PerniciousIntent

[Reboot]The Witch Hunt

After a few days of traveling, the Black Forest stood before the half-elf, menacing and welcoming all at once. The magic she could feel radiating from the flora and fauna that resided within the forest's shadowed borders was intense yet strangely familiar, and her large green eyes closed for a moment in veneration to the Earth Mother. After a moment of silent, motionless prayer, Calista opened her eyes to once again look upon this manifestation of Cybele's power. The same magic than ran through her veins ran through this forest, in much greater intensity and potency, of course, but she none the less felt more willing to traverse its depths. She took a deep breath to steady herself, and then slowly approached the brush line. The plants parted as she neared. With no more hesitation, she breached the forest and immersed herself into the Black Forest.

Calista had visited many different areas of unchecked nature in her travels, but none compared to the Black Forest: not in magnitude or magnificence, but none were nearly as memorable. She examined many of the plants there, recognizing some but not others, and seeing plants she thought she knew all about reacting in strange ways to the magical leylines that undoubtedly ran through this forest. The eyes of animals were not menacing to her but comforting: she knew she was accepted here and would not be harmed, but protected. She somehow knew that the guardians of the Black Forest would not have allowed her ten feet past the treeline had she been unwanted, as well, and smiled as she remembered the message that had been magically broadcasted. It would be easy to find peace behind these walls of verdant greenery. She wondered briefly if it was a trap, but she felt as though she could trust this forest and its original inhabitants because she felt physically close to the Earth Mother here, and that comforted her greatly.

The only reservation she had about the forest was that she couldn't explore it. Whenever she tried to leave the constantly revealed path, the glowing red eyes would flash in warning, and creeping vines would appear at the edge of the forest's path barbed with insidious looking thorns. After her first few attempts, Calista figured it would be better to stay where she was instructed. She could not see the sky, but the Calista's elven nature made her much more agreeable to the earth either way.

When she came upon the grove of peculiarly growing trees, her face brightened into a radiant smile and a joyful laugh fell from her lips. To her, this was surely a construction of her people! Warm memories of her father's storytelling graced her mind as she slowly made her way to the omphalos of the grove, turned around in circles several times to get the entire panoramic view of the area. The forest went unchanged, except for its new lack of horribleness. This grove made the entire forest much more special and endearing to Calista.

She entered the large dwelling with excited anticipation. Looking around, she spied many doors, but peering into a few close to her she noticed they were not that large, and mostly congruent. In the center, surrounded by tables laden with fruits and berries of all types (some of which Calista recognized both as edible and medicinal), was a wondrous throne upon which the oldest woman the half-elf had ever seen sat and conversed with two standing men. She knew who she was immediately, and wanted desperately to see if she was an elf, but her roving eyes told Calista she was preoccupied with other things at the moment, most likely her called meeting. Calista walked the dwelling slowly after having grabbed a large orange from the table and was eating it, rind and all. She peeked into a few of the rooms, which seemed to be occupied by the visitor mages. She could tell they did not belong here because their faces held emotions similar to her own. She walked into a smaller room on the ground floor with an exit to the outside and put her pack on the bed inside. Sitting on it, she found it was quite comfortable, and she felt a soft hide blanket. As she left the room, smiling at the large leaf that served as a door, she smartly looked to note where her chosen room was in relation to the throne, and then made her way into the center mass of tables. Having finished her orange, Calista grabbed a stem heavy with blueberries and began to pick them off. She sat at the next empty seat she came to and finished her meal. The rest of the day conversing with other mages, though she met no elves. She went to bed in her chosen room.

Having gotten there mere days after the call, Calista watched as the dwelling's population swelled to fill its interior. She wasn't there for long, and she didn't learn much about the witch, but communion with the Earth Mother had revealed to her the basics of some of the magical incantations used here. She did not dare attempt them, for she knew she was not strong enough to channel so much, but she did come to bear a strong respect for the old woman on the throne in that short time. The woman did not engage her visitors yet, but Calista was looking forward to her words.

[Reboot]The Witch Hunt

Sorry, I've had work these past days. Hopefully I can get one up today or tomorrow night.

Dragon Age: Origins (Remix)

Interested in a Dalish Mage?

Kingdom Hearts: Dirge of the World Eater

Matilda, very much awake, laid still on her bed. The room was dark, save for the early dawn moonlight flooding through her open window, and her curtains fluttered, creating moving shadows. She was warm, dressed only in a tank top and shorts, and covered partially by her white sheet. The only thing she could hear was her own breathing and the occasional animalistic noise from outside. The only thing she saw was her ceiling, shadowed to a dark plane of expansive nothingness that beckoned just above her room, a daunting void of all light. She did not know why she was awake, but there were more than a few times she awoke predawn and stared at the stone above her with a passive visage.

The room, still dark, was not what the apprentice was thinking about. When she was alone, she thought of her failure back home. There was nothing left in that place; it was merely a husk of living shadows and disintegrating ruins. Fertile fields were ostensibly turned to parched plains of arid grit. There had been a mural in the Threnendold house, on the wall in their large great room, of the city from a distance. The city in the painting had rolling pastures and strong wood buildings, with a happy blazing sun overlooking its vibrant, prosperous main square. But, the young blonde girl wondered how different a view you would get from that same perspective. The pastures would be stretches of wasteland, the main square desolate, and the merciless sun would reign the countryside without relief. The community she had known her whole life was lost to a foe she could not fight at the time of the encounter. Heartless had not been unknown, but they were the problem of a distant yet menacing force much beyond them. They had never learned to fight them. If they had, all of Matilda's siblings, cousins, aunts, and uncles would have been able to save the town from complete destruction. They had been complacent. She had been complacent.

The knight had never questioned her tutelage. She had, in her youth, placed complete and foolish trust in the competency of her family. If she had been more innovative or intelligent, she would have thought of the heartless before they had gotten there. But, then again, she was always the slowest of the bunch. If she had been stronger, then maybe it wouldn't have been for nothing. For Calista, the fall of her hometown had been more than the fall of dwellings and structure; it was the fall of her whole family, parents, brothers, and friends; they all fell in the attack.

Three of her brothers fell before her eyes, all in fights she was a part of, but couldn’t carry her weight in. Now, in her bed, she watched them, helpless because of her own many weaknesses and horribly pathetic excuses of ‘strengths.’ She had been too weak against the Heartless. They were unaffected by her steel blade, and her magic ran out too quickly to help against the dark tide. She saw her oldest brother cut down by sharp yet edgeless black limbs. She saw her third brother swallowed by the roiling tide of living shadow, and watched in horror as her last living brother closed himself outside the doors of the hall he locked his baby sister and remaining livelihood into. She saw herself trapped in that small corridor, the pleading faces of civilians lining dark, cramped walls. For days, the unearthly sounds of Heartless gnawing on the stone of the very building grated on the edge of reality and reminded her and the civilians that they had very little time to live. She remembered being totally and completely helpless, and seeing the hope and desperation in the eyes of her charges turning to anger and betrayal.

Matilda blinked and was back in her room, but echoes of the memories of being saved by Keybladers followed her back to reality. She was no hero as they, her experience in becoming one told her that much. She didn’t know why the Keyblade had chosen her, but she didn’t question it. She rarely questioned anything. She honestly thought, with all the lessons in responsibilities she was taught, that her Keyblade was more of a punishment than a blessing. She failed miserably at her purpose in life, so now karma made her relive that failure everyday by showing her how bad she was at all her necessary skills. She sighed and turned to the window; it was growing brighter outside.

Knowthing that it was only matter of time, Matilda slowly threw her legs over the side of her bed and stood. She stretched, lazily, and dressed in a loose white long-sleeved blouse and black jeans. Her armor was activated by a button on her left shoulder, which harbored a collage of armor spikes and metal accents. She pulled on comfortable shoes, and sat back on her bed with a brush. Mindlessly, the apprentice pulled the brush down and through her disheveled blond hair, watching her door without interest. Her days, as of late, had blurred together into an existence based totally on training: she did little else. She didn’t socialize much, no matter how much she was encouraged to do so, because she was not very good at it. There was not much left to do here other than train and talk. She put her brush down, and pulled her sheet up to make her bed. As she put her comforter back in place, she heard the voice of her Master in addition to a rasp on her door. She straightened her clothes and took a last morning glance around her sparsely decorated room before leaving.

Her steps through the castle were long and swift, and she reached the eating hall quickly. She grabbed her breakfast, a few pieces of different fruit, and made her way across the rows of tables. People always looked at the Keyblades, and hey were well known, but Matilda was made uncomfortable by their stares. Her walk to their table seemed much longer than it actually was. She took a seat unobtrusively as a man in uniform hustled away, looking shaken. Seeing the look on her Master’s face, she would have been shaken too.

Dragon Age: Darkest Days

After the cadre of Dalish emerged, Airthel stepped forward and inclined his head in proper greeting to the fellow Dalish, with a small bow with crossed arms, and recieved one of the same. "Aneth ara, brother. My name is Airthel." He said with a smile, dropping his arms to the sides loosely and continuing, "My companion is correct. We are looking for a missing man, and evidence says he came this way. It was a human male and he was looking for young deathroot." The story was not necessary to explain, but in his time patroling the borders of a Dalish camp, he too had come across random human encounters and been left with curious questions. After all, humans were strange to a Dalish such as himself. "We would greatly appreciate your help, as he also said," He didn't really feel the need to repeat the words of their haughtiest companion, but he knew it might be propiotous to have them recognize there was another of the People among the strangers. He hoped the human wouldn't take offense.

The group was a familiar thing to Airthel, and he found himself more comfortable out here in the forest. He was not as startled by the sight of a tattooless elf as the others. Vallaslin were difficult to endure, and elves that came from cities were often allowed to take them at a later time than Dalish youth, and he figured this elf was a recruited Dalish. The though actually made the man seem more approachable for the Dalish: to see an elf who had both the city and Dalish experience, and choose Dalish, felt like a victory for his race to the elven scholar. His dagger, to Airthel, looked as though they were brought specifically for a fight against these human intruders, and Airthel hoped the camp hadn;t suffered at the vagrants' hands. "I think we should leave immediately. Even if the man we are looking for is not with these raiders, it is still something that is a danger to the refugees here. And the native inhabitants."

Kingdom Hearts: Dirge of the World Eater

I'm working on my intro post. Should hopefully be up late tonight cause I'm working all day.

[Reboot]The Witch Hunt

This day seemed to be uneventful for Calista, the half-elf mage who traversed the countryside of Meldiniar without citizenship papers. Usually, her days were never dull, but this day felt strangely… desolate. She had awoke early this morning, rising gracefully from the tattered sheets of the rickety bed that was provided to her by the portly innkeeper of this small town establishment. With enough upfront gold, she was rarely asked for proof of citizenship, at least, in the small villages that she frequented on the outside edge of the country. She met little trouble in places such as this. Currently, she was in the southwest, close enough to the Elven Forest that local folklore made her existence more acceptable. That, plus the fact that small communities such as these, so isolated from the main hubs of human activity, relished visitors, made her easily accepted. Small communities enjoyed visitors because they brought stories and news from places far away, and because a visitor such as Calista not only brought her personal revenue, but the revenue of increased patronage from her presence. The fact that she was a half-elf, and many of her stories somehow ended on the mysterious subject of the Earth Mother goddess her people venerated or some of the feats of magic her father told her about, made people interested in what she had to say.

The day was warm, and so she dressed lightly in a thigh length leather tunic, simple trousers, and simple fingerless gloves. She had lived in this room for just under a week now, but that was long enough for Calista. In her three years on the road, she learned that inevitably, because of her own carelessness or naivety, people found out she had magical capabilities They never hesitated to report her to the closest Paladin sect. Even though people were kind and helpful to her as a traveler, they did not trust mages or their craft. Calista ran her hands through her long black hair as she gathered her things from around the room. She stopped and tied her long tresses into a bun, and then proceeded to force her many trinkets and sentimentals into her traveling pack. She also placed the traveling supplies she had purchased from the innkeeper in her pack, and at last tied her bedroll to the top. She took one last glance, was satisfied she had gotten everything, and exited the room with a light step.

Outside the inn she made her goodbyes to the few friends she had made, and told she was to leave that morning, with open arms and many sad smiles. As she meandered up the path in the opposite direction she had come, she whistled a tune to herself. She turned and waved, and received several waves back. And then, she kept walking, until the last the villagers saw of her was a tiny speck in the distance. They knew she was heading to the next community on the path, the one they knew as the village with the water wheel.

After that, her time consisted of boring traveling. For much of the morning, there was no one else on the path. The farther she got from bigger cities, the less people she saw when she was traveling. On roads such as these, there were always a few local, and maybe so not so local, caravans and the like traveling this time of year. But that was less common here. She wondered if it was because they were close to the Elven Forest here, and saw the roads as less safe because of it. In places such as this, there were almost never any Paladin convoys, roving for one reason or another, that liked to ask travelers for citizenship papers. Closer toward the heart of the land, she had to take care not to be caught by one. The resulting chase was exhausting, as she had learned.

The sun was past its zenith before Calista had heard the call to the Black Forest. She had been stopped, gnawing on rations and thinking about what she had learned about the path ahead, when the reverberating voice had sounded in her skull. Her one hand clutched the small bag of nuts she had been picking from, and the other flew to her temple and pressed against the throbbing divet. She did not know who had planted the message in her mind, or why or how, and she struggled with herself for a moment. She was not far from the Black Forest, and she had known where it was before, but now a clear path to it was ingrained in her mind. Her eyes narrowed at the ground between her feet.

On one hand, Calista was suspicious. Who held the power to project a message into the minds of select people? That message had not just been sent to her, she knew that much had to be true, and was most likely not projected to Paladins and the like. What was their motive? Are we gathering for safety, as the message had claimed, or slaughter? She thought and shuddered. But the opposite prospect was very tempting, and the message stayed with the half-elf as she packed up her rations and got back on the trail. The next junction she came to, she didn’t take the path to the village with the water wheel.

Kingdom Hearts: Dirge of the World Eater

Brave, The Emperor's New Groove, and Hocus Pocus

[Reboot]The Witch Hunt

Ah. I see.

[Reboot]The Witch Hunt

I thought mages were hunted and 'purified' and that magehood was typically kept a secret.
Either way, I suppose this just gives my character a personal goal.