Arnor Kalthun

The beast awoke from its long slumber and looked to the stars. They were dark, brown, and dir-wait, dirt? Fuck.

Some frantic scrambling later, the beast emerged from the ground and looked to the stars. The stars told the beast that it had been several millennia since it had last walked the Earth, and it was looking forward to seeing how much progress its people had made in that time. It looked around, and saw a truly massive city about it, standing tall between the glorious towers of the mushroom forest. It had only grown more beautiful since he last saw it, but something was amiss. Nobody was there. Worried, the beast squirmed and slid itself over the buildings of the city to where he remembered his Temple to have been, being careful to not crush any of them, and peered in with his many eyes, hoping to find a remnant of his followers.

Inside the main entrance of the temple was a sign. "Museum closed for renovations."
The outside of the temple was covered in markings in many colors that he didn't remember from his last visit, and upon closer inspection, he discovered them to be writings, splashed across the surface in faded paints that had, surely, been very bright once.

UP YOURS, BUDDY
MIDNIGHT BEHIND THE VIGIL STREET FORUM TO HAVE A GOOD TIME
MILLY THE BARMAID IS GOOD IN BED
I MADE BREAD TODAY
VORBUS LUVS MORIAN

So many loving messages from his faithful citizens. Perhaps they had moved on to a new home? The beast made its way over and out of the city upon its many tentacles in search of new followers, and a short while later, it came across a very unusual group of travelers. It announced its presence, ignorant of whatever they were doing, a colorful glow eerily emanating from its entire body with each syllable.

"BOW TO ME, MORTALS, FOR I AM YOUR GOD NOW."

Cia

After the creature became distracted by the explosion Cia ended up having a chance to escape. She went still for a moment like a stick. Then all of a sudden she became the size of a fingernail and was able to finally escape from the creature's grasp. Cia at this point realized what Saaria was about to do. Cia was the most flammable one of the group. And now was the time to escape out of the cavern entirely and let everything explode.

Cia flew out of the cavern as quickly as she could after regrowing to the size of a hand again. It was difficult for her to stay the size of a fingernail as that took far more magic just to maintain such a size. Though most of her power came from outward, it took alot of concentration to keep herself so condensed.

@Luclovers
@SepticGentleman
@Doc Doctor

Sven

Sven nodded to Jordans remark about the question for a question rule. "As for when we leave, I think we should head out once the sunsets. Cover of night and all that." Sven said before turning to lay down on his bed. "I'll meet you outside once it sets." Sven said as closed his eyes to take a nap.

JoyVille

After the sun set and both Sven and Jordan had made their way to the warehouse they would notice that there was only one entrance in the front with a guard posted out front. Many of the villagers at this point had dawned black robes and were headed towards the warehouse themselves. There were a few high up windows on the warehouse as well. One in the back was open though it was about two stories up. Sven had thought cleverly at this point and took out his axe. He slammed it into the ground and soon enough a large candy cane grew from the ground propelling them upwards into the warehouse.

The candy cane dissappeared after they were inside of the warehouse. What they saw inside however was something else. There were cages all around the warehouse. Inside of them were the children and elderly. The villagers were entirely human. What stood in the middle however was the girl from the statue. Mai the songstress goddess was singing an eiarly hypnotizing song. Two children and elderly were brought towards the songstress. The both knelt down with a blank look on their face. In Front of them were knives which all of the villagers took and started to approach one of the children. All of the villagers looked hungry.

@Trevor1001

@SepticGentleman@luclovers@Cuccoruler

The Magna Pater heard no squeal. It squeezed again. Nothing but air. Its victim had escaped. It was still so disoriented by the flash that it knew not at what point the little one had gotten free. Either way, it was too late now to retreat. It had to deal with the dragon before she got a second wind.

If she got a second wind.

It knew that Saaria didn't even know if it had still hung around, or if she knew that Cia had escaped. The dragon would probably try to make sure everything was incinerated just in case. Salmu Pulhu surged forwards straight at the dragon, smacking aside and slaying the hapless Taken with a single blow along the way and paying no heed to the noise it made at top speed. If it were to eat this night, or on any other again, the horror's devilish strategy would need to be perfect.

Note: Made several spelling edits, because mobile.

The smog filled the cavern, and Saaria's vision blurred as she breathed it in. She felt the Magna Pater slam into her side, sending her flying into the wall. It didn't matter, the gas was filling her lungs too quickly. However, the smog seemed to suck into the pile of bone dust, which now glittered with a strange magical glow. Saaria looked at her hands, covered in the dust. Covered with people. Her hands began to shake, as her wings outstretched even more. A troop of purple eyes Taken walked straight past Gerald, leading a massive robed figure behind them. These were the strongest ones. Saaria felt then intrude in her mind, but it was too late. The Taken's hatred only leaked into her, promoting her breakdown. She dropped to her knees as her horns began to glow a dark red. The ground beneath her shook as her eyes lit up with magical energy. She opened her mouth wide, fire gathering within her as her veins turned orange. Nobody would take her prisoner. Never again. She locked eyes with the Magna Pater. She would finish t off quickly, and if it still refused to die, she would at least drive it off. She let out an inhuman screech reminiscent of both the Taken and a dragon, and the cave was engulfed in a fiery explosion. The flames incinerated the bone dust into even finer ash, which blew around Saaria, filling the air as she rose off the ground, a flaming tornado whipping around her body, cremating the Taken and filling the cavern, chasing the Magna Pater up the tunnel. If it didn't escape, it too would fall victim to her rage.

@SepticGentleman@Cuccoruler@Doc Doctor

@luclovers
The Magna Pater was not finished with Saaria. At the cost of a scorching on the way out, it remained just long enough to give her a parting gift.
Its wet, glassy eyes rolled down into its skull. An eerie luminescence shone from what took their place. A new set of eyes, almost human and radiating a phantasmal hue of cerulean not contained fully within the mortal spectrum of sanity and comprehension. They cut through the smog as if separate from the space they occupied.

She would be able to literally feel the creature's gaze crawling over her body as rashes of cold gooseflesh slithered up her spine, raising the hair on the back of her neck. Staring directly into the lurid stars would be as if one's very essence, personal and private, were being fondled by ghoulish, fumbling claws.

And then the Magna Pater would be gone, leaving a plume of disturbed smoke in its place. It would be burnt on the way out, but not yet had the last of it been seen.

Gerald would find himself inside of a pile of cremated Taken, his nose pressed against his neck bone, which would be one of few bones found in the ash pile. His chest and shoulder bones were in there somewhere as well. It appeared that whatever was under that black hood had carried these on or within its person.

Saaria collapsed in her own fiery tornado, exhausted from it all. The fire self fed itself, going until it had burnt out the Magna Pater, and eventually it would quench itself out, the cremated ashes falling slowly to the ground of the cavern. The tunnel leading the the surface would now be a crater, completely crumbled and destroyed. Saaria lay unmoving, covered in ash.

@SepticGentleman @Cuccoruler @Doc Doctor

---

Absolutely crazy.

Gerald still couldn't properly nudge himself, but at least he was beginning to find his parts. All he could see besides the piece pressed to his nasal area was gore, ash, and smoke. He could somehow feel his neck bone, even jostle it a but, but getting it reconnected to his skull would need some assistance from another party.

"RICHARDS!" He called out, "OI FOUND ME NECK BONE! BUT OI REQOIAH SOME 'ELP WITH MAH REASSEMBLY."

He wasn't getting any immediate responses.

"RICHARDS?" He shouted again. "AH, C'MON, BIT A FOIYAH'S NOT ENOUGH TO WRASSLE YA BOTH DOWN! RICHARDS? RICHARDS!"

Wasn't looking good.

@luclovers
@Cuccoruler

Stormy Forest

After Piper had apologized and dried off the fur blanket, she excused herself to go sit outside and calm her burning face. She’d run out of things to say, and wanted some time to think about what had happened. She sat atop a large rock, watching the flood of “water” creep across the clearings below. She could tell where it had flooded by the strange, multicolored tree-tops.

She’d managed to find some(more or less) allies soon after being separated from Chumi, but she still missed him. It was like missing half of herself.

Theresa was nice, and seemed genuinely kind and caring, but she wasn’t Chumi. It was very clear from the dragon’s response that he felt just as much animosity towards her as she did towards him, which, all things considered, was fairly typical of dragons. Probably humanoid ones too. Not only that, but he’d apparently also killed one of the hell-monsters that attacked them last night. Scary. Hopefully she wouldn’t have to deal with him forever if she wanted to be with Theresa.

She wondered, for a moment, just where she was. She had no idea where she’d been taken by her underground waterslide, but her map would. More or less, anyway. The map had measures built in to ensure that the positions of objects on it were correctly placed, no matter what the user saw. This was to prevent things like optical illusions or sleeping in a carriage from turning it into a piece of abstract art.

She pulled the map out. The rain which would have hit it shied away in a manner that suggested an invisible dome over the map. When unrolled, the map quickly got to work filling out a section on the map a few inches east from where it had marked the place they had made camp. A few inches, unfortunately, actually meant a very long way, since the map was large enough to show off the entirety of the continent in magically-possible detail. It would take her weeks to reach where she’d been, and she doubted Chumi could survive for that long without her cooking. That meant that she’d have to use one of the emergency methods to bring him over.

She sighed, and reached into Hatty. She pulled out a glimmering green orb, ready for usage. She didn’t want to use this, as it was an expensive spell, but it looked like there was no other option. Teleportation is powerful, but it’s one of the few varieties of magic that will always shatter an orb on use. That meant there was no easy recharge, and a new raw orb, which is very expensive if you weren’t an explorer who’d stumbled upon the motherlode of them, would be required to make another. Worth it, though, in cases like these.

Piper stood, and shook the orb. It made a quiet, tinkling sound, and immediately shattered, the pieces breaking up into little more than glittering green dust. Behind her, a much, much louder thunder-bell sound reverberated, and she turned to see Chumi. She nearly ran forward to hug him, but stopped when she saw his condition.

Chumi was also in his bedclothes, but they were in even worse condition than hers. He might as well not have been wearing a shirt at all, given how much of it was destroyed. He looked utterly exhausted, and had many small cuts across his arms. She was suddenly glad she’d gotten away the way she had.

Chumi sat down on the ground almost immediately, letting out a long sigh.

“Thank you. I thought I was going to be lost in there forever,” he said, finally.

“Lost? What? What happened?” Piper asked.

“I used the recall orb, but that wasn’t enough to throw them off. I grabbed a couple of the orbs we’d left back at the mine, and ran off into the woods. I hoped to get away, but they found me, somehow. I still can’t figure out how,” he explained. They found him? How was he not dead?

“Um, if they found you, how are you still alive?” she questioned, hoping that he wasn’t a zombie now. Zombies were gross.

“That’s the thing, they didn’t want to eat me, they didn’t even want to kill me. They just wanted to... Touch me or something,” he said, removing his left boot.

“Here’s where they hit me,” he said, pointing to an absolutely disgusting sore on his ankle.

“They had, well, I’m not sure, but some sort of tentacle hair or something. It was dark and hard to see. When they caught up with me, one of them whipped my ankle and left this mark. After that, they stopped chasing me and just left. Didn’t stop me from running, though,” he finished.

“You should... Probably get to sleep or something. I’ll explain what happened on my side once you’ve rested and don’t look like a werewolf the morning after a full moon,” Piper said, “I met a couple of travelers, they found a little cave for shelter,”

“Speaking of,” Chumi said, as they walked towards the cave, “I eventually wound up back at the camp, but I couldn’t find you there. I packed up our stuff and went to look, and got lost,”

“Oh good, I thought I was going to be stuck without another change of clothes until we made our way back,” Piper said, relieved.

“Ah, we’re here” she said, looking inside. Theresa was asleep on her newly-dried bed, and Ben was sleeping curled up like, well, a dragon. It didn’t look healthy. Or comfortable, for that matter. Still, she wasn’t a dragon. Chumi looked over her shoulder.

“An Azygos Dragon? Seriously, you made friends with an Azygos Dragon?” he said, nearly a whisper.

“I wouldn’t call him a friend, really,” she replied.

“This is perfect, though! Azydras are some of the best laborers in the world. He’d be perfect for the orb facility,” he said.

“I don’t think that’s a very good idea,” she said, “I’m pretty sure he’s either exiled or free, and he tried to steal my wand earlier,”

“He tried to steal your wand? I’m surprised he’s still alive,” Chumi remarked.

“He’s a dragon, Chumi. I can’t slay a dragon on my own. Besides, he sort of saved me, even though he tried to steal my wand,”

“Anyway,” she said, before he could reply, “There’s some space in there. Go ahead and set out your blankets and get some rest, I’ll sleep outside,”

“Okay. Goodnight, Piper,” he said, as she dried him off.

“Goodnight, Chumi,” she said, walking back to that rock she found earlier. She rarely told anyone, but she much preferred sleeping under a stormy sky when she could. The various permanent enhancements made to her body by her master made the rain feel like an endless warm shower in a bathtub. She usually didn’t, though, because it tended to bring about some awkward questions as to why that girl was sleeping sopping wet in the rain while there was a perfectly good tent or inn nearby. Charity, no matter how well-intentioned, tended to be terribly embarrassing.

Piper slowly drifted off under the wonderful smell, sound, and feel of the rain blanketing her.

---

---

The morning came soon. At least, what could be sensed as a morning.

Theresa's eyes quivered as she arose from her slumber, lifting her head up, some dry leaves falling from her hair as it'd spread out during her slumber. She shook her head, and then looked over at Ben. He'd already woken up.

_"Hey." Theresa said, minding not to wake Piper. Or, who she assumed to be Piper.

_"Hey." Ben replied, motioning his head towards the sleeping figure. <sub>"Piper's gone. He came in after she left like nothing was wrong."

"What?"</sub> Theresa replied, looking at the newcomer. Definitely wasn't a Piper, looked like a young man. This must have been the "Chumi" individual she spoke of earlier. How did he manage to find this place in the middle of the night? It was probably some magic nonsense that Theresa wouldn't have been able to make heads or tails of.

_{"I stayed up for a good while. Watched him. He didn't steal anything, far as I know. Piper never came back either."} He said. Theresa did a quick check of her belongings. Cloak, check. Sword, still sheathed. Shield, present. Satchel, light as it was before. Crossbow... still broken, and still in Ben's possession.

_{"Nothing off me."} Theresa said.

_{"Me neither. But I say we leave before he wakes up, or Piper comes back. Get a move on to the next town, if we can find it."}

Theresa turned her head towards the sleeping Chumi. It did seem rude to leave unannounced, but Chumi had entered unannounced, so the two made up for each other. Theresa nodded, and she and Ben turned to exit the cavern as quietly as possible. The thumping of the saurian's footsteps on the dirt and leaves below probably did wake Chumi, but he was still faking sleep if that were the case.

Theresa noticed something as they left.

"Did... did we move further into the cave, somehow?"

They did. Somehow. The spot they were in seemed further into the cave than it was yesterday. Further as in, the cave had grown, not that they had moved. Something wasn't quite right.

"What is this?" Ben asked, ducking his head beneath the dirty cavern ceiling, which quickly turned to solid rock. The two reached the cave's mouth and... something was definitely different.

They were standing in a clearing, surrounded by a tall rock perimeter, with a gaping hole up top letting the light of day pass through. Seemed a little cloudy still, with light raindrops falling from the rocks and vegetation above. A distance away, very much unaware of her new location, was Piper sleeping on a wet bed of rock, right underneath the raindrops.

"Let's not disturb her either." Theresa said.

"Hmph."

They stepped around the clearing, sticking to the cavern wall, leaving Piper to rest easy. There was another passageway, a tunnel leading forward. They crept into it and stepped across the dirt and stone. There was light at the end. Light brighter than the sky above Piper. Not the same light, not at all.

They exited the tunnel, and what a sight they stood before.

A pit. A rocky pit, like a massive version of the area Piper was sleeping in. The floor of the pit was't more dirt and rock, but rather an open courtyard of cut, even stones, expertly placed. All around them were rocks, moss, and... doors. Actual doors, littered around the perimeter, tucking into frames amidst the vegetation. And more tunnels, leading to places unknown. Above them, above the open crevice, was a clear sky of blue. Birds could be heard chirping far away from this place.

"Where... are we?" Theresa asked.

"You're asking me..." Ben replied.

"When you should be asking me!"

The duo turned. Beside the tunnel they'd just exited, on a moss-ridden rock sat a man. He had a flat face, grey, wrinkly skin, long white hair, and eyes of no color besides black. He wore large, circular glasses and a straw hat with a ridiculously wide brim. He was dressed in simple green coat with a darker garb, with beige trousers and sandals on his legs and feet. Looked something of a farmer, or a gardener perhaps.

He outstretched his hands, and kept up a smile on his wrinkly face. "Welcome." He said, in a kind, elderly voice. His supposed age didn't stop him from dismounting his rock and stepping towards the duo.

Theresa took a moment to gather her thoughts, before she calmly asked, "And who are you?"

"Well..." The man replied, "If you like to be formal, you may call me the Keeper. But friends and acquaintances call me Julian, or Jules. Any's fine by me."

"Keeper? Keeper of what?"

"This place." Julian said, stretching out his hands again and displaying the entirety of the room to the duo. "Folks around here like to call it... the Keeper's Junction."

That smile didn't drop a centimeter the whole time he spoke.

"I'm certain you have other questions, but if I may ask some myself? Tell me, what do you two visitors call this land?"

"The... the Continent."

"Ah, that one. Rightly common, but a little bland. Me, I prefer the more fantastic names, like the Lost Realm, the Forgotten Sprawl. But my absolute favorite? Hopeland."

"Guessing you know a thing or two about it then."

"More than you could guess, dear. Is there anything you'd like to know in particular?"

"I don't even know where to start."



"What... does that mean?"



"That's... amazing."

Theresa paused for a moment before she stepped forward and lifted her cloak away, showing her mark to Julian. "What about this?" She said, "These... tall, blue men with seashell heads, Vigils, they put them on us. I was told this was part of some kind of curse. That we can't leave. What do you know about that?"



The duo was silent as he spoke.



Neither of them responded. There was a bout of silence before Julian spoke again.

"I'm sorry it sounds so dreadful. But that's just how it works here."

Theresa looked down at her feet. Ben lightly tapped her shoulder, and she looked up at him. The saurian gave her a reassuring nod, and she gave one back, pausing just for another moment before she spoke.

"Won't let that stop us from exploring." She said, smiling.

Julian returned a smile of his own. "That's the spirit. And besides, the Continent is a magnificent place to make a life for yourself. So much to explore, and quite a bit's available from this very spot."

"What do you mean?"



"I'll say. But... how do we use it properly? We just woke up in a cave here, not the same place we went to sleep in. No idea how that happened."



"This just keeps getting better and better." Ben commented, looking at his key and smirking. Theresa eyed hers before pocketing it, and saying to Julian, "We never gave you our names. I'm Theresa."

"And I'm Ben."

"Theresa and Ben. Wonderful names." Julian replied, "You two seem like fine people. So much so that I hope to see you around often, so we can make ourselves friends. You're both welcome here whenever you like."

"Thank you." Theresa replied, nodding. "Do you mind if we stay here for just a short while? Get our bearings, decide where to go next?"

"But of course. If you..." Julian pointed to a higher alcove in the surrounding rocks. "Go up there, there's a cavern I keep clean for visitors to rest in. Like an inn, you could say. Well lit, beds, what have you. Make as much use of it as you like."

"Thank you, Julian." Theresa said, turning away.

"For everything." Ben added, joining Theresa.

Julian smiled, too turning away as they climbed up to the alcove.

@UrbanEvolution
@Empour

Arnor Kalthun

The peasants looked at eachother and walked away, returning to their duties in the fields.

"FLEE, YES, FLEE BEFORE ME, LEST I GROW TIRED OF THY STENCH AND CONDEMN YOU TO E̫T̩̗Ḙ̫̗̻͉͎̦R̤̖̫̼̲̼̰N̖̰̼̟A̤̫̤͕̰͍̪L̠̝̞ ̬͈͈̻D̞̣̳A͈̟͍͚̰̞̼RḴ͉̳͙NES͖̹͙̖͚S̲̬"

The beast returned to its wandering, looking for more loyal of servants.

@Cuccoruler

"Sounds like a good plan." Jordan grabbed his backpack and returned to his room to eat and pass the time tell Sven came to get them.

__________________

The trio followed behind Sven as they made their way to the warehouse. Their movements were akin to animals on the hunt. With out even talking or using signs they moved like a single unit as they made it to the back of the warehouse. What happened next was surprising as a candy cane lifted them up so they were inside. What ever Jordan was thinking they would find couldn't prepare him for what he saw. As he watch the villagers close in on the child Jordan was racking his mind for ideas as he gave a mental command to Blake to ready some bile just in case. Not wanting to blow their cover he told Sven to hide and let Blake unleash the bile onto the crowd below before hiding. Whatever the bile landed on would would slowly start to dissolve hopefully causing some pain and distracting them for a little bit.

Cia

After the large explosion and once things had cleared Cia hurried back to the others. She saw some of Geralds parts. She started to grab each of the parts and put them togeather as quickly as she could. It was like watching a machine quickly assemble of a car as she worked. She was quick in her work. Soon enough she had fully assembled Gerald again. "There, that should be all of you except for the skin and guts." Cia said glad that the ordeal was over. Or atleast she thought it was.

@Luclovers
@SepticGentleman

JoyVille

Two of cultists were hit by the bio. They started to flail around in pain as their cloak was dissolved then their skin. It wasn't a pretty sight. At this point one of the cultists pointed out where the Bio had come from. Mai the songstress Goddess had turned her head as well. She gave a toothy grin as she looked towards Jordan. She lifted her hand and pointed it at Jordan and Sven. At this point the Cultists started to go after them. There was a big burly man near the entrance. He was huge and had a maul next to him which he used as a weapon.

Sven

Sven wasn't annoyed by the move by Jordan. He believed it to be the right move infact. "It's best if we stop this here before it spreads. I think that songstress is the leader of them. Go after her." Sven said taking out his axe. At this point he jumped down from their perch and headed towards a group of the Cultists. He rammed into them before taking a jump back and slicing at them with his axe. The Songstress in the meantime stood behind the big burly man with a smirk on her face.

@Trevor1001

Saaria opened her eyes, everything blurring into focus slowly. She stood, dizzy from using too much power. Her horns almost ached, she was picking up so many thoughts from the Taken. She had no idea that she had this power before, perhaps the Taken had inadvertently cursed her with it, but she felt herself slowly being pulled into the Taken's hive mind, gaining insight into what they were thinking. At the same time, she felt as if the creature she had fought in the cavern was lurking somewhere, and she held a strange sleepy feeling.
"Get close to the walls." She suddenly commanded, slinking up against the burnt stone surface. Moments later, a horde of Taken seemed to leap over the crater they were standing in, heading back to the village. She looked at her companions. A slurring skeleton and an annoying fairy who asks too many questions. Saaria could be in trouble. She never thought of it before, because she didn't have the knowledge she now possessed from the hive mind. But her father would send people after her, there was no doubt about it. They didn't need her alive, especially not when they had another daughter, like Saaria but less... monstrous. If one were to look closely at her eyes, a dark purple ring would appear around her pupil, almost unnoticeable. She spoke up.
"They're going to attack Unterosten again." She explained. "We can go back and help, or we can move further into these caves, perhaps at our own peril."
She left the decision up to her companions. Most of the Taken would be gone, but Saaria had a feeling they wouldn't leave the caves completely unguarded, and something sinister called to her from below.

@SepticGentleman @Cuccoruler

---

"WELL..." Gerald said, propped up against a pile of Taken corpses with only his upper body, and half of his arms, "REST A ME 'PEARS TO BE IN THE POSSESSION OF THAT, EHHH... ROBED FELLA, AN' 'IS POSSE A FIENDS WOT PASSED BOY US."

Gerald continued, "OI SAY WE 'OP BACK TO TOWN, 'ELP THE LOCALS, AN' GET THE REST A ME BONES BACK. BUT, EHHH..."

He jostled a bit, shrugging. "ONE A YA RICHARDS STILL 'AS TO CARRY ME, DUE TO ME CURRENT BOUT A INCOMPLETENESS."

@luclovers
@Cuccoruler

Cia

Cia watched in a bit of surprise as the Taken went by them in what seemed to be a hurry. "Right, let me help with the escape since I haven't been much help as of late." Cia said raising her hand to the air blue dust gathered in it this time. She then shot the dust at the two carrying them both out of the cave quickly until they were almost at the village. "Haven't used that spell in awhile." Cia said with a smile as she landed next to them going into her human size once more and stretching. It was nice to be normal size for now atleast. "Let's not go into another cave for today alright?" Cia suggested.

@Luclovers
@SepticGentleman

@Cuccoruler

Jordan and Blake jumped down while Jasmine stayed on the perch. Wielding his machete Jordan swung at the nearest person, a woman with a dagger. Dodging her attempt to stab him Jordan dug his weapon into her left side of the neck, switched his hand so his thumb was near the bottom of the handle and pulled it towards him and to his left slicing more of her throat. The woman fell to the floor as her life would soon be gone. Blake, meanwhile, was dealing with his own guy who was swinging a sword at him. Dashing at the guy Blake clawed his leg causing him to stumble. Taking advantage of the stumble Blake tackled him to the ground and released a glob of bile onto his eyes causing him to scream in pain and wither around on the ground blinded.

As the crew approaches the village, they see an obvious distress. There is a hole torn in one of the buildings, and smoke is billowing out. Adam stood with a solemn look on his face. Upon approaching him, the group saw that his irises were completely violet.
"No hope.." He mumbled, ignoring the group and stumbling into the forest. The group peered into the building. It was room four, and there were bricks scattered about the room. An old woman stood tall, while everyone else hid.
"They took her." She said. "They stole away poor Nerissa."
People began to slowly file into the room. They had on yellow bandanas, some of them with small green dots drawn into the pattern. One of them, a lanky boy with messy blonde hair, ran forward, hugging onto the old lady.
"I'm so glad you're safe." He sobbed. The woman looked up at him angrily.
"You foolish boy, get back to the safe room!" She screamed. "They'll be back any second, and if they see you they'll-"
"Aggghhhh...." The boy crumpled to the ground. The woman took two steps back, covering her mouth with her hands. The moon shined in through the hole in the wall, and many of the people with bandanas began to shake, some falling to the ground. The citizens moved as if the people were grenades, stumbling and crying out as they hid. The skin of the people began to shimmer with violet pinholes, disappearing until roughly ten skeletons with bandanas stood in the ruins, blue orbs hanging in their eyes. A little girl screamed as one of them stood up, and her mother shushed her. This was the curse of those who were Marked. They would turn to bone when moonlight graced them, and if they should fall into the hands of the violet eyed Taken, they would be killed and corrupted, rising as the Taken who they themselves feared. The old woman approached the group, her grey Stoney eyes filled with wisdom beyond this world.
"You can help us." She stated bluntly. "If you still have any good left in you, then please, help us." She begged. Her grandson, now a Marked Skeleton, stood and layed his hand on her shoulder. The woman turned, staring him down. In the silence, a call rang out. A shrill whispering war cry, spreading across the dark land.
"Go." she told the boy. He hugged her tightly with his bony hands, and then retreated into the safety of another room. Many people began screaming and fleeing into the tunnels. Only the old lady and a few Marked stood ready as the siege resumed. Taken lurked along the edge of the forest, waiting. From three different sides of the ruins, beings stepped out of the forest. Tall, cloaked beings, one hulking, one slouching, and one crawling. The battle had just begun.

@SepticGentleman @Cuccoruler

---

Julian's cave-turned-inn was, to say the least, quaint. It seemed liked it'd been specially carved out with separate rooms, big enough to handle even folks of Ben's size and stature. There were assorted lighting devices, candles and crystals, all lining the walls. The beds were heaps of materials like hay, cotton, feathers, all wrapped in sheets with wooden frames around them. Comfy enough, but it wouldn't beat most you see in a proper town.

Ben and Theresa were seated in one such room, with several beds varying in size, and plenty of light.

"Well, it's better than sleeping in the dirt trying not to get rained on.", Ben said, setting his inventory down next to the bed and crossing his arms. The place smelt like wood and scented candles, which was odd for what looked to be an inn carved out inside of a cave. He wasn't complaining, but the Keeper seemed eccentric enough to (probably) be the cause. Ben was semi-hesitant to leave his bag alone, since the Keeper had stated that others came through. Ben was naturally overprotective. That was burnt into his genes. Even if he was being protective over a stash of coconuts his tempermant still DEMANDED THEY BE PROTECTED.

"Any bed's better than that." Theresa replied, leaning back. "You sleep on leaves for more than a few nights... this is practically luxury, right here."

Ben snorted. He had lost count on how many time he'd had to do that. But, at the same time he'd never actually had a bed to sleep in. Only pelts. Even in his tribe.

"Is this what humans call a bed?" Ben said, leaning down to look at the piece of furniture. He poked it a few times to test it. This was... different.

"Well I call it a bed. Anyone of royalty would call it fuel for a fire."

"Never had a bed before." Ben said, putting both his hands down on the body of the bed and pushing down to test how structurally sound the contraption was. It was a force of habit. He was... very used to things breaking under his weight. It groaned under his push and he pulled back, but seemed to trust it well enough.

"Seems like it can hold you, at least." Theresa commented, leaning forward. "But we've already slept, so... now what do you want to do?"

"We should probably start planning where to go next." Ben stated, turning to look back from where they came. "We have... doors now. I can go talk to the Keeper if you want. See if we can find another settlement."

"Sure, go ahead." Theresa replied, "I'm gonna stay here, see if he has a washroom anywhere."

Ben gave an awkward smile and backed out of the room, nearly tripping over his tail as he did so. He doubted Theresa wanted him anywhere near her while she handled her... womanly duties, whatever those may be. As soon as he was out of the room and had shut the makeshift door for her privacy he went back down the alcove to meet with the Keeper once more.Julian was, once again, seated on a rock by one of the cavern entrances, merely observing the Junction and everything it was comprised of, listening to the birds chirping above. He turned his head towards Ben as he approached.

"Facilities to your liking?" He asked.

"Not enough booze" was Ben's reply, the corners of his lips curled upwards ever so slightly.

"Ah, my apologies. I have a friend who comes around every so often, gifts me assorted beverages. I'll hold some for you when he pops in next." Julian said, smiling.

Ben seemed semi-surprised that his joking complaint would actually be rectified, but didn't say anything to contradict himself. "Right... Uh, so these doors lead to places all over the Continent?"

Julian nodded, turning his head and pointing his finger towards a red, wooden door that seemed to be losing its paint. "That one leads to a village by the coast. Rightly normal, I believe. But, shabby." He redirected his finger towards a cavern entrance covered in strange, dark markings. "That one leads to a rather nasty town called Aardvale. Not a... good place to be, really." He waved his finger around, searching for more doors and caverns to point out. "And..."

Ben followed the man's hand around the room, rather impressed by the sights around him. But ultimately his eyes landed on a relatively small, but human-sized door. It was mechanical, and technical in appearance. Much more complex than the other doors based upon the gears that could actually be seen turning on the door's face. It also had splotches of flesh around its frame and on the door itself, which seemed to be playing an integral part of the door's self maintainance. As if the door was alive.

"What about that one?" Ben questioned, raising his massive arm to point at the locked entrance. He walked closer to it and knelt down to get a better look at how the mechanical opening worked. "Where does this one lead?" he said, running his hand down the door's face, searching for some kind of handle.

Julian followed alongside Ben, smiling, chuckling a bit. "Tell me Ben..." He said, "You have a fascination in machinery?"

"I was... am, an inventor." Ben stated, looking over the door carefully. Finally, he found a latch and twisted it clockwise, causing a doorknob to release from the door like a spring. "Just like a grandfather clock..." Ben said. He put his massive hand around the doorknob and twisted, only to find it was locked. He twisted harder only to find that even with all his strength, he couldn't overcome the door.

"Been locked for a long, long time." Julian said, stepping further forward. "I've never found the key, but... I believe I know where it can be found."

"Where? What's behind this door?" Ben questioned, looking over his shoulder to the Keeper with a raised brow. Julian turned, raising his finger to another cavern entrance. "That cave, over there..." He began, "Leads to a little spot on the side of a mountain. On top of that mountain, there's a city. A city of metal, flesh... and dust. It was called Voldoa. It was home to both men and monsters, living together, working together. They're all gone now, and the place is abandoned... for the most part." He turned to Ben and continued, "I've been there a few times, both when it was alive, and when it was dead. Some things, some... constructs, still wander about the ruins. Around the time of its downfall, that door showed up. I don't fully know what's behind it, but it's definitely connected to Voldoa, and its masters, the Engineers. And I think whatever's behind it is something truly special. Something that was very, very important to the Engineers."

Ben seemed to get lost looking at the door one more time, running his hand over the glass that protected the turning gears and muttered something under his breath.

"City of men and monsters... Wish others could've taken a page out of their book."

The idea sounded... beautiful in his mind. The abandoned city would be a great place to find scrap metal too. His curiousity had been spiked, and the adventure... it was just what he and Theresa seeked. This was great.

"It didn't turn out as well as they hoped." Julian stated, "But, that's a more common ending to things than's right around here."

"Theresa!" Ben called, turning his head as to not shout in the Keeper's ear. He needed to tell her this.

Out of the alcove, Theresa emerged, wearing only in her vest and trousers. She looked down and over at Ben, shouting back, "What?"

"WE'RE GOING ON AN ADVENTURE!"

"Great!" She replied, albeit seemingly just playing along with Ben's sudden enthusiasm, "Let me get ready!" She turned back and into the alcove.

"Best be on your guard around Voldoa, Ben." Julian said, looking up at the saurian. "It fell for more reasons than one."

"A city's a big place. Any idea where the key might be?"

"I don't even know what the key looks like. But in your case, I think your best bet would be the old district, on the other side of town from where you'll enter. Look for a large, dome-shaped building. That was the administration center."

"Thank you. And the dangers? Any things we should watch for? Areas we should... avoid?"

"Don't go below ground. Things down there... not very friendly."

Theresa emerged from the alcove again, now fully dressed and ready to set out. She had even grabbed Ben's bag of coconuts. She threw it off the edge for the fire-lizard to catch, then darted down the pathway and approached Ben, calling out to him, "Where are we headed?"

Ben gave her a firery, devilish smile. "You'll see. C'mon!", he said, shouldering his pack and waving for her to hurry up as he set off down the cave exit that the Keeper had pointed him down.

An adventure indeed.

In Collaboration Between Empour and SepticGentleman

Stone Pit

When Piper woke, something wasn’t right.

First of all, the rain was over, and she liked the rain. Maybe she’d summon some more later.

Second of all, rapidly looking around, she was in somewhere entirely different from where she had fallen asleep. What had once been an open cliffside with a view of the forest below had become a rocky crevice, surrounded by unscalable tall rocks. Had what the master warned would happen happened? Had mysterious men stolen her away while she was sleeping under the rain clouds, and made her go sleep somewhere weird? Granted, sleeping on a rock in the middle of a rainstorm is pretty weird to begin with, but it was still very alarming that she was waking up somewhere completely different.

She could see holes in the rocks, but they were deep and had no light at the ends of them. Just where was she? Had the ground collapsed, or did the earth rise up around her while she was sleeping?

Near one of the caves, she could see a person, someone in some sort of robe and a large hat. Beyond that, she couldn’t make out any details. He was sitting on what looked like a large, mossy rock. While this was a little odd, she really couldn't say much about it. She had, after all, just woken up from sleeping on one herself. Shortly after she spotted the man, he waved at her in a friendly way.

Behind him, there was a cave of a familiar shape. It looked almost exactly like the alcove she'd left Chumi in last night, but it was deeper, somehow. Did that cave have an older brother?

Evidently, it was actually the same cave, but it had grown up. Really fast. Chumi walked out from it, yawning and looking around. He spotted her, and began to walk over. He was stopped, however, by the man she'd seen earlier.

The man said something to him, and beckoned for her to come over as well. Not wanting to leave her teammate to deal with the man on his own, she hurried over as quickly as she could.

"Come in, come in!" The man called out, "It's fine, I assure you!"

"Just who are you," Piper asked, slightly out of breath, "Are you the person who brought us here?"

"Oh, no." The man replied, smiling, "Afraid that's the land's doing. Happens more often than you think." He folded his hands together and continued, "Today's looking to be a busy day. Four newcomers in such a record time."

The land? Was there some sort of mischievous deity responsible for her sudden relocation to this ravine with a kindly man within? She didn't ask.

"Four? You mean the dragon and the orange lady?" said Chumi. Evidently all that he'd seen of Theresa was her hair.

"Ben and Theresa, the saurian and the red-haired woman, yes." He replied, nodding. "Came through here and I told them all about the place. Suppose I should do the same for you two. But, how about we start with names before it slips my mind again? I'm Julian."

Piper smiled. She liked this man much more than she had a moment ago, because he had just given them the chance to introduce themselves the proper way.

"I'm Piper, the Storm part of Team Thunderstorm," she started,

"I'm Chumi, the Thunder part of Team Thunderstorm," Chumi continued,

"Together, we're going to explore the world!" Piper finished. Good. That felt good. It felt horribly awkward having to stop in the middle of it while she was introducing herself to Ben and Theresa.

"Ha! I love it!" Julian replied, clapping, "Such enthusiasm! But, but..." He paused for a moment, searching for the right way to say his next piece. "Exploring the world's your goal... afraid you've come to the wrong place."

The wrong place? What was he talking about? This was the best place to explore, it was the only properly uncharted territory in the world. It was called the Blank lands for a reason.

"What do you mean, the wrong place?" Chumi said, reading Piper's mind. "This is the only unexplored land in the world. It's obviously the best place to go about exploring,"

"Ah..." Julian replied, folding his hands again, "You two best sit for a moment and let me tell you about these... "Blank Lands". I'll take your questions when I'm done. And... keep calm minds. This may dishearten you."

And he told them all that he told Ben and Theresa beforehand.

...

"... and that's all of it." Julian finished the tale, sitting on a rock once again, eyeing Piper and Chumi with obvious concern for their reactions.

Piper, for her part, was taking the news better than Chumi was. He looked absolutely devastated. Piper, however, was not. Mostly because she knew several points to Julian's monologue were wrong.

Magic, despite what savage, uneducated peasants thought, was far from all-powerful. There was no magic in the world strong enough to destroy an entire continent, or make one for that matter. No... Known magic, anyway. Wait, if the continent was created by and for the purpose of storing destroyed things lost to time, then it would possibly be possible that the very magic that had created it was magic stored by itself. Her head hurt just trying to figure out how that would work. Suddenly, another thought occurred to her.

"If the Blank lands work as you say, then what's to stop it from surviving constantly, despite things being told about it? Things are lost or forgotten all the time," she said.

"The Blank Lands' curse works in... well, ways I'll admit I'm not entirely versed in." Julian replied, "The land itself, the names you give it, those are harmless to speak of. But the inhabitants, they're the ones whose lives are at stake. That's why the Vigils work so hard to mark newcomers and... actually, I should ask, have you two been marked yet?"

"Vigils?" Chumi spoke up, "What are Vigils?"

"Tall men. Blue skin, rags, seashells for heads. Tentacles come out and whip their mark on all foreigners. Brands them with the curse that prevents them from leaving."

Chumi looked at Piper. They knew exactly what Julian was talking about, but weren't sure if they should let on about that. If this curse he spoke of was anything like the curses that were told about in hushed whispers back at Orb Arcane, it would be a very good idea to avoid it if at all possible. Both of them understood that.

Piper decided to immediately change the subject.

"Pardon me for asking, but, we're foreigners ourselves. We've seen things and people here, yourself included, so... Why are you still alive, if this curse is so dangerous to the natives?" she said.

"Because I am native." Julian replied, "I'm already tied to this place. Can't leave even though I'm not marked. And you haven't left yet, so you're no threat to anyone in that sense. Which brings me back to my previous question - are you marked?"

Piper looked at Chumi again, defeated. It looked like there was no way around his question.

"The night before last," Chumi said, "Our camp was assaulted by two terrifying monsters. They more or less fit the description you gave of the vigils. Piper was sent deep into a pool of water by them, and I was chased around the nearby forest until they caught up with me and hit me,"

Chumi stood on one foot and pulled his boot off again. The disgusting sore could be seen there, in clear view.

"I'm not sure what happened to you, Piper. Did you get cursed too, after you went into the pool?"

Piper looked around. She really didn't want to get cursed, and the way the conversation was leading, she suspected the man might demand that she would. Still, though, there didn't seem to be any way around it.

"I don't think so. I looked over myself last night while everyone was sleeping, I didn't have any sort of gross sores like that," she said. A lie, obviously, but she'd have known if there was a festering wound like that on her body.

"Oh..." Julian said, looking a little disheartened, "No good, that. Vigils'll send more after you if you stay that way. May even send a Fishmonger, ugly things..." He paused for a moment, turning his head away, looking over something in the distance. "Piper..." He began, "The Vigils... at least, their leader, isn't a complete monster. Wharfinger Vorris, he's an old friend of mine. I think... I think it would be in the interest of your wellbeing to... willfully accept the mark."

Well, at least he wasn't outright demanding it. He seemed genuinely concerned for her well being. He almost reminded her of someone, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

Still, though, seeing that thing on Chumi's ankle completely and utterly overrode any desire she had to go along with what the man had said. Willingly put something like that on her body? Who on earth would willingly curse themselves in such a hideous fashion? She wanted to stay an attractive witch, not a wicked one.

"Is there any way I can... Just promise I won't leave or anything?" she said, a little weakly. Despite her internal indignation, she couldn't bring herself to actually act on that with Julian. He was too, well, friendly and grandfatherly, despite being the bringer of bad news.

"I'm afraid the Vigils don't take much stock in words." He said, turning his head again and pointing to a cave covered in withered coral and barnacles. "That cave... over there, it leads to their Wharf. They make their home within it. If you go there, if you ask to see Wharfinger Vorris, tell them I sent you... it would be seen as quite the polite gesture." He paused for a moment before continuing, "I won't force you to go, of course. But ultimately, it is the smarter decision."

So this wasn't really an option. Despite his kind words, Piper could tell, there was no way around this. Either they'd be hunted by something apparently even worse than the monsters that had attacked before and ultimately be given a disgusting blemish in somewhere probably rather unfortunate, or go to this "wharf" and hope that this big boss would allow for her to choose where it went.

She considered where she'd prefer for it to be. She could get one on the ankle that Chumi didn't have his on and match like that, that could work. She'd never be able to wear sandals again, but that was a small price to pay for not having to either be chased by a creature from barnacle hell or have her face forever tarnished.

Wait. Why did she have to get it in the first place? Surely if she could just destroy the curse that would kill all these people if they were spoken of, there would be no need for a gross blemish.

She didn't say that to Julian. He'd probably object for some reason. Instead, she simply asked,

"I... I think I need some time to think about this. Is there somewhere I could rest, get myself and Chumi into some proper clothes?" she asked. She'd use whatever time he gave her to get ready to embark on this quest.

Julian directed his finger to the same alcove full of living spaces he told Ben and Theresa of. "Up there." He said, "It's a bit of the Junction I carved out for travelers to rest in." He paused for a moment before he smirked and said, "You could call it... a cave-inn."

Chumi was suddenly out of view, and hysterical laughter could be heard from his general direction. Piper tried her best to keep herself composed after his pun, but wasn't able to keep herself from smiling.

"Thank you very much," she said, voice shaking a little with restrained laughter. She liked Julian. All the more reason to liberate him from this curse that threatened his very being.
She reached over to Chumi, pulling him off of the floor. She began walking towards the steps to the pun-hole, but was stopped by Julian's hand. It was old, weathered and wrinkled.

"Hold on, almost forgot..." He said, pulling out two keys from his coat. "Take these keys. If you have them on hand, the Junction's doors are always open to you."

Piper accepted them, putting them into her hat. They sounded handy. She'd have Chumi take a look at them later.

"Thank you, Julian," she said, smiling. She bowed slightly to him, and continued walking to the cave-inn.