Open [Nyka Event] Elsewhere Is A Scary Place

[Vladimir Balsam]

There was still lots of screaming outside. Vladimir was still fighting with himself on if he wanted to go out there or not. He was afraid of getting hurt as even the slightest rough hit would hurt him badly. He loved being a Sym but he hated that unless he had a heavy set of armor, which he does not have yet, then his bones were so brittle that even the slightest rough touch would seriously hurt him. *sigh* sometimes being a Sym sucks but over the many years that he has been alive he has learned to deal with it. One of the reasons why he had his grandfather’s bow and arrow. Long distance and he could help many people if he chose to. Attacking from far away was a great way to kill the unexpected. There his thoughts were wandering again.

What the hell was going on out there? Why was this happening? Nyka was supposed to be a safe place to be. Much safer than other places that he has heard about, so why was this happening? Why weren’t the monks helping like they should have been? Why weren’t they able to prevent what was happening? Vladimir had some many questions that him himself could not answer, but he hoped that he could find answers to them, but then that would mean he would have to go outside. Vladimir got up out of his bed and walked to the window, peering outside to see if the crowd had died down some. Sighing quietly to himself; the crowd had died down some but not as much as he would like. Since it was pitch dark outside and you could hardly see, Vladimir didn’t want to risk getting injured. People wouldn’t even see if he did get injured; and right now they probably wouldn’t care either.

Sighing to himself yet again, Vladimir thought about the people rushing outside. He thought about the darkness that had completely taken over the city; and he thought about what would happen if he left his apartment and the darkness made it so he could not enter back into his apartment. Vladimir knew that right now his apartment was the safest place to be. But where would he go afterwards, he couldn’t just stay in here all the time. How long was the darkness going to stay for?

“That’s it!” Vladimir said out loud to himself, “Before I overdue my brain and it starts to kill me, I am going to go out there and figure out what is going on. I am going to get some answers.” He laughed at himself, not sure why he was saying that out loud. It just seemed like a better idea when he said it out loud. Things always seemed more real when they were said out loud. Or to him anyways.

Vladimir then went and put on his silk shirt and his silk pants with the special silk leggings. He would blend into the night, that was for sure, and if he needed to get out of the way he could always climb up a wall and be out of everyone’s reach and sight. Vladimir then went over to where he kept his bow and arrow under his bed and made way for the door. ‘Well if I can’t get back in here, at least I have my bow and arrow’ he thought to himself. He then double checked to make sure he had everything and then headed out of his apartment.

People. People were everywhere. Still screaming. Still yelling. Vladimir walked down an alleyway that was beside his apartment. It wasn’t too crowded there. He looked for a place where people weren’t so busy running and screaming. He had to get some answers. He had to know if there was a way that he could help or if he was to just stay in the back and not do anything, and watch this city crumble. Sighing yet again to himself, he hid in the alleyway and watched, waited, to see where he could possibly get some answers from. Vladimir decided to climb the wall of the alleyway. He could always see things better from atop and even though he wouldn’t get many answers, he could have a wider view of what was going on. Even though it was hard to see in this darkness it was better than someone sneaking up on him and him getting hurt. The wall wasn’t very easy to climb. He slipped a couple of times, and lost his balance but after a couple of minutes he made it safely to the top. He sat down for a couple of minutes.

Vladimir could not remember when he was last freaked out this much. This was actually scaring him pretty bad, and until he could set his mind at ease, even a little bit on what was going on, he was going to continue to be freaked out. That thought scared him a little bit, he didn’t like being freaked out, he didn’t like not knowing what was happening and what was going to happen. Vladimir decided to get up and to move a little closer to the end of the roof and watch at all the people below running about, looking for someone who seemed to know what was going on… looking for someone who did not look so freaked out.

[Rabbit]

Rabbit stared at the sky above in astonishment. Everything was... black. No sun. And it was day! All he knew was that there had been a loud sound from far away, then a massive cloud billowed out from a building. It grew... and the sight scared him, though he didn't know why. Something was very wrong.. he shivered slightly, not sure what to do, but decided it would be best to go look around. He could always hide if needed.

This had been his decision before the sky went dark, and he froze. In Nyka, the Pycon had a phobia of the dark. It was, of course, not without reason, since the city was at it's worst at night. He sat in the middle of an empty area, oblivious to the world around him, trying to console himself. He was a much better fighter now. And... he wasn't hearing stuff, so maybe it wasn't real night. Maybe. He shuddered once, but gathered his courage and began loping away at a fast pace.

His hind legs bunched and extended, and he was almost flying across the ground. Though he was small, his shape as a rabbit made it much easier to move quickly. Their hindquarters were certainly quite powerful. Along the way, he ran into several people running in the opposite direction, screaming, but he ignored them. A strange curiosity drove him to find out what had caused all this, and his common sense seemed to have disappeared. This feeling also erased his exhaustion from running so far for so long, so all that he did was move with blind determination.

It took several chimes, but finally he came to the Tempered Anvil headquarters. And what he saw caused the little creature to gape in astonishment. The entire building was covered in a strange purpley-black substance, and the same cloud stuff was coming out of it. From inside, there came a sound of... moving stone? The whole sight was almost too much for Rabbit, and he sat down and stared at it. What had happened? It didn't look... real, almost, like it wasn't from... here. Feeling brave, and curious at the same time, he removed his whip from his back, with a slight plan.

Moving closer to the wall, within reach of his whip, he held the weapon in both hands and lashed it at the wall, wanting to know what kind of substance it was made out of. It looked sort of like stone, but was porous, and was a strange color. The material scared and intrigued him, and the emotions made him oblivious to the area around him, fixated on the obsidian.

OOCI hope I'm still allowed to post here... XD

[Wrenmae]

Earth and sky shattered with the sound of open maws and dangerous transgression. Wrenmae was beneath the tower when the monk leaped from the shattering window and fell to the cobblestone below. Had the smoke not followed him, the people might have stopped to help or at least see where the monk had fallen. But a nothingness poured from the whole in such complete volume it began to darken the sky.

Feeding djed into his eyes, Wrenmae thought to snag a glance at the thing, this something that hit the air and expanded. But the spell had been cast in folly and the hypnotist reeled from the light of the billion trillion tiny organisms making up the darkness as it spread and moved...contained by the impressive wards the city had maintained.

Wonderful. They were all trapped in here together.

Hissing, Wren approached the monk on the ground. The fellow had fallen quite a distance, but was already rising to his feet. He would have gained it completely in the inky darkness had the edge of a dagger not pressed to the back of his neck.

"Brave survivor," Wren mocked him, his borrowed face twisting into a sneer the monk could not see, "For the sake of we folk on the ground...explain what this is, where it's from, and what your involvement is." Muscles tensed beneath skin and Wren pushed the blade harder, "Ah, ah, ah!" He chided. "Save your heroics for the city. I think she may need every monk available."

A pause.

"But it's really your choice on whether you want to deprive yourself of her or not."



************************

Zan saw many things.

Interest was painted on the young thief's face as she stole into Wrenmae's room to pilfer through his supplies. At first, Zan found her antics amusing. She pushed through each pack with growing interest, even enough to keep her rooted to one spot eyeing the pages of a book. It was Ana, and even with her changed appearance, Zan never forgot a face. Silly Mizaharians were mostly restrained to one form, one body, one shape...so remembering the shapes was the easiest way to identify someone.

He stifled a giggle when she raised the hat to her head and placed it there. But it died when he saw the smoke, through Wren's eye, and saw what it was made of. That darkness was heading towards them.

In a flash, Zan was Wren and accosted Ana with a force she was not prepared to defend against. He picked her up, much as she flailed and shook, and hurled her from the room through the window there, depositing her outside in a rain of broken glass.

The next step were the items. Grabbing all the important things, the three packs, the supplies Wren and Zan had painstakingly gathered through their adventures. They to went through the window. Shadows curled underneath the door, thousands of tiny somethings seeking....something. Zan followed through the window next, pushing Ana away from the building with his things as it was devoured by the shadows.

For a moment they only stared, only watched, close enough to barely see each other in the gathering shadows.

Then...Zan turned to her with a sheepish smile and shrugged.

"We always seem to meet you in the most curious of circumstances, Ana."

[Balderdash]

After a few ticks' tense silence, the monk replied. "Petched if I know! We just took some coordinates from the shooting star. I was there for safety." Another pause, and a slight sagging of the shoulders. Perhaps he had resigned himself to his fate. In a very short span of time, that proved not to be the case. Wrenmae felt a crippling pain in his stomach as a calloused, sandal-clad heel smashed into his groin, followed by a wet scrape as the monk threw himself into a kneel, tearing his scalp open in the process. Another bout of agony struck the Hypnotist as an elbow to the abdomen drove the air from his lungs. Hands pressed against the base of Wrenmae's own neck now, shoving his head down as a robed knee shot up and into his nose. Finally, those same hands shoved down to force him to the ground. In short, burning in the abdomen, breath difficult to draw, nose bleeding, head spinning, and a very angry, bloody monk standing over his former aggressor. "Think I'm afraid of you, boy?! I shitBecause sometimes "Shyke" just isn't enough. knives!" At which point Wrenmae heard the faint whoosh of something flying through the air, followed by the crack and squelch of a ribcage being run through. A soft yellow glow could be seen from the floor, but the poor wizard's sight was beginning to flicker. The last things he saw and heard before he blacked out completely was the monk's corpse thudding to the ground, and a sound akin to bellows above him. ------ Vladimir's searching was not in vain. Though the vast majority of monks had busied themselves on the city's outskirts, from his heightened position he was able to see a dozen or so monks fanning out amongst the crowd, apparently looking for something. Or someone. One of those someones happened to be a certain bald-headed man who had also taken to a roof. Apos had a similar view to Vladimir's, albeit at a different angle. He too noticed a robed figure climbing a building upon which a pale figure was surveying the world around him. The both of them found hands on their shoulders, and orders to follow, and the both of them were led (or dragged, depending on their attitude) to a small clearing in front of the Celestial palace. Elsewhere, Zandelia and Ximal were seized by the collars and dragged to the same, albeit with a few more odd looks and confused inquiries in the babbling woman's direction. Zan and Ana too were hailed and (hopefully figuratively) hauled off. With the lot of them together and surrounded by perhaps eight uneasy, occasionally bloodied monks, a woman quite familiar to the foreigners pushed her way into the clearing. Vysia was, somehow, looking even more irritable than usual, though she still managed to have a grim smile on her face. "Wonderful. They found people who aren't dimwits." she snapped, before limping her way to Zandelia. The poor girl was finally starting to come back to reality, a process aided by a sharp slap from her hostess. "You. Stop being dopey-eyed. We don't have time for that shyke right now." Making her way a few paces back to to address the group at large, Vysia spoke with a booming bark honed by years of swearing at smugglers. "All right, listen up! While normally the likes of these," she jerked her head back in the direction of the monks behind her, "Would be making everything pretty again, most of us are busy making sure that," she jabbed her finger towards the sky, "stays here!" she stamped her foot on the ground. A quick glare was shot at a monk of Xannos who was standing near the wall of the palace before the retired scion of Laat continued. "Now, what with people panicking and Shields needing maintaining, that doesn't leave many left for much else. To be exact, that leaves eight." To punctuate her point, Vysia gestured outwards towards the tiny ring of robed figures around her. To punctuate her point further, one of the monks, who had been in the midst of scratching his arse, paused, pursed his lips, looked to either side of him, and slowly shifted his hand to his side. Vysia closed her eyes and touched a hand to her temple for a moment before speaking again. "So we're drafting you. We're going to find out what the petch ate my hostel, and the other things. Three other things, to be exact. The monks of Xannos want to do their own headquarters, so that leaves us with three groups. We've got the Hostel, the Sharp Tongue pub, and the Sacred Flame. I'd really rather not have more of you than monks, so do try not to all pile into one place, okay? Two or three a team should do it just fine. Hostel to my left, pub to my right, and the Sacred Flame behind me. Savvy? Savvy." Now, Rabbit, being the curious little Pycon he was, did not find himself taken to the impromptu recruiting station. What he found instead, was a little rift in the curious substance just big enough for him to fit through. If he chose to go through, he'd discover he was in a tiny tunnel that opened up into a passageway large enough for a particularly big man to stand in. In the passageway, he'd discover a man lying in a small pool of blood, just starting to awaken. Choose your party!To pick a group, simply step to the appropriate side of Vysia. A link to a thread for your specific team will pop up here shortly after everyone's been sorted. You needn't worry about which location to go to, as they're all effectively the same... At least until you get involved. Group 1- Hostel: Group 2- Pub: Group 3- Flame: Group 4- Anvil: Wrenmae, Rabbit

[Ximal]

Xi was about to try and ask, what the living petch zand meant by the words "it's alive" was the cloud of crap it'self alive or was it something else that the darkness shrouded? Xi opened his mouth to ask and inquire but before he could he was set upon by a hand yanking him backwards by the collar, with a flicker of reaction he turned and socked the monk that had grabbed his collar in the stomach. Or at least that would have been his normal reaction if his head hadn't told him to restrain himself... Xi stayed his hand and listen to the monk which brought him and zand towards the core of the issue. Vysia was taking control of the situation. Or at least in part. Xi listened to her "speakings" about what was happening. Great, split up and find out what the shyke is going on in this mess. Though what about those who don't know what's going on? Hopefully the monks that are going with people will keep them safe... Xi looked around him and watched out for a few things that were happening, seeing others arrive. A strange gaunt man, Apos, Ana and...Wren...Xi could feel a flash of anger burning within him but this was neither the time nor the place to sort out an old score...No right now it was better to work with than against Wren...Hopefully this would go well. Xi tilted his head in an incline towards zan and whispered to her as the groups were yet to be decided. "I think we should split up, you me and...Wren...all taking a group each, that way we know that there's at least one decent fighter per team...Barring the monks." Xi's attention then snapped up and he leered at each of the monks in turn trying to get an assessment of them some how, picking out what little he could. Zan was miles better than him at this but he could see a few little flecks of fear and some knowing faces. Xi looked back at vysia and started to walked forwards moving to stand behind her. He was heading to the sacred flame. Something told him that was where he should go and where he would be needed most. The same something that told him to overcome his fear and leap into the aperture. He was following on his gut instinct...His voice raised above the chaos now, loud enough for the others to hear."Right, i dunno what in the name of the gods this is...But i know that unless we do something were up shyke creek without a petching paddle."

[Rabbit]

Rabbit stared at the gap before him in fascination. What the.... There was a small hole, barely a foot high, that looked like it could barely fit him. Obviously it couldn't be used by any larger creatures... but... The Pycon continued to stare at the abnormality before him, amazed at it's simple existence. It provided an easy path into something... He gathered his courage and hopped slowly up to the entrance to peek inside. What he saw before him was a passage, with a figure at the end. His common sense told him to run away immediately, but something inside him just wondered... what was there? After a short but bloody, in a way, mental battle, the little creature sighed, and forced himself through the opening. He had just stepped into what was probably going to be a pretty damn big adventure, if his senses were right. He didn't know why... but... another sigh escaped him, and he hopped down the passageway on all fours, intently watching ahead of him. Though the entrance was small, the area inside could now quite easily hold most large men. The person lay in the middle of this passage, sort of blocking the way through. As the figure grew larger, Rabbit got a better picture of the person. It was a man... and seemed to be lying in blood, probably his own. And... it looked like he was waking up! The practicality coming back at a weak attempt of a rematch, it tried to make him run away from the figure, in case it was dangerous. Just like before, however, it was easily crushed and he moved up next to the moving body. "Hey. You awake?" He demanded, poking the person hard in the shoulder. He was dying to ask what had happened, and why he was here, but decided it should wait until the person was sensible again. Until then, he continued to repeat the action over and over again, not really caring that this possibly might be hurting the man. Really, all he wanted were answers. Lots and lots of answers.

[Ana Sol Starris]

Turning the pages as quickly and reading as fast as she could to absorb the book, whilst maintaining a consistant pace that allowed her to grasp the information written. The book she was reading spoke magic, bringing the inanimate to life! It was an absurd concept, an interesting one, but an ability that Ana couldn't see herself doing- creating life from nothing? That was a power of gods, and godesses (she assumed, since they are divinity and all powerful- beings not to be trusted) she was but a human, a thief, not a goddess; creating new life was not something mortals should have been able to do, or allowed to, she scrunched her nose up at the book. Why would the occupant of the room even think of trying to do something like this? Perhaps if there had been more time, she would have figured out who currently stayed there, but there was none. "W-woah-" Wait- Wha-!? She almost shrilled out in surprise. Before Ana could even react a pair of arms wrapped around her, and hurled her through the window, shattering glass, which bit into her skin where the jacket had not been present. Her arms had wrapped about her head to protect herself, to shield her eyes from the shards which flittered past her, and then landed on the ground with a prompt "oof" upon impact. She seemed to be doing that a lot more now, falling to the ground, what was it with her and the ground?! Heart battering against her chest, she looked up from where she lay, scrambling to get up as bags were thrown next, the occupant then jumping through himself. It was not whom she had expected, the heart which raced, ceased, paused just long enough to freeze her. It all made sense now, the cape, the hat, the bags, everything... He herded her away from the building, from an unknown terror. Far more shocked than she should have been, her head turned to look behind herself, at the black which descended and engulfed the sky to devour the Hostel they were in mere moments before. Everything was going dark around them, a chill settling in, her eyes found the place of the voice which spoke, familliar, and vague, hard to remember, it had been too long. "Wren...?" She whispered out, not sure if what she was hearing, or had seen was real, for all she knew... This was just a dream. Fearful that it might have been, a shaky hand rose, tittering back and forth as it would find a cheek, and jaw line, eyes widening- she still couldn't believe it. This. "What.. But... How?.." Shouldn't you be dead...? She did not voice her thoughts, too afraid. It can't be, he's right here.. Scared that mayhaps it were true. That what she had overheard was the truth, and she had really gone insane just now... Nevermind the darkness. The hand darted away, as if it had been snapped at, pricked with poison, expecting retribution for having of raised a hand at him even though this was obviously not the Wrenmae she had known in Sunberth, back as Shroud with cold hard black eyes. This was definitely not Shroud, he did not have the cold murderers gaze, nor harshened voice, there was no contempt for her person riddled in his tone; in a letter Wrenmae had said he was whole now, but if that were the case wouldn't he have used 'I' instead of 'We' as in more than one person had met her? Maybe he had thought he was cured, but actually wasn't, she regarded Wren with a curious suspicion. It had been a long time since she last saw him... Her memory was fuzzy on what he looked like, but she was dead sure that whom she was with right now- was indeed Wren. There would have been more said, more done, but a monk came hurrying to them with just a few more behind himself, breathless as he assailed them with a command, or rather a plea as it sounded like to Ana "come quickly, we need all the help we can get protecting the city, so don't stand there gawking at eachother like fools and make yourself useful!" That was surprising, to say the least. She looked from the monk, to Wrenmae, not quite sure what to do... Follow them, or not? That would have to be up to Wrenmae, since she wasn't going to go anywheres without him in the first place. Ana took just a step closer to him, holding her cane tightly. This might not be a good judgement call... But if this is Wren, I'll be damned if I'm seperated again.. Hopefully it was the right call. oocI'm not sure what you want to do Wren, but Ana will tag along with Zan if he opposes the monks, and she'll tag along with him if he goes to the meeting point and chooses a group, lol, if that helps?

[Wrenmae]

Well then.

That's the last time he held a monk at knife point again...at least without intention of killing it.

Wait...did he die?

Those were the first few thoughts that swum into Wren's mind as he swam from the edges of darkness. Fighting the urge to simply let the pounding headache prevent him from waking, he became aware of something...repeatedly...jabbing him.

Something that wasn't quite sharp but sure as blazes was persistent. Wren muttered, waving a hand at the poking thing. Something skittered away from him in the darkness. Yes...it was coming back to him.

The square, the tower, the darkness that pulsated along the sky and ground. All of it was one moving monster, something...many somethings.

Djed swam into his eyes and with barley more than a thought, he blinked Symenestra eyes in the darkness. He found that for night vision, Zith and Symenestra eyes were more preferable over a feline variety. He focused on the....

animated...

bunny...

thing....

That had been poking him and blinked, rubbed his eyes, blinked, then rubbed them again. Around them, shadows and pulsing purple lines ran over everything...casting a strange pallor.

The same purple something that swallowed up the hostel where Zan had been.

So...he was inside now, when he had most CERTAINLY been outside before.

And being accosted by what appeared to be a child-mage's remarkably detailed animated bunny friend.

"Gods," he muttered, fixing his eyes on the thing, "What manner of mage created you, little fellow? You're sophisticated for something so small."




**********************************


Wren wasn't dead. Which was good. Because Zan had no sooner said the words to Ana than doubled over and held his neck, choking. While Wren was blessed with unconciousness, Zan had no such concept. Instead he was aware of his partner's gaze fading, his own power likewise fluctuating, and then stabilizing again.

There was a warm glow...then?

Well. At least he was still alive.

The monks that beckoned them seemed a more welcome site than any other bounding monstrosity, so the not-mage picked up his things and set them between two homes, taking back a long dagger and snatching the hat from Ana's head, placing it on his own with a rueful grin.

"Best we play follow the leader here, Ana," Zan cautioned, following the monks, "Better than playing guess who at all those figures moving around the darkness, eh?"

Zan wasn't feeling fear, nothing so visceral. He was excited...so much so that he didn't think to disguise himself when they had gathered together. Zan, Ximal, all the folk Wren had told Zan to keep himself hidden around.

Weeeeeeeeeeeeell....Wren was unconscious, so wasn't really in any position to give orders.

"Well, well, well Ximal!" Zan waved exuberantly, "You look GREAT for a burn victim!" Any glares his way was met with a bright and optimistic smile.

When the monks outlined their plans, Zan stepped forward and saluted smartly, "Ms. Monk, Ms. Reporting for the Sacred Flame...mostly because it sounds the most interesting out of the options you mentioned."

Turning smartly he pointed, "I pick...Ana and Xi for my team." As if realizing he might need an explanation for volunteering them, he shrugged and turned with an apologetic smile. "Well, Ana cause she's a sneaky lil thing, all light as a butterfly, crazy as a loon...and Ximal's her effective opposite. Like a lumbering bear in a stretched out flesh suit, don'tcha think?" He jabbed a thumb over the shoulder at Ximal. "So I pick those guys."

He turned swiftly on both Ana and Xi, "We're on the same team guys! Celebrate! Old times are here! Well...sorta old times. I was around, but not like...around and...man it's always hard to explain these things. Tell you what, you join my team and I'll play Wren's part and tell you a story on the way. Sound good? Good."

[Rabbit]

OOCHeh.. and I thought the lore of Pycon culture was going to be useless... Rabbit, hearing the response, glared at the man before him. He completely ignored the 'sophisticated' part, and was insulted by 'mage created'. Mage created!? He was a Pycon! Not made by any mage out there!! He stomped his foot in irritation, then, still irritated, kicked the man in the shoulder with the same foot. "I was made by no mage!! I am a Pycon!" He stated, growling. True, he could have gone into a history lesson, explaining how his race was created by Harameus. Yes, they were technically created by a mage called Rupert Pycon, but he was just a prophet of Harameus really. And anyways, Rabbit himself wasn't created directly by either of the two. He was born from his mother, quite similar to the way humans were born actually. One thing that caught his eye however, was the strange appearance of the man's eyes. The irises were not a normal color, the pupil large... and they were glowing. Like a cat's eyes in the dark. He gave the figure before him a strange look, unsure what this meant exactly.... then the Pycon shrugged mentally, deciding not to care. It was time to get to the... interview. "What is this place? What are you doing here?" He insisted, not really caring how strange this looked. Really, a little rabbit interrogating a man... well, Rabbit was used to this kind of scene, and his size rarely bothered him any more. In his opinion, it was an advantage. He thumped his foot against the ground again, impatient.

[Wrenmae]

Wren hissed, pushing himself onto his knees and out of the rabbit's reach. Pycon...where had he heard that name before? Of course! Rupert Pycon, the alchemist Rayage had told him about back in Zeltiva. Now that he thought it over, was he not responsible for a race of animated clay people that called themselves Pycon? At the time, the storyteller had assumed 'race' was exaggerated and that a bunch of his tiny little army remnants were running around.

But honestly, how did one expect to make an army out of mildly irritating rabbits?

"Awfully loud for such a rodent..." the mage muttered, getting slowly to his feet and looking around. The last he remembered, he was being strangled by some gods damned monk in the square...now he was here within the same something that had consumed the hostel. Zan played at the edges of his consciousness, and Wrenmae ignored him for now. The familiar was capable of taking care of himself.

"This place appears to be a building of some sort," the mage said sarcastically, "And as you found me unconscious and I remember last being outside...I can neither tell you what nor where we actually are...in fact," he wheeled on the rabbit, "You'd be far more capable of telling me that...unless your toy-kind are capable of becoming senseless and you ended up here in much the same way as I."