TURN THIRTY-TWO: CRIMSON AND JET
Once again, I am writing this using a mobile device and thus I do not have my statistical records at hand right now (don't worry, I'll get into the habit of moving my records between my mobile device and my main computer more often). If you notice any discrepancies with this turn's information and other story elements, please let me know via PM and I will correct it. Thank you and enjoy the turn!
Also, I apologize for this turn being so late. I've been bogged down with school busy work, so that did not help.
Eh Ah
"Will do, Your Majesty."
Case the village. Get a feel for the people. Engage a few in casual conversation, find out the topics of the day.
Eh AhAs Seira Theyin begins her move towards the tower, you begin to loiter around the village and ask politely about the status of the village. The Atisi seem friendly enough, though you can still see a slight state of fear within their eyes, as if they distrust you just as such as they distrusted the Theyins on the island. Nevertheless, you press forward, hoping that you will find some more information about the circumstances surrounding the island's break a few days ago.
From the Atisi people, you find that most of them are pretty nonchalant in their attitude. Despite having been bombed only a few days ago, they seem to hold the general consensus that
"What happened, happened," and that they are really only looking to avenge and isolate themselves from petty political issues like this in the future. That is, if they ever remained an independent culture in the future under the Theyins.
Yet, even with their words, you feel like you're not hearing the entirety of the story. It seems to you as though they are too calm about their situation. You decide to talk to some of the older gentlemen and women in the village and glean whatever information you can from them. One of your conversations goes something like this:
"Good day, sir. How are you faring this evening?" The older man, who looks to be around his sixties or seventies, stops walking and turns to face you with a warm smiles. He nods and replies to your greeting.
"Oh, I'm doing well, thank you. What do you need?" His voice is gravely but kind at the same time.
"I just wish to know what you think about the events that have occurred in the past few days," you respond to him. He looks up and past you for a moment and quickly refocuses his eyes on you.
"Some of the younger kids 'round here will tell you that this is some country's invasion on our island and their work that got the volcano to spew quicker," he mumbles.
"But the time and the events.. they line up too well with the stories.""If I may, what are these stories and what do they have to do with the invasion?" The older man smiles again and looks behind himself.
"Why don't we talk about this inside my house? I can share a cup o' straw tea, if you'd like." Without waiting for your response, he begins shuffling towards the outer ring of the village, surrounded by small, wooden one-story houses.
Above you, the sky is getting darker and darker. You believe that it is nearing the evening now.
Warren Drake
Nibble on offered food while really carefully looking through the superior-condition book. If that goes reasonably well, check the other one as well.
Warren DrakeYou pick a spot in the grass opening near the tree and begin to contemplate the two books. It wouldn't hurt to try and read one of them at this time; After all, there's not much else for you to do now anyways. You brush a small amount of dust off of the navy blue book and open the front of the book tentatively. The first thing you see after you open the book is another faded, crumbly page. It is difficult to make out the words on top of the page, but you manage to glean some information from it.
"WI D WS TO T E SE OF THE SO L:
THE ARCANA"Below that elegant yet faded title, you see some faded letters near the bottom of the page. It's difficult to make out the words entirely, but you get at least this from the text:
"Wr t en by
E "
What you assume to be the name is so faded that you cannot decipher it at this time. Maybe you'll be able to flip through the book and find this name later. For now, you give the book a quick look-through in order to preview its contents. As expected, the words on the inside of this book are also very faded and stained. You come across a few pages here and there which are cleaner than others, but for the most part it looks like this book is very old. Well, either that or someone didn't take care of their books properly. As for the contents of these pages, you can see sketches of different landscapes and cryptic writing inside. Occasionally, you will come across a sketch of what appears to be a card and some weird symbols on it. Below these, they all have the word "ARCANA" and a numeral that identifies it. The rest of the print is smaller and faded, which makes it difficult to read at first glance.
You may spend some more time reading the books or seeking out what you can about the environment around you. It seems that the sky above you is getting dark. Closer to the night you come, it would seem.
Alex would chuckle a bit, knowing that they probably won't even listen to what a boy have to say. "My name is Alex Raman Lorain Motian II. I would tell you where my home is, but it was destroyed. Along with the islands of Atis. And I killed the soldiers you sent. Brought them to an icy he'll which they will never escape. I'm so cold, it wouldn't be hard to believe I have a heart of ice."
Alex Raman[
CHA: 1] You send a powerful message to the soldiers that you will not back down and that you will send them six feet under the ice. To be honest, most of you does not expect this message to work, really. Rather, you want it to come out as a taunt, so that the soldiers will come even closer to their impending doom. Speaking of the soldiers, they seem to slow their pace down as they approach ever-so-closer to you. They seem confused by your words, not understanding the magnitude of the situation that revolves around you and your powers. The soldier on the right shakes his head and heads straight for you, pulling out a loose, black band.
"So you are not a Theyin citizen then? Come with us, you're being detained until further notice-"Now is your time to act. You feel your breath slowing down and your hands get into motion again. Now that you've had some experience playing with the ice, it should be easier now to call upon your powers and encase these marauders in three feet of solid ice.
You have the Initiative. Chance of surprise, critical hit, and speed advantage increased.
My Creator golems should be finished now. Get them to block some of the lava flow to a more manageable level. They should be magma proof. Stop the golems mining to concentrate on this issue, then have them start mining again.
Rune[SPD: 2]
Roll for focus: 3 + 1 = 4, succeeded!
(Domain bonus for focus and crafting attained.
Time units invariably completed with turn, golems are completed.
Creator #1 <block lava>: 4 + 3 = 7
Creator #2 <block lava>: 2 + 3 - 1: 4
Third golem not necessary for <block lava> task.
Golem #1 <mine>: 3 + 3 - 2 = 4
Golem #2 <mine>: 2 + 3 - 3 = 2
Speed roll prevents you from focusing on too many different objects at once.
No time to draw out words. You need to get that magma leak plugged, and
fast. You run over to the magma bed to find that the Creator golems are all pretty much done baking, so you attempt to channel your focus into them. At first, your hope is pretty low about this attempt. Your mind is not really transmitting all that well into the golem's head. However, you keep at it, and after a few tries, you finally animate the clay anthropomorphic figures. You immediately do the same for one of the other Creator golems and order them to rush over to the leak and plug it with some stone or something. At the same time, you order a couple of your mining golems to resume mining down in the deeper tunnels. Hopefully, they will find some rarer materials that you may use to equip your clay soldiers properly.
You do this, running back and forth between the golems to check on their statuses for a good while. It's not really so much of a necessity as much as it is a nervous reaction for you. After a good few minutes of waiting, the Creator golems finally stuff enough boulders in the way of the magma, stopping the leak for now. The good thing is, the Creator golems didn't seem to take any noticeable damage from the magma. At the very least, now you know that your golems are at least somewhat magma-resistant.
At the top of the tunnel, you can see the sky getting darker and darker. It is approaching the beginning of the night. You cannot see any moons of any sort in the sky now.
You still have some minerals, such as hematite, stocked in your cavern. The last turn's mining efforts are still counted, despite the magma overflow problem.
I need to master this as soon as I can. It seems to be tied into how events are moving so rapidly
After that, practice using my abilities some more until it nears nightfall, then take a break and rest, waiting for full-dark.
And time to draw things out. This entire town feels like a trap. Everything has been too convienent, too easy. Someone or something is trying to lead me by the nose. Time to bring things to a head, before they manage to trap me.
Then once it is fully night, return to town and patrol through it once or twice, before returning to the Dr.'s place and searching the place over, attempting to figure out what he's hiding and why.
Action unchanged
Lirian((Map should be available in an hour or two, depending on when I get back to a suitable computer.))
You look down on the small town below you. It seems very quiet, despite the fact that this place was quite lively in the afternoon. Only now, when the darkness approaches, does the town go silent and the people are nowhere to be found. You wonder if that superstition Erin told you about actually had some merit to it or not, or if the Doctor's work has something to do with this. There a lot of things that you haven't figured out about this new place yet, but this is barely the first day here. With a lot left to learn in your own mysterious powers and interaction with this so-called "Medium," this is only your beginning in this small town.
The first thing you decide to do is practice your newfound power. As far as you know, you don't have much control over where that shadow teleportation takes you. However, if you can practice it, maybe you can find a pattern as to how this power runs itself. You decide that this would be the best course of action from here and find a good, shaded spot, about sixty meters so up the hill from your shelter. You tentatively step in and out of the shadows, focusing on different spots within the woodland. Your control over this power seems very iffy at first. Sometimes it will lead you to where you want to go, and sometimes it teleports you to the opposite end of the forest. Sometimes, it doesn't actually activate at all. However, just like you expected, there is a sort of pattern with this pattern. It seems that if you take it slowly and drift your mind toward the thought of another area, you find more success in using the shadows to move you around. Your power doesn't seem to be that strong yet, but you're slowly improving in your control.
You are improving your powers as the Medium of Shadow and Sword.As you sit down to take a break, you hear a familiar voice somewhere near you.
"Hey! Liri, where are you? Where'd you go?"((Refer to the post at the bottom of this turn for the timed events.))
Well, I've got nothing else important to do, let's see what's going on on my RTD...
Get my laptop, and go onto a forum. Register myself as Salsa cookies. See what is going on in Roll to Medium: Breaking Reality [Chapter III]. Post in as a bored teenager doing a homework assignment, and messing around by playing RTDs instead.
(I couldn't resist)
Cat Schrodinger((Really improving your Guardianship little by little, now aren't you
?))
You move around to the back of your desk and carefully retrieve your new laptop. You're one of the lucky people on this remote college that actually gets Grid ((the internet)) access. The majority of the staff here have to relay their requests through the higher-ups, including you. This is mostly due to the relatively new status of computational technology, especially mobile devices that can connect to the Grid. The whole Grid thing is still a very experimental way of communication, but the technology is being researched at a very fast rate and should be available to the wider public soon. Expensive, yes, but available nonetheless.
Oh, what were you doing again? That's right, you were going to register on that new forum that was established. Bay Twelve or something like that. It's a nice, small website where people can share ideas and roleplay to their heart's content. Hopefully, you're not too late to the whole "forum" thing. You flip open the laptop and power up the display refractor, allowing the laptop to display images on its screen for you. On the lower section of the laptop is your keyboard, arranged in a 4x10 fashion for easy access to every key on the keyboard. The whole laptop is contained within a heavy, fragile plastic frame, which is why you keep it under wraps usually.
You do this, registering as "Biscuitjelly" on the Bay Twelve forums. You then decide that you wish to practice your creative writing skills by entering in a "Roll to Dodge" game called "Roll to Medium." Reading up on the rules, you submit your character: a bored teenager who pretends to do homework while actually participating in RTDs.
You feel slightly more energized.You look to one of the windows near the ceiling. It would seem as if an hour or two has passed while you were knocking off on the computer.
Crimson...blood.
Oh dear I hope whoever-
...
Eleri glanced around once more before she shook herself towards her thoughts. Why was she concerned--it could just be an animal or the physical embodiment of one of those thoughts again. It wouldn't be a person or something...she cared about.
She raised her hand and held it close to her chest, somewhat of a subconscious language of the body of uncertainty, before deciding to check it out anyway.
She could always run if it was dangerous.
Get a branch or long stick nearby and check out that blood stain trail! Erm, hopefully from a higher ground and very cautiously.
EleriThe red trail could be from a multitude of things. Be it animal, human, or.. something else. Something more dangerous. You shake your head and put that thought out of your mind.
It can't be too bad, you think to yourself. The red trail appears to be somewhat dry and faded, so maybe whatever was here before is gone now. Still, you have a bad feeling in the back of your head. There's no use worrying about something that you can't change now, however. Might as well investigate and see what this leads up to.
Cautiously, you begin heading diagonally up the hill, near a grouping of trees that provide good cover from whatever's out there. You make sure to take light, quiet footsteps. As far as you can hear, you don't notice anything out of the ordinary: the occasional rustling of leaves by the wind and nothing more. Just in case, you look around for a suitable branch to use as a tool or, heavens forbid, a weapon. There are plenty of branches nearby, but one branch that has a smooth end and a fork on the opposite end catches your eye. It seems to fit in your grasp pretty well, too. With the branch providing a little more confidence for you, you make your way through the trees and closer to the running spring.
You look around you for anything that seems odd in your environment. Nothing really noticeable so far, except for the red trail itself. As you follow it and examine it further, you're pretty sure that it is indeed dried blood. This worries you a bit, but you're nearing the spring now. As you approach the treeline that merges with the rocky boundaries of the spring, you look to your left and to your right. Once again, nothing is really heard except for the running of the water. The trail of blood leads its way up near the other side of the spring. Carefully, you move around the edge of the rocks and come up to the spring.
The first thing you see is a hand. You flinch back a bit, realizing that it looks like a human hand. You peek around once again and let out a slight gasp. Near the edge of the spring itself, an emaciated man - or adolescent, you can't really tell from here - lies motionless, his blood tainting the spring and the surrounding area. He has a light coat on, but it's been ripped and cut away in large parts. You can see deep, gleaming wounds in his back where the coat was torn. His right hand and both of his legs are also scratched and bloody. His sky-blue hair is matted down and messy, and you can see several scratches on the right side of his face. His eyes are closed and you can't see him moving from where you stand, a few meters away. By the looks of it, he's been here for somewhere from a few hours to a day or two. At any rate, he's definitely not in any shape to move anywhere. In the back of your mind, you try and think of anything that could've assaulted him. You haven't seen any animals that would be much of a threat and you doubt that any humans would really interact with him.
The wind picks up a slow breeze, moving the trees around you in a soft, dancing motion. It's as if nature is recognizing what a tragedy must have happened here.
Join the crowd. Try to pick out voices that sound like they know what they're talking about. See if I can't see anyone important. Concentrate on them to see if I can't pick anything up from them with my receiver.
Cecil G. PalmerYou shuffle your way around the crowd and onto the flat dock. Looking around the area, you see that most of these people are admiring the giant warships out at see. You spend a little while trying to listen in on peoples' conversations, but you don't really glean anything new from listening in on them. No, you need to dig a bit deeper now. You focus your mind on the idea of receiving the thoughts of other people once again. Hopefully, you will receive something this time from other peoples' minds, though not as flooding as the first time.
...
...
I wonder what Kenny is preparing for dinner today...Oh yeah, you have connection to the neural network once again.
Now should I get the fifty-fifty, amith soup, or lyka toast?Sounds like he's talking about food. No, that's not it.
You listen to different frequencies one by one, finding nothing but empty thoughts in peoples' minds. You're getting tired very quickly and you won't be able to keep this up for that long..
I feel sorry for whatever sad sop has to deal with this mess. After all these years, these idiots still feel good about their lives and the way the war's going. They have no idea, do they?]You listen intently, searching with your eyes for whoever this signal might be coming from.
The Jaunatne don't have a chance against the Theyins. Unless they can pull some kinda wild card from the heavens, the Theyins will beat them on the water and on land. There's no way that we can hold out for that long. They have the resources to advance, we don't have the logistics to make any of that happen. It's pointless.You locate this thinker. He is near the edge of the dock, his hands clasped together behind his back, staring out onto the ocean. By the way he's talking, these warships are probably from the Jaunatne Coalition. It makes sense, considering the Delta Cross symbols that you've seen around the city. So far, he's the only one you've listened in on who seems to be having thoughts pertinent to the matter at hand.
The ships slowly bob with the low waves from the ocean. Above you, heavy, dark clouds form around the area. After having their fill, the crowd begins to disperse due to the time of the day, almost night. Only you and the man remain after a short while.
THE FIFTH GUARDIANS((This excludes Eleri and Cat Schrodinger, the two of which (and anyone else who joins) will be referred to as
The Survivors.Also, you may notice some time adjustment, which may seem a bit weird, but this is to synchronize all original timelines for a very important event.
Which, for your information, begins now.))
It matters not who you are. Where you come from.
Where you are. Why you are here.
The night comes upon us without the coming of the moons.
There is always another side, a mirror, to a tale.
From Makoi to the remote islands to Atis and the mainland of Survatas.
All over the globe, nightmares become a reality.
However, only those who have the vision for these nightmares may see them. The others? They merely believe that this is happening in their minds. And they might wake up once again tomorrow, without a single memory of the night before.
And some will fail to wake up, to open their eyes again.
For this is the night of the unseen.
Lit only by a single star in the night,
this is the night of the Shadow.You are able to interact with any characters or places that you've been to or met before, but many people will be blinded to this night. They will be asleep. You will be awake.
You have to find the truth.
The sun has set. It is the evening for everyone now.
Author's Note: If you have any questions about what this means, please do ask. However, do be aware that it is up to you to explore your regions during this night. Once again, you may interact with people and places that are around the area, but most people will be asleep. A certain few others will be awake, though their good health I cannot guarantee.
As always, have fun,
Artemis.
Author
Topic: Roll To Medium: Awakening [Chapter VI] (Read 145633 times)