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[Harry Baldman]

Warren Drake

"Hey, um... girl!"

Mental note: should probably learn (remember?) this girl's name.

"Is something corrupting the local animals? Does this happen a lot?"

Ask her plainly and loudly. No messing around.

Eh Ah

"They did value me enough to leave me to my own devices and allow me to do what I wished without interfering needlessly, which was, in retrospect, rather wonderful of them, and I do thank them for the freedoms provided balanced by the care they showed when it was needed. I hold them in esteem because they are rather nice people who strove to help me, or at least err on the side of doing no harm, but if ma'am was asking if I held them as peak examples of human virtue without significant personal flaws, then the answer would be a very solid no. My father's unfortunate habits in relation to various mind-altering substances I have already mentioned, though I may have also skipped out on his tendency to be perpetually in debt and mooch off my mothers. My mother had a sometimes disturbing propensity for finding love in the wrongest of places with great frequency, and her attempts to push many of her dubious lovers on my other mother and my father tended to get uncomfortable a lot of the time, especially since many of them we would see only one time, and a few even made off with some of our things once in a while. And my other mother, well, she always did feel far too good to be doing what she was with her life, and virtually everything she did, she did with an undertone bitterness and resentment, as I, my meta-brothers, my mother and my father always seemed to be in some way impinging on her freedoms. And yet despite these flaws they tried to be as kind as they could, and tried to become better people as time went by, with mixed success."

"Now then, back to my story, and forays into love specifically. Contrary to what one may think, I did not stumble upon love like your average teenager - granted, I did experience slight infatuations with girls and boys of the neighborhood, and some of them I even was fortunate enough to explore in my early years, but there was no commitment, no wonder and no awe in it, and as teenagers often do, we had little in common except a lust for one another. As an aspiring artist, you can imagine my disappointment at this, as love was a thing brought nearly to the forefront of the entirety of art - it is the quintessential universal experience, love, the thing that you can reach almost anyone through, and almost everyone will understand perfectly. And yet it seemed to elude me, or at least its glamorous image I had cultivated in my mind did."

"The obvious solution, of course, was to seek it elsewhere. Among the people of Atis, specifically, as I then reckoned, as it is easy to mistake simple living for pure living, after all, and I thought that there I could perhaps meet a tribesperson who would finally strike me with that wondrous spark that would no doubt fill me with inspiration to last me a lifetime. Little did I know of the rather stringent Atisi marriage customs that all but make sure their young people are paired off as soon as possible, and the best I could hope for was somebody unexpectedly dying of disease to free up a vacancy, which, to be fair, is apparently not that rare an occurrence."

"In any case, that turned out to be something of a bust, if it's not already apparent, though I did try my hardest to get into the whole Atisi marriage circuit. I even visited a priestess to get an Atisi name to go by - a Marvin Shriver or a Daniel or Jules Dobbs wasn't likely to get anything but suspicious looks from women and men alike. So she named me Eh Ah, and I asked her what that meant, and she said that it meant nothing at all. She had a slight substance abuse habit, I suspected, but that felt more endearing than unfortunate at the time. She even let me stay a while outside her hut in an appropriately prepared enclosure while I kept looking for a potential bride. It was most unfortunate for me, then, that mortality among the Atisi seemed to be at an all-time low that season, and I mostly just wound up spending time with the priestess instead. We had a bit of a fling toward the end of my time there, and for a bit I thought that maybe she could be my inspiring love. I even had two rings made to signify our wonderful union."

Eh Ah shows his hands, a tungsten carbide ring on the ring finger of each one.

"As ma'am can probably infer, the ring was not particularly appreciated, as the Atisi tend to be suspicious of certain Aecrocian artifacts, and attach special magical significance to jewelry in particular, and relationship-related jewelry is not a popular custom among them, which I thought quaint at the time, but found to be a very important detail. She seemed to be rather spooked by my offering, and did not accept it, and when winter came along, she merely asked me to go away, as winters among the Atisi can be difficult enough without freeloaders eating up the scarce food and warmth. And that was that - I moved back to Aecrocia after that, not particularly emotional, just a little dejected, and settled back in the antique shop. The episode gave me a notable amount of inspiration for some drawings and a short little programmatic symphony with creative percussion, which is what I believed I wanted to begin with, and no real harm was done, either. I even obtained a more specific name to go by, not the set of three I had been using, and sharing with my meta-brothers, I should note, until that point. And though Eh Ah was indeed a fruity name by all accounts, I figured I could go by it comfortably. At the time, it felt very distinguishing, if not distinguished. Though it was but a short time until I moved on to the next try when the creative well ran dry once more."

Eh Ah thinks for a moment.

"Hm. But before I continue, if I may, I would ask a question of ma'am. Why does ma'am believe the arts to be inefficient?"

Thus spake Eh Ah.

[Tiruin]

Eleri

Bump for those who have not posted yet! Turn will be delayed a bit in order to let those who haven't put in their turns to do so.

((Eep! Sorry bout that :X

Also I'm thinking of the initial area as beachside--as in, houses made on hard sand, and rather not actually soil))

Water is to sand, as rain is to sky. Strange to see such a viscous material seep so quickly into the ground.

Many questions and wonders formed in Eleri's mind. She glanced off towards the setting sun and calculated a good enough time to freshen herself, too. She knew at least, that this area was not easily beset or even traveled by other creatures, and wondered if she could go to the spring--in the least to wash and tidy up, or even bathe in the slightest.

She looked around and wondered if she could find anything to probably barricade the person from outside harm, and looked at her bucket, checking the water. A plan formed.

> Wash up the pit (if I'm correct in presuming it is of sandy nature) and scoop out the 'tar' like material into that bucket {unless that is my only bucket; "push" away the material to something 'harder' (like loam or rock) to get out any superstitions of its harmful nature}

> Try to find resources nearby to create an improvised wall or anything that would keep the man from harm while I am away.

> Get to the spring for a quick bath.

> If any danger or bad sense via intuition is noticed, belay all actions (other than washing up the pit, if I can), and watch over the boy.

[Edit: 5 days later, I realize my net actually didn't register this being posted -_- Wow. Sorry Artemis...Technical hiccups...
This was made on the same day of Harry's post. ]

[Wolfkit]

Spoiler: Character (click to show/hide)

Name=Jonathan Eridis
Domain=Life
Affinity=Bone
Color=66bb11
Stats:
 Speed 1
 Strength 1
 Stealth 1
 Focus 1
Inventory=knife carved out of bone
Description=Tall and bony, with dark, unkept hair and green eyes. Jonathan is left handed.
 At the age of 13 Jonathan ran away from home, got lost deep in the woods and has regretted it ever since. He is proficient at hunting with a bone knife that he carved, but only feels safe in a relatively small area of the woods that he considers 'known', as he is afraid of getting lost again, but has finally decided to set out to find his parents after 4 years.

[DarkArtemisFowl]

Spoiler: Character (click to show/hide)

Name=Jonathan Eridis
Domain=Life
Affinity=Bone
Color=66bb11
Stats:
 Speed 1
 Strength 1
 Stealth 1
 Focus 1
Inventory=knife carved out of bone
Description=Tall and bony, with dark, unkept hair and green eyes. Jonathan is left handed.
 At the age of 13 Jonathan ran away from home, got lost deep in the woods and has regretted it ever since. He is proficient at hunting with a bone knife that he carved, but only feels safe in a relatively small area of the woods that he considers 'known', as he is afraid of getting lost again, but has finally decided to set out to find his parents after 4 years.

Looks just fine to me. I'll incorporate you in the coming turn, as well as Tiruin. Thank you!

Artemis.

[DarkArtemisFowl]

Tiny notice: The update is probably going to be posted late tomorrow due to some schools events that I have to attend to and some inconsistencies that I have to fix in this update's writing. Also, finals are pretty much around the corner for my school, so rate of updates is probably going to be slowed for the next couple of weeks (not that it has really picked up too much already  ). However, I will have two weeks of doing absolutely nothing at home after finals, so updating will be even FASTER for a short period of time after this hitch!

I thank you for reading this and hope you enjoy the upcoming update,

Artemis.

[DarkArtemisFowl]

TURN THIRTY-SEVEN, PART ONE: CALM SPEAK [THE FIFTH GENERATION]
Holy bagel, apparently this update is too large for the forum.
Heh... I'll split it into two parts.

Alex would begin to chuckle and laugh before he said, "They'll all die. Ill get my power back." Alex would shake his head, before getting to work. He would attempt to move the bed over to the window and hit at it with his elbow. The worst thing that could happen is guards come over to his cell. The best thing that could happen is he could get a weapon and a hurt arm. Move the bed to the window and bash at it.

Alex Raman
With the guards sure to arrive soon in order to interrogate you, it would be best to take action soon and see if you can use whatever materials you have to knock the window out and escape, or maybe to use the broken parts as weapons. However, you don't seem to have many options currently for taking the window. You decide on using the bed to gain the small bit of height needed to reach the window. You begin slowly pulling at the bed and are delighted to find that the bed is not bolted to the floor. Placing it up against the wall on which the window is located, you start climbing onto the bed and begin to position yourself. The bed begins to make some loud creaking noises, which worries you a bit, but won't stop you now. Shifting your weight in order to steady yourself, you feel for the bars and try to measure their strength. It seems that it shouldn't be too hard to knock them out due to the age of this place, but you're going to have to put all of your force behind your strikes.

Over and over, you strike your right arm against one of the weaker bars, listening as it creaks under the pressure. The bed below you complains incessantly of your weight, yet you continue to strike at the bars, intending to knock one of them out. After a couple of more strikes, you hear a sharp twing! come from the bed. You only manage to pull back your arm one more time before the bed gives way below you, caving in on itself and changing your view radically. You fall into the middle of the broken bed and notice a feeling of pain coming from your right leg, as a broken support from the leg points upward and leaves a shall cut running across your lower leg. It's going to hurt and bleed for a little while, leaving a small mess, but it's not immediately life-threatening. You pick yourself up from the broken bed and clean yourself off before checking on the window. Disappointingly, you don't seem to have knocked any of the bars out of the window. Now, you are left with a bleeding leg and a bruised arm, all for nothing.

You don't hear anyone coming down the hallway. If the guards heard your ruckus, they give no indication of it.

Wound: Bleeding from right lower leg. Vertical cut moving upwards in a semi-jagged fashion.

Note: Right arm has been bruised due to repeated intentional force.

Try to reach the missing golems with my mind. Attempt to establish a mental connection, and try to see through their eyes. Failing that, simply get a read on their location, and command my Protector golem to go there. I will follow behind it, my trusty axe in hand.

Rune

Spoiler: Rolls (click to show/hide)

Roll for focus: 4 + 2 = 6, succeeded!
(Domain bonus for focus and crafting active.)

Probe for golems: 4 + 3 = 7, succeeded.

This would seem to be the first incident that you have had with the golems so far. You are kind of surprised that you haven't had any trouble with the golems before, but could be no more grateful for it nonetheless. Still, you wonder if the golems might have encountered some actual living creatures and embroiled themselves in a situation. It is crucial that you remain a secret to the rest of the world, so as not to have your production snuffed before you even begin the next phase of your plan. You think that you might have to set up some forward scouts to secure the area around your underground factory before someone manages to stumble upon your enormous tunnel system, but that can be addressed later. For now, you need to find where those golems went.

It takes you little effort to go ahead and send out a probing message to find the two golems that have been lost. You scan out to one-hundred meters, then two-hundred, three-hundred, and finally four-hundred meters. There, you get a mental link to one of the golems, but not the other. Quickly, you establish a connection to that golem and its perception of its surroundings in order to see if you can find the other golem. You can see that this particular golem is standing upright in a cluster of trees, looking down at a recently fallen tree. You take a small look around and do not find any living creatures nearby, so you assume that the situation is clear for the time being. Putting your attention back on the golem's forward view, you see that the other golem has had the misfortune to fell a tree on top of himself. He seems to have had a portion of his head crushed by the tree, which is probably why you could not get a read on his mental connection from where you are. You order the golem to lift the tree out of the way and to pick up the injured golem, and to move the golem back into the tunnels so that you may repair him.

Other than that, the surrounding environment around the golem does not seem to be particularly active. You can see some burned ground new plants growing within the scorched earth, the marks of the nightmarish explosion of the volcano that flooded lava out and destroyed a large portion of Atis' vegetation. Yet, even with this, you are still hopeful. There may be time yet to quietly get off of this island and set up a proper factory somewhere else - on an uninhabited island, perhaps.

Lirian
They want to ignore me? Fine.
First, I look up at the trees above us for a moment, looking for a sturdy, shaded branch. Then I back away from Artemis and spread out a little, forcing the large shadow to pick a target.

If the large shadow targets me: I back away from it and circle around Artemis, not getting any closer too him but drawing the creature between us. If it rushes me I throw knives at its eyes and dash sideways to the charge whilst it reacts, either twisting its head away or being struck and blinded, either way giving me a moment that it isn't watching me to make my move. Once I'm to its side or rear I draw the sword and move in, attempting to make a single, deep stab into the creature and twist the blade once it's in. When the creature thrashes about in reaction to my blow I do not attempt to hold on to the blade, nor do I pull it out at all after my strike. Instead I leave it inside the creature and back away, drawing my knives and focusing on the smaller shadows, watching for them to either attack or flee. Artemis will probably finish off the creature for me if things progress this far.

If the large shadow targets Artemis and the small shadows ignore me: draw my sword and make a single deep stab into the creature, twisting the blade once it's in and then releasing my hold of it, allowing the beast to thrash about with it instead of ripping it out of my hand. I then back away a step and draw my knives, then move forwards again and attempt to hamstring the creature. once it is helplessly lying on the ground, flailing about, I clamber on top of it, stabbing it with my knives to make handholds rather than releasing them to grab parts of the creature, and climb up to the beast's neck and wrap myself around it, my knife against its jugular.
"Yield!"
If it makes an attempt to resist that isn't very effective, I repeat my demand at the top of my lungs. If it still resists, kill it. If it makes an attempt to resist that nearly works even though I've gotten that far and made my first demand, then kill it on the spot. If it falls limp, then I hold my position and give a new demand.
"Talk."

If the large shadow ignores me but the small ones target me when I split up from Artemis, then I flee to a nearby tree's shadow and shadowstep up to my pre-picked branch above the fighting, and observe from there.
If at any point I become noticeably wounded, then I shadowstep up to the branch I picked out earlier and evaluate my injury whilst applying pressure to either the wound directly or a pressure point inwards along my body relative to the injury as appropriate.

Lirian

Spoiler: Combatant Information (click to show/hide)

Allies

Lirian
Kind: Human
Tune: Medium
Weapon(s): Knives, ceremonial sword
Physique: Lean
Health: In perfect health.

Neutral

Artemis Dimikaelo
Kind: Human
Tune: ??
Weapon(s): Katana
Physique: Lean
Health: Looks like he's in perfect health.

Enemies

"Shadow ??"
Kind: ??
Tune: Shadow
Weapon(s): Melee
Physique: Bulky
Health: ??

"Shadow Boar"
Kind: Sus scrofa, 1.7x size
Tune: Shadow
Weapon(s): Melee
Physique: Average
Health: Deceased

"Shadow Boar"
Kind: Sus scrofa, 1.7x size
Tune: Shadow
Weapon(s): Melee
Physique: Average
Health: ??

"Shadow Boar"
Kind: Sus scrofa, 1.8x size
Tune: Shadow
Weapon(s): Melee
Physique: Sturdy
Health: ??

"Shadow Boar"
Kind: Sus scrofa, 1.6x size
Tune: Shadow
Weapon(s): Melee
Physique: Average
Health: ??

"Shadow Wolf"
Kind: Canis lupus lupus, 1.8x size
Tune: Shadow
Weapon(s): Melee
Physique: Lean
Health: ??

"Shadow Wolf"
Kind: Canis lupus lupus, 1.9x size
Tune: Shadow
Weapon(s): Melee
Physique: Sturdy
Health: Deceased

You don't believe that you'll have a problem with the larger monster explicitly targeting you, what with Artemis' unnecessary ego taking up the priority queue for the line to be killed. Still, you keep your wits about you and begin forming a plan in your mind to take down this beast. Looking at the surrounding area, you seek out a potential branch which you could shadow-step to later, in the case that you are injured or overwhelmed. However, most of the trees around you seem to be heavily covered in leaves, which leaves you with uncertainty as to whether you might be able to land in a safe spot or not. Despite this, you do find a couple of branches which might be safe to stand on, assuming that your shadow-step ability does not fail you.

As expect, the monster does indeed put his focus on Artemis, mostly because of his more threatening walk and aura of confidence. You take advantage of this and observe the field in front of you, looking for the smaller Shadows and watching for what they do. There are four of them in total now, and they seem to be unsure about what they are to do now. You think that they are going to wait until the two of you are engaged in battle with the larger monster before springing in and incapacitating the two of you. However, you also have Artemis on your side - at least, that is what you think right now. At any rate, Artemis can serve as a distraction while you go in and disable the bigger monster, allowing Artemis to take care of the rest if he can.

You use your overwhelming speed to close in quickly on the monster and surprise him while he is focused on Artemis. At the same time, you draw out your ceremonial sword and make use of your forward momentum, stabbing the sword deep into the dark matter that composes the vile creature. It takes some effort to penetrate the beast's thick insides using the unsharpened ceremonial sword, but you manage to make a deep wound in the creature's mass. The monster lets out a guttural howl and scratches down at his side, trying to pull the sword out. You jump back and take out your knives before he can reach at you, allowing yourself to assume an offensive stance.

There is no time to miss the opportunity you are given. You dodge around to the creature's backside, attempting to get behind it and slash at its legs, potentially disabling its movement. However, the creature expects your attack this time. He makes a wide sweeping attack with his right arm, backhanding you across your body and sending you flying backwards about eight meters. You land and roll in the grass, which softens the force on your body a little bit. You can feel the upper-right side of your body pulsating with pain, though you don't think that you have sustained any external, bleeding injuries. At the very least, you are still able to concentrate through the pain and keep yourself ready. As you pick yourself up, you hear a sickening choke-howl come from the beast. You look up to find a silver-shining blade protruding out of the front of the creature's throat, its arms grasping at its neck but finding no success. The beast tumbles forward and falls face-first into the grass, beginning to dissipate like the creatures before it.

Of course, you find Artemis hopping off of the back of the creature and pulling his sword out of the creature's neck. He spares a quick glance toward you before yelling at the rest of the smaller Shadows: "Any more of you wish to die today?" The small Shadows seem to have lost their lust for human blood now, and are retreating into the deeper woods, the darker night. He stands over the evaporating body before looking at you once more. The last thing you see is him walking toward you before you black out, the pain overwhelming you.

...

You wake up in a meadow of varying, brightly-colored flowers, all blooming around you. The sun warms your face in a comforting manner. In the distance, you can see a volcano billowing smoke and a small, somewhat familiar village not too far from the volcano's base.

Cecil smiles, a bit haggardly as the stress of the past few days have caught up to him.

Thank you, ma'am.

He moves toward the seat he was offered and sits down with a breathy sigh.

I cannot thank you enough, honestly. This is the... first time I think I have been able to relax in a long while. I cannot imagine I can have a worse time than the past few days.

He stops for a second before laughing to himself quietly.

Though I can imagine you know what I am talking about... look at me going on, I apologize. I also apologize for not being the guest you expected. I hope I'm not intruding.

Cecil G. Palmer
The woman smiles pleasantly, taking herself to the other chair on the opposite end of the table. Based on the texture of the table, you feel like it is some sort of dark wood that has been polished through natural means. It has a feeling of smoothness to it that is also accompanied by the natural roughness of the wood. The chairs seem to be the same way, though with silk covers over them to make them a bit more comfortable to sit on. Out of what seems to be thin air, the woman produces two wooden cups filled with a clear liquid.

"No need to apologize, Cecil. It has been quite the conundrum, hasn't it? It's simply part of an... adjustment, is all. Unfortunately, this will not be the end of it. But at the very least, you are still safe here. Tea?" She offers you one of the two cups and you take it. You sip at the tea and find that it is surprisingly sweet and warm, giving you a comfortable feeling all around. You sigh and put the cup back down on the table, listening to what she has to say to you.

"I wish it didn't have to be this way, my child. I wish I could slowly bring you into the matter, like the first generation was brought in. But things are changing in this world, and I am not able to keep thing the way they were before. You might not understand what is going on. Things might be scary. You might be alone in this world, unable to go back to the life that you had known before. But trust me, dear, things will become sweeter as they go along. You must trust me on this.

"There will be things that you will see and experience that will be the stuff of nightmares. You will wish that you had never been born. But you must persevere like the rest, and you will find the end. Now, I know you must have questions about what has happened. I cannot tell you everything, but maybe I will be able to guide you on your journey. Please, do ask. I am here to help you, my child."

Warren Drake

"Hey, um... girl!"

Mental note: should probably learn (remember?) this girl's name.

"Is something corrupting the local animals? Does this happen a lot?"

Ask her plainly and loudly. No messing around.

Warren Drake
You call down to her from your position on one of the tree's branches, trying to see if you can get her to explain what exactly happened here. You decide to be gentle in your words, as you do not wish to scare her and either invoke her hidden wrath or accidentally cause her to cry even harder. Either option would not be beneficial to your knowledge of this area and whatever god-forsaken force has landed you in this forest, so you would wish to be, at the very least, friendly in your mannerisms.

After you call to her, she lifts her head up and looks around, trying to locate your voice. You call to her once again in a clearer voice in order to let her know where you are. This time, she looks at you and takes on a surprised look. "O-oh, I'm so sorry! Do.. do you need anything?" she asks of you. You shake your head back and forth, telling her that you don't need anything at the moment, though you do have a question for her. You ask her about the animal that is trapped in vines, wishing to know if the animals are becoming corrupted in the local area.

In response, she shakes her head yes and wipes some tears of her face, sniffling periodically as she talks. "Y-yes, they're... changing. Some nights they're fine, and on other nights, they become hostile, rabid, mean, and I don't... I don't know why! It's just.. just been happening recently, but it's now becoming so frequent.. there's just so many. I try to help them, and some of them do get better, but most of them... they.." She begins to sniffle and sob a little bit more. You can tell that she is broken-hearted due to the death of the little creature within the vines. You're not sure whether you should comfort her or keep asking about the details of the event.

At the very least, you are now intrigued. Maybe, you will be able to get some more information about who she is and what these creatures are doing around here. Yet you must also be careful about how you go about this. One wrong statement, and she could breakdown and refuse to help you.

Spoiler: Eh Ah's Stories (click to show/hide)

Eh Ah

"They did value me enough to leave me to my own devices and allow me to do what I wished without interfering needlessly, which was, in retrospect, rather wonderful of them, and I do thank them for the freedoms provided balanced by the care they showed when it was needed. I hold them in esteem because they are rather nice people who strove to help me, or at least err on the side of doing no harm, but if ma'am was asking if I held them as peak examples of human virtue without significant personal flaws, then the answer would be a very solid no. My father's unfortunate habits in relation to various mind-altering substances I have already mentioned, though I may have also skipped out on his tendency to be perpetually in debt and mooch off my mothers. My mother had a sometimes disturbing propensity for finding love in the wrongest of places with great frequency, and her attempts to push many of her dubious lovers on my other mother and my father tended to get uncomfortable a lot of the time, especially since many of them we would see only one time, and a few even made off with some of our things once in a while. And my other mother, well, she always did feel far too good to be doing what she was with her life, and virtually everything she did, she did with an undertone bitterness and resentment, as I, my meta-brothers, my mother and my father always seemed to be in some way impinging on her freedoms. And yet despite these flaws they tried to be as kind as they could, and tried to become better people as time went by, with mixed success."

"Now then, back to my story, and forays into love specifically. Contrary to what one may think, I did not stumble upon love like your average teenager - granted, I did experience slight infatuations with girls and boys of the neighborhood, and some of them I even was fortunate enough to explore in my early years, but there was no commitment, no wonder and no awe in it, and as teenagers often do, we had little in common except a lust for one another. As an aspiring artist, you can imagine my disappointment at this, as love was a thing brought nearly to the forefront of the entirety of art - it is the quintessential universal experience, love, the thing that you can reach almost anyone through, and almost everyone will understand perfectly. And yet it seemed to elude me, or at least its glamorous image I had cultivated in my mind did."

"The obvious solution, of course, was to seek it elsewhere. Among the people of Atis, specifically, as I then reckoned, as it is easy to mistake simple living for pure living, after all, and I thought that there I could perhaps meet a tribesperson who would finally strike me with that wondrous spark that would no doubt fill me with inspiration to last me a lifetime. Little did I know of the rather stringent Atisi marriage customs that all but make sure their young people are paired off as soon as possible, and the best I could hope for was somebody unexpectedly dying of disease to free up a vacancy, which, to be fair, is apparently not that rare an occurrence."

"In any case, that turned out to be something of a bust, if it's not already apparent, though I did try my hardest to get into the whole Atisi marriage circuit. I even visited a priestess to get an Atisi name to go by - a Marvin Shriver or a Daniel or Jules Dobbs wasn't likely to get anything but suspicious looks from women and men alike. So she named me Eh Ah, and I asked her what that meant, and she said that it meant nothing at all. She had a slight substance abuse habit, I suspected, but that felt more endearing than unfortunate at the time. She even let me stay a while outside her hut in an appropriately prepared enclosure while I kept looking for a potential bride. It was most unfortunate for me, then, that mortality among the Atisi seemed to be at an all-time low that season, and I mostly just wound up spending time with the priestess instead. We had a bit of a fling toward the end of my time there, and for a bit I thought that maybe she could be my inspiring love. I even had two rings made to signify our wonderful union."

Eh Ah shows his hands, a tungsten carbide ring on the ring finger of each one.

"As ma'am can probably infer, the ring was not particularly appreciated, as the Atisi tend to be suspicious of certain Aecrocian artifacts, and attach special magical significance to jewelry in particular, and relationship-related jewelry is not a popular custom among them, which I thought quaint at the time, but found to be a very important detail. She seemed to be rather spooked by my offering, and did not accept it, and when winter came along, she merely asked me to go away, as winters among the Atisi can be difficult enough without freeloaders eating up the scarce food and warmth. And that was that - I moved back to Aecrocia after that, not particularly emotional, just a little dejected, and settled back in the antique shop. The episode gave me a notable amount of inspiration for some drawings and a short little programmatic symphony with creative percussion, which is what I believed I wanted to begin with, and no real harm was done, either. I even obtained a more specific name to go by, not the set of three I had been using, and sharing with my meta-brothers, I should note, until that point. And though Eh Ah was indeed a fruity name by all accounts, I figured I could go by it comfortably. At the time, it felt very distinguishing, if not distinguished. Though it was but a short time until I moved on to the next try when the creative well ran dry once more."

Eh Ah thinks for a moment.

"Hm. But before I continue, if I may, I would ask a question of ma'am. Why does ma'am believe the arts to be inefficient?"

Thus spake Eh Ah.

Eh Ah
Your group has passed through the edge of the Atisi territory within the forest and is nearing the bounds of the Aecrocian city now. As you walk, you continue to talk about the experiences that you had within your youth: the pursuit of love, interaction with the Atisi community, the origin of your name, and the regard of your parents. You look to the Empress occasionally to gauge her reaction to your stories, yet she continues to wear an unchanging face of constant muse. After you finish your monologue, she lets a few moments go by before she answers your own question to her.

"My thoughts are molded in the form of the head of an impeccable war machine which relies on precise engineering and calculated timeliness," she begins. "In many ways, I sought to please my father and to somehow live up to the image that he presented. However, I also wanted to outdo him in this manner. One would believe, by looking at my father, that he was more of a machine than he was a man. He had care for neither the arts nor human beings, in reality. He assumed position as leader of the Theyin Empire so that he could create a symbol of perfection in the world. Perfection did not include the arts to him, as arts were something of a waste of time when you could be creating practical things: medicine, weapons, functional architecture, and the like. Everything he did had to be precisely measured and counted; otherwise, there were going to be debts paid within his offices of control.

"I believe that the Empire was stagnating for that exact reason. What he was missing out on was the human factor - the imperfection and the wrongs which allow us to perpetuate change. Of course, I did not abandon many of the concepts that my father put forth, including engineering, medicine, and logistics. However, I realized that, in order to win, I had to make a compromise in order to preserve the human element of war. Unlike my father, I... wished to see the truth come out for a change. I wished for the lie of perfection to be washed away, so that maybe in the future, I might be able to salvage some kind of existence for the Theyin Empire for many years to come.

"I still struggle with the concept of art, however. I don't see much point in wasting time trying to be creative in a war. It serves not a purpose but to waste time in the end. Then again, this may just be a relic of the past that I am clinging to. Perhaps that is what I am missing here. Perhaps delving deeper into the human factor might bring me victory in the future.

What are your thoughts, Mr. Eh Ah?"

And now on to the Survivors...

[DarkArtemisFowl]

TURN THIRTY-SEVEN, PART TWO: NATURE'S SWEET SOUND [THE SURVIVORS]
Jonathan Eridis
Pitter patter. One two. Tap tip.

The raindrops fall softly on the roof of the forest, rolling between the leaves before they drop to the grass and collectively become drinks for the earth to imbibe. You sit inside of your makeshift home, one that has been constructed from carefully interweaving some long plant blades and using branches as the pillars. It's not the best, but it has sufficed for quite some time now. It is simple to make, effective, and you may abandon it at any time to move to another area for whatever reason you need. You could say you are a traveling nomad, but that would be disregarding your origin. For, in reality, you're just a boy who ran away and lost his way in the deeper woods. Fortune remained on your side, however, and you managed to learn how to survive in the wild, eating from the plants and killing small animals to cook for food. However, you are doing little more than surviving right now. You are tired of the lifestyle, and seek to find your family again: people who may have cared about you at one point or another in time.

For you, it's been quite lonely out in these woods. You've learn to get by, but you do not want to simply survive anymore. There's still an entire world out there and people to interact with, yet your only friend currently is the quite, soothing song of nature. Even now, you can hear nature mumbling in her mollifying sing-song voice through the rain, an occasional rumble of thunder helping to break the monotony of the shower. You quietly nibble on a nut, one of the many that you have stockpiled in preparation for the coming colder days. Sure, it may be warm right now, but you cannot guarantee that where you may go in the future may be as temperate as this. However daunting the travels ahead may be, you know that you must keep moving in order to stay with good food sources and to provide yourself entertainment.

Currently, you have stockpiled six handfuls of assorted nuts inside of an old, fabric sling bag that you took with you when you ran away from home. Along with that, you have a knife carved out of bone, which you made a couple of years ago from a bone of a wild hog. To top it all off, you carry a waterskin with about 24 oz. of water tied around your waist with a rope. It's a light, essential equipment set, but it has gotten you through years of survival on your own. Without this, you don't think you would have lasted as long as you have. You wear a simple t-shirt and a thin coat, as well as rugged brown pants that are a bit too large for you and a leather belt.

You think that it is somewhere around mid-day. The light-gray clouds spill water in waves over the forest, with lightning occasionally lighting up the sky. You've eaten well and had a nice drink before you arrived at your shelter. Other than a medium-sized cut on your right hand that is healing up, you are absolutely healthy and well-rested at this moment.

You're all ready to go for wherever you want to start exploring. It is all up to you and fate now.

Sorry i didn't post earlie here's my action: reply Well I was just wanted to compare it to my estimate because of a of a friendly bet on who knew most about explosives I estimated 4 dozen bundles of the stuff we normally see people like you use

Jack Weasly
You are hoping that your bluff is able to remain strong in the face of skepticism. If you are unable to convince this man that what you are saying is true, you may never have another opportunity to escape ever again. That is, if you are not executed for attempting an escape from the mines. However, you remain hopeful that your reply holds strong, as it might be your only chance now.

The man peers at you, uncertain of your true intentions. This makes the air around you uncomfortable for a few moments, as if he might find out what you are really up to here. One second, two seconds, three go past, with no indication of whether or not he trusts you. After a few more painful seconds of waiting, he rolls his eyes and sighs, crossing his arms. "I'd say a couple of sticks of lyrukon kemite might be able to do the job just fine, assuming that you cut off the area properly. LK is a pretty potent compound, I would trust it for that situation. Now go off, scream to your buddies about how you lost the bet."

You nod quickly and thank the man for his time as you back away. Aggravating the man further might not be in your favor, as you might arouse his suspicions and get yourself reported to the overseers of the mine. At that point, it would be all over for you, and you may not be able to get a chance to escape ever again. At this point, you have managed to gain a low profile within the mines. It would be best not to waste what you have worked to build at this point. Because of this, you decide to be more careful in your interactions with other people next time. You don't believe that someone else would be so lenient.

I appreciate the consideration, but may I ask, what were you going to discuss later. Maybe later is now, and I may be part of the circle, and not a simple guest. Isn't a guest a temporary part of the circle anyway? Also, you gave me something to give to another, so it wouldn't be inconsiderate for me to ask something of you? If not, I'd like to know what he was to say. Otherwise, I will take my leave. Good day.

Stay if they answer my question with a yes. Otherwise, leave to give the lady the letter, but before I get there, read it. I am now curious.

Cat Schrodinger
Ms. Walker laughs nervously, obviously not comfortable with the subject. You take this as an odd thing, as her associate was just fine with bringing it up a moment ago. You are now ever more curious about what her letter is about and what it has to do with the particular subject brought up moments ago.
"I would love to tell you about it, Professor Schrodinger, but unfortunately this is something related to some private matters, if you will. I would rather that it be kept within my group of associates and not spread out to the wide world, as it doesn't really concern too many people. You needn't worry though, it's nothing of incredible matter." She gives a friendly smile and waves the question aside, obviously not wanting to talk about it any further.

"Well, Professor Schrodinger, how long have you been on this island? What are you particularly involved in with your research? I haven't had the opportunity to visit this island many times, as I normally do my work on the mainland. Please, do tell." You have the slightest feeling that she is trying to get as far away from talking about her own work as possible, but you can understand that she might be working with sensitive information. Still, you file this in the back of your mind as a little mental note, just in case something comes up in the future and you need to address the subject again.

Also, the letter interests you greatly. Why does she have a need for such a thing to be delivered to a member of the university on the island? You do know that the university is greatly involved with research, but you've never heard of Ms. Walker or her associates before, even through all of your years at the university. Out of courtesy, however, you keep these questions to yourself - at least until you can ascertain what exactly the letter is for right now.

Eleri
Water is to sand, as rain is to sky. Strange to see such a viscous material seep so quickly into the ground.

Many questions and wonders formed in Eleri's mind. She glanced off towards the setting sun and calculated a good enough time to freshen herself, too. She knew at least, that this area was not easily beset or even traveled by other creatures, and wondered if she could go to the spring--in the least to wash and tidy up, or even bathe in the slightest.

She looked around and wondered if she could find anything to probably barricade the person from outside harm, and looked at her bucket, checking the water. A plan formed.

> Wash up the pit (if I'm correct in presuming it is of sandy nature) and scoop out the 'tar' like material into that bucket {unless that is my only bucket; "push" away the material to something 'harder' (like loam or rock) to get out any superstitions of its harmful nature}

> Try to find resources nearby to create an improvised wall or anything that would keep the man from harm while I am away.

> Get to the spring for a quick bath.

> If any danger or bad sense via intuition is noticed, belay all actions (other than washing up the pit, if I can), and watch over the boy.

[Edit: 5 days later, I realize my net actually didn't register this being posted -_- Wow. Sorry Artemis...Technical hiccups...
This was made on the same day of Harry's post. ]

Eleri
You are still very curious as to the origins of the dark substance that seems to have inflicted pain upon the boy. At the very least, you don't think you've seen anything like this produced in nature before. Perhaps he stumbled upon a chemical product that was toxic or acidic? Maybe, but that still does not explain the gash wounds that he has. This only serve to leave you more puzzled than before, unsure of where this matter could have come from. Deciding to keep a portion of it for inspection later, you retrieve some water from the oceanside to wash out the pit and to scoop out the seeping black substance.

You return to the pit to find that, disappointingly, most of the substance has already been absorbed into the ground. There is only a small sample about the size of a thimble that you manage to take out of the loose soil and put onto a nearby rock within the shade. Curiously enough, the substance seems to be quivering a little on top of the rock, as if it was being ever-so-slightly disturbed by the slightest breath. You would like to observe the matter further, but you need to carry on with the rest of your tasks for the day and watch over the boy, so as to make sure that he will be fine throughout the night. You retrieve the bucket and continue to wash the pit out, removing anything that would mark the presence of the black matter before. Once you are certain it is clean, you leave the bucket next to the pit and begin looking for something that would suffice as a barricade to the shelter that the boy is in.

You make your way through the forest near the path of abandoned buildings and look around for a loose piece of bark or a large branch. As you search around, you begin wondering about where the boy is from. As far as you can recall, you don't remember seeing anyone before who had sky-blue hair like he does. Also, his pale skin might be an indicator that he is not native to this island or any islands near it; however, you also keep in mind that he may also be pale due to blood loss. Still, you're somewhat curious about who he is and why he ended up so close to your abode. The town is on the opposite end of the island and there is nothing really interesting that would be of use to anyone who would come near here. As you wander in your absent-mindedness, you almost walk head-first into a large oak tree, with thick branches hovering over you and its leaves rustling through a fair breeze. On this tree, you find a sizable piece of bark that you are able to tear off for use as a door to the boy's shelter. Happy that you've found a suitable barricade, you return to the shelter and fix the bark over the entrance.

Somewhat tired after your care of the boy, you move, bucket in hand, up to the spring for a short bath. Hopefully, you will be able to clean off completely the small remaining amounts of grime, dark substance, and dry blood that remains on your hands and arms. Once you get up to the small outcropping where the spring runs under, you quickly disrobe and lower yourself into the running water, letting out a relaxed sigh and allowing the stress of the day to wash off of you and into the current. You spend a small amount of time relaxing and allowing yourself to enjoy the moment of silence, appreciating your arrival on the island despite today's events. It has been the only source of peace that you have known since you were born. This is a place where you can't be bothered by others who believe that you are too weird or out-of-place in this world. Of course, you do wonder about what the boy will think of you when he wakes up and sees you, but you won't abandon him out of fear for that. Who knows? Maybe, just maybe, he won't worry about what you look like.

After savoring the moment, you wash the rest of your body off, removing the dirty substances that remain from the eventful day and letting the water carry them off. Now that you are clean and refreshed, you hop out of the water and dry yourself off with some moss from the rocks surrounding the spring. Finally, you put on your clothes and collect some of the running water into your bucket, to make up for the loss of time earlier.

You arrive back at the boy's shelter, seeing that he's still asleep. You expected just that, as he seemed to have been in a lot of pain earlier. You check his wounds and find that he seems to be healing pretty well, but he still has a long way to go before he's anywhere near healthy. The sun casts long, wistful rays across the surface of the ocean as it begins to turn the entire horizon and all of the waters into a brilliant shade of red and orange, with wispy clouds seeming as if they are being sucked towards the sun itself. You admire the calm sunset, a stark contrast to the events of the morn.

Hopefully, your night will be as calm as the sunset indicates for you.

Author's Note: Nooo, bay12 went down for several hours just after I finished the update  . Ah well, everything seems to be fine now. I hope you all enjoy this update, and have a great week!

Artemis.

[High tyrol]

I get back to work

[Lenglon]

Lirian, Medium of Sword and Shadow
"Haha, hello again. What information do you have for me today?"
I get up and check myself, seeing if I'm still injured while I'm here.
"Anything you can tell me about that Artemis guy and the Shadows?"
If i'm not injured, then I go over to the nearby woods and get to practicing shadowstepping, attempting to make myself more reliable and faster at it, especially over short distances, such that I can use it in combat in between individual blows. to attack from the sides and rear of my opponant, or to evade attacks that I wouldn't otherwise be able to.

If I am injured, then I inspect the injury and ((assuming that unlike if I said this in ER, I won't be at risk of self-amputation)) perform first aid to treat it. After i've treated my injuries, I'll then attempt to learn how to shadowstep through and to smaller shadows, and especially how to step through my own shadow. Moving slowly the entire time to me kind to my injuries.

[Tiruin]

I love this textwall and editing this later on.

Eleri

The subtle nuances of the day vanished along the apparent rays of the sun as Eleri took this time to enjoy nature's fine beauty -- the sunset. It was a shimmering view of orange, pink, red, and darkening gray, with the colors reflecting off the murky horizon. She took a deep breath of the sea-side air, and felt the ocean breeze caress her as she stretched to knead the pains away. Her toes tapped the warm sand beneath her, and she dug the tiniest of depressions with them as she played around with miniscule effort: she was happy today, despite all that had happened. She was safe.

Nightfall comes, and Eleri's mind wanders again. The setting sun lead to the basic idea of warmth. She had to prepare a fire for the boy, much less for herself given her own natural protection. She had wondered why she didn't spent the fifth or sixth day providing that, if in case of a storm or cold front: the ruins provided ample protection for a suitable fire, and considering the clay materials of many of the dilapidated houses, many of them could serve as a rudimentary, yet efficient and probably even insulated warmth-room. Eleri was reminded of another story she had come across in her youth, of how protagonists improvise and utilize their creativity in times of troubles; she was an awfully creative person, as said by one of the humans of long ago, sometimes coming up with ingenious ideas never thought of before--Eleri wondered if these strokes of creativity would occur just yet.

Considering her initial gatherings after securing her physiological needs-

As for supplies, you have a bucket, a couple of long branches, and a bowl of fruit that you've stored in a house nearby. It's not much, but it's certainly a good start, despite your new arrival on the island.

-Eleri wondered if she could create a basic set of equipment for use, given that she now had a guest to tend to (or at least prepare him off for a journey to the local village). She needed a tool, something sharp like a knife but with more utility to it.

...
She needed a knife.

Take the night off to rest and watch over the boy--look over what I have, able, and ponder upon which areas I managed to explore that would be very suitable for fashioning a crude knife to work with, as well as possible areas of forage and interest: the main objective once the morning came was to bring the boy to (or as near to) civilization as possible, and she needed aid in doing so.
> If possible, try to find materials which I could use before the night becomes too dark to see in for the plan ahead.
> First, though, ensure the boy is sleeping soundly, with comfort and probably something soft to rest upon, as well as a source of warmth! (ie A small fire)
> Ensure the area he is sleeping in is free from harmful insects (ie Move him to my sleeping quarters)
> Examine the boy thoroughly.
> . . .!!!

Oh goodness, I almost forgot! That...slime!

> Look over that blacking slime--use rocks or such to act as an improvised bowl for it and...experiment with it. Discern its physical attributes!

[Wolfkit]

"Well, today's the day. The day that I return home. Not quite the best weather but-no. I'm not backing out now. If I don't go now I don't know when I'll leave, and I've been out here far too long as it is."
Jonathan looks up at the sky. That said, if this journey would go a lot smoother if this were to clear up by nightfall.
"Well then, off I go..."
I know that towns are often built next to rivers or streams, so that's a good place to start. Do I know of any rivers or streams? If so, travel downriver alongside the nearest one. If not travel downhill (or downslope), that should lead me to a river or stream. If I come across any nuts add them to my bag, or eat them if there is not room. Eat fruits or berries that I come across too. Not enoungh to hinder traveling of course, but enough to delay hunger and conserve supplies.

[Coolrune206]

Release control over the destroyed golem, and have all the intact golems return to me. Then, release control over all golems but the creators, and have many more golems be constructed.

[Harry Baldman]

Warren Drake

Climb down and try to seem non-threatening and non-inquisitive. Friendly, even.

"That must be terrible, seeing nice creatures turn into, well, those like that. I'm sorry. Has it been like this for long?"

Be all supportive and whatnot.

Eh Ah

"My thoughts, ma'am, would be..."

Eh Ah does a quick mental rundown of his current thoughts.

Spoiler: Eh Ah's Entirely Unvoiced Thoughts (click to show/hide)

... that your father did not seem to understand the core principle of creating an empire or being a lasting force in the world, and that his idea of perfection is woefully lacking in any consideration of actual reality. I apologize if this seems unfairly harsh of the man, but that is how his stance comes off to me, not as an artist, but as a human being and occasional thinker. Empires do not stand and have never stood on the strength of their military, at least not for very long on a global scale. Rather, they stand on their culture. Culture is the basis of assimilation and proper control of the public, and this is how it has always been. To believe otherwise reveals an oversight perhaps understandable in a military strategist, but completely unacceptable in an emperor, or an empress, for that matter.

The Theyin Empire, if Your Majesty forgives me for saying so, currently stands as an example of the archetypal evil empire sometimes seen in history. It is based on constant expansion because it needs expansion to function, otherwise the Theyin way of life, currently immoral and indefensible in even the eyes of its officers, such as Pirmai Anna Kether, who ma'am may remember from not very long ago, would run out of steam within the year, and the entirety of the state would collapse. Meanwhile, its model of expansion without culture is basically the raiding of the world, which is all but plain to any outside observers. Against it stands a coalition of rebelling states, as it has galvanized opposition with its constant hunger for their lands and people's lives. The Empire is like a plague of death and destruction bearing down on the rest of the world, or at least so it would appear. I am not condemning the image of perfection Your Majesty's father envisioned, mind you, as a clockwork life of emotionless efficiency is, if perhaps not ideal in the minds of some of the populace, nevertheless a possible path toward ultimate progress. And, as the simple way one Mr. Apollo Devicus has managed to grab power seemingly without any effort whatsoever demonstrates, the Empire hungers for success, and cannot sustain itself without perfect conquest of all around it. The populace are openly traitorous toward their momentarily absent Empress, and the military largely seek only the next source of plunder.

I am getting at the sad reality that this sort of lifestyle is not very sustainable, Your Majesty, as it lacks any culture beyond gratification of base impulse, and the vision of perfection your father had in mind does not seem to have ever been communicated to his subjects in an effective way. Even if it is not, it looks like a base pretext rather than a proper dream. And it all can be traced to two things - a rather distasteful set of internal affairs, where even the people of the heartland are apparently viciously oppressed if what Pirmai Kether says is correct, and the lack of integrity in the populace. The Empire has overexpanded significantly to the point where the only thing tying one end of it and the other together may be fear of violent reprisal. The seeming lack of internal prosperity does not help, either. My thoughts are that the Empire, if it even is capable of such a thing, should not expand further. Or perhaps even cut loose many of its conquered territories for good measure. Then vertical rather than horizontal growth should be ensured - perhaps freeing the slaves and allowing the military to plunder the estates of the noblemen who resist, as it is truly evident that the upper classes have shown their true colors with recent events. And from this purge, perhaps a workable economy can be built.

But of course, I have not mentioned culture yet. Culture is crucial, but it comes with time, long-term spending and patience. It is on culture and culture alone that one can start building a proper superpower and enact imperialistic domination of the surrounding territory, as a strong culture, amusingly enough, can make people want to join an empire willingly, unlike constant warfare and invasion of surrounding areas. An empire need but be civilized beyond its peers, and virtually all things an empire needs will come much easier to it. Its art will support its ambitions of the future, and its people will be spellbound by the beauty of a dream being slowly realized. That is how the utopia of the future must be started, through slow and careful effort at home rather than hunting for glory in other lands, as even if the Theyin Empire were to conquer the world and destroy all its enemies, it would take it but a few years under the current model by my estimate to tear itself apart and for the entire world to descend into chaos once more.

Naturally, he quickly reconsiders them in the following moments.

"... my thoughts are that warfare is far more inefficient than art, ma'am, time wasted on destruction, antagonizing the world at large and futile conquest when it could be spent trading, ensuring internal security and prosperity, developing economically significant technologies and, of course, establishing a powerful culture, all of which offer more power than military might ever could, and power with a greater lifespan at that. Warfare is for seekers of blood and personal glory, it does no good to the state or the mind. One need but look at the disloyal masses of the Theyin Empire, moved by lust for violent conflict to betray their empress at the first shift of the political wind."

[Yourmaster]

Alex would grab the bar. He would make a large, hysteric swings at the bar. He would attempt to bang on it so the guards will come.

[Gentlefish]

"Oh, gosh," Cecil says, laughing nervously, "I don't even know where to begin. Um.

"What's happening tonight? Why was my home attacked?

"Why can I hear people's thoughts in my head like a radio broadcast?"

The questions start spilling out of Cecil.

"Will I ever make it home again? To my father?"

The last question leaves his lips, a look of sadness crossing his usually neutral face. He still had some things to resolve at home, and he wanted desperately to make it back, at least some day.