he had behind him towards the man's face hopefully reaching the eyes and effectively blinding him long enough to move behind the man to draw out his sword with his new "shield" in front of him. If it all goes well, Bob will have the sword poking at his new hostage's back taunting that "they always say that an artist is able to draw out the characteristics of his work. Did I get it right?" you little green monster. For Bob establishing the stronger position in the outset was important so that when he asked to "call them off right now" it would be better received even when there is more pressure applied by the sword.

It was the best that he could think of since it is a lot more easier taking out a squishy man than metal golems but if he was stopped midway through all this, Bob would still end up drawing his weapon after splashing the paint at whatever interrupted him as a distraction to set up an attack. The paint he just bought would still be a lot more cheaper than his life and Bob intended to keep his however he could even if it had a chance of being a part of a masterpiece.

by **Shai** on December 19th, 2011, 4:30 am

OOCI had permission from Dhal’s writer to move him ^^

She hadn’t seen him coming but Shai’s mind worked fast. She pulled down hard on Dhalvasha bringing her former webmate down against the roof. Lying flat beside him she growled at him in hushed Symenos, “What kind of petching idiot are you? Why not wear a target on your chest if you want to be shot so badly? They aren’t tossing pebbles Dhal. Those are crossbow bolts; they will shatter your bones.” Eyeing him over she continued, she was far from done. “Furthermore why should you of all people question me regarding my choices?” she scoffed. “ I have survived these past years just fine without your infinite wisdom or derisions about my decision making process.” Peeking her gaze beyond the roofs edge briefly Shai tasked her mind with avoiding projectiles and not remarking that his rebuke was probably exactly what Antar would have said. Viratas forbid I should ever compare those two out loud. Particularly where either can hear. Oddly enough if the advice had come from Antar she might have listened. She trusted the rogue in these sort of situations just as she knew Dhalvasha was knowledgeable about medicine. They each had their expertise’s but now that is how she weighed their advice, not upon her emotional attachments as she might once have.

The female spider wasn’t being nice but the faster Dhalvasha understood that the woman he knew as long gone the better for both of them. Shai had probably just saved his delicate intellectual hide which was a pleasant as he could hope for. Sunberth bred thieves, murders, and worse. The female Symenestra was no exception in this case; she was a prime example of the rule. Paranoid and cruelty kept you alive in that filth ridden city and since Shai was still voraciously kicking she must have developed these skills. Dhal had lived in Sunberth for at least a short time, how had he not learned these facts?

“Just stay down and out of my way doctor.” She managed to not visually sneer but it was in her voice when the final word passed her tongue. It was almost a joke really, the training Dhalvasha had rebelled against as a child might actually have been beneficial here. Shai gained nothing for being overtly cruel to the man, yet, and so she simply let the mockery slide from her mind. Pulling back from the edge she concentrated on making herself into a very difficult target for those golems. She had got a glance of Bob’s escapades, it was a good idea and she would never have thought of it. Now to wait and see if it actually succeeded.

by **Ihnar** on December 19th, 2011, 6:21 am

Barely awake Ihnar followed Eridanus, who had noticed him and accepted him as company for now. He didn't really know where they were going. He didn't care. Hopefully somewhere with a soft bed... or a pillow in his case. Stumbling after Eridanus, his mind occasionally fell asleep. However his body did not and he kept on moving.

After having a quite marvelous dream he woke up on Eri telling him something. What had he said? Ihnar was about to ask when he saw them. Six.. creatures of some sort. He had never seen anything like it. In a way they looked really lifeless. Actually he could swear these things weren't alive. But how come they were still moving? And why did they have weapons? Slowly his sleepy mind managed to connect the swords with danger. This wasn't a dream.. or was it. Either way, he didn't want to get chopped up in to little bits by those mean looking weapons.
Stumbling a bit he backed off.

He watched silently as Eri took care of two golems. They hadn't seen him. Not yet at least. Ihnar took a worried glance at the remaining four. What would happen if they would team up on Eri? The man wouldn't stand a chance. Ihnar couldn't just watch his master get chopped to bits... or mauled in to a bloody puddle by those spiky things they had. Ihnar thought it was safe to go closer to Eri now. Making a big mistake he walked closer.

It didn't take too long for one of the golems spy the moving statue, and it fixed it's eyes on Ihnar.
Just as Ihnar was about to open his mouth and ask Eri what was going on, the golem took it's first slow steps towards Ihnar. The pycon saw this from the corner of his eye.
What should he do? Eri didn't seem to be in his full strength either. Ihnar raised his hand and pointed at the golem, hoping Eri would catch his little hint.

Ihnar remained still for awhile. Sometimes playing dead could save him. However in this case the golem seemed to just keep on getting closer.

The pycon gave up on this strategy and bolted looking for a good hiding place. He was small. Surely he could find something to hide in. If only he knew this strange city any better, with its ever changing streets. Luckily the golem was slow.

The pycon nervously looked around for a good sword-proof hiding place. Ihnar was now too aware of the fact that he was really tired. He had to focus really hard just to keep himself from tripping. Even something as minor as that could be a bad thing in this situation.

by **Miro** on December 19th, 2011, 5:27 pm

Miro watched in as Iliana made a rash move, gaining her confidence, beating Miro to it. She formed res, as a distraction, Miro assumed. He wanted to watch what she would do, but he had something more on his mind. This woman, her abilities were beyond that of a mere mortal. Ionu was here before them, and she was angry. The goddess had shown her fury. The people of Alvadas had somehow angered the twisted woman. It seemed she had more power than the people underground, meaning her power needed to be feared. Moving them to the sky, making them fall. Was it possible it was an illusion to throw them off? Miro moved some of the res down to the floor and he transmuted it to ice. It was barely noticeable, but if they appeared in this area again Miro would notice it.

As Miro finished his marking, Iliana had finished her cover spell and was pulling at Miro's arm. She told him to leave, and Miro did not hesitate to run beside her. after a moment he pulled his arm free of her grip and grabbed onto her hand, hoping they would get away. "Illy, don't let go of me. I don't want to lose you!" In Miro's mind he prayed that Morwen would save them. All of the babbling, the power shown, it had to be Ionu. Things were getting bad quickly. If not for her mercy, Miro and Iliana would be dead. This was an obvious game of cat and mouse. Now they needed only to find their hole to stay safe.

by **Fallacy** on December 20th, 2011, 6:12 am

The Temple of Ionu Location Link

Mirror in the Window :

The temple was quite the sight. Fire ravaged the buildings blackening the walls within, smoke billowing from it like some oversized campfire. The people were felling from it, and inside, well, let me tell you that inside was the worst. Bodies charred from the explosion were skew all over the place, some laying on top of one another, some missing entire body parts. It was a scene straight from a nightmare. People laying there, on fire, but didn’t move, the stench that filled the air, the putrid smell of burning flesh resided in the temple, filling it the brim. The smoke that hovered in the room made the eyes water, and the sounds of screaming, people moaning in pain, but too damaged to do anything about it. Amongst this chaos, beyond the broken pews whose wooden fragments were spewed across the room from the force of the blast stood the metal husk of a golem blackened by fire and half melted, it would be evident that it was of the same make that the other metal men were, but what made it different? Why was it like that?

The place was mess, and disaster had struck. Who would do this to such a place, and why? As the two would go deeper into the temple an observant one might notice a glint, a slight beam of light bouncing off a reflective surface. The source seemed to be coming from a window, the wall charred with fire, but it had survived the blast. Sitting there, oh so undisturbed by the blast would be a rustic and quite old looking hand mirror. Its decorations both elaborate and seeming plain at the same time, it had an undeniable charm about it, reflecting so bright as the light from the clouded skies shone through the thick veil of smoke and ash. The initial blast was over, but what remained besides this ruined temple?

Within the walls that once held hope, wishes, dreams, there was, in its place, a fair share more of the metal golems which the rogue encountered. They were armed with all sorts of weapons, ranging from spears to swords, but none of them were ranged. The golems went around to the charred remains of the people sticking and beating them with their metal weapons to make sure they were dead. The violation of the dead continued and the snake and human could watch from the shadows, or perhaps stop the further desolation of the place themselves. Would they move to stop the golems? Oh the choices that fate presented.

Though it seemed that someone made a move before even they could, a man entering the Temple, top hat on, and dressed in overly fashionable stage clothes, it could be seen that the man was none other than Shale, master of the Colosseum. The golems seeing him went to attack, raising their weapons and advancing towards the ringmaster. ”You guys have put on quite the show.” he said looking about the place, ”But Im the only one who can put on a performance of a lifetime.” raising a hand, he concentrated on the concept of nothingness, ”You are nothing in the ringmasters shadow.” His other hand carried a whip, strangely unique as it held marking that made it its own. Swinging the whip over his head and aiming the weapon at the closest golem the whip cruised at bone breaking speed hitting the target before letting off an awful explosion, decimating the creation of mind and steel, sending pieces of the golem flying and the main body of it into a wall. Some of the markings on the whip vanished, suggesting the use of a magical item.

The attack bought him enough time that in his raised hand a small speck of darkness was appearing, the portal to the void was opening. Concentrating more on the concept of nothing the hole of nothing opened wider temporarily replacing space with nothing. The nothingness grew wider until it was full size, with the ability to swallow a small carriage, the vortex held an awesome pull slowly claiming one metal golem after another. One, two, three, four, five, six golems claimed, seven, eight, nine, until there was no more.

Closing his open hand the ringmaster stumbled back, the strain of having such a large portal open taking its toll, as the nothingness was once more replaced with reality, and the pull became weak, until it was no more. He breathed a heavy breath, ”Ten…” he stated having counted the number of golems his portal had absorbed. The kelvic took more steps into Temple, but as he did a faint rumbling could be felt, like another explosion had rocked, but it was different. The sound was more hollow, and the vibrations too close together. The thud, thud, thud could be heard across the temple, and at first if one would look they would see nothing, but another thud, and another thud resonated throughout the temple, ”What is it now?” the man seemed un-amused.

Another thud, and another thud, it was clear now that whatever it was it was coming from the outside. Cracks started to appear in the bricks that made up the wall. Soon a brick would be completely filled with the spider web fissures, and it would spread about the wall until with one last thud, the wall gave in, bricks shot loose traveled across the temple, some rubble landing by Shales feet. Enter the Frankenstein of the golems. Half-finished the giant thing of steel crawled into the room, taking up much of the space inside as one arm and then another collided on the ground, the golem dragging itself in, its head barely fitting in the hole that it made in the wall, and its shoulders brought down the entire barrier as it made its entrance. Towering at a good twenty five to thirty feet, the golem had a mouth that opened and closed as it clawed like it would eat anything in its path.

”So…” Shale started, ”This is the grand finale” he grinned readying his whip.

oocIf you want to look at Shale’s stats, he can be found at the Colosseum link. He is the NPC there.

Acumen Asylum Location Link

The two golems fell with ease, but there still were four more left. One had gone after the pycon, but stopped midstep and stood there for a moment. Unsure, frozen, the metal contraption just stood there even though the pycon was right in front of it. ”Psst.” a voice would come from nowhere and when the clayman would look he would see nothing, ”You are safe now.” the voice of a child came again as the small moving doll was picked up by an invisible force and hovered there for a moment, ”Hehe, you are cute.” but then the voice fell silent again as a hand would be seen around the pycon and a girl would pop into existence. Had she always been there?

”You are safe now too.” she approached the man, ”They cannot see or hear us.” she paused and looked at the man with the swords, ”You can stop fighting.” she smiled at him, bringing her doll up to her face and shaking it as she talked ”Fighting is bad.” her voice was quiet, as if it was barely used. Her eyes wandered towards the rest of the golems and she nodded, with that nod the golems started attacking each other, seeing themselves as the humans they were hunting and not the contraptions of metal and steel which they were. ”Come on.” she said walking past the wreaked hunks of junk, ”Let’s go inside, it’s safe there.” she lead the way into the school. Stopping at the door she gave a shy smile as she set the pycon down on the ground and looked at Eridanus, ”Im Menna.” she introduced herself as she opened the door almost skipping into the building.

Upon entering the girl lead the way down the winding hallways of the school beckoning for them to follow. They went past old, unused rooms, filled with dust from their age as they traveled deeper and deeper into the bowels of the learning establishment. More and more rooms were apparently unused, until she stopped at the entrance of one room. Out of all of them, of all the unused rooms, this one was lit with a light; faint candle light filled the room as there seemed to be a gathering of people inside. Walking in Menna quickly took the side of a rather odd looking Eypharian fellow going by the name of Karash. Arms crossed, he was listening to what the headmaster had to say, with a solid frown. Glasses on his face it seemed they were having a heated conversation, but it stopped as the girl made her presence known. All the staff of the school was also gathered there, including the headmaster.

”We should not act in haste” the headmaster warned, ”Events such as the light from last night have happened before. If it is proof that the mirror has been used again, where exactly, is left in question…” he paused as he noticed the girl and the two following them.

Karash looked down at Menna and frowned, uncrossing his arms ”Menna, where is Shale?” he asked her. Menna would look up and smile, ”Mr.Shale went on ahead when he saw the first explosion.” she informed him, ”Mr.Shale could not stop the golems from blowing up… they were a lot. Mr.Shale told us to stay behind to tell Mr.Karash what Mr.Shale was up to.” she said clenching her doll tighter shaking it in front of her face as she talked.

”Menna, who are they?” Karash asked, but all Menna did was shake her head and look at the two strangers they saved. Getting no response he assumed that she did not know. So turning to them he opened his mouth to talk, but the headmaster interrupted.

”Eridanus.” he said, recognizing the eth with a smile. ”Just the person we need. Please, Master Karash, go on with your theory. You like to think you know a thing or two about ancient Alvadas’ artifacts of power.” the headmaster said almost tauntingly, he keeping his words from earlier secret, as if they had never been said.

The headmasters words earned a glare from Karash before he took the spot light again, ”The Kasai-Dala Mirror.” he began, ”An ancient artifact of great power. Said to be the mirror Ionu used themselves.” he said so expertly avoiding the topic of the deity’s gender. ”I believe that was the artifact used, and what caused the light which filled Alvadas last night. We all saw it thirty years ago too, when Drysalla used the mirror. She made it no secret where she got her wish.” he told them, ”I tell you, it was the mirrors power that brought this evil upon us.”

”But,” the headmaster interrupted, ”you are forgetting the part where the mirror was lost and to this day it has never been found.”

”You, sir, are too quick to cross out what might had happened.” Karash went on, but was interrupted again.

”You, Master Karash, are too quick to jump to conclusions. The light could have been caused by any number of things. It could have been an elaborate prank for all we know.” the headmaster argued, and again they were back to square one.

oocMenna’s and Karashs info and stats can be found at the Divine Legacy

The Akeldama Colosseum Location Link

The fear that she saw and heard in their screams was… refreshing. There was nothing to soothe a violent heart than playing with ants, and perhaps when you are done toying with them getting out the glass and burning in the sunrays, or perhaps even enjoying the feeling of squishing them yourself. There was so many enjoyable options to do when you are done playing with them. The pycon behind them went unnoticed as the dust cloud veiled the two ants from her sight. Laughing some more as she took a step back, as if afraid of the dust, she grinned. This was going to be so much fun. She loved the thrill of the hunt.

With a wave of her hand the djed formed cloud dissipated. Impressed by how far the two had got already she laughed, ”You boy say that emotions are real. You are more foolish than you think. You say pain is real?” she laughed some more, obviously off the deep end, ”Tell me,” she turned her powers on Miro once more. Her sheer ability sending a crippling pain all throughout his entire body, quite possibly the worst pain he has ever felt. It made his reality dizzy and his mind being assaulted with such pain but… for some reason he couldn’t quite pass out. ”Tell me again, boy, what is real?” she stopped again, if they, Iliana and Miro would be observant they would see that they were back to where they started, right in front of Drysalla.

”That is right.” she began to answer her own question, ”You don’t know. You want to know why? Because it is impossible to distinguish in Alvadas. Real and Unreal are the same. This is the city where there impossible is possible. You see, Ive been asking you a loaded question. What is real? Reality is all around us, yet we question it. Do we question it because it is real? No.” she shook her head, “We question it because we are not sure if it is real. We question it to know more about this realness that surrounds us, but.. Sometimes it is funnier to make up your own rules.” she ended.

”What if…” she paused releasing her illusions grip on Miro making the pain go away, ”I told you that I was Ionu?” she smiled, ”Would you believe me, or question that reality as well?” she asked. ”I have had enough fun with you worms.” She took a step back, ”In fact, I have had enough of Alvadas.” she grinned and laughed some more, ”I think I’ll destroy it and start anew.” She took a couple steps backwards, ”Killing you will be too easy. Though” she debated with herself, ”You will be a good warm up.”

With those words Miro and Iliana found themselves once again hundreds of feet above Alvadas, and once again they were dropping, but it was doubtful that they would make it this time. What kind of trouble have they run into today?

After that she looked up and spotted the zith with his slave. She grimaced at the sight of him, "What of you?" she asked the zith, "I guess dropping you out the sky wont work as well as the others, but Im feeling generous today. Ill let you live if you stay out of my way." with that she turned around and looked at the pycon wielding the blade, "And you, my dear," she said the words mockingly, "Best be careful where you point that thing." with that, she took a step and was gone. She had better things to do and an entire city to destroy.

Verlynas Emerald Pond Location Link

The hypnotist smiled as the dog rubbed his head against her hand and let her pet him. What a nice doggy he was, and so handsome too. ”Your fur is so nice.” she complimented the beast again giggling again as she continued to pet him. Though once he backed away, she was kind of shocked when the dog turned into a human, ”A Kelvic” she smiled, having met a couple from just being so sociable when she had been alive before.

Standing up she shook her head at him, ”Im sorry.” she sounded sincere, ”I did not mean to offend you.” she told him, ”If I would have known, I wouldn’t have said a thing.” and that, that was more than true. She did not want to press any buttons, ”Could you forgive me?” she asked him, looking up at him, ”It was honestly my mistake.” one she would be much more careful of. She shouldn’t make such assumptions, she felt stupid. Perhaps she had lost her edge.

Crossing her arms she looked him over and nodding as Kale introduced them, ”Its so nice to meet you two.” she kept up her smile, trying to be charming, sending out a flow of good feeling to them and the surrounding area, happy, she wanted them happy and calm. For now she used simple hypnotic techniques. She did not want to be found out until it was too late and they could not help but serve her. First she needed all their attention on her instead of what was happening around the city. She also needed to defuse the situation which was unfolding in front of her. She had heard the argument coming before her when Kale went to defend her. How sweet, she was really touched, but this needed to end.

”Oh, no.” she said, ”Its fine Kale.” she placed a hand on his shoulder as the guy moved to protect her, ”It was just a misunderstanding.” she brushed it off to that, injecting that sentence into the subconscious of them both, trying to quell the thoughts that were raging inside them.

Taking a brave step over to Almech she reached to place a hand on his head to ruffle his hair, ”I know that Almech is a good doggy.” she said still keeping up her smile and charm, ”And wouldn’t hurt a defenseless person like me.” she took another step closer, ”Over something as silly as a slip up.” she stated, looking into the dogs eyes placing a feeling of lust, and a quick image of herself as she was a few moments ago without the red silk draping over her, using a hypnotic technique called Flash. She moved her hand down his hair, behind his ear, slowly down his neck to rest her hand on his shoulder, ”You are a good boy.” she said, ”Just wanting to do the right thing while still preserving your own dignity. Let me apologize.” she smiled, she was truly a snake, ”for what I said. I did not mean it. Could you forgive me?” she asked the question, again using the question to make them have the illusion of free will. She had not dominated them yet, but she would get around to it in her own time.

She opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by another voice, Drysallas, ”It is time to go.” Upon hearing this the hypnotist looked at the green clad woman who appeared on the edge of the clearing. Nodding she giggled at both of the guys, ”Ok.” she said, ”But, I was having so much fun with these handsome men.” she winked at them both stepping towards Drysalla, ”You think they could come too?” she asked the woman in green. Her only response to that was a sort of rip appearing in the side of a tree. It would then open up further and grow taller. It was their portal, their way of bending the reality of Alvadas to travel where they wanted within the city. Drysalla stepped up to it and went through, ”They can come if they like” Drysalla finally answered the question disappearing into the portal.

Verlyna sqeeed happily and grabbed both of their hands lightly dragging them along, ”Come on.” she urged them, ”We were having so much fun.” she exclaimed before turning to the portal and going in herself.

OOC :

Towers Idol Slanderer Location Link

”Your struggles are useless.” sneered Tower’s as he watched his golems get pounded on. Ah, the worms are squirming in his grasp. Foolish when it is made of steel and wields sharp edges, but as he watched he was surprised as how quickly his golems were going down. Nonetheless there were more where that came from. Art can always be remade, recreated, redefined. These were only his first batch. He could always make changes, he could always edit them, he could always make them better. This was just the observational stage. Taking careful notes on the events that were happening around him he studied the scene further. His golems were less than accurate. He frowned, this was not going according to plan at all.

At a small misstep upon the wreckage of the cobbles Bob's foot jarred the severed head fallen from the rooftops, alerting towers to his little attempt in time to turn and throw one arm up to block the coating of paint. It sloshed over his arm, covering parts of his hair but his vision was left unmarred as he spat and hacked out a glob of green liquid. Bob's drawing of his sword began a tense few seconds as the three nearest golems froze as they noted their master was close to harm. The Tense standoff Bob Barton's actions engineered gave rise only to a dismissive wave of Towers hand, as the golems froze for another ten seconds. Looking balefully at the dwarf the mad maker of the malevolent monstrosities spat once to the side, "First one of you wretches urinates on my work, and now you muddy things about with paint. Paint that has not even touched a brush! How dare you!" the inventor finished with a mad gleam to his eyes.

Reaching backwards to his belt the golem maker pulled out a hammer and long spike from the belt pouch and moved at blinding speeds, using the claw of the hammer as a guard on Bob's blade, forcing it to the side as quickly as he turned to spit and launch into another rant. Shouting useless strings of garbage about the infidelities of the young dwarfish human men. Each epithet coming from the man's mouth punctuated another hammer swing of the small carpenter's hammer, letting the metal meet against the metal blade of Bob's canesword. It seemed there was another thing the idle slanderer had shared with its creator.It was after all the creator's knowledge which helped promote the coding of its programming, albeit in a horrible defunct manner, that was inherent in the city's unhallowed landmark.

The strangest thing Bob might notice is the hammer itself, the one blocking the blows and pushing it back did not mark or mar in any fashion, and the metal of the creation glinted unnaturally to the eye. Was it an illusion, or was the mad inventor insane enough to spend the marketable goods and time to magecraft his tools? The world may never know... perhaps this was merely an echo of his ancient artifice's of his craft, an illusion for an item long since shattered and broken. But come what may... the crazed blows would stop as he spotted a woman in the background.

Though his attention quickly shifted and his eyes grew wide with fear as the barbarian approached him and took a swing at him. If it were not for the grace of the city, which shifted him to the buildings rooftops at the last minute, he would have been gone for. Taking a moment to catch his breath, for the man took it from him as he saw the bash coming from him, he stood up and mockingly said, ”You will have to try harder than that, you rat.”

The Slanderer thought it was the perfect time to chime in, ”The funniest thing is watching you fail.”

Right then the sharp ting of steel could be felt as it cut its way through Ulric, completely piercing his left shoulder, and in front of him a wall appeared. The spear of steel didn’t slow down and slowly drove itself though the brick wall that seemed to be made just for the purpose of pinning the barbarian to it. ”Now, now…” A voice came from the far side of square, ”that was too close for comfort, wouldn’t you agree Towers?” Again, the lady in green appeared.

The small mouse like man had an expression of pure joy on his face after seeing the woman, ”Drysalla!” he shouted down, ”S-so good to see you. My golems were just finishing up here.” he seemed to report to her. She nodded before summoning another steel rod, a spear of her own making. It hovered there before flying towards the barbarian, another deadly projectile aimed for the head, but it pierced the rock barely scraping the mans cheek, ”Best not let that one get too close again. Could be the end of you.” she mused, letting the subject hang in the air as if she thought it wouldn’t be such a bad thing.

”Im glad you got to test your toys out, but its time,” she appeared by Towers, ”To go.” with that she grabbed him by the arm and they disappeared, vanished into thin air while even more and more golems joined the fray replacing those which were damaged easily.

oocYou have a 10 second window to destroy as many golems as you may before Tower's gets free

Miro, Iliana, Kali, and Laute

As Miro and Iliana began to fall they would pick up speed tremendously. More and more they fell the faster and faster they went. That was, well, true for the most part. As they were falling it would not feel like the last time, no, they would feel in fact a deceleration the closer they got to the ground. Accompanying the gradual loss of speed was also a warping of the environment around them. The streets twisted and spun and blurred until it was not even recognizable what they were headed towards. Soon it all became too distorted to be perceived, and therefor was remembered by the brain as black, as nothing. It was unclear how long they were in this nothing, but it seemed to go on for quite some time, but one thing was for certain, they were not voided. This, this was, well, different.

Laute and his slave along with the pycon would experience similar effects happening to their surroundings as well. That is until a spec of light came, and surprisingly the light source came from under them. The blackness continued to be observed until reality slowly faded into place, though they would not be where they were last, no, they were in a room.

Once the clear picture came into view, Miro and Iliana would gently fall the rest of the way to face plan the floor. Nothing too deadly, not compared to the fall they were going to experience. If the group would to look around they would find themselves all within a close proximity of each other, all gathered within a circle. Was it magic that teleported them here? The four were less than a foot apart, barely fitting into the tightly drawn circle.

The room they were in was well lit. It was also well manned, people scurrying about with quill and paper taking notes. Though there were one noticeable person, one, and only one, standing at the edge of the circle. The woman’s hands, gloved in white, crossed holding on in the other as if patiently waiting for something or someone to show up. The light would reveal an elegant looking dress, purple in shade, but the color could not be so easily identified as it seemed to shift just like the city itself. The exact shade of purple never quite being the same tone, maybe it was a trick of the light? Her hair was done up nice and pretty, braids colliding in one another and forming a complex beauty about it. She was none other than Alluvia Lighting, member of the Azure Triad. ”Welcome,” she greeted them, ”Welcome, to the department of Illusion.”

OOC :

Alluvia Lighting :

by **Eridanus** on December 20th, 2011, 10:07 am

OOC*claps* the yarn that you're spinning is getting more exciting every minute, Fally xD

Out of the corner of his eyes Eridanus could see the little pycon rush out as if it wanted to join in the battle, or perhaps serving as a distraction to help him. He sighed, for though he knew that Ihnar could probably not do anything useful, he could understand his frustration at not being able to do anything but just wait. Just then, a golem spun around to moved towards the pycon, and Eri swore quickly, trying to figure out the fastest path to prevent his little clay friend from being turned into several clay friends by the golem's nasty looking axe. The situation seemed pretty dire, for his way was blocked by its other steel brethren and if he had to fight his way there Ihnar would become many different pieces of clay by the time he got there.

Suddenly, as if there was some form of deux ex machina at work, the golems stopped moving. As if they were in a stop-action film, they simply stopped moving. Paused, halted, locked in frame. Eri looked around warily, for the passive abilities granted to him by studying Auristics hinted at something bothering in the region, but his proficiency was not high enough to detect exactly what. He edged his way to Ihnar, making sure to maintain his firm grip on his blades as well as to keep his body facing the golems should they suddenly start attacking again.

As soon as he neared the pycon, his friend began to levitate before dropping again. A female appeared, nearly causing the ethaefal to yelp in surprise, entering a battle stance towards the woman. She was most likely a mage, and it would be troublesome to fight one, though he had the element of speed on his side. He would have to attack her so fast that she did not have time to spin any of her magic against him.

She began telling them that they were safe, and he frowned slightly as his senses began to piece things together. Was she responsible for the golems? She nodded, as if to answer his silent question and they began to fall upon each other traitorously. Eri nodded, sheathing his blades. He picked Ihnar up and put the pycon on his shoulder, for his short legs would reduce their movement speed, and for now haste was of the essence. He did not relax fully, but still kept his guard up as he followed the woman as she introduced herself.

"Eridanus, m'lady. My pycon friend here is Ihnar," the ethaefal replied gracefully, keeping up with her strides as they finally entered the safe haven that was Acumen Asylum. A place of education, a place of reform and rehabilitation, and now in crisis a place of safety.

She lead the way into the hallways of the school, and Eri wondered just how much did she knew regarding the truth of the Asylum. She brought them to a room deep within the educational institute, and as Eri ushered Ihnar and himself in, he barely suppressed a gasp as he found a gathering of the various teachers and other members of the Alvadas community. Mistress Rihea, the Headmaster, some new faces.

The Headmaster!

They seemed to be in some sort of argument, and when the strange eypharian questioned his identity, the Headmaster grinned and welcomed Eridanus back. The younger ethaefal smiled and nodded gratefully, for it seemed that his worries had been for naught. The Headmaster was not angry at him for leaving the city many years ago. It was fortunate, though he thought that the older leth-born would understand his predicament given his many more years of experience and wisdom.

Listening intently, he nodded again imperceptibly to the Headmaster when he realized that the leth-born allowed the eypharian - this Master Karash it seems - to further elaborate on his expected situation for his benefit. He thought for a moment, and figured that it could not just be an elaborate prank. Ionu may have a sense of humour, but he was pretty sure this humour did not involve destroying the god's own beloved city and setting mindless contraptions after its denizens.

"If I may, Headmaster," Eridanus cleared his throat softly, addressing his mentor as well as the collection gathered in the room. He walked nearer to the group in the center of the room, pausing the place the pycon down on a nearby table. "It does not seem like any other ordinary prank. Never have I seen the city behave in such a way, and I would have been in a rather tight spot if m'lady Menna," he gestured to his saviour, "did not help me out. Perhaps we may be paranoid, but Master Karash's point seemed logical enough to be worthy of investigation."

The Headmaster had always paid attention to his opinions when he was within the inner circle of the Asylum, for amongst the inner circle he was the oldest of the lot, having travelled throughout Mizahar and went through many experiences that would have lasted mere mortals a lifetime. He wondered if he was being too forward this time, but an emergency demanded decisions, and if this was most definitely an emergency.

"If fellow masters and mistresses here would be kind enough, I would be appreciative if anyone could fill me in on what is happening," Eridanus addressed the room again. If he read the tone of the gathering correctly and they seemed receptive to that suggestion, he would quickly launch into a summary of what happened to him to fill them in on what was happening outside before he was assisted by Menna. The explosions, the contraptions, the details of the golems regarding their material, weapons, stiff movements and the like. Everything.

After that he would listen and digest whatever information they had to provide. Whether he liked it or not he was a resident of Alvadas as well, and even if he had not found himself caught up in this mess he would want to do something to help his beloved city. He did not tell them about him being found by the agents of Ionu because of some sort of prophecy that marked him as a 'chosen one' yet, though he highly suspected that the prophecy - and the reason why he was brought here along with his other friends in Sunberth - had a very strong correlation with what was happening now.

by **Almech** on December 20th, 2011, 5:28 pm

He looked at the woman again as she apologized and then asked for forgiveness, she seemed sincere enough and his body finally relaxed, although he couldn't place it, but there was another smell about them. It was something he didn't recognize, some kind of rodent? He didn't know and didn't care at the moment rodents ran everywhere in Alvadas "It's nice to meet you two" Verlyna said and Almech knodded and a feeling of goodness overcame him, he smiled at her. Almech looked at Kale with ill content, Kale knew damn well that Almech was justified in his actions, it was then Almech thought the whole situation was a bit odd "It was not a threat, you should know better".

She spoke out against Kale "Oh, no it's fine Kale, it was just a misunderstanding" and Almech truly felt that she felt bad about what she had said, he made no action when she stepped toward him. His eyes shut for a moment and his eyelids and brows twitches as she ruffled his hair, he took a deep breath through his nose enjoying her intoxicating scent. "I know that Almech is a good doggy and wouldn't hurt a defenseless person like me over something as silly as a slip up", Almech opened his eyes and knodded his head and she gazed deep into them.

His heart began to race and his body became all warm as a picture of her previous condition washed over his mind and his body shivered slightly as her hand trailed down past his ear, he felt a suddent twinge and itched it quickly and the hair on his neck stood up when she rested her hand on his shoulder. "You're a good boy" Almech grinned slightly "Just wanting to do the right thing while preserving your dignity, let met apologize for what i said, i didn't mean it, could you forgive me?". Almech had a bashful look about his face, an expression he'd never used or even knew existed until this moment.

Almech then caught another scent, he quickly shot a look in it's direction and saw a woman in green just as she spoke "It's time to go", Verlynas looked at the two warriors and giggled. She then turned to ask the woman in green if they could accompany her, Almech was all for this idea, he liked this lady alot, he shifted back into his dog form and trotted up to Drysallas. He sat in front of her with his beg face on, he stood up on his back feet a laid a playfull lick at the woman's cheek before sitting back down, wagging his furry tail "They can come if they like". Almech hopped up and barked happily before shifting back into a human, Verlynas grabbed Almech's hand and he followed.

by **Antar** on December 21st, 2011, 4:03 am

Chaos and Carnage.

That was what was inside the temple, and it wasn't a pretty sight. But it wasn't something he hadn't seen before either. Slaughter by any other term would still be the same. Even now amidst the flickering firelight, he could see the shadows moving ahead, systematically laying waste to the surviving population of priests. Though his mind had to note the fact that some of the metal golems methods were quite crude and over the top. Beating someone to death took more time then a simple knife to the heart... a clear sign the personage who programmed them wasn't adept in the arts of killing.

The Dhani had entered in front of him, though he still didn't know about the figure being one of those species yet. Rounding a corner, he lost sight of the man as a small bit of reflected light caught his eye. There were the metal golems he'd seen before, he'd heard the clanking But the konti seeress' warnings, the small glint of light within the fires drew his eye. Somewhere on the far side, past a maze of rubble and decay forming an obstacle course through which the metal men moved, his vision rested on the spotted form which caught his eye. He couldn't be sure from this distance, but it seemed like a burnished piece of metal, polished somehow. He supposed it could be a piece of one of the golems, or a temple trophy, but in his mind the woman's words echoed,

The mirror, the light, and the illusion are connected.

He didn't know exactly why, but when Shale the ringmaster entered to begin his assault against the golem intruders, Antar's feet were already in motion.

His progress became arrested by an intervening metal shape, blocking his way with a sword in its arm. Switching his footing, the rogue lashed out with his blade, blocking the strike hard enough to cause the metal automaton to become a bit unbalanced.

Wasting no time, he utilized the opportunity to deliver a stern kick to its chest, knocking it over on its haunches before dodging back out of his range. He didn't stop his forward trek. Scampering over a pile of rubble, his peripheral vision vaguely noted the portal to the void open to the ringmaster's touch, called into being like a set of gaping jaws of some hungry formless beast spread wide to snatch at its prey.

The white haired rogue didn't recognize the man; nor was he sure the man had spotted him, but any human or other minded in this situation going against such a threat didn't seem half bad... at least that was until the void grew larger.

Shoving his sword down into the piles of rubble, he wedged the blade of one of his two gladius into the stones like he would a climbing piton as he held on for dear life. The pull of the void portal was immense as it swiveled back and forth , aiming to suck every enemy into the vaccuum to the tempo of the man's cracking whip. For a small time, it seemed his body was being pulled even against the gravity of the world as his mind gave a small prayer to any god or goddess who was listening not to let him be drawn away into the void.

Eventually, the pull on himself had passed, and the rogue sprinted to his feet to notice Shale speaking towards something far off into the distance. He didn't have a reason to watch for now, the strange pull drawing him towards the glinting light was ever present.

Hopping and jumping through a meadering course through the debris, Antar made record time towards the newest thing to catch.Taking the wall at a run to help propel himself up to grasp the window ledge, the rogue's muscles strained as he levered himself up enough to reach and grasp the glinting object in one hand.

Dropping to the ground, the white haired man bent at the knees to cushion the landing. He didn't know what it was that he had grabbed, and only a cursory inspection made him note that it looked like a mirror of some sort.
A grinding thrash of distant metal on stone split his attention, as he sought to secure the item. Wondering what it meant to the konti's words...
Tucking the mirror underneath into the protective folds of the scale mail, and back and breast, he redid the fastened buckles, cinching them as tight as possible. The strange item which drew his eye would be securely positioned over Antar's heart as he turned to face the giant metal monstrousity which was currently gouging out marks in the temple floor.

His first true sight of the creature was a bit of a daunting one, as his mind calculated its girth to be at least thirty foot high as it tried to crawl and claw its way into the temple grounds. It's metal body seemed corroded in places, yet made of the same burnished metal in others. Like it had been half finished. Calloused, and experienced eyes weighed the gaps in its protective plates, and yet wondered if it could be shielded or some other magical protection. A pit of dread opened in his stomach, as the djed surged to his eyes to scan the creations aura.

He could tell it was magical, like the other automata. But beyond that he could not fathom. All he could do was hiss in pain at the sight of its aura, glowing black, and red, as if the color black could burn itself like an afterimage of the sun in one's eyes as his mind shut the sense down, and smoothly diverted the djed from his eyes.

Whatever way he would be forced to face it, it would be through his other skills alone. Would his bow be able to even damage it? Still considering all the possibilities , as well as scanning his surroundings for any potential escape route, the rogue would notice the macabre artifice of a madman's creation begin to head towards Shale.

Crying out a warning, he'd note the golem increasing its speed towards Shale, [color=orange]"W-!"

Antar's words caught in his throat as a strange sense of dislocation came to his senses. It wasn't the same as before, when the city moved about him. But rather came from the warm pulse of the item near his breast, and for a single moment, the rogue was there, and yet not...

by **Jaeden Kincade** on December 21st, 2011, 9:05 pm

OOCJoining with Fallacy’s permission

Lights shining in the sky, pillars of fire, now golems attacking in the street and pandemonium all around. As if a shifting city of illusion weren’t enough to deal with, now things appear to have gone crazy, which Jaeden was quickly learning in this city was a relative term. For the most part, Jaeden simply tried his best to steer clear of the major encounters and help keep any collateral damage down to a minimum. Red traveled beside him, med kit in hand to patch any small injuries of those they came across, but this whole thing seemed to be erupting city wide.

Jaeden soon rounded a corner and immediately ducked behind. At that point, he simply wondered how long the building would stick around for him to stay behind as Red, bumped into him before looking up. “What?” Red asked, her tone hushed but carrying a curious tone.

Jaeden rose his hand for a moment, hushing further inquires from Red before she slowly crawled between his legs, peeking around the corner as he did. It was there that Jaeden saw the latter stages of the conflict so far. A large man crushing golems with a fit of rage, another with a hammer fending off the attacks of a shorter man. Then the shifting of a building, bringing the man with the hammer out of harms reach.

“Well, they seem to be doing fine so far.” Jaeden whispered under his breath as he leaned forward a little more, bumping lightly into the back of Red’s head.

“Hey, watch the third arm.” Red whispered back as she leaned her head forward a little further from Jaeden’s crotch as she observed what he watched from a crouched position. “So are we moving on then?”

Then it came, as Jaeden’s eyes narrowed and that glint of reflected light shot through the air. A spike of sorts. It pierced the larger man’s shoulder so quickly, driving him back as he became pinned to the wall. A female figure now stood, allied with the man who held the hammer. Suddenly the choice wasn’t so clear cut, and Jaeden let out a slow exhale, pulling his sword free. Red’s head slowly lowered as she moved shifted her stance. “We’re not moving on, are we?” she then whispered, a frown of frustration crossing her features.

“You know me.” Jaeden replied in a hushed tone, pulling an arrow free from his quiver.

“Yeah, but we normally just face down raiders and slavers.” Red replied, looking between the situation and Jaeden. “This is like, giant metal statues and magic, and all sorts of crazy.”

“So let’s get crazy.” Jaeden said with a smirk, as he quickly stepped out from behind the corner of the building he spied from, knowing likely it wouldn’t last long before it shifted from working as cover anyhow.

Jaeden quickly rushed over, seeing the two foes upon the rooftop vanish before they could even be addressed. It didn’t matter in the long run. In fact, it was likely a boon, as he would simply not have any spikes hurled at him. Gods how he hated stepping into trouble sometimes. “Get your med kit handy Red, patch his shoulder up as soon as he‘s free.” Jaeden replied as he stepped up next to Ulric, taking a quick look at the golems as they remained motionless for the moment. “One moment fella. I’ll see if I can yank this thing free.”

Jaeden handed his sword to Red for the moment, reaching up with both hands as he anchored his foot along the wall. His grip tightened as all the muscles in his arms, legs and back went taught with force as he teeth grit with exertion. “Come with me to Alvaldus, she says.” Jaeden grunted as he continued to pull, trying to pull the spear free from Ulric’s shoulder. “We need to stop Sagallius, she says. If that Kontie didn’t have a great rack and firm ass, I’d likely be sleeping cozy in my tent right now without any cares.”

Jaeden continued to pull, trying to free Ulric from his nailed position along the wall. If he was able to, he soon toss the spear aside and retrieve his sword as Red worked to give a quick patch to Ulric’s wound to prevent any further blood loss. If the spear did not budge after five ticks, Jaeden would soon move on to the next approach, and pull at Ulric’s body, sliding it off the spear instead. Either would likely hurt like crazy, a pain Jaeden’s experienced himself before. But better to experience a quick moment of pain, then be stuck, nailed to a wall while more golems appeared.

Completed [Seasonal Quest] Upon a Star (Open)