TURN SEVENTEEN: CONFRONTATION, EXPLORATION, INFLAMMATION
No, not the bodily type of inflammation. We're talking about real flames here. Well, maybe
some bodily inflammation, but not enough to talk about.
Maybe there tracks or something to follow them. If not, head back to the camp since they will go there eventually.
Diana CrownBefore you head out again, you check up on your cheek. It's not that bad anymore; although there is a bit of blood still flowing, it's not that much and it's healing up pretty quickly, so you decide to let it be until you can get back to the camp and get some proper treatment. There's no indication of where your brother and the guard fled to, which is weird enough on its own. You know that your brother doesn't particularly take a liking to you, but he wouldn't leave without saying anything. Exempting the fact that you brought down lightning with your own hands, but that's something else in its entirety.
On your way back to the camp, you notice several oddities in your environment. You can see leaves and the plants shaking from the wind, but you can't hear the wind at all. Nor your footsteps, nor anything else except for some kind of hollow sound - almost like wind, but not quite.
"Hahaha..."You freeze for a moment and immediately go into combat mode. Something dark and dangerous seems to be...
around you. Everything seems darkened all of a sudden, like someone dimmed the sun.
"You are enjoying yourself, no? Enjoying your powers? Hah... such foolishness... you have no idea what you are getting yourself into..."
"Hm... well, I do have children here."
Eh Ah turns to the kids.
"Say, children, help me carry your mother out of here. She seems to be okay, but we should be getting out of the way, I think."
Enlist the aid of children in carrying the mother out of the house and into someplace more out of the way of the lava. Be insistent that they help. If they still do not, see if I can somehow... manipulate them with my powers. Like I seem to have done previously with both the Empress and the officer.
Eh AhYou crouch down and ask the kids, with as much gentleness as could be mustered within this short amount of time, if they can assist you with getting out of this place.
"...M-mommy said not to talk to strangers," the older kid states softly. You try again to tell them that this is an emergency and that their mother needs help right now.
"O-okay... um..." he tries to get some words out while thinking at the same time. For a kid his age, it's not that easy.
"We... mommy said we could go to Uncle Rene's house if something bad happens," he manages to say. You ask him where his uncle's house is, switching your view between the boy and the window leading out to the bay and the lava.
"Um... follow me. Julie, come on!" He pulls the little girl along while you pick up the mother carefully and throw a blanket over your shoulder. You didn't even need any of your powers to help convince the little kids, fortunately. You've noticed that the powers had drained your energy when you used them, so you don't want to use it too often.
You leave the condo along with the kids and head down to an area farther along the bay, away from the lava. It's not guaranteed to be out of the way of the lava, but you think it should suffice for now. It's better than some random person's house, anyways.
You arrive at the house that the kids led you to and they open the door using a key hidden under a flower pot on the windowsill. There's no one inside the one-story house as far as you can see, but you keep an eye out anyways.
Attempt to extinguish myself. Keep trying until I succeed.
((I don't think I really need to display a rolls log for this particular moment.))
Rune[4] You are able to pat out most of the fire on your person, but not before you feel yourself go into extreme pain from the burning of your left shoulder region by the fire. You can't tell how bad the burns are now, but they are definitely going to hurt later on.
There is a silver lining to this cloud, however: it is getting easier for you to control the golems without such difficulty in your thought. This is especially distinguishable since your golems kept moving and following you despite your focus being put on your own burning skin. Thus far, you're doing pretty fine in the areas of golem-controlling!
Focus increased by +1 (Focus III)! Affinity of Clay leveled up! (Clay II)There's not much else to detail for your turn right now, except for your travel down the mountain. You've made it down to the bottom of the volcano while the lava is still raining from above and the ice is surrounding the island. You could try to make your way to the Magis Kingdom or Aecrocia, but you don't really know where you could be safe. Nobody knows you from both civilizations and, frankly, heaven and hell are dueling it out above you and on the island, so you're pretty much screwed either way.
On the bright side, you've still got a small golem following that you could use to take over a neighboring land, right? Taking over the world isn't so far after all!
Warren considers his options. In the end, he takes a stick, sketches some symbols in the sand, and tosses it in the air. The smaller end is pointing more or less at the lightning symbol.
He sighs, and heads off towards the sound of thunder.
Investigate anomalous lightning thing.
Warren DrakeUsing an odd method of decision-making, you decide to go investigate the mysterious point of lightning strike. You wonder where that hobo could have gone. You don't think that he had any food on him, so he could not have gone that far from your little campsite. Cecil didn't look so hot when you left the camp either, but there's not much you could do in that area.
The morning air is moist and thick, as if someone in the sky had dropped a water blanket over the wetlands. The plants seem all droopy and gloomy, also. In fact, everything about your surroundings seems to whisper of darkness and malice. You can barely even hear your own footsteps, let alone any sounds that would hint at some sort of liveliness within the wetlands. Even the sky seems to have dimmed itself, despite there being the sun rising on the horizon. Your whole being feels weighted down and your steps are becoming gradually slow. It's as if there are hundreds of invisible hands pressing down on you from all sides.
And then the voice presents itself. Not Darzenis this time, no. This is something dark, something threatening.
"Hmhmhm... the lizard boy has finally arrived..."With this voice, the air weighs down even more, to the point where it is beginning to exhaust you.
"What purpose do you believe you serve here? What sort of power, some kind of madness, has convinced you to arrive here?"Chaos and destruction are pretty cool, actually. Let's keep this up! They'll all pay for what they did, etc.
Let the lava flow into the settlements, and throw a ball of fire at the ice-human. He's starting to look a bit shifty to me.
You spend a minute or two more trying to draw more energy towards flooding the civilized areas below. However, your power is either starting to wane or your source of lava is starting to dry out. Nevertheless, you have caused an incredible amount of damage already to the natural environment of the island down below, so you should be fine for now. Now, on to more pressing matters: warning your adversary in the sky to stay away. Not a second too late, too: the ice boy is gathering more ice around him and is throwing a deadly stare your way, his cold, bright eyes burrowing into the depths of your own fiery soul. Looks as if you're going to have to strike before he does.
((Refer to the combat post within Yourmaster's turn for the outcome.))
Kill this guy
Ah, and here we have the perfect example of such eloquence as is presented by the boy of the Atisi tribe. Surely, there is no better way to announce your intent to rid the planet of scum the likes of your competitor than to merely breathe the words
"Kill this guy."
ALEX RAMAN v. UNKNOWN[
SPD: 1+2 v
6+1] You gesture with your hands to bring out several large spikes of ice around you and prepare to throw them towards the lava dude. However, he has noticed you also and was prepared to fight you, throwing the first punch here. [4x
6 v 3x
6] Your opponent of fire draws an awesome tornado of fire around himself and launches several huge tendrils of fire towards you. Seeing the nasty arms of flame coming your way, you try a quick dodge down below to try and escape; however, you are not fast enough, and the tendrils of fire slam into you from behind and send you tumbling through the sky. Your skin is steaming and you're pretty sure that your right arm is pretty badly burned, but your ice ring is cooling you off already. [2x
5] v 1x
1] Out of anger, you spin around and send a few spikes of ice flying towards the fire guy above you. He's observing the chaos he's created and had already assumed that you were no longer a threat, so the ice spikes hit him
hard. Only two of the five ice spikes managed to hit him, but they do so with flying colors: the first ice spike slices through his right upper chest, drawing substantial amounts of blood, while the second ice spike impales him in the left lower chest region, sending him backwards near the volcano.
You've caused a ton of damage through your attacks, but he doesn't seem to be down for the count yet - in fact, he only seems to be even angrier, as if the ice spikes did nothing to him. Speaking of the ice spikes, the two that stuck in his chest have already melted into water - he even seems to be healing himself at this very moment.
Looks like you have a fight on your hands.
Alex Raman: In Pain, Right Arm scorched and bleeding heavilyUnknown: Tissue in the upper and lower chest destroyed, In Pain, bleeding"W-w-we're just lost! We found this place and thought it would be ok!"
Head outside to see who's yelling.
Cromwell Jackson & Lirian [autoaction]You haven't even gotten yourself situated within the village and people are already giving you a hard time for being here. Can't anyone give you a break? Oh well. You try to begin by revealing yourself to be innocent, but Lirian taps you on the shoulder and holds a finger to her mouth, telling you to be quiet. You nod slowly as she points outside of the window for you to look. You follow through and take a peek at the commotion outside.
In the immediate vicinity of the house you currently reside in, there are two other houses, which block your view of the rest of the village. Both of them look quite similar to yours, as they are both one-story rural homes. You can see that there are two teenage boys with wild hair knocking loudly on the back door of one of the houses in front of you. Someone inside, a boy younger than the other two, opens the door slowly, and the two older boys pull him outside roughly.
"Oh, lookie here! We've caught ourselves a rat, hahaha!" The taller of the two boys slams the kid against the door frame, seemingly spoiled with delight at the finding of this young kid.
"Whatsit this time, rat? Lookin' for some trash, are ya? Tell me, c'mon, tell me, yeh little bastard child."The kid, wearing a ragged, orange shirt, answers softly.
"Leave me alone... Nana told me to buy some flour from Lora, at's all."The teenagers throw the kid around, laughing as they do so.
"Oh yeah, did yer nana tell you that? Hm? Er are you just some stinking little rat, coming to steal our stuff?" The older of the two snickers and begins messing with the kid again.
"Listen 'ere, listen 'ere close. If I dare see you around here 'gain, I will personally show you the door to hell, and you better well have yer bags packed and ready to go by then. Got me?" The kid does not even have time to nod before the two teenagers slam his head against the door and drop him there, muttering and walking off into the town.
Find some rabbits and start strangling them.
Jorji ConstanzaYou spend nearly an hour wandering around the valley, trying to find a rabbit, or something else that would provide you a good source of food. Eventually, luck graces you and you find a rabbit nibbling on some seeds near a fallen tree. You then spend about another twenty minutes dashing after the rabbit, trying to catch it and finally have something to eat. You succeed, however, and find yourself with a good meal... except you don't have any knives, no fire, or any sort of way to eat this rabbit. Ah, well. There's always a time for that later, right?
The only thing good you have now to eat is that mysterious plant with you. You wonder what would happen if you ate it; after all, you have no idea where the plant came from, but it seems to be enticing enough. It smells rather nice, like some sort of minty leaf with a hint of lemon. Again, however, you don't know where you got it from or why you have it with you right now, but it very well may be the only way you could survive right now.
The sun has climbed fairly high right now, but there is something odd: the sky seems to have darkened a little, as if it is going to rain soon. Along with that, the wind has picked up and the air smells damp and moist, as if it was indeed raining now. There are no rain clouds near you right now, though - so why is the air acting like this?
As you look around, you feel a deep chill go down your spine. There is something dangerous nearby, closing in fast. You have no idea what it is, but there is danger, and it is here,
now.And it is coming for you.
Author's Note: I really wish I had Arnequer's and Pufferfish's turns to use, but oh well. I will PM them later and if they do not respond for this turn, then I shall return to the DPQ.
Have a good day everyone,
Artemis.