Cesar Lorenzo Tidesong Bolivar
Turyn, en la oscuridad

@The Harbinger of Ferocity@Gordian Nought@JBRam2002

I swear to the gods, these pests are more annoying than seagulls on a Monday afternoon...

Cesar grinned. They were all closing in on the giant, and that meant finally going through that door. All they needed to do was cut through these last few shadows. Salvation was almost reached. At least, until...

To summarize this moment, I'll have to refer to the old adage. There are two things certain in life: Death, and these malditos shadows!

The shadows had began to rush over once again, in groups, swarming both himself, and his ally, Wick. Cesar managed to avoid most of their blows, but one of their claws had struck Cesar once again, although it has half the same sort of discomforting feel he had felt when clawed the first time. The grave chill still shook Cesar's core, but it was minor enough for him to waive off.

"Aha! Is that all you ratas got?" Cesar boasted, before taking a deep breath. The bard cupped his free hand over his mouth, magic gathering within it. A second later, he released a mighty, ear-shattering roar, loud enough for whatever's left of this wracked world to hear.

What wasn't as mighty was the sore throat I had after...

The roar released a wave of thunderous might, blasting over to some of the shadows attacking both himself and Wick. The force was strong enough to wrack all those in its wake, causing the shadows to shrivel away and fly back into the thing in the sky.

Cesar took a quick breather, turning to the last shadow nearest him, drawing his longsword and grinning.

"En guardia, rata."

”Come on, come on!” Katia urged her allies. ”He’s gotta be weak by now!” Throwing caution to the wind, Katia began to climb the side of the monster’s leg, bringing her quarterstaff swinging upwards with both arms directly between its legs, hoping to strike its weak spot, should it have any. Digging her claws into its side, she pushed off with as vicious a swing as she could. The first claw felt like she got some purchase, but she misjudged her momentum with the second as her attack swiped the air. Twisting around as she fell, she stuck a three-point landing next to Thea and grinned up at her paladin friend. ”Miss me yet?” she asked with a wink.


@The Harbinger of Ferocity - DM

Skittering almost upon all fours, the last and only undefeated shadow of Haemar's contest found itself a new target; the back of the Templar. Not by any obvious means of course, these fiends played not with any sense of reason or logic, but rather untampered and untested instinct. They learned nothing, but their persistence was what made them a threat. You could run, you could hide, you could fight, you could do anything in truth, but they would not cease their pursuit. For them, like a moth to the flame, the light in the darkness was too hard to ignore; too tempting to touch.

And that is exactly why the collision between shadow and servant of light happened.

The small being leapt up to strike at Theodore with its limbs outstretched, but in its haste, it closed the gap too well and rammed into his back, throwing itself to the ground. At most the man stumbled, only to see the being leap back to its feet swiftly and stare at him with dim, emotionless response. Curiously, like the others before it, there was something oddly familiar about its blank, featureless face; no nose, no mouth, no ears or eyes really. It wasn't unsettling, just... off.

During that exchange, the second remaining figure of darkness moved to one side then the next with the bard, the two engaged in a duel. Despite being woefully matched, the shadow displayed no sense of self or desire for preservation; it dove in for an attack and was casually sidestepped. It turned about, only to cock its head to one side at the man who kept it beyond point of his sword. It scratched itself with its seamless claws, responding to his words in some fashion, but was clearly as eager as ever to attack again the moment after, none too sure what the challenge was to have really meant.

But then came the shock of darkness that threatened to sunder the brick pathway once more.

Thea did, just as she intended, draw the attention of the giant beast and perhaps for the best, she stepped into the way more - sword before her - as it hurled the dark energy in its hands. The resulting explosion enveloped her, Wick, and Katia, drowning out the feline monk and the prone woman in a flurry of black fog that jolted with ebon lightning. The blast was so immense that pieces of their decrepit world fell off into the darkness, leaving those in the black precariously placed until a beam of radiant light shot out with startling force. It pierced the shroud of seeming defeat and struck the giant through its chest, clearing out the other side and off into infinity like a shooting star.

For those who could see in full view, namely the wizard Haemar, but both Theodore and Cesar too, the effect was a resounding sign of hope punctuated best by the fact that the leviathan burst into violet flame and in a breath, the entire figure vanished into nothing, burned away completely.

Yet, the air of victory changed radically from inner celebration and jubilation to shock; the boundaries of reality shuddered violently and burst into pieces as a great unlocking boomed louder than any other sound they knew. Then, every brick, every stone, every bit of mortar and craft, ripped apart beneath them and the six heroes fell into the abyss. Time itself, twisted by altered fates, came to a slow crawl...

... and all they could see above them, as they all went together, was the light of the white doors above cast open; a lone figure standing in its threshold, hand outstretched.

---

Unknown

Unknown,
Currently

For how long they fell, none of them could recall.

The world, the doors, their friends... they all seemed to fade away, separated in the endless dark. It was not until the sound of whipping wind and the course of it around their bodies did they realize they were plummeting through the sky; opening their eyes again, above them they witnessed great clouds and a vast blue sky, more broad than anything they had ever seen. Faster and faster they fell, until the reached the sudden stop at the bottom.

First fell Theodore, a cloud of bolts and his crossbow tumbling beside him, who hit the rolling grassland hill with such force he skidded for a ways before he rolled to a stop, his gear careening past him and scattering. Next came Haemar, who landed not far beyond the Templar and rolled with the impact not from any sense of training, but from his arcane ward trying to resist the earth under him. After that, the body of Wick collided with the wizard, who found himself pushed further backward across the land, sliding beyond control, but neither were worse for wear either. Thea too arrived, rolling head over heels until she slid to a halt just before a large, crystal lake; her greatsword penetrating the earth like a missile next to her, fixed in the soil up to half its blade.

Cesar was not so fortunate, for on his whistling fall from the heavens above, he struck the water in full dive at an angle. A great geyser erupted from this, showering the lake in freed droplets and creating waves; some of which the monk caught as she passed overhead and landed on the other side, crashing through a few of the tall, aged branches of pines until she found herself in their boughs. The long, evergreen needles made for a soft nest, so perhaps it was worth her fur being covered in them and their sticky, sweet sap. Only a few jays squawked in astonished protest as they took flight away from Katia's arrival.

Through some miracle, not a single injury marred them. Not the impact, not the collisions, not the... anything.

However, they were somewhere unknown, somewhere strange and somewhere most certainly not home, as before them stretched a great track of land, distinctive by its vast snow crested mountains in virtually all directions, rolling pine hills and bright, warm sun with the faintest of breezes that wafted. For a place of clearly thin air there was no difficulty in breathing here, not in the slightest, and not even the cold water of the lake proved anything less than startlingly refreshing.


@Big Dread, @Cu Chulainn, @Gordian Nought, @Hekazu, @JBRam2002, @Zverda

Theodore had been preparing another bolt to be fired, but then... all this happened. The shadow hopped onto his back, only to be shaken off without much effort. At worst it might have hampered his concentration, but he had trained long enough to not be bothered by such attempts. As soon as he got his eyes off the little shadow, the huge shadow threw its orb at Thea and that impact looked nasty. The darkness spreading from it didn't make it appear any less so, but the flash of brilliant radiance the cut through those tendrils. The light that was the light to pierce the heavens themselves vanquished the leviathan. They had won...

Or so he had believed. As soon as the creature had burned away, so did the world around them. The steady pace the world had been disappearing in accelerated like someone had kicked it in the rear for slacking off at work, everything vanishing in a near instant, only with the sound of some great lock opening accompanying the destruction. Well, if they were to go down, at least taking down the forces of darkness as their last act of defiance was an achievement on its own right. The doors of light and the figure reaching for them were left behind, unwillingly as it was. Theodore still reached out in as futile of an attempt as the last shadow's attack had been. But no, his way went downwards.

The fall was long, a bit too long if one asked him. However, what would come as the end result he could not have expected: He found himself sailing through the sky of an unknown place in an unknown time and by some just as unknown force he did not sustain injuries as he collided with the ground and many of his bolts rained down around him. After a short slide in the grassy hillside, he sat up just in time to see the rest of the show unfold. Haemar tumbling down on his left, catching Wick after he had almost recovered. He was already about to go see if the two were okay, but then Thea came down. As with everyone else here, it was not done with the grace of an angel, but he still worried about the hit she had taken... and that landing looked rough.

Theodore decided he could gather his belongings later and took off to a run towards the paladin. Her blade fell dangerously close to her, but luckily it did not make direct impact. As he got close enough, Theodore called out "Thea, you okay?" The fellow Aasimar had only recently stopped, so she seemed to be still somewhat out of it. The ranger knelt next to her and shook her shoulder. "Hey, that was a bad hit you took back then... are you okay?" he repeated his question.

And then the glorious splash of Cesar introducing themselves to the lake happened, accompanied by Katia flying towards a nearby cluster of trees. Well, at least the two had something to cushion the fall. Now that he thought of it, he didn't hurt either. What was this all about? Had they not just fallen from a height that would surely kill a lesser man? Theodore would have smiled, were it not for his worry about his companions. The Kingdom of Light had to recognise its heroes. That was the only explanation.

@Zverda@The Harbinger of Ferocity

As Katia landed next to the giant blob of shadow, she looked up at him, her eyes gleaming with intensity. ”Come on, big guy,” she muttered just as a blast of energy crashed down on Thea with more power than she had seen from it yet. Thankfully, she knew her aasimar friend should have no real issues absorbing such a hit, but the blow looked like it would have turned her into shadowy mist had she been its target instead. However, this was the opportunity she had been waiting for. Harnessing some of the necrotic energy from the blast, she cupped her hands and redirected it back towards the shadow, the darkness being transformed into radiance as it left her hands. ”Take this!” she yelled, wincing from the pain caused by the blast.

Then everything went white. Then black. Then bright blue. It took Katia a moment to realize what had happened, and what was happening as they fell. She instinctively rotated her body in the air, attempting to land feet first into whatever ground she would crash into, but her plummet was stopped by a cacophony of leaves. She lay there for a moment, breathing heavily from exertion as the jays exploded around her, a wide-eyed ecstatic smile on her face. ”That... was... AWESOME!” she shouted into the sky. ”Guys, did you see that?! It was like -WHAM-! And then -FwooooooSHAAAA-!” She mimicked the reflexive motion again, this time focusing her ki into her palms instead of gathering outside energy, and shot a blast of radiance into the air. ”Aww yeah! We killed the bad guys!”

Her jubilation continued thus for a little while as she slowly began to climb her way down from the tree. In reality, she knew just how close they were to being little more than a few specks of dust after that fight, and it was little less than a miracle that they were able to fight it off. The massive destruction that shadow could wield, the spinning black orb of death, and the fact that they appeared to be on a completely new world if she had any guess; all of these would normally give one pause. But Katia knew her place in this group. It was one of the few places she felt like she truly belonged, and despite how most of them would react with their super-serious faces, Katia's role was one of levity and enjoying the moment.

As Katia reached the base of the tree, she kicked off its trunk for the last few feet before rushing over to her allies at full speed. After their encounter with the shadows, this place felt like a paradise, and there was little that felt better than the wind flowing through her fur as she let out a little pent-up energy. Or course, her friends were too close to really go all out, but she arrived in a flash, panting slightly, and one question on her tongue. ”So uh... anyone know where we are?”

It was sudden.

Thea’s sacrificial interception and intercession placed the guardian's frame between that of the warlock and the incoming, bilious force evoked by the sinister titan. The roar boomed against her paladin armor. Her stance absorbed the nefarious impact which reverberated into the polluted air, like an ersatz lightning rod monopolizing the depolarized darkness, in efforts to deflect downstream destruction to her allies. Upon the Aasimar’s full-plate, each ebon vibration resonated into circumventing strands of taupe licorice, racing to embrace the feline monk and the diviner with charcoal tentacles, as if a broken dinner bell chimed for the Shadows to aggregate and consume any fallen prey. Dusk was near; hunger loomed, lest a miraculous rally emerged.

And it did. The Tabaxi would not be overcome by gloom, suddenly jetting through the ashen haze with a blinding aura, golden eyes meeting violet. Her light flashed, hostile and piercing the thawing ether. Involution second to blindness trickled into absence, lacking manifestation, tolling with the beast’s final dirge, a desperation unlocked. Consequently, a contagion effect rippled through the bridge of Turyn, as the fettered anchors of verisimilitude individuated from their structural proletariat, vanishing into melting hemlock. The last coagulated stones gave way, with Wick and her fellow flock precipitating into the oblivion underneath.

Beckoning a nirvana of novelty, each constellating meteor of the party shrilled into the seemingly unspoiled Eden. All embellished upon the landscape, bodies of wingless angels and clumsy elves. Luckily, their cataclysmic plummet left no one harmed and nothing extinct. Thanking the Gods and the abjurer for sheltering her descent, the scholar rose, dusting pollen off her robes and hood. The delicious dander pirouetted, smitten with scents of eclectic candles. Full of parks and ponds, the scenery provided the revived Celestial a wistful glimpse of a lively domain, peppered with vibrant imagination and natural beauty.

How reminiscent of her previous life's vestige!

A panting panther hurriedly interjected from the boughs of wisdom, echoing Wick’s own surplanting contemplation. “… where are we?

Shuffling towards the sickle knifed into the gored grass near the staff, the oracle spoke, “I know not, Katia. This braid of cursed sorcery seeks tawdry purchases within the soft fontanel of dreams." Words continued as blade met scabbard again; her jeweled staff erect once more, in hand. "Gird with budgeted defenses and remain on guard, as this defies my grounded understanding. Its cost is curious. Will you watch over me for a moment, beloved, as I pursue this quandary?”

Molding the earth below her feet, incense assembled under meditative diction, fastened pupils and paged tracings of Shujaat’s diary. White fire slowly erupted from friction between flint and steel, with the silhouette of a bleached phoenix gingerly sprouting limbs and feathers; a fey readied for command and instruction, then shot skyward.

Eyes still shut, the former half-elf sage, half-smiling, preached to those within ear shot, scavenging the fields with avian retinas, at a pinnacle height.

“Let us now ask the clouds, of what they envision.”


@The Harbinger of Ferocity@JBRam2002@Big Dread

Considering the gentle shake to her shoulder, the Paladin let out a soft groan of pain and shook her head before looking up at Theodore. "I am surprisingly ok, a little sore after the repeated somersault but alive," she informed the male, offering him a lopsided smile, "I was rather worried back there for a moment after that last hit, I thought I was a goner. I guess I can thank my blood for my resistance to such foul magics or I surely would have perished. How about you? How are you feeling after your own fall?"

As Thea waited for an answer, she let out a grunt and she stood, her body protesting violently after such a violent tumble in plate armor. "That was a less than pleasant fall, though also exhilarating at the same time," she murmured before going over to her weapon and yanked it out of the sand, "I am displeased with the fact that my blade has been dulled by this earth..." Looking over the blade she looked at her compatriots to see how they were fairing. The fight they had just experienced had been a strange one, their world falling apart and disappearing around them before a giant beast dissipated into smoke. Now on her two feet and sword back in hand, she surveyed the land they were on, her eyes scanning over the others and lingering on Katia, she had gotten a far better view during the battle than she would have otherwise.

"I am pleased to see you well Wick, I was worried for you back there... That creature was no joke," the woman called to the female caster. She had been worried about her friend back there and would have gladly died had that blast been the end of her, but thankfully it was not... and thankfully the creature had been furious with her for her first and only blow.



@The Harbinger of Ferocity@Gordian Nought@Hekazu

As high on the wing as the airborne eyes could go, all they revealed was the unspoken vastness of this foreign land. So triumphant and grand was it in scale, that the very mountains they had viewed on foot now looked only larger as they cut far off into the clouds and beyond anything a mortal man could dare scale; even a god might find some of them, those further on and thick in glacier, a challenge that only they might be capable of summiting, if only because they might have well touched the sun. From these peaks on down, distant flurries of snow could be seen wafting, some of which descended on the lower, lesser slopes, but all quite confined to the rim of the apparent world around them as though they could not despoil the wilderness below with their white finery.

The valley itself was... vast, stretching over the horizon and beyond even the vision of the pristine hawk on a day so clear and crisp as this. What came from this revelation, high, high above however, was that the grassland followed the vale, becoming only pine wood as one wandered off and toward the almost endless mountains beyond. This informal and unending trail of brush and tanned-green, lively blades was the only reasonable avenue of exit, if there was to be one, but what laid beyond that was just as much a mystery as anything else in this unknown land.

Along the way of its continued search, as the white avian drifted on the warmer currents to remain aloft, it was clear as well that only outcroppings of grey granite jutted from the plain's floor in rare number; they had fallen and stacked themselves upon each other in a manner of tremendous upheaval by the works of the earth, the sort of strength that a giant would blush at in envy. Ice and snow clung to their stony shadows, while the few mouths of caves likely hid more odd wonders in their darkness.

And for all of this, not a sign of man or monster.

Animals certainly, both tremendous and healthy, but nothing of seeming danger or threat.

@Gordian Nought, @Zverda

Sampling and circling the sky, the cleric took mental notes of the terrain’s routes and animals. No sign of man or monster was apparent. Then a garbled voice, that startled the hawk’s flight momentarily, became ever clearer.

“… That creature was no joke.”

The fleshy gates, previously closed to the duo of her dilated voids, swayed upward, unveiling a pair of choleric garlands around now constricting dull black cavities, in the presence of abundant light, streaming into her adopted Celestial gaze. The paladin’s tone of compassion invited a release of rigidity from the diviner. Shoulders relaxed. Eyebrows flattened as cheeks arced, divulging a smile of appreciation and a sigh of relief, as invigorating winds rustled their robes.

“I had almost forgotten the savor of fright. Thanks be to your bravery, Thea. I remembered our united strength laughed those shadows to scorn.” Gripping the fleece necklace, she fancied, with a vain wave of her shield arm, a conjured visual map, feint to the touch, but a depiction of their surroundings, just above the ground’s humus. “Behold our paradise, judged from the heavens. Gather round. ‘Ere we march on, let us salve our sores, and briefly rest from the prior fitful fever. Cesar, after all satiate to the content of their hearts, give us all a song or signal, before we venture off, further into the Vale.”

She plopped her armored body next to the illusory cartography, concentrating and altering the facade, ever so slight and often, exacting the minutiae, as she repetitively exchanged sights between fowl and angel. Stealing a glance vis-à-vis with the high-elf, Wick licked her vermilion borders, apropos in emitted Elvish speech, while patting the diary of the Seeker of Knowledge.

“Fret not. Our feathered friend will harp if nature no longer remains a welcoming hostess. When time abounds, may we exchange runes as my tome must mature anew, Haemer?”


@The Harbinger of Ferocity@Zverda@JBRam2002@Hekazu@Cu Chulainn@Big Dread

Haemar stood after dusting himself off and recovering his blade. He had not placed the weapon back into its scabbard yet and instead was holding it by the blade in his right hand while seeming to stare off into the distance. His mind was occupied with the events they had just experienced. The end of the battle and the following fall through what seemed like an eternal tranistion between there and where ever here happened to be. He had experienced arcane travel before during his life and nothing was like what he and his companions had just gone through. Something was amiss.

His golden eyes flicked to the side as Thea mentioned the last blow she took and Wick replied in kind to her. The two of them had certainly seen the worst of the fight that was certain. He had been struck numerous times but the foes he had face were of little threat to either himself or any of his companions. Haemar produced a small handkerchief of silk and ran it along the gently tapered blade of his old sword, clearing the dirt and oils from the blade with care. As he did so he stepped over and stood above Wick, looking down at the map she had crafted. It was a fine illusion that gave them some semblance of where they might He let out a soft humming noise as he looked to the side to where he could see Caesar making his way from the center of the lake he had the misfortune of falling into. The air here seemed as though it would be very cold and yet he felt no bite or claw of the promised cold. The wizard wondered if perhaps the former captain would be feeling the same. If he were, that could mean something far greater was at work in this place.

"Of course sister Wick." Haemar replied in Elven as he return his grandfather's steel to its place at his hip. "I am always happy to share what I know with anyone in need. We need to all be as prepared as possible for whatever comes for us next." he turned his gaze from the swimming sailor to Wick, "I suspect, though perhaps obvious, we have been transported to somewhere far indeed. I have never experienced magical travel in such a way before. Though..." he paused and looked about at the serene biome they found themselves in, "... It is hard to believe the world was devoured by that terrible force if such a place as this still exists." he said before pulling his hand up to his chin and resting it there, considering exactly what might have happened to them. Had they been successful? They certainly slew the giant beast that had threatened them but after that it all seemed to fall into abyss. Had they truly failed in their mission? Was this some kind of cruel illusion placed before them by the forces of Darkness?

Regardless, the right had been real enough. He turned to face his other companions. They all seemed to be in good enough health. Strange. He decided best to probe into this a bit more, "Thea," he began, switching back to common but not seeming to look directly at his old friend, still very much considering the answer she would give and what it might mean for them, "Do you have any pains from the battle we had fought in? I saw you take a powerful blow near the end and now you seem mostly fine. Did you heal yourself when we landed? I did not see you do so but I know your methods can be quite subtle when they do not involve slicing things in twain with that beast of a sword." he said with a small twist of his mouth in an amused smirk and gesturing to the powerful greatsword she carried.

@Gordian Nought
@The Harbinger of Ferocity @Zverda

"Oh thank god", Theodore huffed and placed his hand back on Thea's armoured shoulder once he heard that she was okay. A couple of breaths later he realised this and pulled his hand away hastily and stumbled to his feet in an attempt to make some distance between the two. He exaggeratedly brushed some grass off his arms and answered to her question: "Uhh, I'm fine. Yes, the fall didn't really hurt... why though...?" His speech slowed down and dropped in volume as he now really realised that he indeed wasn't hurt. He shook his head, deciding this would be best to be thought as a group and excused himself: "I... guess I should go looking for my gear now... it sort of scattered about..."

He was one of the last to gather round, given how irritating it had been to go hunting for the crossbow bolts amongst the long blades of grass, but at least he found them and his crossbow didn't seem to be damaged either. As he arrived, he was still placing some of the bolts back into the case so his mask still decorated that container instead of his face. While he did this, he listened to the words of Haemar and Wick, who were just as well wondering what might have brought them here, although they did so in elvish for whatever reason. As he had placed the final bolt onto its place, he snapped the lid to the case shut, which in turn released the mask onto his hand.

And that did not come a moment too soon, as Haemar addressed Thea for very much the same reason as he had, but he could still be much more professional about it. He couldn't help but turn to look away as a slight blush rose onto his cheeks, but he was quick to raise his mask on to hide that, as well as pulling the hood onto his hair to make sure even the sides of his face would not betray this fact. And, well, the doctrine did demand using those when not in combat and they weren't in the way excessively.

Trying to ignore the source of his embarrassment, he instead addressed Katia, who just so happened to be on the side he had turn to look to. Seeing how her fur was covered in sap and pine twigs, he decided to ask her about her landing. "I assume you, too, landed safely? It looks as if none of us was hurt... and that was quite the fall. Good work on the behemoth, by the way, that was one of the more awesome finishers I've seen!"


@The Harbinger of Ferocity@Zverda@JBRam2002

The knowledge of just how one could have done whatever was done was just as elusive as exactly what happened. Not because Haemar was uneducated in the matter, not at all, but because it did not make sense. That sort of magic was, for lack of better understanding, on a level of power to which they had nothing to compare it to. Something had managed to disassemble and demolish an entire realm as it seemed, then leave whatever was left behind into some void that did appear to end, despite the depth of which was more reasonably infinite. This made it magical, as if falling from the heavens like comets did not suggest that already, but unimaginable levels of magic.

It was as though they had fallen through the bounds of reality and off into a new one, as unlikely as that were. That did lend some insight to how and why they did not remember that time in between, but it was certainly a fanciful notion even with this information. After all, Haemar knew there were rumored to be other planes and bounds of existence, but nothing that could ever be proved. Those stories were as old as those of the Kingdom of Light, which up until now quite a few had begun to question the validity of. Myths no more maybe?

In the meantime of the wizard's ponderings and musings on magic, the other mage was busy at work with her illusion, of which was a beautiful, almost living sculpture that hung silently with near perfect accuracy. It was a map of sorts, albeit one that would not last or live long based on the spellcraft at hand, but a start to work with from there. In fact, that it was even incomplete at all just left to wonder how huge the land before the hawk was; Wick found herself soon out of room, despite drawing it from memory as best she could.

@Big Dread, @Gordian Nought

Cesar Lorenzo Tidesong Bolivar
Unknown, Ah, hell, my breeches got wet, again.

@The Harbinger of Ferocity@Hekazu@Big Dread@Gordian Nought@Zverda@JBRam2002

And we all fall down...

What had happened in the following events were rather... hazy. Something had defeated that being of darkness, that hulking spirit of dread that threatened to throw them all into the abyss. A burst of light had appeared in his peripheral vision is all he remembered before they all started... drifting away.

Into the abyss.

Cesar's life flashed before his eyes as they descended into the darkness. From his earliest memories... the first time he's held a sword, to the first time he's sailed a boat, and even to the first time he made lo-

Ahah, eh, don't you think we're getting a bit too specific, here?

Cesar figured he'd just open his eyes. Whatever death looked like, it probably wasn't as worse as what he had saw earlier, before the fall. As he opened hos eyes, however, something was off...

"Friends!? Doesn't the sky look a bit too blue for an aby-SPLASH!

A very familiar feeling washed over Cesar. Quite literally, actually. The water was cold, but refreshing. Cesar thought he'd never feel the cold rush of water again after their last predicament, but it seems his doubts were abruptly subsided.

Cesar started to swim upward, to get some fresh air. The water invigorated him, mainly because the sea flows within his veins, but also because there's something almost supernatural about it. Once Cesar swam up to get some air, he got a better sense of his surroundings. The land they had happened upon was magnificent, with mountainous peaks across the horizon. Cesar was awestruck at the view.

Cesar started to swim towards the surface, to make sure all his stuff is dry. The intregrity of his vihuela worried him the most. He grabbed his backpack, first, tossing it to the shore before he started to make way, climbing out of the water. He then began to inspect the items in his pack.

After about half a minute of inspection, Cesar nodded to himself. Everything looked in place- his instrument may be a bit waterlogged, but he's sure if he let it dry, it wouldn't make too much of an issue.

What was a problem, however, was Cesar's current armor. Years upon using it while sailing and a few too many events where he ended up in the water had caused the set of studded leather armor to deteriorate, with its metal studs rusted, and its leather crusty.

"Hold on a minute, friends! I need to make a quick wardobe change... Cesar called over to his allies before he began to undress, letting the old set of armor fall to the ground. He stripped down all the way to his trousers, even taking off his boots for them to dry. Cesar's physique is quite impressive, not expected of a bard, but very much so of a swordsman and sailor. He wore a pendant, a small crystal hanging down his neck. Some of his closer friends would know it as a crystal that belonged to his late mother, and it had a peculiar ability to glow very faintly when in direct moonlight.

- Discarded Studded Leather Armor

Cesar then began to sit by the lake, unbuckling his waterskin from the side of his pack and downing its contents. Fighting Shadows is very exhausting work, after all. And as far as Cesar figured, the water from the lake didn't kill him, so he decided to fill his waterskin with it again, with an intent to hydrate himself for a day of traveling. Whether that is a good idea or not, that will be found out in a second...

- Emptied Waterskin to hydrate himself with 4 lbs of water, and filled his Waterskin again with the water from the lake.

As the others discussed magics and gear, Katia spent the better part of the ten-minute summoning ritual that Wick cast trying to pull bits of stick and sap from her fur. When that inevitably failed, she walked over to the lake where Cesar seemed to have been enjoying a quiet dip and used its water to wash away the worst of the mess as her friend disrobed. The water appeared nearly pristine, and Kat stepped into the lake, feeling its cooling sensation around her ankles. A quiet sigh of happiness enveloped her as she waded deeper in. Many tabaxi disliked water, but as long as she chose to enter a body of water herself, it could be as much a playground as a forest or field.

She lowered her head, dipping under the surface of the cool water, and attempted to force the sap out of her fur. This would normally take much longer than the time they had, but the most egregious spots would be washed out shortly, and Katia returned to the shore. She was soaked through, and her clothing hung heavily with the extra moisture, but both would dry out in time. For now, she felt refreshed and, although not perfectly clean, somewhat less sticky.

As she walked up beside Theodore, wringing water from her hair, she grinned in response to his praise. "It was pretty great, wasn't it?" she replied. Her comment was not haughty or self-serving, but simply reveling in the situation. "After that last hit, I was worried for Thea, but it looks like she's fine now. A hit like that, and I'd have been swimming with the fishes in a different way, for sure."

She peeked over at the map that Wick had created, spending a bit of time to get a feel for the area. "It doesn't look like we have much of a choice where to go from here," she announced. "The valley wants us to head that way. We could brave the mountains, but I feel like we'd just end up really cold and really uncomfortable. I've never seen mountain formations like this. It's almost as if the gods themselves reached down to pinch the earth into the sky. Perhaps we were meant to follow this valley. With any luck, we'll find some civilization before long. The area seems to be full of life, so starvation should not be an issue."

With the serious talks completed, she stretched her arms into the air, turning towards the sun and allowing its rays to warm her. "I think I just found a new favorite meditation spot," she added with a chuckle. "But something tells me that we shouldn't linger. Whatever we just fought, I dunno, maybe it's still after us, and we have no idea what kind of monsters roam these hills at night. If there aren't people, there's probably a reason for it." Katia adjusted her clothing slightly, ensuring it would stay in place before approaching Wick and wrapping her arms around the celestial. "Thanks for the map, beloved," she whispered as she backed away, leaving a very wet outline of herself on Wick's clothing. She then plopped down in the grass near the lake. The smarter folk could take the discussion from there. Katia would just be sunbathing in the meantime.

@Gordian Nought@Hekazu@Cu Chulainn@Zverda@Big Dread@The Harbinger of Ferocity

Inky sinews of Sylvan detail betrothed ancient papyrus, hopeful to preserve the geography wrought by Wick's illusion. Whilst scribing and etching compass and panorama into the last pages of her master’s repossessed journal, she concordantly nodded with the monk’s suggestion, but did not affirm with the feline's following smegmatic embrace, the norm of Katia's deviations.

"Agreed, beloved." The cleric frowned and quickly shrugged the hug off. "It’s too calm. The virgin sky is either a mistress of charms or an adulterer of tribulation. Our feet must tred, with haste, ‘ere we look upon the seductive corner of the moon, and spectate the affairs with which this world beguiles us. It seems our pirate is already weathered. Once you've finished flirting with the sun, collect the others. We must embark. Soon.”

Disgusted with the resultant sticky situation, but nonetheless gratified that the Tabaxi and the tome owned enough intel on their serene environment, she clumsily loaded her waterskin from a fresh outlet of a nearby fjord, simultaneously promoting a separating distance between her and the unclothed Cesar. However, the warlock herself did not chance bathing, as her fellow prankster menaced around. She silently lusted after cleanliness from the sap that now slowly slithered and caked into crevices unknown, as her magical arsenal was without prestidigitation, the cantrip needed to unsoil the now congealed layers upon her garb and breastplate.

Maybe Haemer could provide assistance?

Sighing exhaustively and averting avian eyes from the exposed bard, the cleric then hiked gingerly towards the inlet of the naked Vale, filthily awaiting their troupe’s recuperation, while bating the provoked temptations which oddly kindled within her celibate Aasimar frame.

@The Harbinger of Ferocity@JBRam2002@Cu Chulainn@Big Dread

Thea glanced over at Wick for a moment before beginning to remove her breastplate, figuring the cloth beneath would be good enough despite its more... Transparent nature. While the feel of the breastplate being removed pulled a content sigh from her, she looked down at the rest of her plate and systematically began to remove everything else. "Anything interesting on that map of yours?" Thea asked her friend before glancing back at Katia, then again at Theodore as his sudden embarrassment confused her, "As for your inquiries I am surprisingly unharmed, if not a little sore from the prior incidents that occurred. I honestly thought myself dead after that hit... Its spell wreaked."

The paladin scrunched up her nose as if to punctuate what she said before she carefully put everything in the bag she carried. Now that she was free of the heavier equipment for a bit, she walked over to the cartography map and stared at it with a frown on her face. Nothing about it was familiar to her, but then again, nothing was familiar to her friends either it seemed. ”So, I say we gather any resources we can see in the immediate area and take to exploring,” Thea stated, ever the adventurer, “After we rest up some, I need a break before I have to put my armor back on. As much as it allows freedom of movement, it still has some weight to it.”

The paladin made a face before smoothing her hands over the sheer cloth a few times, “Plus, the water looks rather refreshing to me,” she tacked on as she eyed the surprisingly clear lake, even if the stare held suspicions.

@Gordian Nought@The Harbinger of Ferocity@Big Dread@JBRam2002@Cu Chulainn

Cesar Lorenzo Tidesong Bolivar
Unknown, It's a nice draft out here, huh?

@The Harbinger of Ferocity@Hekazu@Zverda@Gordian Nought@JBRam2002@Big Dread

"Come all, friends! The water here is pure enough to drink, so worry not about its purity. It's also a nice, place to take a dip in, too!" Cesar called to everyone, before uncorking his water skin. After drinking it the first time, Cesar actually had a strange feeling of fullness. It's as if he wasn't even exhausted in the first place. All the water he had consumed only served to fill his belly, as far as he's concerned. Still, he won't let good water like this go to waste, of course, especially while they're still by the source.

Cesar had began to spill the contents of his waterskin over himself, further giving him a refreshing burst. After that, he gathered some more water to fill his skin, before corking it and tossing it back with his pack. Cesar scooped a bit more water into his hand, splashing himself once more in his face, washing it, before standing up and beginning to stretch, flexing almost unintentionally. Almost.

"What do you all think we'll be getting ourselves into, down that vale?" Cesar asked as he stretched. "I feel like I'm ready to take on ten more of those shadows, all at the same time!"

Cesar was very excited to get a move on, although he did take a bit of his own time getting ready. He made his way back to his things digged into his pack, first pulling out a spare tunic, something just a bit tight on him, defining his physique more. Next, he pulled out a chain shirt- one he bought for when he startes living the life of a sellsword- as well as a few pieces of spare leather armor; bracers, shinguards, pretty much a few more pieces armor that would cover the parts his chain shirt wouldn't. Now that his things were prepared and in order, Cesar decided he'd take a bit more time to get the rest of his stuff together.

Theodore gave the map a glance, but it wasn't really anything much. His experience in travelling, acquired on the many crusades against the wicked, had already pieced together that this might be a valley with little directions to head to and the map only made it clearer. Katia said this out loud, to which Theodore simply nodded and grunted something that resembled the word "Yeah." As Katia mentioned the food sources in the environment, he smiled beneath his mask and actually spoke up: "Affirmative. I've been on expeditions like this many times before... won't be much different this time. The land seems good and fertile, we should have no trouble."

It was then that he noticed Thea was... she was... oh. Oh dear. In an instant, he felt really conflicted. Thea was taking the breastplate of her armour off and he both wanted to look and to preserve her modesty by not doing so, given how her garments under that were not exactly opaque. Sure, he had seen Katia with less, but who would not have seen her with less than that given her standard of clothing herself. No, Theodore had to move and that wasn't exactly something he was graceful at right now. Choppy as his movement was, he did manage to walk away and approach the lake, only to find Cesar there with most of his clothes off.

"God dammit, can't I go anywhere without being bombarded by half-naked party members?! We are in, well, mostly uncharted territory!" he half-yelled into his mask, rising his arms into the air as a mark of frustration. He let his hands fall back onto his sides as he muttered, now in a much less audible volume: "At least there's still some people who know how to dress..." This was of course referring to himself, Wick and Haemar who yet had to throw their clothes on the ground. Oh, and Cesar seemed to be dressing up now.

@Zverda

Thea had picked up on what Theodore had said through his mask and raised a delicate eyebrow before looking down at herself. The cloth beneath her plate hugged her form and it wasnt like you could see anything important as her chest was bound. Getting a rather amusing idea, the Paladin approached Theodore and playfully bumped his hip with her own like she used to when they had trained together during her quest for redemption. "What's wrong Theo?" she asked, now placing herself in front of him and peering down at him a bit as the top of his head came to her nose. However, her bending down a bit gave him clear view of the top of her bound chest.

Considering her placement, and the fact that he had a habit of getting distracted when she was close, Thea swiftly reached up and pulled the mask from his face. During this swift action, a wicked grin had crossed her face and she placed a kiss just at the corner of his mouth, placing the action mostly on his cheek. "You are just as adorable when you are flustered as I remember," she told him, brown eyes dancing in amusement.
@Hekazu

An amused smile sat on Haemar's face as his companions played about in either jest, seriousness, or just relaxation. It was good they were doing so as well. When the forces of evil drew close and threatened to overwhelm it was the best defense to always keep your mind light and mood bright. At least that was what he had been told by his teachers and that was something he took to heart. He agreed with Wick's assessment of the situation and knew lingering for too long would be a disasterous choice. When things seemed so peaceful and serene it was oft just a calm breeze before the storm. He would enjoy that calm breeze a little though. Haste to be sure was the call of the day, but, trekking without being prepared or ready would be even more foolish.

His attention flicked to the solitary cleric for a moment before he heard Teodore yelling about people undressing. His golden eyes flicked back to the side of the lake where most of his comrades gathered. He was about to say something in defense of Thea pulling off her breastplate when suddenly she snatched the mask from the young templar's face and replaced it with a little kiss. He knew there was something lingering between the two of them but neither had been brave enough to act on it. It seemed the bold paladin he'd known for decades was willing to take the first step. Best to make sure the templar did not get away from this unscathed, "Oh, Theodore." Haemar called, voice filled with his own dry humor, "I think you may need to work on your reflexes. Were she a snake she might have bitten you. Or, would that have been something you would be interested in?" he questioned, teasing the poor sheltered boy before he turned and walked after Wick. He hoped Theodore would turn a shade of red that might make the loveliest rose ashamed but he would have to hear about that afterwards. He had contributed to the situation and that was enough for him.

Haemar announced himself as he stepped up beside Wick with a clearing of his throat, not wanting to startle her. He looked out over the landscape she was observing with his arms crossed before his chest. "You spoke wisdom back there." he expressed simply. "Whatever brought us here is beyond me in scope and level of power. My best assertion is that we have been transported somewhere Other." He stressed the last word, giving it more meaning than it might otherwise have had. He did not want to speak what he suspected, that they had been moved to some other place of existence, but, he was unsure if those places even existed and had not gathered enough information to make that a certain statement. He looked over at Wick and saw her shifting slightly, obviously experiencing a bit of discomfort. "Is there something wrong Sister Wick?" he asked, arching one dark brow in curiosity. "Are the disrobing antics of our compatriots unsettling you? I would think you might be used it by now."

@Zverda @Hekazu @Gordian Nought @The Harbinger of Ferocity