Asuras

Magic in the Park

OOC
Slots filled: 5/5
Closed

Themes: Modern Fantasy, Hidden World
Inspirations: Mahoutsukai No Yoru (Type-Moon), To Aru Majutsu No Index

---

Upon rain-soaked streets, where whispers exchange in full view
In the corners of grey high rises, nestled in upscale lounges
Crumbling towers and filthy tunnels
In the halls of masters, and the abodes of nameless

Unseen workings toil where the common know not
Kings and queens of ancient lineages persist undying wars
Heroes and monsters shed life in perpetuity

Here dies innocence
Here reigns ambition

Magic
-----------

Magic in the Park (henceforth shortened as MitP) is a world in which you will play as a practitioner of the arcane -be you a confused newcomer to the clandestine scene, or a veteran born of magic nobility- wherein you must merely survive or thrive in power. The world of magic is fraught with danger in the form of wayward curses and abominations, or as murderous fellow mages who see you as a stepping stone to their goals. Ancient grudges and competitions pervade the established houses and organizations of this world, and many can find themselves pitifully caught between them or belonging to one of many sides.

To engage with magic is to delve into the greatest labyrinth ever conceived by once-mortal minds. In the beginning all was permitted, and in the chaos that was afforded naught but impermanence was achievable, for everything that could be was also instantly undone. The combined spirits of ancient visionaries saw to it that this untenable existence would not go on, and smote infinity from the fabric of reality. Since then, magic has existed as a path upon which the existences within the now stationary world may explore.

Loops, halls, mazes, towers, traps, walls, bogs. All these things now exist between ambition and ultimate victory. A spell is a room within this meta-reality, found after deliberate and persistent delving. The means by which a mage reaches these ends is myriad, and not all are entered unharmed. Within the endless-scape manifest misgivings, hatred... but also hope and joy. Monsters and creatures preside here foremost and sometimes they find their way into the realm otherwise reserved for man. Some are tamed and incorporated, while others remain as perilous haunts.

In their quest for ultimate power, truth, and fame, those that access the labyrinth oft seek to stifle the journey of those behind them. To enter a room is to be its occupant and thus suffused in the knowledge its shelves of text provide... to share such with another is to divulge weaknesses, partition energy, and to give up uniqueness. For those within families, whose learned history and progress passes by blood, this sharing is a begrudging capitulation. For those who wander alone, it is an unacceptable act.

Not all within the dark sphere ascribe to the same misanthropic view -all mortals are, necessarily, still their human selves. Such is the binding which had similarly limited magic. Within the hearts of men lay still the trappings of life, and the array of emotions that come with such an existence.

Condensed into an unfathomable finite, magic has come to express itself in manners fundamental to mortal imagination. These Aspects are thus:

[Obscurity]
Enigmatic darkness and invisible depths. Unknowable and ineffable songs hide behind a veil while touchless blades tease at strands of spirit. None -save the master that brings them from pits of nameless centuries- may ever define them. And for those masters who do, visions of black, aetheric seas flood the soul with madness.

[Manifest]
A giant of insurmountable will lifts mounds of unquestionable destiny from the earth and tosses them through walls of the deniers. The presence of its bulk pushes away doubt and uncertainty, and crushes under sight all that question even its faintest breath. Determination and desire is ignorant to the realities that seek to stifle action.

[Dynamicism]
Shapeless material twists and expresses, changing as light-speed evolution into the form that should see it fit into an eternity that cannot compete. All missing is obtained, all that never was, soon to be. Looked upon, only the echoes of past victories are seen, and the hum of innovation teases just out of sight, never to be caught up to.

[Complexity]
Labyrinthine towers, etched together in beautiful arrays that render appraisal hopeless. A river of camaraderie whose infinitely divisible droplets speak together in languages of timeless libraries. Worlds of meaning touch and depart, each affording movement into ever deeper crossroads whose signposts never signal the final destination.

[Precedence]
In greater lights and deeper shadows exists nobility and notoriety that transcends the wishes of lesser. Pure authority -without equal- and the shared-consciousness histories prevail atop uncultured and untested modernity that shall never age to the peaks of godhood. From thrones steeped in divinity, kneel.

-----------

For any mage, a mark of their attachment to these concepts renders unto their skin, and forevermore governs their journey. For some, this mark comes as lineage, and for others as the signal of acceptance into a new existence -borne by effort or happenstance otherwise.

Most representative of the labyrinth glooms an alternate half of human confluences -the Dark City. This phenomenon manifests in high-population areas as the realm behind a thin veil wherein the arcane-touched may find their way. Dominant in the night and faded by day, the Dark City serves as a place of meditation, a place of settling, and an escape for the hunted. Meaningless and confounding but subtly familiar in its construction, the endless cityscape offers usually uninhabited spaces to use for chargeless purposes.

Though present for many, little of the dark sphere exercises itself within the Dark City. Great families and brotherhoods make their mark primarily upon realspace, wherein their own efforts and magicks serve to maintain the façade of a mundane world whilst their disciplined numbers hoard what lay beneath it all. For most, life within this dance is met at first breath. For others, it is a wondrous accidental discovery, or a dreaded curse.

But no matter how one steps upon the stage, there exists a constant to every actor:

Continuing in the play is to be mired in tragedy.

---

Threads Woven

The home of a beast should be in the darkest corners of the world, for now is the civilized age, and long has it been. Thus, when beasts show their faces in the abodes of men, prophets sing doom, the people lament, and heroes' names are written. Moments of both opportunity and fear have begun to arise now within the city as numerous reports of arcane entities manifesting within realspace circle about the mages' communities. How and why has this transpired? Is some new age arising? Can someone be blamed?

The houses stir as malevolence visits upon the mortal realm and efforts be made to conceal truth. The unaware, in greater numbers, are pulled into the hidden weave.

This is where our story begins. But who are you as this curtain rises?

Character sheet
Name
Age
Gender
Appearance - Image required, text optional
Background - The more details I have, the better. An initial hook into action within this world has been provided, but the greater story is to be based around each character and the connections that can be made between them either in the past or the future. Relationships, family members, rivals, deaths, achievements, failures, hopes, hates... Create someone whose past can be drawn upon deeply.
Crest - Which of the five fundamental Aspects has marked itself upon you?
Craft - What are the discoveries you have made within the labyrinth, inherited or otherwise? What makes you powerful, and what makes you weak? What calls you master... or what do you call master yourself?

---

Additional info

Glossary

Aspects - Throughout history, fundamental 'categories' of magecraft have shifted, referred to as the "Fundamental Aspects". Believed to be determined by the shared beliefs of contemporary humans, their "theme" guides a mage's journey through the Labyrinth and ultimately shapes what kinds of magecraft they develop, though this is not set in stone. The "deeper" on delves into the Labyrinth, the more they are influenced by their Aspect Crest. Earlier discoveries tend to be considered more "generic" or "shared" by other mages.

Apotheosis - It is believed that there are many "ends" to the Labyrinth, all of which represent a distinct pinnacle of magecraft. To reach this end is to achieve a kind of divinity within magic. Achieving this end is called "Apotheosis". None who reach this existence remain for long in Realspace -such a state of being is not conducive to the reality that humankind understands. Some believe that those obtaining Apotheosis become one with the Labyrinth itself. Others believe that it is the gate to a realm beyond the Labyrinth, the so-called "Freespace" beyond which magic is not limited. Only a tiny handful of individuals are known to have ever reached Apotheosis, and even amongst that list, it is unknown if they truly achieved it and did not simply vanish by other means.

Aspect Crest - The physical manifestation of one's Aspect upon their body. This symbol appears automatically as soon as one makes their first discovery within the Labyrinth. For those born to someone already possessing an Aspect Crest, this happens at birth, as fragments of magecraft are often passed along by blood.

Dark Sphere - A term for the collective existence, culture, and societies representing magic and the mages utilizing it. Hidden from the public, it is known of only to those who are born into it, or (rarely) stumble upon it by accident. Some are deliberately exposed to it, such as otherwise mundane servants of Houses.

Dark City - Believed to be an avatar of the Labyrinth, the Dark City is an arcane realm existing parallel to Realspace. It manifests most heavily in larger population centers (thus, Dark City) and consequentially believed to be empowered by a shared consciousness of the populace. It is accessible only by those who know to look, and by those who discover the appropriate low-level magecraft. The Dark City mirrors the Realspace location next to which it manifests, albeit as a facsimile. Structures within the Dark City are imitations of their habitable counterparts, but come with strange and often dreamlike quirks: Endless hallways, non-Euclidean spaces, meaningless rooms and placements of furniture and decoration. It is easy to get lost in the Dark City, but in turn is a useful means of escaping others. But beware, as non-human entities make the Dark City their home as well.

Demon - An evil manifestation within the Dark City. Demons are purely magical beings that can possess any amount of civility to them, from rabid monsters to scheming suits. As naturally magic beings, they possess an intrinsic connection to spaces within the Labyrinth on a level far deeper than a mage could achieve, and thus are also afforded the ability to both grant and divest mages of crafts close to their origin.

Dungeoneering - A method of discovering magecraft within the Labyrinth. Distinguished from Meditation, as Dungeoneering involves a ritual practice of generating a physical representation of the Labyrinth within which to explore. This manifestation is decidedly not the Dark City, and thus features far more eldritch and inhuman spaces.

House - One of any number of ancient lineages of mages that persist to this day. Houses contain the greatest amount of existing magical knowledge, as well as most of the latent power. Entrance is by marriage or blood only.

Labyrinth - A colloquial term for the ruleset that exists on top of magic. Normally limitlessly accessible and expressed, magic as it exists now requires careful study and exploration to develop. The term 'Labyrinth' refers to this nature, as one must navigate the esoteric rules and complications of magic to reach any particular end. In most cases, discoveries are happened upon by accident, rather than purposefully found. Though referred to in a kind of 'physical' sense, the Labyrinth is neither a physical entity nor a mental space, but rather a spiritual one, though it can be explored in seemingly physical or mental ways (see: Dungeoneering, Meditation).

Lich - A mage that has defeated death. They are functionally immortal, though not invincible or indestructible. Aging has left their bodies.

Magecraft - Refers to both the individual spells a mage can exert, but also the collective abilities of a particular mage. To explore the Labyrinth is to develop one's magecraft and add spells to their repertoire.

Manifestation - A term referring to any sort of non-human entity that appears or lives within the Dark City or the Labyrinth. Also called "Creatures", "Beasts", and "Entities".

Meditation - A term referring to the method of discovering magecraft within the Labyrinth wherein the mage explores a mental space representative of the Labyrinth. Though oftentimes a slower method, it is considerably safer than Dungeoneering. Many tools can be used to aid a mage in this practice, the most notable of which being a "Key" -a preexisting spell that tunes a mage to the necessary mental space required to enter the Labyrinth.

Outer Knights - A loose society of mages who, in search of Apotheosis, instead became deeply entwined within the Labyrinth both physically and mentally. Most Outer Knights struggle to manifest within Realspace, and are consigned to life within the Dark City. It is believed that their existence serves the perpetuation of the Labyrinth as law, and in turn suggests to some that there are esoteric means by which one can "ignore" or "skip" the Labyrinth, inevitably drawing the attention and ire of the Outer Knights. Such methods remain mere rumor.

Pact - A magical contract formed between a mage and a Manifestation. The pact can have any number of clauses and requirements, but is sometimes achieved solely through mutual understanding. The Pact affords a mage some crafts they otherwise did not have access to, but can come at a cost depending on the sensibilities of the Manifestation on the other side of the deal.

Realspace - The real world. The place where mundane humans live.

Werewolf - A mage that has achieved any number of crafts that transform their bodies physically. This is to be distinguished from mages that can temporarily enhance their bodies by magical means, as a werewolf is strictly one who has physically changed in a permanent fashion.

Magic in the Park - Modern Fantasy/Hidden World Anime

None are fully supernatural -to be as much would mean being originally a manifestation in the labyrinth, or a mortal who achieved some kind of apotheosis via magic. Those who are considered "supernatural" are entwined deeply with magic by some means and referred to by whatever title suits them: liches who have evaded death, werewolves who have transformed themselves, etc, etc.

Magic in the Park - Modern Fantasy/Hidden World Anime

Max 5

Magic in the Park - Modern Fantasy/Hidden World Anime

But also, what's this even about? This gonna be a sandbox PvP RP, or are the players all gonna end up being in a 'party' handling shit?

@ERode

Not sandbox, not party (necessarily speaking). At the moment, Int Check posted to explain the setting, but plot things as well as additional world details would be in an OOC. I can tell you now that I plan to tailor the story around who the characters end up being, rather than strictly co-opting them into an already-set plotline though there are going to be threads already made.

Whoever it is you are, you will be involved in the the same city, and the initial threads are an uptick in manifestations of entities from the labyrinth -normally a rare, random phenomenon if not orchestrated purposefully. Response to these events depends on who you are at the start.

Magic in the Park - Modern Fantasy/Hidden World Anime

Interest Check
Themes: Modern Fantasy, Hidden World
Inspirations: Mahoutsukai No Yoru (Type-Moon), To Aru Majutsu No Index

---

Upon rain-soaked streets, where whispers exchange in full view
In the corners of grey high rises, nestled in upscale lounges
Crumbling towers and filthy tunnels
In the halls of masters, and the abodes of nameless

Unseen workings toil where the common know not
Kings and queens of ancient lineages persist undying wars
Heroes and monsters shed life in perpetuity

Here dies innocence
Here reigns ambition

Magic
-----------

Magic in the Park (henceforth shortened as MitP) is a world in which you will play as a practitioner of the arcane -be you a confused newcomer to the clandestine scene, or a veteran born of magic nobility- wherein you must merely survive or thrive in power. The world of magic is fraught with danger in the form of wayward curses and abominations, or as murderous fellow mages who see you as a stepping stone to their goals. Ancient grudges and competitions pervade the established houses and organizations of this world, and many can find themselves pitifully caught between them or belonging to one of many sides.

To engage with magic is to delve into the greatest labyrinth ever conceived by once-mortal minds. In the beginning all was permitted, and in the chaos that was afforded naught but impermanence was achievable, for everything that could be was also instantly undone. The combined spirits of ancient visionaries saw to it that this untenable existence would not go on, and smote infinity from the fabric of reality. Since then, magic has existed as a path upon which the existences within the now stationary world may explore.

Loops, halls, mazes, towers, traps, walls, bogs. All these things now exist between ambition and ultimate victory. A spell is a room within this meta-reality, found after deliberate and persistent delving. The means by which a mage reaches these ends is myriad, and not all are entered unharmed. Within the endless-scape manifest misgivings, hatred... but also hope and joy. Monsters and creatures preside here foremost and sometimes they find their way into the realm otherwise reserved for man. Some are tamed and incorporated, while others remain as perilous haunts.

In their quest for ultimate power, truth, and fame, those that access the labyrinth oft seek to stifle the journey of those behind them. To enter a room is to be its occupant and thus suffused in the knowledge its shelves of text provide... to share such with another is to divulge weaknesses, partition energy, and to give up uniqueness. For those within families, whose learned history and progress passes by blood, this sharing is a begrudging capitulation. For those who wander alone, it is an unacceptable act.

Not all within the dark sphere ascribe to the same misanthropic view -all mortals are, necessarily, still their human selves. Such is the binding which had similarly limited magic. Within the hearts of men lay still the trappings of life, and the array of emotions that come with such an existence.

Condensed into an unfathomable finite, magic has come to express itself in manners fundamental to mortal imagination. These Aspects are thus:

[Obscurity]
Enigmatic darkness and invisible depths. Unknowable and ineffable songs hide behind a veil while touchless blades tease at strands of spirit. None -save the master that brings them from pits of nameless centuries- may ever define them. And for those masters who do, visions of black, aetheric seas flood the soul with madness.

[Manifest]
A giant of insurmountable will lifts mounds of unquestionable destiny from the earth and tosses them through walls of the deniers. The presence of its bulk pushes away doubt and uncertainty, and crushes under sight all that question even its faintest breath. Determination and desire is ignorant to the realities that seek to stifle action.

[Dynamicism]
Shapeless material twists and expresses, changing as light-speed evolution into the form that should see it fit into an eternity that cannot compete. All missing is obtained, all that never was, soon to be. Looked upon, only the echoes of past victories are seen, and the hum of innovation teases just out of sight, never to be caught up to.

[Complexity]
Labyrinthine towers, etched together in beautiful arrays that render appraisal hopeless. A river of camaraderie whose infinitely divisible droplets speak together in languages of timeless libraries. Worlds of meaning touch and depart, each affording movement into ever deeper crossroads whose signposts never signal the final destination.

[Precedence]
In greater lights and deeper shadows exists nobility and notoriety that transcends the wishes of lesser. Pure authority -without equal- and the shared-consciousness histories prevail atop uncultured and untested modernity that shall never age to the peaks of godhood. From thrones steeped in divinity, kneel.

-----------

For any mage, a mark of their attachment to these concepts renders unto their skin, and forevermore governs their journey. For some, this mark comes as lineage, and for others as the signal of acceptance into a new existence -borne by effort or happenstance otherwise.

Most representative of the labyrinth glooms an alternate half of human confluences -the Dark City. This phenomenon manifests in high-population areas as the realm behind a thin veil wherein the arcane-touched may find their way. Dominant in the night and faded by day, the Dark City serves as a place of meditation, a place of settling, and an escape for the hunted. Meaningless and confounding but subtly familiar in its construction, the endless cityscape offers usually uninhabited spaces to use for chargeless purposes.

Though present for many, little of the dark sphere exercises itself within the Dark City. Great families and brotherhoods make their mark primarily upon realspace, wherein their own efforts and magicks serve to maintain the façade of a mundane world whilst their disciplined numbers hoard what lay beneath it all. For most, life within this dance is met at first breath. For others, it is a wondrous accidental discovery, or a dreaded curse.

But no matter how one steps upon the stage, there exists a constant to every actor:

Continuing in the play is to be mired in tragedy.

Magic in the Park

Interest Check
Themes: Modern Fantasy, Hidden World
Inspirations: Mahoutsukai No Yoru (Type-Moon), To Aru Majutsu No Index

---

Upon rain-soaked streets, where whispers exchange in full view
In the corners of grey high rises, nestled in upscale lounges
Crumbling towers and filthy tunnels
In the halls of masters, and the abodes of nameless

Unseen workings toil where the common know not
Kings and queens of ancient lineages persist undying wars
Heroes and monsters shed life in perpetuity

Here dies innocence
Here reigns ambition

Magic
-----------

Magic in the Park (henceforth shortened as MitP) is a world in which you will play as a practitioner of the arcane -be you a confused newcomer to the clandestine scene, or a veteran born of magic nobility- wherein you must merely survive or thrive in power. The world of magic is fraught with danger in the form of wayward curses and abominations, or as murderous fellow mages who see you as a stepping stone to their goals. Ancient grudges and competitions pervade the established houses and organizations of this world, and many can find themselves pitifully caught between them or belonging to one of many sides.

To engage with magic is to delve into the greatest labyrinth ever conceived by once-mortal minds. In the beginning all was permitted, and in the chaos that was afforded naught but impermanence was achievable, for everything that could be was also instantly undone. The combined spirits of ancient visionaries saw to it that this untenable existence would not go on, and smote infinity from the fabric of reality. Since then, magic has existed as a path upon which the existences within the now stationary world may explore.

Loops, halls, mazes, towers, traps, walls, bogs. All these things now exist between ambition and ultimate victory. A spell is a room within this meta-reality, found after deliberate and persistent delving. The means by which a mage reaches these ends is myriad, and not all are entered unharmed. Within the endless-scape manifest misgivings, hatred... but also hope and joy. Monsters and creatures preside here foremost and sometimes they find their way into the realm otherwise reserved for man. Some are tamed and incorporated, while others remain as perilous haunts.

In their quest for ultimate power, truth, and fame, those that access the labyrinth oft seek to stifle the journey of those behind them. To enter a room is to be its occupant and thus suffused in the knowledge its shelves of text provide... to share such with another is to divulge weaknesses, partition energy, and to give up uniqueness. For those within families, whose learned history and progress passes by blood, this sharing is a begrudging capitulation. For those who wander alone, it is an unacceptable act.

Not all within the dark sphere ascribe to the same misanthropic view -all mortals are, necessarily, still their human selves. Such is the binding which had similarly limited magic. Within the hearts of men lay still the trappings of life, and the array of emotions that come with such an existence.

Condensed into an unfathomable finite, magic has come to express itself in manners fundamental to mortal imagination. These Aspects are thus:

[Obscurity]
Enigmatic darkness and invisible depths. Unknowable and ineffable songs hide behind a veil while touchless blades tease at strands of spirit. None -save the master that brings them from pits of nameless centuries- may ever define them. And for those masters who do, visions of black, aetheric seas flood the soul with madness.

[Manifest]
A giant of insurmountable will lifts mounds of unquestionable destiny from the earth and tosses them through walls of the deniers. The presence of its bulk pushes away doubt and uncertainty, and crushes under sight all that question even its faintest breath. Determination and desire is ignorant to the realities that seek to stifle action.

[Dynamicism]
Shapeless material twists and expresses, changing as light-speed evolution into the form that should see it fit into an eternity that cannot compete. All missing is obtained, all that never was, soon to be. Looked upon, only the echoes of past victories are seen, and the hum of innovation teases just out of sight, never to be caught up to.

[Complexity]
Labyrinthine towers, etched together in beautiful arrays that render appraisal hopeless. A river of camaraderie whose infinitely divisible droplets speak together in languages of timeless libraries. Worlds of meaning touch and depart, each affording movement into ever deeper crossroads whose signposts never signal the final destination.

[Precedence]
In greater lights and deeper shadows exists nobility and notoriety that transcends the wishes of lesser. Pure authority -without equal- and the shared-consciousness histories prevail atop uncultured and untested modernity that shall never age to the peaks of godhood. From thrones steeped in divinity, kneel.

-----------

For any mage, a mark of their attachment to these concepts renders unto their skin, and forevermore governs their journey. For some, this mark comes as lineage, and for others as the signal of acceptance into a new existence -borne by effort or happenstance otherwise.

Most representative of the labyrinth glooms an alternate half of human confluences -the Dark City. This phenomenon manifests in high-population areas as the realm behind a thin veil wherein the arcane-touched may find their way. Dominant in the night and faded by day, the Dark City serves as a place of meditation, a place of settling, and an escape for the hunted. Meaningless and confounding but subtly familiar in its construction, the endless cityscape offers usually uninhabited spaces to use for chargeless purposes.

Though present for many, little of the dark sphere exercises itself within the Dark City. Great families and brotherhoods make their mark primarily upon realspace, wherein their own efforts and magicks serve to maintain the façade of a mundane world whilst their disciplined numbers hoard what lay beneath it all. For most, life within this dance is met at first breath. For others, it is a wondrous accidental discovery, or a dreaded curse.

But no matter how one steps upon the stage, there exists a constant to every actor:

Continuing in the play is to be mired in tragedy.

Revue of Annihilation

//A6 - Outside an Inn

For all of the effort to bathe herself just twenty-four hours prior, Sebi had already accumulated another layer of dirt and sweat in this tireless city. Not merely did she maintain an ache in her muscles, she couldn't seem to ditch the clawing earth. Adventuring certainly didn't seem kind to her -never mind preferable.

Sebi blinked at the offer of a brush. Were its previous user anyone other than a fellow foxkin she might have recoiled, but here instead she shrugged internally and accepted it. She untied her hair, which was bound by a ribbon and a band, each doing their part to keep her extraordinarily-long locks from touching the ground. She found another stump and sat down to busy herself with getting rid of the straw.

"I think..." Sebi began with a smile, dwelling on wording, "...Were I younger and more experienced already in adventuring, I would continue to join you. Sumiye however..." She cast a glance back towards the corner where her own sleeping stable lie beyond. "She's still quite young, and may be a lot more warm to joining the party proper. Much as I'd be worrying for my daughter having just experienced the only first level, this is what the city is all about, in the end, isn't it?" she asked rhetorically. Sebi continued meticulously brushing her hair.

"For a group with a week's experience, you'd handled yourselves as well as this inexperienced lady could tell. And... we all survived. There's something to be said or that, no? Nevertheless, I can only say I wish you considerable luck if the second layer is what you're after. Do tell me if you ever reach there."

She did believe it, to a certain extent -that the party before her showed promise. She'd yet to hear about statistics, but they were scrappy, had a week on her, and weren't dead or maimed for that matter. Even if their experience was all in running away, that was still a powerful skill. She smiled warmly, sagely.

"No, I think you all show quite the promise I must say. While I cannot join you, I watch and hope for your success. If only because you offered me a hand, however simple, in my struggle here in this new city." A drawn out groan drew Sebi's attention; Sumiye showed, mid-stretch, and greeted the group.

"Quite the day. How often do you all venture down there? It's been so long since I've seen anything like that kind of energy," Sumiye said through a yawn. By comparison to her mother, Sumiye felt groggy, but quickly revitalized. Even a boulder for sleeping could leave her capable of doing it again the next day. Truly the power of being young.

@ERode

Revue of Annihilation

//A6 - Somewhere in the Adventurer's District

For a first foray into the Abyss, Sebi and Sumiye felt rather proud of themselves. They weren't dead -foremost on their minds- and they got a taste of the danger latent within. Neither quite felt like adventurers yet, but having gone through the ordeal they certainly felt like they'd earned some sort of stripes, however faint. After ascending back to the edge of Oratorio, their trio of colorful friends and one Ananta in tow and similarly intact, Sebi inquired about shelter with Allen. She and Sumiye were, of course, still homeless in the city, and she'd only agreed to venture with the fellow fox on the condition that she get more than just a scare out of it -whether she said so vocally or not. Wherever it was that Allen, Gam, and Millie themselves were staying, Sebi would follow. Tired and somewhat shaken, she couldn't muster the will to complain, even if it was a shack they led her to.

Come morning, Sebi awoke to her first sunrise in Oratorio and stretched the aches from her body. Youthful as she was outwardly, Sebi was still nearing forty, and no amount of pretty smiling could save her from being plainly tired. Leaving Sumiye to enjoy some additional rest, Sebi waited in whatever fashion and in whichever place for at least one of the other adventurers in her party to awake as well. She had no shortage of questions, and little intention of simply playing one of two mages to the group of five indefinitely. She needed to know what this all meant, and where it would go.

The next -or any number of them, really- to awaken or preempt Sebi were met with a sauntering woman and her light smile. She sat herself nearby, greeted, and wasted little time.

"The three of you... How much experience do you have, anyways, with adventuring?" she asked to whoever would lend her an ear. "While yesterday was... exhilarating, I still find myself a tad aimless I must admit. I'd not come to Oratorio for adventuring, per se, though I do not shirk it. What is it you're all seeking? Riches? Fame? To test yourselves, maybe?" she asked with a sly expression.

@ERode

Revue of Annihilation

//Abyss - First Layer

Sebi and Sumiye had opted to relegate themselves to observers for much of their foray into the Abyss. Though "into" still felt a tad exaggerated for how little they plunged thus far. On the First Layer, Sebi could still make out the rim of Oratorio's proper civilization, and questioned at multiple points how it was that anyone would deign to live so precariously close to a nature reserve of flying creatures perfectly capable of ascending up to the levels of buildings above.

The two kitsune followed just behind their more experience trio of adventurers, focusing on taking in the sights. Sumiye leveled no end of questions to Allen, Gam, and Millie about the First Layer, curious of its dangers and curiosities. Despite being surrounded by sheer cliffside and a gray stain of mankind, it felt miraculous that such a place as this 'Abyss' could remain in pristine condition -as wild as any other nowhere Sebi knew of.

The gang of five followed along already worn paths; sometimes upon established stony roads that death-wishing masoners decided was worth their time laying, and others upon not-quite deerpaths long trodden down into dense dirt by the countless adventurers before them. Things appeared to be going well -a chance Sebi and Sumiye continually relished in given their newness- minus infrequent moments that Millie cautioned silence and meekness as dark shapes swooped high overhead. Trouble granted them mercy, but showed no such favor to other divers nearby.

The kitsunes' first true taste of what the Abyss was made of came in the form of a tumult up from a winding cliffside path below their gazes. Their compatriots demeanor shifted to one of caution, and then combativeness as the noise drew closer. What sprinted into their visions first was not a crash of ugly creatures, but a dark-haired girl, frantic, fleeing something else unseen in the trees.

The young lady relayed to them her pursuer's number: eight beasts in all, and accompanied by a 'rider'. Sebi hummed at that word. Were there intelligent things down here in the Abyss? She and her daughter stood cautious of Ananta even as they surmised she was being truthful about her predicament -the shaking in her hands seemed genuine- unsure of what they could trust in this unfamiliar place. There was nothing stopping banditry from flourishing in this place, after all.

What's more, Sebi felt a pang of something familiar in the dark-haired girl.

"I don't suppose they're the sorts of beasts one could outrun or outwit?" Sebi asked Ananta, still hopeful they could avoid falling into combat. Her eyes glanced to the trio she'd originally arrived with, searching for false optimism in their expressions -whatever came out of their mouths, be it bravery or pragmatism, she had no intention on outright trusting.

_@ERode@Kero

Revue of Annihilation

//A5 - Market Plaza

A bit like hunting for the perfect pebble upon a shoreline for skipping, Sebi was in need of a suitable crate, not just any old discarded box. Commonplace or not, it still needed to look at least serviceable -something that reflected a certain measure of cleanliness, but nevertheless was rugged enough to stand the journey she was planning on faking. As with a shoreline too, totally covered in stone, it wasn't hard to find as much, which she'd begun to lug along through the markets.

Homing in on the chatter of the district delighted Sebi's ears. Plenty of tales were told of just how deep into the adventuring spirit Oratorio was, but it was only in hearing the gossip and news straight from its uncountable legion of dungeon-delvers that she truly understood what this city really was. Opportunities whispered in her perky ears until she felt overwhelmed. A young voice, directed at her, drew her out of the frenzied storm of thoughts she was stuck in.

Putting on her best smile in a new town, Sebi swiveled around to be faced with a rather young adventurer. She couldn't help -frozen in her silent smile- to dwell on the discrepancy here for a brief moment. Was this child actually prepared to venture into a place like the Abyss? Aged as his apparent party-members were, Sebi still felt a pang of worry for the kid.

The two kitsune glanced at each other. Ultimately this was a city for adventurers, from top to bottom. No doubts they would dip their hand into such matters eventually, and what better way to understand that spirit than to participate in it?

...is what Sebi wanted to think, but with such a young, timid -no, not timid. He was brave enough to ask two strangers to join his party, wasn't he?

"Well, I suppose it'd depend on what you're planning on doing in the near-future," Sebi said pleasantly before looking past the boy to the troll and the woman that insisted on suffering as a pack mule. "You look like you're about to delve soon. My daughter and I... we're not exactly prepared at the moment, you see... And furthermore we're both quite new to Oratorio. Quite unused to adventuring and such."

"But we are mages," Sumiye chimed in, seemingly trying to sweeten where Sebi was souring.

"...So, it would again depend. Are you up for two greenhorns?" Sebi smiled again. Conning an artist didn't have to happen immediately, and if the stars aligned, they'd at least get some shelter and food for this spontaneous venture -two things they were going to be in desperate need of by the end of the day.

_@ERode