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

[Puck]

79th Day of Summer, 510 AV

In the conservative region far from the chaotic edge, individual elements coalesce slowly, showing no clear pattern.

Dawn broke over Riverfall with abandon that could only be found in Summer. Light crept through the top tier of the city while shadows still clung to their dominance in the lower levels. Today would be another day of industry in the home of the Akalak. Children would train, smiths would forge, and miners would set off into the earth. This was a city soon to hum with productivity, a haven of opportunity.

Even the animals had embraced the aura. The fauna of Sanctuary had long since grown accustomed to the opportunities hands presented. Not because they had any, but rather because the hands gave them so many nice things. When the sun rose, each animal received its due. So now they stirred from slumber, somnambulists until food slid down their gullet.

To best facilitate the awakening of the animals, hands must be present. Kavala too, had long since grown accustomed to the opportunities hands presented. Now her internal clock roused her, waking with the dawn and the animals. Looking about her, the Konti found the usual company of three: Akela, Flick, and Dyrid. She also knew that Raiha would soon awaken in the mews. The room Kavala awoke in was the same as always, harboring the Drykas like furtniture she was so accustomed to. Both the room and friends were familiar, almost nothing was out of place.

Kavala felt a cold dampness on her skin though, as if she had just emerged from the lake of the White Isle. Her hands would meet only dry skin or cloth though. The strong stench of the ocean met Kavala's nose. It almost seemed as if Laviku had deposited it into the Suvan overnight, everything was permeated with the smell.

Time was cut short for ponderance of the mystery at hand, for Kavala's medicine bag suddenly writhed about. It tipped over with a clatter, and a scalpel cut through the siding of the kit. The razor sharp knife floated in a small wisp of mist, and darted through the air above Kavala's head. It impacted the wall, and dragged itself across the wooden surface to carve out a sequence of letters. Coalinga.

Had they not already, the others would awaken soon.

[Kavala]

Kavala had no experience of any sort with anything like what was going on in her view. Dawn was just breaking outside and Sanka was up on top of one of the roofs crowing his fool head off. If that wasn't enough of an alarm clock, the medical bag tipping brought her into full awareness. Just in time, of course, to see the knife fly and then begin its grisly work. Truth be told, Kavala had never even heard of a ghost, let alone understood what she was seeing.

The Konti kicked back the covers, elbowed her way past whichever sleeping form was closest, and made her way to her feet. Eyes wide, she stared at the blade carving into the wall - having no idea of what the words meant. Coalinga? It sounded vaguely familiar, but she couldn't place it immediately in the terror of the moment. Terror perhaps would have been a bad term, but what she was witnessing was so abnormal, so unnatural, that it did equate to terror in her mind.

"Get up. Everyone, get up!" She said fiercely. Kavala had no weapons on the living level, no means to reveal the unseen menace. But she was sure it was someone invisible or undetected... someone watching them sleep and invading their privacy.

[Akela]

"Mmm, just five chimes," Akela mumbled in the blurry expanse between sleep and consciousness as her sister urged everyone to get up with uncharacteristic urgency. Mornings were usually a much more peaceful affair at Sanctuary, even with the ever growing crowd populating Kavala's bedroom. At first, Akela thought her sister had just had a bad dream like so many times before, but when her agitation failed to subside and actually got worse, the Konti's eyes opened to the sight of an automatic scalpel.

Definitely no one but Sorian in his worst moments was even emo enough to carve letters on the furniture. Akela jumped out of the bed, still sleepy in the head. No more savvy than Kavala on matters of the ethereal, her brain struggled to understand the phenomenon taking place in the room. "Did you put something weird in the soup again?" she asked with an exasperated edge to her voice. Indeed, Kavala's cooking was a preferable explanation to the supernatural.

She reached under the bed and pulled out her katana, not so much to use it against an invisible interloper but to keep it from joining the scalpel on its wild ride. There was little the girl could do when she couldn't see anyone to drive a blade into. These situations were for the likes of her sister and Vanator, not for her. Even the Kelvics had more leadership in them than Akela. And so, she just waited for someone to tell her what to do, and how to do it. 

[Hatot]

Hatot remained knelt in the morning light of the sun outside of Sanctuary, his eyes closed as he attempted a relaxing meditation. His breathing was slow and calm as he attempted to clear his mind of thoughts and Radris’ voice echoing in his head. It was not to be, however, when the sudden calls from Kavala from within Sanctuary broke all concentration and forced his eyes opened wide.

He was to his feet and rushing inside within the blink of an eye, his feet thundering along the wooden surface of the steps as his legs covered four to five steps in a single stride. The door was opened loudly as it swung around, hitting the wall and rattling the door for a short moment. The golden hues of his eyes gazed around, spotting Kavala first and then Akela, before they searched for the source of trouble that Hatot heard from Kavala’s voice when she yelled out.

A soft exhale was then given when he spotted no signs of aggressors, no one wielding swords looking to cut down any in the room. His gaze finally fell along the wall, and the scalpel imbedded into it, noting the last movements of the carving it was making. His brow knotted up slightly in confusion over the event as he straitened his stand. Slow, calmer strides were taken as he crossed the room, before both of his hands rested along Kavala’s shoulders, looking into her eyes. “Are you all right?” He asked in a concerned tone, gazing over her for a moment to check for any cuts or other injuries.

[Flick]

Flick was awake. She'd been awake for a while, since she'd smelt the damp. Eyes wide, tucked in close to Dyrid, she turned her head and directed her huge ears to Kavala as she sat up. Little body quivering, she'd immediately heard a sound on the ground, before the bag tipped over. A blade flew through the air, and as the fennec watched, a word carved itself into the wooden wall. Each scratch of metal on wood made her twitch and she felt like running for her very life.

As Kavala lept from the bed and approached the wall, the little fox growled in warning and fear, nostrils working overtime. Why did it smell like some rotten bog? Why had the blade moved on its own. Aleka woke next, and picked up her own sword, for which Flick was thankful. The sound of Hatot entering the room reached her ears before he did, and still growling, she sat up, body pressed firmly against the warmth and protection that Dyrid offered. Her Dyrid.

[Raiha]

Raiha had been getting up to get ready to start the day, gathering Uzima and her falconry gear - both Suvai, her hunting knife, and other equipment necessary had been on her belt. She had thought she might have gotten a bit of time in to go and scout for moles and groundhogs, and maybe see about bagging a pheasant. With all the mouths to feed around Sanctuary, a pheasant didn't go very far, but two or three of them might. The Akontak always slept with her door ajar to the outside in these warm days of summer. Diallo sometimes liked to go in and out at night, and Raiha always liked keep an ear on anything happening outside. Either Uzima would let her know, with her keen hearing, or Diallo would, or Asim.

She was getting ready to attach Uzima's jesses when the deerstalker's head went up, and he stiffened. Raiha looked up, frowning, as he headed for the door, his hair on end, and started barking. "Down," she told the goshawk, setting her on one of her long perches again. She put the leash aside, gauntlets still on as Diallo charged out the door, hair up all along his spine, and Raiha broke into a run to follow him. She soon realized where he was going - the deerstalker had spotted Hatot, and was chasing after him. Or, at least, heading towards Kavala's quarters. That... made no sense. Diallo had met Hatot, and wouldn't chase him down for no reason - not with him being a frequent guest around Sanctuary. What had just happened? Was Radris on a bender...?

Bewildered though she was, she raced from one end of Sanctuary to the other. Her own room was at the opposite end of the place from where Kavala, Akela, Flick, and Dyrin bedded down, not that she minded - it worked well. Besides, this way she wasn't bothering anyone with her own habits of coming and going - she had plans to catch herself an owl to hunt with at night, and to explore Riverfall with one. Diallo advanced up the stairs, squeezing his bulk in behind Hatot as Raiha followed, looking around the room. There was nothing there. How... how was there nothing there? Her eyes darted around the room, and she started at the writing on the wood. She exhaled, summoning her Djed, and put it to her eyes, focusing, turning the people and contents of the room to auras that she could read, looking for any other possible clues or hints as to what was going on. She was still a novice at Auristics, but that didn't mean she couldn't see.

[Taithrosa Eldytia]

OOCKail will be joining, but she has given me permission to explain her location until she has caught up on sleep and is posting again. Which hopefully should be soon. Taithrosa and Kail had actually spent the night over at the Sanctuary. Helping around with the animals and speaking with other healers. Kail enjoyed being around other Konti, especially onces that weren't living at the cities woman center. When they had realized what time it was the previous night it had been to late to return home to Taithrosa's house, so they had settled into one of the spare room for the night. Taithrosa had left before sun rise to pratices his morning meditation pratices. He had gone to the beach and stripped of his clothing and sat in the soothing waves of the water. His skin had glowed off the water as he meditated. Just before the sun rose though he had ended his meditation feeling that the time of Syna's reign was at hand. He had departed the water and walked towards the shore. He had dried off, gotten dressed and was returning to the sanctury when he noticed that Hatot was also outside trying to meditate. He smiled approvingly. The more he learned of the youth Akalak the more he approved of him. He wasn't one of the dark ones of the race, but instead fought against the darker nature and proved his inner strength. The silver eyes blinked in surprise at the scream and as Hatot shoot off. Taith quickly began to follow the other Akalak and raced behind him. He had been farther back arrived at the back of the crowd, but given how crowded the room had already become he was unable to really look into the room and see what was going on. His eyes narrowed though wondering what was going on, because from what he could see there wasn't some insane killer or actually anything odd, until he noticed the word on the wall. He tilted his head and desided they needed to get the story of what had happened. "Is everyone alright." He asked and then spoke up. "What happened here?" He wondered if they had awoken to this or what.

[Dyrid]

Dyrid slept on the floor at the foot of Kavala’s bed in the security of his fur. Normally he stayed in the stables but last night decided to move upstairs and sleep with the rest of the group. Feeling that his rather large tiger form would over crowd the bed he picked a nice spot on floor, and was surprised to find out Flick had joined him.

Feeling Kavala’s terror through their bond he was awake before she had the chance to speak, the pungent stench of stale water overwhelmed his senses. The kelvic had no explanation what so ever to why a scalpel was moving on its own over were they slept. However Dyrid was captivated by the sight, he has never seen an act of paranormal phenomenon before only heard stories and rumors. The little fennec’s growl brought back the sense of danger to moment all four of them were witnessing.

Myrian tiger placed himself between the mystical scalpel, Kavala, Akela, and Flick so if the scalpel decided to go rouge he could intercept. When Akela grabbed her own katana he was slightly relieved, it was one less blade they had to worry about moving around on its own. Hatot, Raiha, and Taith all came through the door at relatively the same time Dyrid was glad to have more witnesses to this phenomenon. Matching Flick’s growl with one of his own, looking at his bondmate for direction because he couldn’t fight an invisible intruder.

[Puck]

The shocked and confused expressions dancing onto each individual's facade as they entered the similarly stunned room would have been rather comical to an outsider. Rather like a herd of deer clasped in the grip of some blinding light, the partystood enthralled. A sliver of a second after the scalpel had meticulously carved out "Coalinga", it fell free of its mystic bondage to clatter mundanely on the floor. For a moment, the room was quiet, the racket of the scalpel suddenly leave an empty space where sound should have filled. The smell of ocean that filled Kavala's nose had fled, and so too had the dampness.

As Raiha allowed the Djed to flood her, the world before her transmuted into one of swirling colors and impressions. The auras of her companions seeped out of their bodies like a fine, colored mist, each begging for the aurist's focus. Yet, amongst the dim glow was another one decidedly out of place- it had no body. Out on the deck, a coalescing aura of muted, curious greens and tumultuous reds stood out. If Raiha peered intensely, she might just notice the foggy frame of a slight woman standing out on the deck. Focusing on the aura, she would have noticed a bright, obvious streak of surprised yellow streak.

None other than Raiha saw the being approach, for the sun shot lances of light through the faint soulmist, leaving much to be desired in regards to visibility. The aura passed through the glass, still nigh translucent but detectable by the observant. Immediately, the salty scent returned, and wetness lightly saturated the party's skin. A peculiar color arose in the aura as it entered the room, and approached the aurist. It was almost a pa- suddenly the color amplified a magnitude as the entity rushed forward toward Raiha.

The Akontak may have tried to flee, she could have turned and run, dashed to the side, a number of routes lay open to the girl. However, the ethereal creature bounded across the room with astounding celerity, passing through material like it had faltered in its existence. It reached the Akontak, dipping ice water limbs into her shoulders. A deep moan resounded from Raiha's bones, sending cold sweat and shivers down her spine. As the creature slid into the Akontak's body, she could feel control slip through her fingers line fine sand. Naturally, her brain struggled against this unseen invader, but it was like slapping at a waterfall to stop the torrential force. It slipped under her defenses, and into her mind. Woe upon the seeker of answers, for Raiha was now an observer.

A strange voice came from Raiha's body, delicate and venomous, "Greetings, ignorami. I see that more subtle methods did not penetrate even the most intelligent of you dolts. It is a fortunate thing for us all that I lingered to ensure your success!" A sickly sweet smile lit up Raiha's face, and angry overtones seeped into her voice as she continued, "I really cannot be more candid or simplistic than that." The Akontak pointed to the words inscribed on the wall. "You should really meet me at the Coalinga Gem Mines, otherwise I'm not sure how well this establishment of yours, Sanctuary, will fare." By now the anger had fled her voice, returning it to a neutral stare that pierced each and every person in the room, "I really do apologise for this force, and I do recognize the fact that I am giving you little choice in the matter, but alas you must comply."

A slight sigh loosed itself from Raiha as her right arm began to contort, jerking violently for a second before slowly changing. "Oh damnation, apologies I am a bit rusty." The arm grew scaley, quite resembling a lizard. Not only that, but the limb commenced shrinking in length, growing shorter until it was only three quarters the length of her left arm. "Well, I do believe that will do it. You see, since I do not see you immediately complying, though it be for your benefit in the long run, I have decided to implement the practice you post Valterrians call "blackmail". The game is simple, do what I say, and she is returned to normal."

"I say, go to Coalinga." The ocean scent vanished, all skin was dry, and Raiha came back to herself, suddenly feeling very tired..

[Akela]

As everyone gathered in the room, something happened to Raiha. Akela wasn't sure why it was Raiha of all people - though certainly Akontaks were more than a little on the weird side and the girl had often wandered in her youth if their condition made them hermaphrodites or something. What mattered was that Raiha started being someone else, and whoever controlled her like a puppet stated their request. They had to go to this Coalinga place. Akela didn't even know there were any mines around Riverfall. The people of the Grass weren't really into caverns and mines.

Akela wasn't pleased. She felt her territory of sorts violated by someone who made demands without so much as an introduction. It didn't matter to her what it wanted, or why; you just didn't make deals with someone this untrustworthy. By now it was clear the entity was some kind of spirit or ethereal magic-thing. It wasn't a god, and that much told Akela there must be someone around who could pummel it around and carve it a new ethereal behind.

"And I say," Akela spoke out, tapping the tip of her katana on the floor, "we just find ourselves a spirit-doctor or something and blast this piece of shyke into oblivion." Kavala would be the one to assist Raiha through her trauma. Akela had grown up absorbing the values of a culture in which dignity ranked above shallow compassion. You could do someone a favor by putting them out of their misery if it came down to that. Akela turned to Kavala expectantly, with a look in her eyes that seemed to beg 'don't cave!' Quite literally, if one considered the place they were supposed to go.