Quest Catch a Falling Star

[Languish]

37th of Spring, 517 AV

Midnight is a traditionally frightening time. It is when the ghouls begin to howl, and the predators' eyes begin to glow. It is when the magic of the day slips away, leaving no longer a trusty steed but a mangy rat, and no longer a fine dress but unprotective rags.

It was only just past Syna's peak, nearing lunchtime, but with the thick canopy to shade them and the moss holding cool mist beneath their toes, the party may as well have been traveling at midnight. The air was just the same in the eerie chills it sent.

Ahead of the party lay twisted branches and untamed plants, all criss-crossing their path- if the route could indeed be called a path in such a state. Along the edges of it were bushes with smatterings of foreign, colored berries, pebbles of various shapes and sizes, and tiny, slimy bugs with twitching antennae crawling up and about over the ground. If there were a way to go around the Wildlands, any sane guide would have taken it. Sadly, no such thing existed for this venture, and so the party was stuck with their own wits and each other to navigate toward the star, and survival along the way.

OOCAbsolutely feel free to interact with the environment or each other. Also remember that travel and survival is the main priority here. That could mean stopping for lunch or eating along the way. It's up to you guys.

[Aerius]

Every season remained the same; with winter came cold, with summer came heat, with spring came growth of vegetation, and with fall came a mild cool. Aerius did not care for any of them, and absolutely loved the idea of further research. After all why should a study remain incomplete when it could be perfected? The Immortal looked down only to notice a layer of mist at his heels when he walked, and the cool feeling against his flesh. The feeling was typical to him being that ice constantly spontaneously produced itself across his flesh. He would forever remain cold, and that was but one of his many burdens to bare. A sigh exited his lips, and he continued to pace forward until he arrived at a destination with nothing more than mangled plants.

Aerius received the letter from the council of five, and immediately volunteered himself to take part in the adventure. He had not seen much of anything outside of Sahova in several hundred years, and felt like the opportunity was grand. The immortal wanted to gain as much information as possible about everything around him. This particular case was no different, and as per usual he carried with him a journal alongside his quill and a vial of ink. The Immortal did not have a need for anything else; as he did not believe he required any weaponry. After all he was a weapon, and simply knew that if he ran into any familiar faces that he would remain silent.

He did not mind the idea of working alongside other individuals. Yet, he typically saw mortals as fools who were going to eventually die. Most of them would not become like him, but would become typical nuits bound to swap bodies for all of eternity. They were nothing more than beasts doomed to die like the remainder of life forms. Wastes of resources should not have existed on Sahova, and he could not wait for an opportunity to prove such a thing to the council. His first objective was simply to gather all of the information he could, not to fail, and to present everything he found. The mission would be one that they could not afford to fail.

Aerius quickly pulled out his journal to take short notes regarding the area. “Fruit, twisted vegetation, short plants beneath my feet. Mist, and cool air “ He wrote some observations down, but not very many as he felt like he would not have time. The Sorcerer wanted to keep a log of this adventure for however long it may last.

[Clyde Sullins]

37 Spring 517

Clyde had spent his fair share of time traveling through the wilds of Sylira. He was always more interested in his destination than the trip, and usually broke up the monotony by some side project or other.

The last time though that he'd been out on a proper expedition to some point deep in the wilds he'd been traveling to the northern coast from Ravok. Before that had been the Ravokian trip to set up a outpost on the coast of the Suvan, a trip which had been cut short by the Djed Storm of 512.

He'd grown quite a bit since then, both in terms of power and knowledge, but likewise had the threats he'd come to face down grown.

The cold air and mist below the tree line reminded him of days of his youth spent in the woods outside of Syliras practicing Reimancy. He'd grown even more since then, back from whence his tale as a Mage began.

One clear distinction between his past forest travels was the Aura always on the periphery of his vision, like an out of focus light in the corner of his eye. From his one time examining it as it fell he knew the aura, a mark of his skill with Auras, that of the falling object that wasn't a star. On this trip his mission was also his side project and interest, the odd oversized aura.

Unlike the aura of the mouth-less beast he'd fought in the wilds, this aura wasn't so dense or blinding, but still was far larger than seemed reasonable.

Cha in his hand Clyde traveled along with his party companions, a small side bit of his mind absentmindedly teasing away at the not star's aura, his main focus on guiding him through the wilds.

His main focus was on not falling off of the horse he was riding, something that should have been quite easy to anyone else but Clyde. The horse was on the older side, not quite greying, but without much pep in its step. It didn't gallop, simply plodding along at a good steady pace with the group. Of course as they were deep in the wilds moving much faster than a good steady plod wasn't really too possible.

The one time it had gotten the idea to give a short burst of energy and move into a canter Clyde had nearly fallen right off of it, and was glad it hadn't felt the urge again since.

In truth Clyde was doing rather little besides sitting on the horse, not even truly guiding it, something he wasn't aware of. Besides being on the more sedate and older side, the horse was also well trained, knowing to simply follow the horse in front of it. It had never been a lead horse, and was usually used as a pack horse to follow others. As such it followed along behind Sayana's horse, surprising Clyde whenever it stopped without him commanding it in response to the lead horse stopping.

Someone had known of Clyde's lack of riding skills when Clyde had requested one, and had perhaps chosen wisely in giving him the one they had. They had also likely chosen well to not tell Clyde about that choice, though likely anyone who knew much about horses or their handling would recognize his "steed" for what it was.

Clyde continued on in his illusion of thinking himself doing quite well riding, and that he was leading and commanding the horse along on their trek.

[Sayana]

Spring 37th 517 - Syliran Wildlands

Upon landing on the coast of Sylira, Sayana had elected herself as the leader through the wilds. For the most part, at least. There were certainly times in which she deferred to Clyde, who essentially acted like their compass, or Faradae with a true bird’s eye view. But through the dense underbrush of the young and thick forests, Sayana often led the way in and around trees, over fallen logs, fording small streams, and going up and down treacherous hills sometimes even too steep for the horses to climb. And then of course, rerouting her path when the current one seemed impossible due to a cliff face, a set of rapids or something else just as untraversable.

The Eypharian looked back and smiled fondly at the greying horse on which the master mage rode. For the most part, the mount seemed to keep up with Sayana’s white mare, always following closely behind especially when navigating over a particularly high log. Branches were sometimes equally obstructive, and despite her efforts at choosing the best way through the woods, there were times when even she had to crouch down to avoid a thick tree branch.

Strangely, the forest had begun to lose its dense undergrowth and instead it was replaced by gnarled dead branches and equally rotted out logs. But what was more unnerving was the growing darkness despite it being midday.

“You think it’s going to rain?” Sayana asked aloud but to no one in particular.

The trees were taller here and more looming as if older. As Sayana looked up, she couldn’t see the sky and it felt like it was growing darker still. The Eypharian wore travel gear: beige pants and a simple vest and top. A large fallen tree with most of its branches still intact blocked their path, and she gave a tug of the reins to the right to find a way around it. She moved no faster than a walking speed despite being mounted on Stardust, but for long extended traveling it was worthwhile to sit and rest one’s legs for a time and also switch to stretch one’s legs.

In the darkening light, she glanced over to where the nuit was scratching something down with a quill. Shaking her head at his antics, she decided it was due time for a break and a chance to take some precautions. Leaning back in her seat and with a slight tug of the reins, she halted and dismounted from Stardust.

“Anyone for some hard-tack or some water?” She asked as she rummaged in her saddle bags to pull out pieces of the well preserved but tasteless food. She also produced a vial of some purple liquid. Pouring a small amount onto her finger tips, she rubbed it onto her mare’s neck in a rather prominent location. The horse gave a small nicker and snort, but in moments there was a faint violet glow in the circular area where she had placed the fluid.

“Clyde, may I put some on your horse? It’s gotten awfully dark. Too dark. And I wouldn’t want to lose your horse, should something happen. Don’t worry, it’s nothing permanent.”

For a moment she looked around for Rye as if mentally going through her checklist of those she needed to look after. Yet the shadow dog was more than just a little hidden and on second thought she figured that Rye could look after himself. At least in the darkness.

Her fingertips still glowed with the luminous poison, however, it was more a means to indicate her own location to the others rather than to actually light her way through the darkened woods.

[Faradae]

Faradae While Faradae was delighted not to travel alone for a change, she found herself spending more time by herself than with the group as they travelled into the woods. It was not as if she was not interested in talking to them, but everyone seemed to have their thoughts somewhere else. Clyde appeared to be quite concentrated most of the time and she did not want to disturb him. Aerius, the nuit, was constantly scribbling into a notebook and emanated an aura that was not too welcoming. On top of that, Faradae had a fair amount of respect of mages in general. She did not understand what they did. It scared her a little. Sayana was the person in the group that she felt closest to, but the woman was busy finding a path through the trees that the horses could follow. It seemed strange to Faradae that someone would choose horses for a journey through a stretch of land that almost solely consisted of forest. She was aware that not everyone was as self-sufficient as a bird was, but it felt like the animals were slowing them down, especially since not everyone in the group was an especially accomplished rider. Herself, she was glad she did not have to sit on a horseback. Since she had joined the group later than the rest, there was no steed for her, but she was faster on wing, anyways. While the rest of them were trudging along on the ground, she soared ahead over the treetops, scouting the area. She had spotted good resting places before, sheltered clearings and small creeks to drink from. The general view was always the same, however: Trees upon trees. She wondered how far this forest stretched, and whether they would reach its edge before they found the star. When the sunlight began to fade, she descended back to the rest of the group. It was surprising how much darker it already was near the forest floor, with the canopy shielding most of the sky from their view. It was only spring, but the leaves were already quite developed. She landed in a sheltered position, shifted and snatched her clothes out of one of the saddlebags she had stowed them in earlier. Stepping over to where the others had gathered, she dusted some horsehair off her shirt. It made her sneeze. Sayana was busy marking the horses with a liquid Faradae did not recognize. It looked funny, but the colour was pretty. She imagined the mess she’d have made if she’d gotten her hands on something like this as a child. “I’m glad we’re taking a rest”, she remarked. “I was getting tired of counting trees.” She came a little closer to see the liquid on the horse’s neck fade into a faint gleam. Interesting. “We might want to look for shelter, too. The clouds look like we’ll get some wind and maybe-“ A single droplet landed on her forehead, proving Sayana’s earlier question all too justified. Faradae sighed. “Maybe it’ll rain.”

[Languish]

As the party grouped together against the trickle of rain from the canopy, the wildlife around them also stirred. Birds settled into the trees, nestling together under the protection of the leaves. Small rodents on the ground scurried into dens or under great plants, their noses twitching just barely visible beyond the foliage. Despite being a deterrent for most animals, though, the rain did bring out one kind of wildlife- bugs.

As chimes passed, slowly the insects began to emerge. Most were little more than a menace; mosquitos buzzed, brightly colored beetles swarmed, and worms wriggled from the ground as they always do. Indeed, none would have been a problem had the bright colors of the poison not been introduced.

As Sayana rustled in her saddlebags, the scent of food reached the slugs, and they began to head in the direction lazily. They moved at a crawl at first, as slugs do, but upon spotting the luminescence of the poison, one by one they began to put on a burst of speed. The slugs jolted forward by a foot before continuing on their slow-speed trek. A few were crushed by the treacherous terrain, under logs or the feet of animals, but more than a handful continued into plain sight. No noise was made, but the distinctly smeared colors of pink and black would be highly noticeable against the green backdrop.

The horses would be ignored for the most part, as their fur and hooves were uninteresting in their color and smell. It was the saddlebags they targeted, and the brightly-colored poison on the adventurers' belongings.

Should one reach one of the adventurers, it would attempt to climb up the nearest limb, immediately digesting any interesting items or portions thereof that they might be able to stuff into their inch-wide, gaping mouths.

[Sayana]

Sayana would respect Clyde’s wishes, one way or the other. She knew better than to force something upon him without his consent, especially something trivial like this. It would likely be helpful if one of the horses bolted, but not absolutely essential. Even, she was careful with the luminous poison and not to get it everywhere. She only used her first two fingers of her high left hand because for one she didn’t want to waste it, and secondly she wanted to be able to conceal the glow on her own skin if she needed to remain hidden from an unexpected enemy.

After Sayana had made her markings, she began handing out hard tack. The eagle, Faradae, was soon among them and putting on her clothes. Even though she should be used to it by now, Sayana still found herself surprised at the sudden appearances and disappearances of the kelvic. The Eypharian would be generous handing out the food, however in the back of her mind she knew that the supplies were starting to run low again. Who knew how long they would be traveling to find the fallen star…

At Faradae’s mention of shelter and consequent drops of rain, Sayana began to look about the woods. A cave would be ideal for a quick fix, but in the heart of the forest she doubted she’d find anything convenient unless it was part of some hilly terrain. A rough shelter could be made of wood and branches, or alternatively if it was just a small amount of rain they could continue walking or wait it out under a tree with dense branches. More practically, their tents would do a good enough job if the needed to wait out the storm.

Turning to the kelvic she asked, “Do you think it will be a big enough storm to need shelter, Faradae? Clyde?” It was an afterthought that she included the mage’s name but as a capable reimancer she thought he might have enough of an affinity to storms that he might know the answer.

As more raindrops fell, the mosquitos also seemed to come out to enjoy the damp atmosphere. Two pricks on her arms cause the Eypharian to slap at herself sharply. “Aerius, see if you can find a tree with a dense canopy but with enough space to set up tents underneath. And not too low. Higher ground is better. I’ll be gathering up dry wood before everything gets soaked through.”

As the Eypharian began to collect sticks that would be dry enough to light should they need a fire, she started noticing multitudes of insects and bugs coming out with the rainfall. The closed vial of poison was in her low right hand while her left low carried the wood which she protectively covered with her cloak.

One of the slugs suddenly began scurrying up her leg and she slapped it hard with a free mid hand. A snort from her mare alerted her attention towards the saddlebags and upon seeing another slug on Stardust’s white fur, she attempted to brush it off. However, when she saw the gross critters on the horse’s neck near the faint purple glow, her heart clenched for a moment before she made an attempt to squish them by clapping her high hands together and upon them.

[Clyde Sullins]

As he rode along Clyde consciously worked his legs, trying to puzzle out the proper way to sit in the saddle so at to not strain himself. It seemed no matter what he did his legs, hips, and rear of course all ended up sore by the end of a days ride. The first few days he'd more fallen off the horse than dismounted, his legs not wanting to work properly.

Focused on his legs as he was he didn't notice at first when Sayana changed direction and so gave a belated instruction to the horse to turn and follow. By then the horse had already begun to shift to follow the lead horse, perhaps even noticing and correcting before Clyde.

When offered the odd glowing substance Clyde simply shook his head, still staring at some far off thing instead of Sayana as he responded.

“I can see what I need well enough without it. Besides, do we really need several glowing spots? Better to have one, the person in the lead, than several, or else we might end up getting broken up or something.”

Clyde's mind wandering back off to other things, he focused for a moment on the not-star's aura, and then thought on Rye whom Clyde couldn't see. As he did an idea occurred to him, of some sort of Glyphing device that affected the wearers aura, perhaps temporarily letting out a pulse to make them easier to find. A multi use/focus item, with several triggers/instances of activation... Which could make finding someone nearby much easier.

Following along the trails of his thoughts Clyde zoned out once more, focusing physically on the horse and his riding, but mentally focused on the idea he was unspooling and digging into.

His concentration wasn't broken until it began to rain, the patter of water against his body stealing away his train of thought. It was then that he noticed the party had stopped, and that his horse wasn't moving.

Clyde noted the food out, taking his share and mindlessly eating it without comment and at a speed perhaps a bit surprising for his size.

His mind leaving behind thoughts of Glyphing and auras, Clyde focused in on the current conversation.

“Not sure. It seems a bit of a drizzle now, but I've seen storms turn that start just as this. I suppose it could go either way. If it gets too bad I suppose we could always use Reimancy to fend it off or to make a shelter of some sort... But I'd rather not have us wasting djed unless its needed. Never know what we might need ourselves at our bests for later... We could always try to set something up, perhaps using the tarps from the tents or something. Or just use them in the normal way.”

Dismounting, Clyde had stayed with the horses while Sayana wandered off to do something. He was thus nearby when small things began to crawl upon the horse, nearing the glow spot, though a few paces away and closer to his own non-glowing mount.

Using Cha in a two handed grip he smacked at one of them, sending it flying off into the air to land and perhaps die. A few moments later he saw another, and he swatted at it also with Cha, the length of blue wood hard in his hands.

Beyond being a part of Clyde, a conduit of his mage, a nearly indestructible object, a conversation piece, and a pretty bit of wood, Cha was also a decent weapon in a pinch.

Clyde didn't want to touch them, finding them unpleasant, and so when he found one climbing up his leg he once more tried to use Cha to bat it away.

[Faradae]

Faradae Faradae nodded in agreement with Clyde when he answered Sayana’s question. “I’m not adept enough at reading cloud patterns to tell whether a great storm is coming, except if it’s a thunderstorm and I can see the lightning flashing from afar.”, she explained. “But I recognize a raincloud when I see one.” She would have offered to help with the tents, but she had never raised one before and would almost certainly tangle herself in some ropes and send the construction to the ground multiple times before she got it right, hindering the group more than aiding them. She usually waited out storms in abandoned fox dens, in the shade of a boulder or inside a hollow tree stump. All of which were places that were either too small or hard to reach for a group of people with horses, of course. Instead, she assisted Aerius in scouting the area for a more secluded spot. There was a gentle slope ahead, the dell was full of what she thought were bilberry plants. It was a little hard to tell before they carried fruit in summer. The canopy above was dense and little light filtered through, especially with the approaching weather front clouding the sun. It looked like a place that might work for a temporary camp, but she did not point it out yet. Maybe the nuit had already found a better spot. Before she got a chance to ask him, the wildlife started to become worrisomely active, however, with a slug crawling out of the foliage for every raindrop that hit the ground. The small animals did deviate from their usual behaviour, approaching fast instead of crawling slowly into the forest. It bewildered Faradae and she wrinkled her nose while considering her options. Next to her, Sayana started to squish the first slimy foe and Clyde swung his curious staff fast enough to reflexively make her duck. The next moment, Faradae’s clothes hit the ground where she had been standing a moment ago and wings batted their way out of her shirt’s neckline. She fluttered up a few feet and viewed the scene from above. Critters surrounded them, both the flying and the crawling kind, and the slugs that had reached them first were merely the vanguard of a small beetle army that seemed more than eager to make closer acquaintance with them than Faradae cared to experience. The centre of the movement were not the adventurers, however, but the horses, where their belongings and provisions were stored. And, of course, where Sayana’s luminous poison created a sparkling point of interest. She wondered what had summoned them so suddenly. If it were an ingredient of the marking essence the eypharian had used, then surely she would have known better than to use it in the middle of a wet forest. Maybe this part of Mizahar had very special, extra invasive bugs. While Faradae could travel without any supplies, she knew the rest of her group would need them to continue their journey. How did one scare a hoard of insects that liked wet spots and flashing lights? She could probably peck some apart, but the thought of crushing chitin with her beak made her stomach churn and viewing their numbers, she doubted she could make a difference that way. Instead, they needed to do something about the circumstances that had invoked the invasion. Dropping back to the ground, she swatted a gigantic ladybug off her pants with her right wing, ignoring the smell of the secrete it instantly began to ooze. She picked up her linen shirt by a sleeve and lifted it off the ground, shaking two spiders that had crawled inside down in the process. If she used it to cover one of the markings Sayana had put on the horses, maybe it could turn the attention of those little pests away and prevent more from crawling out of the undergrowth? She landed on the back of Sayana’s horse. The animal was clearly nervous, it shifted and bristled as if it was trying to shake of a gadfly, effectively shooing a mosquito or two away, but it didn’t help with the critters crawling up its legs. She placed the garment over the horses neck, hoping both that it would not shrug it off immediately and that it would help shield its saddlebags from the bugs’ attention.

[Languish]

As Sayana and Clyde fought the bugs, it was becoming increasingly clear that they were more of a nuisance than a threat. Though their initial action was fast, the slugs had slowed down to a crawl. Though they ran up the adventurer's steeds and limbs with a hunger, their hunger ended up focused elsewhere.

It was easy enough to squash them, and so very few made it all the way up Sayana's horse's whole body.
The few that did found themselves occupied at the saddlebags and Faradae's makeshift cover.

They dug quickly, devouring seemingly everything they came in contact with. Wide mouths could be seen opening up, taking up almost half their bodies. After having eaten its share of Faradae's pants, the fattest of the little pinkish creatures began to grow, stretch, and then with a pop , divide in two. Then, the process started again.

It seemed they would go without end unless stopped, though for the moment, they were occupied and relatively docile. The rain spit at them, and the chaos of their kin being smacked off surrounded them, but nothing seemed to bother the slugs.

A few, reaching a maximum capacity, began to fall off the horses, hitting the ground with a satisfying plopping sound before splitting again and sliming along again. Those who fell inevitably fell behind, leaving them to crawl after whatever else they could find in the adventurer's wake.